ã€ŠStar Wars Rogue Knightã€‹


 Chapter 1 - Prologue: A Shadow From The Past

    Place: unknown

    Time: irrelevant

    "God damn it!" I shouted as loud as I could, before becoming aware that I was no longer in the seat of my disintegrating Dragon. In a futile attempt to save a pair of ZAFT pilots whose Mobile Suits were wrecked, I got caught on the edge of the CYCLOPS system, just as it detonated under the EA headquarters in Alaska. The display screens in my X311''s ???kpit shattered one after another, showering me with pieces of their monitors. All I knew was a wave of unbelievable agony. The last thing I remember was the incredible heat that caused my blood to boil.

    Then I was here. Again. The Earth was just as breathtaking as the first time I saw it from this position, all those months ago.

    Ever since I ended in the GS universe, I flirted with death on countless battlefields, yet feeling it actually claim me was... Dying was disconcerting. "I fu?k?d up and should be dead," I said in a hollow voice.

    "You should be. However, I made a deal," a melodic voice sounded from behind me. It was the ethereal being who had plucked me from my home dimension the first time around.

    I did not bother turning around. She liked her mysterious act and stayed invisible. For all I knew, she lacked a corporeal form to show me and anything I could see might be just more smoke and mirrors.

    "Which means that I need to deal with another mess," I stated.

    "Correct. Then, if you do not get yourself killed, I''ll be able to return you here shortly before JOSH-A was destroyed. I''ll be nice and won''t tell your girlfriend about that stunt you just pulled."

    I winced. Ever since I was sent here, I had to deal with a mountain of troubles, which became much harder when my "favorite" ROB decided to become a chat buddy with my girlfriend. They had a lot of fun at my expense...

    "Ahh. Don''t pout. After all, she''s the main reason I went to all that trouble of giving you a second chance." Her voice became coy.

    "Who needs to die this time?" I sighed.

    "Funny you ask. You don''t remember, do you?" The woman sighed. "It was to be expected, yet..."

    "What are you talking about?" I asked in confusion.

    "One Republic Chancellor, a few of his cronies in the Senate, and the Separatist leadership. You have a war to end. It''s all because you must prepare the galaxy to face the Vong. They aren''t exactly what you expect, my Knight. Remember, the Vong must be stopped. Have fun!"

    The curses that left my mouth were not fit for print.

    =RK=

    I awoke, slumped over the controls of a fighter. That''s an upgrade from the shuttle ride where my last adventure started.

    I frowned. There was something wrong with that thought.

    This time, my mind was clear-er. There was no sign of the numbness that plagued me for a week after my previous trans-dimensional travel. Those were the high points of my situation.

    Yet, even those thoughts felt wrong. Off. My mind was clear, true. I couldn''t say the same about my memories. I could remember fighting to get as many Eurasian soldiers out of the CYCLOPS blast radius as if it happened minutes ago, nevertheless I knew decades passed since I got myself killed over there. My mind went to the image of Earth seared in my head. I haven''t thought about my homeworld in a very long time. Nor about Natarle or my comrades. I couldn''t afford to ¨C that life was over. I don''t know when exactly it happened. It wasn''t a sudden decision but a gradual process until one day I awoke and going back home to ''Nat wasn''t so important any more for I already had home here. I had sacrificed too much of myself to survive as a Sith. I tore my morals to shreds and I''m sure the person I used to be didn''t really come out of the Sith Academy on Korriban. A slave went in there, a former Earth Federation Lieutenant Commander seconded to ONI. When I was permitted to leave to do my first master''s dirty work, a Sith Acolyte left and that was over sixty years ago¡­

    Then why the battle at JOSH-A where I died was so vivid in my mind? What did the entity say? That I had forgotten?

    "Who you are, my Knight. Why are you fighting for. May you find your heart in this future. Until the end of the road, when we shall meet again, fare thee well, my Knight." Her voice echoed in my head and I knew I won''t be meeting her until the day I die.

    Her words didn''t make much sense. What did the Republic Chancellor had to die? Besides the fact he was the nominal leader of the enemy? What Separatists? There were just us, the Sith, our allies and the Republic with its own. Did someone on the Dark Council planned a coup or something, just like my supporters there did?

    I closed my eyes and went over few meditation exercises to focus my mind. First I needed to figure out where I was then go join friendly forces so I could ?ssess the situation. What happened anyway? The last thing I recall¡­ Ah. The battle above Korriban. The Republic was launching spoiling attacks in attempt to break our momentum as we were in the final stages of the preparation for our final ?ssault at the Core. I was caught out of position when the enemy arrived ¨C in my fighter en route to a cruiser meant to bring me back to Dromund Kaas where I would be formally inducted as a member of the Dark Council.

    Something happened during that battle, didn''t it? I could vague recall the Force screaming a warning, then there was light and I was reliving my last engagement back on Earth. Whatever happened did a number on my memories. They felt quite scrambled yet otherwise my mind was clear. It was weird sensation.

    On the bright side I couldn''t feel any present danger which was reassuring. I took a few deep breaths and exhaled slowly finishing my last meditation exercise and opened my eyes.

    I was in a cramped ???kpit of a fighter I knew did not possess a hyperdrive and I had no idea where I was. My arms, which were clad in light and comfortable armored gloves, ran over the controls as I checked the status of my tiny ship. It was a modified Sith Interceptor, with a shield generator installed, as well as laser cannons with enhanced capacitors allowing a sustained rapid fire. Lastly, there were two racks of light proton torpedoes under the wings for attacks against hardened targets.

    Yes, this was the ship I was in above Korriban. However said planet wasn''t in sensor range, much less the two fleets viciously tearing at each other in orbit. I was reluctant to go with active sensors until I had better idea where I was stuck at.

    As far as fighters go, my interceptor was a sweet killing machine ¨C very good in a dogfight or even the odd bombing run. However, that did not help me with my current predicament. I was Force knew where, without a hyperdrive. I hoped that I won''t be meeting my patron soon after suffocating. I sometimes called her ROB in my mind ¨C as in Random Omnipotent Being, because she still hasn''t properly introduced herself. Surely she didn''t just drop in to troll me before I died? That''s not the impression I got from her in our previous interaction, yet this latest meeting ¨C it was off somehow.

    Kriff it, what mess did I get myself in this time?!

    I checked the starfighters sensors again. I could detect some gravitational disturbances at the edges of the scanner''s range. So, there was probably at least one planet in the system. I hoped that it was inhabited or at least life bearing or I was kriffed beyond belief.

    My hands ran over the controls and the Sith Interceptor''s engines roared to life under my gentle touch. The nimble, little spacecraft carried me deeper into the system. I gave the autopilot a general course plot, and started checking what resources I had at my disposal.

    I was wearing a black robe covered by durasteel armor. My head was protected by a mandalorian styled helmet, with an integrated computer projecting a small HUD display on which the status of my armor, oxygen supply, and shields were shown. It was good to know that I had some additional protection aside from the laminated sheets of durasteel and armored weave of my robe. I knew exactly what punishment it could handle so there was no need to test it. While my current outfit wasn''t as durable as a proper heavy armor, it could still handle a lot of the stuff usually thrown my way, besides it was much more comfortable to wear that my Mandalorian crafted Cortosis Assault Suit.

    My armor had some neat features. Like a dart launcher on the left arm guard, with knock out, poison and ion enhanced munitions ¨C the last was for taking out droids. I was armed with a pair of heavy blaster pistols, and had four power cells for each. For tougher situations, I had a pair of thermal detonators, four frag grenades and two ion pulse grenades. For a moment, I thought that I was making a great impression of a Mando bounty hunter and I should know considering I''ve been posting as one a handful of times while doing odd jobs for either Baras or Imperial Intelligence.

    I blinked in confusion. What the hell? Where did all those memories came from? I''m sure I just died back on Earth. The Kriff? That was decades ago! Did the other Sith do something to my mind? Or perhaps the Jedi?

    A lance of pain split my skull at that thought. No. Not Jedi. What was I trying to recall? Acting as a bounty hunter but not really? I focused through the pain as I was taught back in the academy and the memories I was looking for surfaced¡­ slowly and painfully but here they were.

    Sith. I could remember now. Orders. Locations all over the galaxy ¨C hunt down and dispose of low grade Sith who had went off the reservation and caused trouble for the Empire.

    Wait what? Palpatine''s Empire? Why would I need to take out a Chancellor or Separatists leaders then¡­ Palpatine? Who was that and when did he got himself an Empire? The only Empire worthy of the title was ours.

    The pain intensified.

    Sith.The Sith Empire. It wasn''t being a bounty hunter I vaguely recalled. I remembered being a partially trained Sith Acolyte whose good for nothing master sent me hunting embarrassments for the Empire. I spent years at that job before returning to the Academy on Korriban and becoming a proper Sith under Baras.

    I had the Force then, didn''t I? But of course I had it. I was a Dark Lord of the Sith.

    What the kriff?! What was happening with my memories?!

    It was like a veil that had been covering every one of my senses was suddenly lifted. It seemed that I truly saw, heard, and felt for the first time in my life. My senses went into an overdrive and I was lost. I saw even the tiniest imperfection on the control panel of my craft, I could hear every little sound and sense each vibration made by the interceptor. My armor felt like shards of broken glass upon my skin. Even the tiniest twitch caused me to feel stabbing pain as my clothes rubbed on my oversensitive flesh.

    Then it became much worse. Some kind of barrier was breached and a tsunami of memories hit my mind in an unyielding wave. My world exploded as a whole life flashed before my eyes and I remembered.

    From my first memories as a small child on Dromund Kaas, to my misfortune in ending as a slave before manifesting the Force and being sent to Korriban after tearing apart my "master"¡­ I remember accessing the Force for the first time. Then I got my memories from Earth back, something which increased my rage at being a slave. The rush I felt when the Force answered to my emotions and my ''master'' being crushed under the power of my mind alone.

    I remembered everything.

    It all ended with a titanic battle over Korriban where I was engulfed in a flash of light. A Sith Lord who commanded the Imperial Fleet protecting that world activated a super weapon of some sort. I was sure of it. Then I felt the Force screaming of deadly danger and¡­ what?

    In a sense everything began and ended at the same place.

    Korriban ¨C the place where I arose from being one of the countless wretched slaves under the Imperial yoke and became a Sith Warrior. It was there, where I chose to disregard most of the creed of the Sith, and to try to changing the Empire from within.

    It was Korriban, where my ambition died with tens of thousands of Sith and Republic sailors and I ended up here.

    Somehow. Was my patron to blame? Did she sent me here? Did I die again?

    I snapped back to the present. My right hand fell to a cylinder, hidden in my robes, and I felt relieved the moment my fingers closed around it. Holding the hilt of my lightsaber, a weapon that was literally part of myself as far as the Force was concerned, soothed my nerves.

    I used it as an anchor for my mind. The torrent of memories almost shattered my very being, nearly washing away who I was. This was not like the last time when I got only skills and fragments of someone else''s past. This time it felt like I "lived" through the life of Darth Vael¡­ Because I did. At least a version of me did if I, he, died above Korriban¡­

    No. That wasn''t true after all. The Force stirred around me driven by my confusion and need for answers. She felt odd, a bit distant and weaker yet she answered my intent. I could feel her soothing presence wrapping around me. Some called her a mere energy field, but I knew better. The Force was alive. I''m not sure if she truly had agenda or her own or if we, the Force Adepts using her gifts made her express one through our combined actions and emotions over the millennia. Perhaps once long ago the Force was merely the energy binding every living thing in this galaxy. Nowadays she was so much more¡­ An ally, an enemy and constant companion¡­ too many things to put into words so those who lacked her touch could understand. How do you describe the color red to the blind? How do you explain the way your lover''s voice moves you to the deaf?

    There was an ancient echo in the Force. A whisper just on the edge of my hearing. An impression if you will. I knew it just as I knew myself for it was of me.

    The Force didn''t lie.

    I stared at the stars through the canopy of the ???kpit. It made a twisted kind of sense. If this was happening to anyone else, I would have thought that this stunt of ROB''s was pure genius. This wasn''t my time, was it? She apparently made a deal and needed this Palpatine disposed off, didn''t she? However, I recalled our last deal. She knew by the time I would likely die I wouldn''t really care about going back to Earth. I was a different man with different home.

    A home that if what I was beginning to suspect was true was long gone. Was this what she meant by implying I might find my heart in this future, I wondered?

    I knew that my eyes, hidden under the helmet as they were, had a distinct yellow tinge around the irises as my fury grew.

    I spent a lifetime as a Sith Lord and what now? Was it all as good as erased? The memories from my first life were stirring. Separatists. Dooku. Sidious and Palpatine. At firs those were names without context but eventually a bit of recollection came. The later two were one and the same ¨C a Sith Lord who was able to hide his nature and got himself elected as the Chancellor of the Republic.

    That thought made my blood boil. Did we lose after all or was our victory a fleeting thing?

    In my fury, I turned up to the Force, hoping that the Dark Side would soothe me. I tried to clear up my mind and think about my situation in a somewhat reasonable manner. I tried to remember more but it wasn''t easy. Not after so many decades.

    Instead, I was confused by the way the Force felt. I knew it was off, but I didn''t think about reflecting upon it earlier as I was lost in my mind. Now I dismissed any thoughts about the past or the future for that matter and concentrated all my senses on my power.

    The Light Side was muted, as if there was a veil made of living shadows thrown over it. The Dark Side on the other hand... Well let''s just say that I had never felt it stronger or more seductive than it was right now. Not even on my one and only audience with the Emperor in his inner sanctum on Dromund Kaas.

    My memories stirred. Fear gripped my heart with fingers colder than the void between the stars. I had knowledge and skills from an old forgotten age. Even if, by some miracle, I prevailed over Palpatine and his army of cutthroats, there was no guarantee that I would not replace him and become something much worse.

    I had nothing left to keep me in check. Everyone who mattered to me was dead¡­ and that deal that ROB offered? It was about saving a woman I knew decades ago in a different universe.

    I still felt something when I thought of her, yet¡­ She wasn''t here to keep me company. To keep me sane.

    For all its atrocities, Sidious and his Empire paled in comparison with the deaths and suffering caused by the Sith of old¡­ By the Empire I served.

    I laughed bitterly. It wasn''t like the galaxy needed a monster like me unleashed upon it once again¡­

    I snarled. Now I knew what was off. Whatever happened above Korriban or perhaps it was my patron¡­ it wasn''t just that my memories from Earth were fresher, more tangible than they were in decades. Oh, no. There was a presence in me. An echo of the soldier I was once upon a time. It was thanks to him and his skills that I lived long enough to become the Sith I am today. But in order to survive I had to kill that man. This was my mind and he was merely a ghost from a forgotten era.

    Power surged through me. It was vast, incomprehensible and terrifying. It washed through me and I knew my patron has been here all along studying me. The sheer power I could feel in this¡­ this mere echo of her glory was almost humbling. Utterly infuriating too.

    I felt her gentle touch upon my mind and I understood. The ghost of the man I once was was plucked away to be send for his just reward ¨C the second chance he become the monster I am today to gain. That¡­ words failed me.

    Amused laughter echoed in my mind making my head ring with pure innocent joy. For a brief moment I was back on Earth watching my X311 Dragon in Mobile Suit configuration let go of the two ZAFT GINNs it was dragging and speed away on the wing of the CYCLOPs activation. The microwave radiation of the trap clawed behind it scrambling the engine exhaust but my machine made it out of the area of effect just in time.

    Just like that I was back in the ???kpit of my interceptor with laughter still ringing in my ears.

    "I keep my word my Knight. The man I made my original deal with has still work to do back on Earth. Thanks to him you exist. Thanks to you he has his second chance. That merely leaves you and the task I gave you." The amusement in her voice grew up a notch. "My meddling in this universe is at end, my Knight. I''ll merely trust you''ll find your heart before its too late." She laughed again. "In your nature too, my Dark Knight. Fare thee well, Veil."

    I slumped in my seat. The monstrous energy was gone, hopefully for good. I knew my patron was powerful but this¡­ I shuddered. It was eye opening. Did I dare not follow up on her nice ''request''? I snarled. I was no ones pawn!

    Was I going to have a choice? My memories of what back on Earth was known as Star Wars were fragmented. Unless I went to hide under some rock and ignored the galaxy sooner or later I would clash with Sidious. With the Jedi too, because them I remembered. They existed in this time and age. The one thing I could count on was that the Force would make sure I would meet them. The Dark Side wouldn''t waste such a chance to cause more conflict.

 Chapter 2 - Phase 01: Use the Force, Luke!

    Part 1

    Location: Still Unknown

    The Sith Interceptor cruised through the unknown star system on autopilot, while I huddled in the pilot seat.

    Being stuck here with only my memories for company, wasn''t doing me any favors. The only silver lining was that I could remember everything and sort out my head. The bad one was simple ¨C I could very well imagine the horrors I could unleash upon the galaxy. If what I remembered from my time in my birthplace about the Clone Wars era was anything to go by, I had more knowledge of the Force and how it worked than all but a few actors in this day and age.

    I was a veteran of a war the likes of which the galaxy hasn''t seen in more than millennia.

    If I lost it and either fell to the Dark Side, or the more likely outcome ¨C let it consume me in order to make the pain of losing everything I knew, everything I''ve worked to achieve¡­ The consequences would made Palpy''s Empire look like particularly relaxing resort in comparison. I knew that for a fact. When Ashara was murdered few years ago I was falling to the Dark Side. It took desperate measures to prevent it, I had to become a Mask I wore all the time, one of the man I was up to that moment.

    The danger of letting myself be consumed by the Dark Side couldn''t be overstated. I''ve wrought terrible things while in my right mind. If I really lost it¡­ I would become everything I hated about the Sith ad the galaxy would burn for my amusement. Or just to make the paint stop. It wouldn''t really matter at that point.

    The Force itself didn''t help me. The Dark Side was strong, alluring. It was whispering to me, like the devious seductress she was. She was promising everything I ever wanted, even if it couldn''t bring back my hearts d?s?r?.

    However, the Dark Side could give me one thing ¨C losing myself and ending the agony and that made her more dangerous than ever. Because I wanted the void in my heart filled. I wanted the pain of the loss gone even if it made me more powerful than ever before.

    Wasn''t this ironic? Right now I was on the preciple of being what most typical Sith would sell everything for ¨C all I needed to trade for more power than only a handful beings could ever conceive of was what was left of my sanity. It would be so easy and there would be no more regrets¡­

    My personal pity party was interrupted when I felt a sudden chill. Somewhere, nearby, thousands of sentient beings were dying. I felt someone''s malicious joy and in the same time I was sick to the pit of my stomach as I enjoyed feeling all those people die. As a Sith, there was a part of me that considered their dying cries as the finest beverage in the galaxy and craved more.

    Enjoying the death of those unknown people made me feel dirty in a way I knew that no amount of bathing or decontamination could clean up too. This was one of the biggest pitfalls of using the Dark Side - it made you enjoy the suffering and agony of others and if you had a conscience, you hated it too. The dichotomy was something that would eventually drive all but a few insane or straight into the clutches of the Dark Side. Worse, most sooner or later would make causing strife and suffering their priority even if they wouldn''t admit it even to themselves. They would chose the way that would make them feel the rush of the Dark Side even if doing so means taking less than optimal choices in the long run. Eventually in the short term too.

    The only way to keep experiencing that from driving you insane was to have people you respected and cared about centering you. People to keep you sane.

    "Bloody hell..." I muttered. It was almost like feeling a lot of people die for the first time.

    Whatever the process that brought me here, it did a number on me, didn''t it? Or perhaps there were few vestiges of the man I used to be my patron left behind for one reason or another.

    With a thought, I shut down the interceptor''s auto pilot and the small ship changed its flight path as I used the Force to guide it. I b?r?ly felt the acceleration when the twin engines roared to life and jumped from cruise mode to eighty percent of max acceleration.

    The place where I felt people dying was calling to me like a siren''s song.

    =Rogue Knight [RK]=

    The clock shown on my HUD counted that forty-three minutes had passed from the time I sensed the deaths. It took me that long to reach the general area where I felt people dying.

    It was obvious what had happened ¨C war. I could see a small debris field made by the shattered forms of three large ships. From what I could remember, which wasn''t as much as I would like after all this time, I was observing the remains of Republic cruisers. Proto Stardstroyers or something in that vein. The shattered hulls told a story of a dagger like design ¨C what the Republic preferred to field before its transformation in Palpy''s empire during the Clone Wars if I remembered correctly

    Three destroyed cruisers in a system with a red star. Why was this image ringing an alarm bell?!

    I shrugged. Expecting to remember details from a show and movies I''ve watched so long ago was funny and foolish.

    I started scanning for survivors with both the Force and my fighter''s sensors. A display on my control panel lit up with few clusters of life signs, one of which winked out moments later. I felt cold pangs as the people died even before the sensors could register it. Probably Clones if I was when I presumed to be.

    Briefly, all my attention focused on the whispers of the Force, trying to determine where I should go.

    That cluster of survivors, the one on the far left. It felt more important than the rest. My hands went to the controls and I headed that way.

    I deftly evaded pieces of demolished ships which were tumbling around the few remaining bigger parts of the cruisers. Without the Force guiding my hands, navigating this unholy mess would have been moderately challenging and dangerous. However, I was cheating using my powers so it was just like a training exercise in a simulator set on easy.

    A curious sight greeted me when I reached the life signs. An escape pod was gripped by an oddly shaped craft - it looked like a crude robotic manipulator with four fingers. Four fragile looking droids appeared from the center of that strange craft, where the middle of the palm would be if it really was a hand. They had something that resembled miner''s helmets on their heads, right down to the round light mounted on the front. The droids had rocket packs on their backs which they used to maneuver in space.

    I''ve seen a lot of weird droids in my day, but still, those were quite odd. Miner helmets in space, really?! Eh. Droids. Sometimes they go weird.

    My fighter''s computer detected wireless comms and automatically tapped into them. To my surprise, the encryption was quite basic and it was broken into within moments. I would have expected it to be much, much harder if not impossible. This was to be the far future¡­ Yet my memories told another story. This era wasn''t as advanced as one might expect after a few thousand years time-out. In fact in some technologies had either fallen out of use or were lost.

    "Let''s pop this can!" An overly enthusiastic droid eagerly exclaimed.

    It was easily to guess which one spoke as I saw one of the machines activate a blowtorch mounted on its right forearm.

    The Sith part of me grumbled in irritation at my decision to save what I suspected to be Republic Clone Troopers but I squashed it. This Republic wasn''t my enemy, I reminded myself. The only bright side of my situation was that all my enemies had been dead for a long, long time. If nothing else I had the victory of outliving them all.

    It was a cold comfort when I was about to help Republic scum!

    The more reasonable part of my mind conceded the fact and countered by pointing out that the Old Republic that was my enemy had been gone for a millennia. With a bit of luck, the Empire had used the strategy I helped devise and won the war so I could take pride of a job well done.

    I grumbled at these random thoughts.

    I dialed down the power of my fighter''s laser cannons to near hand-held weapon''s strength and unloaded a barrage of crimson laser bolts at the quartet of unsuspecting droids.

    The machines didn''t stand a chance. With no shields and obviously being mass-produced expendable grunts, they were annihilated by the underpowered laser blasts. After I made sure that there were no more of the killer droids milling around, I positioned my fighter so that I had a good view of the inside of the capsule.

    There were a pair of dark-skinned clones, who were wearing blueish, almost gray, navy uniforms. No armor which could be sealed if their escape pod was breached by something. I guess this was their lucky day. Probably mine too, because they looked like officers and now they owed me their lives.

    After all, the first few minutes after I awoke, I was pretty sure I''ve been sent here directly from my Gundam back on Earth.

    I shook my head in exasperation. It was time to have a chat with the locals.

    "Escape pod, this is Rogue Knight, please respond." I said once my flight computer could determine the frequency they were using. I went with the call sign I got after qualifying as a pilot in the Empire¡­ how long ago was that? Sixty years give or take? It was soon after I got out of the Sith academy for the first time.

    I sighed. Damn I felt old. Only learning how to use the Force to slow down my aging by my first proper master ¨C Darth Baras ¨C allowed me to look like I was in my mid-thirties nowadays. Otherwise, I would probably look worse than Palpy in the last movie or something. Huh. How do I remember such random kriffing stuff instead of more important details?

    When I finally got an answer, it came from another capsule ¨C one that was tumbling towards my current position.

    There was a shift in the Force coming from that direction, which made me pay attention to the newcomers. I knew that feeling quite well. There was a bloody Jedi on the second escape pod!

    I shook my head in exasperation. Obviously my patron wanted to make my life interesting from the start. I smiled in anticipation. The Jedi''s reaction once they knew what I was was going to be entertaining.

    =RK=

    Part 2

    Republic fleet''s debris field

    Unknown System

    "This is capsule one-nine-seven-seven. Thank you for the help," said a voice which had the characteristic distortion of one wearing a breathing mask.

    "You are welcome. After an accident I happen to be stuck in this system without operational hyperdrive. You wouldn''t happen to have a way out of here, do you?" I asked cheerfully while using a Force technique known to many Sith of my time to cloak my Force Alignment. No reason to spook the Jedi before I absolutely had to. I wondered how would they react to meeting a live friendly and helpful Sith?

    The technique wasn''t going to hold up to a close scrutiny, but I was safe until we met face to face, which would be when the true fun begins.

    While I waited for an answer, I examined the droid ship. Now that I think about it, the craft was somewhat familiar. I thought I have a vague recollection of this situation. If I was lucky, and I remembered right, I had landed during the early months of the Clone Wars. If I played my cards right this conflict could be a great opportunity to regain a lot of the power I lost.

    "We are sending distress signal to all Republic forces that could reach us. I hope that someone will be here soon." The response came a few seconds later.

    "Preferably before whoever sent the droids figures out that they are gone and decides to pay us a visit." I muttered.

    While my fighter was state of the art, I was a few thousands of years in the future. Further, the other side, this Confederacy, obvious had enough forces in system to wreck three capital ships just an hour ago. I was reluctant in pitting my interceptor against anything modern without first seeing for myself how the future hardware compared to what I had available even before factoring in likely being outnumbered to a ridiculous margin.

    "That''s nice mess we landed into this time," One of the Clones spoke over the comm.

    "I do not want to be pessimist, general, but I do not believe that someone will come searching for us any time soon," interjected another.

    So the Jedi was a general, not just a small strike force leader. I should be careful until I knew their abilities. The Jedi I knew weren''t giving such ranks unless you knew your job and were a decent fighter too.

    At that moment the scanner on my fighter pinged. A ship had entered the debris field.

    "Well, someone came, all right." I sent to the Jedi and the Cones. "This is Rogue Knight to the unknown ship that just entered the debris field. Please respond." I hailed the newcomer.

    "This is Jedi Knight Skywalker. Who is this?" An irritated voice answered.

    Oh, my. The so called Chosen One himself. Him I remembered. I wondered how did he compare in real life to the one from my memories.

    "This is Delkatar Veil, I am parked near two escape pods with survivors. Follow my signal." I introduced myself.

    "This is Jedi Master Plo Koon. Good to hear from you Skywalker." The other Jedi decided to introduce himself too. So nice of him however the name didn''t ring any bells.

    "Master Jedi, would you mind giving me a lift out of this system? I''m a bit stuck." I added my two credits.

    "That shouldn''t be a problem," Plo Koon answered.

    There was curious silence coming from Skywalker''s end.

    =RK=

    Skywakler''s ship was a kriffing flying scrap pile that looked like it was held together with space tape, spit and prayers. It was also far uglier than my very vague recollections from the show featuring the bloody thing.

    In the end, I had to ditch my interceptor and take a spacewalk to the open compartment of Skywalker ship. It was a good thing that my armored robes were in fact an armor suit that could be sealed and was rated for short vacuum exposure. Using the Force, I navigated through the short distance between our spacecraft and landed at the back of Skywalker''s ship letting its gravity field pull me to the deck.

    I stepped through a force field that kept the air inside what looked like a cargo space and found myself face to face with master Koon ¨C who apparently was a Kel Dor Male.

    The moment he saw me, I could practically feel his glare.

    Yeah, I looked the splitting image of heavily armored mercenary who were usually not to be trusted. To add insult to injury, my outfit had distinct Mandalorian influence, which was likely to count against me even in the future. Besides, from this short range, my camouflaging technique was less effective. Perhaps I should have put an effort in mastering it, but back in the day that simply wasn''t necessary. It wasn''t like most people ¨C both friend and foe alike didn''t know me by sight and its been long since I had to deal with fieldwork making infiltration necessary. Rank did have its privilegies after all.

    "I am not your enemy, Jedi." I raised my hands in a peaceful gesture. I wasn''t ready to make today''s Jedi Order my enemy. I lacked the resources needed for such a conflict and right now, the Jedi were my way out of this system.

    "You reek of the Dark side. Whatever you did to conceal it is no longer working." The Kel Dor snapped.

    "That technique served its purpose." I shrugged nonchalantly. "If I meant you harm, master Jedi, I would have blown up your escape pods otherwise"

    While we were chatting, the pair of Clone troopers had raised their weapons and taken positions between their navy brethren and me. They were soon joined by Skywalker and his apprentice, who moved closer to me and were gripping the hilts of their lightsabers.

    I looked at the suppossed Chosen One. Huh. The show did capture him quite well. The same went for the young Togruta who was obviously Anakin''s padawan.

    "Three Jedi versus little old me and it''s you who''re feeling apprehensive." I pointed out. Their nervousness was like a beacon for my emphatic senses.

    Koon tilted his head to the left.

    "I sense no deception coming from you." He frowned.

    "No need for it right now. As I said I need a ride out of here. And if you are wondering I am not with those droids." I said.

    When facing presumably competent Force Adepts, one should keep their lies to a minimum. That''s way, when you really need to lie your ?ss off, its more likely they''ll buy it if you have a way to cloak your intentions from them.

    It was astounding how well you could lie by omission or when you simply decline to volunteer information.

    "Who are you with then?" asked Asoka.

    "If my suspicions are correct, I''m with myself ever since earlier today." I spoke unhelpfully. "You can consider me as a free agent." It was all true, from a certain point of view. When all was said and done, right now my only allegiance was to myself.

    "Bounty hunter!" spat Skywalker.

    "Young Jedi, you don''t want me to be something else, trust me about that." I shot back. Few of my best friends used to be Bounty Hunters and proud of it!

    I raised an eyebrow at Skywalker''s tone and the waves of anger coming from him. I didn''t know why he hated the practitioners of that profession. Didn''t particularly care either even if I could figure out some things. Considering that he spent his childhood as a slave on Tatooine, it wasn''t a stretch of the imagination that he might have a problem with mercenaries and bounty hunters. Most of those he would have had experience with, would have been employed by the Hutts ¨C not necessarry the nicest or most reputable examples of those professions.

    "Skywalker, that''s enough." Plo Koon chided the much younger man. "A mercenary you say?" The Jedi began interrogating me.

    "Well, I find myself in a need of work. Well paying one." I admitted. No need to explain what else I was right now.

    "I can sens the Dark Side in you¡­ mercenary." The Kel Dor continue to stare at me.

    "Is that a problem?" I couldn''t keep the amusement out of my voice. "Last I checked it wasn''t a crime."

    "He''s working with Dooku, I knew it!" Skywalker snapped.

    "You should watch your temper, Jedi. Didn''t you hear? Anger leads to the Dark Side." I needled Anakin. "Who is this Dooku?"

    "Count Dooku. The leader of the Confederacy. Your boss." The little Togruta narrowed her eyes at me as she spoke. "Stop playing dumb!" She accused.

    The kid looked kinda endearing when angry.

    "I can honestly say I don''t know any Count named Dooku." It was even true! I knew of him thanks to the movies I''ve watched so long ago, but I didn''t know him. It wasn''t like we''ve been introduced, nor have I seen the man for real.

    "I think he''s telling the truth." Plo Koon frowned. It was hard to tell with his species even when they weren''t wearing a breather mask.

    "He has a name. Please use it, Jedi. It''s a common courtesy." I shot back.

    "Delkatar Veil." The Kel Dor actually said my name. "Who are you really? I don''t buy the mercenary story." He paused. "What are you?!" The Jedi asked.

    I felt his words being reinforced with the Force as he attempted to compel the truth from me.

    "Someone who is a long time from home." I spoke truthfully ignoring the suggestion. Ah deceiving by telling the truth ¨C that was an art form among us Sith. It was kinda necessary with so many people running around who more often than not could sense deception despite your best efforts thanks to decades of experience.

    "Isn''t that supposed to be a long way?" The Togruta frowned, making her look cute.

    "I''m pretty sure it''s time in my case." I shook my head.

    "Answer my question." Plo Koon insisted.

    "I told you the truth. Granted, not all of it. Will we stay here the whole day, exchanging pleasantries or shall we leave before whoever blew up that fleet," I pointed at the cruiser remains floating outside, "decides to come back? Don''t forget that there are few more pods with survivors out there. Probably more droid kill teams too."

    The Jedi looked at each other for few moments and reached a decision. Apparently I was not the clear and present danger that needed dealing with right now, at least for the moment.

    "It''s a giant Ion cannon, mounted on a super cruiser," declared the Kel Dor. "Getting out of here might be prudent." He reluctantly agreed.

    "So that''s what took out your fleet," I wondered if Grievous was on board. That sounded like a proper super weapon and that was something the cyborg would love.

    I thought so anyway. Grievous was the cyborg, right?

    A rapid fire series of beeps and wh?n?s came from the ???kpit. If I interpreted the droid''s speech correctly, a craft was approaching us.

    "Just like the giant ship that is coming towards us?" I asked, seemingly without a care in the world. Despite the mountain of weapons and armor that was approaching I was calm. We should have enough time to escape in hyperspace otherwise the Force would have been surely warned us.

    The Jedi rushed to the ???kpit and I followed them calmly. The Clones tried to stop me, but I waved a hand and told them to stand down and they obeyed.

    It was surprising that at least one of the Jedi didn''t remain to keep an eye of me, not that I had something against it.

    Under the orders of Koon, Anakin and Ahsoka shut down the power of the ship and even the droid but the cruiser continued racing towards our position.

    I looked at the back of the transport. I could sense an active power source there.

    "Do you have a medical droid or another astromech stashed in the back?" I wondered aloud and made the Jedi whirl around to face me.

    The look of Skywalker face was priceless.

    "We forgot the medical droid!" Ahsoka exclaimed and began restoring power to the vessel.

    I shook my head. And those were the people on whom the galaxy counted on? All right, thanks to being a Sith I am quite biased, but their performance so far was not great. On the other hand I knew a lot of Sith who were much bigger idiots but I digress; most of those didn''t last long.

    Besides, the Jedi I was familiar with, had been under decades of brutal natural selection that left only the best alive. If I wasn''t very much mistaken, this was the first major conflict today''s Jedi were facing in centuries, perhaps a thousand years.

    I used the comm unit built in my armor to sent an order to my interceptor. Its autopilot took it on a suicide attack run against the dreadnought approaching us. My fighter wouldn''t last long but all it needed to do was buy us few moments by providing a brief distraction. That way its destruction would have some use instead of forcing me to activate its self-destruct because I wasn''t leaving it behind for the Confederacy to poke at.

    The interceptor attacked the behemoth, shooting laser bolts and torpedoes like there was no tomorrow. It was using a pre-programmed evasive pattern which allowed it to survive for fifteen seconds against the awe-inspiring amount of flack that the cruiser was throwing its way.

    I frowned. That was a lot of AA fire yet it should have been much more dense coming from such a platform. While mere flack couldn''t stop a wing flown by Force Adept it could make their life interesting and enough of it might make an attack from regular pilots suicidal. It was a trade-off. During the war AA defenses weren''t uniform. There were different thoughts on the matter with those believing it being a waste of resources given how many trained Force Adepts each side had to deploy being more and more prominent as of late. I wondered if this was the case nowadays too. How many Jedi were there? Sith?

    The kamikaze run gave us just enough time to bring back power and head through the debris field before our location was locked in and the enemy raced after us. That combined with the small size of the transport should provide us with enough cover for the nav computer to complete its calculations so we could jump in hyperspace.

    Behind us the behemoth tried to shoot us down with its turbolasers, before giving up ¨C we were too small and agile target too far away for the heavy weapons and still out of range of the light stuff. Then it unloaded a truly massive pulse of Ion energy from its main cannon.

    A large circle of condensed ionic fury raced after us, but it was too late. We entered hyperspace mere moments before the attack could hit us.

    =RK=

    Republic Fleet under the command of General Skywalker

    Location Classified

    It was no wonder that Palpatine was able to fool the whole Jedi council. After spending few hours in a small ship with three of the most powerful Jedi of this generation, they knew nothing about me beside that I felt "Dark". Perhaps I should have been grateful that they had not figured what I was yet.

    After arriving at Skywalker''s fleet and landing on his command carrier/cruiser hybrid, the Jedi went to report to the Council and ordered me to follow. Apparently they wanted a second opinion on what I was and what were they supposed to do with me.

    I wondered if I''ll have to fight my way out of here and steal a fighter to get away, so I did my best to memorize the way back to the hangars. Hopefully, I would be able to talk my way out of this mess, because fighting Skywalker, Koon and the Togruta, not to mention the ship''s crew, well that wasn''t a pleasant prospect. Even if I managed to get away, I would have to show too much of my power ¨C something that would inevitably make me a target for everyone ¨C Jedi, Republic, Sith and the Confederacy.

    That wouldn''t be a good place to be considering I was by myself with no allies or resources besides what I wore on me. Even with the Force, my training and experience there were limits on what was possible. I didn''t feel like testing them right now if I could avoid it because it would be glorious but likely suicidal.

    Even worse, while the Dark Side felt much stronger at this time, the Force itself¡­ it was somehow lesser. That''s the best way to put it. I sensed that I would need to channel more power to get the same results as I would have achieved with much smaller effort before ending up in the future. That didn''t bode well for what I could pull off if relying solely upon the Force.

    Not good at all.

    We reached the communications center, which was built around a big holo-projector. After few minutes of silence, a pair of Jedi who introduced themselves as Mace Windu and Yoda appeared as bluish, transparent holograms. They looked much like the vague recollections from my memories. The former was tall brooding and bald human with dark skin. Next to him stood a small green troll who was the Jedi''s grandmaster. I still couldn''t wrap my head around the fact that such a species could constantly produce a few very powerful Force Adepts.

    The human looked at us for a moment then frowned at me and Skywalker.

    It was good to know that my presence was appreciated.

    "Master Koon, it''s good to see you unharmed. And who is this?" The tall man turned his attention to the only Jedi Master who was physically present.

    "Master Windu, Master Yoda," The Kel Dor gave a small bow to his fellow Council members. "This is Delkatar Veil. He says that he is a mercenary." Plo introduced me and gave them a brief description of my actions so far. "He feels Dark through the Force and was somehow able to conceal it until we stood face to face." The Jedi finished.

    "Perhaps..." Yoda had a thoughtful expression on his face. His ears were twitching but I had no idea what, if anything, that action meant for his species. There were just a few of his kind I''ve met and we didn''t have too long to talk.

    "Simple mercenary, you are not!" declared the ancient Jedi Master. "Yet, from you, a threat I feel not! Yet, dangerous you are."

    "What do you sense, master Yoda?" I nearly sneered. Being in the presence of the Jedi''s Grandmaster¡­ It stroke some painful memories that better be left forgotten for now, because the alternative as a bloodbath.

    The little alien wizard gave me a piercing stare which I returned. It was not hard, with my head hidden under a helmet.

    "A Sith, yet not, you are." Yoda dropped a bombshell.

    Perceptive little bugger, isn''t he? I gathered the Force around me as a shield and prepared to explode into action as my hand fell over the hilt of my hidden lightsaber.

    "WHAT?!" Windu exclaimed. So much for the famed Jedi composure.

    Two blue lightsabers hissed to life as Anakin and Plo Koon drew their weapons and pointed them at me.

    You got to love the Jedi. Apparently Yoda could sense what I am across half the galaxy, yet Sidious is invisible under his nose. Figures. Bloody Jedi.

    "Delkatar Veil, also known as Darth Vael, formerly from the Sith Empire, at your service, master Jedi." I gave Yoda a small bow.

    Ahsoka gasped when she heard my new introduction and had her weapon in hand too, however she didn''t activate it.

    That didn''t stop her from frowning at me something fierce.

    "Malice, from you I sense not." Yoda joined the frowning competition.

    I frowned at them too just to feel included.

    So far Ahsoka was winning hands down. Plus, she looked cute ¨C like a fluffy kitten. Yoda lost points for impersonating a particularly grumpy goblin. I rolled my eyes and wondered if the first war between Jedi and Sith started because we no longer could stomach their maddening mysticism and word games.

    "He is Sith! He admitted it!" exclaimed Mace, disbelief clear in his voice.

    "Proud of it too, thank you very much." I quipped. I wondered how long would it take them to make the first move. I could sense Tano''s and Koon''s confusion at my actions and the lack of aggression. Sith attacked the Jedi when we met ¨C it was written all over their faces. Yoda on the other hand was looking at me with a curious expression on his face. A self-styled Sith was in the same compartment with them and all we did so far was talking. I have not threatened them a single time yet. Definitely nothing like the usual Sith they were taught to expect I guess.

    I smiled. Keeping Jedi off guard by not meeting their expectation was a lot of fun. Almost as good as trolling them on general principle and if this meeting didn''t dissolve in a bloodbath I would have the opportunity to troll them a lot.

    As we stared at each other, the Force was reacting.

    We all could feel a shift within it. It was like the whole galaxy was holding its breath and waiting for something to happen. Time stood still before one moment and the next as Yoda was considering his options.

    The Grandmaster reached a decision and opened his mouth to speak.

    In that moment, the balance shattered and we could sense a profound disturbance in the Force.

    =RK=

    Part 3

    Republic Fleet under the command of General Skywalker

    Location Classified

    "Hmm." rumbled the tiny Jedi Master. "Hard to see, the future is."

    He stared at me with his huge eyes as if it was my fault. I grimaced. Jedi! Everything had to be blamed on the obvious Dark Side wielder! Bloody wankers!

    "Fear in your heart I sense. Something that you seek, there is?" Yoda asked.

    My mind wandered to the one thing that kept me sane during the war. My eyes darted from the Jedi Master to Skywalker and I felt one of the few things that are taboo for the Sith. Pity. The fools, warding themselves from any emotions. Being afraid to feel, to be people. Living with no one to act as an anchor to keep them sane. It was easy to lose oneself to the darkness that way, especially when most if not all of them did their best to keep the ones they might fall in love away. Was it any wonder why when the Sith went active so many Jedi fell upon our words when we promised them the freedom to revel in their emotions? To be whom they truly were?

    All but Skywalker, though he managed to somehow kriff it all up.

    I smiled. A woman''s laughter was ringing in my ears. I almost saw a brilliant smile on a face framed by blinding yet comforting light as I remembered one of the two women that ultimately kept me sane as a Sith.

    I owed it to both of them not to let the Dark Side control me. It was the one promise I intended to keep. It was for their sake as much as for the vengeance I craved that I donned the mask I currently wore.

    Remembering Ashara and Vette ¨C it hurt. The Dark Side whispered promises to soothe my pain if I surrendered, but I simply disregarded it. I almost fell after Ashara was murdered, yet I found my way back in control. I wasn''t releasing it any time soon.

    My attention snapped back to the present as I felt the Jedi getting restless.

    "Unless you''ve learned how to bring back the death once they''ve become one with the Force, what I seek isn''t going to happen." I sighed.

    "Mmm." rumbled Yoda and looked down. His ears slumped. "A tapestry of possibilities paints the Force. Around you it gathers. Both Light and Dark."

    He looked me in the eyes. My helmet was no obstacle to his piercing gaze.

    "The Chosen one, you are not. Yet the future, shrouds you like a cloak."

    ''Past, present and future you''ve seen, have you not?'' His voice sounded in my mind.

    He fu?k?n? knew! Somehow he knew, damn it, I was a soldier! There was a reason that I avoided Dromund Kaas like the plague when I could! I hated all the intrigues and political games that dealing with the highest echelons of Sith and Jedi leadership guaranteed, even if I had to become quite good in order to survive as long as I did.

    When all was said and done what was happening right now was such a game from the highest order.

    I reinforced my mind shields and chose my next words very carefully.

    "I''ve seen possible futures. I''ve had visions of this war you''re busy fighting. It does not bode well for the Jedi. I believe you suspected it when the first battle of the war was joined." I paused, wondering how to go on. "It didn''t really make sense at the time. What I saw¡­ the galaxy was different. There was nothing of the Empire I knew. Just a Republic tearing itself apart, Jedi stumbling in the dark and a few Darksiders shrouded by shadows."

    I waved my left arm around, while being careful not to cut it on one of the two lightsabers pointed at me. My right hand never left the hidden hilt of my blade.

    "It is hard to trap a Jedi or Sith. Yet, here we are ¨C in the middle of the greatest trap for Jedi that this galaxy has ever known. But you suspect that, don''t you, Master Yoda?" I asked the tiny Jedi.

    "What are you talking about?!" Anakin snapped at me in confusion and anger.

    "The Clone Wars the trap are." Yoda clarified.

    "The Republic or these Separatists. It does not matter who wins. It is irrelevant. In either case the Jedi lose. That is the point of the war." I added. I remembered the teachings of an ancient Sith, who once upon a time used to be a Jedi. According to her, the real war had never been between the Sith and the Republic. The latter was merely a shell around the Jedi which had to be attacked to draw them out. Just like the Jedi teachings were shells around the hearts of the men and women practicing them.

    The conflict between the Jedi and the Sith has always been an ideological one. It was a battle of ideals. In the end there was no greater victory than to make the enemy one of you¡­ unless you were in it for the vengeance but that was another matter. Or perhaps not. War¡­ it gave people many slights to avenge¡­

    "Yes," Yoda nodded.

    So he knew it from the beginning. If I was a betting man I would have said that he saw himself without good options. If the Jedi declined to take part in the war, when one of their own was the face of the Separatists, the Order would have lost what credibility it still had. Not to mention that some Jedi would have disregarded the orders to remain neutral, just as Revan and his followers did centuries before my own time. I wondered if Skywalker would have played Revan''s role if that had happened and if it would have been for the best.

    Still, it was a very dangerous game Yoda played. The war created great opportunities to tarnish the Jedi''s image in the media. Win-win situation for Sidious. He had a good plan ¨C one that worked in the future painted by the movies I knew.

    "You can''t fulfill your purpose as guardians of the Republic without being a part of the war. Yet the moment you joined, the Jedi as a whole lost." I stated the obvious.

    The only saving grace for the Order was the nature of the conventional enemy ¨C the bulk of the CIS forces were made of droids. That lessened the chance of the Jedi being warped as they fought and cut down countless, living, feeling beings. It bought them time before more and more of their number would be tempted by the Dark Side even without the Sith actively trying to turn them.

    The other thing that ''saved'' them was that unless I was very much mistaken the current so called Sith planned to simply exterminate their enemies instead of turning whoever they could.

    Windu gave me a dark glare but said nothing. He, as well as all of us sensed that this was Yoda''s, show. Besides for a brief instant the swirling vortex of the Force pushed aside the shadow blocking the Jedi''s vision. They knew that I was right. That revelation would have some interesting consequences down the line.

    I just hoped it wouldn''t come back to bite me in the ?ss.

    The ball was in Yoda''s court. I decided to poor more fuel to the fire.

    "You are the one who mentioned the prophecy of the Chosen One. We Sith, know of it as well. Do you not wonder what ''brings back balance to the Force'' means?" I smiled maliciously ¨C it was a good thing they couldn''t see my face.

    Prophecies. Bah. They were a tool for the Force to guide the weak willed. We Sith forged our own future even when the Force itself had other ideas.

    "Skywalker is supposed to destroy the Sith! He should start with you!" Windu glared at me.

    "Is he now? How many Sith are there in the galaxy today? This Dooku you''ve mentioned? His Master, or is he a Master and not an apprentice? How many Sith does the Confederacy employ? How many Jedi are there in the galaxy today? Please, answer me, Master Jedi and then think about whose side might need pruning so there would be ''balance'' in the Force."

    If their gob smacked expressions were anything to go by, none of them ever looked at the prophecy in that light. From a certain point of view, Anakin brought balance back to the force when he helped destroy the Jedi order. Twenty odd years later he fulfilled the last part of the prophecy by offing Sidious and at least for a time getting rid of the Sith. With Luke being a b?r?ly trained novice, Anakin wiped the slate clean.

    In the end, there were thousands of Sith holocrons spread around the galaxy, just waiting for someone willing to learn.

    In time new Sith would emerge again even if the last of us died. Unfortunately the same was likely true for the Jedi.

    Talking about Sith, I tried to remember what I knew about Sidious and his little group. If I wasn''t mixing thing up, they weren''t true Sith ¨C just a sect of Dark Jedi with delusions of grandeur trying to emulate the real thing.

    Just a single Master and apprentice? That was simply begging for knowledge to be lost every time the Master died before he could teach their student everything they knew. What were the odds that an apprentice would wait until their Master had taught them all they know before the final confrontation? Every single such cycle had the potential to lose knowledge. Further, just a pair of Sith ¨C there was a limit on new research on the nature of the Force and how to manipulate it two people could carry on and thus weakening the Sith further.

    I chased those thoughts out of my mind and looked at Skywalker.

    Anakin was looking positively ill. Wouldn''t you know it? He was starting to think for himself, and probably didn''t like my interpretation of the prophecy. Roughly speaking there were three ways to ensure there was a "balance", depending on your preconceptions about the Force. Or how much you''ve been indoctrinated by the Jedi or Sith, but that was another story.

    Wipe out either sect, or both and start with a clean sheet. The latter was what was supposed to happen in the next few decades. How many trained Jedi and Sith were there at the end of the sixth film? It was obvious really ¨C for the Jedi balance meant that their evil enemies were gone. For us Sith ¨C it was similar ¨C it meant victory with the Jedi either finally dying off or being freed by their chains. The Force¡­ well I thought I knew what she wanted too.

    Well, that is if you believed in fate. I am pretty sure that my presence here was not ordained by the Force or something like that. Nope. Couple of entities like my patron made a deal and the future of a galaxy was going to change.

    Unless I got myself killed again but I didn''t plan on it.

    I could feel the Force swirling around me and Yoda. It was stiff. Like a snake coiled for a strike. The Jedi Master was about to make an important decision.

    "Hard it is. Against all I was taught by my own Master it is. Done nothing against the Jedi of this age you have. Enemy you are not. Perhaps too much in the prophecy we have believed. Other ways to balance might there be."

    "I''m not your enemy, Master Yoda. Unless you turn me into one." I told him the truth. For the time being I was content with live and let live arrangement.

    I smiled broadly. The knot of energy centered around us started dissipating and it sent a shock-wave through the Force. What would have been was no more set up in stone. The future was there, waiting to be shaped by the present.

    Now, there were two shadows looming within the Force ¨C Sidious and me. A new game was afoot.

    "This is a mistake we may not live to regret!" Mace Windu snapped. He cut off his connection and his hologram winked out.

    "I feel that I''ll have a lot of headaches with that fella." I muttered. I didn''t need the Force to figure it out either.

    Ahsoka snorted in amusement.

    "That''s not a nice thing to say about Master Windu." said the little Togruta but she could not hide the edge of mirth in her tone.

    "A Jedi with a sense of humor! You are not hopeless after all!" I exclaimed. Tano was a little gem that needed polishing.

    "Snips, behave!" Skywalker admonished his Padawan but I sensed that he agreed with her.

    Ah! Now I remembered. Windu was not one of Anakin''s fans either, was he?

    Master Koon shut down his weapon and placed its hilt on his belt. He turned his head towards me.

    "What do you intend to do now?" The Jedi Master asked.

    "Well, while I am stuck here I may give you a hand with that oversized cruiser. It''s your next target, isn''t it? I do not believe that your Grandmaster would let me on my way without supervision. Who knows? I may go and corrupt someone with my insidious ways?" I quipped.

    "Indeed." Yoda made his opinion clear. "For the best it will be, if a Jedi go with you. From a different age, you are. The Galaxy changed is from the time you knew. Hmm... I wonder... A cruiser to hunt you have. Speak of this later, we will." Yoda turned his attention at Anakin.

    "Knight Skywalker. Problem, understanding orders, you have..."

    It was amusing to listen how Yoda berated the "Chosen one" for disobeying orders and saving us.

    "You are correct, Master Jedi. It is a strange new world. The last time I checked, leaving survivors of your fleet to fend for themselves and concentrating on the objective, well, it was a practical thing to do. An action worthy of any self-respecting Sith." Or a dedicated military commander who was doing what he had to in order to win the bloody war as soon as possible. To be a good officer you had to care about those under your command because otherwise you would end up wasting them. Nevertheless you had to be able to send them to die or leave them to their fate when the situation called for it.

    Yoda''s ears slumped.

    "This war. Clouds ones judgment, it does." Muttered the small Jedi. "Meditate I will on a lot of things. May the Force be with you."

    With that he cut the connection.

    Anakin looked at me with a confused expression. A Sith lecturing a bunch of Jedi about morality. It sent their minds for a spin. What I was sensing from them was hilarious.

    "It was something that Dooku would do, wasn''t it?" asked Anakin with a hollow voice.

    "It was the practical thing to do." I interjected. Expediency was a slippery slope that was often fatal for the Jedi. It was one thing for someone not a Force Sensitive to make such a decision. For a Jedi however... "And to answer your question, if Dooku really is a Sith, that''s something he would cheerfully do." It would be even better if he cared for the people who he might leave to die ¨C the emotions caused by such an act would make great fuel for the Dark Side.

    Skywalker deactivated his lightsaber and rubbed his face with his left hand. He was starting to see the Jedi in a different light, I think. It was a small step to make, but significant one. It would be interesting to see where it would take him.

    The discussion was effectively ended by the rumble of my stomach.

    With the time jumping that sent me here I had no idea how long it was since I ate for the last time. I was sure it was nearly a day by now.

    "I''ll show you to the mess hall." said Anakin. "Snips, are you coming?"

    =RK=

    Chancellor''s office

    Senate Building

    Coruscant

    Palpatine, the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic sat slumped in his comfortable chair. He was dealing with the bane of every ruler ¨C mountains of paperwork. He had plans to deal with a lot of that nonsense once he was Emperor but for now, it was an inevitable evil.

    The former senator from Naboo was reading a pad filled with various laws which would be proposed on the next senate session. He or his sympathizers had made few of those. The rest, he had to check them to see if there was something that could be turned to his use or if there was something that would be a problem for one of his plans. It was boring but necessary work. It would not do for one of his enemies to sneak in something troublesome without his knowledge. After all, even for someone like him it was impossible to know everything. It was a big galaxy.

    He was reading about a law that should have resolved the disputes between few minor worlds on the edge of Republic space. So far he had no plans for those planets. They were tiny fishes in a very big ocean. Palpatine snarled. This was waste of his precious time!

    The boredom of the Sith Lord was abruptly ended by a tremor in the Force. It''s deliciously, dark currents were disrupted by something unseen. There was a... change in the air. He frowned, concentrated and sent his mind searching for the cause of the disturbance. The Dark side was stronger than ever and was throwing huge shadows which would blind any Jedi trying to divine what was happening. It was one of the many advantage Sidious had.

    He was not a man easily surprised. However that day he was. And it was not pleasant. For the first time in his memory, the shroud of the Dark side obscured his vision too. The Force was in turmoil and he sensed that it was waiting for something to happen. For minutes he searched for the reason of this confusion. It was futile. Which infuriated Sidious. He was the Dark Lord of the Sith! What was happening should have been beyond the skills of any Jedi. For a moment he thought that Dooku was up to something but disregarded that idea. That did not felt like his apprentice.

    A senate functionary entered the Chancellor''s office without announcing himself. It was a shifty looking male Rodian who was out of luck. The man saw the livid Palpatine, whose eyes were blazing with sick yellow light. With a wave of his hand, Sidious vented some of his frustration on the unfortunate being. The Rodian was gripped by invisible hand which started squeezing. He tried to scream as his bones snapped and his flesh was rent apart.

    The Sith Lord discarded the body to a dark corner of his office. He was now a bit calmer and was almost thankful to the unfortunate creature. This was not the place to lose ones temper, yet this was the third time it had happened in as many years. He should have controlled himself better, yet the sudden potency of the Dark Side had left him drunk with power for some time. Not to mention the toll thins Force damned useless paperwork that took so much of his time every accursed day! Slowly but surely the sheer boring stupidity of what he had to deal with was taking a toll upon his sanity.

    The Force shifted. It was still shrouded by darkness but there was a significant difference. It was a dance of Dark and Light currents. It was the birth of a new future.

    Sidious was no longer the absolute master of the Dark side and if it was not for his arrogance and pride he would have seen the signs. What he knew was that now his sight within the Force was as bad as the one those foolish Jedi had. There was a new shadow which was obscuring even his vision! He vowed vengeance on whoever was casting it! That person would feel his boundless wrath! The Dark Lord of the Sith was not someone to be crossed! The Dark side was his to command!

    Palpatine shook himself from the short lived power-trip and frowned at the corpse. It was days like this when he wondered if all the years spent suck as a Chancellor were worth it becoming Emperor and finally achieving vengeance upon the Jedi. He sighed and raised a hand, gathering the Force withing his palm and shaping it with an idle thought. A sphere of swirling darkness appeared and he threw it at the corpse. When it hit the Rodian shook then was consumed by the Dark Side technique until there was no trace left of him.

    Now Palpatine had to ensure there were records showing his aide leaving the building before vanishing. What a bother.

    Was it really worth it?

    =RK=

    Part 4

    General Skywalker''s command ship Resolute

    Location: Classified;

    The meals in the mess hall were... adequate. I''ve had worse tasting things served on warships before. It actually beat all equivalents of MREs I''ve tried to eat so far. I was eating something that tasted like a chicken with some kind of bitter sauce. Strange combination but not bad.

    Skywalker and Tano were keeping me company on the corner table I had chosen. I had my back safely towards a wall with no way for someone to sneak up to me from behind.

    What can I say? Healthy paranoia.

    Skywalker was munching on a meal identical to my own and let me tell you, that boy did have a healthy appetite. Next to him Ahsoka was nibbling on a salad, an odd choice for someone of her species. The Togrutas were predators after all. I should know ¨C I was married to one.

    Her attention was firmly on me. I could see curiosity sparkling in her huge eyes. All around us groups of Clones and few normal crew members were helping themselves to whatever the cooks had ready. I believe it was the lunch cycle for the ship.

    Few minutes ago, when we reached the table with our food and I took off my helmet, I saw surprise on the faces of my companions. I don''t think that they were expecting an ordinary looking human in his mid thirties.

    I think I looked underwhelming for a Sith. My lips twitched into a small smile at that thought. Ahsoka was looking like a slip of a girl, too small to be any real danger yet she was anything but harmless. Judging a Force user by his outwards appearance was a fool''s bargain.

    Take Yoda for example¡­

    I swallowed another bite of the fried meat and looked at the Padawan.

    "Ask your questions before you start bouncing around in excitement." I glanced at the Clones, some of whom were giving me interested glances. If the rumor mill was all right and working as its usual faster than light speed they already knew that I had saved a few of their brethren and perhaps that I was a Sith too. The later was information that I preferred to be closely guarded for the time being but knew that the cat would be out of the bag sooner rather than later. I would not be surprised if in few days Palpatine watches a copy of the conversation between me and the Council members.

    Of course, it was one thing if someone learned what I was. Actually believing it was something quite different. I should be keeping reasonably low profile at leas as far as my skills with the Force were concerned for as long as I could.

    On the other hand, it doing so it wasn''t exactly vital. I was a Sith Warrior. Stealth was not one of our strong points even if I had some decent training in it. I hoped that little fact won''t bite me on the ?ss one of these days. There were things that could be said about showing more from my abilities than I intended to for the foreseeable future too.

    "Explanation is in order I think. How did you end in that system anyway?" asked Skywalker.

    "And what does Master Yoda mean when he told us that you are from a different age?"

    What was the best way to lie to Jedi? Tell as much of the truth as possible while omitting the most important things?

    "I was in a battle above Korriban, the ancient Sith homeworld. It was not a notable clash between Imperial and Republic forces ¨C just one among dozens of space skirmishes that were raging across the galaxy as the Republic Navy tried to execute a pre-emptive strike while we were preparing our final offensive against the Republic." I paused. "It''s the Old Republic now, I guess. A certain imbecile who was masquerading as the Sith Lord in command of the fleet protecting Korriban panicked when the enemy received reinforcements. He employed an experimental super weapon which was mounted on his command dreadnought. The next thing I know I awoke in my interceptor in the system you found me, feeling as I''ve fallen out of time so to speak. At least that''s what the Force tried to tell me. The rest you know." I finished my brief explanation.

    "We are not fighting an Empire! Just the Separatists!" Ahsoka pouted, looking too cute for her own good. Way too cute.

    Down boy, stay away from the Jedi jailbait!

    I shook my head. It''s been some time since I got laid. There were those Twi''lek twins about a year and half after my wife died and that was it. That was too long ago I think. I''ve been too absorbed in the war and tracking down the people responsible for Ashara''s murder to think about s?x.

    That was the last thing I needed ¨C ?usting after Skywalker''s Padawan. I ordered my eyes not to pass lower than the neckline of the scantily clad Togruta female and concentrated on the conversation and my lunch. Safer that way.

    "Hmm. It was a thousand years since the last war with the Sith." Anakin mussed. "They were supposedly wiped out then, but Dooku and company proved that belief wrong."

    "So I am from at least that long ago. Splendid." I sighed. I was pretty sure I was from three to four thousand years ago.

    I frowned at the Jedi Knight and started fishing for information.

    "During that war, did the Sith raid Coruscant and lay waste to the Jedi temple?"

    "You must be joking! The last time something like that happened was almost four thousand years ago!" Now Ahsoka was looking at me like a favorite science project.

    Yep. Nailed it.

    "Lucky me." I grumbled. I could picture it already. Historians from all over the galaxy flocking to my side and begging for interviews. I wondered if I could get away with making a few graphic and bloody examples of such pests. Perhaps I should keep that for the paparazi. At worst, I should just take precautions and not get caught.

    I looked at the exited Padawan. Ahsoka was once again ready to explode and start bouncing all over the mess hall.

    "No. I am not a historical guide!" I snapped at the kid.

    Tano pouted adorably and started chewing her lower lip. I smirked.

    "That''s not working either."

    "Ahsoka!" I detected a hint of whining in Anakin''s voice. The girl was a handful to deal with ¨C I knew her for just a few hours and it was quite obvious. It su?k?d to be Skywalker.

    I went back to my lunch while master and padawan were having a staring match.

    Skywalker eventually won and his attention returned to me.

    "You said that you were thrown into the system by a super weapon. From the past no less. Yet you apparently know more about our general situation more than we do!" Anakin gave me a pointed look.

    "I''ve had various visions of your future for some time before the incident." I shrugged. "While they didn''t make much sense given the state of the galaxy back then, I could make some conclusions. When I ended up back in that system and felt that I might be displaced, I had a few hours to think about my situation and what exactly the visions meant." If you consider me being born and living in another universe for decades before I became a ROB''s handyman visions, I even told Anakin the truth.

    It wasn''t like I could be sure which if any set of memories I possessed were false. They all felt real when I was meditating. At least as far as the Force was concerned and that was all I had to go on by. In the end I had made a peace with my past.

    I was here for the long haul and thinking too hard about ROB shenanigans was only going to give me a headache for no real benefit.

    Besides, watching movies and cartoons a long, long time ago could be described as visions, right? What really mattered was that I knew the most important piece of information ¨C who Sidious was. Of course, actually dealing with the man was all but simple.

    I had no proof that the Chancellor was up to no good and I would be insane to point at him and declare him a Sith. Even if the Jedi went after him and won, that would create a precedent that could kriff me over. The last thing I wanted was for the Jedi to go after a Sith Lord ¨C like me ¨C without a proof of wrongdoing and get away with it. If the price for waiting was the galaxy suffering through the Clone Wars so be it.

    What? I''m a Sith. There''s a Sith picture next to the definition of selfish bastard in any self respecting dictionary.

    Unless Sidious wasn''t complete idiot, he would have contingencies in place in case he was found out. Contingencies which would be aimed in creating as much chaos across the galaxy as possible and prolonging the war. He would do it out of spite and for the advantage such madness would give him as a hunted man.

    I would do the same in his shoes as well as most reasonably competent Sith Lords I knew.

    Skywalker slumped over the table while he digested my answer.

    "This has to be a secret Sith trick!" he m??n?d. "I can''t tell if you are lying through your teeth or not!"

    "The Force works in mysterious ways." I deadpanned. Messing with Jedi was just as fun as I remembered being before Ashara died.

    "What did I do to deserve this?" Anakin bemoaned his predicament.

    How the hell should I know? I ignored his grumbling and went back to my food.

    =RK=

    Skywalker ended up stashing me in a spare quarters not too far from his own ¨C to keep an eye on the Sith he was stuck with or something like that.

    My temporally home was a small compartment, in which there was b?r?ly enough place for the single bed and the attached fresher. I got issued few essential necessities from the Clone''s supplies and went to take a shower. Once I felt reasonably refreshed I fell all over the contents of a pad which was provided to me by Skywalker. It contained the manual and relevant specks for a V-19 Torrent Starfighter. It looked like a nice enough machine but it was over-engineered in my opinion.

    It was armed with pair of laser cannons and two concussion missile launchers. The good news was that it had a class 1 hyperdrive and consumables for a week. If the Jedi changed their minds one of these toys should be able to get me to a civilized planet.

    I fell asleep reading the manual.

    =RK=

    Obviously Mr. Murphy or one of his irritating relatives, was well and kicking in the future too, damn them all. He decided that with me being a Sith and experienced pilot, there was no need to give me time in the simulators for the Torrent. That would be just too easy! There was about a half hour before I was informed of the fun to come.

    I was awoken by a cheerful and full of energy Ahsoka. We had a briefing to attend to it seemed. I grabbed my weapons and helmet (I slept in my armor) and followed the young Togruta. She led me to one of the hangars where Admiral Yularen, the nominal commander of the fleet, and Skywalker were preparing a briefing.

    Master Koon joined us on the way there and enjoyed watching me fend off Ahsoka''s ceaseless questions about the past.

    I was wrong about Tano. She wasn''t cute, but a major pain in the ?ss instead. At least we reached our destination soon and the briefing began making her cease her insistent attempts at interrogation.

    With capital ships being easy prey for the Malevolence''s (that''s the dreadnought we were after) Ion cannon, High Command ¨C I wondered if that meant Palpatine himself or just the staff officers back on Coruscant ¨C had decided to authorize a bomber attack against the ship.

    I wondered what exactly Palpy planned. Either Grievous was too successful and needed his wings clipped or the Sith Lord hoped that the attack would fail and after the fu?k up he would achieve some political gain or another. Those were the most likely scenarios, even if it could be something else altogether.

    I had to remind myself that this wasn''t a proper war but instead a theater in which Sidious played both sides. In my personal opinion, the whole set up was simply asking for something to go wrong and so the war could take a life of its own. Something like me.

    After all, I simply couldn''t compete with Palpy on the political arena. He was an established actor with decades to make contacts, alliances and find out where all the bodies were buried so he could blackmail people.

    In contrast I was a newcomer with no resources and allies. All I had going for me were my own skills, experience and what I remembered about this era even if my information might not be entirely correct. I had to make myself know to the Republic at large and the Jedi in particular as an ally, perhaps get myself a commission in the army where I could climb the ranks quickly with the war going on.

    Then I had to ensure that the carefully orchestrated farce that were the Clone Wars went to hell and became a real war. Doing so would greatly level the field between myself and Palpatine. When all is said and done, I''ve already fought in one galaxy spanning war and did quite well for myself.

    This operation I stumbled in was going to be quite useful for myself. Helping stop Grievous given his next target was going to enhance my reputation with the Clones. I''ve already won myself a bit of kudos after saving a few of them, but helping take out the Malevolence? That was going to be very good for me ¨C after all, Grievous was targeting the primary medical station treating wounded Clones from all over the sector.

    Soon enough, the briefing was over and the clones headed to their ships we went to meet Anakin.

    "It''s an aggressive plan." Plo Koon looked at Skywalker. Going on by his tone, the Jedi Master disapproved.

    As if that was a bad thing in a war. Usually defense didn''t win it for you. Oh, wait. They were Jedi. Aggression was a baaad thing. How foolish of me¡­ At least "my" Jedi had learned their lesson the hard way and by the time of the Cold War when I began my training, most of them were credible threat to us Sith.

    Not that we admitted it aloud. Appearances matter a lot after all.

    "Are you sure that the squadron would be able to handle the mission?" continued the Jedi Master.

    Skywalker grinned and asked the pilots who were more than sure.

    The members of Shadow squadron had the right attitude at least. I liked them already, plus they had a fitting name.

    While Anakin was trying to reassure Master Koon of the impending success of the raid, the Admiral, who was staying few meters away from the Jedi was grimacing. I raised an eyebrow at that. He was the professional military man and experienced to booth. One thing I learned early as a Sith was not to scoff at the opinion of flag officers who were not Force Sensitive. Some of them knew much more than me about the matter at hand even now after I had decades of experience.

    "Admiral Yularen, what do you think about this plan?" I asked the man.

    The Flag-officer was surprised by my question. I gather that the Jedi didn''t seek his opinion often. Or perhaps it was the fact that I might be confused for a bounty hunter who somehow had found his way on his ship. My armor gave off that vibe too, at least for those who didn''t know better. The confusion was handy at times.

    The Admiral''s frown deepened.

    "No disrespect meant to General Skywalker, but his plan has too high a chance of failure. Even if only a couple of the bombers are shot down short of the target, the rest of the squadron may not have the firepower necessary for taking out the bridge."

    Anakin scowled at that criticism while Plo Koon nodded sagely.

    "That''s why I''ll join the mission." said the Jedi Master.

    "Admiral, are other bomber squadrons available or even few fighter wings as escorts?" I asked.

    The Admiral was deep in thought for a minute.

    "I may be able to spare a fighter squadron for escort, however, Shadow squadron has all of our operational bombers. During our last engagement the bomber wings suffered heavy losses. "

    "That will have to do." I nodded.

    "I''ll give the necessary orders. May I inquire who you are, Master Jedi?" asked Yularen.

    "I am Delkatar Veil and I am no Jedi, Admiral. I am a freelance Sith willing to help you deal with this whole Separatists mess." I smiled reassuringly.

    He looked at me in confusion. "A Sith? Aren''t you supposed to be extinct, not to mention enemies of the Jedi?"

    "Ancient history combined with Jedi propaganda. I don''t have a problem with the Jedi as long as they let me live at peace. The so called Sith fighting for the Confederacy on the other hand ¨C they might have a problem with me. Besides, from what I understand, this Dooku character is former Jedi is he not? That should be a proof enough that not all Jedi are paragons of virtue and I''m aiming to prove that not all Sith are murderous maniacs."

    The Jedi were glaring at me for my insinuations. They probably weren''t too pleased with me for reminding the Admiral that the other side was led by a former Order member either.

    Yularen, while not trusting me yet, was a crafty military leader and he smelled an opportunity for acquiring allies. Or at least keeping a few of his boys alive through the next mission.

    "I understand you''ll be taking a part of the operation." Yularen stated.

    "I''ll do my best even if I''m not experienced with your equipment. As a Sith I have the Force serving me and that would make all the difference in the end." I parroted the standard Sith party line.

    It even worked as far as the Admiral was concerned. He had probably seen Jedi pull enough stunts with the Force not to question my words.

    I snapped a crisp Sith salute which was returned by the Admiral with the current Republic equivalent that was quite different from what I remember. Then he gave a small nod of approval. I had the feeling that the Jedi weren''t giving him or the other officers in the GAR the proper military courtesy their rank deserved. That notion was reinforced by the Jedi expressions which told me I might have received more respect from Yularen than any of them had gotten so far. The Admiral executed a precise formal bow aimed at the Jedi and left followed by Anakin.

    "Skywalker inspires a great confidence in his men but I am glad for the additional escorts." said Plo Koon.

    "We are just following his example." Ahsoka gave us a small smile as she supported her Master.

    "High moral, by itself, is not enough on a modern battlefield. I hope that the addition of a fighter escort will be enough. Now where is my machine?"

    I was led to a fighter, which was being checked by a team of engineers. It was parked near a roll of yellow, BTL-B Y-starfighters, more commonly known as Y-Bombers.

    =RK=

    I was chatting with the mechanics going over my fighter and asking about getting some simulator time when the Admiral hurried to Skywalker''s side. The Jedi and his Padawan were next to the bomber they would pilot once the Malevolence was located.

    To the Jedi''s shock it turned out that Grievous had blown up a medical convoy transporting wounded and was on his way to a secret starbase which was acting as a hospital. More importantly, that facility was the only secure place where clones from battlefields in the nearby sectors could be sent to heal. Its destruction would be a great blow for the Republic ensuring a nearly catastrophic loss of soldiers.

    Damn it, I should have paid more attention to the briefing. While I was distracted thinking about Sidious, my memory had dragged enough details to fill up the blanks on what would be happening ¨C details that the Republic apparently didn''t know yet and I would have hard time explaining. The last thing I needed was to be declared and enemy spy because I knew things I shouldn''t. Claiming Force induced visions couldn''t explain everything, kriff it all. I should be more careful in the future.

    Meanwhile, Tano started ranting at Grievous. Ahsoka was obviously outraged at the cyborg''s choice of targets.

    Granted, targeting the hospital required a certain level of ruthlessness but when you take into account the general attitude of the public towards the clones (and how the hell did I know that?!) it might easily be seen as a legitimate target on par with droid factories and repair shops. To most civies in the Republic (and on the Separatist backing worlds) the clones were not real people. This was a war fought by expendable armies. As long as parents on the core worlds did not have to send their sons and daughters on the front-lines the support for the war would be higher than otherwise expected. I''ll give Palpatine that, he had planned this show very well.

    Soon after the news came in, we were ready to launch. Eleven bombers, a squadron of ten Torrent fighters, one Jedi starfighter and me.

    It was not a formidable force when you consider what we were facing. A ship like the Malevolence had to have a lot of fighters even if for some reason lacking an escorting fleet.

    To my surprise another Republic fleet came in just as we were leaving. That was Kenobi''s command. Obi-Wan and Yularen''s capital ships were taking the long (and much safer) route towards the medical station. My insistence for more fighters and bombers was denied by the Jedi, because Mr. Murphy was in full swing. Before arriving here, the small craft of Kenobi''s fleet were mauled by enemy fighters. I just knew that there was a ROB somewhere watching the show with amusement.

    "I hope you know what you are doing." Obi-Wan''s voice came over the frequency reserved for Jedi use. My hosts had given it to me so we had a secure comm channel for the op.

    "Well, if I don''t, I won''t be alive for you to say ''I told you so!''" Anakin quipped.

    "Skywalker, that has the rest of us walking to hell with you. You know that, right?" I asked.

    Bloody idiot.

    "That''s not reassuring. So you are Delkatar Veil, our new guest?"

    "Yep. I didn''t know that it was standard procedure for you Jedi to send your guests on suicide missions to get their blood pumping. This actually raised my opinion about you folks." I quipped.

    Just before we entered hyperspace, Matchstick, the Shadow squadron leader said that he''ll be buying the drinks if we accomplished the mission.

    "I''ll hold you up to that." I muttered and sent my fighter into hyperspace.

    =RK=

    The first hyperspace jump ended near a beautiful nebula. Here was the entrance to what Skywalker considered a short cut.

    "We should be careful. The nebulas could be treacherous." warned Master Koon.

    The clones were busy to reassure us that they would be able to handle it. I knew a typical pilot''s bravado too well not to recognize it in their voices. They were wary but refused to admit it even to themselves.

    "Hey! The Padawan has opinion too!" exclaimed Ahsoka from the gunner''s seat on Anakin''s fighter.

    A small smile played around my lips as I spoke up.

    "Miss Tano, there is one paradigm which apparently never changes. No matter if you are a Jedi Padawan or a Sith apprentice, your master tends to disregard or outright ignore your opinion."

    "At least R2 is on my side!" grumbled Ahsoka.

    Ah. Jedi! They led me to sight see the most amazing places. While beautiful to look at from outside, the yellow-orange Nebula was a stone cold bitch to navigate. The visibility was down to few meters and the scanners were useless here. The clones had to fly after the engine light of the fighter directly in front of them. I and presumably the Jedi had no such problems. I could feel the clones and my three Force wielding companions and used them as beacons as I flew.

    "The scanner is down!" exclaimed Ahsoka.

    "We have to pilot by instinct." said Anakin smugly.

    "Skywalker is right, Ahsoka. Clean you mind and you''ll see the direction we are going." instructed Koon.

    I took the opportunity to break in with my own piece of advice.

    "While you are at it, try and feel us all. You could see each one of us in the Force and use us as beacons. Try avoid crashing into someone else''s machine." I added.

    "Nope. I still see nothing! Besides, I''m not the one flying! If we crash it will be all Skyguy''s fault!" grumbled the Padawan.

    I smirked.

    "You''ll learn kid."

    "Hey! I don''t do crashes! That often..."

    We continued our flight and I listened to the clones banter in order to help stave off the boredom.

    =RK=

    Couple of hours later I was cursing my luck. And my ingenious idea to go to the Jedi. How I could forget about what was supposed to happen in this force cursed Nebula I''ll never know. I''ll blame it on ROB messing with my head.

    It all started when our nosy Padawan asked Skywalker how he knew about the short cut. You see, it was a smugglers route. He heard about it on Tatooine. No surprises there.

    "They call it the Balmorra Run." said Anakin proudly.

    "The Balmorra Run?!" exclaimed Koon.

    The almost scared tone of the Jedi Master was my first clue. Then I sensed that something big and alive was moving our way at high-speed. The stream of curses that left my mouth could make an old and grizzled smuggler blush. I sensed more of the things approaching.

    "Scatter! Scatter! Scatter!" I shouted and hit the afterburners.

    Few of the clones followed my example. Good men. While the others were waiting for orders and Anakin and Plo were arguing Ahsoka detected the approaching danger but was ignored.

    Skywalker ordered evasive maneuvers and banked right just in time to avoid being eaten by a giant neebray manta. What is with Jedi in this day and age!? The Anakin''s Padawan detected the beasts on their bomber''s crippled scanners before either of them sensed the things in the Force!

    We found ourselves flying through a thinner part of the Nebula. The nesting place of those creatures, where scores of them were flying in a circle. Those things were easily kilometer long or bigger! I let the Force guide my hands and I was astonished to experience firsthand what was to be one with it! It was amazing. I really could see where each part of the bodies of the animals would go before it moved. It was a bit of a surrealistic experience but far from unpleasant. In fact it was almost addicting. When did I became an adrenaline junky anyway?! My Torrent danced through this labyrinth made from living flesh and I smiled at the exhilaration I felt.

    The ride through the shoal of neebray mantas ended too fast for my taste. Few of the bombers scrapped pieces of their machines over the huge space monsters but otherwise they were all right. Those of us flying fighters fared better. Our rides were much more agile so we could easily dodge the living behemoths.

    "Keep the course men! They won''t follow us out of the Nebula!" said Koon.

    "We are exiting!" declared Ahsoka seconds later.

    And here we were. On the other side. The Hospital was nearby. We were just in time.

    =RK=

    The medical station was almost in visual range when an enormous shadow appeared on our sensors. A couple of the greener Clones panicked thinking that the space mantas had followed us but soon cooler heads prevailed. That was Malevolence, our target. Which was actually a bigger concern that a group of animals, no matter how big.

    It was time to see if the change I made in the timeline would be enough.

    It was my turn to grimace. We were approaching the super cruiser from the side. It gave it a good angle from which to shoot at us. Beyond it I could b?r?ly make out the form of a mushroom-shaped space station. Then all hell broke loose.

    The capital ship shot its massive Ion cannon at something near the station, followed by an avalanche of red turbo-laser bolts. Either some escorts which had made it on time or medical frigates attempting to escape. They were doomed. I could sense people dying.

    I disregarded that feeling and concentrated my attention at the matter at hand. Grievous was idiot. He had sent a bunch of vulture droids to meet us but they were relatively few. Far from enough to put a dent in the fighter compliment of such a big ship as the Malevolence.

    Even without the escorts, the bomber wing had good chances to break through such a small swarm. With the squadron of Torrent''s present so few droids did not stand a chance of stopping us. So the Separatist General was either a fool or too arrogant which in the end was almost the same thing.

    I had no more time for stray thoughts. The droids were in range.

    =RK=

    I and Koon led the fighter screen and we charged at the incoming droids. While, thanks to my "new" memories I knew it intellectually, the short range at which the combat was about to take place surprised me. I should have known better.

    Have you wondered why dogfights in Star Wars are at visual range? Sure in the films it looks "Cool" and that is all. Not so here. The amount of ECM thrown from the super cruiser and droid fighters was insane. While the scanners could detect the general position where the enemy fighters were, that was not good enough at the speeds at which our machines moved. So all of us, people and droids alike, had to go and mix up close and personal.

    The scanners managed to cut through the ECM just outside of visual range. The first shots would be ours. I highlighted two enemies for my targeting computer and pressed the firing bu??on for the missile launcher the moment I got a target acquisition tone.

    The rest of the Torrent equipped squadron followed my lead. Before we flew into a rain of laser fire, twenty two concussion missiles separated from our fighters, raced forward and darted towards the robots which were closing with us with suicidal tenacity.

    Most of the missiles found their targets while few were shot down by lucky hits. Nineteen vultures died in short lived blazes of plasma and molten metal. Then their brethren were upon us. I blew up a conveniently placed droid before breaking up my headlong charge and maneuvering to avoid destruction.

    Whatever misgivings I had about my new V-19 fighter were gone. It handled like a dream as it weaved around barrages of enemy fire. I knew where danger lied and could feel in which vectors I could safely aim my Torrent. It flew in front of its afterburner plumes as I deftly guided it in a deadly waltz.

    Another robot fighter shattered under the hail of my laser cannons while it was trying to acquire a firing angle over one of the bombers.

    A Clone screamed as his Torrent was immolated around him.

    I put the agility of my fighter to good use when two of the machines flew behind me, pissed off at the destruction of their comrades.

    I led them on a lethal chase among the Y-Bomber formation. The ?ssault machines were flying at the Malevolence counting on their shields for protection. It was not like they could really dogfight. Their gunners made a short work of my pursuers. I shouted "Thanks!" on the all hands channel and darted at another target. A lucky hit blew the "brain" of the droid and sent the machine spinning out of control. In few thousand years it might ruin someone''s day.

    Three vultures were flying headlong towards a pair of republic fighters. The guns of the five machines were blazing at their respective enemies. A droid fighter was destroyed. I nailed second.

    The third received a grazing hit and lost control. It slammed at one of the clone fighters which was flying towards it with incredible speed. Both machines were engulfed by an explosion that illuminated the canopy of my ???kpit. It shinned like a small star for the brief moment it existed.

    I sensed a danger heading my way.

    "Break out! Move to the periphery!" shouted Skywalker.

    I hit the afterburner. I listened to the Force and raced at the direction where it whispered that safety awaited.

    A massive circle made of purple lighting was flying our way. The bombers were moving just in front of me and I was overtaking them thanks to my superior acceleration.

    "Shadow two! Your speed is decreasing!" shouted Tano.

    I could see how one of the Y-Bombers slowed down its climb to safety. Its right engine was smoking.

    "It''s nothing, sir! I''m trying!" shouted its pilot.

    Unfortunately, his damaged fighter was unable to keep up with the strain. A piece of his engine blew out and the whole unit lit up on fire. The bomber lost control and tumbled out of formation. I knew what was about to happen before it occurred. In my mind I watched how the wounded starfighter slammed in one of the following bombers and both machines crumbled as if made of paper. Not this time. I stretched my will through the Force. The out of control bomber lurched to the left, propelled by my mind. It was thrown out of the way of our squadrons.

    I grinned foolishly when my wandering mind was slammed back into my body. My heart was thundering within my ?h?st and I could feel blood rushing in my head. I was dazzled for few seconds before recovering. I knew, that now, when my mind recognized the phenomenon I would be able to use the Force easily without the tunnel vision I just experienced or the brief confusion that followed. I wondered whether Luke felt that way just after he shot the torpedo up the exhaust port of the Death Star.

    "Squadron report!" Skywalker''s order brought me back to the present.

    "Matchstick is spinning out of control. Shadows Seven, Night and Ten are out of power." the answer came from Ahsoka.

    "Rapier Two, five and eight are gone. Three, four and nine are out of control. I and the remains of the squadron are dealing with the rest of the clankers." reported the leader of Rapier squadron.

    One more bomber and my machine were a viable in addition to what was left by this point in cannon. Or so I believed. That was bought with the lives of three clones. I wondered if that would make any difference against the capital ship.

    We raced towards the leviathan.

    "Reinforce forward shields!" ordered Skywalker.

    "Hold this course!" that was Plo.

    The super cruiser was becoming bigger alarmingly fast. My fighter danced around waves of turbo-laser fire and blasts of flack cannons.

    "Skywalker! We need a new plan! The clones don''t have our reflexes!" I shouted over the comm.

    I already could see the debacle in the making. I''ve seen such things during the war four millennia ago. Whole wings piloted by ordinary men and women shattering upon the close in defenses of capitals ships. While fighters and bombers could swarm a cruiser and deal a lot of damage, that was when the small craft were in sufficient numbers or piloted by enough Force Adepts to slip through the defenses.

    We weren''t either.

    "We''ll make it! Hold on!"

    I had no choice but to follow. Breaking out of my course at this time would have left me on a vector which makes me an easy target.

    We reached the ship without losing any of our numbers. The bombers headed for the hull of the cruiser. Flying near it would protect them from most of the gunfire. I and Koon followed.

    "We are too close!" shouted a clone before his right engine was torn out from his ship by the fire of an enemy weapon emplacement. The crippled bomber lost control and smashed into the upper hull of the cruiser. It b?r?ly dented the armor.

    "Skywalker only those of us using the Force might make it at this rate!" I shouted to the hard-headed Jedi. I did a minuscule correction on my course and unloaded all my concussion missiles on a point just behind a row of flack cannons which were making the life of the clones harder. I was glad that the Force guided me correctly. Something gave up under the missile onslaught and the enemy fire slackened.

    "Master, he is right! You''ll make it but the rest of the squadron will be shot down!" Ahsoka supported me.

    "SKYWALKER!" I roared.

    "Shadow squadron! New target! Head for the Ion cannon!"

    "Finally!" I muttered.

    The bomber squadron banked to the right side of the cruiser. We flew towards the charging super weapon and soon were seeing the pylons with which it was attached to the Malevolence.

    "Launch torpedoes!" ordered Skywalker.

    Blazing, pink spheres flew from underneath the bombers. The first few struck their targets and detonated, blowing away chunks of ablative armor. Then another and another missile flew at the same places. The next wave dug deeply in armor that was red hot after being rend asunder. It was too much. Few of the support pylons through which energy was fed to the Ion cannon shattered just as the weapon was about to fire. It was the worst possible moment for such attack to happen. The super weapon was unable to unleash the energy fed to its coils yet it had to go somewhere. Its mechanism exploded, sending nearly half of the power it was containing in a diffused sphere around the cruiser. The rest of the energy however was feedback in the Malevolence. It raced through the power grid blowing up everything within its path. Power conduits melted or exploded, terminals fused into useless pieces of scrap. Turbo-laser cannons exploded once the colossal energy wave reached them.

    The cruisers listed to its right side. Multiple fires could be seen blazing all over its armored hull. The leviathan was crippled.

    "Good work squadron!" The Clones were congratulated by Master Koon.

    I shared the sentiment and said so. Talk about snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. That stunt was too close for comfort.

    Three Republic Venator class cruisers chose that moment to arrive. They jumped in near the station and soon we heard the familiar voice of Kenobi.

    "Anakin do you copy?"

    "Yes."

    "Congratulations! Your missions looks like a success."

    "Grievous is still in one piece." I decided to rain on their parade.

    "That dreadnought could go into FTL at any moment. You and your ships should do something about it, Master Kenobi." I added.

    "Calm down. We''ll take it from here."

    We headed to the medical station while the friendly cruisers threw everything they got at the behemoth which was trying to craw away.

 Chapter 3 - Emotion yet Peace; Peace is a Lie, There is only Passion

    Part 1

    Kaliida Shoals Medical Center

    Ryndellian Sector

    near Naboo Star System

    The victorious remnants of the bomber wing and its escorts landed in one of the empty hangars of the half evacuated Hospital facility. I parked my fighter next to Skywalker''s Y-Wing and after shutting down the engines I popped open the canopy and got out. I moved around Anakin''s bomber and met him and Master Koon, who was congratulating the young Knight for his "excellent" leadership abilities.

    "Excuse me?!" exclaimed Ahsoka. "Delkatar was the one who knew that the original plan wasn''t going to work! He warned us!"

    "You are correct smarty pants." snarked Skywalker.

    "It depends on the point of view." declared Plo.

    "Indeed, Master Koon. Skywalker, a word." I said after hearing their exchange.

    The younger man turned around to face me.

    "Yes? What is it?"

    "Tell me, how often have you led clones or other pilots who are not force s?ns?t?v? in battle?" I inquired.

    Skywalker frowned at my question.

    "I''ve been a general for less than a month and I was ?ssigned a fleet to command three weeks ago. So a few tims." Anakin answered after a moment of reflection. "We didn''t get any new training."

    "That figures. Did you have any military training before being given command? Has someone tried to hammer in your head that most people could not perform as well in combat as Force Adepts? We were fortunate that Grievous didn''t send more vultures to intercept us, not to mention the pylons supporting the Ion cannon were actually vulnerable to our torpedoes. If that cruiser didn''t try to fire just after the we hit its weapon this station would be gone and Kenobi''s ships would be in a heap of trouble." Not to mention the excellent odds of us being shot to pieces by that behemoth on our way out.

    The Jedi Knight looked positively mutinous. It seemed that no one had taken him up to a task in a long time. At least I could see him thinking, which was a good thing. There were many more ways the bomber raid could have gone to hell than I could think of from the top of my head and as far as I could tell the plan to take out that thing if we failed consisted of throwing two tiny fleets at it. Given that both Kenobi and Skywalker were really commanding battle groups, not proper fleets, it would have been a disaster ¨C the Malevolence looked like it could take out their combined forces conventionally.

    "Skywalker, you need to understand that expecting normal people to be able to keep up with you, will only get them killed. There are few aces that might be able to pull off stunts just like you in the ???kpit of starfighter and that is before the Force is factored in. So in the future plan accordingly or you''ll get a lot of good men killed." Me in particular, which was the important point.

    I shook my head. "I''ll never know whose idea was to put you Jedi as generals without first giving you at least basic military training!" I grumbled.

    "That''s not fair! We do good work out here!" disagreed Ahsoka.

    I removed my helmet and looked her in the eyes. "Look kid, I am not disputing that you are doing your best and thats often better than could be reasonably expected. However, the way this war is being run is Insane! How many people will die because you have to learn the craft of war on the battlefield, where every mistake is paid with blood and lives?" I asked.

    "I... but..." muttered Ahsoka. "Arghhh!" The young Togruta clasped her hands into fists and growled.

    "Too damn many..." whispered Skywalker.

    The smirk which was on his face ever since the Ion Cannon was blown up was gone. I suspected that he was recounting all the battles he''s been part of since the start of the war. I had no doubt that a lot of Jedi had been killed and battles lost because the newly minted commanders of the GAR had no idea what the hell they were doing. That explained the attitude of Yularen towards the Jedi too. While he followed their orders, the Admiral had no respect for the Order members. Probably he has been part of battles in which the Jedi''s lack of experience (and the disturbing tendency of some of them not to listen to advice) had let to easily avoidable losses. Then, considering his rank, Yularen would have undoubtedly read a lot of reports showing debacles caused by the new generals. No love lost there either.

    "Then see to it that you do not make the same mistake twice. And listen to the military commanders you have access to. For example, it is very unlikely that Admiral Yularen has gotten his rank without knowing what the hell he was doing." I continued to dispense free advise.

    Why couldn''t have I ended up at least few years before the war began? Then I would have had more viable options than joining either side of the war or going somewhere to hide while Palpy build his Empire. I guess I still could try the later, yet this conflict offered too many opportunities to simply ignore. Ah, no point in grumbling about what might have been.

    Skywalker gave me a sharp nod and left. He had a thoughtful expression on his face. I found myself alone with Ahsoka and R2-D2 who wh?n?d after Anakin. I grinned at the short astromech droid.

    "So, you have your manipulators full with him, haven''t you?" I asked the droid.

    "Beeb-boo-br-bep!" It pointed its photoreceptor at me.

    "I see. My condolences. It''s hard to keep a hard-headed Jedi in one piece." It would have been much harder if I had ended up in better position to make first contact with the Confederacy.

    "Booop! Wheep! Breep! Boop!"

    "So your mistress wants him intact. Well, good luck with that." I chuckled. Did R2 D2 put with Anakin just because Padme Amidala asked him to? That sounded right coming from properly programed droid.

    "That''s Master Skywalker. He is one of a kind." said Ahsoka with a sad expression on her face. "Was it different in your time?"

    I nodded.

    "Military strategy and tactics were taught at both the Sith Academy on Korriban and the Jedi Temple. It was a different galaxy I think. It''s not like I''ve got the time yet to see what happened after my mishap. You''ve had it easy. What was it? A millennium of peace? If you said that such a thing was possible during my time you''d be called mad and laughed out of the compartment. For us, the Sith, the very concept of peace is a lie. There is only passion. Conflict. It''s how we grow and evolve. But that is also a trap. For way too many Sith conflict meant a war with the Republic, battle with other Sith, you get my drift. While that also helped to make us stronger and understandable mistake given the situation, that understanding was flawed."

    "That is the contrary to what we are taught in the temple. There is no emotion, there is peace."

    "What. The. Hell?!" I ground out every word as if I was shocked and furious. "So the idiots are still teaching you to suppress and ignore your feelings?!" You would think the Jedi would learn but no. Apparently the Empire didn''t considering there was a Republic running things nowadays.

    Ahsoka shrugged her shoulders and gave me a small, helpless smile.

    "Emotion, yet peace. That was the first creed of the Jedi I respected from my time." I looked at Tano who was staring at me with huge eyes full with undisguised interest. "If I recall correctly the version of the Code you''ve been taught was the way an empathic and telepathic Jedi re-iterpreted it to serve better people like him, not for general consumption."

    "Really? What was the Jedi Code from your time? Why did you learn it? How did the Jedi back then dealt with emotions?" Ahsoka did her best performance of puppy dog eyes and peered at me expectantly.

    It should be criminal to look that cute. To wear such an outfit at her age too. Down boy, there will be a cold shower soon.

    "They accepted their feelings but trained themselves not to be influenced by them when making important decisions. We however, accept our passions. We do not fear them, nor let them rule us but use them as a fuel for our power." I explained.

    "That is certainly different. We are taught that emotions lead to the Dark side!" exclaimed the Padawan. "What about the Code? Come on, tell me!"

    "That is lie. Denying your emotions? Ahsoka, you are a living, thinking and, most importantly, a feeling being. What do you think happens when your emotions become too much to handle after you''ve denied them all your life?" I asked quietly. "It makes you that much easier to turn to the Dark Side and if there''s a war on, you might not need a Sith or Dark Jedi trying to seduce you."

    Ahsoka shook her head in denial. "Nope. Not me. I''m still waiting to hear about that Jedi Code of old!"

    "It is ironic, you know. For you Jedi, my kind are despicable servants of the Dark side. Do you wonder what we, the Sith, think about that? Each one of us is in conflict for control with the Dark side. It never ends. It is what defines us. And here is the biggest difference between our world views; How it all started. The Jedi believe that you either have to suppress your emotions or learn how to disregard them. We on the other hand seek to control our feelings. We accept and revel in them. But we do not let our emotions control us. To do so means that we have lost our eternal conflict. "

    We stood, shoulder to shoulder, and watched through the force field how the flashes of light made by Obi-Wan''s fleet as it tried its best to deal a death-blow to the Malevolence.

    "You are trying to corrupt me, aren''t you?" asked Ahsoka in a small voice.

    I chuckled. "That depends on ones point of view. I am trying to teach you to think for yourself. If that''s all it takes to demolish the Jedi Dogma you''ve been spoon fed in the Temple... Well in that case you could reach your own conclusions. Do you still want to hear about the Code?" I inquired while wondering what possessed me to... what was really doing? Trying to get myself an apprentice? Nah. It would be too much bother especially with the way the Order would jump on my case for corrupting one of their own.

    "Of course I want to hear it. As long as its the Jedi Code not a Sith one!" Tano gave me a pointed look.

    "Emotion, yet peace." I smirked. "The difference is quite profound, don''t you think? Both from the Code you''ve been taught and from the Sith one. Through passion I gain strength. For me, emotions and conflict are the foundations of my power. It is dangerous path though it beats having to waste years in navel gazing and meditation for the same amount of power through the Force. Then that same time could be used to improve yourself. Or to have fun."

    "That''s certainly different." There was contemplative expression on her face as she thought over my words. "What''s the rest?" Ahsoka continued to pester me.

    "There''s no ignorance, there''s knowledge. There''s no chaos, there''s harmony¡­ Shall I continue?" I inquired when I could feel her distress growing. Such a curious reaction to something so deceptively innocent.

    "I need to think. I''ll be back to hear the rest. I think." Ahsoka ''harumped'' and walked away.

    Tano was a bright kid. I hoped that she''ll be able to see the Jedi teachings for what they truly were.

    =RK=

    Part 2

    The Negotiator, Obi-Wan Kenobi''s Flag ship

    Ryndellian Sector, near Naboo Star System

    From the bridge of the Venator class star destroyer, our target looked positively huge. The Malevolence dwarfed the three cruisers which were unleashing hell on the crippled dreadnought. Its stabilizers were destroyed yet that did not deter the Flag ship of General Grievous from attempting to flee.

    For the last few hours, the Negotiator, Resolute and their sister ship Dauntless were sending barge after barrage of blue turbolaser bolts at the battle cruiser, yet the colossal energies bombarding the enemy had no apparent effect. The sheer bulk of its energy-dispersing armor was absorbing the onslaught without a scratch. It was meters thicker than any smaller ship could boast in its wildest dreams, then there was the sheer size of the ship itself which would be able to take a lot of punishment even after its armor was compromised. Frankly, finishing mission killing it would be much easier but the Republic lacked the firepower at hand for even that lesser feat.

    The disheartening sight which could be seen from the command tower of the Negotiator was observed by four Jedi one Sith and a Republic admiral. We all knew that the best bet of dealing with this monstrosity was with the help of reinforcements. Unfortunately the nearest fleet, which was under Jedi Master Luminara was engaging a Separatists force in a nearby system. No help was coming from that direction any time soon.

    "They are not making a jump to hyperspace. Their hyperdrive is down." declared Yularen.

    "For how long?" I asked. "The fleet could batter at that thing for a week. If nothing changes its crew will have more than enough time to repair their hyperdrive."

    "The enemy ship is losing speed." reported on of the clones manning the bridge.

    "Concentrate all fire on their command tower!" ordered Kenobi.

    The fire from the three star destroyer''s slackened for few seconds while the turrets acquired new target. Then death rained all over the bridge of the Malevolence. We stared at behemoth. The effect was underwhelming.

    "At this rate we''ll be here for a long time." I said with a hint of exasperation in my voice. We were unbelievably lucky that the attack run on the Ion Cannon disabled the rest of the dreadnought''s weapons. Otherwise that thing would have made a short work of the Venators. These carrier/battleship hybrids were clearly outclassed by such an adversary. "You should redirect fire at the engines."

    "That might be prudent. With the engines crippled it will be much easier to outmaneuver and we might get another chance at it if it flees to hyperspace." Yularen nodded and looked at Kenobi.

    "Do so." The Jedi sighed. "We need more ships." He muttered.

    What happened next confirmed something I was suspecting ¨C it''s been too long since I''ve seen anything about this era otherwise I might have remembered an important detail of the current mess we were in. It all started innocently enough. Ahsoka, who was looking over the sensor feeds was the first to detect a small transport ship exiting from hyperspace on top of the Malevolence.

    "Are those enemy reinforcements?" asked Anakin just as the Admiral opened his mouth to do so too.

    "No..." the Padawan trailed off. "It''s just one small craft. It looks like a Naboo ship..." Tano grimaced.

    "Cease fire!" exclaimed Kenobi. "What in God''s name is she doing here?"

    Now I remember. It figures. Thanks brain. I decided to play dumb because there shouldn''t have been a way for me to know who arrived unless I wanted to play the card of the vague Force related visions from this era I was going to be using to cover any unexpected insights. It was better this way I think ¨C no need to make myself stand out more than I had to for the time being.

    "Is that a friend of yours?" I asked innocently. Or as innocently someone like me could.

    "Ahsoka, contact that ship!" snapped Anakin, rudely ignoring me. I couldn''t blame him really ¨C if my wife had just jumped on top of an enemy ship in the middle of a battle, even one as weird as this one, I wouldn''t have patience for a snarky Sith either.

    "Naboo transport, identify yourself! You are in the middle of an active war zone!" The communications officer spoke urgently over the comm.

    "This is senator Amidala from Naboo!" a distorted female voice came over the comm system. "I need ?ssistance!"

    A small hologram of hissed to life over the control station on which Ahsoka was working. To tell you the truth, the former queen looked better in real life that in either the Clone Wars or the movies. While her features were generally the same, they were a softer and had few miniscule differences which made her look stunning. I could see why a nine years old Anakin thought that she was an angel.

    "Padme! What are you doing here?!" Anakin exclaimed.

    "I am on diplomatic mission!" Amidala sounded peeved at her predicament. "Which your battle interrupted!"

    "Tell that to Grievous. I have the feeling he won''t be impressed." I snarked.

    "Anakin, what is that bounty hunter doing on your ship?!" Amidala glared at me.

    Skywalker winced. I wondered how he was going to explain who I was and why I was tolerated. I did not think that Padme would feel generous towards a Sith. Not after that mess on Naboo while she was still a queen.

    "Later, just get out of there." Anakin implored.

    "You have bigger problems senator." I added unhelpfully earning myself a glare from Skywalker. I couldn''t help it ¨C messing with the Jedi was turning out to be an unexpectedly fun pastime.

    A moment later we could see her rocking in her seat. There were even more alarms blaring in the ???kpit of her transport.

    "It''s a tractor beam." I deadpanned. "Our cyborg friend intents to use the senator as a hostage I recon."

    "I won''t be used by the likes of Grievous as a bait! Continue the attack! Destroy that monster!" Amidala''s mood suddenly changed. Did it just register who caught her ship?

    I could feel a rage awakening within Anakin. He gripped his right fist so hard that the metal of his prosthetic fingers ?r??n?d in protest. He fought with his anger and subdued it into a controllable, cold determination.

    "Admiral, order all attacks stopped." Skywalker sounded deadly calm.

    That''s one way to properly channel your anger ¨C I approved.

    "Grievous will use this opportunity to repair the hyperdrive." I said.

    "What would you have me do, Sith?! Destroy the cruiser while Padme is on it?" Anakin snapped at me. "Oh, but we can''t ¨C we''ve been shooting at it for hours!"

    "I propose that we go with plan ''B''." I calmly ignored his sarkasm.

    "And what is that?" asked Kenobi who looked relieved that I was not baiting Skywalker.

    I pointed behind my back at the smoking Malevolence.

    "We go over there, save your girlfriend and deal with Grievous the old fashioned way. We either capture or destroy that ship, whatever''s practical."

    "Padme... She... She''s not my girlfriend!" Anakin spluttered.

    Then he headed towards the exit and I followed suit. It was time to see if Skywalker was all that he was hyped out to be.

    "And where are you two going?" asked Kenobi.

    I could sense a tiny bit of forlorn hope that Anakin was not about to do something dangerously stupid. That was promptly dashed.

    "Someone has to save her." Skywalker shouted over his shoulder.

    "And I have an appointment with Grievous. I hear he''s a warrior of some renown. I''m going to put that to the test." I added. Taking the cyborg out would be a good way to get myself some goodwill with the Republic and enhance my reputation. It would be fun too ¨C three birds with one lightsaber thow.

    "I knew you''d said that." Kenobi muttered and followed us.

    Behind us Master Koon showed his pessimistic side "I am afraid that they are making a terrible mistake."

    The last thing I heard from the bridge was Asoka''s voice: "Master Skywalker''s brainstorms are an acquired taste. You''ll get used to it. Hopefully..."

    =RK=

    "Skywalker, you need a new ship." I ?r??n?d when we ended in the ???kpit of the Jedi''s flying scrap pile. What is it with an ugly rust buckets and ''heroes'' in this universe?!

    "Well, it flies..." trailed off Kenobi. He apparently wanted to defend the choice of personal ship that his former padawan had made but the words refused to exit his mouth once he carefully looked around. "Anakin, the last time this thing at least looked b?r?ly space-worthy."

    "What can I say, master? These things happen." Anakin shrugged.

    "Only to you Anakin. Only to you. I gather that you have a plan?"

    I smiled at the banter between master and padawan but it was short lived. It reminded me about one of the few regrets I had ¨C I had never taken an apprentice, which in a sense was the ultimate test for one of my kind; that crazy Jedi I made fall and used to follow me around under Baras orders certainly doesn''t count.

    "In fact, I have." Anakin nodded happily.

    "And a plan B?" Obi-Wan asked.

    "And a C and D? Having contingency plans is important, Skywalker." I added my obviously unwanted advise.

    "That I don''t have yet. Why don''t you two grouchy old men figure it out while I get us to that cruiser?" Skywalker grumbled.

    "You, know Kenobi. It''s your fault." I smiled at the bearded Jedi.

    Said "elderly" man slumped in his chair.

    "So they keep telling me," he grumbled. "Where did I go wrong?" he asked of the heavens.

    ''Where do I start?'' I thought.

    =RK=

    The Force was with us. That is the only explanation why the first part of Anakin''s plan went flawlessly. We just flew to the Malevolence and docked to an airlock in a sector of the ship where the sensors were down. We didn''t get noticed by one of the thousands of droids crewing the leviathan. If we were somewhere else I would have said that it was pure luck, but with the Force in existence and sometimes playing favorites...

    Kenobi agreed with me. He also didn''tt like Anakin''s piloting. That was captured spot on in the movies. The boy was crazy.

    We exited Skywalker''s scrap pile and found ourselves in a small elevator. Most of the floors to which it led were blocked by debris or fires. We headed upwards in a search of a free passage until the elevator stopped on one of the upper decks and the doors opened. We were greeted by a pair of unarmed B-1 droids.

    To my surprise, the robots really bantered just like in the cartoon.

    "I knew it! It''s them!" said one of the machines while it was carefully stepping back.

    "Oh, no! There are three of them this time!" added the other, which was waving its hands in resemblance of panic.

    The Jedi make a short work of the unfortunate synthetics and we raced down a long hall. The side corridors were blocked, so for the moment we didn''t have much choice in picking up our direction. We had ran couple of hundred meters from the elevator when Skywalker''s comm started beeping.

    "Master, we have found the Senator. I am patching you through."

    Skywalker''s flame was on one of the lower levels. While I listened to the exchange between the married couple I wondered how no one besides Palpatine figured out that those two were madly in love. I could hear it in the inflection of their voices; the way Anakin''s aura flared protectively when he spoke with (or about) the senator while she was in trouble. My lips twitched with amusement. Amidala was not glad that we were here to rescue her if the angry shouting was anything to go by.

    The lovebirds finally agreed that we should meet into a big open space that was detected by Ahsoka in the middle of the dreadnought ¨C probably a tram line to shuttle men and equipment. It was the only practical way for something this big to operate.

    Few minutes and five unfortunate droids later we were overlooking an internal monorail system which had multiple levels. Not too bad way to move a vast quantities of supplies and spare parts quickly but to me it looked like that the empty space in that compartment was too big for the task. Perhaps if it was used to transport more vulture droids or very big single parts, because there was no other way to justify such cavernous tunnel¡­ or perhaps it didn''t matter ¨C it wasn''t like the Malevolence hurt for internal space.

    Finally Anakin decided to use his Jedi senses and confirmed that Padme was nearby. Considering that beside us and Grievous, she was probably the only other living sentient being on the super cruiser, it should not have been hard to sense her position. I shook my head in exasperation and pointed to a corridor on the other side of the monorail tunnel. Then I cringed seen Amidala''s companion. It was the contender for second place in the race for most annoying being in the galaxy. C-3PO. I started crafting plants for disposing of goldenrods. If Padme really needed a protocol druid I probably should find her a nice HK model which could mask as such.

    Kriff it! I was starting to miss my faithful companion HK-117. I wondered if by any chance his data core has survived the millennia.

    I should have known better. There was no way for those two lovebirds to reunite without drama. A squad of B-1 droids choose that moment to appear behind Amidala. The husband and life had just laid eyes upon each other when Padme had to duck under not particularly accurate blaster fire. She was forced to abandon her position and jump on a speeding train. The annoying droid stumbled after her and fell on another of the loaded transports.

    The two Jedi activated their lightsabers and started jumping all over the trains speeding on the monorails. I drew my heavy blaster pistols and followed suit, but much more careful. I never understood why most force users did not carry at least a pistol as a backup weapon. You never knew when you needed to take out something at range and there are some things resistant to the Force.

    Another group of clankers showed at one of the corridors overlooking the monorail. One of their numbers was dumb enough to shoot at the Jedi and was promptly blown away by its returned blaster bolts. The apparent leader of the squad said something that suspiciously sounded like ''I told you so!''.

    Those were its last words, because a second later a hail of bolts shot from my blasters demolished it and its remaining companion. My weapons, which were designed to take out heavily armored troopers made short work of the mass produced cannon fodder.

    Then I was jumping over the carts of a speeding train, which were loaded with various crates. I was submerged in the Force, using it to guide me to a safe course.

    Soon enough I caught with the Jedi just in time to see Amidala jumping from the train she was riding. I noticed that the monorail it was ridding was a blown up in front of it, making it a twisted, burning wreck.

    Anakin plucked his wife from mid-jump and guided her to his embrace using the Force. I had a good vantage point to watch the cuddling couple when I landed on the wagon behind them.

    From above them Kenobi shouted that he was going after the golden droid. A waste of time in my opinion.

    Anakin was about to kiss Padme and give me a bit of blackmail material when Obi-Wan interrupted them. The damn protocol droid was in a trouble. Fatal I hopped.

    That was not the only snag. Kenobi had overheard droids talking about the hyperdrive. Soon the Malevolence would have a way out of here and this whole exercise would be for nothing. The Jedi Master, who was closer to the hyperdrive told us that he''ll deal with it.

    "Skywalker, get your girlfriend to safety. I''m going to ?ssist Kenobi. With any luck Grievous will be there." I shouted to the lovers so they could hear me over the noise of the rail.

    I left the married couple behind and ran back to the monorail tunnel. If the scans taken by the fleet were accurate, I could reach the FTL engine by passing through there. It appeared to be the shortest way from my position.

    =RK=

    Today the Force was with me. I didn''t have to fight my way to the one of the best guarded locations on the ship. Instead shortly after I came back in the tunnel I saw a train heading my way from the side of the cruiser where the hyperdrive was located. Obi-Wan was on it and Grievous was chasing him. The cyborg had a light saber in each hand and was demolishing the containers that stood in his way. I raced towards my prey.

    Grievous had Kenobi cornered on the train engine when I reached them. I vaulted over to the high tech locomotive just as the Jedi jumped away. For the first time since finding myself in this universe I drew my lightsaber from its hiding place. Gripping its curved handle gave me a measure of comfort I had not felt in a long time. I grinned maliciously and pressed my weapon''s activation bu??on. With an angry hiss a crimson blade snapped to life.

    =RK=

    Part 3

    Malevolence

    Ryndellian Sector, near Naboo Star System

    "Who are you?" growled Grievous.

    The cyborg was looking at the newcomer through narrowed eyes. Many things may be said about the being who was hailed as the best commander in the Separatist''s military. While very few of them were flattering, the one thing on which both allies and enemies agreed upon was that he was an accomplished warrior. There were few beings who could boast as vanquishers of multiple Jedi. Even less were the ones who were not Force s?ns?t?v?. Grievous was on the top of that very short list.

    Thanks to countless hours of training with Dooku and IG-109 droids, he had become an accomplished Jedi killer ¨C a fact that only served to enhance his ability as the Supreme Commander of the Droid army. Now he had the skills to easily handle most of the Order members, something at which the droids under his command were pathetic.

    The warrior in the being that was once Qymaen jai Sheelal was why Grievous did not follow his standard modus operandi where Jedi were concerned. He could feel it in what little of his flesh remained. This masked creature he was facing was a breed apart. Then the man produced a lightsaber of his own and activated it. The general''s hate filled eyes gazed at the ruby colored energy beam.

    "My dear Grievous. You should recognize my kind." mocked a voice that was distorted by the armored helmet of its owner.

    =RK=

    I could feel the unrestrained might of the Force bubbling all around me. My blood sung with battle ?ust. I welcomed the sweet embrace of the Dark side and let it slide through my body. It strengthened my limbs and made my reflexes something to be envied by even a cyborg as Grievous.

    I held my blade loosely, not unlike a rapier from ages past back on my homeworld.

    "I''ve heard that you''ve been trained by a Makashi master, general. Let''s put that to the test!" I leered at the being which was more machine than flesh.

    I surged forward. My blade sang with the sound of burning air. Grievous ran to meet me in the middle of the engine where our sabers crashed. I deflected a pair of diagonal slashes from the blue and green weapons in his hands and moved faster than the cyborg expected. I was within his guard in a blink of an eye. My left arm struck like a viper and clamped over his right wrist. That stopped a strike from his blue blade which was about to lop off my head. My Force enchanted muscles and the cybernetic strength of Dooku''s pet monster strained against each other.

    While that contest of strength was going on, the lightsabers in our free hands were locked in a game of their own. Energy flashed between our blades as they struck each other with the unmistakable sound of lightsabers locked in a deadly struggle.

    For few seconds it seemed that our raw physical strength was evenly matched. Technology held its ground against flesh empowered by the mystic power of the Force. However this was not a fair fight fought in a tournament circle.

    Our stalemate was ended by a crate that flew from the cart behind the train engine and swept away the cyborg''s legs. Thanks to the racket the machines racing all over the monorails around us made, Grievous had no chance to hear how the container separated from the stack on which it was secured and moved directed by my will.

    "Argh!" shouted the General.

    I kicked his ?h?st with enough strength to dent durasteel and Grievous went sailing into the next cart. I could hear a faint hiss of pain emanating under his mask as the sack containing his few remaining organs was rattled by my strike.

    Grievous found himself in a heap at the back of the cart right behind the engine. He had landed in a bunch of crates, few of which toppled over him. I followed with a Force enchanted jump. The momentum of the train speeding away under me added to my closing velocity with the general.

    While I was in mid-air, the cyborg roared in defiance and used his synthetic limbs to throw away the containers under which he was buried. One of them was heading my way and it shattered over a cocoon of Force energy which I had formed around me to counter something like that. Yet the strike was good enough to slow down my approach.

    Grievous jumped on his feet to meet me. My crimson blade few in an arc towards the rising cyborg. My weight and momentum combined with his unsteady stance into an unstoppable force which battered through his crossed lightsabers. His right hand was separated just below the shoulder plating protecting the Separatist''s commander torso and flew away from the moving train.

    Unfortunately, the loss of a limb didn''t slow him down. My charge had me out of balance for a moment and I had to duck under a sweeping strike from his remaining weapon. The Force screamed a warning and I was b?r?ly able to cross my hands in front of my ?h?st as he kicked me as only a machine could. The durasteel armguards protecting my hands ?r??n?d under the sudden strike that fell over them. I was thrown back by the attack and was staggered when my flight was interrupted by a stack of crates which shook by my impact.

    If my body wasn''t enhanced by the force that would have been the end ¨C my arm would have snapped like a twig and the impact at my landing would have left me dazzled and open for the killing blow.

    "I will kill you slowly for this!" snarled Grievous and lumbered in my direction.

    I snapped my left arm in a well-practiced motion and a pair of darts with a micro Ion energy cell within shot at the approaching General. His lightsaber flashed in front of him and to my surprise, Grievous managed to intercept one of the missiles which sparkled as it was slicked in two.

    It was not enough. The other flew true and struck him on the right side of the armored torso. Disruptive Ion energy was unloaded in his entrails and Grievous screamed like a damned soul. He waved his left arm madly as if trying to smite an invisible ?ssailant. Small electrical discharges ran over his armored bulk and he shook as if being electrocuted. I guess what was happening to him was similar enough.

    A grappling hook shot from his left hand and, by accident or design, latched on the underside of one of the monorails that were overhead. I didn''t think that he was acting consciously but that did not matter. His body was picked up by the taunt metal wire attached to the grappling hook and he flew away from the train which was carrying me in the opposite direction. Before I could think things through I had thrown my lightsaber at the departing cyborg. The crimson blade hissed through the air and was guided unerringly by my will.

    The train on which I was on choose that moment to take a slight turn to the right and enter a tunnel. I lost sight of my target and my concentration wavered.

    "Kriffing machine!" I roared in anger while doing my best to keep my lightsaber from smashing into something.

    The train engine felt my wrath and it caved in as if struck by a giant hammer. Emergency brakes activated and I had to draw on the force to keep myself upright as the cart on which I was lurched to a sudden stop.

    I jumped in the air and headed to the back of the train. I had to nearly kneel as I moved over the wagons which were at the back of the open carts. The tunnel ceiling was that low. I vaulted over the last wagon and my feet struck the monorail line. Thanks to the emergency stop, the computer controlling the train system had stopped feeding energy in it. What power that still remained in it washed harmlessly over my well isolated armor. It was nothing compared to Sith lightning and my protections were designed to blunt the attacks of some of the most powerful Sith that existed in my time.

    You gotta love genius engineers and well applied Sith Alchemy.

    I ran over the monorail line back to the transport hub. To my irritation I could see no sign of Grievous.

    "Lucky kriffin'' bastard!" growled in b?r?ly restrained rage.

    The Dark side was whispering sweet, seductive suggestion in my ears. It would have been so easy and satisfying to let myself be controlled by my fury. It promised me power and invulnerability. I sneered at the dark seductress and wrestled control from its influence. I knew those whispers for the lie they were. I was NOT a common rabble that would be enslaved by the Dark side''s d?s?r?s! It was mine to control! Not the other way around!

    The Force twisted in a cloud of living shadows around me while I reasserted control over my feelings. The fury subdued to a simmering pool of anger and I could think clearly again. The Force gradually calmed down around me and I used it to guide me towards my lost lightsaber.

    I found it down below, half hidden by the shadows cloaked bottom of the monorail hub. The low light vision mode of my helmet and its zoom function helped me see the hilt of my blade. Dozen meters away I could also see something that looked suspiciously like the right foot of Grievous. By the Force, I had taken another piece of that bastard! He should be easy to track down and dispose as crippled as he was now! After a nice long chat about all of the Separatists secrets he knew, of course. I was not foolish enough of discard such valuable intelligence source if it was possible to capture and interrogate him.

    I levitated my saber to my outstretched right hand and was about to start searching in the Force for the running General when Obi-Wan called me. I cursed myself for a bloodthirsty fool! I had forgotten all about the Jedi who had let me deal with the local Boogie Man by myself. I had been so focused on my prey that I didn''t pay attention to anything else. Talk about tunnel vision¡­

    "Veil! I am with Skywalker and the Senator! We are heading to the Shadow! Anakin set the Malevolence on course towards a nearly moon! You have only few minutes to get over here before it''s too late! "

    Kriffing Jedi, I seethed. At least they gave me a warning.

    "Negative! I have Grievous on the run! It is unlikely that we''ll have such a good chance to deal with him any time soon. I''m going after him. You''ll have to pick me up from one of the hangers when I''m done with him." with that I cut off the comm.

    On a whim, I wasted few more seconds to retrieve the cut off foot of the General. If Grievous got away because of Skywalker''s stunt I was going to beat that young, impulsive bastard unconscious with that piece of scrap.

    =RK=

    I was running through debris lidden corridors hot in pursuit of the Separatist Army''s Supreme Commander. My progress was slowed down by groups of droids which were vectoring to intercept me. In the beginning of the chase, that was not a problem. The squads of three or four B-1 droids couldn''t even slow me. They wouldn''t have been a credible treat even if they could shoot straight. I wondered who in their right mind would produce "battle" droids without giving them adequate targeting algorithms and optics. Or even better a build in dedicated targeting computer. It was harder to deflect their wildly scattered fire back to the unlucky little buggers than it would have been if they were accurate shots! Talk about ironies¡­

    As I said the B-1 were just an entertaining sideshow. However the comic relief was soon replaced by groups of advanced battle droids. They were two meter tall, heavily armed and armored metal gunmetal gray machines They rained fire upon me with their wrist-mounted dual repeating blasters.

    While those things, at least at the numbers I was facing, were not even a moderate threat, they were slowing me down nonetheless. It wouldn''t do for me to get careless or overly arrogant and get myself shot. I believed that my armor and shield, which I had not bothered to activate yet, would provide at least moderate protection against modern weaponry but I was not going to risk it. From what I''ve seen on this ship, the weapon''s performance was average for mid-range gear from my time. However that was against the materials I''ve seen on the Malevolence. I had no idea how it stacked against what was used four thousand years ago. And the few B-1 I blew up with my blasters were not a particularly good test. It was obviously that those things were mass produced models which were build to be as cheap as possible.

    I turned around a corner and ran in the middle of a quartet of Super Battle droids. For a split second I stared in the photoreceptors of one of the silver killing machines. Then all hell broke loose.

    My lightsaber roared to life and I stabbed at the red eye of the machine that was glaring malevolently at me. My lightsaber swirled to the left and cut its way through the armored bulk of the dying droid. On its way to then next target if sliced in half the right arm of the robot I just dispatched. The second droid was bisected through the waist and its torso slid to the ground before the first two machines of the quarter, the ones I had ran past as I dashed around the corner could turn around.

    One of the remaining Super Battle Droids tried to backhand me with its left arm. I ducked under the strike and planted my blade in the center of the offending machine. I moved my lightsaber upward on a ninety degree angle leaving a melted hole in the synthetic. I immediately followed with a diagonal slash which cut the last robot in two. I spun around and ran down the corridor.

    The next thing that tried to stop me were a pair of destroyer droids. I could hear them approaching as they were rolling my way. They unfolded in an intersection which was in my way and were joined by four squads of B-1''s. Before the dangerous machines could activate their shields I rewarded their determination to keep Grievous away from me. The moment I heard the Droideka''s approaching I had prepared a pair of grenades. I lobed the Ion one at the crossroad second before it was reached by the droids. When they saw it, it was too late to do anything.

    "Ouch." said one of the B-1 which had its head painted yellow. Some kind of command unit I think.

    That was its last thought before a powerful Ion pulse overloaded their circuits. The still forming defensive barriers of the Droidekas were no match for the energy wave and they slumped to the ground while lightning tendrils were arcing all over them. My second grenade put a stop to that when it detonated, its blast wave and shrapnel shredding the machines. The two destroyer droids were wracked by few internal explosions as well.

    =RK=

    I reached the destination of the general''s way out. I found him on the other end of a large hangar that was filled with wrecked vultures, droids and various burning debris. He was carried by a pair of Super Battle droids toward a fighter that looked like something straight out of a pulp science fiction from the middle of the previous century.

    I waved my right hand and a piece of smoking metal which was lying near the general''s fighter shot at the Separatist''s Commander and his helpers. It swept their legs from under them and the trio fell in a heap on the ground. I sent a wave of telekinetic force at a pair of B-1''s who tried to stop me while chattering about how doomed they were. The flimsy synthetics hit a nearby bulkhead with enough force to splatter them all over it.

    Smiling under my mask I headed towards Grievous, who was shouting to his henchmen to help him up. At a mental command, a blaster flew from my belt to my left hand and I opened fire on the two SB droids. Those were made from sterner stuff. My shots boiled craters in their armor but that did not deter them. One picked up the General and headed towards the fighter while the other moved in my direction and started providing covering fire.

    I activated my lightsaber and weaved a barrier between myself and the killer robot. I continued to shoot at it and after a dozen hits on its ?h?st plate the armor gave away. Its shining, silver chassis was a melted ruin by that point. My next two blaster bolts exploded within its chassis wrecking its internal components. The SB droid fell face down on the deck like a cut down tree.

    I ran forward towards my quarry and I was shooting at Grievous and its last guard all the way. Energy bolts rained all over them. The cyborg screamed obscenities after the robot helping him few to the ground when I hit its knee joints from behind. I was already anticipating the face to face chat I was about to have with the Separatist commander when the Force screamed a warning to me.

    Only a frantic roll to the right which led me behind a big piece of a blown up ship saved me from being torn to pieces by the concentrated fire of four vulture droids. The bloody fighters were in their walker configuration and advancing my way. Their wing had separated in two stick like legs and the droid fighters were doing their best to take me out.

    "Damn it I should start paying attention! That is the hangar of a Separatist ship! Of course there will be vultures inside!" I grumbled to myself. I was acting impulsively without thinking through my actions. It was good think that Skywalker was not around to see me! The kriffing Jedi would have had a field day at my expense after the chat we had earlier.

    I looked around to see what I had to work with. There were a lot of debris and remains of unlucky fighters. My attention was grabbed by a vulture droid which was smashed by a fallen crane. I smiled. I closed my eyes and concentrated. The totaled fighter droid moved carried by invisible strings. Its twisted frame gave a protesting groan when I picked it up and used it as a battering ram against its operational brethren. I propelled it with enough velocity to crumble on impact with the leading walker which was coming too close for comfort.

    The machines smashed in each other with scream of twisting metal. They fell over a large cluster of burning debris. Sparks and flames danced over their broken open frames and found their way to the solid pellets of fuel with which the vultures operated. If the energy source was not being used to feed the engines of the droid that was operational mere moments ago, the flames might not been hot enough to cause a chain reaction. But as things stood they were the last ingredient needed for a colorful explosion. The impressive detonation threw the remaining three vultures to the deck.

    That was my cue to act. I threw ion grenades at the two farther machines and jumped to the closer one. I ignited my lightsaber while in the air and landed on the frame of the droid next to its head. It tried to turn its cannons towards me but I put my blade to good use and stabbed it in his electronic brain. It took only a second for my laser sword to drill through the armor.

    I glanced at the other two vultures. They were temporary incapacitated. That was good enough for the moment. Then I looked at where Grievous and his fighter used to be. Only the crippled Supper Battle droid was there. And it was crawling towards me.

    That fu?k?n? tin can escaped, damn it all to hell!

    The fury was back in full swing. I glared at the droid which had helped Grievous to escape and flung my right hand at it. It rose in the air with its limbs flailing uselessly around. I made a gripping motion with my fist and its arms and legs became taut. One by one its limbs were twisted away from the struggling machine. When only its torso remained the robot gave off a piteous wh?n? before being squashed into a football sized sphere.

    I let the useless clump of metal to hit the ground and redirected my attention to the disabled vulture droids. I vent my anger on them next by cutting them to pieces with my lightsaber. I, at least, was sane enough to be careful not to ignite their fuel.

    =RK=

    What got me out of my snit was the voice of Kenobi who wanted to know where the hell I was. I cut at a dismembered droid one last time and answered. "I am in one of the hangars. Grievous got away."

    "We have a lock on your signal. We''ll be there shortly. The Malevolence is about it hit the moon."

    "Understood." I grumbled.

    I could feel slight vibrations in the deck. The ship was too close for comfort to the planetoid if the armored bulk of the leviathan was shuddering.

    At least the Jedi didn''t let me to hang and the Twilight entered the hangar in high speed. I rushed to get on board and Skywalker got us away just as the super cruiser was entering the upper layers of the thin atmosphere of the moon. At full speed.

    The leviathan struck the moon with enough force to wreck a continent. It left behind a fireball that easily reached orbit. I wondered if the impact would be sufficient to cause enough tectonic upheavals and shatter the moon¡­

    =RK=

    Part 4

    Kenobi''s command ship Negotiator

    Ryndellian Sector, near Naboo

    Kenobi was out of the hook. While I dealt with Grievous he had made a sensible decision and went to disable the hyperdrive. The one I had a bone to pick up with was Skywalker. The Malevolence was dead in the water. Damaged and without working hyperdrive it was ripe for the taking.

    A Sith, a bunch of Jedi and the clone ground troops ?ssigned to the three star destroyers which were bombarding the dreadnought... Even if we did not receive additional reinforcements it should have been enough to capture the Separatist''s flagship. By itself, the super cruiser was a great prize, not to mention its propaganda value. As it were, I hoped that at least Grievous would be out of action for some time. However unless my Ion dart caused more damage than I suspected all the cyborg needed were some spare parts and a good engineer. To make matters worse, I didn''t think that the Separatist general would be dumb enough to face me alone again. For our next meeting he''ll probably have at least few squads of those elite droids seen in ROTS.

    "Skywalker! Tell me what exactly were you thinking when you sent that cruiser at the moon?" I asked after we landed and disembarked.

    "The ship needed to go," he shrugged.

    "Please tell me that you were out of comm reach from Kenobi and did not know that the hyperdrive was totaled?"

    "Our communications were disrupted by jamming. I was only able to speak with Anakin shortly before we met near the Twilight. Why?" asked Obi-Wan.

    "Well, with the hyperdrive taken out the Malevolence would have made a nice prize. Even if the ship itself was beyond repair it still could be sent to the breakers. You saw how big it was. Even if it was only used as raw materials, it could have provided enough for a whole new fleet."

    The pair of Jedi looked at each other. Apparently neither of them thought about that.

    "That''s a good point." said Amidala. "Who you are anyway?"

    I honestly forgot that we were not officially introduced.

    "Delkatar Veil at your service, Senator Amidala." I gave her a courteous bow. Who said that we Sith had no manners? We just picked carefully to whom we showed any kind of respect!

    "It''s a p???sur?. Did you really fight that monster Grievous to standstill as Master Kenobi said?" she asked curiously.

    I grinned under my mask.

    "Really, Kenobi? Do you have so little faith in me?" I asked and retrieved the cyborgs foot which I had secured at the small of my back.

    I showed them my souvenir.

    "He lost an arm and a leg but got lucky and escaped."

    They stared at the piece of the cyborg. If I am not mistaken so far no one on the Republic''s side had managed to even scratch the local Boogie Man.

    "Ah. That''s certainly impressive." mumbled Obi-Wan.

    I could see it in his eyes. His estimate of my combat abilities had risen dramatically and with it the potential threat I presented.

    "I just hope that with Grievous is disabled for the time being, so there so there might be a lull in the war." as she spoke the former Queen had a faraway look in her eyes.

    "It''s unlikely. The Separatists must have other somewhat competent generals. Besides he is mostly machine now. All he''ll need are some spare parts and few repair droids." I had to be the voice of the common sense. The CIS was on the offensive right now and it had strategic surprise on its side. There was no reason for them to slow down their attacks.

    "Unfortunately Veil is correct, Senator." said Kenobi. He was one of the best generals the GAR had and knew the situation better than me.

    Amidala looked at me with thoughtful expression.

    "You appear to have a firm grasp of the strategic situation." she said and frowned. "I did not expect to see a Jedi with such an interesting outfit. You look more like a mercenary than an Order member, Master Veil."

    "Why, thank you, Senator. I am certainly no Jedi. You could say that in this day and age I am a mercenary with a contract to fulfill."

    Padme raised her delicate eyebrows in surprise.

    "He''s apparently a Sith from a few thousand years ago and fancies himself a mercenary." Anakin explained.

    "That is not a wise thing to do. Many powerful Jedi had tried and failed. What makes you think that you''ll succeed?" asked the former queen, then Skywalkers words fully registered. "A Sith, like the one who hunted us on Tatooine and Naboo?!" Padme took a step back.

    While her dislike for mercenaries was evident, it was now replaced by fear and distrust. But was that a tiny bit of curiousity below it all?

    "Precisely because I am not a Jedi, Senator. They are peacekeepers. I am a soldier trained in the art of war. In order to win a conflict such as the one the Republic had found itself a different mindset is needed." I said with conviction.

    "And what is that?! To bomb innocent civilians?! Take over neutral worlds? Do you want us to become as bad as the Separatists?" Amidala growled at me. "As the Sith?!"

    Joy. I was pushing her bu??ons without even realizing it.

    "Bombing civilians, unless they are unfortunate enough to live near strategic objectives? No. That is usually counterproductive. It simply creates more resistance. From what I''ve seen since my arrival, Senator is the simple fact that the Republic has the better army and the Separatist possesses the better generals. As things stand, even if your side wins, it will be over mountains of bodies and oceans of blood. All you''ll have in the end will be a long list of shattered and poisoned worlds." I gave them a piece of my mind.

    She looked away.

    "There are already too many such worlds." Padme muttered.

    Anakin placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "We''ll stop them, Padme."

    She gave him a small smile then her piercing gaze returned back to me.

    "Veil, you said ''your victory''. You are not on the side of the Republic, are you?" Amidala asked.

    "I am merely an enemy of Dooku and his so called Sith. That does not mean that I have any loyalties or love for your side, Senator. I am, however, available for hire." I made my position clear. It wasn''t as if they would believe I was helping them from the goodness of my heart ¨C which I certainly wasn''t.

    Little did I know how my last words would came back to bite me in the ?ss.

    "So, at best Sith mercenary with flexible morals?" Padme rubbed her forehead.

    "You have no idea." muttered Anakin.

    "I am who I am, Senator Amidala. If the Republic declines my services, well it''s your loss." I left the group with these parting words.

    =RK=

    Master Plo Koon watched the strange ancient Sith as the man was eating in the mess hall while reading from a data pad. For the time being the Council had decided to let Kenobi handle the newcomer. For the foreseeable future, the younger Jedi Master''s fleet was to be an operational reserve so with any luck the Sith would be contained for the time being. That would give them time to observe this Delkatar Veil and get accustomed to the presence of one of his kind who was not overly hostile - at least that was the plan.

    The old Jedi wondered if the Force had other ideas.

    For Koon, the existence of a Sith as Veil was a contradiction of everything he knew about them. Was Delkatar one of a kind or were the records in the Jedi Temple overly biased? Or perhaps this man was just biding his time and playing them for a fools¡­

    No matter how much he meditated, Plo could not pierce the shadows obscuring the Force and thus the future. All he got was a vague sense that Veil won''t be danger for them unless provoked.

    All he really knew was that the presence of that man had made the maelstrom that were the Clone wars even more chaotic and complicated.

    Of course what Veil would consider a provocation no one really knew...

    =RK=

    Chancellor office

    Coruscant

    "I see, commander. It was fortunate that Senator Amidala was saved by our Jedi friends. But what is this I hear about a mercenary''s involvement with that sordid business on the Malevolence?" Palpatine asked the officer ?ssigned to brief him on most military matters.

    "By all accounts, the Senator was saved by Masters Kenobi, Skywalker and a mercenary named Delkatar Veil. Furthermore that man was able to wound Grievous and even took his leg as a trophy." came the reply from the Republic Intelligence agent.

    "Fascinating!" whispered the Chancellor. This was certainly different than expected. At least Grievous got away if not intact. With a bit of luck, losing a few pieces would make him more prudent the next time.

    Sidious had received a report from Grievous who claimed that an unknown man, who was wielding a red lightsaber had taken him apart. It was the mercenary he was currently being briefed about. The Sith Lord wondered how a fallen Jedi could have become an apparently successful bounty hunter without his knowledge. Or was that man trained by one of the few independent groups of Dark Side aligned Force welders? Yes, that was the most likely answer. It''s not like the Jedi would have left on of their rogues go free if they had anything to say about it.

    That man needed investigating. Sidious wondered how best this new element could be used. Palpatine smiled. The man had helped save that troublesome girl, Amidala. His former queen had a penchant for getting in and out of sticky situations. Perhaps that was something he could use. Besides he needed more information about the mercenary ¨C so he could determine if he could be an ?sset or merely a complication to be removed.

    Sidious sighed in exasperation. If it was not for that new shadow in the Force that was obscuring most of even his vision he would know more about this stranger. He wondered if the mercenary had anything with the disturbance in the Force but dismissed the idea. Someone powerful enough to cast such a shadow would not play such a petty little games!

    =RK=

    Republic cruiser Negotiator

    Hyperspace

    I spent the next week as a guest on Kenobi''s flag ship while the Jedi general and his forces were acting as a reserve force, one among many which were discouraging an attack on Kamino. It was obvious what the Jedi were up to but I didn''t mind it for the moment. I used the time to good effect. A lot was spent meditating (yes Sith do it on occasion, especially when we want to straighten up our minds) and getting used to the idea that everything I knew had been gone for close to four thousand years.

    The rest of the time I was either buried under data pads as I was catching up on current events or speaking with Kenobi. We were often seen arguing about the difference between the Jedi and the Sith as well as discussing tactics and strategy. Say what you will about Vael but he was an accomplished general and some of his skill had rubbed on me.

    Right now we were discussing the consequences of my suggestion to Skywalker when the headstrong young Jedi refused to pull back his forces from Bothawui. When I heard that he was about to ambush Grievous (who had recovered as fast as I predicted and was leading the Separatist offensive with a vengeance) in an asteroid belt, I gave him the idea to seed the expected battlefield with whatever charges he''s fleet had in stock. He had done that in addition n to placing combat walkers on some of the bigger asteroids and using them as artillery platforms.

    The improvised mines and the asteroid fragments thrown in all directions by them had shredded the particle shields on the majority of the Separatist fleets and even damaged some of their frigates. This ambush left CIS ships open for a hammer blow from Skywalker''s cruisers and the walkers which had a field day with the enemies who had lost their defensive fields and managed to mission kill a number of them. The enemy formation had shattered and Grievous had fled leaving his dying fleet behind. That was one of the greatest GAR victories in the war so far. To make it even sweeter the only Republic''s losses were couple of dozen fighters and score of walkers with their crews. That was a bargain price for a whole fleet. The only thing that might have made it better was if when the cyborg fled, Anakin was not too busy dealing with a swarm of vulture droids to follow and take out the bastard.

    "That was a great idea! Without the mines, Anakin''s men would have easily suffered at two or three times more casualties. With his novel use of the walkers his forces would have most likely won anyway but they would have been mauled in the process.

    "It worked well enough." I shrugged. "Skywalker controlled the flow of the battle because Grievous had to come to him if he wanted to ?ssault the world. It''s not like he could ignore such a force at his back. Not when he needed to invade the planet instead of bombing it back to the Stone Age.

    "Certainly. Anakin''s cruisers were perfectly capable to execute an attack run while Grievous was busy sending his troops down to the planet. It would have wrecked the Venators, but it would have gutted the ground component of the CIS forces. While Grievous''s fleet was formidable it simply did not have the firepower to stop the cruisers before it was too late."

    "Yeah. While we are talking about Skywalker, pray tell, how long has your former apprentice been in love with the delectable senator?"

    My question was carefully timed so Kenobi was just taking a sip of Caf when it registered what I was asking him. He spluttered, spraying black liquid all over the small table around which we were sitting.

    "Sith spit! What are you talking about?!" he exclaimed.

    "First, you are the one spitting. And second it''s obvious. Don''t give me that. You were his master for how long?! A decade? More? There is no way you do not recognize it for what it is." I smiled at him and awaited answer.

    Amidala and Kenobi were the keys to keeping Anakin from becoming Vader and I did not need or want to deal with Skywalker going on the deep end. So I decided to proceed with my tentative plans for changing the Jedi and naturally I started with my minder.

 Chapter 4 - Mercenary

    Republic cruiser Negotiator

    Hyperspace

    I should work on my presentation. I almost gave Obi-Wan a hear attack. Perhaps the next time... But I digress. The Jedi sitting across the table from me, had a shocked expression on his face and a faraway look in his eyes. It was obvious he was thinking about all the little things that should have rang a warning bell in his head as far as the interaction between those two were concerned.

    I decided that it was best to play ignorant. The outraged part about practically stealing children from their families needed no acting from me; by the Force even the Sith did not had it institutionalized as an official policy to basically kidnap children for training! And to think that the bloody Republic just accepted that... Granted, in a lot of cases the parents were glad that their kiddies were to become Jedi... In others, well not so much. Officially, only children willingly given by the their parents were taken into the Order. Unofficially, a mind trick or two done by an expect could persuade even the most loving parent that their kid was best with the Jedi¡­ Throw in a few scary stories about what the Dark Side does to people who weren''t properly trained...

    "I gather that your reaction is based on something more than those two lovebirds putting the wool over your eyes?" I asked feigning innocence.

    "That boy!" snapped Kenobi. "He has to stop it at once! He could be expelled for this!"

    I raised an inquiring eyebrow at this particular outburst.

    "Isn''t that a bit harsh you know? Boys being boys and girls being girls... It''s not like it''s the first nor the last time something like that has happened. How do you think most of the Force Sensitive come to be? Usually the Force is not going around blessing random couples for the hell of it..."

    Well I knew for a fact that it wasn''t actually genetic but either being carried to term from Force Sensitive mother or if the father was powerful enough in the Force he could get Force Sensitive children even from a normal mother. Genetics really didn''t come into it. One of my aquintances had been researching it extensively in his youth. I carefully never asked how many people died or were left broken during his experiments. He was too useful to risk what little was left of my conscience raising its ugly head.

    "It''s forbidden! Attachment and passion lead to the Dark side! He is too full of anger already and does not need further distraction! You saw Anakin when Grievous captured Padme on the Malevolence! If he had not suppressed his feelings..."

    I snorted in disbelief. Ah, the powers of self-delusion! I wonder how the Jedi survived the last millennium like that.

    "I call bantha poodoo on that! I came from an era when seducing Jedi to our side was a national sport! Let me tell you, there was not one of them who fell to the Dark Side because of love! Those who had someone to be in love with were the hardest to turn! And some of these people came back to your precious light precisely because of that love! So don''t give me that nonsense you''ve been spoon fed in the Temple. You can think for yourself!"

    "How can you say that!? Now that my eyes are opened for Anakin''s indiscretion..." I chuckled at his words, "I shudder to think what he would have done if Padme was wounded or if the worst happened!"

    "And what is the worst, Kenobi? That the Senator could have gotten herself killed and thus removing a temptation for your precious chosen one? Or that he might have sought vengeance? You Jedi are deluding yourselves! You are not automatons without feelings! Dismissing them only makes you weaker! Why do you think that we were so successful in turning Jedi left and right during every major conflict? Because there were always some of you who wanted to cut off your feelings and that makes your kind such easy prey! What do you think happens when one of you Jedi is confronted with what he''s been so busily ignoring for his whole life?!"

    I could see the gears turning in Obi-Wan''s head despite his persistent glaring.

    "That''s not what I mean and you know it! I don''t wish anything bad to happen to Senator Amidala! If we do not discard our emotions we become vulnerable! They cloud our judgment! How could we fulfill our role as guardians of the Republic''s peace if we let ourselves be swayed by our feelings?" Obi-Wan spoke passionately.

    "Kenobi, despite the short time I''ve known you I am well aware that you are not that thick. Stop recycling those slogans and think for yourself! How could you guard the people of this galaxy if you could not understand them? Have you ever wondered how the average citizen sees your Order and its members? I''ll tell you how! You are like a scary space wizards who prompt fear and distrust. You can''t cut off a vital part of what makes you a living, breathing sapient being and call it an achievement!"

    "It''s worked for a thousand years! The Code is the foundation of what means to be a Jedi!"

    See, there?! He did not argue that many people see the Jedi in a less than a flattering light!

    "Only because these new Sith were not interesting in a bunch of new recruits and decided to stay low! Your Code was not given to the Jedi by the Force itself!"

    Obi-Wan looked to be deep in thought.

    "No it wasn''t. Yet it served us for the longest recorded period of peace!"

    "A time when there was no one obvious to challenge you! And now you are playing in the hands of a Sith Lord. There are always emotions no matter if you try to discard them or not! It''s one thing to achieve an inner equilibrium and not let your emotions rule you! There are other feelings that fear, hatred and rage. You know that, right?" I asked rhetorically.

    "I know that!" he whispered through clenched teeth. "It''s not about whether we can or not let ourselves be somewhat influenced by our emotions when not on mission! It''s about the temptation! How do you cut yourself from your feelings when it counts if you do not do it all the time?!"

    "You don''t. You simply train yourself to be in charge of your emotions so they do not control you." I said more calmly. "And that is not a Sith idea. We had to know our enemies in order to fight them effectively. What you are doing in today''s galaxy has very little in common with the Jedi of old. Find a balance that works for you while you keep your feelings. You won''t fall to the Dark side by doing that. On the contrary, you''ll be not only stronger for it but it will be easier to resist temptation that way."

    For a long time Kenobi was silent. When he choose to speak again a wry smile appeared on his face.

    "Is this the way you turn Jedi from the Order? With logic instead of threats and torture?"

    "Look at me and tell me, Obi-Wan, when do you think that I fell to the Dark side? "

    He gave me a dirty look.

    "How in the name of the Force should I know?!"

    I allow a smirk to form on my lips.

    "I''ll tell you a deep, ''dark'' secret, Kenobi." Sarcasm was dripping from my words. "As the Jedi of my time saw it, I never fell."

    Obi-Wan gave me an incredulous and disbelieving look. It seemed to say ''Yeah, pull the other one''.

    "I flirt and struggle with the Dark side every day. It is a part of my existence. A never ending conflict and I am stronger for it. To fall to the Dark side is not so simple as using it and reveling in it in combat. It means being lost to her and becoming the raging beast you Jedi believe all Sith to be. The danger is that it''s always there, whispering to you. She is the sweetest seductress that there is. She promises ultimate power. A chance to sate all your passions. You just have to let go and let yourself be under its sway. Well, you know what happens then. I believe that most of the scary tales you are whispering about the Sith come from people that lost that struggle. In fact most did."

    Obi-Wan contemplated my words. I believe he was comparing them to what he thought he knew about the Sith. And this time actually thinking.

    "How do you do it? How do you stand it?"

    I sit back and give him a long look.

    "It requires iron will and unwavering discipline. But neither of those are the true secret." I leaned forward and whispered. "I know that all the promises of the Dark side are lies. The way to power through it lays in subjugating it to your will and never letting it control you. For that way lies madness."

    "That''s not what I expected."

    "Do you want me to talk about the glories of the Dark side? About how it''s stronger? Heh. Neither side is stronger, Kenobi. The Dark side simply makes it easier to progress in different fields then that of the Light. Where you excel in mediation, defense and healing, the Sith are masters of warfare and destruction. It is not only our philosophies, but what natural aptitudes the different sides of the Force are more suited for. I can as easily kill as heal with my powers but with me being Dark if you will, I simply find it more draining to mend wounds than a Jedi would."

    "Hmm. You''ve given me a lot of food for thought. I''ll think about it."

    "That is all I am asking. I have no intention, or need even, to turn you into a Sith. We should continue this conversation at some other time. So, pray tell what are you going to do about Skywalker?"

    "That boy will be the death of me!" Kenobi ?r??n?d.

    "Obi-Wan, as things are now, it does not take a genius to figure out what your Council will do with such information. They will force Skywalker to choose between his Queen and the Jedi. And let me tell you something. I''ve seen a lot of young men and women just like him. Both Jedi and Sith. His primary loyalties are to people, not organizations. If he is forced to choose between her and the Order, there is no contest. He''ll always go to Amidala. I think that, in his mind, the loyalty to whatever Jedi friends he has is what makes him loyal to the Order. So thread carefully. He is probably the Jedi with greatest potential of this era. Do not make something happen that you''ll later regret."

    There was another stretch of silence as the Jedi Master digested my words. When he spoke it was with resignation in his voice.

    "I''ve always suspected that this may be the case but hoped that he''ll change as he grows older."

    "What about you, Obi-Wan? What would you do? You have to choose between someone that you obviously see as your little brother and the Council. Will you betray him? Because make no mistake, if you are the one to tell them about his feelings for Amidala that''s how he''ll see it."

    "Bastard! You planned that all along!" His right hand fell over the hilt of his lightsaber.

    I gave him a cheerful smile.

    "That''s correct. Just not for the reasons you think. Skywalker is one of the keys for the future of both the Republic and the Jedi. With the current dumb policies of the Order, he is forced to hide his relationship with the Senator, no matter what it is. That is not something that inspires trust. In that regard, he has to see the Jedi as adversaries. What do you think will happen if the Sith Lord behind the CIS finds out about it? He''ll use the feelings of those two against them. Instead of a source of great strength, as it should be, their relationship will be turned into a deadly weakness. Because Skywalker would have no one to whom he turn to for help. Don''t look at me like that. Depending on how long their relationship has been going on, he might be so wary of the Jedi Council that he''ll not confide in you either. Only disaster lies that way."

    I stood up.

    "You''ve a lot to think about. See you around, Obi-Wan."

    =RK=

    The next morning I was awoken by a grumpy Jedi Master who looked like he has not slept (or meditated) well last night.

    "What did you do this time?!" That was his greeting.

    "Mmm... Nothing untoward as far as I know. My gambit for galactic domination is scheduled to begin tomorrow. Why?" I quipped, and wondered what that was about.

    "Very funny." he deadpanned. "We just received message from the Chancellor''s office. Apparently words of your exploits on the Malevolence had reached his ears. He has requested your services for a mission."

    Well, well. The plot thickens. Palpy had sniffed something. The question was how much he knew, what he suspected and what he thought he knew.

    "Palpatine is concerned for the safety of his former queen. As you may know, he was the senator from Naboo." Obi-Wan said.

    "And if the rumors I heard are true then Amidala has a knack for getting into trouble." I finished for him.

    The whole thing was obviously meant to be some kind of test. Despite his "wounds" Grievous may not have been believed. Nothing like blaming a boogey man to cover your ?ss. And the loss of the dreadnought had to be a major sore point for the Separatists. Besides, while on the Malevolence, I did a lot to downplay my skills with the Force. Liberally using the weapons I usually carried as backups should have helped sell that deception.

    "So let me get this straight. The Chancellor wants me to do what? Babysit the senator?" I asked incredilously.

    "In a manner of speaking. She''ll be visiting the Rodian''s home world before the week''s end. The Chancellor wants her to either travel on board of a Republic cruiser or get herself a bodyguard."

    "What I am? The new rage amongst the politicians on Coruscant?!" I chuckled. "I hope the pay will be decent."

    Kenobi''s only answer was an amused smirk.

    "So I''ll have to keep Skywalker''s girlfriend in one piece. If what I saw on the Malevolence is anything to go by, I''ll have my hands full. I''ll want additional hazard pay for this..." I muttered, playing up my fake freelancer persona.

    My mind was busy calculating and discarding plans. Keeping such a high profile politician in one piece would do wonders for my reputation. With the war going on if I wanted my own command from the ranks of the GAR (one of my primary plans for dealing with the mess counted on such a developments) that was something I''ll need. Especially considering the fact that as things stood the Jedi would do their damned best to block such an idea. I needed friends in high places both within the Senate and the GAR high command.

    If this was during a peace time I would not have considered such a course of action. Sidious would have the deck totally stacked against me. But there was no peace to be found. And I had the knowledge of a good Sith general. This conflict presented a lot of opportunities.

    This was the opening move of the great game between me and Sidious. I felt a shiver of anticipation run down my spine. After all the prize was nothing less than the galaxy itself.

    =RK=

    Part 2

    High orbit

    Coruscant

    Arriving at Coruscant was achieved with a fighter that was loaned to me. My craft exited hyperspace in the outskirts of the star system containing the Republic''s capital world. Call me paranoid but I preferred to take it nice and slowly instead jumping near Coruscant ¨C I blame my paranoia about that. The few times I''ve visited that world in the past weren''t fun. Most of them were covert insertion in order to clean up one mess or another, or cause trouble for the Republic.

    Besides, jumping blindly in the space around Coruscant wasn''t the best idea even for a Force Adept. Everywhere around the capital world of the Republic was usually cramped with both military and civilian traffic, which was even worse during a hot war.

    So I jumped in the outer system in a region that felt safe. A Venator was patrolling the local space hailed and scanned my ship. The comm officer directed me to one of the defense stations orbiting the capital world of the Republic. I was instructed to refuel there and wait for Senator Amidala''s transport. He also gave me the coordinates for a military staging area in high orbit of Coruscant, where I was to meet Padme some time later.

    After I landed on a Golan I station, my Torrent was checked up by a group of clone engineers while a pair of droids refueled it. I chatted up a bit with the technicians while they were going over my craft. As expected they knew a lot of rumors but nothing I thought was credible. Most of it was speculation about a Republic fleet that was resupplying nearby and where it would be going once that was done.

    I was out of the ???kpit to stretch my legs a bit while looking over the various small craft and transports landed in the dock. They had teams of engineers scurrying all over them. I turned to the entrance, where through the soft bluish glow of the force field containing the atmosphere I could see Coruscant. To tell you the truth, despite having seen the planted from orbit multiple time, the city world still looked incredible. The sight was made even more awe-inspiring because the station was holding orbit over the dark side of the world. The surface was blazing with countless lights in spreading in starburst patterns from various cities and country sized industrial zones.

    I wondered how many trillions made their homes upon the world strewn bellow me.

    If looks were anything to go by, Coruscant was a fitting place for the seat of the government that ruled most of the galaxy. It was too bad that the Republic was b?r?ly functioning house of cards.

    =RK=

    Amidala decided to be a pain in the ?ss from the moment we spoke on the comm.

    "This is a peacekeeping mission. Diplomacy is needed, not some more warmongering. I don''t want any accidents! We aren''t going there to provoke the Rodian government or attack them! I want you on your best behavior, is that clear?!" The Senator snapped waspishly at me the moment we had established connection.

    Gee. I didn''t make a good first impression, did I? Where do I start?!

    In my experience there were very few problems that could not be made to go away by attacking them and employing overwhelming firepower ¨C preferably from orbit. That usually did the trick. I wondered if Amidala was pissed at me personally or I was just a convenient target for her vitriol after being overruled by Palpatine about needing a babysitter. Before leaving the Negotiator and heading here I heard Kenobi mentioning something about the Chancellor threatening to stick her with at least a platoon of clones if she persisted with her suicidal stunts. Or perhaps it was an Acclamator with a full complement of fighters and ground troops because she got in enough trouble to warrant such a response...

    "Senator Amidala, this little exercise was not my idea. I''ll do anything in my power to fulfill my contract which is to keep you in one piece and bring you back here alive. If that means ruffling some feathers, then so be it. Please do not forget that I am not under your command. Now, if you''ve finished unloading your grievances with whoever decided that I am the best man to be your bodyguard onto me, are you ready to depart? I was informed that you wished to visit an old family friend on Rodia ASAP. Is that correct?" I spoke in deceptively calm voice.

    The last Republic Senator with such an attitude I spoke to died screaming, the wanker.

    "Yes I''ve known senator Farr since I was a child. His world is in crisis and his people are starving."

    "Said world is in a middle of a war zone in the Outer Rim. To be honest, Senator, in order to guarantee your safety I''ll need a bloody fleet but that is something you apparently refused. Most unwise in my opinion. Eh, it''s your life. Shall we head to our destination?"

    =RK=

    Planet Rodia

    Outer Rim

    I was glad that I had to spend the last couple of days strapped in the ???kpit of the Torrent. The alternative ¨C being stuck in one small ship with Jar-Jar Binks, wasn''t something I wanted to think about. I would have snapped and murdered everyone on board by the end of the first day.

    At least it was a quiet trip because Amidala choose not to speak with me beyond the b?r? necessary for coordinating our course.

    We exited hyperspace near the gravity well of Rodia. It was a green lush world covered by multitude of small islands and huge swamps. Almost as bad as Dagobah in that respect but at least it had some high tech cities and industry. Not to mention it wasn''t a pocket death-world. Nevertheless, it was definitely somewhere that I wouldn''t spent any time longer than strictly necessary by choice. While we were descending from orbit I felt a small tremor in the Force. It was a warning. As if I did not know that we were heading for some kind of trap after his Sithinesss arranged this field trip. It was not like I could accuse the Chancellor of being Sith without proof. By the Force, even if I had some kind of evidence the Jedi Council may well dismiss it as a fabrication because of what I am, and that wasn''t taking into an account all the contingency plans Sidious should have in case his true identity is discovered.

    The Senator''s Nubian transport and my fighter arrived at a group of facilities (or were those the local towns?), that were covered by domes made of some sort of crystal. A sliding doors opened to admit our craft. I landed to the right of Amidala''s ship and popped open the canopy of my fighter. To my pleasant surprise not only it was not too humid under the dome but Padme left the transport alone! She had the good sense to let goldenrod and the gungan on the ship.

    However, I would have take points for not having a guard or two, or at least waiting for me to disembark ¨C she could have been shot or something before I could leave the ???kpit.

    Amidala, who was wearing white blouse and pants had a purple hooded cloak hugging her shoulders, gave me a small nod and we departed. I took a position to her right and we followed the Rodian who was sent as our guide. The inside of the building looked like it was made of stone. It was a curious blend of old and high tech look that was pleasant to look at.

    We were led to a courtyard surrounding a tower made from yellow metal. The Senator we met there and Padme exchanged greetings in Rodian which passed over my head. That was not a language I knew. After few pleasantries that you''d expect when someone meets an old family friend, the politicians got straight to business.

    "You are talking about a friendship I could not see, Padme." said Ferr as we were walking around the tower.

    I drew on the Force and used it to expand my senses. Let me tell you, I didn''t particularly like what I felt.

    "Where was the Republic when our ships were decimated?! Where is it while my people are starving? We were left out here alone! Isolated without help from anyone!" The local senator was quite agitated. I could feel his anger, fear and shame all combined with increasing amount of nervousness.

    "The vote was slowed down but I can ?ssure you, uncle Comm, you will receive the food soon!" Padme tried to calm down the Rodian.

    So Palpy was back to his old tricks in the senate. Business as usual. Sometimes I wonder why no one tried and succeeded in overhauling the way the Republic was run. Then the obvious answer came unbidden ¨C the member systems liked the Republic just as it was ¨C somewhat useful, but not too strong or effective so they could conduct their business in relative peace.

    "I''m sorry. It is too late." Ferr shook his head.

    Ah, he was ready to spring the trap, wasn''t he?

    "Oh, you will be, Senator Ferr. Do you think that the welcoming committee is strong enough?" I spoke for the first time since landing.

    "Veil! You will not threaten a Republic Senator!" Amidala snapped at me.

    Damn it, the woman was oblivious. Small surprise she got into so much trouble.

    "I am not. You are no longer with the Republic, are you, Ferr.?" The Rodian blanched at the menace contained in my voice.

    He glared at me and returned his attention towards Amidala.

    "I am sorry, dear. Nute Gunray, the leader of the Separatist promised us generous help. In the end I must do what is best for my people." he said while looking sad. There were waves of remorse suddenly washing over me coming from the wretched being.

    Huh. He actually didn''t want to betray Padme, though I couldn''t say the same about his feelings about the Republic. I was almost sure that he won''t be losing any sleep over the latter.

    Ferr proceeded to tell us how good the Neimodean''s help had been so far. Certainly much more than the distant Republic could have done considering the strategic situation. In the end, Rodia was a small world which wasn''t too important when there was a galaxy spanning war raging all around us. Truth to be told, in this case I could honesty say that both sides were right. From their point of view. Ferr, was doing his duty to his people. It was too bad ¨C for him ¨C that today his decisions made him my enemy.

    "I did what I had to. For my people''s sake." The Rodian sounded apologetic and I sensed he meant it.

    "It doesn''t really matter. This is a mistake that you may even live to regret." I smiled under my mask. I could hear the clanking of metal feet moving our way as well as sense the droids approaching us.

    My primary problem was that we were in too open a place. If I engaged here it was likely that Amidala would be hit. It was time to improvise. I removed a personal shield mounted into an armband and placed it on Padme''s right arm.

    "Hey! What do you think you are doing?!" Amidala exclaimed.

    I ignored her and activated the defensive screen which snapped to life and enveloped her snugly. A bit of radiation poisoning was preferable than being blasted to pieces.

    Instead of grabbing her and running away, like most bodyguard would have done, I waited. The Force whispered to me that doing so would be for the best. What little I remembered from the episode of the Clone Wars that dealt with the events that were unfolding around me meant that we needed to bide our time. An opportunity awaited that way.

    We were surrounded by twenty B-1''s and a couple of Super Battle droids. Most of them were pointing their weapons my way. I just grinned and gathered the Force around me. I just knew that it would be any time now¡­

    The traitorous Rodian retrieved a palm sized disc from his robes. It was a holocomm. Over it appeared a blue hologram of an ugly (as if there was any other kind) Neimoidian who was wearing garish clothes.

    "Viceroy. That''s unexpected." Amidala sounded surprisingly calm, though her emotions revealed the truth ¨C she was torn between anger, fear and feeling betrayed.

    "You won''t get away this time. We made a deal with your friend and you are an important part of it. Your henchman won''t help you either!" Gunray announced gleefully.

    "I am sorry my dear. I had no choice in the matter." Ferr lowered his gaze.

    "You are making a mistake! There is always an alternative!" Padme pleaded.

    "Take her away." Ferr ordered without daring to look at Amidala.

    A pair of B-1''s grabbed Padme''s arms and started dragging her away.

    "That was a wise decision. I will be there within the hour to bring the promised supplies and collect the senator." sneered the Neimoidian. He looked at me. "Kill the spare." The overgrown toad ordered before cutting off the connection.

    I laughed. I hoped that Gunray would arrive as scheduled.

    "I''m sorry." The Rodian senator muttered and looked at the droids.

    "You heard the Viceroy. Kill him." Ferr pointed at me.

    "Do you really think they''re up to the task?" I chuckled.

    "Roger, Roger!" answered the droids and opened fire.

    =RK=

    Part 3

    Rodia

    Outer Rim

    I used the Force to activate a shield unit that was placed around my left arm.

    The protective field enveloped me like a sheath just as Ferr ordered my murder. I held still for a fraction of a second while making sure that Amidala was distant enough from my position. Once that was done I unleashed telekinetic wave all around me. A sphere of invisible power exploded from my body and engulfed the short droid platoon that was surrounding me. My shield absorbed the few shots that the CIS troops managed to get off before the sh0ockwave threw them in all directions.

    I watched with satisfaction how Ferr bounced off the ground and stayed down. Only his groaning gave indication he was still alive. I called my blasters from their holsters with a thought and jumped to find their way into my outstretched hands. My first two shots took off the heads of the cannon fodder that was escorting Amidala to some dingy cell. I ignored Padme who wasted few precious second by gawking at me before she grabbed one of the weapons of her disposed of captors.

    While I kept a small part of my mind occupied with tracing Padme''s position, most of my attention was concentrated on taking out the robots that tried to kill me. Before the machines could recover from my surprise attack I had blown to pieces three quarters of the B-1''s. Those fragile things needed only a single, well placed blaster bolt.

    Only four of the mass produced irritants were left when those remaining were able to grab a weapon and return fire. It was at that time when the SB droids had recovered and unleashed hail of crimson death in my direction.

    Thanks to my deep connection to the Force I knew in which direction they were aiming and where their fire was about to go. I twisted, turned and weaved around a hail of blaster fire.

    Two shots turned the torso of a B-1 into a scrap. I moved my head to the left just in time to avoid getting my brains evaporated. Without looking my left hand moved and I snapped a shot behind my back. I knew it will find its mark before the blaster bolt hat left the barrel of my gun. A snap shot destroyed the weapon of another mass produced clanker. My shields wh?n?d in protest as I ducked a moment too late and was caught as one of the SB''s stitched a line through the air with its repeaters.

    I answered by snapping shots in its direction as fast as I could press the triggers. Seconds later its armor was a melted river running down its front and it fell like so much scrap.

    A barrel roll took me from the line of fire of the remaining Super droid. Amidala''s accurate fire had disposed of the last two B-1s by now. We concentrated our firepower on the last machine standing and shortly the droid caved under our onslaught.

    My shield had gotten as low as fifteen percent. Not too bad for a piece of ancient technology.

    A glance at Padme showed me that she was thinking on her feet. She had a communicator in her hand and was talking in it. If her droid and the bloody gungan had not destroyed the Nubian transport yet there were good chances that they''d be able to signal for reinforcements.

    After checking for enemies in the immediate vicinity and founding nothing I turned to Ferr who was still m??ning on the floor. I holstered my weapons and, with a gesture, had him suspended in the air in front of me.

    "Senator Ferr, how good of you to wait for us."I smiled as I used just enough pressure to make him struggle for each breath. "Please tell me what Separatist forces are stationed in this facility and on the planet."

    Amidala came to stand next to me.

    "Uncle..." she whispered in horror. "Veil! Put him down! We are not torturing prisoners!"

    "I won''t hurt your friend too much if he cooperates, Senator Amidala. Besides I am not part of your precious Republic." I told her with emotionless tone. Then I tilted my armored head in the Rodian''s direction. "Please resist. It will be more fun that way."

    Needless to say he sang like a canary after he saw that I was serious and was ignoring Padme''s threats and protests. There was additional platoon of B-1 droids with a dozen or so Super Battle droids and couple of droidekas rolling around. He also told us that there was a powerful communicator at the top of the central tower.

    I let Ferr to fall to the ground where he slumped and gasped for air.

    "See? That was easy. Now, Senator Amidala, if you are finished with berating me with your morality, we have to prepare for the Viceroy''s arrival. But first we need to take that tower." I pointed upwards "and make sure that the remaining droids do not raise an alarm."

    I waved the pissed off former queen to follow me and headed up towards the comm tower. On the way there I had to listen to her ranting about how evil were my actions. She was wearing my patience thin. I didn''t really touch the guy! I just held him somewhat tight! It could not compare to Vader throwing a temper tantrum much less something that the Empire would have considered a proper interrogation.

    We made a short work of the few B-1''s which were guarding the comm station and after a brief chat with a Republic task force which was conveniently nearby ¨C they''d be all over our location in one and half hours, it was time to plan the reception of Gunray. That thought cheered up Padme who had by now had her frustration and outrage under control.

    =RK=

    I waited in the shadows behind a stack of crates near the landing pad. A terrified Senator Ferr and a bunch of his underlings who were formed in half circle in front of the location where the Neimoidian ship was supposed to land made up the expected welcoming committee. They had a squad of B-1s as an escort. Apparently the droids stationed here were at Ferr''s disposal unless his orders conflicted with detectives given by CIS personal. Getting the show in place was surprisingly easy. Even better, all the fear that the Rodians felt after I demolished most of the droids stationed on this little piece of land would be attributed on them fearing the Separatists.

    A large transport headed our way just in time. I''ll give the Neimoidians that one, they knew how to be punctual. A pair of vultures were escorting the Viceroy''s craft but they broke off and headed back to space. No much choice with their limited operational time. According all the Intel and hands on experience the GAR had, those droids only had fuel for thirty five minutes of flight.

    The transport turned around so that its engines and the loading ramp in its back pointed towards the waiting delegates and landed. It slid to the ground revealing Nute Gunray who was escorted by a pair of B-1''s and two cloaked figures. I was suddenly glad that thanks to my perpetual paranoia I was masking my presence in the Force.

    "The citizens of Rodia salute you!" Ferr made a theatrical bow to Gunray.

    "Yes, yes, as they should. Now where is the Senator?"

    "Up in the tower."

    "He is anxious. I can smell deception all over him." rasped one of the cloaked figures.

    So those two were Palpatine''s test. I could sense the Dark Side pulsing around them. It was like an open, sore wound. Those idiots had fallen to it completely. My lips stretched in an unpleasant smile. I''ve been hunting down the likes of them for decades.

    I was going to slaughter them, but I had to hold back a lot. Making it look too easy was going to ring too many alarm bells among both the Jedi and the Sith. I simply didn''t need such a scrutiny and I had to work under the ?ssumption that this fight would be recorded and distributed.

    On the bright side, at least I was going to have a bit of fun ¨C if I went all out this battle would be over too fast to enjoy it.

    My mind raced over the currents of the Force. It was as if I was outside my body as I looked at the Confederate transport from the side. I pushed with my will and the Force obeyed. The CIS craft shuddered. The two Dark side users looked around wildly in a search for the threat. The ship lurched to the left as I exerted my will over it. The spacecraft lifted without the help of its repulsors guided by my mind and the Force alone. Just a bit more effort was all it took and I violently pushed it over the side of the landing pad. There it fell in the swamp. Dirty water and almost liquid mud started leaking through its open ramp. That thing was not going to fly away any time soon.

    As everyone''s attention was focused on the transport''s demise as a space worthy vessel, two of Ferr''s retinue drew already active Ion Grenades from their clothes and threw them at the nearby droids. One was cut down by a B-1 who for a change was fast on the uptake but it was a split second too late. The Ion Grenade was already in the air.

    The two Force users tried to push the explosive devices away but now that my attention was no longer on the disabled ship, I could use the Force to make their efforts futile. The grenades stopped short of Gunray but were far from harmless. Their dual discharge was enough to fry all remaining droids and stopped short of the Viceroy and its special escort. The machines fell down turned into inert mass of disabled weapons and alloys.

    The Rodians fared much better ¨C they just got some light shocks and mild energy burns. That left a m??ning delegation trashing on the ground and a Viceroy who looked positively ill. I headed their way.

    =RK=

    Part 4

    Rodia

    Outer Rim

    I was glad that my last two Ion grenades all but finished the droids escorting Gunrey. Twenty minutes earlier I had Ferr order the all but a few of the machines stationed on this facility to gather in one place and took out the unlucky droids with most of the grenades I brought with me on for this excursion. Only the six B-1''s who were used to make the welcome committee look genuine did not share the fate of their brethren. Until now.

    I walked towards Gunray who was even grayer than normal thanks to his fear and the two cloaked figures who were his "escort". The Rodians, who were recovering from the shock scrambled to get away from me as I went to meet the Viceroy.

    "Gunray. Fancy meeting you here. And you''ve brought some entertainment supplies." I nodded at his companions. "How thoughtful of you."

    The men sent to test me discarded their black cloaks. When I saw them I wondered if they were really twins as they looked like or whether Sidious had some limited success with cloning force s?ns?t?v?s¡­

    They were about hundred and eighty centimeters tall, with short black hair and identical goatees. The one to the left had a nasty red scar running from his right temple, pass his eye, down to the edge of his jawbone. His twin had no visible scarring on the face.

    "See Karoc? He does not look like much. I am sure that Grievous kriffed up against Skywalker and Kenobi." said the twin to the right.

    "You saw what he did with the ship and those grenades, Vinroc. Do not underestimate him, brother." The other favored caution in the face of the unknown. He was probably the brains of their little family operation.

    "Doesn''t matter. Our Master ordered his death. So he dies. That is all, Karoc."

    "You are correct, Vinroc."

    Mentally unstable brothers... I wondered what else Sidious and Dooku would reveal next. Those two acted like a bad actors from third rate holo-drama.

    "So, we have here Dumb and Dumber. Aren''t you supposed to be Sith or something? The Jedi are all losing their heads over some supposed Sith Lord that''s been running around and messing up their boring lives..." I taunted the idiots. From what I could sense, they b?r?ly classified as competent acolytes and that was me being very generous.

    "He mocks us brother." said the scarred one.

    "That he does Karoc. We are servants of his excellency Count Dooku and members of the Dark Acolytes."

    "A single Dark Jedi won''t stop us! We studied the ways of the ancient Sith and were trained by Dooku himself!" They boasted as one.

    Don''t you love it when the bad guys start ranting and reveal information you''d have to tear out of their bleeding bodies otherwise? The idiots who let themselves be controlled by the Dark side are no exception.

    "You''ve learned the ways of the Sith?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "Then by all means, show me!"

    They moved around Gunray, who was hunched and looked like a terrified, wild animal.

    "He wished to test himself against us, Vinroc."

    "We are more than willing to oblige him, are we not, Karoc?"

    They retrieved simple lightsaber hilts from the depth of their black tunics and activated the weapons which hissed revealing red blades. Karoc immediately went into a Makashi dueling stance while Vinroc fell into Soresu form. I summoned the hilt of my sword and its crimson blade ignited with an eager buzz of scorched air.

    I placed my weapon in the traditional low Makashi guard stance and waved the twins to come on. The scarred one came first while his brother went to my right in a flanking move. I dashed towards Karoc, bringing my blade in a sweeping upwards strike. It was easily parried by the Dark Jedi who sneered at me. As a user of Makashi himself he was well aware of that style of combat greatest weakness ¨C it was developed as the ultimate expression of one on one duels and suffered against two or more adversaries more than anything else¡­ if the opponents were of equal training and expertise.

    His sneer was short-lived. I erased it from his face when I locked our blades together and pushed his sword to the left. Then I spun around while staying in place and delivered a cracking backhand hit faster than he could react. The armored glove covering my left hand struck him on the side of the face with enough force to send him stumbling away from me. I could see blood leaking from his mouth.

    I twirled the hilt of my blade in my hand, changing my grip in a backhanded Juyo one and moved my arm upward in a frothy five degree angle to deflect a broad slash form the other twin. The fingers of my left arm twisted like claws and I made a punching motion at Vinoc''s open torso. My palm was mere centimeters from his ?h?st when I unleashed a punishing blast of pure telekinetic force which threw him away as if he weighted nothing.

    Battle ?ust sang within my heart as the Force flowed through me like a never-ending river. I ducked to the left, evading a thrust of Karoc''s ruby blade. I spun again and used the weight of my body and its momentum to deliver a diagonal slash at the man who tried to skewer me from behind. The scarred twin rolled forward, passing a hairbreadth from my blade. I saw that Vinroc was still on the ground twenty meters away so I switched back to Makashi and made a beeline towards Karoc who was rising to his feet.

    Damn it, even when I was holding back, those two weren''t putting much of a fight. This was supposed to be fun!

    We met with a flurry of clashing blades and the air was filled with the scent of ozone as energy discharged between our laser swords. We exchanged short precise stabs and slashes faster than normal being''s eyes could follow. Our motions were blur of crimson death waiting for the tiniest of openings.

    The familiar weight of my lightsaber hilt, comfortably snuggled in my hand... Having the Force within my grasp and directing it to do my biding...My heart joyfully hammering within my ?h?st... The knowledge that my very life was balanced on the edge of my bloodthirsty blade and was in my hands... For a Sith the old saying "Live by the blade, die by the blade!" had completely different meaning. It was a moment defining our existence. A conflict placing us on edge between life and death with us relaying only on our skills and cunning! It was glorious! At that moment even the ever persistent whispers of the Dark side were silent.

    It was too bad that those two weren''t a real challenge that I could properly enjoy. It was pity really.

    Our blood red blades of pure energy met with a crack as I dueled Karoc. My opponent was a competent swordsman. His technique was well-trained and precise. For endless seconds he was able to hold his ground as the tip of my blade persistently probed his defenses by placing him under a downpour of feints and stabs. Then his guard was pierced and the scarred man had to jump back or be eviscerated by scorching energy.

    Karoc regained his balance and smiled viciously when his brother came back to his side. They moved to flank me again and I sensed a warning from the Force. Their signatures meshed and I could see a connection being opened between the twins. Oh, boy. If they were properly trained that would have been troublesome. Perhaps a real challenge even. As it was, I had to be careful not to show how easily I could use their connection against them.

    From the right came a rain of precise strikes aimed at my vitals while from the left I was subjected to the wide sweeps for which Soresu was so well-known. Suddenly the brothers were acting like a well-oiled machine with a single will.

    I deflected a swipe that tried to take off my left hand and side-stepped a thrust from the other side. I grasped my weapon with both hands and got into the high guard of Djem So. I jumped over a low strike aimed at my legs. On my way down my blade arched in a lethal arch towards Karoc who staggered under the force of my blow. I rotated around the out of balance twin in such a way that he was between me and his brother. The connection they shared and now used had suddenly raised their threat level. Not by much, but it made our little training exercise a bit more interesting.

    "Good. You are finally showing some semblance of promise! Show me what you''ve got!" I encouraged them. Who knew, they might still surprise me!

    I bent the Force around me giving me additional speed and strength. I rained blow after blow at Karoc who struggled valiantly to retain hold over his weapon. I moved in such a way as to keep him between me and his brother. I could see the frustration etched on the other twin''s face as I blocked his way by interposing his sibling between us. As I got closer and closer to cutting down Karoc, his brother darted forward with a war cry emanating from his lips.

    I smirked at his action. So predictable.

    I battered away the blade of the scarred man and fell in a crouch from where I delivered a sweeping kick that took his feet from under him. I send him tumbling away with a push of the force and twirled to meet the attack of the Soresu user. I met his slash head on and reposed after deflecting his attack by sending his blade upward. I executed my counterattack by bringing down my weapon while the twin''s saber was still pointing in the air. When his attack failed and I pushed away his lightsaber he stumbled slowing his reaction for a second. It was all I needed. My blade flashed downward and took of his right hand between the elbow and the shoulder. The crippled man screamed in agony and fell backwards.

    Before he could recover from the shock I summoned him to me with a wave of my arm and he flew straight at my outstretched blade. I buried my lightsaber to the hilt in his ?h?st and burned his heart to a crisp.

    "Vinroc!" keened the only living twin. "You! I''ll slaughter you for that!" Karoc spat and charged me.

    His eyes were blazing yellow and he was gripped by a Dark Side controlled rage.

    I shook my head at his stupidity. For a Makashi user, what he was doing was pure foolishness. Without thought and precise control that style was nothing!

    I used my irritation at his display to fuel my charge and met him halfway. Our blades crashed in each other and I send him reeling back. I easily deflected his wild swings and stabbing attempts, and turned my defensive moves into devastating counter strikes which Karoc was b?r?ly able to evade thanks to his still deft footwork. He was retreating before my blade, trading distance for a small measure of safety. I was not about to have any of that. I banished the fried B-1 droids at him as a distraction for a force enchanted jump.

    Karoc snarled in anger as he slashed a limp robot in two and then ?r??n?d when the rest of the machines hit him. He staggered under the rain of metal and then I was upon him.

    Thanks to his rage enhanced strength he was able to hold onto his sword for dear life when I landed next to him and delivered a powerful overhead slash. Karoc was brought to his knees but managed to keep the buzzing blades a centimeter from his head. I continued to press down, locking the lightsabers in a deadly vice. I easily twisted the blades away thanks to my superior leverage and smashed my right knee into his face. The durasteel guard protecting my joint shattered his nose and he fell to his back, stunned for a moment. My blade screamed down in a crimson arc and struck the left shoulder of the man who was dazedly trying to stand up. Karoc fell back bisected in two as my lightsaber exited his torso under his right armpit.

    I turned my attention towards the only other living thing in the courtyard. Nute Gunray was pressed to the wall near the entrance to the landing ramp where his ship used to be. He was trembling and muttering to himself in his native tongue. I headed towards him when Republic LAAT''s buzzed overhead and flew heading at my position. Behind them I could see the descending form of an Acclamator which was escorted by wings of fighters. The Assault Cruiser was disgorging waves of troopships. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the Force. I could sense at least three more of the capital ships moving in the general vicinity of this facility and there was a familiar force signature in the leading LAAT.

    I grumbled. Why the hell the Reinforcements were early the one time I did not need their bloody ?ssistance?! I was already under observation by the first flight of LAATs so simply cutting the head of Gunray without provocation would not do if I wanted to keep my reputation as a levelheaded fella and not a raging lunatic.

    Before the first armed transport could land its side doors opened and a familiar form jumped out followed by an unknown female Jedi. I deactivated my lightsaber and grabbed the Viceroy by the neck of his robes and led him towards the Jedi.

    "Hi there! Nice to see you again!" I beamed at the newcomers.

 Chapter 5 - Ghosts of the past

    Part 1

    Rodia

    Outer Rim

    I stared at the two Togruta females who were first to disembark the lead LAAT gunship. The one I sensed ¨C Ahsoka Tano ¨C led the way. She jumped out and started bouncing around, obviously unable to contain her excitement. What she was doing here without her master I had no idea.

    The appearance of the second, who I didn''t recognize, halted me in my tracks. She was about my height if you do not count the curved horns, which were crowning her head. Her lekku caught my undivided attention. The were colored in soft blue and white stripes swung in a way which brought painful memories of my wife. I stared at the coloring she had over her eyes and went all up to her temples. It was snow white, with red rectangles over her eyes ¨C which were, black and serene. The older Togruta returned my stare calmly and studied me in return.

    The Jedi were followed by disembarking troopers, but I paid them little attention until a clone commander who had his helmet painted green came to me and stood at attention.

    "We received your signal. We are at your disposal, sir!" he gave me a crisp salute.

    I smirked under my helmet and wondered how many of the Jedi on the Council would have conniptions if they heard about this exchange. I returned the salute and pointed at the sniveling neimoidian.

    "You may get this sorry excuse for a sapient being out of my sight, commander. This facility should be reasonably secure but it won''t hurt to sweep it for surprises left by the Separatists." My tone was all business ¨C something I was proud of, considering I just saw someone who for a moment looked damn close to my dead wife.

    "Right away, sir! Men, take that scum away!" he ordered a squad of troopers. No one liked poor Gunray. Couldn''t have happened to a nicer person.

    My attention returned to the Jedi and I absentmindedly twirled my still ignited blade in my hand before deactivating it.

    "Delkatar! Is Padme all right? Who were they?" Ahsoka pointed at the remains of the Dark Acolytes while bouncing around.

    I wondered if she had overdosed on Caf, ate all the desert or something else in that vein.

    "Slow, down kiddo. As far as I know the senator is all right. I left her up at the comm tower." I pointed at said building. "She may need a bit of anti-rad treatment. I loaned her one of my personal shields but it was damaged a bit and leaks a small amounts of radiation."

    Hearing that, a team of clone-medics and two squads of infantry rushed acting as escorts rushed for the tower. Good men. Never trust that an AO is secure unless your own men had swept it for enemies, and if you are smart you won''t ?ssume it is clear even then.

    "As for those idiots they were a couple of Dark Jedi trained by Dooku. Nothing special." I shrugged.

    "Uhuh." said the younger Togruta, clearly unconvinced.

    "Ahsoka, won''t you introduce us?" I nodded at the older Jedi, who was observing our interactions carefully. She was guarding her emotions well ¨C the only thing I could sense from her was a hint of amusement at Ahsoka''s antics.

    "Ah. Yeees. Sorry." Tano looked a bit sheepish. "Master Shaak Ti, this is Delkatar Veil. I am not sure as what to introduce him today... Bounty hunter? Dark Jedi? Or something else..." she trailed off.

    "Master Ti, under other circumstances I''d say that is a p???sur? to meet you. However, I do not believe in coincidences. The Council found records about me from the war, didn''t they? That''s why they sent you here, isn''t it?" I had to give them that ¨C today''s Jedi sure were devious bastards. It was almost enough to make me reconsider my stance as far as the Order as a whole was concerned.

    The older Togruta gave me a small nod. Ahsoka looked between with confusion.

    "And you people claim that the Sith are the manipulative bastards." I chuckled. Seeing that Ahsoka was confused, I decided to elaborate. "Ah, I see you''ve not been briefed yet considering that they sent you too, Ahsoka, you should know."

    "Umm... What''s going on here?'''' Tano asked in a small voice. It was plain to see that she was not liking where this was going or being in the dark. Understandable.

    "Once upon a time I was married to a Jedi. A Togruta woman." I nodded at Shaak Ti.

    Ahsoka''s eyes widened with realization. I could see her fighting to restrain her rising anger.

    "It just happened that Master Ti was sent to patrol nearby with you in tow just when I had a mission in the area¡­ If you believe that, I have some prime farmland to sell you. On Tatooine." I snarked.

    "It''s not the most cunning plan that the Council ever had, is it?" Shaak Ti gave me a rueful smile.

    "It''s a test at best and a provocation at worst. I''ll leave it for you to decide which is the truth." I nodded at Master Ti.

    I was torn between exploding with unrelenting fury and appreciation of the Jedi Master''s trilling voice. So much for the idea I had gotten over Ashara''s death. Oh, how mistaken I was. At that moment I could understand and almost agree with Sidious plan for permanently dealing with the Jedi. Kriffing Council!

    "You are my newly minted minder, are you not? You, Master Ti do not want to hear my thoughts on the Council right now. Trust me about that." I managed to keep my tone civil.

    If I started speaking about the Emperor damned bastards I won''t stop cursing for hours. Instead I turned to humor, even if I was sure that the females would not appreciate it.

    "Well, at least they didn''t sent you to seduce me in order to keep me under control, did they?" I smirked. Not that I would resist too hard to being seduced by Shaak Ti. Even under the unflattering cloak and robes preferred by the Jedi she had a great figure and I hadn''t gotten laid in too damn long.

    "What!? NO! The Council... They''d never... Arrgh!" Ahsoka spluttered.

    "Not yet anyway." she deadpanned. "Considering your history they thought that I would have better chances to get away in one piece if you went berserk as most of them expect."

    "I find their lack of faith disturbing." I quoted Vader.

    Kriff it, even four thousand years or so later, the Jedi still found a way to be a major pain in my ?ss.

    "The Council will do what they got to do." was Shaak Ti''s neutral response and it explained nothing. Or perhaps everything, depending on how much credit someone was ready to give the Jedi in general.

    "What about you, Ahsoka? I thought that Skywalker needed someone with a bit of common sense to keep him out of trouble."

    The younger Togruta shrugged.

    "Master Kenobi called him for some kind of mission. Almost at the same time my request to visit my home world and reconnect with my roots was unexpectedly accepted. I was ordered to join Master Ti and head to Shili with her after the patrol was over."

    I really hopped that the old goats on the Council did not expect me to try seducing both females. Ahsoka was a kid damn it ¨C young enough to be my granddaughter. Nevertheless, with me being a Sith they wouldn''t have put it beside me¡­ if they thought about that being an issue. And if I did so it could easily be used as a Casus Belli to deal with me ¨C corrupting young and impressionable Jedi and other such nonsense would be a great justification in their eyes. Of course such thing would have most likely destroyed Ahsoka''s future but who cares!? Sacrifices must be made for the greater Good of the Order.

    ''JEDI!'' There was so much venom in that thought that it would have been enough to drop a whole Republic army.

    "Well, I have an errant to run on Shili and after this patrol was over my forces were scheduled for a bit of R&R. Unfortunately that plan is now shot." The Jedi Master sighed and shrugged in a way that was painfully similar to Ashara.

    I heard before sensing or seeing the approach of Senator Amidala. She was arguing with a medic who was waving a hand held scanner over her. She was followed by C-3PO who was bemoaning his fate and to my ever greater dread ¨C Jar-Jar. The bloody nuisance didn''t had the good sense to get himself shot. Or the damn droids were just that bad at it.

    "Senator, it''s good to see that more trouble failed to find you. This time." I said instead of greeting.

    "You dealt with the droids and scared the Rodians to death. What trouble should have I found?" She snorted but there was a hint of disapproval in her voice.

    Then she took one look at the dead Dark Jedi and her attitude changed.

    "I saw your fight from the tower. Thank you. With them around its unlikely that I would have been able to escape." Amidala actually apologized. I think ¨C her tone remained quite frosty.

    This particular senator showing common sense? A bit reassuring. Besides its'' been a long time since anyone had thanked me for something, which felt kinda nice.

    "You are welcome. I just did my job ¨C a well paid one I hope. Even Ferr is in one piece for what that is worth. What''s the plan for him?"

    Padme looked at me with resigned expression. Without me around, she might been able to spin some tale how the courageous politicians had helped deal with the separatists. And if the twins were not here, which they were only on my account, she might been able to pull some crazy stunt on her own and capture the Viceroy. However that was not the case. And I had a video evidence thanks to a recorder build in my helmet. It was great for AARs (after action reports).

    The senator or former one as very well might be the case, was brought to us by a pair of clones. Before we could speak more about his fate I felt cold shiver running down my back. The Force screamed a warning and I was spinning around. My right hand had a death grip over my lightsaber''s blade. I saw a clone technician place a holocomm emitter on the ground. I had to struggle with a stab of fear as it dawned to me who would most likely be on the other side of the interstellar call. I slammed my mental shields down and used every little trick I knew to help shield my signature in the Force. The Jedi looked at me with confusion.

    Palpatine''s holographic form appeared in mid air and the Chancellor started speaking.

    "Senator Amidala informed me what happened and what your people need Farr. I already dispatched a convoy to Rodia. You however..." Sidious shook his head becoming the perfect picture of regret.

    The traitorous senator looked at the ground. His small antennas hanged limply.

    "I congratulate you for your courageous role in capturing Nute Gunray. It will be taken into account when your fate is decided, Ferr." Then Palpatine turned his attention on me. "More than anything I want to congratulate you, Delkatar Veil. Your actions today not only dealt a great blow to the Separatists but kept a dear friend of mine safe." Sidious smiled graciously and waved at Amidala.

    If I didn''t know better, I would have said that Palpy was actually the genuine and friendly old man he appeared to be.

    "I simply did my job, Chancellor." I gave the man a courteous bow. It was not the first and probably far from the last time I had to be polite to people whose guts I hated or planned to dispose of.

    "I hope that the Republic could benefit from your services in the future." Palpy gave me a winning smile that reminded me of a hungry shark.

    "I am thankful for your kind words, Chancellor, but that is unlikely. The Jedi Council and I do not see eye to eye. I believe that there are those amongst them who would do their best to insure that my talents are not used. The Jedi frown upon people using the Force for their own benefit instead for that of their famous Order''s." I snipped at the Jedi Order and hoped that Palpy would jump at the opportunity to snub them.

    "That''s uncommonly harsh view to have towards the Jedi, my young friend. They''ve been guardians of the galactic peace for a thousand years. Surely your view of them is somewhat biased?" Sidious asked sweetly.

    If I did not know better I would have believed his honeyed words. Ever across the stars I could feel a subtle pressure to listen to him. And I think that he was not even trying! That was just his aura! Truly there were few Sith Lords I met that could pull that off. It would be interesting to see how he compared to them. Even if he was the strongest Sith Lord to rise after the fall of the Empire I served, that did not mean that he would be unstoppable juggernaut. When all is said and done, despite his apparent power, Sidious hadn''t had to fight every step of the way against countless Sith vying for his position. Right now there wasn''t a horde of Force Adepts supposedly working for him who wouldn''t like anything better than to replace him.

    "Perhaps, your excellency." I shrugged. "Time will tell. May I ask for a small boon?"

    "If it is within my power. You did a great favor to the Republic I serve."

    Riiight. Pull the other one¡­

    "I would want to join whoever escorts Gunray to his final destination. I caught him and do not wish my efforts to go to waste." That would also give me a better opportunity to not only observe the Clones in action but possibly make a few useful contacts. Besides, ensuring that Gunrey would be unable to escape would be a boon too. He had to have some useful information locked up in that head of his.

    Palpatine looked at me and frowned. I think that he expected that I''ll ask for more ¨C probably a rise of the promised payment for my services. Well, I would and soon, though this was an opportunity for more than just a monetary gain.

    "I can ?ssure you that the Jedi Council and GAR high command can manage but if you wish to provide additional security so be it. It''s the least I can do." Palpatine nodded after a short time to think.

    "Thank, you Chancellor."

    With that the connection was cut. I exhaled a breath in relief. I could feel him probing my mental shields which easily held. However that was not particularly reassuring. He was not dumb enough to try mind raping me while there were two Jedi behind me. But I can tell that he was interested in me. In the Emperor''s name! I hoped that the old crafty bastard won''t decide to groom me as his next apprentice. Those who aspired to that position tended to end badly. Cut in two, missing appendages and lava burns... It was hazardous for one''s health.

    I ignored Ferr who was begging Amidala for forgiveness and looked at the females who were giving me curious looks. Ahsoka was about to start bouncing again.

    "Who gave the kid all the Caf and sweets?" I asked the Master Jedi.

    Shaak Ti glanced at the full of energy teen and smiled.

    "Oh, don''t worry. I know how to make use of that. Padawan Tano, you''ve got some excessive energy to burn. You can never be in good enough shape. Start running around the courtyard without using the Force to rejuvenate yourself." The Jedi Master ordered.

    "There must be more battle droids around here! Or something else to do! Mater Ti! Please?" Ahsoka wh?n?d.

    "Start running, Padawan!" Shaak Ti snapped with a voice that would have made any self-respecting drill instructor proud.

    The younger Togruta pouted but started jogging.

    "Tano! I said RUN!" Shaak Ti snapped in a perfect drill-sergeant''s voice.

    Ahsoka jumped as if stung and sprinted away from the ire of the older woman.

    "You seem able to manage her much better than Skywalker."

    The Jedi Master snorted with amusement.

    =RK=

    Part 2

    Munificent Class Frigate Shadow''s Veil

    Location Classified

    "The capture of Gunray is a serious threat to us. That fool was warned not to step foot on Rodia, at least until it was clear what danger Veil represents. He will break under Jedi interrogation. Even faster if this mercenary is allowed to get his hands on him." Sidious ranted at his apprentice.

    Dooku was kneeling in front of a hologram of his master and listening about the unexpected debacle that had befallen CIS. His anger spiked when the spineless Viceroy was mentioned.

    "I am dealing with it, master. My best agent, Asajj Ventress will gain entrance to the Jedi''s ship and deal with Gunray one way or another. Perhaps the mercenary too." Dooku outlined his plan.

    "You have a great deal of faith in your pet, my friend. Especially when she had failed so often in the past. Alas I am afraid that she may not be enough. Not with a Dark Jedi of unknown power playing mercenary ?ssisting the Council''s puppets. Send Artel Darc with her. He should be close enough to intercept them. Between the two of them they should be able to silence Gunray if not deal with the mercenary too."

    "As you command, master." Dooku immediately agreed.

    When the comm signal was cut from Sidious'' side, the Count rose up, revealing a frown marring his face. ''Damn that fool, Gunray!'' he thought. With the information that slug had in his too small a brain, the Republic could wreck unholy chaos upon the Confederacy.

    To make matters worse, there was a new element in an already chaotic situation. Ever since the visions of the future he and Sidious could gleam were shrouded by ripples in the Dark side a few weeks ago, any further complications weren''t welcome. For the first time since swearing his allegiance to Sidious, the Count was facing an uncertain future. It was not something he felt comfortable with. ''And isn''t that thought such an understatement!'' Dooku sneered.

    The Count was still quietly fuming, when the armored doors leading to the bridge slid open and Ventress glided in. She was moving with the practiced ease of a trained predator.

    "Master." Her voice was quiet, almost sultry.

    "Sidious has a task he wants done. One we can''t fail. You could afford no mistakes, child. A failure could spell disaster for the Confederation and our master will be most displeased. I do not need to tell you what that entails. You must prove that you are worthy to be my apprentice, Asajj." Dooku tried to impress the gravity of the situation to his protegee.

    "I am worthy, Master. I will prove it to you." The ?ssassin practically purred. Her lips twisted in a cruel smile.

    "You''re to intercept a Republic ship carrying Nute Gunray who was captured just a few hours ago. Either retrieve or dispose of the worm. Be advised, there will be at least two Jedi on that ship plus a new variable ¨C a mercenary." Dooku began laying down the mission parameters.

    "That won''t be a problem, master." Ventress looked confused.

    "Do not underestimate the mercenary accompanying the Jedi, Ventress. I sense danger when thinking about that man. He''s a Dark Jedi of some power, Asajj. That''s why my master deemed it best to sent Darc with you. The man is expendable in the great scheme of things. Use the his talents as you see fit. Just get the job done."

    =RK=

    On route to Republic cruiser Tranquility

    Rodia''s orbit

    Outer Rim

    After my civil conversation with his Sithiness himself, I was in for a boring day. Not that I minded the opportunity to stretch my legs and get a nap in a real bed after spending almost three days cooped up in the ???kpit of my Torrent before arriving on Rodia.

    The reason for the delay was typical one. The Jedi Council couldn''t make their mind about how best to transport the Viceroy after they were informed that I''ll be tagging along. Gunray spent that time in a small tower near to the one from which we called reinforcements. It had a cell meant for Amidala after her capture, which we used on the Neimodeian. I appreciated the irony of the situation. It served the bastard well.

    My only problem was that I was not permuted to interrogate him myself. Shaak Ti declared that the Council had not decided how to deal with him. The infernal woman was following me everywhere except the fresher not allowing me to have a quiet chat with the prisoner! And that infuriating, small smile... that made her face so different and alive compared to her usual severe expression... She was baiting me on purpose!

    What were orders from the Council anyway? For her to infuriate me into a murderous rage and get herself killed?!

    Ahsoka was no help. After Master Ti ran her into the ground, the Padawan was too busy sleeping, ahem, meditating to be a nice conversation partner.

    Shaak Ti appeared to be a quiet, private woman who I sensed would have liked to keep to herself but was unwavering in pursuing her duty. So no fun there. She was not interested in talking and I was not about to start pointing all the flaws of the Council and Jedi dogma before I knew her better and figured out what approach would work with her. If the Jedi leadership was consistent, I most likely would have time to figure her out, with her being my new minder.

    I could not even get a heart to heart conversation with the Clones at the facility! They were wary of the Jedi tagging along. And some of the bloody bastards were chuckling at my predicament. Cheeky bastards.

    That leads me to the present. I was on board of a Consular class frigate which was used to ferry us to the cruiser tasked with carrying us to our destination. After the Jedi were unwilling to include me in the escort detail, Palpatine evidently threw his considerable weight around and arranged for the prisoner''s transportation.

    I was with Ahsoka and Master Ti in the ???kpit of the relatively small craft. Behind us was Gunray who was wearing chains. That was my idea. A bit of creative use of the Force and the manacles which were meant for Amidala were holding him secure.

    When we approached the cruiser one of the clone''s piloting our frigate contacted it. On a screen over the windows of the ???kpit appeared an image of three men in blue armor. Senate commandos. It will be a wonder if a single one of them was not faithful to Palpatine first. Or perhaps not. An attack aimed at rescuing the Neimoidian could be a good cover to dispose from dissenters in the ranks¡­

    The Jedi Master took charge of the situation.

    "Cruiser Tranquility, this is General Shaak Ti. We have the prisoner secure and request permission to dock."

    "You have it. We are awaiting the prisoner."

    "Thank you, captain Argyus."

    Meanwhile, I could hear Gunray trying to bribe the clones guarding him. I wondered how that would go down. With me and two Jedi on the frigate it was obvious that even if they wanted the troopers won''t agree. But what interested me was how and why they would decline.

    "This is a most generous offer, Viceroy. Considering that because of you and your cronies my brothers fight and die all over the galaxy, I''ll have to decline. But I''ll make you a counter-offer. Keep your damn mouth shut and I won''t have to do it for you." Growled the clone commander. That was the same one who I met yesterday after dispatching the twins.

    As we were about to dock through the hanger in the belly of the Venator, Ahsoka muttered: "Finally we''ll get away from him."

    To be fair, Gunray''s whining was more than irritating and if it was not for my image as a level headed Sith, I would have seriously considered the benefits of ripping out his tongue as the phantom of Darth Vael suggested.

    =RK=

    Shaak Ti, Ahsoka and me plus Commander Green were the ones escorting the CIS leader to the detention center of the cruiser. Near it we were met by five men in blue armors led by the blonde captain with who Master Ti spoke.

    "Greetings, General. We have a nice, dark cell waiting for this traitor." said the commando officer.

    "Excellent, Captain. Commander Green, lead the way."

    "Move!" the Clone shoved Gunray in the back.

    "How in the Force did such a worm as Gunray deserve the attention of senate commandos?!" exclaimed Ahsoka.

    I lightly tapped the back of her head.

    "Ouch!" she glared at me. "Why did you do that?!"

    "By himself, that walking pile of slime is not dangerous. However as a high ranking leader of the CIS he undoubtedly knows a lot of their dirty secrets, not to mention relevant strategic information. With the delay between capturing him and the Council making up their minds about the manner of transporting him it is virtually guaranteed that the Separatists would make an effort to free or silence him. "I pointed at the commandos walking in front of us. "That''s why they are here."

    "Your friend is correct, Jedi." The captain concured.

    =RK=

    Tranquility

    Leaving High orbit of Rodia

    I was with the two female Jedi in the cell where Gunray was chained for an interrogation table. I had the dubious "privilege" to observe how the protectors of the Republic tried to extract information from the Neimoidian. To say it was underwhelming would be a generous understatement. The way it was going there would be no questions answered. Just me, snapping and strangling the offensive politician with his own entrails. For ten minutes Shaak Ti asked the same questions and tried to gently persuade him to speak up. Then, suddenly things became much more interesting. I could feel anger rising within Ahsoka. The young Togruta had a low tolerance for Nute''s particular kind of bullshit. I could sense her tensing and briefly brushing with the Dark side before the anger became too much for the kid to handle and she lost her composure. Her anger spiked and she slapped her palms over the table in frustration.

    "Liar! Liar! Stop your sniveling and tell us the truth!" Ahsoka snarled.

    With one elegant motion she drew her saber and an emerald blade sprang to life from its hilt. Tano dashed forward and placed the humming beam of energy centimeters from the throat of the Neimoidian who was struggling with the manacles chaining him to the table.

    "Tell us the truth right now, before I gut you like a fish!"

    I was smirking under my helmet and watching the show. The girl had fire in her! Knowing that at some point she had ended up expelled from the Order (the damn fools!) and never came back, I was determined to help her. Such potential! Obviously she was not one of those who could not see past the Jedi''s Dogma!

    Shaak Ti moved in a blur, grabbed Asoka''s sword arm and pulled the blade from Gunray''s neck. The prisoner slumped to the ground hyperventilating.

    "Padawan Tano! What in the name of the Force do you think you are doing?! The Jedi do not use fear as a weapon!" Shaak Ti snapped at the younger woman.

    "Even when it can end a battle or a war much faster thus saving a lot of lives?" I asked.

    Then I turned to the girl and by the way she stiffened I knew she could feel my glare despite my helmet.

    "As for you, Ahsoka, that was disappointing. You let your anger rule you instead the other way around! That''s the problem with you Jedi! You have no damned idea how to handle your feelings! You do not fight your anger when you''ve been suppressing your emotions for as long as either of you had! You let it flow through you and channel it into something useful! "

    The younger Togruta was about to say something but I cut her off.

    "Do not dare lie to me young lady!" I snapped at her. "Giving us some story that you really did not mean it won''t fly with me! I could feel your anger! You were deadly serious and that slug," I pointed at Gunray who was now terrified, "has important information in his head. Intelligence that your precious Republic needs! What would have happened if you went and cut off his head?! "

    "I''m sorry." she mumbled. I could see her eyes becoming heavy with tears.

    Bloody hell. I hate to see girls crying. Strange for a Sith, I know.

    "Don''t go moping around and instead learn from you mistake so it does not happen again. Ahsoka, you are a bright, you woman with her whole life in front of her. Do not waste it by giving in to your anger."

    Sniff. "Thanks." Tano muttered.

    "That''s not what I expected from you, Delkatar."

    "Not this again! Why the hell would I want to turn Ahsoka into a murderous lunatic controlled by the Dark side?!" I bemoaned. How many times must I have the same damned conversation with different Jedi?!

    "It''s the Sith way. You walk in the darkness. While most of your actions are atypical for one of your kind, I could sense the Dark side on you. It''s so intense that I could almost taste it." Shaak Ti spoke quietly. Just loud enough for me to hear her.

    "Because it is not, damn it! Unless you want to turn a bunch of Jedi into a bunch of half-mad dogs seaming for blood. Good to use as shock troops but little else. That is not something I want for Ahsoka." I huffed with exasperation. "You saw her! One of this days, the Jedi would have to admit to themselves that you do feel. You can''t cut off your emotions. Instead of burying your collective heads in the sand, re-learn how to deal with them."

    "Re-learn?"

    "You''ve seen my record. The Jedi of old were not blind enough to pretend that they had no emotions. ''Emotion, yet peace.'' Does that ring a bell?"

    "That''s..." Master Ti''s eyes widened when hearing that line.

    "Yeah. If you want I''ll tell you more about the Jedi of old. But now we have a job to do, don''t we?" I asked and looked at the prisoner.

    Gunray gulped.

    "Ah. I was a bit hasty, wasn''t I? Shall we negotiate?" He smiled nervously.

    I snorted derisively and raised my right hand. My palm pointed at him and he could see lightning sparkling between my fingers.

    "You answer all our questions truthfully and completely. And I do not practice my lightning on you. I can tell when you lie, Viceroy. Do not mistake me for a Jedi as those two fetching ladies. I am like your master."

    His eyes grew wide to a comic proportions.

    "A Sith!?" Gunray squealed like a little girl.

    I sensed a tremor in the Force and moved driven by instinct. The ship shook under our feet and Mater Ti lost her balance when she tried to steady the still distraught Ahsoka. I caught her before she slammed into the table.

    "Your friends are here, Viceroy. Do not count on them getting you out of this mess."

    =RK=

    Part 3

    Republic cruiser Tranquility

    Rodia star system

    Outer Rim

    "We have multiple droid fighters and boarding ships incoming! Brace for impact!"

    I could hear the captain''s voice coming from the communicator build in the left arm-guard of Commander Green. When the skipper of the ship you are on becomes frantic you know that the situation is dire. That thought was neatly punctuated when four nearly simultaneous shudders rand down the bulk of the cruiser.

    Commander Green had deployed his company in such positions as to block any push towards the brig. I hoped that it will be enough.

    "You two feel it too, right?" I asked my Jedi companions.

    The moment Tranquility was struck by what I presumed were boarding pods, I felt a disturbances in the force. We had company of the lightsaber wielding kind. If I had not kriffed up the time-line too much by now one of them should be Ventress. However this time she had decided to bring a friend or two.

    "No! Check your fire! He has lightsaber!" A desperate shout came over the comm.

    "Green leader, respond!" ordered the clone commander to no avail.

    "There are at least two of them, Master Ti. Who do you want?"

    "Ahsoka, guard the prisoner. We''ll deal with the boarders." ordered the older Togruta.

    For once Tano did not argue and took position in front of the cell, which was flanked by two senate commandos.

    The determination shining in her eyes and her fierce voice brought back memories best forgotten. A fresh, spicy smell... A soft touch and hot breath washing over my skin... I shook my head. The past was dead and buried. By now not even dust remained. I had to keep my head in the present.

    "Go help the troops. I''ll hunt down the other one." said the Jedi Master.

    I smiled. I could hear it in her voice. The trill of the hunt was burning within her heart. The instincts of the predators from which her kind evolved demanding to be unleashed. I just knew that she wanted to growl with eagerness that she had a prey to hunt. Pity that her Jedi training was restraining her.

    "As you wish. May the Force serve you well, Master Ti."

    "May the Force be with you this time, Sith."

    We separated at the elevators and headed in different directions.

    =RK=

    I met the remains of Green company soon enough. Those were four clones, one of whom was wounded and being tended by one of his brothers. The other two had their blasters pointed at a sealed blast doors which were being slowly but surely sliced open by a lightsaber.

    "Move to the next intersection and use the side corridors as cover. I''ll deal with this nuisance." I ordered.

    "As you wish, sir! Good luck!" They didn''t argue but scampered back. The clones dragged their wounded brother with them as they ran for cover.

    I prepared an Ion grenade that I "liberated" from the troops occupying Rodia. When a circle was cut into the blast doors, it was blasted away by a strong push with the Force. It was followed by a solid wall of blaster bolts which scorched the bulkheads but otherwise did not cause any damage. The next to come were Super Battle droids which tried to squeeze inside one by one. I lobbed the grenade after the first had passed and jumped away. A pulse of ion energy washed over the floor, walls and ceiling. The battle droid which had passed through the breached blast door fell in a twitching heap.

    Another wave of force shoved the unfortunate machine away and a blonde man who was about my height rolled through the hole. Once he was on this side he immediately jumped on his feet and activated his lightsaber. I followed suit after drawing out my own.

    He raised his weapon in a high, Djem So guard. His hands were over his head and the sword was slightly tilted backwards.

    My answer was to fall in a Juyo stance. I held my weapon horizontally above my head and pointed to the right.

    "Another of the so called Dark Acolytes wish to commit suicide or are you just lost?" I snarked.

    "Tsk." The blond man glared at me. "You must have some skill to have dealt with the twins, but I am nothing like those weaklings!" he scoffed.

    "Your name would be appreciated. I''ll need it for the After Action Report. Who knows? I may get a bonus for you!" I grinned in typical mercenary fashion.

    "Arrogant much?" the Dark Jedi scowled at me.

    "Just sure in my abilities, whelp. Can you say the same?" I taunted.

    For a moment I considered going all out and simply crushing the man, but threw that idea away. This had to be another test, I was sure of it and who knew how many cameras and witnesses there were nearby.

    So it was another show for an unknown audience. It was kriffing irritating. I charged in a blur of a motion before my last word finished leaving my lips. Our crimson weapons slammed in each other with a flash of surging power. As our lightsabers met again and again, the discharged energy which escaped the containment fields surrounding our blades cast a sinister light over the corridor.

    I let all the frustration, all the doubts and the uneasy feelings I had since I was reminded of my wife to flow freely through me. They were washed away by waves of battle ?ust and fierce joy as I clashed with my opponent.

    Our lightsabers locked together. My opponent leaned over the hilt of his saber in an attempt to push the buzzing blades into contact with me. I chuckled as my wrists twisted in just the right way to overbalance the Dark Jedi when I stepped to the side and let him ''win'' our contest of strength. He spat a curse as he rolled forward to gain distance and prevent me from easily stabbing him in the back. However I had no intention to do so right now. My free hand was busy throwing live frag grenades through the hole cut by my adversary in the blast doors. I knew that Super Battle droids were somewhat resistant to Ion pulses and a single Ion grenade was enough to only disable them temporarily. I wanted to deal once and for all with the incapacitated machines so they did not interrupt me while I was busy with the Dooku''s pawn. Three grenades flew through the breached door while my blade was slicing to pieces the only SB to pass through.

    The blond man darted at me with his saber ready to deliver powerful overhead strike. I banished the glowing scrap of few droids at him. The Dark Jedi displayed an impressive skill in acrobatics. He sidestepped the first piece, moved his head to avoid a second and jumped in the air, twisting his body horizontally so he passed between two more fragments of machines I dismembered. It was a quite colorful and beautiful move. Also quite dumb.

    I blasted him with a wave of telekinesis while he was still in the air and the man slammed in the bulkhead to the left. I jumped at him as the grenades on the other side of the blast door detonated in a shower of fire and lethal fragments. I caught the edge of the blast wave which propelled me faster to my target. The blond managed to roll away in the last possible moment ¨C just I slammed my blade in the deck.

    I withdrew the energy beam. The fingers of my left hand twitched and drops of molten plating flew at the Dark Jedi. He threw his arms in front of the molten metal and it froze in midair. The chunks of cooling deck bounced between our feet as our blades met again.

    I parried a decapitating strike and slammed an armored fist in my enemy''s face. He tried to kick me while our weapons were still locked but I moved my left leg so the attack landed on my shin. Then I threw him with the Force so his back slammed in the bulkhead to the right. I was on him in the next heartbeat and he was b?r?ly able to interpose his blade between my lightsaber and his neck. I pushed with all my might and the beams of energy came nearer to him. His own saber was pushed backwards and the upper half of its blade bit at the bulkhead leaving a melting rend. As I redoubled my effort his own saber was coming closer and closer to his face.

    With a surge of a desperation fueled strength he pushed me away and rolled to the left as I brought down my blade which cut deeply in the bulkhead. I dropped to my knees as his lightsaber slashed overhead in a swipe aimed at my back. I rotated to bring my weapon to bear at the blond who was doing the same. He pushed my blade at the wall and kicked me twice in the ribs. I grunted in pain as I felt something in my ?h?st cracking. I snarled as my left hand moved to parry another kick which slammed me into the wall.

    I used the brief opportunity while the Dark Jedi was pulling back his leg after he kicked me to readjust the way I held my weapon''s hilt to a backhand grip. I used the mass of my whole body as I surged away from the bulkhead and broke the saber lock trapping my blade against the armored wall. I counter-attacked by using my momentum to rotate my body and swept my crimson lightsaber in a circle around me. The blond wonder used the same technique to regain his balance and counterattack. Our ruby colored blades struck each other with enough momentum to buckle their hilts within our grasps.

    I was pissed off at the way I underestimated my opponent and channeled my building anger into my attacks. A web of blazing energy formed between us as I rained attack after attack at the Dark Jedi. With each strike he was stepping back. His attention was focused on me as he desperately parried the storm of slashes aimed at cutting him to pieces.

    I looked behind him and gave a sharp nod. I saw a single moment of horrified realization in the blond man''s eyes before the three, still hale clones, shot him in the back. His body shuddered as the blaster bolts hit him and he stumbled. He was already dying and unable to parry my next slash and my blade flew through his right wrist and my return strike took off his head.

    "Note to self. Do not underestimate the kriffing Acolytes. Getting ???ky will see me killed." I spoke for the audience, though my anger was real.

    Getting killed by the likes of Dooku''s groupies would be kriffing the height of idiocy. I deactivated my lightsaber and gave a respectful nod to the clone troopers.

    "Great work men. Get your friend to the med bay and then head to the detention center." I suggested.

    I headed towards the cell block a bit slower than I could. My mind was preoccupied with calming me down and using the Force to mend my cracked ribs. While in the heat of combat I b?r?ly felt a tingle of pain but now it flared as if I had a dagger sticking from my ?h?st. The second kick might have done a bit more damage than I realized. I grunted as something shifted within my ?h?st and my left side was gripped by a brief lance of agony before a wave of warmth drowned it. I could feel my bones fusing together and whatever internal damage there was shrinking under the gentle ??r?ss of the Force.

    My brief distraction cost me when the ship lurched under my feet and I stumbled. Armored helmet met a bulkhead and my head bounced inside the cage of durasteel supposed to keep my brain intact. It was as if the captain was performing evasive maneuvers in a kriffing fighter!

    "What in the nine Corellian hells is going on?!" I growled and stood up. The main power was obviously off and emergency lighting were snapping on all around the ship.

    I ran towards the cells. I was halfway there when my comm cracked to life.

    "This is Commander Green! We need back up! The Jedi went after Ventress and we are under heavy attack by commando droids!"

    "I am on my way, commander! Hold your position!" I said to the clone and pushed myself to run even faster.

    =RK=

    It took me a minute to reach the elevators leading to the detention center. I got there moments after five black humanoid droids. Four of them were holding blasters and the last had a blade forged from some kind of dark colored metal. If its creators had any sense it was at least covered with cortosis.

    The droid wielding melee weapon sprinted towards me while its cronies opened fire. In that moment it jumped out of the way and ran over the left wall!

    Thanks to the Force, which was not only enhancing my reflexes but showing me where the blaster bolts would go the instant before the droids fired I was able to easily deflect them. However the machines were not standing still. Advanced predictive programing guided them as they rained fire upon me and moved in such a way as to minimize the chance of a deflected shot hitting them.

    It was not good enough. A droid crumbled to the ground after a bolt of energy shattered its neck. Another had its blaster smashed.

    Then the blade wielding droid was upon me and the hail of gunfire tapered off. It jumped from the wall and flew towards me with its weapon leading the way. I caught the droid commando with fingers of invisible energy and held it as a shield. The little hut spawn tilted its head and his arms moved behind its back. I heard a familiar click and hurled it towards its brethren with all my might. As soon as it flew away I gathered as much Force as I could and molded it as a shield in front of me. The grenades the droid had activated obliterated it short of its comrades. The remaining robots were obscured by a solid wall of flames and shrapnel which hit my shield like the fist of angry Titan. My armored boots scrapped over the deck as I was pushed backwards by the shock-wave. I could feel my armor heating up and the Emperors cursed explosion was still going on!

    I snarled and pushed more Force into my shield, hoping it would be enough.

    =RK=

    Part 4

    Planet Shili

    Ehosiq sector

    Expansion Region

    I was racing over a field of thick, red grass which stretched as far as the eyes could see. My speeder''s engine wh?n?d in protest as I pushed it far beyond the speeds for which it was rated. Only my iron grip over the Force allowed the straining machine to continue moving at the breathtaking pace I was pushing it. The vehicle was moving at nearly four hundred kilometers per hour but it was far from enough. I could sense it in my bones and no matter how hot the rage I felt was getting, it did not change the facts. Barring a miracle I was going to be too late!

    I could almost see how my wife was fighting for her life more than two hundred clicks away. Even from here I could sense the men and women attacking her. From time to time one of their Force signatures winked away but it was a drop in the bucket. There was at least a platoon of Republic commandos and a strike team of Jedi. To make matters worse, the kriffing sons of banthas were there for me but instead were attacking my wife and her apprentice!

    Half hour. It was all it took me to get there. It felt like eternity. I experienced every single bruise, the smallest of cuts that Ashara received. Her fury when Selit Roak, the kid she had taken under her wing was cut down. The impact of blaster bolts splashing on her shields and the ones scarring her armor.

    She was weakening. Laser swords and cortosis forged blades were keeping her in the center of a lethal whirlwind as she did her best to keep the weapons away from her. But now and then an attack slipped through her defenses. One nicked her left shoulder, another ¨C her right th??h.

    I was only five minutes away when my heart was torn away from my ?h?st. Ashara made one mistake and three lightsaber blades pierced her ?h?st. I sensed the Force trembling as all the energy she used to keep up with the people murdering her dissipated.

    For one last moment the connection we shared for years flared to life and I could hear her saying "Goodbye Vael. I..."

    I felt her soft hands touching my face and a brush of a feathery kiss over my dry lips. A ghostly outline of angelic face smiled at me sadly and disappeared in a thousand moths of bluish light.

    My screams of unrelenting rage sent the wildlife running in panic for dozens of kilometers around me.

    When I reached the small house which used to be my wife''s family ancestral home, it was burning fiercely. I could see Republic troopers tending to their wounded and a female Jedi kneeling next to a prone form which I instantly recognized as my wife''s body.

    With a furious below I jumped from my speeder. My lightsaber flew into my outstreched hand and roaring to life. With a wave of the Force I sent my ride flying at a group of surprised commandos. The energy field that I maintained to keep the speeder in one piece evaporated and the machine blew up taking the shocked troops with it.

    I landed between a pair of commandos who were struggling to rise up their weapons. The one to the right few back bisected by my blade. The other one grasped his trachea as I used the Force to pulverize it. He gurgled and fell to his knees, drowning in his own blood.

    The female Jedi, a white haired Echani woman, stood up and looked at me with shock and fear etched on her horrified face. A torrent of lightning blew her away from my wife''s body which she was busy desecrating.

    My head turned to the right where a commando was pointing a carbine at my head. He opened fire as I was rising my sword to deflect his attack. Azure bolt of energy raced straight at me¡­

    =RK=

    Republic cruiser Tranquility

    Near Rodia

    Outer Rim

    My eyes snapped open and starred at the barrel of a blaster. It fired from point blank range and almost blinded me when its red bolt dissipated over my active shield. Funny. I did not remember activating it.

    I clamped my left hand around the weapon''s barrel and twisted it away despite the metal fingers gripping it from the other side. I glared at the scorched droid which tried to end me. An echo from the fury I felt during my dream of the past empowered me. Fury fueled power coursed through my whole being coloring the worlds with crimson hues. The commando droid struggled with me for possession of the rifle but that abruptly ended when my attention got back to the machine. It shuddered as its torso was squashed by fingers made by the Force itself.

    I threw the pile of scrap behind me and stood up on unsteady legs. The explosion almost did me in. Those were not frag grenades the droid used to blew itself. Oh, no. Thermal detonators. If it was not for me subconscious activating my energy shield as well as throwing that wall of Force between me and the explosion I would have cooked in my armor. At best.

    As it was I was only knocked out for couple of minutes if the clock inside my still active HUD was correct. The silver lining was that the detonation had dealt with the remaining droids with the notable exception of that one which tried to shoot me in the head. I could not feel others of their kind around.

    I wasted another minute to retrieve my lightsaber which was in the back of the corridor under some debris. At least it was intact.

    =RK=

    When I got to the detention center I found pandemonium. More than a dozen dead clones and all but one of the Senate commandos were littering the floors. They had taken twice their number of commando droids down but that was small comfort. I headed to the only living being in this facility ¨C Commander Green who was slumped on the deck in front of Gunray''s open cell. I retrieved a med pack from the small of my back and used it to hastily patch up the man. Then I opened my senses and ran towards the main hangar.

    I could feel Ahsoka and Shaak Ti fighting with a Dark side user. Ventress. But I ignored their struggle. The Neimoidian was near to the frigate with which we came aboard! I could not let the bastard escape yet he was too far away to reach before he boarded the smaller ship!

    My thoughts raced frantically until a crazy idea occurred to me. I sealed my armor and headed towards my new destination.

    =RK=

    Nute Gunray was dragged through the cruiser by that rude captain who was in the employ of Dooku. He did not like the human but at least the traitor was getting him away!

    The Viceroy was thankful to all Deities that might exist that the Sith that captured him and was about to interrogate him was not shown himself. It was very good thing that Ventress was distracting the Jedi. That little Togruta was insane!

    They were few meters away from the frigate''s docking ramp. If it was not for the need for a brief detour to open the hangar doors they would have been on board by now.

    The pair gawked when an escape pod screamed through the opening in the belly of the Venator and skidded to a screeching halt nearby. Its airlock was torn away and a figure in black jumped out. Captain Argyus grabbed the neimoidian by the neck and used him as a live shield against the unexpected visitor.

    =RK=

    ''I couldn''t believe that worked!'' I thought when I exited the escape pod and faced the traitor and the prisoner.

    Using it to sling around the cruiser and to enter the hangar while the escape attempt was nearly successful had actually worked! It was good enough that after that memory of Darth Vael I had enough control over the Force to steer the small pod on the needed course.

    "Viceroy. It is not polite to snub our hospitality in such a way. We were just getting to the interesting part." I snarled. Dreaming of my wife''s murder while briefly unconscious had my control over my fury wavering. My Mask was close to cracking and that way laid only madness.

    "You want him alive. So we are going to board this ship and leave peacefully." The commando tried to appear tough.

    I smiled at the fool.

    "That ship already left. There are three Separatist frigates on the way and the reinforcements from the planet won''t reach us before them. With this cruiser crippled the only reason they are not blowing us away is Ventress and Gunray. You are not leaving." I shook my head.

    "Then surrender and I may yet show you mercy!" sneered Gunray. "Or I can pay you! You''re a mercenary, right? What do you want? Credits? A ship? Weapons? I know! Women too!" Gunray nodded frantically.

    "Women?" I hissed. The two women I loved in this existence were long dead. Did he really thought he could buy me with whores?! I saw red. My fury needed an outlet and those two fools just volunteered.

    Before either of them could react I threw my lightsaber at them. I gently willed its activation bu??on to press down and its blade activated mid-flight. It speared them both.

    The feeling of their shock and despair as they comprehended that this was the end of their path was like a sweet wine for my senses. But I had no time to enjoy the destruction of two minor enemies.

    Feeling them die made my fury abate for a moment ¨C just long enough that I could rein it in and place it under my control instead of the other way around.

    "Captain, do you copy?" I spoke in the comm unit build in my helmet.

    "Who is this?"

    "Delkatar Veil. I''m with the Jedi. I have an idea of how to even the odds a bit but I need everyone who knows how to pilot a small craft in the hangar yesterday."

    "I''ll give the order. We need all the help we can get. The main reactor is scrammed. We are on auxiliary power and won''t last long against these odds. The only reinforcements that will reach us on time are a squadron of fighters escorting a wing of bombers. Then an Acclamator a few minutes later. The rest of the task force won''t make it here before its all over."

    "So what''s new?! Just get me these pilots. And turn the ship so the lower hanger is hidden from the Sep''s view."

    =RK=

    Munificent class frigate Revenge

    Near Rodia

    Outer Rim

    General Grievous glared at the crippled Venator on which his target waited: Gunray, that worthless worm. Hopefully he''ll get himself killed this time. However, the Viceroy was not what interested him. That Sith spawn that cut off his limbs was said to be on board that ship! But he could not just blast it into little pieces! Not with Dooku''s precious apprentice there. If he did so the Sith would have what was left of his guts for dinner. Another failure so soon after the debacle with the Malevolence wouldn''t be tolerated. The General seethed quietly.

    His Task force was racing towards its prey. All fighters were already launched as a screen covering the two scores of boarding craft. With any luck he''d have the man who humiliated him so easily!

    "Uh, sir. A frigate class ship just appeared behind the cruiser. Now its launching fighters."

    "Blast them all! Fire!"

    Grievous watched as his droid fighters and the turbolasers which would b?r? fired on the approaching red frigate. To his surprise, the Torrent fighters were using the shadow of the small ship as a cover from the heavy barrage.

    The frigate was speeding up, obviously hopping to somehow survive the onslaught long enough to escape into hyperspace after covering the small craft. He knew that it was very likely that Gunray was on board that ship so he ordered a Munificent to physically block its flight.

    If he could he would have grinned. The frigate''s shields were straining and the craft was unlikely to survive passing through his formation. And with the speed it had gained it was too late to try breaking off. That left only the Republic fighters as a threat but they''d be dealt with by his own after the boarding ships were all over the Venator.

    =RK=

    I grinned. The frigate I was controlling was holding a bit better than expected. The shields were tatters but I had dumped all power either in them or the overloading engines. In front of me the closest Munificent, which was the on the right flank of the enemy Task force was becoming huge. The small fleet''s commander had maneuvered its ships to prevent the frigate from jumping into hyperspace. Physical objects on the way tended to do that.

    The frigate shook as a stray turbo-laser bolt slipped through a gap in its failing shields but it was too late to stop it. I watched with a smile as the armored nose of the CIS ship raced towards me. Even if the collision did not take out the Munificent, it would shatter its shields and permit the Torrents to salvo their concussion missiles in its fragile bridge.

    All I could see was the bulk of the enemy frigate rushing towards me then everything went dark.

 Chapter 6 - Through Passion I gain Strength

    Part 1

    Republic cruiser Tranquility

    Rodia

    Outer Rim

    I fell on my hands and knees panting. My sight was covered by black spots which were slowly dissipating. I took a deep breath as the darkness that enveloped me when the Consular frigate slammed in the Munificent bled away. I could see a distorted image of the deck plating which was few centimeters from my forehead. I ?r??n?d. While pulling off such a stunt wasn''t exactly trivial, yet it had never left me so exhausted before. Controlling a ship through the Force and guiding it to kamikaze an enemy frigate was an unexpectedly draining experience. Yeah, doing the same tricks as in this era took much more power than back in the day. For a moment I wondered what was wrong with the Force, but shrugged those thoughts away. Perhaps I would have the time to ponder that question once the war was over.

    I willed my trembling body to move and stood up with a gasp. All my muscles ached as if I had tried to physically move the kriffing frigate!

    I was stumbling as I made my way to the only remaining fighter on the deck. The way the Tranquility was shuddering as it was bombarded or boarding ships slammed into its hull did not make my life any easier.

    =RK=

    The Torrent''s power-plant roared to life while I was busy strapping myself in its seat. My mind was using the Force to manipulate its controls while I made myself ready for more combat. I checked the seals of my armor and its oxygen supply before plugging in the line to the fighter''s air-tank. The familiar sound of the star-fighter''s engines coming to life was reassuring.

    The borrowed machine rose up and glided over the deck as I guided it to the hangar exit. I forced the engines to full military trust and the Torrent darted into the void. I emerged into a storm of turbo-laser fire as the two operational CIS frigates pounded the failing shields of the Tranquility. The secondary fusion reactors could do only so much with the primary power source out.

    My fighter banked over the superstructure of the Venator and I got my first good look of the battle. If you could call it that. There were only seven Republic star-fighters trying to hold a full wings of vultures. The only good news was that the first group of reinforcements were couple of minutes away. A full wing of twelve bombers with their escorts.

    I plunged straight into the chaos. My Torrent swung in a reckless maneuver as I pushed it to the limits of its maneuverability. I flew left pulling a turn that would have squashed me if it was not for the inertial dampeners and flew behind a pair of vultures which were strafing the armored bulk of the cruiser. The droid fighters flew closer to the hull of the Republic capital ship in an effort to escape destruction.

    The laser cannons of my Torrent came to life and discharged lines of green death. Pulses of coherent light racked over the engines of the right vulture and it went up in a short conflagration of vaporizing metal and burning fuel. Its buddy headed for the command towers of the cruiser in attempt to either ram the bridge or evade my fire by flying around the pylons supporting the command deck. The vulture did not get far because its right wing pod was shaved off by a long stream of fire. I released the trigger and watched in satisfaction as the enemy exploded.

    =RK=

    That however had been a short lived joy. Soon three Munificents and a whole bunch of fighters and boarding ships rained all over the cruiser that was home for Ranger squadron.

    On the bright side, thanks to the crazy idea of Veil, the Jedi, one of the Sep frigates was mission killed and it looked like that the Tranquility might last until the backup arrived. However that would have been academic for him and his men. Or so he thought. Another Torrent had flew from the bow hangar and was tearing apart the clankers.

    A minute ago Ranger Two thought that he was a goner. He had four of the vultures on his tail and despite his best efforts the droids were coming closer and closer to rendering him in squishy space debris. He could not do much. Not when the remains of his squadron were fighting for their own lives.

    However it was not his time to die. Two of the pursuing vultures were blown out of his space by a pair of concussion missiles. Then a third was shredded by a short burst of devilishly accurate laser fire. The last machine tried to nail Ranger Two before it was destroyed but the droid fighter was shattered before being able to kill the clone pilot.

    "This is Delkatar Veil. We need to keep distracting them for few more minutes and then the bombers will be all over them. Don''t get yourselves killed boys! "

    With those words the Jedi had darted away in pursuit of another clanker.

    =RK=

    Engineering

    Republic Cruiser Tranquility

    Outer Rim

    The reactor chambers of the cruiser were on fire. The lightning was off and Jedi Master Ti could see only thanks to the orange illumination hurled by the dancing flames. She had a gas mask on her face which helped her deal with the toxic fumes filling the engineering room without her having to expend Force energy to deal with whatever poison was in the air. She was holding a defensive position over the prone form of Padawan Tano who had the misfortune to pass too close to a mine placed by Ventress. The warning through the Force came too late for the young woman to escape unscratched. Ahsoka was stunned by the detonation and then hurled at nearby wall by a powerful telekinetic push. To make it even worse, the ?ssassin had cut the huge coolant pipes passing under the ceiling and hurled them at the younger Togruta. Tano was stunned and pinned down with a broken leg.

    Ventress was stalking towards the Jedi Master with a mocking smile on her black lips.

    "You won''t be able to save her, Jedi. She''ll die as she should."

    Shaak Ti huffed. What''s with Sith and monologues, anyway?!

    "I recognize your style, ?ssassin. It''s Dooku''s. But you use it in an unrefined and crude way. I''ll demonstrate."

    The Jedi Master surged forward without a warning. It was a little known fact but Shaak Ti was possible the best blade-mistress the Jedi Order had. She, not unlike Dooku, was a master of Makashi.

    Her attack surprised Ventress. Asajj was put on the defensive under its ferocity. Shaak Ti used a short, economic motion to deflect the left handed lightsaber of her opponent and then she parried the right one before kicking Ventress in the stomach with a Force empowered strike. The ?ssassin was thrown back and struck the armor covered the crippled reactor with a dull "thud". The Jedi master did not let the Sith recover and was upon her enemy. She pulled Ventress with the Force and sidestepped the flying force user. Shaak Ti''s blazing blade flashed in azure ark and slashed through the saber hilt of Asajj''s left hand weapon. It coughed few sparks and died.

    Before the ?ssassin could land she was pulled from the back. This time she could twist mid-flight and parried a deadly strike with a desperate sweep of her remaining weapon. But that did not prevent her from hitting the reactor housing for a second time. Hard. She stumbled to her feet with a groan and used a desperation fueled surge of Force to jump towards the ceiling. No matter how she loathed the thought, Ventress knew that she should retreat. The short but intense combat against the two Jedi had taken its toll upon her. She was unscratched if you discount her bruised ribs but she had to use too much of the Force in order to keep up with the two Togruta females. Her muscles were screaming with exhaustion. With a vile curse, Asajj bounced from the ceiling and darted towards and open air-vent.

    Shaak Ti used a sheet of torn out plating to cover herself. It wasn''t a moment too soon. Dual explosions rocked the compartment, raining flame and shrapnel over her makeshift shelter. Sensing that Ventress was no longer and immediate treat she ran towards the Padawan and raised the pipe pinning down the girl with a wave of her hand. The Force produced telekinesis was quite handy tool for any Jedi.

    =RK

    A Torrent was torn apart after it was bracketed by six vultures and the flack cannons of the pair of operational CIS frigates. Another destroyed a droid fighter before being unfortunate enough to pass in front of a turbo-laser bolt, ceasing to exist. I sent a pair of missiles at two enemy machines converging on my position and then flew straight at another duo. I used the superior agility of my fighter and the limited premonition granted me by the Force to spin my Torrent in a mad ballet that avoided all fire sent my way. My cannons smashed the incoming vultures in piles of floating scrap and I banked right in the last moment to avoid the pieces of enemy ships which were still holding the same vector.

    I snarled when two full squadrons of enemy fighters decided to pay me attention. The engines of my machine vibrated and wh?n?d in protest as I pushed them beyond their design parameters. I headed straight at the crippled CIS frigate and led my pursuers in a deadly game as I flew through its superstructures as the vultures unleashed everything they got at me. Light blossomed all around me as laser bolts were hurled near my ???kpit. Too near for comfort. And many more were blasting at the armor belt of the stricken Munificent.

    I could feel how one and then another of my pursuers were not maneuverable enough (despite their machine reflexes) to avoid protrusions and weapon emplacements sticking out of he frigate''s hull.

    Then the clock shown on my HUD blinked green and I smiled and pulled the control stick towards me. My Torrent climbed "up" and the vultures followed... Straight in the sights of the escorts and bombers coming to our aid. My pursuers died smashed by missiles and a storm of laser bolts.

    The command Munificent was closing to a point blank range of the Tranquility while the other frigate was maneuvering to present its broadside to the coming bomber strike.

    I formed with the escort fighters and we moved on to screen the Y-Wings. All remaining vultures were converging against us. We flew down their throats with flack and fighters throwing hell at us. Second later the bombers followed us in the hurricane of steel and death.

    =RK=

    Cruiser Tranquility

    Near Rodia

    Outer Rim

    Shaak Ti used two pieces of metal torn out by the ?ssassin''s mines to brace the broken leg of the younger woman. She was helping Ahsoka to reach the med bay when their way was blocked by a group of Super Battle droids. The Jedi activated their lightsabers and Master Ti jumped at the attacking machines. Behind her, the wounded Padawan could not do much besides holding her ground and deflecting the multiple shots heading her way.

    The Jedi Master soared over the blaster bolts, turned in the air in such a way that she was able to use the ceiling as a spring board to launch herself at the droids and jumped at the center of their formation. She sent wave of unseen force in front of her, which hit the unfortunate machines like a heavy freighter. The droid which was in the center of her attack crumbled like a tin can on which a giant had stepped on. The four robots closest to it were slammed in the ground with such a force that their legs snapped by the impact and multiple internal systems were damaged by the concussion. Then she was upon the surprised droids and her blade was a blur of color that left glowing pieces behind.

    Ahsoka was doing her best to stay un-shot while the older Togruta woman was slicing and dicing the SB droids into piles of glowing scarp. She wondered how long, if ever, would take her to reach a similar level. The Jedi Master was amazing! Skywalker''s apprentice dealt with three droids by sending back their blaster bolts while Master Ti had demolished the rest of the enemy force.

    =RK=

    One of these days I should stop getting myself in such sticky situations. I was on point, leading twenty eight fighters and twelve bombers against about a hundred vultures which had arrayed themselves in a defensive screen between us and the closest Separatist''s frigate.

    Missiles raced in front of our charging Torrent''s and quarter of the enemies were smitten down by concussion explosions. Then they were upon us and there was no more time for thinking. Only the endless hours of training and steel discipline held the clones together as we mixed with the droid fighters. A vulture was splintered by my cannons. A Torrent disintegrated under the relentless fire of no less than eight clankers. The bombers blasted away a whole wing of droid fighters which tried to meet them head on. None of the Y-Wings suffered something more than a mildly depleted shields in that exchange.

    While I was chasing a vulture, I saw three Clone fighters mixing with nine of their CIS counterparts. They wiped each outer in an orgy of laser blasts and concussion missiles. My cannons carved up the enemy I was pursuing and I went after a droid fighter that was giving hell to one of the few surviving star-fighters of the Tranquility''s compliment. I nailed the machine with a lucky strike that immolated its fuel reserves but it was a moment too late. Three crimson laser bolts slammed in the engine of the clone Torrent and the Republic fighter fell apart as its power-plant exploded.

    I watched helplessly as a bomber was torn to pieces by four vultures before it was their turn to die as missiles consigned them to the endless void. I blasted a target of opportunity and flew behind the attacking bombers in order to provide them with some small amount of cover.

    The immediate space was filled with dying fighters and blast of flack cannons. None of that phased the bomber pilots and they released their payloads at point blank range of the Munificent. The light purple, almost pink proton torpedoes blazed for few moments before slamming in the armored underside of the frigate. The star ship visibly shook as a long row of explosions blossomed all over its flank.

    I had the impression that the Frigate stood frozen in place for a long moment before something inside it gave away and a massive internal explosion broke its back. Its forward section was sent spinning downwards relative to its previous course, while its aft continued moving on its old vector thanks to the engines which were active for the next five or six seconds. Then they flicked off and on few times before detonating and shattering the aft part of the Munificent.

    I could hear the clones cheering on the comm. I chuckled at their enthusiasm.

    "Great work men! Only one more to go. Bombers form up for another attack run. I want half the fighters with me on as escorts. The rest of you clean up this space from clankers!"

    "Yes, sir!" came the thunderous response.

    Those fellas were much livelier than the average clones I''ve met so far. I kind of liked their attitude.

    For a short while it looked like that we had the upper hand. Vulture droids were being destroyed left and right and the bomber run at the last enemy frigate was well on its way. There were not enough droid fighters left to blunt the attack, much less stop it. Then as you might guess everything went wrong.

    Two more Munificents jumped out of hyperspace and started disgorging waves of vultures.

    "All escorting fighters, form on me. We are going to intercept our new friends. Bomber wing take out that ship!" I ordered and banked left towards the forming waves of enemy fighters.

    Behind us the Y-Starfighters continued forward and ran a gauntlet of flack fire and the vultures from the initial Task Force who were enterprising enough to jump at them despite the remaining Republic fighters with which they were dog-fighting. Four of the bombers were smashed by enemy fire but the remaining strike craft blew away the aft section of the frigate leaving it dead in space. The crippled ship drifted out of control.

    At the same time I was leading fourteen Torrents against the first wave of fresh droid fighters. There were more than two hundred of the buggers. The shadow of Vael that was lurking in my subconsciousness was whispering that the smart thing would be to cut my losses and jump to hyperspace. That however meant leaving Ahsoka and Shaak Ti to certain death. After the losses they suffered it was a sure thing that the CIS forces would blast apart the Venator and get away before more Republic ships came to the party.

    The cannons of the fresh frigates rotated, paused for a second and unloaded everything they got at the crippled Tranquility. The shields of the Republic cruiser somehow held up to that moment but after the first barrage they were no more. Turbo-laser fire struck the helpless Venator and small suns were born over its upper hull as the energy bolts discharged their fury on the armor belt. Turrets were blown clear away. Spikes of light and fire shattered armor plates. Few heavy shots impacted at boarding ships still embedded in the hull and their immolation tore out huge chunks from the metal skin of the cruiser. Its command towers received sic direct hits and disappeared in the hearts of crimson tinted explosions.

    For me that was a side note. I was too busy fighting for my life to pay proper attention to Tranquility''s final hour. The missiles we shot at the approaching armada found their marks but the thirty vultures they blew away were a drop in the ocean compared to the number of enemies hurling themselves at us. My Torrent shook by near misses. Its engines screamed in protest as I overloaded them in an attempt to get every bit of speed they could grant me. My finger was firmly pressed on the cannon''s trigger and I did not let go. A vulture was turned into a flaming wreck, then another. Clone fighters ceased to exist under the guns of dozens vultures.

    I shot two more missiles without waiting for a positive lock. One slammed into a droid fighter flying straight at me. The other missed but forced a vulture to get out of its way.

    There were only four more killing machines between me and the end of the swarm. The first was immolated by laser light like a moth. The next died speared by my last missile. My Torrent weaved around the blasts of the third when we both scored hits. The vulture was sliced into three flaming parts by my cannons but not before blasting my right wing into oblivion. My fighter spun madly while I fought with its heavy controls. I snarled when red laser bolts flew my way. The first wave of droids fighters were dispersing and sweeping around in broad turns. Then it disappeared in a fireball when a missile struck it next to its robot brain.

    I could see on my scanners that only two other Republic fighters had survived our insane charge. Granted, we took out more than a quarter of the enemies and broke their attack run on our bombers but that was all to heavy price to pay. The remaining five Torrents and the Y-Wings were forming up and flying at the dissipating vulture formation but that would be all to late for us. The second wave of droid fighters was almost upon us.

    =RK=

    Shaak Ti managed to get Ahsoka to the med bay, where one of the clones was now busy with patching the Padawan''s leg. There she found the remnants of Green Company which was smashed by a Dark Jedi and waves of battle droids and commandos. Only seven men were combat effective and just three of them weren''t wounded. She grimaced. The mission had gone to hell and if what she sensed through the Force was correct, their situation was going to become even worse.

    A minute and eleven SB droids later she was proven right. The captain ordered them to abandon ship before the comm-link was cut and the cruiser started shaking under heavy bombardment.

    Shaak Ti and Ahsoka managed to levitate ten of the wounded to the nearest escape pods while thirteen more were brought by the remaining troopers and the medics. That''s when the corridor through which they came was smashed by enemy fire and they were cut off from the med bay by sealing armored doors. Master Ti stumbled when she felt the wounded still in the med bay winking out as the ship was shaken by another hit.

    "To the escape pods! Now!" she shouted and hurried with moving in the wounded they managed to rescue.

    When they launched from Tranquility, the Jedi Master was appalled by the damage that the cruiser suffered. Seconds after they left a creeping barrage of turbo-laser fire smashed the part of the ship they were moments ago.

    She looked out through the small window and saw the remains of crippled or destroyed CIS ships and hundreds of enemy fighters chasing after the few Republic fighters and bombers that were still active.

    Ahsoka, who was piloting the pod had to maneuver it around floating and smoldering debris from space ships and vultures shooting at anything moving that did not have CIS IFF.

    =RK=

    I regained some semblance of control over my damaged fighter. The pair of clone piloted fighters and me had precious few seconds until the two armadas of vultures would be upon us. I desperately looked for a way out of this deathtrap. My sight fell on the two frigates behind the second wave of enemy fighters. It was insane. With no real chance to reach them. The only other alternative I had left was to do a blind hyperspace jump.

    A glance at the panel showing me the status of the hyperdrive told me that there was no way out. My Hyperdrive engine was down. Whether it was busted even before I flew out of the Tranquility or the hit that blew of my wing was to blame was irrelevant.

    "Boys, follow me in. We are heading straight for the hangar of the nearest Munificent. Our current position is untenable."

    "Affirmative, sir. Who wants to live forever?" joked one of the clones.

    "I do. Preferably." chuckled the other.

    We flew against the swarm of vultures between us and the enemy frigates. Behind us dozens more droid fighters were rushing to dispose of us. The Force literally screamed a deafening warning that almost stunned me.

    =RK=

    Part 3

    Short time ago

    Rodia

    Outer Rim

    A nineteen years old, wet behind the ears ensign was surveying the bridge of the Acclamator Dauntless. To be fair, he should not even be there ¨C the young man had graduated from the Naval Academy on his home world of Axxila only five short weeks ago. He found himself ?ssigned to the GAR when the Senator of his world decided to show his support for the war by arranging most of the graduating class to "volunteer" for duty with the fleet. The green officer was called Firmus Piett. He was a short, brown haired man with piercing black eyes.

    The ensign had the p???sur? to be one of only three officers ?ssigned to the Dauntless who were not clones. Those were the Captain, one Gram Tager, an experienced Corellian spacer with decades of service in that systems defense fleet. The other, was one of the lieutenants ¨C Lars Robat. The rest of the crew, without exception were wearing the same brown faces. That of a mandalorian bounty hunter if the rumors were true. At least the clones usually knew their jobs though most of them, at least on his ship, lacked creativity and tended to do things by the book.

    Piett was left to tend the shop, while the rest of the command crew were on a briefing in the capital, which was mostly used as an opportunity to chill off after the boring patrol they were conducting. Even now, when reinforcing Rodia and hunting down the few stray clankers left, and providing humanitarian aid to the starving population it was not a major change of pace for the starship officers. Most if not all ground operations were conducted by the clone commanders and their subordinates.

    As the new man, so to speak, Firmus got to draw the short stick and remained as the ranking officer on board. However he was not particularly disappointed by that. Rodia was a hot, wet planet which was covered by swamps. Not his favorite climate. So he was content to remain on the bridge of the Acclamator where he was enjoying the blessings of the environmental controls which kept the inside of the ship pleasantly cool.

    The Ensign was checking one of the endless reports which go hand in hand with running a major spaceship, this one dealing with the supply state of the cruiser. The Dauntless was an experimental Acclamator, a hybrid between carrier and ?ssault ship which was able to deploy both ground forces and V-19 Torrent starfighters. Which, while useful depending on the situation, was hell on the logistics front.

    Firmus was finishing a report showing the supply state of the fighter wings stationed on his ship when a message came in. The Venator that was transporting Nute Gunray, one of the leaders of the Separatists to Coruscant was under attack. For some reason the cruiser had not jumped to hyperspace shortly after getting the prisoner aboard and now its captain and crew were paying the price.

    The young man was gripped by indecision for a few handful of seconds. At least a third of the ground troops were still on board as well as a lot of equipment and two squadrons of starfighters. The enemy attack was occurring over the side of the planet where the Dauntless and few other ?ssault ships were landed. So he was on board one of the few Republic cruisers that could respond to the distress call in short amount of time. The only force that could do so faster was the cap flying in low orbit of the planet but that was only two squadrons of Torrents and a single wing of bombers. It might be enough to help the Tranquility deal with the three reported enemy frigates. A Venator with such support was a Match for so few Munificents. But the cruiser was reported to be boarded so it was all academic.

    "Raise the ramps! Prepare for emergency launch! I want all fighters ready for combat yesterday!" Piett started snapping orders.

    One of these days it may be his ship in distress and he hoped that whoever Republic captain was around would choose to ?ssist.

    =RK=

    The Dauntless was breaking orbit carried by its powerful engines. The navcomputer was already busy with calculating vectors for a combat micro-jump. To Piett''s unpleasant surprise it appeared that he and his ship were the fastest to respond if you do not count the CAP which was already on the way. The next ship, another Acclamator, that would be able to launch won''t arrive for fifteen more minutes. It was a bloody eternity considering that the Tranquility was crippled and her captain was shouting frantically for support. Apparently one of the boarding parties was able to damage the reactor which had scrammed. With boarders running rampart and the main power out of the equation, the Venator did not have a chance.

    Piett was watching on the holographic displays framing the bridge a representation of the vicious battle. The fighter compliment of the besieged cruiser had managed to knock out one of the enemy frigates and now, ?ssisted by the cap and the bombers were attacking a second. For few short seconds it looked like that the Dauntless would arrive in time to ?ssist with mopping up the enemy fighters. The second Munificent was shattered by a massed torpedo strike when two more CIS frigates jumped into the fray. They immediately launched their vulture compliments and suddenly the tide of the battle had changed.

    "They did not stand a chance." muttered the Clone manning the sensors control station.

    "Navigation, I want a hyperspace jump plotted for right there." Piett pointed to a specific place on the holographic display. "Weapons, I want you to open fire at this formation of droid fighters the moment we complete transition. "

    RK=

    Battlefield near Rodia

    Outer Rim

    I pulled up the control stick of my fighter with all my might and in a fit of desperation used the Force to help steer my sluggish Torrent. It pointed its nose upward and headed onto new a vector under the thrust of its over-stressing engines. It was not a moment too soon. A white and red colored mountain of armor and weapons appeared in front of me. I felt the belly of my fighter scrapping on its hull and I was nearly thrown out of my seat to bounce around the ???kpit despite the shock webbing keeping me in place. The lost wing turned out to be an unexpected boon when I nearly struck a turret mount as it flashed by me on the right. If the wing was still intact that collision would have been the end of me.

    I pulled out of my climb and smiled in relief. As I passed near the single bridge pylon of the Acclamator that had just saved my life (and nearly smeared me all over its hull) I glanced a relieved looking young officer on the bridge. Surprisingly he was not a clone.

    But I had no time to ponder his identity. The second wave of CIS fighters were too close to pull out. They ran headlong into the onslaught of the close in weapons of the ?ssault ship which was modified to carry twice the normal quantity of flack cannons. As the formation of vultures approached they were swallowed by the firepower arrayed against them. A wall of explosions, which was spiting flaming broken hulks was flying towards the cruiser. A third of the vultures were smashed to rubble when they found themselves without any room to maneuver. Close to another third were unable to evade the armored bulk of the Acclamator and slammed into it. They wrecked some of the gun emplacement but beyond that all they did was to dent the armor. The droid fighter simply had not attained enough velocity to seriously damage the cruiser. I along with my two companions who managed to evade running headlong into the Acclamator pounced gleefully on the disorganized remains of the second vulture wave.

    My grin became wider when I saw the ?ssault ship lowering its forward facing ramp and launching fighter squadrons while exchanging broadside fire with the remaining two frigates.

    I turned left and shot up a vulture unlucky enough to fly right in front of my fighter.

    That''s when Mr. Murphy decided to rear his ugly head and end my dog-fighting days in that particular Torrent. My fighter''s frame had sustained too much abuse in the short battle and it started falling apart around me. First, the left engine gave up, followed by the ???kpit lightning up like a Christmas tree with warning lights. The close encounter with the Acclamator had done much more damage to the underside of my ride that I first thought. I concentrated on the Force and used its energies to stabilize my fighter for few more seconds as I flew along the starboard of the ?ssault ship and headed for its open landing ramp. Around me the Acclamator''s shields blazed blue as they struggled to disperse the titanic energies bombarding them. My heart threatened to jump out of my ?h?st ¨C it was beating that fast while I was struggling to pilot the b?r?ly responsive Torrent and to maintain its remaining structural integrity by using my will alone.

    I was keenly aware of how close my fighter was to shattering under its own momentum. If it had suffered the same damage in atmosphere, I''d be a goner by now. The Torrent was shaking as if I was flying through a hurricane. There were a lot of vital pieces that were still in place and working only thanks to the Force energies keeping them together.

    I banked under the nose of the cruiser and my wounded craft managed somehow to remain in one piece (more or less) as I guided it towards the closing ramp. The two still working engines wh?n?d piteously for one last time and went quiet forever while I was struggling not to smash into the fast approaching deck.

    The canopy covering the ???kpit blew away after I struck the plastic covered ejection bu??on. The micro repulsor placed under my seat activated and I was catapulted away from the fighter. By sheer dumb luck the Torrent managed to survive long enough to carry me through the air retaining force field. It hit the hangar deck and rolled around spilling pieces of its fuselage in all direction. The few clones who were near the crash jumped away in search of cover.

    My seat tumbled through the air and I was doing my best to gently bring it down (and myself, of course). In the end I telekinetically unlocked the straps keeping me in place and jumped to the floor. It proved far easier than halting the momentum of the spinning chair and floating it down.

    Once I was securely on my feet I watched with amusement how my seat bounced off the armored nose of an artillery walker. Then I raised my hands in a non-threatening manner when about a platoon of clones pointed their blasters at me. They did not appreciate my entrance and messing up their orderly ship.

    "I am Delkatar Veil. I''m with the Jedi who were escorting Nute Gunray to Coruscant. I want to thank your captain for his timely intervention."

    "The captain is not on board. Ensign Piett has command." said a clone lieutenant.

    Interesting. Was that Firmus Piett, the fella who would have become a captain and later Admiral under Vader''s command, in that future that would no longer happen?

    "Lieutenant, please patch me to your commander."

    =RK

    "This is Ensign Piett, acting commander of the Dauntless. Who am I speaking with?" asked the young officer without moving his eyes from the tactical display. "Target their starboard hangar with the next couple of salvos. I don''t want that frigate launching any more small craft."

    "This is Delkatar Veil. I am with the Jedi escorting Gunray. "

    "And? I hope that this is not a social call. I am a bit busy right now." Firmus nearly snapped at the stranger.

    This was his first real space battle, one in which he was in charge of the whole ship, no less. It was no surprise that he was on edge.

    "The Viceroy is dead. I want to borrow a few of you LAAT''s and visit one of the remaining frigates."

    The first thought of the ensign was that this Veil character was insane. Or Jedi. Perhaps both. Then he considered the idea. If the battle continued as it was, soon the Republic would have space superiority and leave only the Munificents as threats. However the bomber wing was decimated and the Dauntless had a third of its heavy guns replaced with additional flack cannons. It was great for dealing with that damn vulture swarm but it also meant that he did not have the firepower to batter the shields of the second Munificent before the frigate escaping if it chose to do so. The other one, with which his ship was trading broadsides was another matter. At this short range the CIS craft did not stand a chance. It was a good thing that the Acclamator class had a novel shield design consisting of multiple redundant generators. That Dauntless a huge advantage versus its enemy in the point blank slugging match they were engaged in.

    "Get few gunships out to gather the Tranquility''s escape pods before the clankers blow them up out of spite." Piett ordered and then turned his attention on the unexpected guest on his ship. "What are you planning to do with my men, Veil?"

    The ensign raised an eyebrow when he heard the idea of the man. It was audacious and explained why he wanted to risk his life for taking a single enemy frigate when the battle was all but won. It was only a matter of time before the Separatist space forces were reduced. Unless heavy enemy reinforcements came in the next six or seven minutes before additional ships from Rodia arrived.

    =RK=

    Part 4

    Republic Assault Ship Dauntless

    near Rodia

    Outer Rim

    To my pleasant surprise Piett agreed to loan me couple of platoons and transports for my idea to go after Grievous who I felt was able to somehow reach the second Munificent. I was able to perceive his location in the last seconds before crashing on this ship but my mind was too busy at the time to consciously comprehend what I felt. But now, when I was not under the great strain needed to suspend the failing apart of my fighter I could feel the cyborg. His was a ghostly presence, not so different by the hundreds of droids manning the enemy frigates. Yet I could feel his general location. If my guess was right, the General had been on the Munificent that lost its aft section while I and most of CAP that came to our help were busy blunting the first fighter wave of the enemy reinforcements. Then, like the kriffing bugger he was, Grievous managed to get away from the crippled ship and fly to the one of the newly arrived frigates.

    I wanted his metal hide nailed to the nearest conveniently placed flat surface so I came up with a plan to ?ssault his new ship. Piett had agreed but refused to sent the LAAT''s and the clones under his command until the enemy fighter strength was further reduced. As a result I was waiting with the two platoons which the ensign decided to loan me for the head clanker hunt.

    I was with lieutenants CT-316 "Cat" of 36th Platoon and SNP-159 "Snape" of the 71st along with their senor NCOs. We were looking at a holographic image of Munificent projected by an emitter placed on a stake of crates. My plan was to disable the reactor of the frigate and thus prevent the ship from running into hyperspace or enacting a self-destruct. The fact that it would also cripple its shields and weapons was the icing of the cake. It also would mean that Piett would send additional forces to help secure the frigate. The Ensign was reluctant to deploy more of the forces he was responsible for before he was reasonably sure that the ship won''t be able to either run or be blown away as a final act of spite. When you take into account that at the moment I was just a mercenary with no formal standing with the Republic I was glad that Piett had agreed to back the operation in the first place. After all as far as he was concerned I was an unknown variable. We were discussing what forces would be needed to achieve the secondary objective ¨C capturing the bridge and Grievous if he did not come after us.

    "Sir, unless we have more men or Jedi support, we won''t be able to go after both targets. Not unless the Munificent is low on ground troops. Both platoons should aim to secure the reactors and only deal with Chief Clanker after additional troops are available." said Cat.

    "That''s why I said that the bridge is a secondary objective. If Grievous comes after us I''ll deal with him. If not, we''ll take the reactor and I''ll go after him while you hold the engineering section. "I nodded. "I want at least half of the men coming with us to be carrying heavy weapons..."

    =RK=

    I was relieved when I sensed the presence of Shaak Ti and Ahsoka coming from an escape pod which was brought on board by a pair of LAAT gunships. I ran to the escape pod before it had been placed on the deck, followed by a group of medics. The life boat was filled like a can of sardines. The only hale people were the Jedi Master, a single clone from Green company and couple of doctors. The rest were all wounded in one fashion or another, most of them critically.

    Ahsoka, who had her leg splinted gave me a sad smile.

    "Please tell me that the worm did not escape." she pleaded.

    "Gunray is toast." I gave her reassuring nod. "Master Ti, I plan to go and board the frigate on which Grievous took refuge. The commander of this ship agreed and will provide me with two platoons of clones of this operation. Do you care to accompany me?"

    The older Togruta woman gave me a surprised look.

    "How do you know that he is present?" she asked, clearly not convinced.

    "I felt his presence before landing here. Taking him out will turn this debacle into a disaster for the Separatists. They already lost a lot of hardware for nothing. With Grievous disposed of the Republic will have a strategic advantage in this sector. It may even be enough to slow down or even outright break the current CIS offensive."

    "It''s a bold plan." Shaak frowned. "But it has merit. You are correct in your ?ssessment of the situation. You should know that the ?ssassin Ventress was on the Tranquility but managed to escape. She might be able to make her way to Grievous."

    "Even better." I grinned under my mask.

    "Taking out both of them should be beneficial for the Republic." she said after a long moment of silence.

    While we were talking, the medics were busy transporting the wounded to the med bay. Tano was arguing with them but shut up when I turned my masked head at her.

    "Ahsoka, go get that leg fixed. Right now you are not up to a space borne ?ssault. Go."

    She grumbled quietly but complied, to Master Ti''s amusement.

    "She''s a little handful, isn''t she?" asked the older Togruta.

    "Ahsoka is teenager. Nothing surprising there." I shrugged.

    "This is Ensign Piett. The enemy fighter number are sufficiently reduced to allow for your plan, Veil. You are free to deploy at your discretion. Don''t get my men killed."

    "You heard the boss, boys. Let''s go!" I shouted and ran to one of the waiting LAAT''s.

    "May the Force be with you, Delkatar." whispered Shaak Ti and headed to another of the transports.

    =RK=

    Six LAAT gunships slid out of the forward ramp of the Dauntless and headed for the only one still intact CIS ship. They flew under the burning hulk of a Munificent frigate which was being pounded to pieces by the turbo-laser cannons of the Acclamator. Five Torrents flew as escorts for the boarding party. Their pilots were dividing their attention between visually scanning the surrounding space and watching the readings of their sensors. The two surviving bombers with their own escort were feinting an attack run at the targeted enemy frigate in order to divert the remaining unengaged enemy fighters and some of the flack cannon fire.

    When the troop transports showed themselves under the superstructure of the mission killed Munificent that was the first target of The Dauntless, the Republic ?ssault ship moved over the hulk and unloaded its guns at the side of the last enemy frigate. The targets were the flak cannons which could shoot down the LAATs. The enemy shields held under the first barrage, but the colossal energy discharge scrambled their sensors giving better chances to the clone pilots.

    A flight of vultures pounced at the transports but it was shredded by the escorting fighters and the turrets of the gunships. One of the LAAT''s was unfortunate enough to run straight into a flack barrage and its passengers, a third of 71st Platoon perished in a short lived explosion.

    The gunships and Torrent fighters unloaded a barrage of missiles and laser fire at the shield generators mounted next to the open hangar bay in the middle of the enemy frigate. Small explosions blossomed as the defensive field struggled to disperse the energies ?ssaulting it then failed with a bright flash of light. The generators were repeatedly struck by weapons fire and were annihilated in bluish explosions. The five remaining troopships flew in the hangar bay from which the atmosphere was being vented with a soundless scream. Moments after the last LAAT was inside, massive blast doors slammed shut behind it. On of the gunships strafed the distinct form of the personal fighter of General Grievous, which blew up spectacularly. The cyborg was not getting away that in it.

    The first three gunships flew in a triangle formation and sliced to pieces every droid and vulture starfighter on the deck while the other two landed behind them and disgorged ten heavily armed clones apiece. The side doors of the still floating LAATs slid open and cables were thrown out. Two figures jumped out and landed lightly on their feet followed by more clone troopers who descended on the lines.

    =RK=

    CIS Frigate Midnight Solace

    Near Rodia

    Outer Rim

    My armored boots hit the deck over a pillow made from pure Force. It felt like I was stepping down the stairs instead of jumping from over six meter height. Behind me Shaak Ti did the same and we were followed by rappelling clones.

    "Lieutenant Cat, I want a squad of your men as well as the LAATs securing this hangar. It''s our exfiltration point. I believe that neither of you wants to check if this ship is equipped with adequate escape pods in case we fu?k up."

    "Yes, sir!" the clone in overall command of the two platoons snapped a crisp salute.

    "Master Ti. Bridge or reactor?" I asked the female Jedi who had came to my side.

    "Bridge. I''ve seen enough of reactors to last me a lifetime." she muttered.

    "Suit yourself. Take the 36th platoon with you. Grievous is bound to be on the bridge. I''ll deal with the rest." I turned to a clone who had his white armor painted in color signifying his NCO rank. "Sergeant I want the rest of 71st platoon with me."

    "Yes, Sir!"

    =RK

    I found myself leading ground forces natural, reassuring. It was like slipping into a well-practiced role which I knew almost better than myself. It felt like its been too long since the last time I properly stuck it on the ground so to speak.

    The clones were moving in two columns along the corridor walls. In the vanguard and rearguard of the group were squads of four men armed with blaster carbines. They were acting as escorts for the heavy weapons teams which were carrying heavy blasters, rotatory cannons and a single missile launcher. That may have appeared as overkill, but I wanted my men to have the firepower to deal with groups of droidekas and Super Battle droids easily.

    I was moving at the head of the column with a blazing lightsaber in my right hand. The few B-1s we faced so far fell easily to blaster fire while I deflected their shots back at them. I knew that the easy run would be ending soon. Grievous could not afford to let us take the reactor. Whether we wanted to blow up the frigate or capture it was irrelevant for him. He''d be kriffed anyway.

    The first signs of heavier resistance were the ten SB droids which waited for in a nearby side corridor. Their attempt to ambush us failed miserably.

    They shot two missiles at us. The projectiles appeared to be something like micro proton torpedoes ¨C after being launched by a launchers mounted in their left arms, they took ellipsoid forms which blazed with light purple flames. My left hand shot forward and I channeled a wave of the Force through it which deflected the projectiles back towards their senders. I jumped back and raised a Force shield between my forces and the group of droids. The missiles detonated behind the leading pair of enemy machines and obliterated two thirds of their numbers. Three of the droids in the back survived somewhat intact but were thrown off their legs. The clone troopers made a short work out of them.

    "Deploy mines in this corridor." I ordered and one of the clones who was a demolitions expert and was carrying various goodies that go boom in a huge backpack nodded and hurried to booby-trap the side passage. Unfortunately we had neither the time nor the ordinance to do so with every side corridor on our way. The only reason I wanted those mines laid down was that I was hearing metal legs moving over the deck from that direction. And from the corridor that was leading straight to the reactor I could sense a dark presence approaching...

    =RK=

    Part 5

    CIS Frigate Midnight Solace

    Near Rodia

    Outer Rim

    The direct way to our objective was blocked by a solid wall of Super Battle droids which had a group of four droidekas with deployed shields in front of them. Between the silver combat robots and the leading destroyers stood a lithe figure who was mostly hidden by a heavy black cloak. Her face was disguised with shadows cast by the hood of her mantle.

    The clones following me took what little cover they could find and aimed their weapons at the enemies.

    "Asajj Ventress. I wondered when I would run into you." I whispered b?r?ly restraining my irritation.

    She was an obstacle that I did not need right now. Securing the reactors was paramount and the short platoon behind me would be unable to deal with that many droids fast. It was time for improvisation.

    ''I want a missile and combination of frag and Ion grenades all over them on my signal. I''ll make sure that Ventress won''t sent them our way.'' I sent a mental message to the clones who turned their heads towards me in surprise. I gave them a small nod.

    "So you are the man who has my master worried. I expected you to be taller."

    I snorted. The idle banter could wait for later when we no longer had audience. I raised my left hand and smirked. Sparks of electricity appeared and started dancing around my palm. Ventress stiffened and took a step back.

    The so called Force lightning, more commonly known as Sith Lightning. It was created by the ancestors of my kind a long time ago. Despite some misconceptions and the way it was often used, it was not strictly speaking an offensive power. It was crafted as a way to torture people. Using it as a weapon was inefficient ¨C the lightning needed much more power than the various other offensive techniques Sith had at their disposal in order to make it practical. However if you had the power to burn it was a useful trick to have on your disposal.

    I was never interested in senseless torture, the bastards who engineered my wife''s death being notable exceptions. Vael''s wife damn it!

    That''s why I modified that technique for my own use. Instead of a wave of ''electricity'' which was aimed at creating superficial burns and lighting all your nerves on fire, my variant was more condensed. It was carefully crafted to disable or kill as fast as possible with no power lost to theatrics or unnecessary sadism. Unlike some Sith I knew and had to work with, I knew that war and combat were no games played for one''s amusement.

    Thin concentrated lighting arched from my outstretched palm. It struck the droideka''s shields and staggered the droids. A light tap of my telekinesis was enough to activate my shield. I reversed the grip of my saber to a backhand one and thrust my right hand forward.

    "Now!" I shouted.

    The Clones were already acting. Grenades were thrown at the wall of robots followed by the distinct sound of missile engine igniting.

    Despite its ferocity my lightning attack was little more than distraction. It scrambled the sensors of the destroyer droids and effected at least a bit the targeting capabilities of the SBs behind them. Their return fire was not accurate and my shields absorbed the blaster bolts that hit me. The four clones in the vanguard were not so lucky and fell after enemy shots carved up their armor and seared the flesh within. But it was too late for the droids. I accelerated the missile and grenades with a telekinetic push. What''s more I was concentrating on enveloping the ordinance in spheres of Force energy which prevented Ventress attempt to throw the explosives back in our faces. I could feel her shock when she understood that her attempt had failed and death was sailing towards her.

    =RK=

    Shaak Ti growled quietly. She and the platoon accompanying her were in front of the armored doors leading to the bridge. There Grievous was waiting for them. He had four droids with gray cloaks and armed with staffs as bodyguards and a couple of dozen Super Battle droids as a backup. The general pointed at them.

    "Kill them!"

    The staff wielding droids jumped forward preceded by a hail of red blaster bolts. The clones wasted no time in returning fire. Master Ti sent a telekinetic wave at the approaching elite robots which halted them mid jump. One of their numbers was bisected by a line of blue energy shot from a blaster cannon wielded by a heavy weapons specialist. Another was staggered when a frag grenade hit it in the ?h?st. It exploded in the next moment shredding the machine. But by then the remaining two elite droids were already in the air. The blast wave just gave the more speed as they flew at the Jedi and her clones.

    Shaak Ti sidestepped on of the robots who used its momentum do deliver a powerful overhead strike with its staff. One of the electrified heads of its weapon struck the deck plating and purple energy arched from the place of the hit. Before it could recover from its unsuccessful attack, the droid was shot to pieces by three clones wielding heavy blasters. Those weapons could burn through droideka''s shields in few hits. No matter how powerful its armor, the cyborg''s guard did not have a chance when faced with such a firepower from point blank range.

    The last of the elite droids faced with the Jedi. It waved its weapon in wide arks witch swept three clones off their feet. The Republic troopers were thrown back from the sheer force of the hits and remained laying where they fell.

    Master Ti was holding standing her ground. Moving back even a step would leave the clones exposed. As it was the Super Battle droids had to be careful where they were shooting or risk hitting their comrade in the back. Shaak was dodging the sweeping strikes of the staff by hairbreadths. Her own attacks were parried by deft twists of the machine''s arms which interposed parts of its weapon between her lightsaber and its body. To her surprise the staff was resistant to her blade.

    She ducked under a strike which was aimed at shattering her skull. The sweeping enemy weapon instead hit the helmet of a clone trooper who went down without a sound. That was the fourth of her men that machine downed! For a split second she was gripped by frustration and rising anger. From her kneeling position after evading the last strike of the droid she raised her left hand.

    The elite droid was lifted in the air and flailed wildly in surprise. She wasted no time and delivered a powerful upwards strike. She added more strength to her attack by jumping in the air. Her lightsaber hit the machine between the legs and sliced it as if it was made of bu??er, exiting from the top of its head after bisecting it in two.

    Shaak Ti landed over the softly glowing parts of the scrapped droid and looked at the situation. Half of 36th platoon was down but they had decimated more than two thirds of the enemies.

    Her satisfaction with the performance of the Clones was short lived. Grievous choose that moment to join the fray. He retrieved two blue lightsabers from the depths of his gray cloak and jumped forward activating them mid-flight. Master Ti smiled at him and charged the cyborg. She rolled under his bulk and used the Force to puck him from the air and smash him in the deck. Blaster bolts splashed over the armor plating covering the General leaving half melted craters.

    For the next few seconds the clones had to deal with the cyborg by themselves as the Jedi was busy deflecting blaster bolts and the remaining Super Battle droids. Grievous used that brief respite to jump over the fire of the clones and land in the midst of their vanguard. His blades flashed in semicircles in front of him and the closest four Republic troopers were cut to pieces by a whirlwind of laser swords.

    The CIS commander tried to advance towards the remaining clones but found himself unable to do so. He twisted his neck so he could glance backwards and saw that the Jedi was deflecting blaster fire with the lightsaber in her right hand. Her free left arm was pointed at him and its fingers were twisted like claws. She was holding him with the kriffing Force!

    That distraction cost him dearly. Grievous roared when a near miss melted a piece of his face mask and burned out his right eye. He stumbled to the ground when his left leg was shot to pieces by a blaster cannon. He threw one of his sabers at the clones but the blade shut down before the faintly smoking hilt hit the chess plate of the armored man to no effect.

    Five of the clones shot what at first glance looked like grappling hooks at the crippled cyborg. Each of them was tipped by four digit claws which clamped at the General. A press of a bu??on later Grievous shrieked like a damned soul as electricity coursed through his metal body and the flesh encased within.

    =RK=

    The front ranks of the droids blocking my and my men''s path were annihilated in a series of rumbling explosions and pulses of Ion radiation. In fit of desperation Ventress had jumped forward arching her body over the thin wave of lighting with which I was bombarding the robot''s ranks. The combined blast waves picked her and threw her with enough force that she passed through my lightning as struck the ground in front of my feet with a groan. Her cloak was smoking and I knew that if it was not for my helmet I would be able to smell the stench of seared flesh.

    I pointed my crimson blade at her throat and smiled.

 Chapter 7 - Hat-trick

    Part 1

    =RK=

    CIS Frigate Midnight Solace

    Near Rodia

    Outer Rim

    Ventress was laying on the cold deck and panting in a painful effort to inhale enough oxygen in her straining lungs. The combination of shock wave and Sith lighting was racking her body with agonizing spasms. Her bleary blue eyes stared at the scarlet lightsaber blade pointed at her throat. Anger and regret fought in the midst of her very soul. She was on the ground. Defeated before being able to engage the enemy of her master. It infuriated her!

    Yet Asajj knew that it was at least partially her fault. She had been too sure in herself even after facing that Togruta Jedi master earlier. She was arrogant and now was about to pay the price.

    "Go ahead. Finish it." she was able to rasp amidst a coughing fit.

    The lightning she was hit with was much worse than anything she experienced from Dooku or even his master. It was not so much the pain which was substantial. It was the damage that she could feel around her body and especially her ?h?st. Cracked bones from the blast wave and seared flesh from the Dark side attack combined into deadly wounds. She knew that without immediate medical attention she was goner. It was harder to breathe with each passing heartbeat and all she could do through the Force was to slow down her demise and prolong the agony.

    "It is not supposed to end like this!" at least that was what she tried to shout but only coughing and a spit of blood exited her lips.

    =RK=

    "This is such a waste." I muttered.

    The girl was strong in the Force. Give her a few more years and proper training, and she could be something to watch. I grumbled at the schemes of Dooku and Sidious. What they were doing with her was a waste of talent. Pure and simple.

    I placed my left hand on her ?h?st in the valley between her br??sts and concentrated on drawling the Light side of the Force. I could feel her wounds ¨C burned flesh and damaged lungs, the cracked bones and myriad of old injuries which were not healed properly. If it was not for her strong connection with the force she would be somewhat crippled by the old wounds.

    Her body shuddered under my hand. I saw her eyes dilating in surprise and a soft m??n of relief escaping her lips as she was able to take in a breath without chocking. Her cracked bones mended under the ??r?ss of the Force. Burned and blackened flesh cracked to reveal a healthy pink tissue underneath. I could see the confusion in the ?ssassin''s eyes. She had expected either quick death or for me to enjoy her slow and painful demise as she succumbed to her wounds. I had other ideas for her future.

    "That''s better, Ventress. We''ll chat later." I said and my right fist, which was enhanced with the Force slammed in her left temple knocking her out. "Give me some covering fire." I ordered the clones.

    I deactivated my lightsaber and placed my hands on Asajj''s temples. Dark tendrils of pure force enveloped the Dark Jedi''s head and spread all over her body. I poured substantial amount of energy in this technique and was satisfied when to my trained eyes Ventress was bound by midnight black chains of Dark side energies.

    "I want two of you to carry her back to the hangar. For at least a day she won''t be able to use the Force. Stun her every couple of hours just in case. Go!"

    "Yes, sir!" a sergeant snapped a salute and motioned for one of the troopers to follow him.

    They grabbed Ventress and ran back retracing our steps.

    "Let''s finish with this nonsense! Men, follow me!" I ordered and charged the remaining droids blocking our path after checking my shield indicator.

    I threw my ignited lightsaber which spun before me in a sweeping ark which cut in two the first row of still standing droids. The blaster bolts of the machines which could keep with my speed splashed harmlessly on my defense field. I lifted the closest droid on the left and hurled it at a group of its friends knocking them all to the deck. I landed and rolled under a burst of red bolts just in time to catch my weapon as it returned from its flight.

    I concentrated enough Force around my left fist for it to become a visible distortion around it and slammed it into the deck sending a shock wave down the corridor. The telekinetic onslaught threw all remaining Super Battle droids off their feet.

    The clones from the 71st ran behind me shooting at the clankers. Within seconds the remained enemies were turned into a bunch of scrap.

    "Good work. Let''s move on!" I ordered and ran forward.

    =RK=

    Shaak Ti pulled back her lightsaber and the droid she had impaled fell to the ground. She looked around and allowed herself a small smile. Only seven men from the 36th platoon were still on their feet but the enemies in the vicinity were dealt with. There were only couple of tactical and B-1 droids left on the bridge which would be eliminated shortly. While the butcher''s bill was high it was almost worth it. They had Grievous! The cyborg was twitching on the ground with its limbs shredded by blaster fire. Four of the remaining clones had their weapons aimed at the crippled CIS general.

    "You did well." she congratulated the clones and slammed the blade of her lightsaber in the armored doors barring their entrance to the bridge.

    The metal glowed yellow then orange and started melting. For a whole minute Master Ti stood that way until she judged that the blast doors were weakened enough. Then she send a strong telekinetic wave at the half melted armor and it was blown into the bridge showering the few remaining droids with pieces of glowing metal. She jumped through the hole, rolled and her sword arm snapped forward impaling a B-1 droid with her lightsaber. There were only five armed robots and they did not last as many seconds against her. She deflected back their shots which blasted them apart or used the force to smash them in the nearest conveniently placed bulkhead. Within seconds all resistance was eliminated and Shaak Ti was smiling sweetly at the only remaining droid ¨C a tactical one who had its arms in the air and was slowly walking back towards a wall.

    "Uh, oh. I''m doomed!" the machine bemoaned while shaking its head in apparent distress.

    One of the clones who had followed the Jedi shot the droid removing its head. He shrugged when Master Ti gave him disapproving look.

    "It gave me the creeps." said the trooper.

    =RK=

    An hour later

    Chancellor''s office

    Coruscant

    The former senator from Naboo was watching the holographic images displayed by the comm unit build into his ornately carved desk with a cheerful smile on his face. Inside he felt anything but happy. His plans were threatened like never before. The CIS general, who was to be used as a Boogie man in captivity as well as Dooku''s pet! That was something that could not be borne!

    It was unfortunate that after that disastrous rescue attempt of the Viceroy, and may Gunray rot in the nine Corellian hells for eternity, another such stunt was unlikely to be successful. Both the Jedi and GAR high command were on high alert and ready for another rescue attempt. Sidious would have to arrange on regardless but it would take some doing. He would need to wait a bit for the heat to die off too. Perhaps a distraction or two first?

    That man, Delkatar Veil was a loose cannon who was becoming a problem. Unfortunately the newcomer had dealt with some of Palpatine''s pawns and after engineered the capture of both Grievous and Ventress simply ordering the army to deal with him won''t pass a smell test. Such an act would have the Jedi sniffing around and they might find what he was planning for them. That was unacceptable! On the other hand, one such as Sidious did excel in turning unfortunate situations in opportunities.

    "This is splendid work you did, Master Ti!" exclaimed Palpatine with a smile on his face. No even a hint of his real feelings could be found on his face or in the tone of his voice. "What do you plan to do with the prisoners? They must be interrogated and Grievous must stand trial for his crimes. I need him on Coruscant. Showing this victory to the galaxy will do wonders for our cause!" exclaimed the Chancellor.

    "We are already on our way. For security reasons we won''t be disclosing our route."

    "Yes. That is a sensible precaution after what happened at Rodia." nodded the old man.

    Sidious looked at the masked figure which was standing behind the right shoulder of the female Jedi. Whatever else the debacle at Rodia led to there was at least a small silver lining. The Dark Lord of the Sith now knew that Veil was a dangerous man who was more than a match for most of his pawns. He had to make different arrangements about him. Palpatine''s smile widened a bit. Why change something that works?

    "Mister Veil, in light of your actions which were above and beyond the call of the contract you had with the Republic to protect senator Amidala, I have a proposition to you. But first let me thank you again for saving my dear friend Padme!" Palpatine beamed.

    "You are honoring me with your gracious words, Chancellor." rumbled the distorted voice of the masked man.

    "I want to offer you a commission in the ranks of the Grand Army of the Republic."

    Veil tilted his head to the right at that.

    "This is an interesting offer, sir. At what rank?"

    "If I may be so bold to say, you demonstrated abilities that rival those of the Jedi. If the report you two and ensign Piett gave me is correct it was your forward thinking and bravery which led to the capture of three dangerous enemies of the Republic. When I take that into consideration I want to offer you the rank of general with the same authority the Jedi have."

    Palpatine smiled like a kindly old man. If Veil accepted it would create friction between him and the Jedi. Only a blind man would be unable to see that he was a Dark side wielder. With that man in the army not only Sidious would have some control over him but would be able to ensure that he could be placed out of the way of his most important plans. If Veil proved unresponsive to the overtures Sidious planned to send his way and refused to join his side, well military operations were known to become disasters from time to time. Even the most powerful Jedi could be take out by massive numbers and firepower. It would be truly regrettable if something happened to that man... Hehe¡­ Besides, Veil''s presence would prove to be an additional distraction for the Jedi Council. A win-win situation for Sidious.

    "It will be an honor to accept your gracious offer, Chancellor." Veil gave a small bow.

    "Splendid, my young friend! With you on our side the Separatists will regret the day they raised arms against the innocents of the republic! We should speak face to face when you arrive with your prisoners!"

    With those parting words, Palpatine cut off the connection. He had to insure that Grievous and perhaps that foolish child Ventress were freed. He drummed his fingers over the wooden surface of his desk while thought who amongst his agents would be the best man for the job. Then he smiled when a plan formed in his crooked brain.

    "Yes, that will do. If the plan is executed carefully not only it will take care of Grievous but it will also help my political agenda..." he muttered with a sinister smile on his face.

    Part 2

    Republic Assault Ship Dauntless

    Hyperspace

    After the comm signal cut off I looked at the female Togruta in front of me. She turned around and I could see a frown on her face. For a moment there was a trace of distress in her eyes. If it wasn''t for my connection with the Force I would not have noticed it. I guess that she was not looking forward to her next chat with the Jedi Council. Not only she had decided to listen to my suggestion to grab the Dauntless and make a run for Coruscant before someone who will remain unnamed for now, could sent another CIS fleet after us, without consulting with the Order leadership but now I was a Republic general with the same authority as the Jedi. Most of their contingency plans for dealing with me just went down the drain. Its one thing for the Order to arrest (and/or kill) a mercenary who they accuse of being a Sith. Doing so to a GAR general, one who had done more to derail the CIS plans in few short weeks than most of the Jedi combined did since the start of the war was something very different. Not to mention that it was I who led the boarding party who grabbed Grievous and Ventress... Gurney''s demise was just the icing on the cake.

    "I guess congratulations are in order, general." she said in an emotionless tone. Her face could have been a marble statue for all the expression it showed.

    "Thank you." I deadpanned. "I hope that the Council won''t be too pissed off with you."

    "Why would they be?" she asked faking confusion.

    "We both know that there were a lot of outcomes they hoped for when you were ?ssigned as my babysitter but none of them ended with me becoming a Republic general. I do not need to spell to you what it means for the council."

    She gave me a sharp nod and frowned in a way that reminded me of my late wife.

    "I''ll go check on Ahsoka and the prisoners. See you around, Master Ti."

    I made a fast exit. Jedi or not, if she her temper was anything like Ashara''s, I did not want to be in the vicinity when she was getting angry. I highly doubted that a spirited sparring session in which she tried to take off my head, followed by a make-up s?x was in the cards in the foreseeable future.

    =RK=

    On my way to the medical bay I spoke with a Clone sergeant and made a small detour to requisition a tac-pad, which was the SW universe answer to the tablets of my own world. It was much bigger and heavier from what one would expect but it had incredible processing power and storage capacity as well as build in comm which could interface with nearby hyper com terminals and had a lot of protection against hacking. It could survive many things short of a blaster bolt too. For a piece of military hardware the tradeoffs were generally worth it. It was close to soldier proof.

    Which is something that can''t be said for most if not all hardware on the Earth I came from.

    I uploaded in it some "light" reading for Ahsoka. For good or bad she was stuck as a commander in the war. I doubted that she would request not to be sent to the front lines and even if she did it was unlikely that such thing would be granted. Considering that the kid was starting to grow on me I decided to do something that could help her remain in one piece.

    The med bay was full with wounded clones. I could see long rows of bacta tanks in which people were floating. Each one of those devices had a heavily wounded trooper in it. The beds were full too and there were even makeshift sleeping bags on the floor on which wounded soldiers were laying. I knew that leaving Rodia immediately after we evacuated the CIS Frigate with our prisoners and wounded did not make any services to the harmed Republic troops but I could not risk another ambush. Not with such a prize on board.

    As you could guess the medics who were up to their necks in wounded did not approve of my plan. On the bright side, they were able to stabilize most of the clones and the most severe cases were already in the tanks. That left a lot of people to be more conventionally (and slowly) treated. Ahsoka was one of those unfortunate souls. Her leg would have been mended after only couple of hours in bacta but now she was laying over a sleeping back in a corner of the room.

    I stopped by the purple haired Cat who was being treated for plasma burns on his ?h?st. The Lieutenant had suffered injury when one of the last Super Battle droids in the Reactor chambers hit a plasma conduit feeding the engines of the enemy Frigate with a missile. The resulting venting of super-hot gases clipped the armor of the man who fortunately enough was far so far away from the breach that he got away with only third degree burns when his ?h?st plate was overheated. If he was closer his armor would have been no protection and the plasma stream would have cut him in half.

    "Lt, how are you? Beyond the obvious." I waved at his wounds which were tended by a young, pink colored nurse from a species I did not recognize.

    "I''ve been better, sir! Congratulations for the promotion, General!" he winced when he tried to give me a proper salute.

    "I see that the rumor mill is still working at lightspeed." I chuckled. "None of that while you are wounded, Cat. There is place for proper military protocol and it''s definitely not while you are being patched up. You did great job leading the 71st."

    "Thank you, sir. I just wish that more of the boys made it. At least we nailed the Chief Clanker!" He exclaimed and then ?r??n?d when he strained his burned ?h?st muscles.

    I gathered power from the Lights side from the Force over my hands and slowly moved my palms over Cat''s burns. He hissed in pain when healthy tissue started growing under his crispy skin. The nurse who was tending him looked from a hand-held scanner to me and back with a stunned look on her face. She was babbling about something but I paid it no attention.

    "Now, that''s better." I ?r??n?d few minutes later. That stunt I just pulled was a bit too much after all the energy I used during the battles earlier that day.

    "It''s amazing! You cut weeks from his recovery time!" Exclaimed a doctor who had come to see what the commotion was about. "Can you do it for the rest of the wounded?" he asked.

    "Unfortunately no. That wiped me out." I sad.

    My legs were swaying and I had problems staying on my feet. That confirms it. I did not have the same endurance Vael had. Whether I would be able to match his feats in the future or not remained to be seen.

    "I''ve never been trained as a dedicated medic. The energy I spent hastening Cat''s recovery... Let''s just say than I could have wiped few enemy platoons without becoming so tired." I muttered.

    The doctor waved a scanner all over me and frowned.

    "Indeed. You are showing signs of acute exhaustion. I recommend few days of rest. Preferably in bed. "

    "You''ll get no arguments from me doc. Unless the Sep''s decide to visit us again."

    The medic grumbled something about gun-ho soldiers that did not know better and loved to create more work for him.

    "I''ll just visit another patient of yours and make my way to a bed."

    I went to Ahsoka who was looking at me with wide eyes.

    "Delkatar...That was incredible! How did you manage to heal him!?"

    "Some advanced techniques that could be taught in the academy if there was interest in them. Though what I know is technically aimed at self-healing. By helping Cat I used even more energy that I indicated to the Doctor."

    "Wow. Can you teach me?!" she gave me puppy dog look with her huge eyes.

    "After I get few day of sleep." I muttered. "Here." I gave her the tac-pad.

    "What is this?"

    "A small present to pass the time while you are recovering. Some essential reading if you want to be effective at leading troops. This war is just starting and I do not believe that you''ll simply step away after you are well again."

    "No." she frowned. "I''ve seen what the Separatist do. They must be stopped."

    I nodded.

    "Get well soon, kid. Get better."

    I went to a nearby room where Ventress and Grievous were floating in bacta tanks. There was a squad of heavily armed clones at the door and another inside despite both of the prisoners being fed regular doses of strong sedatives. No one was taking any chances this time. I checked the bindings on the ?ssassin''s access to the force and was relieved that they were intact. Combined with the sedatives she should be out for at least a day. Enough time for me to get some rest.

    =RK=

    My next adventure started soon after the Dauntless exited hyperspace near Coruscant and we headed towards the planet escorted by few hundreds fighters and a battle group of Venators and their escorts. No matter what the Chancellor might have wanted, the GAR High Command was taking no chances.

    Under normal circumstances, now that I was a general I should have been looking for weeks if not months of paperwork and debriefings before being ?ssigned troops to command. The Clone Wars were far from normal conflict. What was happening in the last few days ¨C was even stranger than "normal" for that war.

    I was on the bridge chatting with Piett who struck me as a competent if a little too eager kid. If I managed to keep him alive I believed that he would have a bright future ahead of him. However for that to happen I had to take him under my wing for more reasons that you might guess. Some in High Command were pleased with his actions at what was becoming known as "The Battle at Rodia" thanks to the reporters. Yeah. They are a bloody menace in this universe too.

    But the Captain of the Dauntless was far from happy that a green Ensign had taken the ship into combat without his permission. The fame that the kid was about to receive for his part in the battle where Grievous was captured was something that was infuriating that man.

    Earlier that day I had walked on a pale Piett who was shouted down by a purple faced man in his late fifties. Or at least he would have been that old back on Earth. It was not a huge surprise to learn that the people here, at least the ones who could afford top notch medical help could live decades longer than the average back home and that was back in the day.

    The gist of the show was that if the Captain had anything to say about it Firmus would end back at his backwater world and not leave it until the war was over. That''s when I decided to intervene.

    "That''s funny captain...?" I moved so I can be seen by the man on the other side of the channel.

    "Who the kriff are you?! This is none of your business." He snarled.

    "Captain, you will introduce yourself and behave in a manner befitting a Republic officer! I am clear, mister!" I snapped at him.

    The purplish color of his face subdued a bit and he gulped. It might be that it started dawning on him that he had made a mistake.

    "I am Captain Hebok Lursa. Sir. Who are you?" He asked in quieter voice.

    "General Delkatar Veil." I smiled thinly under my helmet.

    "Sir! I am sorry for my conduct, Sir! It will not happen again!" He stammered. His face was pale with distinct greenish coloration.

    "It better not, captain." I spat his rank as if it tasted something vile.

    I waved my hand and the connection was cut off.

    "I am sorry that you had to witness that, general." muttered Piett.

    "I see that it was a special kind of ''joy'' serving under that idiot. If I have anything to say about it you''ll be transferred to my new unit. What you did at Rodia was a sweet piece of ship handling. So tell me, what is your opinion of the navy so far?"

    "It''s been a bit strange, sir. Not exactly what I expected when I graduated..."

    Until arriving at Coruscant we talked about some his experience in the Republic army and his impression about the Acclamator class of ships. It was enough for me to like him and conclude that he was a bright kid.

    =RK=

    We and our escorts were making orbit when new orders came from the Chancellor''s office. Me and Shaak Ti were summoned to meet Palpatine as soon as possible. We were about to meet him as well as members of the Jedi council. That was interesting. The paranoid part of my brain was screaming warnings. What were the Jedi up to? Or was that another plot by Sidious? Considering my new status I had two choices. Present myself to the Chancellor or ignore the ''polite suggestion'' of my Commander in Chief. Neither of them was particularly good idea. I said goodbye to Piett and headed to the hangar.

    =RK=

    Part 3

    LAAT en route to the Senate Building

    Coruscant

    I was strapped into a seat at the troop compartment of the gunship with Shaak Ti sitting next to me. We had b?r?ly exchanged couple of words after my induction in the Republic army. I wondered if a chat between her and the council was the reason for the meeting we were about to attend. My attempt to gather information from the Jedi Master were faced with stoic silence. It was not ominous. Not at all¡­

    When I felt the transport enter the upper layers of the atmosphere I opened the side door and took in the sights as we descended towards the Senate building. It is early in the evening so the local sun was visible from this height. I could clearly see skyscrapers which were dozens and few even hundred kilometers high. Below us the planet sized city was blazing with countless lights reminding me of a star covered sky. The gleaming towers of Coruscant were breathtaking feats of engineering.

    As we got lower and lower I could make out thousands vehicles which were flying in what resembled multi-colored rivers suspended in mid-air. Even now, when the memories of Darth Vael were more or less mine, the sight of the capital world of the Republic was amazing.

    The gunship flew into a travel lane restricted for military traffic and the only vehicles which came near were other LAATs or various GAR transports. All too soon the mushroom shaped Senate building came into view and our ride headed to a brightly lit platform near which waited a pair of senate commandos wearing their distinctive blue armors.

    When the LAAT landed they rushed to our side and saluted.

    "Sir, I am Major Garm Falks. I have a temporally ID card for you, General. However you should go to GAR headquarters ASAP to get yourself permanent ID and log it into the net, sir!"

    "Thank you Major Falks. I''ll do it at the first opportunity I get. "I returned his salute.

    =RK=

    Senate Building

    Coruscant

    Ten minutes later we were in front of the Chancellor offices where we met with Masters Yoda and Windu. The Vaapad master glared at me. It''s a good thing that his look was not able to kill or I would be a stain on the floor by now.

    I greeted them amicably. This was not the place to make a scene.

    "Masters, do you know why we are here?" Shaak Ti.

    "Chancellor Palpatine summoned us here. He said it was vital to meet him as soon as possible." grunted Windu.

    It was clear that he was not impressed by Palpy. Only if he knew¡­

    "General, Masters, please follow me. The Chancellor will see you now." A middle aged human aide opened the door leading to the Republic''s leader office and waved us inside.

    Wow. Palpatine really looked just like in the movies and he did have that kindly old man''s look perfected. If I did not know better I would have believed his every word. He had an aura around him that whispered to you that he was your friend and you should listen carefully to his words.

    It was nothing I had not seen before. Standard Sith Lord trick. With my mental shields heavily reinforced it was easily to disregard.

    To my surprise, Padme was in the Chancellor''s office. She was wearing a blue and purple dress which probably was the high of fashion in the Core words but looked strange to my eyes. After exchanging the expected pleasantries, our host waved us to sit before getting down to business. When Palpatine told us why we were there I had to valiantly fight not to explode into a fit of giggling like a young schoolgirl.

    This had had to be the Dark Side''s idea of trolling. There was no other way to explain it. The Force itself wanted to mess up with our resident Sith Lord. Dooku got caught by pirates. At least that a self-styled Pirate Leader had said when he had somehow contacted the Chancellor''s office. In few minute the cutthroat would call again and that''s why we were here... It was bloody hilarious!

    The Jedi were surprised by that development too. They as well as Palpatine did not believe that it was a credible information but it was not something they could ignore. I was torn. On one hand, by being a Force user I was aware of the capabilities that Dooku should have. Getting captured by pirates was highly unlikely, embarrassing too. If true. There was a more reasonable explanation ¨C we were dealing with a very bold and resourceful outlaw trying to pull off a fast one. I kept silent and waited to see how the events were about to unfold. At least with three Jedi Masters in the room, Sidious had his own Mask firmly in place and was not about to do any Dark Side tricks.

    =RK=

    "If you want the Sith it will cost you a million credits in spice. I want it delivered on a diplomatic transport." declared the Pirate TM we had to deal with.

    Palpatine''s face was an unreadable mask. The Chancellor was obviously not amused. All of us could feel his irritation.

    "We want proof that you have him and that he is still alive before agreeing on anything." Palpatine glared at the pirate.

    I gleefully watched what happened next and was forever thankful that my helmet had a built in camera. The expression on Dooku''s face when he was matched in front of the holocomm was hilarious.

    "And now I present you the fearless Sith Lord Count Dooku!" declared the pirate.

    The bastard obviously enjoyed the show. I can''t blame him. It was priceless.

    "The hologram is fixed." said Palpatine.

    He was smiling thinly at the pirate.

    "If you don''t believe me." The cutthroat took out a curved lightsaber from under his jacket and activated it. "This is his lightsaber."

    "Yes. Dooku''s this lightsaber is." Yoda added his two cents.

    "It still proves nothing." I interjected. "It''s no big secret how his lightsaber looks like. For all we know it is just a clever toy you cooked up in your spare time, pirate."

    While the Jedi gave me looks which were shouting ''Shut up!'', the Chancellor gave me a grave nod.

    "General Veil is correct. You have not shown us anything that cannot be easily faked."

    "Is that so?" growled the Pirate Leader. "Perhaps the CIS Council would be more receptive to my offer. But I can give you further proof. Bring him here!" he shouted an order and then nodded to someone off screen.

    We could hear few blaster shots and soon after Dooku''s body was dragged so we could see him.

    "Stretch his left hand!" ordered the pirate.

    I grinned under my helmet while the Jedi and Palpatine bolted to their feet. They watched in horror as Dooku lost his left hand as a demonstration.

    "Is that proof enough? If you want I can send you the arm so you could run the necessary tests."

    "That won''t be needed." stammered Palpatine.

    I think that he wanted to bash his head on the desk. Those were bad few days for him and his plans. Even worse for his minions.

    "This is our chance to capture Dooku!" exclaimed Padme.

    "If that''s him at any rate. This could very well be an elaborate scheme from our pirate friend." I pointed at the disgruntled looking man on the other side of the channel.

    "We want to send two Jedi to confirm that you do have him before we pay you." said the Senator.

    "Fine. But they won''t be armed."

    "Out of the question!" she snapped at the Pirate.

    "They will be safe. I guarantee it." The outlaw smiled with what might have been reassurance if you squinted hard enough.

    "Because the word of a pirate is beyond reproach. Riiight." I sneered at him.

    "We do not want to be part of your war! They won''t be harmed!" He explained.

    "Fine, but one of my generals who is not a Jedi will accompany them. And he will be armed." Palpatine gave me a nod.

    The pirate gave a long look at my apparel.

    "So the Republic is now desperate enough to hire bounty hunters as generals? Heh. You can keep your guns, mercenary. They won''t be enough if you try something." With those parting words the pirate cut the connection.

    "Kenobi and Skywalker are near Florrum but we could not establish connection with them."

    "Hmm. Safe they will be, I sense. But Count Dooku they won''t find this time."

    "We are short on Jedi who we could sent right now, Chancellor." declared Windu.

    "Master Ti is right here. Padawan Ahsoka Tano needs few hours in bacta to mend her leg and she well be ready. We are few days away from there anyway." I baited the Jedi.

    "That will have to do, General. If the Jedi Masters agree to it?" he asked.

    Yoda and Windu looked at each other and gave small nods.

    "Then I''ll arrange the payment. General go tho GAR high command and arrange for a ship to transport you to Florrum. You are acting with my authority in this matter so there should be no delays. Act with all possible hate, General Veil." He retrieved a data chip from a drawer in his desk and threw it at me.

    "Yes, sir."

    "Master Ti, please make sure that Ahsoka is ready to be transferred to our new ship." I said to the Togruta Jedi before giving nods of respect to the Senator and the other two Jedi Masters, and leaving.

    =RK=

    GAR Headquarters

    Coruscant

    When I went to the GAR Headquarters I spoke with a Clone commander who said that he''ll start the wheels running on acquiring me a ship for the mission. Then I went to get my new military ID''s and all the necessary paperwork that went with my new exalted rank. I spent more than a few hours in medical where I was subjected to myriad of tests. From DNA scan and taking biometric measurements to a full medical checkup. To say that I was disgruntled by the time the medics were finished with me would be a great understatement.

    After that ordeal was over I met an admiral who was on staff at the Headquarters while waiting for his next ?ssignment. He was grizzled, scar covered Mon Calamari called Arikakon Baraka. The green navy uniform looked out of place on his massive frame.

    "You are the fella that led the raid in which Grievous was caught." declared the Admiral.

    "I got lucky." I deadpanned.

    "And now you are the newest pet of the Chancellor." he said with dismissive tone.

    I shrugged. I was not about to explain to him that both Sidious and I were trying to use each other before one of us stabbed the other in the back¡­

    "I need a cruiser for extracting another high value CIS target. After what happened at Rodia I want it with full load of starfighters, their pilots and at least a battalion of ground troops with their equipment. You know that I have the authority to get what I need." I waved my hand in front of his face to help concentrate the suggestion through the Force.

    He glared at me for a moment longer then nodded.

    "I will see what is aviable. "

    "That is great, Admiral!" I grinned. "I would also want few people transferred to my new ship.."

    Twenty minutes later I had confirmation that Firmus Piett was transferred under my command as my new aide as well as the remains of 36th and 71st platoons. However that was the end of the good news. Unless a Venator was detached from the Coruscant defense fleet there would not be a cruiser a viable for at least a day. My cart blanch from the Chancellor covered a lot of ground but weakening the defense of the capital was not part of it. The Admiral proposed that I check what other ships I could use and I started checking a list he sent me. I most of those were Acclamators which had full complement of ground troops and few even had squadrons of fighters just as Dauntless.

    One particular ship caught my attention. While I did not recognize its name, that of its captain was something else. I grinned wolfishly.

    "I''ll want this Assault Ship for my mission. Let''s check if it has fighter contingent on board and if not how long it will take to load couple of squadrons and their support equipment and staff on board."

    =RK=

    Part 4

    Republic Assault Ship Leveler

    Staging area Sigma near Coruscant

    Captain Gilad Pellaeon disembarked from the shuttle which brought him back to his ship and headed for the bridge. He had to suppress the overwhelming d?s?r? to strangle Lieutenant Meriones, his so called aide. The blond man had a splendid day until he was awoken by the insistent beeping of his comm unit. The painfully familiar voice of his aide had crashed his cheerful mood when the man informed him that he had to return ASAP. Pellaeon had looked with regret at the sleeping form of his dark skinned lover who was cuddled around a pillow. The exquisite outline of her b?r? back was b?r?ly visible under the silk sheet she was hogging. He was supposed to have at least few more days until his next deployment, damn it! Kriffing war!

    He had said good bye to a sleepy Hellena and made his way to a nearby Republic military base from where he took a shuttle to his ship. If this was not important he swore that Meriones was a dead man. There had to be some suicide mission for which he could volunteer the Lieutenant. That man was a waste of space anyway.

    When he reached his bridge, Pellaeon found his aide talking with a man who was mostly hidden by a black cloak. They had their backs turned to the entrance so neither of them saw him made his way up to them.

    "The rest of Crimson company should be on board within the hour, sir." said Gilad''s aide.

    "That should be soon enough. We do not have any time to waste. This operation is time s?ns?t?v?. The fighter squadrons are up to strength, is that right?"

    "Yes, sir."

    "Ahem." the captain cleared his throat.

    The men turned around and Meriones gave him a textbook salute. The other man was wearing a black robe under which Pellaeon could make the distinct form of a heavy armor. The stranger was also wearing a Mandalorian styled helmet which hid his face. But what received his undivided attention was the rank insignia which was on the left side of the man''s ?h?st. It was that of a general.

    "Ah. Captain Pellaeon. I''m general Delkatar Veil. It''s great you managed arrive so soon. I am sorry for interrupting your shore leave but I need you and your ship for a mission."

    "Sir!" the Captain gave a crisp salute which was immediately returned.

    "If you lead us to a conference room I''ll brief you on our ?ssignment." The general suggested.

    Few minutes later, Gilad was glaring at the general.

    "Let me see if I got this right, sir. I and my ship are to provide transport and security for a deal with a kriffing pirates!?"

    "I am not thrilled either, Captain. I would prefer to land ground troops, secure the outlaws camp and retrieve Dooku if he is actually there. But we have our orders. I and couple of Jedi are to make sure that the Count is really in the hands of the pirates and alive. Then we''ll be waiting for the transport with the payment to arrive. I requested your ship as an insurance."

    At that Pellaeon raised an eyebrow.

    "If the pirates decide to play games I want you to..."

    When he heard the plan, Gilad was smiling. Not only Veil looked like he knew what he was doing but he was receptive of suggestions from his subordinates. The general had no issues with accepting Pellaeon''s additions to the contingency planning.

    =RK=

    Three hours later Leveler broke orbit over Coruscant and headed for a clear lane from where she could make a safe jump to hyperspace. When the ship entered FTL I made my way to a conference room near the bridge where I was to meet with the Captain, his aide, Piett, the Jedi and the commander of the ground troops on board. Ahsoka had spent two hours in bacta and after a shower she was mostly all right. She''d need a day or two more until her leg was up to full strength but otherwise she was fine.

    We gathered around a round table which had terminal built in in front of each seat. Once again I marveled at Pellaeon.

    What was with competent naval officers in this universe?

    Both the captain and Piett were on the short side. Was it that Napoleon complex or something? Granted, it was unlikely. He was from another universe all together. But it was strange to see both of them being on the short side of one seventy centimeters of height. A lot of the good navy people I knew in the Empire were quite short too...

    After brief introductions which gave me the name of the clone commanding the ground pounders ¨C commander TK 75 "Trek", we got down to business.

    "While the politicians may believe that this will be a straight deal, we know better. We are dealing with bloody pirates. The question is not if they will try to back-stab us but how they will do it. Thanks to our friends in Republic Intelligence we have some information on their leader."

    I used telekinesis to activate the holographic projector build in the middle of the table. We saw the face of the pirate leader suspended in mid-air. In all his ugly glory.

    "That, fine example of a cutthroat ladies and gentlemen, is Hondo Ohnaka, the piece of scum we have to deal with. He is the captain of the so eloquently named Ohnaka band. These days his group makes a living by selling spice and kidnapping people for ransom. Usually they are active around the Tion Hegemony and the Corporate sector where they can run amok unchecked. Intelligence reports that they have at least few Ubrikkian tanks, a lot of speeder bikes and various ships which they had hijacked. We also have confirmation that Ohnaka had managed to grab a Corona class frigate as well as few Flarestar class ships. Even all together they should not be a match for an Acclamator. The gang numbers are estimated to be at least couple of hundred ?ssorted low lives and mercenaries."

    "My boys will deal with them." announced Trek. "However we''ll need information about their base''s defenses."

    "It is unlikely that they lack at least rudimentary AA capabilities so a direct air ?ssault will be costly." said Piett.

    "Send couple of companies loaded on LAAT''s as well as armor on the other side of the planed from their base. Then they can came in flying nap to the ground evading whatever AA the pirates have." I said.

    "That way we will have something solid to use against those tanks. They are not particularly good against modern walkers but have substantial light weaponry which can make the life of my infantry hard."

    "Four walkers and the AT teams should be enough to deal with that." I said. "I want only two companies deployed when the pirates try to mess with us. Keep the rest as a backup in case the CIS finnds out what happened to Dooku. If he''s actually here, that is."

    "That won''t help us much." grumbled Ahsoka. "Whose idea was anyway that we should go there unarmed?"

    The officers looked surprised and not a little angry at that declaration.

    "Ohnaka''s of course. But I will be armed. After all I am just a ''bounty hunter'' according to the pirate leader." I made air quotes while saying what the idiot thought I was. "I''ll do my best to keep you in one piece until commander Teck''s forces arrive."

    "That''s not reassuring." muttered Master Ti.

    "You''re Jedi, are you not? You have the Force so use it when they try to back-stab us." I snorted. "Besides I have not given you any reason to doubt me, have I?"

    She shook her head and frowned.

    "Back to the topic on hand. The situation in space."

    "In space, if the intelligence is right I should be able to deal with anything the pirates could throw at us. If the Sep''s come in force then all bets are off." said Pellaeon.

    "If that happens I leave it on your discretion to decide if you could hold them off long enough for us to evacuate. If not do what is necessary to ensure the safety of your ship." I ordered.

    "Yes, sir." the Captain gave me a small nod of respect.

    Ahsoka gave me a dirty look. I shrugged.

    "There is no sensed of letting the Leveler be destroyed for no gain in a futile effort to extract us if overwhelming enemy forces arrive in system. In such a case we''ll have to do our best on the ground and hope that they won''t blast us from orbit."

    =RK=

    Later that evening I went after Shaak Ti. I wanted to know why here attitude towards me had suddenly became cold and distant after I awoke from my rest following the Battle at Rodia. I walked fast after her when she headed for her ?ssigned quarters.

    "Master Ti, a word."

    "I''m listening." she said without looking back at me.

    She continued walking and I fell in step beside her.

    "What is your problem with me?" I decided to be direct.

    She gave me sidelong glance.

    "I have no idea what you are talking about." she said primly.

    "Nope. Not at all. After the battle you''ve been keeping steel control over your emotions around me and we had not exchanged more than a couple of words unless necessary. Not to mention that you''ve been avoiding me like the plague. Spill."

    She stopped walking and turned to face me. Her eyes were blazing with b?r?ly restrained anger.

    "I know!" she hissed.

    "What?" I asked surprised. However I had a creeping feeling that I knew what she was insinuating. It was not one of my proudest moments.

    "The Council found the classified filed about what you did on Shili!"

    "Ah. That."

    "You tortured four Jedi to death!" she shouted.

    I removed my helmet and looked her in the eyes. She flinched and took a step back. For one of a very few time in my life I was gripped by such an anger that I was b?r?ly able to restrain myself from lashing out. I knew that at the moment my eyes were blazing yellow stars.

    "I did." I said in a tone colder than the abyss between the stars.

    Almost visible tendrils of Dark side energies were snapping around my body in response to the fury I felt

    She grabbed the hilt of her lightsaber and I knew that she was struggling to decide whether she should be ready to defend herself or attack me outright.

    =RK=

    Part 5

    Republic Assault Ship Leveler

    Hyperspace

    I reined in my fury and smothered it until it resembled smoldering embers left after a wildfire. Giving in to my anger now would serve no purpose. I was not one of the common rabble that called themselves Sith yet were so easily lost to the poisonous lure of the Dark side. It was the tool, the servant and not the master! I pushed the quiet whispers of the Dark side to the back of my mind where it had always muttered sweet lies.

    I stared at Shaak Ti''s dark eyes and frowned. She was beautiful when angry. I shook my head in exasperation.

    "What exactly did they tell you, Master Ti?" my voice was quiet showing b?r?ly a trace of the anger chained within my heart. "That a bunch of Jedi were strolling in Shili''s wilderness and I decided to have some fun during a vacation by torturing them to death?" I sneered.

    She answered me with a defiant glare.

    "I can see it in your eyes. No matter what I tell you, Jedi, you won''t believe me. You''ve made up your mind, haven''t you?" I muttered.

    "We were fools to believe you for even a moment!" she snapped.

    "Let me show you what happened. See the truth with your own eyes."

    I darted forward and grabbed her right wrist, stopping her from attacking me with her lightsaber. I placed my right hand on her forehead and submerged both of us in the currents of the Force.

    "The Jedi Order and its Council members are not the angels you believe them to be." I said before we were thrown into an echo of the past.

    =RK=

    Four thousand years ago

    Planet Shili

    Ehosiq sector

    Expansion Region

    A Republic trooper fell to the ground drowning in his own blood. Another was hit by invisible force with the power of speeding train and hurled away from the farmstead. A Wookie Jedi was thrown into a nearby building by a wave of raw Force energy. I used my lightsaber as a spear and threw it at a nearby commando who was shouldering a rocket launcher. My weapon flew true and stabbed him in the heart. The still ignited lightsaber floated back to my outstretched hand. I fried another trooper with a purple bolt of lightning shot from the palm of my left hand. And suddenly the enemies in my immediate vicinity were down.

    I keeled next to the cooling body of my wife. Her ?h?st was a burned, smoking ruin. I recognized the tell-tale signs of lightsaber dealt wound. Her once vivid black eyes were misty, sightless orbs staring into the dark sky.

    I discarded my helmet and let it fall to the ground. I gently picked up her limp right arm and placed a tender kiss on the back of her still warm hand. The evidence was in front of me, staring me in the face yet my brain refused to believe it. She couldn''t be gone! Simply could not! I was torn between denial, grief and anger which was burning hotter by the second.

    She was innocent! Ashara wanted nothing to do with the damn war!

    I froze. In my anguish I failed to notice it. It was a faint spark of life force coming from my wife. I stared at her body with my mouth hanging open. My left hand traced its origin over Ashara''s body. My palm stopped over her tummy. There it was. Tiny. Innocent. Barely formed. And fading fast.

    Without thinking I clutched the spark of life with all my might. I drew heavily on the light side of the Force. As much as my body could channel. I trembled with the strain to continue forcing the energies of the Force to pass through me and keep the tiny life going.

    The cold, pragmatic part of my mind that was the successful General was screaming that it was futile. That I was killing myself for nothing. I disregarded it. For me it was not futile. This so small moth of light that I was holding in my metaphysical fingers was the last part that I had left from my Ashara. Our child.

    Its, no her life, was slipping from my grasp. I could not let her go. I pulled even more power through me.

    A storm of light and shadows raged around us. More power than a mortal was meant to wield coursed through my veins. For one vast, endless moment her life blazed like a star. Our Force signatures synchronized and I was engulfed by a blinding light.

    I was somewhere else gazing at a tiny, smiling face. It was light red and from it two small copies of Ashara''s eyes stared back. I grinned back. I was high on the pride and joy I felt as I looked at my newborn daughter.

    I was laughing as my toddler was making her first unsure steps and tried to walk towards me.

    Many toys were floating around a bouncing and giggling little girl. I could see Ashara siting next to our child and speaking to her words I could not hear.

    A five years old Selene proudly presented me the hilt of a lightsaber she had constructed¡­

    A teenage version of my life who had fairer skin was walking towards me.

    "Shh... Daddy. It''s not your fault..." I heard a light voice which melted my heart. I could feel warm hands engulfing me into a tight hug before the illusion shattered into countless pieces of sparkling light.

    "It''s not your fault..." the female voice echoed in my ears.

    The spark of light that would have been my lovely daughter winked out. I felt it dissipating into the Force followed by the body of Ashara. I could feel a part of me dying with her. I screamed my indescribable loss at the heavens.

    =RK=

    Shaak Ti watched horrified the tragedy unfolding in front of her. She could not turn away her head or close her eyes. To make things worse she felt an echo of the emotions ravaging the man who lost his wife and unborn child.

    "NOOOOOOO!" Veil''s anguished, hopeless scream turned into an animalistic roar.

    The Force itself responded to the wordless call and torrents of black lightning bolts surrounded the man like a shroud. She could sense some kind of a void forming in the center of a hurricane made by raw Force which engulfed the grieving man. The fury and anger were gone. There was emptiness, a lack of emotions where Veil was supposed to be. She no longer could feel him in the Force. Yet, he was not cut from it. She could see it moments later when the Republic troopers and the Jedi, who were forgotten until now, made their presence obvious.

    Nine commandos opened fire with their blasters. Red bolts of energy exploded couple of meters away from the place where Delkatar was supposed to be. All she could see was a vortex of darkness deeper than anything she had ever seen before.

    "That does not belong to you." stated a flat voice which was void of any emotion.

    The Echani Jedi who was armed with a lightsaber staff with glwoing azure blades had a moment for surprise to register on her face. The hilts of two more sabers which were tucked in her belt moved on their own accord.

    Those weapons hummed to life without warning and a pair of sapphire blades blazed in the night. They spun around in blindingly fast circles and the white haired woman fell to the ground in fifteen pieces.

    The lightsabers which belonged to Ashara Vael floated lazily in the air. The remaining Jedi looked at them with fear in their eyes while the commandos continued to fire their weapons at the black vortex.

    What happened next was too fast for even a Jedi''s eyes to follow. Yet Shaak Ti was unfortunate enough to see it in excruciating detail.

    The hurricane made from the Force itself fell apart to reveal Veil standing where the body of his wife used to be. The murderous look in his eyes sent shivers of primeval terror down her spine.

    "Damn you all to hell!" he hissed.

    One moment the Sith was thirty meters away from the troopers who were shooting at him to no effect. Then he was in the center of their formation. His lightsaber blade was buried in the heart of their Lieutenant.

    Veil raised his left hand and darkness gathered within his palm. It twisted and elongated creating a spear of living shadows. He hurled it at a man on the right flank of the Republic line. The trooper died screaming as his body was devoured by such a concentration of Dark side energies that it literally liquefied flesh.

    The Sith continued moving faster that the eye could follow. In seconds the remaining commandos were cut to pieces and he was facing three scared Jedi. He looked at the only woman in their group ¨C a young Twi''lek female in her early twenties.

    She was trying to say something but words failed her. However Vael apparently knew what she was trying to tell him.

    "I know you are sorry, Line. It''s not enough."

    He moved so fast that he was a blur of shadows and crimson light. The female Jedi tried to parry a sweeping strike but her lightsaber was battered away from her hands. Her eyes widened in shock a moment before her head was cut off.

    The remaining Jedi were battered to the ground by torrents of black lightning.

    "You will not be so lucky, Masters!" the Sith sneered the last word as if it was the vilest imaginable curse.

    =RK=

    Present Day

    Republic Assault Ship Leveler

    Hyperspace

    Shaak Ti slid down a wall she did not know she was leaning on when she found herself back in the corridor of the Leveler. The Sith that was towering above her spoke with a subdued voice.

    "For a short time I believed that they were there for me. But when I finally broke the two Jedi Masters I captured they told me a different story. The attack was targeted at Ashara. At that time the war was going bad for the Republic and the Jedi Council was terrified. It was a war of attrition that we were winning. So the Jedi wanted their trump card back. Or eliminated forever."

    The Jedi Master watched with a heavy heart the anguish in Veil''s eyes. That was contrary to what she knew about the Order, past of present. Yet she could feel that the man was telling the truth. The Force itself was screaming at her that the vision was real. A slice of horrific past that she was shown for a reason.

    "Why?" she whispered.

    For endless seconds Delkatar stared at her before speaking two words that explained everything.

    "Battle Meditation. Ashara was disillusioned with the Jedi. So she left them. But once the bastards were losing the war they wanted her back. At any cost. All my wife wanted was peace away from the conflict. And they murdered her and my unborn daughter for it."

    He turned around and grabbed his helmet from the ground. As Veil walked away he spoke few parting words.

    "They gave you enough information to make you my enemy. It''s quite different when you have the full picture, isn''t it? "

    For the longest time Shaak Ti stood kneeling on the floor, thinking about the nightmare she was shown. And about what the Council decided to withhold. For first time in her ?du?t life she was doubting her fellow Jedi Masters.

    Lies. They were supposed to be the weapon of the Sith. Yet, here she was ¨C being lied and set up by the people she unquestionably trusted since being a little girl¡­

    Neither of them noticed the lithe form of the younger Togruta who listened to their conversation from behind a nearby corner.

    =RK=

    Part 6

    En route to Florrum

    Outer Rim

    I did not see the Jedi in the couple of days out journey lasted. I used my free time to deal with a lot of paperwork sent to me by GAR high command. It was concerning the formation of a fleet and attached ground forces which I was to command so it was not something that I could ignore. Piett as my aide was priceless in helping me deal with all of it. He showed a typical greenhorn trait by volunteering to be our pilot for the visit of the pirate base. Something from which I had to dissuade him. I told him to go to the bridge and learn from the captain while I was on the ground.

    Finally we arrived at the targeted system and exited hyperspace at its edge. The plan was that me and the Jedi would take a shuttle from here to the planet. On our way there we would make a sensor sweep over the back of Florrum''s moon. If it was clear, Leveler would make a micro jump there. If not, then the ship would be ready to come calling if something went wrong but we would lose the element of surprise that way. Before heading to the shuttle, I spoke with Pellaeon and confirmed the contingency orders I had given him.

    I met the Jedi in the hangar where two companies of infantry were preparing for deployment. The Togruta women were waiting near the open ramp of our transport and they looked less than pleased. With them being females the fact that they were about to enter a pirate hangout unarmed was not a reason for cheering.

    "Ladies, unless you have second thoughts we should go."

    They shook their heads so headed to the ???kpit. Ahsoka looked a bit guilty.

    I wondered, what did she do? I shelved that thought for later.

    The short flight to the planet was spent in an awkward silence. We made a hyperspace jump near the moon and exited hyperspace in such an angle that the sensors were able to sweep the dark side of the small planetoid. Nothing unusual was detected so I sent a signal to Leveler before entering Florrum''s atmosphere.

    I guided our shuttle towards the pirate hideout as we flew over vast plains covered with orange grass and patches of brown desert sand. Below us herds of big animals were minding their own business. Some of them were looking up at our passage with interest. If it was not for our mission I might have found it a fascinating opportunity to view a world mostly untouched by civilization.

    I landed our craft in a tiny valley which was the courtyard in the front of the pirate base. I secured the ship and we descended down the ramp.

    A semicircle of armed pirates greeted us. Judging by the girls reactions they stank. I allowed myself a small smile. Than the force for air filters!

    One of the pirates walked next to us and waved a scanner which looked suspiciously like a portable radio with two antennas. He decided that the Jedi were clean and then started waving the kriffing thing around me. My right hand shot forward and grabbed the scanner by the antennas and I plucked it from the pirate''s grip.

    "Your boss agreed that I could keep my weapons. Despite the Jedi''s arrogance I am not crazy enough to walk in your lair unarmed." I grumbled.

    The rest of the cutthroats pointed their weapons at me.

    "If you want to be paid you''ll behave. The Republic could have easily sent a battle group instead of us."

    The man from whose hands I took the scanner glared at me but nodded and waved us to follow them. As we entered the base, Shaak Ti walked next to me and whispered:

    "Are you insane?!"

    "I''ve dealt with their kind before. Handling them requires a different kind of diplomacy than the one you are accustomed to. The Republic''s niceties are seen as a sign of weakness out here." I muttered quietly.

    We were led to a cantina. The men and women there gave us dirty looks. It was a rundown place. An alien woman''s voice was singing from hidden loudspeakers in a high pitched tone I found irritating.

    The pirate leader was sitting on a table in the back of this so called establishment. He was surrounded by six bodyguards. Ohnaka was drinking something that was probably illegal in dozens of systems from a metal mug.

    "Ladies! General! Will you drink something?" he exclaimed in a flamboyant tone.

    "We are not here to have fun captain Ohnaka." I said.

    He ignored me and pushed my way a metal mug full with a green liquid which resembled toxic waste.

    I shook my head at his antics. I''ve been in his presence for mere seconds and the bloody hut spawn was already irritating!

    "So you are the man that caught Dooku. Quite impressive feat." I stroked his ego.

    Next to me the Jedi were glaring at the somewhat sober pirates who were leering at them. I wondered how long it would be before all hell broke loose¡­

    "Heh. The Sith couldn''t deal with my warriors. He resisted but it was futile!" Ohnaka exclaimed while waving his cup around. A bit of his drink fell on the table and started eating through it.

    Yeah. His chosen poison was definitely illegal in most civilized places. It was the good boozie.

    "Blaster against that glowy thing!" he waved his free hand. "It was a glorious victory, I tell ya!"

    "His lightsaber." I deadpanned. Blasters tend to lose against lightsabers if a Force Adept wields the later. Against a rumores Sith Lord like Dooku? Ohnaka didn''t have enough men to win. Two hundred scum? They might have something approaching a chance if they met Dooku on open ground and had him surrounded. They would have likely broken before having a decent chance of taking him out anyway.

    "Yeah. That thing. It''s needless to say that he is not harmless even now. But we won anyway!" Ohnaka boasted.

    Few of his cronies cheered at that.

    A red, monkey like creature that resembled a gremlin made its way to the table. It was playing with a lightsaber. And its hilt was not curved like Dooku''s.

    "Hey! That''s not yours!" Ahsoka exclaimed and summoned the weapon to her hand. Immediately we found herself surrounded by a veritable forest of blasters.

    "That''s Skywalker''s isn''t it?" I ?r??n?d.

    The small monster ran up one of the pirates, moved over his blaster rifle and grabbed the lightsaber hilt which Ahsoka was holding. It tried to pry it from her hand but she held on it.

    "Hey! That''s not yours!" she repeated and glared at the critter.

    More than half of the weapons were redirected at her.

    "Ahsoka! Stand down! It''s obvious your Master lost his lightsaber. Again." I grumbled and turned to the leader of the pirates surrounding us. "We are not here to fight, youthful exuberance notwithstanding. Do you have Dooku or not?"

    "I''ll arrange a meeting. Girl let go of the weapon." The pirate growled at Ahsoka who relented after a sharp look from Master Ti.

    =RK=

    We were led to the prison block of the base where one of the cells was guarded by two armed pirates. Inside we found Dooku suspended in mid-air by a force field. His left hand was missing.

    Ahsoka jumped in excitement.

    "How the mighty have fallen!" she cheered.

    He looked at the older woman.

    "Master Ti. I would like to say that it is a p???sur? to meet you again but under the circumstances..." he trailed off.

    "Count Dooku." she nodded at him.

    "And this must be the mercenary that gave us so much trouble. Obviously Grievous failed again."

    "He and Ventress are cooling their heels in cells on Coruscant. You''ll be joining them soon." I said in a greeting. It might have came out in a very smug tone. A Sith? This one? Yeah, right. You don''t need a lightsaber to escape from here, just the Force.

    "You captured her then? Impressive. Why someone with your skills works for the Republic? I can ?ssure you that if you help me and join the Confederacy you''ll be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams." Dooku began a sales pitch.

    "You''ll go to Coruscant to be judged for your crimes! Right, Delkatar?" asked Ahsoka.

    "Dooku, you know nothing about my dreams." I hissed.

    "You''ll spent a long time in similar cell, Dooku!" taunted Ahsoka.

    "Young and foolish. Do you really believe that the pirates will let you leave this planet?"

    "They are thieves who do not wish to fight with Jedi!" the Padawan''s temper was rising.

    "Ahsoka! Do not let him bait you!" snapped Shaak Ti.

    "Not that they would be interested in fighting you two. I am sure that they have other plans for such delectable females." added Dooku.

    That made the women uneasy.

    "Do you really think that I failed to take that into an account before coming here?" I didn''t bother to hide my amusement.

    "Yet you brought them." Dooku nodded at the Jedi. "Our ''hosts; are more cunning that you gave them credit for."

    "I see why they like you so much." I chuckled. "We saw enough. Let''s go."

    =RK=

    We walked towards the shuttle to contact the Republic. When we were passing through a corridor void of the locals, Shaak Ti came near me and hissed.

    "You knew!"

    "I take it you''ve been lucky enough not to have dealt with pirates? Or at least not to be around them unarmed? Yes I know how they''ll view the two of you. It is a useful distraction. And yeah, I am cold blooded bastard when I have a mission to accomplish. No need to give me compliments, Master Ti."

    "You are using us as a bait?!" Ahsoka was outraged.

    "Don''t look at me. It was senator Amidala who proposed that two Jedi must be sent. I would have been all right with coming here by myself. It would have make things simpler though not as interesting." I shrugged.

    "You are a Sith all right. And to think that I was ready to apologize to you!" muttered Master Ti. "You suggested us two!"

    "Yet it was Yoda and Windu who agreed it was a splendid idea." I pointed out. "It was your Council and the Chancellor who sent you with me." My words were met with a lot of grumbling and dark thoughts aimed at various parties.

    Before we got on the shuttle one of the locals invited us to a celebration to honor our deal. I simply nodded and boarded the ship.

    We spoke with the Chancellor and his entourage ¨C Windu, Yoda and couple of senators who would deliver the payment. To my regret one of them was to be Jar-Jar. I wondered if I could arrange an accident for that menace. Sidious was able to mask well his displeasure when I confirmed that his "friend" was really captured and got his arm chopped off.

    After we were finished speaking with Coruscant I contacted the Leveler and gave confirmed that we were all right so far. Plan A was a go.

    =RK=

    I decided to let our "gracious" hosts to show their hand and persuaded the Jedi that we could not simply ignore their invitation. When we got back into the cantina we found a wild party which was in full swing.

    Drunk people laying everywhere, one fella dancing on the far end of the bar, a waitress who did not like the advances of an unlucky patron was bashing the man''s head at the table he was sitting at... In short ¨C exactly what you would expect from such a place.

    I led the women to the bar where we sat on somewhat clean stools.

    "I can''t believe that you volunteered me for this, Delkatar. You are an evil man." Ahsoka muttered.

    "I should have found an excuse to stay as far away from you as possible." ?r??n?d Shaak Ti.

    The commotion was unpleasant for their s?ns?t?v? ears.

    Ohnaka came to us with a shit eating grin on his face.

    "My friends! Please share a drink with me! It is the traditional way to seal our deal!"

    Yeah. Right. I smiled under my helmet. Plan A it was. Too bad that the Jedi did not know about it¡­

    "Fine. But something non-alcoholic for the kid." I pointed at Ahsoka who glared at me.

    Ohnaka waved at a waitress who soon brought us three mugs. I removed my helmet and saluted our host with my drink. Before taking a sip from the bubbling liquid I used a trick that was essential to know if one wanted to survive more than a couple of weeks in the academy on Korriban. I used the Force to make myself immune to most poisons and sedatives. It would also diminish the effect of the few substances that could effect me anyway.

    I saluted our host with my mug and took a big swallow from the strong beverage. Shaak Ti and Ahsoka followed my lead and soon were swaying in their seats.

    Ohnaka frowned when I finished my cup.

    "That is great! What is it? I have not drank something that good in ages!" I smiled pleasantly at him but my eyes were cold.

    He looked around. Most of his crew were passed out around the cantina or too drunk to put much of a fight. Then his sight fell on the Jedi who were mostly incoherent by now. Whatever was put in our drinks was strong to effect the women that fast.

    "That won''t work, you know." I stated pleasantly. What was coming I would enjoy. Ohnaka on the other hand¡­

    I crushed the mug in my right hand and with the help of the Force I molded it into a rough spike which I telekinetically threw behind me at a sober pirate who was trying to sneak towards my back. My improvised weapon struck him in the left eye with enough power to embed itself into his brain. The dead man fell slowly on the floor without giving out a sound.

    Hondo Ohnaka tried to shout something to his men but he found out that he was unable to even whimper. An invisible hand had grabbed his throat and started squeezing it. To his utter horror none of his men noticed the murder of their buddy or what I was doing to their boss. A room full of drunk idiots and a slight suggestion that there was nothing interesting to look at where I stood was more than enough to give us some privacy as long as Ohnaka did not shout an order.

    "After this stunt you pulled," I nodded at the girls who had fallen asleep on the floor, "I am re-negotiating our deal." I continued to speak in a light, friendly tone.

    The smile that stretched my lips made him shudder.

    "Let me tell you, trying to back-stab us without informing your minions," I waved at the men drinking around us, "is something that you might live to regret. If you are lucky."

    My grip around his throat relented a bit and he started coughing in an attempt to get some air in his straining lungs.

    "Now, my new friend let''s talk money. Tell me all about how and where you caught Dooku while you''re at it." I smiled cheerfully at the pirate.

    =RK=

    Republic Assault Ship Leveler

    behind Florrum''s moon

    Outer Rim

    Captain Pellaeon watched at the holographic displays projected over the windows of his ship''s bridge. They showed the progress of the ?ssault party that had inserted from the other side of the planed from the pirate base. He calmly observed as an hour passed since the last communication from the General arrived. The ground troops were thirty four minutes away from the enemy stronghold.

    Next to the Captain, Ensign Piett was anxiously starring at the clock. ''So the General, was right. Kriffing pirates!'' he thought.

    Pellaeon went to the nearest console from which he could contact the deployed ground troops and opened a channel to them. In order to preserve the element of surprise he had ordered the launch a stealth satellite which could transmit by laser to the advancing clones.

    "This is Leveler Actual. Raptor you have a go. I repeat, Raptor you have a go. We will be on station to provide orbital support in thirty five minutes."

    "Sound general quarters. I want our remaining ground forces to be ready for deployment and our fighter wings manned. Inform medical that they can expect wounded within the hour."

    =RK=

    Pirate Base

    Planer Florrum

    Outer Rim

    I was smiling cheerfully when Ohnaka finished transferring his band''s liquid ?ssets to a credit chip which I pocketed into a secure compartment of my armor. It is wondrous what some "persuasion" through the Force and expertly applied pain could do. The pirate leader was not as tough as he wanted others to believe.

    I checked the time. It was thirty one minutes after the deadline for contacting the Leveler had passed. Splendid. I retrieved two personal shields from pockets in my robes and placed them on the girls right arms. Ohnaka, who was held in stasis by an expertly applied field of Force energy, watched warily as I worked.

    Thirty two minutes. I levitated the unconscious women and carefully placed them behind the bar where they would have some cover. That caught the attention of few pirates who were somewhat sober and they headed our way.

    I patted the shoulder of the frozen in place Ohnaka.

    "It''s almost time."

    Thirty three minutes. I extended my senses and grinned. I could sense the approaching clones. They would be in time. You got to love competent subordinates who had appreciation for precise timing!

    The first two sober pirates reached us and looked at their boss with identical frowns on their faces. He was just sitting there without speaking or moving. Something that was apparently uncharacteristic for him.

    "Eh... Boss, is everything all right?" one of them eventually gathered enough courage to ask.

    "Just peachy." I answered.

    Four more somewhat sober men joined the group that was confronting me. Finally one of the geniuses comprehended that something was wrong. Said fella drew his blaster and pointed it at me.

    "Should that scare me?" I asked and waved at his weapon.

    Using telekinesis I twisted his arm so his pistol was aimed at his boss. The eyes of the unnamed minion widened in surprise. Then I applied some pressure over his trigger finger. His weapon fired a single blaster bolt which shot Ohnaka in the head.

    Thirty four minutes. The compound was shaken by multiple explosions. That was the initial missile strike aimed at the few AA emplacements the pirates had, none of which was automated.

    Show time.

    The first reaction of the pirates was stunned disbelief. That gave me more than enough time to use telekinesis to activate the shields on the Jedi''s arms and draw my blasters. I mowed down the six cutthroats that were facing me before any of them could raise their weapons.

    I did not stop firing for a second. Crimson blaster bolts shot from my guns and headed towards the occupants of the cantina who were not yet passed out. There were less than a score of those including the four waitresses who fell on the ground with scorched craters in their ?h?sts.

    I could already hear the chatter of heavy weapons from outside. Both from the LAAT''s and the deployed walkers. Their first targets were the enemy armor which with any luck would be wrecked before anyone thought to man it and the small fleet of ships the pirates had. I activated a beacon built in my armor so the clones would know where I was and not waste time combing the whole base searching for me. The sooner some backup arrived the better. I was reluctant to leave Ahsoka and Shaak Ti alone even if most of the pirates were so drunk that they were sleeping through the attack.

    I had to shoot three more blaster wielding thugs who arrived before the first squad of Crimson company could make its way into the cantina.

    "Good to see you, boys. The Jedi are behind the bar. They are drugged, the poor gals. Keep them safe and when the base is reasonable secure evacuate them back to the ship. I am going to retrieve our target." I told them what they needed to know.

    "Yes, sir!" the sergeant leading the clones saluted me and ordered his men to take defensive positions around the Jedi.

    =RK=

    On my way to Dooku''s cell I met only few of the locals who were more interested in hiding that in fighting. That did not help them much as I shot them in the back. Did I mention that I loathe pirates? They were almost as bad as slavers and often partake in that disgusting trade.

    To their credit the two men guarding Dooku were still at their post. They raised their long rifles and opened fire on me when I entered the long corridor along which the prisoner''s cells were located.

    I activated my lightsaber and deflected their shots. Within seconds both of the guards were on the ground, downed from their own reflected fire.

    I cut out the locks of the door and opened it with a wave of telekinesis.

    Dooku glared at me.

    "I take it that the commotion is not done by my people?" he asked.

    "They are too busy after their best commander got caught. Not to mention the disappearance of their political leader." I nodded at him.

    Dooku lowered his head as much as the force field holding him captive allowed.

    "That is an unpleasant reality." he said with a subdued tone.

    "Count Dooku, I wonder... Do you care at all about your confederation or is it a means to an end? Just another disposable ?sset for Sidious?"

    The old man stood rigid. He stared at me with shock in his eyes.

    "How do you know that name? Did Grievous or Ventress talk?"

    "Last time I saw them, neither of those two were in any way ready for interrogation. They were not exactly intact when we captured them. Answer my question."

    "I do whatever my Lord..."

    "And do not repeat the party line. I asked you. Not Sidious."

    Dooku glared at me and refused to answer.

    "Suit yourself." I shot him in the neck with two darts from the launcher in my right arm-guard.

    They were hollow and filled with a special contortion created to knock out Jedi and Sith. Just in case, I telekinetically raised on of the rifles lying next to the bodies of the guards and hit the Count with it.

    =RK=

    When the mop up was finished I was happy with the success. The Jedi were in the med bay of the Leveler where they were sleeping off the drugs they ingested. Only five clones were wounded and none of them seriously. No dead. It was a clean op, one in a thousand. We even released four prisoners who were held for ransom. They were moderately well off people who were grabbed while traveling on business along the Outer Rim.

    I cheerfully ordered the surviving pirates locked up in their own prison and let the clones check all over the base for something interesting. They retrieved few small cases full of jewels and precious stones from Ohnaka''s quarters as well as his encrypted personal files. I couldn''t wait to get my hands on that information. Who knew, there might be some blackmailing material that could be useful in the future.

    When the pirate base was searched from top to bottom and the few interesting items were loaded, the pirates were transferred to the cell block on the Leveler. After the last of my men was on board I went to the bridge.

    "General, that was a good work out there." Pellaeon congratulated me.

    He was right. When all was said and done, the op went too smooth. I was wondering when the other shoe would drop. Probably when Sidious was ready with his response for the disruption of his plans.

    "Thank you Captain. Please wipe that base from the face of the planet. The next bunch of outlaws which decides to set shop in this region would need to make their own facilities. We need to make a brief detour to a world few light years from here to retrieve Kenobi and Skywalker before heading back to Coruscant."

    While Pellaeon ensured the destruction of the Pirate compound with judicious application of turbo-laser fire I went to the med bay. I knew that Ahsoka would be giddy with the prospect of retrieving her Master from the world I believe he was stranded on.

    I finally remembered what had happened to them when Ohnaka told me how and where he caught Dooku. Weren''t they buried into a cave with some kind of a big, red beast? I wondered if the Chosen one was still around¡­

    For some reason the thought of Skywalker getting eaten by a monster in a cave filled with poisonous gas brought a smile on my face. My only immediate concern was the reactions of Ahsoka and Shaak Ti when they awoke and found out what happened.

 Chapter 8 - Stand-off [1/2]

    Part 1

    Senate Building

    Coruscant

    The aftermath of bringing Dooku in was underwhelming. He was stuck into a cell within the Jedi Temple and was awaiting a trial. Surprise, surprise, the courts were dragging their legs for weeks. Nothing unexpected with Sidious being the Chancellor. I got a lot of praise and was stuck in front of reporters more times than I cared about. I had to use all the skills I learned and rely heavily on the Force in order to leave a positive impression with the media all the while giving vague answers about my origins. Somehow people didn''t know yet who and what I really was and I was determined to keep that going for as long as practical.

    Sidious had me sidelined by using me for propaganda purposes until my new command was being ?ssembled. That was a slow and nerve racking process without the efficiency of the Empire to which I was accustomed. Yet it was understandable. GAR High Command had no idea where did I came from and the Jedi in the chain of command didn''t trust me at all for obvious reasons. At least they weren''t spreading my origin to anyone who asked so they might not be all bad and wasn''t that an unreal thought?

    All that left me bored out of my mind with necessary paperwork, which thankfully consisted of no actual paper and mountains of electronic memos and forms that needed my attention and signatures. Meanwhile, the war was going on.

    The capture or death of some of the CIS''s most prominent leaders did little to deter the enemy. Their overwhelming numbers allowed them to carry on with their offensives all across the galaxy. It wasn''t all bad ¨C without Dooku and Grievous, the Confederate war machine was running out of steam, though I doubted it would be for long. Without their best commanders, the Separatists were suffering punishing loses and soon would have to stop and consolidate their forces. Figure out who must be in charge too. If the strategic projections were correct and with my new access to raw intelligence data I had no reason to doubt them, the enemy advance would have to stop by the time my fleet was ?ssembled. Just in time for me to participate in the planned counter-offensive.

    While I was cooling my heels on Coruscant, the Jedi I was familiar with were busy getting into trouble. Ahsoka, who had rejoined her master citing need for couple of calm weeks after my stunt on Florrum, was currently missing along with Skywalker and Aayla Secura. Anakin and the kid went to relieve the Twi''lek Jedi Master whose fleet was under heavy separatist attack. They managed to get her away from her burning flagship but Skywalker got wounded in the process. To make matters worse, the Chosen One''s luck struck again. The frigate on which the Jedi were evacuating was damaged and made a blind hyperspace jump. The Navy was still searching for them. If my memory was still accurate and the changes I''ve already made did not affect the outcome of their flight, the Jedi should be found safe and sound. Eventually.

    Kenobi was stuck on some Ice moon where the locals were at odds with the members of the species living on a nearby planet, who were a Republic member. For once the Senate had voted swiftly, probably because the Chancellor was too busy "arranging" the trials of the CIS leaders we had in custody.

    And finally Shaak Ti was sent to Knossos, was it? Something sounding like that, where the clankers were crushing the locals. So despite the bu??erflies I made things were not changed too much from "canon" yet. Not that meant much, here where it was all real and not a movie you could watch from bed while munching on popcorn. That was something I figured out the hard way when I ended up in the Empire. The galaxy was inconcieveably large and what movies, games and books showed was merely scratching the surface.

    I knew this was merely the calm before a storm that would shake the whole galaxy. The war was going to escalate. I had to make sure of it or Sidious would keep holding an usumournable advantage. At that time little did I know that I was playing a different game than the one I thought was going on. At least it wasn''t all bad ¨C the time I spent on Coruscant engaged in publicity stunts and buried under mountains of paperwork gave me a breather that I solely needed. After losing everything I knew, everything I spent decades working for, I needed that time to screw my head more or less right. The Dark Side''s whispers were getting more and more tempting as of late. Without the calm period post Florrum I might have willingly given in and done something regrettable. On the plus side I got time to plot, straighten up my goals and set up some short term plans.

    Little did I know they were all be thrown askew very soon.

    I had no idea what monumental mess I would need to clean up shortly. I was making my way towards the Chancellor''s office and wondered what went to hell this time. I only knew that I was called there for an emergency meeting ¨C never a good sign unless it was a part of one of your plots. Needless to say, whatever shenanigans were going this time, they weren''t of my doing even if they might be an unintended consequence of my meddling.

    I wasn''t alone. Two men followed me and none of them were Jedi. With the relentless onslaught the CIS was throwing against the Republic after the loss of their military leaders, the Council no longer had the luxury of keeping a Jedi Master as my babysitter. For the moment they were content to let me deal with the Republic media, which was a kriffing pain in the ?ss! Those vultures were not diligently trained like our own Imperial ones. I am sure that more than one Jedi laughed off their ?sses on my expense, the bastards! That''s why one of the shenanigans I planed was to use the media to turn public opinion against the Jedi if the opportunity presented itself ¨C doing so would be a lance in their credibility if they ever tried to move against me.

    The lack of a Jedi breathing in my neck made the irritating stuff I had to deal with lately more or less worth it. Getting my face shown to the masses as the man responsible for the greatest coup against the Separatist since the start of the war won me a lot of points and gave me some security that the Council would have serious problems with removing me without a very good cause. And even then it might be with GAR High Command kicking and screaming all the way, even if they didn''t trust me. Most of the brass loved me for delivering Dooku and Grievous in their ??ps. They were content to use my skills as long as played ball and many of them wouldn''t appreciate Jedi meddling.

    It should not be surprising. The Jedi of this era were not particularly good in the PR department and that was one the main reason why almost no one bat an eye when Sidious executed Order 66. The very fact that they let me show my face to the media without a concerned campaign to discredit me was proof of that.

    I was walking towards the Chancellor''s office accompanied by my aide Piett, whose skills were invaluable for dealing with the unholy mess that was ?ssembling a new fleet and attached army group from scratch. With us was the newest talent I managed to grab. It was a certain lieutenant Maximillian Veers. I had arranged his transfer from the militia unit on his home world he was serving with to my command. I had noticed that he had requested multiple times to be sent to a walker unit but his pleas had fallen on deaf ears. So I drew few strings at GAR headquarters and the tall officer was sent a one way ticket to Coruscant. He arrived at my office fifteen minute before I was called to see Palpatine. We had just met after I finished with most of the daily paperwork and had a time for a long chat with the man.

    During our talk he presented me with some novel ideas about the use of walkers of all types as well as more conventional armor. So I decided to take him with me and continue our interview on our way to meed the Chancellor. If he was any flaws I could find in such short time, it was that Veers was too enamoured with walkers to the expense of anything else. That was something I would be discouraging.

    On the bright side, he had prior experience with infantry where he had spent his carrier so far. With careful management, he could become a splendid and well-rounded ground forces commander ¨C something that I currently lacked. There was a reason I did not want clones in overall command of any branch of the forces on my disposal. It was the same one I was pushing for the promotion of Pellaeon to commodore and my naval XO. I still did not know how good the control Sidious had over the Clones was. The various rumours I remembered from my universe were not something I could afford to take for granted.

    =RK=

    Chancellor''s Office

    Senate Building

    Coruscant

    Something unusual was happening, that''s for certain. I found Yoda and Windu talking with Palpatine. They were saying that the Jedi were spread too thin. With Skywalker and Secura missing that was probably true. To make it even funnier (at least from my point of view) the newest hot spot was Naboo ¨C that planet had to be cursed. It was a major point of embarrassment when the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order had to tell the Chancellor that there were no Jedi available to go help his home world.

    Little did I know that I should savour that great moment while I had the opportunity.

    Palpatine was glaring at the Masters to my utter delight. The only thing I regretted was that I was not wearing my helmet which was being upgraded by few trustworthy engineers in HQ. So no recording of this show. It was a pity that Piett and Veers were waiting outside and missed it.

    "Am I to understand that you couldn''t spare a single Jedi to go to Naboo?" Palpatine asked quietly. The sheer betrayed incredulity he could put in his disbelieving voice was worth a reward by itself. Every time I met Sidious I had to marvel how good an actor he was. It also reinforced my belief that playing the political game against a man like him would be suicide even if he didn''t have a few decades worth a head start.

    "Unfortunate, it is." nodded Yoda. He was a picture of regret.

    Sidious glared. It was not a Sith patented one but it was good enough. When it became clear that the Jedi had nothing to add I cleared my throat.

    "I am sorry to interrupt but it appears that I am out of the loop. What is the problem, sir?" I inquired with just the right amount of deference to my nominal commander in chief.

    "Separatists presence was located on Naboo. When it became clear that we would be unable to send any meaningful forces there, queen Neeyutnee requested Jedi help. However, at the moment our Jedi friends," he spat in a bitter, betrayed tone, "are unable to send anyone but few untrained Padawans, which is out of the question."

    I was tempted to point out that there were a pair of obviously free Jedi in front of me. But perhaps Naboo was too backwater for the esteemed Council members to go there personally. I am sure that Palpatine had similar thoughts. Even if he wasn''t a Sith it would have occurred to him that two of the most powerful Jedi in existence weren''t willing to go help his home-world even when they were obviously free. That had to grate. With him being well Sidious, I was sure that the Chancellor would find a way to use this as an opportunity to tarnish the Jedi''s image. Perhaps a few careful leaks to the media...

    I wondered what his game was. I remembered that something important was to happen on Naboo around this time but the details eluded me. Was there some kind of research facility hidden there?

    The comm built in Palpatine''s desk beeped. When he answered, I saw Padme Amidala, Jar-Jar Binks of all beings and an opulently dressed woman whose face was covered with white and red make-up. I knew that this was no coincidence. The Force was attempting to influence things around and I just knew it was towards something that I would not enjoy. I''ve learned to recognize the signs. In this universe it was true that there were seldom consequences but there most certainly were a lot of Force related shenanigans. Heh. That thought was probably the understatement of the decade. At least.

    "Chancellor. Masters." The Queen gave them a small bow. "We attempted to contact the Jedi Council but were told that they were speaking with you." She spoke in a regal confident voice.

    "How can I help you my dear?" Palpatine smiled at his former and current Queen. He was the perfect picture of a sweet and helpful old man. Say what else you will about the man but he was a superb actor who might have gotten in the wrong vocation if it wasn''t the little issue of him being a Sith.

    "We managed to retrieve some data from a damaged tactical droid." said Amidala.

    "Please enlighten us, Senator." Windu intoned in a tone showing sudden interest.

    "The Separatists have some kind of research facility in the eastern swamps. The droid mentioned something about a virus." Amidala explained in concerned tone.

    "They plan to attack us. It''s the only explanation." added Captain Typho after stepping into the holo-projector''s range.

    "Delicate the situation is. Jedi to send I wish..." said Yoda and was promptly interrupted by Amidala.

    "I am recommending Generals Kenobi and Skywalker. Our relationship with the Gungans are strained at present but they trust General Kenobi."

    "Neither of them is available at present." explained Windu.

    "Hmm. Senator. Stretched thin the Order is." Yoda continued with his Emperor cursed butchering of Basic. This wasn''t the fist nor the last time I wished to strangle the little troll because of it.

    "Then General Veil should make do." said Palpatine. "I am sure that the Order will send a Jedi as soon as possible." he added.

    The Jedi Masters looked from the Chancellor to me and back. It was obvious that they expected that I would be tied up on Coruscant until my fleet was ready and by then they would have an agent ready to continue breathing at my back.

    Now they had a problem. It was obviously that they did not want to let me go without supervision. However, they had spent I don''t know how long telling to Palpatine that there were no Jedi free to go before I arrived. They could not free someone to watch me now. The Jedi were in a bind. A week ago Palpatine finally put his leg down and told them that he "trusted" me and he won''t condone such a waste of resources when I had not shown in any way my animosity to the Republic. He went as far as to outright say that he had no time for some kind of conflict between me and the Jedi. Not when I had done so much for the Republic since my appearance. If Sidious suspected that I was a Sith he was keeping that information to himself. My only surprise was that the Jedi did not spill the beans about what I truly was.

    Even better, the Jedi shot themselves in the foot this time. It would look very bad for them if they could release someone to come to Naboo to be my minder but not do that in the first place to solve the locals problem. This was an opportunity to make myself even more popular and reinforce my reputation for competence and getting results.

    "I''ll ?ssemble a Task Force and head to Naboo ASAP, sir. By your leave?" I declared.

    Palpatine gave me a grave nod.

    "Please do so my friend."

    "Chancellor, Master Yoda, Master Windu." I gave them a small bow of respect which I did not feel and exited the office.

    "Walk with me." I said to Piett and Veers. "We have a fire to put down. There is a Separatists presence on Naboo and at the moment the cupboard is rather empty. We''ll be heading there right after a battle group is ?ssembled and we have at least a regiment that is ready for action loaded on the ships."

    "That''s a tall order, sir." Piett sighed.

    "I am aware of that. We have our work cut off for us. And Veers, welcome to the Eleventh corps."

    =RK=

    Part 2

    Republic Cruiser Requiem

    High orbit over Coruscant

    It took us ten hours to ?ssemble a regiment with their equipment for transport. On the face of it that was a great achievement. However, the ground forces with the exception a few select formations were not combat effective at that time. I knew that we''ll be dealing with some kind of virus so I was not going to send down men who didn''t have good enough training and equipment for surviving in environment where such an WMD was released.

    I hoped that we will be able to do something about their readiness by the time we reached Naboo. I had the feeling that I won''t need all forces straight away but that was no reason to slack. The problem wasn''t in the clones individual skills. It was just that most of them hadn''t received any training at combat manoeuvres above the platoon level ¨C all but three companies were quite green boys rushed from Kamino once their basic training was over. It was less than ideal but it was better to have them than not.

    On more positive note, I had managed to pull through a promotion for Pellaeon. He was a brand new commodore in overall command of my space forces. Those consisted of three Venators ¨C my Flagship Requiem, Victory and Onderon, five Acclamators, including Leveler and Dauntless as well as six frigate escorts.

    Those were the combat ready ships which were ready for deployment. At least on paper my fleet was supposed to be much bigger, but such a force took a long time to ?ssemble given the state of the war. Most of the new ships and ground forces were going as replacements to the formations engaged on the front lines.

    For the moment my command was ?ssigned to the strategic reserve, which also acted as a reinforced guard for Coruscant. That explained why I was called on to clean up the mess on Naboo, besides the obvious fact that I was available. There simply were no other a viable force at the moment and no one was able to pry the various system defence forces out of their home systems otherwise the state of the war would be much better for the Republic. Just Kuat''s heavy capital ships could have made a huge difference. The same went for Corellia, but the latter was currently neutral.

    I just got to the bridge with my small staff and Clone commander VC 541 ''Vic'' - the man in charge of the Clone troopers which we drafted for the mission to Naboo.

    "Are we ready to depart?" I asked calmly, without showing any of the weariness I felt in my tone. The scramble to get everything ready was exhausting even when I could lean on the Force to rejuvenate my body.

    "Yes, General. My men are on board. However, only one battalion and two reinforced companies are combat effective as we speak. We''ll need at least a week for the whole regiment to be ready, sir." Vic reported.

    That was worse than the reports I got so far. Joy.

    "Concentrate to the units that could be prepared fastest. We may not have that long." I ordered. "Commodore, take charge of the Task Force. We are leaving." I turned to Pellaeon.

    "Yes, sir!" Pellaeon gave me a salute and went to follow my orders.

    "Lieutenant Veers, I want you on the ground with me on this op. I want to judge your abilities for myself." My attention shifted to my new prot¨¦g¨¦e.

    "Yes, sir!" Maximillian straightened up. "I won''t disappoint you, General!"

    "Carry on, men."

    =RK=

    City of Theed

    Naboo

    The journey to Naboo was b?r?ly long enough for us to have another battalion ready for combat. By the time we made orbit I had on my disposal two infantry battalions or to use the GAR lingo legions ¨C a thousand men formations that were prepared for deployment. There were also two armor companies with walkers and one scout platoon. The rest of my ground forces would need at least two more days before I would consider sending them in combat, with the last battalion being more or less a lost cause after we cannibalised it for men and equipment. I hoped that it was going to be enough.

    A few minutes after arriving in the system I was in a LAAT descending towards the city of Theed. The movies didn''t do it justice. The city was built on a large plateau around a waterfall. As we approached, Theed was lit up by sun-rays from the east bathing it in golden shower. The combination of the sun, the domed architecture and warm pastel tones topped by green made by a stunning vista. It was one of the most amazing things I''ve seen and I''ve been to three different universes.

    We landed at what appeared to be the same hangar seen in the Phantom Menace, where we were met by captain Typho, a female gungan and C-3PO. I introduced myself and my companions ¨C Piett and Veers. Not seeing the senator I rolled my eyes in exasperation.

    "Let me guess, Captain. Senator Amidala went ahead by herself." I grumbled. As if dealing with a CIS research lab containing who knew what nasty surprises wasn''t complicated enough.

    "Senator Padme can''t be stopped when she makes up her mind." the droid added his two cents. Why didn''t she take that blasted machine too? Then the CIS might finally get lucky and do us all a favour by blasting it to many tiny pieces.

    "Captain, I recommend that the next time she goes suicidal you stun her." I grumbled. "Where exactly did she run to?"

    "This is Peppi Bay. Padme sent her here. She is the last person to see them." Typho introduced the alien woman.

    "Them? Did she for a change decide to take guards with her this time?" I asked with forlorn hope.

    It did not matter what was my opinion about Amidala and her antics. Hell even what Sidious thought about her was not that important in this situation. She was the Senator of Naboo, a former Queen and personal friend of the Chancellor. If she got herself killed on my watch it won''t be good. I was sure that Sidious would use such an opportunity to send me and my forces somewhere we won''t be able to make too much trouble while using her death to further his agenda... I would have done the same in his shoes. I hate politics...

    "Representative Binks is with her." Typho admitted with a straight face.

    Of course he is. Getting rid of him should be achievable. I hoped. That bloody thing had the Emperor''s own luck!

    "Am I wrong to ?ssume that you are searching for them?" I asked. "She doesn''t have a proper security detail, does she?" I sighed. Probably not. Not with Padme''s luck. She undoubtedly was already captured and needed saving. Bloody royals.

    "Considering what happened we decided to wait for your arrival, General." Typho sounded even less happy to tell me the next bit of good news.

    "Please enlighten us. I can''t wait." My sarcasm was not lost on the captain who winced. "Ensign Piett, talk with the lady and arrange the last known location of our missing Senators to be scouted from orbit."

    "I''m on it, sir!" Firmus saluted and went to talk with the Gungan woman.

    Typho led us to a small ready room nearby which was dominated by a large holo-display in the form of a table. In its centre laid the head of B-1 droid. He pressed couple of bu??ons and a holographic representation of a humanoid man floated over the table.

    "This is Dr. Nuvo Vindi. He was a famous doctor who disappeared years ago." The captain intoned in a grave tone.

    The resident mad scientists started a monologue about having enough Blue Shadow to start filling bombs with it. I winced. I was familiar with that kriffing disease. It was a nasty piece of work even by Sith standards. That right there should tell you something about the virus.

    "If this abomination is released in enough key places, it can easily cause a Galactic Pandemic that will make the war look like a children spat." I spat. That was the last thing we needed to deal with. The only good thing about Blue Shadow was that in order to be most effective it needed bodies of water to spread through. Otherwise, it was a short lived horror.

    It would be a nasty shock to world like Coruscant. On Naboo? If left unchecked for even a short period of time it might wipe out most of the population and considering how much water was on this planet, the whole world would be in quarantine for months, perhaps years before the virus could be eradicated. A quarantine that must be enforced thus depleting the Navy''s meagre reserves.

    "I''ll have my ships scan the area. Let''s hope that the Senator has not revealed that we suspect about the virus." I sighed. If she was captured, the CIS garrison would be on alert.

    I contacted Pellaeon who sent the frigates to sweep over the eastern marshes from orbit. Five minutes later we had the location of the lab and its rough plans which showed three separate entrances as well as an area with increased radiation. That was most likely the armoury where the bombs were being ?ssembled. Fortunately in order to keep a low profile the base didn''t have jammers running which would have made getting detailed scans impossible. It wasn''t really surprising ¨C planet-side the ECM couldn''t be missed.

    The CIS facility had at least ten disc shaped rooms and something which looked like a shaft leading to the surface. They all were connected with tunnels.

    "This could get ugly. Veers I want you leading teams of demolitions experts to the armoury. You are to disarm all bombs you find there. I''ll go after our friendly WMD expert." I glanced at the lieutenant who had his helmet in the crook of his left arm. "And don''t forget that we are dealing with a bio weapon. I want the armours of all my men sealed tight."

    Before we headed for the marches, I left Piett back as a liaison to Typho and the rest of the locals.

    Amidala and the gungan menace were most likely captured and thus costing us the element of surprise. If we were lucky for once, they were simply lost and we would have more enough time to search for them. Or if we fu?k?d up they were dead anyway as well as most of the population of Naboo.

    =RK=

    CIS Bio-weapon''s lab

    Eastern Marshes

    Naboo

    I had no illusions that the perimeter of the Separatist''s base was anything but seeded with copious amount of sensors. I had only a handful of clones who were trained for stealth insertions. If I had a squad or two of Republic Commandos I would have led them in covertly so we would know what exactly we were dealing with. In such a case we would have done our best to seize the part of the base where the bombs were located and hold it while my main forces ?ssaulted the place. That was a luxury we did not have.

    The attack began with an air strike by squadron of Torrent''s which screamed in from orbit and launched missiles at the southern part of the base ¨C as far from where we believed the bombs and the virus were located as possible. The evening which had just descended over the marshes was illuminated by a crescendo of roaring explosions that shook the enemy facility to its foundations.

    I was in the back of a LAAT with the first wave of our ?ssault. Next to me a healed Cat and his men were ready to rappel to the ground the moment we were over the target. The leading gunships unleashed AP missiles at the tunnels which were our chosen entrance points. On five separate places the ceilings of the base''s corridors were breached. Seconds later a transport stopped above each of the new entrances and Clones were rappelling down after throwing in Ion and smoke grenades.

    I was the first out of my LAAT and didn''t bother with rappelling down. I just jumped out and for couple of seconds enjoyed the sensation of free falling. The sensation would have been much better if I was not encased in my sealed armour, which was now painted with an expensive "smart" paint that changed colour depending on the environment. I wanted eventually all my men to have such a camouflage but at least for now that was too expensive to contemplate. Five thousand credits only for my armor and a kit which would repair the coating if it was damaged by enemy fire. When you consider that I wanted all my ground troops to have it you suddenly start talking about real money.

    A moment after jumping I called on the Force and enveloped myself with an energy field that absorbed most of my momentum. Just before I hit the ground, I pumped even more power in the sheathe around me. I landed lightly and the energy around me discharged in a shock-wave that threw away everything within the tunnel. Behind me a pair of synthetic ropes fell in the corridor and Cat and his men rappelled down.

    The chatter of my other units deploying in the facility sounded in my ears.

    "This is Veers! We are pinned down by destroyer droids!"

    "Vic, vector AT teams to the lieutenants position. All units advance." I ordered and after making sure the tunnel was clean for the moment I closed my eyes and concentrated on the whispers of the Force.

    I could feel the somewhat dull presence of the clones. I could see where Veers was taking cover at an intersection. He was waving an AT team, which had just jumped in behind him to deal with a trio of droidekas. The shielded wardroids were turning that path to the armoury into a shooting gallery.

    Ah. There. About a hundred meters from where I stood were three people, two of whom were familiar. Yep. Amidala and Jar-Jar got caught. Again. Number three must be my target. I ran in that direction followed by Cat and ten clones. The rest of his men were fanning out to secure our rear. The next LAAT would get in enough troops so they could push for the other entrance of the armoury. Or make themselves a new one.

    The only resistance I faced were two B-1''s and a single Super Battle droid. Needless to say, those machines were unable to even slow us down. I deflected blaster bolts at the two flimsy clankers and cut in two their big brother as I passed by it. One of the clones shot the SB in the face when he ran over it. Just in case I guess.

    I found the Doc and his captives behind a blast door which was made mostly by a transparent material. I guess it was more for a virus containment than for stopping a determined ?ssault. There were a bunch of droids standing at attention behind him too.

    There weren''t enough of the clankers to make a difference.

    It took me five seconds to cut a circle in it and jump through. My men were right behind me.

    "Senator. We should stop meeting like this." I quipped at Amidala, who sent me a disgruntled look.

    The Senator and Jar-Jar were on the ground, next to some kind of generator. They were tied to something that was looking like a big Tesla coil attached to said power source.

    "Another step and your friends are dead!" sneered Vindi.

    He pressed down a switch he was holding and his captives were shocked by arching bolts of electricity.

    "Throw down your weapons!" he shouted. Vindi sounded like he actually expected us to comply.

    "Idiot." I shook my head in exasperation and used the Force.

    The mad doctor screeched when I used telekinesis to snap his left arm like a twig and shut down the current coursing through his captives.

    "Kill them!" he gasped an order to the droids in the room.

    I was already charging forward and was amongst the machines, before they could open comply. I telekinetically blasted the droids on my left at the nearby wall and deflected few shots from the faster droids on my other side. Cat and his troopers wasted no time and cheerfully started blasting the distracted clankers to little pieces.

    I diagonally slashed through the torso of a B-1 druid, send back couple of shots to another which few back disabled and slammed my lightsaber to the hilt in the ?h?st of a Super Battle droid which was about to mow down my men with its wrist mounted dual blaster. I flourished my blade which was embedded in its torso and the droid fell to the ground in four glowing pieces.

    The skirmish was over as fast as it began. The machines were down and only three of my men were wounded, none of them critical. However, their armours were breached. Which was very bad considering that in the commotion Vindi had his hale hand around a vial of blue gas. I should have stunned the bastard. I knew better than to underestimate crazy scientists.

    "It''s too late, fools!" Vindi shouted and threw it at the ground.

    Before the vial could hit the metal floor and shatter I caught it gently with the Force. The doctor just grinned at me dementedly and looked at his shattered left arm. There was a metal brace around it with a prominent red bu??on, in a circle around which were small lights glowing crimson. The first one blinked out.

    "Time is running out!" he taunted.

    "General we found the bombs! They are all active." Veers called over the comm.

    "Start disarming them." I snapped.

    I stared at the mad man who had his head protected by a transparent crystal dome. I could see it in his eyes. There was no way to remotely disarm the bombs.

    "In the unlikely event we are unable to stop all the bombs you''ll be taking some of your own medicine." I said and used my powers to shatter the bubble protecting him.

    "Commander Vic I want all of my men whose armor was breached to evacuate back to the decontamination areas set up on the Assault Ships. Veers, disarm the bombs and check if they contain vials of the virus. We can''t afford to miss ever one of those things. Lieutenant Cat, get Senators Amidala and Binks out of here."

    "Wait a minute! I am going nowhere until I know that Naboo is safe!" snapped Padme.

    "Stun her if you have to." I Ignored her protests and headed out while dragging Vindi using the Force.

    I knew that there was something important I was forgetting. I was wondering what it was when I sensed a movement in a side corridor. I found there a ridiculous looking, small droid which was clutching a bomb in its manipulators. Ah. That was it. I plucked the bomb from its clutches and sent a lightning bolt at the little bugger. I watched with satisfaction as its circuits fried under the onslaught and then its plating started melting. He''ll unleash a virus on my men, won''t he? Serves him right!

    I disarmed the bomb and retrieved the vial. Well that was done.

    I was such a fool to think that it would be that easy...

    =RK=

    Near the City of Theed

    Naboo

    A figure cloaked in a black mantle leaned on a tree overlooking the river that passed through the capital of Naboo. He observed the opening stages of the ?ssault over the research lab before Republic jamming cut off the feeds. He waited for five minutes before sending a signal to one of a few heavily shielded against detection listening stations spread around the facility. They were connected with the lab by landlines so the jamming was not an issue. With that done the man whose face was hidden by a black mask went to a speeder bike parked nearby. He retrieved four spherical devices from a compartment at the back of his ride and went to the river. He pressed two bu??ons on each of the small drones and threw them in the water. The current would do the rest.

    He returned to his speeder and activated a holocomm which was built in it. A figure whose features were hidden by a hood appeared.

    "Phase one is done my master." rasped the man on Naboo.

    "Well done. We shall have our vengeance."

    The man was long gone by the time the drones detonated on the outskirts of the city. Soon Theed was engulfed by a blue mist. He never knew he was a mere pawn serving two very different masters.

    =RK=

    CIS Bio-weapons lab

    eastern marshes

    Naboo

    I was near a LAAT landed on the surface above the enemy base along with my captive. We were waiting for Cat, who was escorting a protesting Amidala to one of the gunships. She had decided to comply without needing to be stunned but was making it clear how displeased she was with the poor lieutenant. That''s when hell went lose. All the warning I got was a mere flicker through the Force signifying I wasn''t really in any notable danger.

    Subdued thumps sounded throughout the facility. Ear-piercing alarms started blaring. I turned my head to the nearest hole in the ground which was leading to the underground base. That didn''t sound good.

    "Veers, report!" I snapped.

    "Some kind of internal detonations, general. The containment procedures on the base are going in effect. There is blue smoke coming from the vents!" He reported.

    "Get out of there! Now!" I ordered.

    "General! We have a serious problem over here!" Piett shouted over the comm.

    "What''s happening? We are little busy ourselves." When it rains it pours.

    "There are waves of blue mist coming over the river passing through the city!" shouted my aide.

    "God damn it! Piett please tell me that you have your kriffing helmet on and your armor is sealed."

    "Uh... Yes, sir." He stammered.

    "Good man. I want you talk with Typho and confirm if the mist is the Blue Shadow." I switched to another channel. "Commodore Pellaeon, I trust that you are monitoring the situation on the ground. All hell is breaking loose over here. I have confirmed release of Blue Shadow at my location and possible one at Theed. On my authority from this moment on Naboo is under quarantine. You are to deploy your forces as you deem fit in order to enforce it. No one is leaving this world without my permission."

    I turned my attention to Vindi.

    "As for you." I telekinetically raised him in the air. "Where is the antidote?"

    "You are mistaken, Jedi. I was hired to revive the virus and make it airborne. There is no cure!" he chuckled.

    I snorted.

    "You are the one mistaken, doctor. I am no Jedi." I raised my right hand so he could see purple lightning dancing between my fingers. "You will tell me everything even if I have to tear it from your mind piece by piece." I hissed.

    Lighting cracked and Vindi screamed.

    =RK=

    Part 3

    Republic Cruiser Requiem

    High orbit over Naboo

    I gazed at the green planet below us. To my right commodore Pellaeon was staring at Naboo with stern expression on his face. Looking at this emerald jewel from here you would never suspect how grim the situation was on the surface.

    Theed was in shambles. The city''s law enforcement and medical services were swarmed and order was breaking down. According to the latest estimates about sixty percent of the population was infected in the first hour after the Blue Shadow was unleashed. By the time people knew what was happening it was all too late.

    I shook my head. You''d expect that a capital city in this day and age would have some measures to combat a bio attack. To be fair the Naboo people had excellent doctors with state of the art facilities. However, no one had been prepared for attack of such a scale. To make matters worse, there was no warning either, however at least for that there was a somewhat decent explanation ¨C not to spook any CIS agents who could have warned the lab. For all the good that did.

    From my point of view there were few good news. First, most of the craft which had a reasonable chance to run the blockade were under the control of the local defence forces and were kept under lock and key. For now at least. Second ¨C the general populace actually (mostly) listened when I ordered the quarantine. Which meant that people were getting away from the affected regions and the officials controlling the dams down the river passing through Theed, (I probably should have remembered its damn name) were doing their best to close them so the spread of the Virus could be slowed down if not contained.

    The best news was the outcome from my conversation with Palpatine, select Senators as well as Yoda and Windu. My thoughts drifted to that "chat" which took place five hours ago.

    =RK=

    Flashback

    The holocomm sparkled to life with a short hiss of static. Six blue tinted figures appeared over the low holographic projector.

    I nodded at the senators who were introduced to me. Gran Moe, Gram Ben Iblis and Bail Organa. Multiple eyes glared hard at me.

    "General Veil, explain your actions!" Organa fixed me with a hard stare which I returned calmly. I''ve been stared down by professionals who had not only the power but the willingness to flay my skin for the fun of it. The good senator''s glare was not even remotely impressive.

    "I did what is necessary to ensure the security of your worlds and the Republic as a whole, Senators. Would you want to explain to your people why their loved ones are chocking to death on the Blue Shadow when a potential galactic pandemic could be stopped easily by blockading one world?" It was hard not to sneer at the na?ve man. Instead, I kept my voice quiet and reasonable.

    "That''s not..." spluttered Organa.

    "General, what is the situation on the ground?" Ben Iblis'' calm voice interrupted him.

    "The virus is spreading towards the eastern swamps. Theed is covered with the stuff after charges containing Blue Shadow were detonated in the river passing through the city. The resulting mist contained both the standard and airborne variants. Before anyone knew what was happening a significant percentage of the populace was infected. The last estimate I saw was about fifty percent of Theed''s citizens were exposed. It''s too early to say how many of them had caught the virus. I''ve ordered all space flights cancelled and the population outside of the currently affected regions to move further away. It is unclear if they were further attacks on the planet."

    "Isn''t this a bit harsh and premature action?" asked senator Moe. His three eye-stalks were shifting in agitation.

    "Considering how dangerous this particular bio-weapon is, quarantine is the best course of action. Do you want to contemplate what will happen if the Blue Shadows spreads to multiple star systems at a time of a war? Especially while the Separatists are still on the offensive? The GAR is stretched too thin as it is. To make things worse I do not have the forces necessary to mount an effective blockade of Naboo. If the virus spreads further..." I trailed off. "There is an extensive underground river network passing through most of Naboo. Sooner or later the whole planet might be contaminated even if there only release points were at Theed and the CIS lab."

    "Grim news, this is." sighed Yoda. "Contained this outbreak must be."

    "Chancellor Palpatine, as officer in charge at Naboo I need orders on how to proceed." I asked. "I need instructions in case the Blue Shadow could not be contained at its present locations and threatens to go out of control."

    "What do you suggest, general?" asked Palpatine warily.

    "Permission to draw contingency plans for sterilizing the sites of the outbreak." I said with a straight face." I have not wish to go to such terrible lengths to stop the Blue Shadow from claiming the whole world but the affected area might have to be incinerated from orbit. This is request I do not make lightly and deeply regret the loss of life that will ensure if it becomes necessary. However, if ordered I will do so in order to preserve the rest of Naboo and its inhabitants." I lied through my teeth.

    If it came to it I was unlikely to lose any sleep over burning large chunks of Naboo. The hit to my reputation on the other hand was something I didn''t want to deal with. Besides, with Naboo having that weird water networks, it was unlikely anything but sterilizing Theed and the lab in the fist minutes after the outbreak could have done a difference.

    "This is madness!" shouted Organa and jumped from his seat. He pointed an accusing finger at me. "To even contemplate such a thing..."

    "What would you have me do, Senator? Let a whole world die from some misguided sense of mercy?" I asked while putting as much regret as I could in my voice. "There are five million souls in Theed and the affected region of the marshes. Over three hundred million on the rest of the planet. We are not living in some children''s holo-novel with a guaranteed happy ending. This is the real world, Senators! Wishful thinking will not save the people of Naboo."

    I took a deep breath. Bloody politicians! It wasn''t like Naboo was some kind of densely populated world. Mere three hundred millions ¨C that wasn''t even a drop in the bucket. On a large worlds as Coruscant you could misplace a few billions at least within the daily population fluctuations. Of course, Naboo did have a few things making it important ¨C location on one of the large trade lanes, the popularity of Amidala in certain circles and most importantly, it was the Chancellor''s own homeworld, which was the most important of the lot.

    "I have the man who created the airborne strain of the virus in custody and interrogated him. He modified the Blue Shadow for easier spread and to be viable for hours out in the air. The only good news is that the death rate is down to about eighty percent of the people infected with it from the original ninety-eight. However, depending on how much of the virus got into a person''s bloodstream, the kriffing thing could have an incubating period of up to a week without the sick man showing any symptoms ¨C that''s another thing we have to thank Vindi about. I do not need to tell you how far someone could travel in such a span of time all the while they''re spreading the virus." I succinctly explained the scope of the problem that dropped in our collective ??ps.

    "That''s a dire news indeed." muttered Windu. He was frowning and judging by the look in his eyes the Jedi Master was deep in thought.

    "What about a cure or vaccine?" asked Ben Iblis.

    "Last I time I heard from Captain Typho in Theed they had leads to a possible cure but I have not received anything more concrete yet. Even if cure is found it will take some time before it could be manufactured in sufficient quantities and distributed. Not to mention that it will be at least months until all traces of the virus are erased and the quarantine of Naboo could be safely lifted. Vindi hadn''t bothered to even attempt creating a cure or research how the Blue Shadow had been largely dealt with in the first place." I had no idea either ¨C it all happened after my accident above Korriban.

    "We need to create a commission which is to investigate what is happening on Naboo." declared senator Moe. Emperor cursed politicians. The whole mess would be resolved one way or another before some kind of a commission could do a thing.

    "Senator, senator." I chided. "This is the same thing you proposed when the Trade federation invaded Naboo all those years ago. We all know how that endeavour ended. Don''t you think that the situation is radically different? What would you do if a shipload of people from Theed reaches your home-world? The consequences of those people disembarking in one of your largest space ports and mingling with the crowds will not be too big a problem, will it? After all this could not be such important and time s?ns?t?v? issue... Not when you suggest that a commission which would take months, perhaps years to do anything, must handle this crisis. Too bad that the inhabitants of Theed would be dead by then..." I couldn''t help myself. I''ve never had patience for dealing with politicians. Back in the good old days things were somewhat simpler. At least they were once I had to directly enter the political stage, because by that time I was a powerful Sith in my own right and still had the backing of Baras. That solved a lot of issues.

    "You dare mock me in such a way?" the Gram roared.

    "Gentlemen! Enough!" Palpatine had to raise his voice to calm down his crony.

    "My apologies, Chancellor. I have a low tolerance for fools who are disconnected from the real world. What are your orders concerning the situation on Naboo?" I asked calmly. I''m pretty sure I just made an enemy but found it hard to care. Who had the bright idea of making that imbecile their Senator anyway?!

    "Maintain the quarantine, general. I will dispatch additional forces to ?ssist you. Find out if there is a cure and if there is make all possible efforts to ensure that it is produced and distributed among the infected." Palpatine instructed.

    "Yes, sir. And if the virus could not be contained?" I asked innocently.

    Palpatine looked at the people in his office then at me.

    "That is to be determined at later date. Carry on your duties, general.

    Flashback End

    =RK=

    To be fair that went better than expected. Making an enemy from one of Palpy''s boot lickers was of no concern to me. The animosity from Bail Organa might be somewhat problematic down the road. I needed the Republic, if I decided to keep it around, to be highly militarized. That however meant that most of the more pacifistic senators would eventually become my political enemies.

    While that was a problem which I would have to tackle after this war was resolved, I might have to look into opportunities to weaken the peace faction within the Senate, at least some of Palpy''s supporters too. Perhaps even the Senate as a whole in case working with the Republic in the long term didn''t prove beneficial.

    "Admiral Yularen''s fleet should be here any moment, sir." The bubble of silence that had descended upon us was shattered by Pellaeon''s quiet words.

    "Excellent. We are leaving towards Iego as soon as I speak with the good Admiral.

    Few hours ago, Captain Typho contacted us with not only an update of how bad was the situation on the ground was but with the news that they had determined what was the key ingredient of the cure for the Blue Shadow ¨C an extract of a Reeska root which could be found only on one place. I recalled that there might be some kind of a trap waiting out there so I decided to go there with a at least Venator cruiser. However, that in turn meant that in order to preserve the thin blockade I needed to wait for Yularen and his ships. A Jedi would have probably rushed there with whatever flying thing he could get their hands on but that was not the case with me. It''s been a very long time since I might have done something equally foolish.

    I was observing a pair of Torrent fighters which were returning from a patrol when big shapes jumped out of hyperspace. The familiar triangular shapes of Republic cruisers and Assault Ships were a welcome sight.

    "Contact Admiral Yularen''s Flagship and prepare for hyper jump. Look alive people! We have work to do!" I ordered.

    A holographic display popped to life in front of the window through which I was looking. That reminded me. As soon as possible I should get myself in a position to influence the warship designs. Who in his right mind put the bridge of a combat ship in a tower over the superstructure? With windows no less?! In this day and age there were very few Force Adepts who could benefit from such an arrangement. Even back in the day the warships at least had CICs which immediately could take control over the ship if the bridge was taken out. That wasn''t exactly the case nowadays.

    The familiar face of the older man appeared in the display.

    "Admiral Yularen. It''s good to see you again. I just hoped it to be under better circumstances." I inclined my head in a greeting.

    "General Veil. Congratulations for the promotion. What is the situation on the planet?" Yularen asked gruffly.

    I gave him a short summary and sent him a full briefing compiled by my officers.

    "Admiral, I have a lead on a possible cure. I''ll be taking the Requiem and heading there. I''ll leave this mess in your capable hands."

    He glared at me without much heat. It was obviously that he was not happy that I was dumping this clusterkriff in his hands. Tough. Skywalker was still recovering from the wounds received when he saved Aayla Secura and Kenobi was still on some kind of a mission far away from here. So the famous duo was not here to save the day.

    "I am not too thrilled to leave you in such a situation admiral. However, the sooner we have a viable cure the faster this mess could be cleaned up and we can return to winning the war." I smiled apologetically.

    Yularen shook his head and gave me an exasperated look.

    "It''s not like I can order you around." he grumbled. "Good luck, General."

    "To you too. I hope that Senator Amidala won''t be too troublesome."

    "You are going in search of the cure just to get away from her, aren''t you?" The admiral glared at me and frowned.

    I gave him an innocent smile.

    "I have no idea what you are talking about. You have command over Task Force Requiem. May the Force be with you." I said to Yularen and ordered Pellaeon to get us on the way.

 Chapter 9 - Stand-off [2/2]

    =RK=

    Nal Hutta

    Hutt controlled space

    A blue skinned alien male was sitting on a chair at a corner table with his back to the wall. He was giving evaluating glances to the other patrons of the cantina which was one of his favourite drinking holes. He sipped from a mug filled with a steaming black beverage and sighed with p???sur?. His last job paid an extraordinary good amount of credits considering that it was an easy grab of a Twi''lek who had tried to desert the CIS with stolen data. The dumb fool was back in the clutches of his former employers who were very interested in having a heart to heart chat with him.

    Life for the bounty hunters Bane was good lately if somewhat boring. He smiled wanly to himself. Bane needed something harder to do in order to get his blood pumping and make him feel alive. After all, despite what most people thought he was not in this profession just for the money though it was a nice illusion. Besides, he did appreciate what credits could buy him.

    A figure cloaked by a black, hooded mantle entered the cantina and scanned its inhabitants. Bane''s right hand instinctively fell to the bu?? of his blaster as he studied the newcomer who noticed him and headed his way. There was something in the approaching man that made the bounty hunter feel uneasy.

    "Bane, my master has a proposition for you. One that will make you a very rich man." Rumbled a digitally distorted voice.

    The bounty hunter looked at the man under his hat. The stranger had said the magic words.

    "I am all ears. Just don''t waste my time."

    The masked man chuckled.

    =RK=

    Part 4

    Republic Cruiser Requiem

    near The World of Thousand Moons

    "That may be an issue." muttered Pellaeon.

    He was watching warily the multiple moons, asteroids and the shattered remains of dozens of ships orbiting Iego which created a veil around the planet.

    "I didn''t know that you were such a master of understatement, commodore." I intoned absent-mindedly. "Don''t worry, I have no intention of taking the Requiem into that mess. I''ll go with couple of LAAT''s and a squadron of fighters as escorts. Get a CAP running. I hope that whatever had done in those ships is not around. We don''t have time for such complications."

    "That''s true, sir." My XO agreed.

    =RK=

    Flying through the mess surrounding the planer and its moons was interesting. It was challenging even for me while I was not relying on the Force to guide my every motion. That gave me new appreciation about the skills of the clone pilots accompanying me.

    Two LAATs and six fighters were the contingent I was taking down to the planet. The rest of Raider squadron was on patrol around the Requiem with the remaining small craft ready to launch at a moment''s notice.

    On the way through the asteroid field which was filled with shards of destroyed ships, we could see a lot of bodies, belonging to scores of different species, frozen solid in the void. It took us five minutes of careful piloting to pass through the ring of debris before we could fly reasonably fast again.

    I frowned under my sealed helmet. The Force... It was tugging me in a specific direction. This was not the way it usually tried to warn me about something dangerous. The way it felt, it was like an overly eager puppy trying to pull you somewhere and show you something that had caught its interest. I checked the scanners. There was a power reading emanating from that direction. With a shrug I vectored my craft that way and ordered my troops to follow.

    After a turbulent descent through the upper layers of the atmosphere my small force headed towards the heart of a vast city which looked like it was abandoned some time ago. It had a strange feeling about it ¨C a mix of high tech looking building and ancient ones with a lot of spires rising kilometres in the air being a confusing mix from the two.

    I landed my LAAT on the platform towards which the Force was guiding me followed by the second troop transport. The fighters circled lazily above us ready to pounce at the first sight of trouble. I got out of the ???kpit and joined the twenty Clones who were already out and securing a perimeter around our transports. Half the Clones were carrying blaster carbines with the rest armed with a mix of heavy weaponry ¨C missile launchers, laser cannons and heavy blasters.

    "Sir, we are ready." said the sergeant in command of the clone troopers.

    "Good. Lets..." I trailed off.

    "Is this some kind of a joke?" exclaimed one of my men.

    It was a sentiment I shared when I took a good look at what was approaching us. Was this some kind of an elaborate trap!? Who had the gall to send a bunch of failing apart droids against us?!

    The phalanx of machines were carried the sings of being rebuild multiple times with whatever spare parts were lying around. One of the B-1 had a left hand of a Supper Battle droid attached to its torso. Many others showed parts which were coloured differently from the rest of their bodies ¨C darker or lighter depending on how old they were. The machine leading the procession had its head painted in yellow showing it was a command model.

    "Welcome to Iego!" they started chanting.

    "Do we blast the clankers or what?" asked a Clone.

    "It will be a mercy." added another.

    "Hold your fire." I said while looking warily at the two vulture droids in walker configuration moving behind the square of B-1''s. This was getting weirder by the second.

    I walked to the front of the machines and asked: "To what do we own this reception?"

    The command droid tilted its head to the left and looked at me.

    "His excellency Jaybo wants to meet with you."

    "Is that so? Then by all means lead the way." I made a sign for a squad to follow me, while the rest remained back under the watchful eyes of our air support.

    Who was this Jaybo? I didn''t recall anyone important with that name.

    The machines moved with a precision that showed that their condition was not as bad as it looked like and parted leaving a way in the middle of their group. I could see behind them that there was a hammock suspended between the legs of the two vultures. A short, red haired boy was sitting on it and looking at us with interest.

    "The Jedi are god damn idiots!" I grumbled. I could vaguely recall this scene from a cartoon I watched so long ago back in my original dimension. It was obvious that this Jaybo was Force s?ns?t?v? and I was equally sure the Jedi didn''t take him in for training when they came here for the bloody root. Probably because he was too old. If the kid was really responsible for all these droids it showed some frighteningly good tech abilities for someone so young and potentially self-taught.

    Leaving him behind might be an utter waste. I removed my helmet and took a deep breath of cool, clean air.

    "Hi there!" I cheerfully smiled to the boy.

    He ignored me and glared at the droids to his left.

    "Ahem." the boy cleared his throat loudly.

    "Oh. Yes. Roger that!" The machines stammered.

    The kind obviously liked his creature comforts and did his best with the resources available. I could work with this.

    "This a nice set up you''ve got here. You have a good taste." I said and nodded towards the wall to the right, which was covered with posters of scantily clad women from different human-like species. "Where did you get the clankers?" I inquired.

    "The Separatists left a whole warehouse full of the things when they left. It wouldn''t do to let poor things rust away, would it?" Came the cheeky response.

    "You erased their memories, probably with a macro protocol and reprogrammed them to serve you. Not bad for someone so young." I thought aloud. It was one of the more simple ways to do what I was seeing. It still required interfacing directly with each individual machine but it cut down the time for reprogramming them significantly. It had its downsides ¨C like making the droids much dumber, which was saying something in the case of the B1s.

    "Are you a Jedi?" he asked and pointed at my lightsaber which I had started wearing on my belt. With another I built after finding myself in the future stashed in the secret compartment in my armour...

    "Nope. What gave you that idea?" I denied.

    Jaybo snorted in amusement.

    "Lightsaber and clones who appear to be under your command." he deadpanned. Well, it was a reasonable conclusion. It was a bothersome one too. I was no fricking Jedi!

    "I do use the Force. However, I am most definitely not a Jedi, kiddo. We are looking for Reeska roots. Do you know where we could find some of those?" I patiently explained.

    "Here. There. Everywhere." He shrugged in a dis-interested manner and laid back into his hammock.

    "I can pay you to lead us to the roots. Might let you hitch a ride with us back to the civilization if you wish."

    "No use. This system is cursed. Or so they say. No one can leave. The last one to try was a friend of mine. He did not make it far." Jaybo frowned sadly.

    "I know what shoots down the ships trying to get away from here. There is a weapon array on one of the moons. I have a cruiser beyond the asteroid field which can make a short work of it once it is located." I said. Jaybo''s words jogged my memory and I finally recalled what caused that mess in orbit.

    The kid jumped from his hammock and looked at me carefully. We locked eyes for a few long seconds.

    "You are not joking around, are you?" Jaybo asked with a trace of hope in his voice.

    "Nope. And my offer still stands. Both of them."

    Before we left to search for the root I contacted the commodore and instructed him to scan the moons for the weapon preventing us from leaving the planet. One way or another that defence system was going down.

    =RK=

    The kid led us to a canyon to the east of the city. He pointed us towards a couple of green vines snacking down the cliffs.

    "No climbing down for us boys." I said to the clones and called one of the LAAT''s. The canyon was more than wide enough for the gunship to fit.

    I jumped in with a mixed group of heavy armoured troopers and clones carrying simple blasters. We flew down following the vines. Couple of brown creatures resembling mutated bats tried to scare the transport from their territory but few blaster shots discouraged the beasties.

    It took us only a minute to find a cave opening in which the vines disappeared.

    "Be careful in there. We do not know what may be nesting near the roots." I said and vaulted forward.

    I landed ten meters lower on the inside of the dark cave. The clones followed suit and started sweeping the surrounding area. I led the way and when I was near the place where the vines disappeared in the rocky ground the floor fifteen meters in front of me exploded revealing a twisted mass of vines and four huge jaws of carnivorous plants.

    "Light up that thing!" I ordered. We should have brought flame-throwers.

    The plant screeched when it was hit by multiple blaster bolts. Two rotatory cannons sliced into it with like a huge saw blades. Pieces of plant matter flew in all directions as well as drops of green juice which resembled blood. I pulled an incendiary grenade from my belt and threw it at the thrashing flora. It blew up with a subdued ''Whooosh'' and engulfed the still alive being in blue flames. It let a last, ear-piercing screech before falling down in a burning heap.

    Huh. So that''s why I picked that grenade without even thinking about it back in the armoury. My subconscious obviously remembered more about this mess that my waking mind could recall. Weird.

    The rock to my right exploded showering me with stone fragments and from it a pair of green jaws darted towards me. I jumped back away from its path and grabbed the hilt of my weapon. My lightsaber snapped to life and I slashed vertically at the "neck" of the plant which tried to bite me in half. Its "head" tumbled away from the thick vine that was its body and fell to the ground where it continued to snap its jaws in a futile effort to bite something. The sergeant shot it twice with his heavy blaster burning huge holes in its jaws. It gave a long, piteous hiss and finally laid still.

    "Good work. Be on your guard. There may be more of those things around." I told my people.

    Thanks to the vines themselves I could feel life all around us which was practically identical to the carnivorous plant that tried to eat us. We loaded our backpacks with the precious roots and made our way to the waiting LAAT. If there were more of those plants in the cave they decided that discretion was the better part of valour and stayed put.

    =RK=

    We gave Jaybo a ride to the landing platform where the other LAAT waited for us with the remaining clones. I contacted Pellaeon who had bad news. Thanks to all the junk floating around Requiem was unable to get conclusive scans of the moons. It was time for plan B.

    "So you believe you could lift the curse?" Jaybo bounced on his feet.

    "It''s a weapons'' system. If by lift the curse you mean blowing it up all to hell, then yes. Unfortunately, my ship has a trouble detecting its precise location. We need a bait to find it." I looked at the two vultures which were minding their own business. "Say, kid, how many of those things do you have operational? And how much for them?" I asked cheerfully.

    "A few. What do you have in mind?" Jaybo bounced on his feet.

    I smiled at the kid and filled him in on my plan.

    =RK=

    Republic cruiser Requiem

    near Iego

    Commodore Pellaeon looked over the shoulder of one of his sensor operators. The powerful scanners of the cruiser were b?r?ly able to detect the four contacts flying fast from the planet. There were simply too many debris which were giving out sensor ghosts. However, there was no way to miss the massive energy surge emanating from the surface of one of the moons.

    A yellow energy beam jumped from a weapon emplacement on the planetoid and started bouncing from pieces of ships and asteroids. It created an energy net in which the four Separatists fighters were shredded.

    "Weapons lock on that location and fire at will!" ordered Pellaeon.

    Huge, twin linked turbo-laser cannons rotated in their mounts and targeted a specific spot on the moon then fired. Blue bolts of compressed particles lanced through the void evaporating the junk standing in their path. It took Requiem nearly three minutes to blow a hole through the asteroids and debris before its guns could strike straight at the moon. A concentrated salvo from the cruiser board side hit the place from which the yellow beam emanated.

    Three broadsides were more than enough to snuff out of existence the weapon holding the populace of Iego as prisoners.

    Just in case, Requiem continued to bombard the moon until the side where attack came was a glowing ocean of molten rock.

    =RK=

    Unnamed city

    Iego

    I watched the fireworks with a smirk on my face. Many of the people stranded on this planet were outside watching the light show in orbit. They were talking excitedly when they saw the invisible from here Requiem BDZ one of the moons.

    "And that''s that kid. No more ''ghost''." I declared.

    I went in front of Jaybo who was looking at the heavens through a binocular. I knelt and floated my lightsaber over the palm of my right hand.

    That got his attention and for the moment he forgot the fires in orbit.

    "That''s so cool!" the kid exclaimed, looking at my hand with huge eyes.

    "Please tell me, Jaybo, has some strange things happened around you? Items moving by themselves? Have you felt that sometimes you see things before they happen?" I asked him quietly.

    He looked away from my eyes and muttered something I could not understand.

    "What was that?" I my lips twitched in amusement.

    "Su''m times when I work on the droids a tool I need floats to my hands..." he murmured.

    "It''s nothing to worry about, Jaybo. That is just a sign that you could use the Force if you receive training."

    He perked at that and a huge grin appeared on his face.

    "Does that mean that I can become a Jedi?!" he exclaimed and looked at me with star filled eyes.

    I shook my head sadly.

    "That is unlikely. You see, in all their ''wisdom'' the Jedi refuse to train anyone who is older than a toddler. The oldest boy I knew that they trained was nine and they b?r?ly agreed to do it. You are how old? Twelve? Fourteen?" I asked carefully. My face was a mask reflecting how sorry I was about the Jedi''s foolish policies.

    "I became thirteen last month." he grumbled sadly.

    "Ah. It''s all right you know. The Jedi are not the only ones who could train you in the Force." I trailed off. "You see..."

    I smiled. I had his undivided attention.

    =RK=

    Part 5

    Republic Cruiser Requiem

    Blockade over Naboo

    I watched news reports on what was happening down in Theed on a holo-display projected on the bridge. Most of the crew here were glancing from their station to see the events unfolding below us.

    Small news droids, were buzzing around the city and catching on camera the tragedy in progress. It was the day after we came back from Iego and the hospitals on Naboo were already busy synthesizing copious amounts of the cure. However, for many people it would be too late. The water borne strain of the virus killed too fast. Already there were tens of thousands dead with the number raising fast. The few stasis tanks which were available to the doctors on the planet and whatever the fleet could spare were full but that b?r?ly covered twelve thousand people. It was not even a drop in the bucket compared to the millions infected. The most optimistic projections were looking at least a million and half dead with a twice that number of people that would take months to recover.

    Reporters from all over the Republic had a field day. While thanks to the quarantine none were allowed on Naboo in person, that didn''t stop them from sending down droids to capture the tragedy in person. I could see images of makeshift hospitals on the streets with GAR and local security personnel attempting to keep the order. Bacta and almost everything else we could spare could at best alleviate Blue Shadow''s symptoms at best. There were lots of people dead either on the streets or in their homes and right now I could see groups of Clones gathering the bodies for disposal. The picture changed to an overcrowded military hospital set up in one of Theed''s many parks. There were thousands of people either lying where they could or simply sitting on the ground while medics, soldiers and med-droids did what they could but in too many cases it was too little too late.

    A mother was carrying the tiny form of her little girl who was covered by large oozing blue spots. She was frantically begging for help only for a clone to take a look and quick scan, before simply shaking his head. The woman fell to her knees and simply stood there on the ground, clutching her child.

    Nearby a pair of little boys were shaking the unmoving form of a Zabrak male whose unseeing eyes were turned towards the camera frozen open in death. The horror show continued on and on and that was just Theed.

    Once upon a time such images would have moved me. Nowadays... I''ve seen too much horror that made the tragedy on Naboo pale in comparison. Hell, I''ve caused worse too. All things considered, even when using only conventional weapons taking a heavily populated world would see much more tragedies than the whole of Naboo had the misfortune to boast. Then there was Crimson and that horror made every other bio-weapon I''ve seen or heard of inconsequential in comparison. It was a good thing that Crimson was eradicated a couple of decades before I ended in the future.

    It was a clusterfuck of epic proportions. At least Amidala had calmed somewhat once Skywalker managed to escape from the hospital frigate where he was recovering and made his way to Theed. He was subject of the quarantine for now too so hopefully Anakin wouldn''t be causing any troubles for the foreseeable future.

    I shut down the holoprojector and looked outside the bridge through one of the windows. I could see a lot of transport ships, which were disgorging hundreds of shuttles chock full with relief supplies and doctors volunteering to help. The most important commodity was coming from the Medical Ship "New Hope" - a two kilometre long titan filled with some of the best medical equipment and doctors in the galaxy. Its shuttles were disgorging fifty thousand more stasis pods which would help save a lot of people.

    Before the start of the war there were twenty five of those mobile hospitals but they as well as any other medical ?ssets the Republic used to posses were primary target for the CIS. Only ten of the leviathans were still intact enough to travel through hyperspace.

    My attention went to the tac-pad in my hands. On it a message from the Chancellor''s office stared me in the face. In its endless wisdom the Senate had called an emergency session to discus the events of Naboo. I was to make my way there as soon as the situation on the surface had stabilized and bring Senator Amidala with me. So much for keeping Skywalker and his wife out of trouble.

    I smirked and called Anakin. It took him couple of minutes to pick up his comm and then his holo image materialized in front of me.

    "General Skywalker, I just received a call from the Chancellor. The Senate is gathering to discuss the situation on Naboo in three days. Palpatine suggests that it would be for the best if Senator Amidala makes her case in person. I trust you''ll be able to persuade her what is best for Naboo." I valiantly suppressed my amusement. No doubt the good Senator would have a lot to say to anyone suggesting she should abandon her people in their hour of need no matter how good the reason. Better him than me.

    Anakin apparently shared my thoughts on the mater because he stiffened and I''m sure he was scowling at me.

    "Is that all, general Veil?" Skywalker spoke in a clipped, irritated tone.

    "There''s nothing else of note. Good luck. Veil out." I terminated the call.

    I don''t know what he said to his wife but only a few minutes later I got a brief message indicating they should be leaving Theed within the hour.

    I returned my attention to the news, though this time I used my data-pad to access those feeds. It showed someone high in the CIS ranks. I had no idea who that was or even the species it belonged to.

    "I repeat, no one within the Confederacy of Independent systems had anything to do with that monstrous deed on Naboo! We are ready to provide all possible humanitarian help to ease the suffering of the people of Naboo!" the insectoid continued droning apologies.

    As if someone was going to believe it. With Vindi in custody and singing like canary it was a foregone conclusion that the CIS would get all the blame. My issue was that the crazy doctor had no idea who actually released the virus. I made sure he was telling the truth. I did dispatch search parties to scour the areas surrounding the river for kilometres upstream, had other teams checking all cameras within Theed too along with scouring for witnesses though the latter was a very long shot ¨C even if someone saw something there was no guarantee they lived long enough to share it.

    As far as I could remember, there wasn''t supposed to be such a massive outbreak on Naboo. What Vindi knew supported my fragmented memories. How the hell did my presence cause this mess? What other surprises were waiting for me?

    I spent couple of hours pondering those issues without reaching any useful conclusions then went to check up on Jaybo after the Skywalkers were through decontamination and tests to see if they caught the virus. With both of them clean I ordered Pellaeon to get us on our way and left the bridge.

    =RK=

    I found my apprentice in one of the hanger bays, buried into the mechanic guts of a LAAT''s engine. Most of said propulsion unit''s innards were strewn on the deck next to the gunship. I could see four technicians around Jaybo. They were looking at what he was doing and giving him suggestions on how to fix the craft. The kid was fast becoming the technician''s mascot.

    When I brought him on board the previous day, Jaybo had taken a long bath and a warm meal before heading to find something mechanical to thinker with. He had ended in one of the hangars where the mechanics had adopted him like a mascot.

    My musings were terminated by the arrival of a certain furious Senator who stormed towards me with a single-mindedness common for a guided missile. When Amidala was close enough her right hand snapped in a perfectly executed motion to deliver a slap on my face. I caught her palm in my armoured fingers and rolled my eyes at her antics.

    "Senator. You''ve spoken with your friends on Coruscant, I see." I deadpanned.

    Behind her scowling face I could see Skywalker hurrying to catch up. He was not too pleased either if his thunderous expression was anything to go by.

    "You wanted to bomb Theed!" Amidala screeched in a distinctly unladylike way.

    I do not think that she ever lost her composure in such a way in either the movies or cartoon.

    "Definitely. If the cure turned out to be a bust and the Blue Shadow could not be contained that would have been the prudent course of action, Senator. The last time I checked you represented the whole world of Naboo and not only the capital. Would you endanger all inhabitants of your homeworld instead of doing what is necessary if the worst happens?" I asked her in an even tone. I was honestly curious how would she answer.

    "There are five million people in Theed! You''d slaughter them just like that?" asked Anakin with a disgusted expression on his face.

    "If that is what it takes to protect the remaining few hundred million people on the planet, Jedi. What would you do? Watch most of them die?" I sneered. He spoke as if five million people were too many to be considered expendable, which was a laughable idea. I knew for a fact that there were hundreds of worlds where more people died as collateral damage in this war so far than lived on Naboo.

    "The Council was right about you! You are a heartless monster!" spat Anakin.

    "I never denied the monster part. By most reasonable standards I am a monster." I shrugged. Trying to hide it from anyone with even curious knowledge of my past simply wouldn''t work. Fortunately or unfortunately for the Republic, I was the kind of monster the GAR needed.

    "Amidala, despite being a Senator for years you are still a naive child. And you, Skywalker... Where is your valued Jedi stoicism right now? The universe does not care for your ideals or good intentions. Neither does the Blue Shadow. If it is not contained it will murder between sixty and eighty percent of all living beings down there!" I pointed at the deck and the surface of the world below us.

    Anakin glared daggers at me. His right hand was clamped around the hilt of his lightsaber. I could see the emotions rampaging through his heart as clear as a day. Frustration. Anger. Love. And fear. The latest was like a parasite worming its way within the recesses of his heart. It was blinding him.

    It was obvious that he had no experience with managing his emotions. They were drowning him, leaving him confused and open for manipulation. I had no doubt that as he was right now, Skywalker would be receptive to the lures of the Dark side. If I was so inclined, he was ripe for the turning.

    "Tell me Senator. What would you have me do? Would you watch the virus spreading all over Naboo and choke your paradise of a world? Or if it comes to it would you have the courage to do what is necessary to save your planet? What about you, Skywalker? How many people must die so you could keep your "high" moral ground? Please enlighten me?"

    Jedi... They seldom could make the hard decisions necessary during a war or certain types of crisis without compromising themselves. However, those who could bear that burden without high risk of falling were those to watch for and occasionally fear. Right now Anakin certainly wasn''t in the latter category.

    "It will never come to that! There is help coming to Naboo from all over the Republic! Even if the virus spreads we''ll be able to save most people! The cure is already in production!" Amidala countered.

    "At what cost, senator? Did you even wonder where all those medical ships were before the current emergency? How many more would be needed if containing Blue Shadow at Theed and the swamps is impossible? How many people across the galaxy will die because necessary medical support is diverted here? The world is not black and white no matter how much some people try to pretend its otherwise." I said looking Anakin in the eyes.

    Amidala opened her mouth to protest but thought for a moment and snapped it shut. She looked down crestfallen. So she might be aware just how thin the logistics and medical ?ssets of the Republic were stretched. That actually made sense ¨C Padme was famous for her humanitarian missions.

    "That is not something I thought about." muttered Amidala. But when she raised her head to look at me the fire was back in her eyes. "I should have, I admit it. However, that does not change the point! Your cavalier disregard for life goes against all principles the Republic holds dear!" Her blazing eyes bored accusingly into me. If looks could kill, and if you were a Sith they just might, I would be a pile of ash scattered across the deck.

    "Tell that to the masses all around the galaxy who are afraid that the virus would escape Naboo and crawl its way to their little corners of the universe. If you want to blame someone for this mess please target your righteous wrath to the real culprits ¨C the CIS agents who created this abomination and later released it." I turned my cold gaze at Skywalker. "The aura of fear you are giving out is irritating. Your girlfriend is right here and safe so chill out."

    I gave him my best grin.

    "By the way when is the wedding? Though considering Amidala''s mood I am definitely off the list of invited."

    Skywalker growled at me and took a step in my direction.

    "Is everything all right, sir?" asked one of the clones who was with Jaybo.

    At least my apprentice looked like he enjoyed the show.

    I kept my face a blank mask but internally smirked. I could sense the four clones and Jaybo behind me glaring at the pair.

    "It''s all right. We just have a little harmless chat. Isn''t that right?" I gave my guests a disarming smile, which none of them bought.

    Anakin shook his head and looked around us. Most of the clones in the hangar had stopped whatever they were doing and were looking at the spectacle with interest.

    "Weren''t the Jedi supposed to be calm and composed all the time?" Jaybo pipped in.

    "You see, my young apprentice, when one of them..." I smiled at the kid and pointed at Anakin, "... is confronted with their feelings, they have no idea how to deal with it. By suppressing their emotions they are caught off guard when, inevitably, their passion breaks to the surface. He is a case in point. You could taste his anger and fear. As well as his love and devotion to the delectable Senator. At least she could be sure that his feelings for her are genuine."

    I smirked at the couple who were doing a great impression of fish thrown out of the water. I could see a rapid succession of embarrassment, mortification and anger passing over their faces and the emotions I could sense coming from them were even more interesting.

    =RK=

    Part 6

    Republic Cruiser Requiem

    en route to Coruscant

    "Oh, get over yourselves!" I shook my head at the shocked kids. "The only reason the rest of the Jedi are not all over you two is the fact that most of those idiots won''t recognize love if it hit them over the head. If they were not too busy pretending that they have no emotions you would have been found out few days after falling for each other."

    Skywalker had the good grace to look embarrassed by my words. Everything I told them was true after all.

    Back on Earth when I watched Episodes Two and Three it bugged me how those love-birds could carry on for years under the collective noses of the Jedi. Now, when I had access to the Force, it was mind boggling. If at least few of the Order members paid any attention, the Skywalkers secret would have been out a week after their marriage. At best.

    "Next thing you''ll tell me is that you two have no plans for when the Jedi find out what you''ve been up to." This was fun.

    The guilty looks they gave me were answer enough. Splendid.

    "Walk with me." I sighed doing my best impression of an exasperated parent.

    I led the stunned couple to the nearest ready room. We found a bunch of pilots who were engaged swapping tall tales and I banished them to go check the status of their birds while I citing an important Jedi business as the reason.

    When the last clone exited I pointed the Skywalkers to a pair of nearby chairs.

    "Sit. And you can natter at me about Naboo later, Senator. For the moment the quarantine is holding so Theed is reasonably safe from orbital annihilation."

    Amidala frowned at me but sat down next to her husband. I was ready to bet that if she had not been through hell for the last few days she wound not have been so docile. Not that I had anything against it ¨C my patience for politicians, much less the self-righteous sort had never been high even before I became a Sith. She had spent half the time since my return from Iego helping and reassuring the infected and the rest by arguing with me, which got irritating fast. You could say that by now I was painfully familiar with her temper and sharp tongue.

    I summoned a chair and sat down facing them. Jaybo from whom I could feel waves of curiosity, followed suit and watched us with rapt attention.

    "You go back to tinkering, apprentice. If one of those two wants to share the contents of this conversation with you they will. Scamper."

    Jaybo pouted but complied.

    "Is it really that obvious?" ?r??n?d Anakin once we were alone.

    I smirked at them.

    "Well, you could have made it a bit easier to see by paying for advertisements in rush hour on Coruscant and calling for press conference to confirm it..." I trailed off. Seriously, how did the Jedi miss their relationship? It was clear how Sidious figured it out ¨C it was obvious the moment you saw those two together.

    Skywalker face-palmed.

    "They are going to expel me..." he ?r??n?d.

    "Throw out one of their better generals in a time of war? Because you''ve fallen in love? Surely you are exaggerating a bit. If it was a peace time the Council might have considered it, but now?" I played the ignorance card. To be fair I had a hard time believing that the Jedi Masters could do something that dumb. Such a stunt would give me and Palpatine a lot of ammo to use against the Council. Not to mention the risk of driving Skywalker right in my open hands.

    Anakin didn''t need to know any of that. His fears could be quite useful if manage properly.

    "They will either throw me out or make me choose between the Order and Padme!" Skywalker m??n?d.

    "Oh, Anakin..." muttered Amidala and placed a hand on his shoulder.

    "Am I wrong to presume that won''t be too big a setback?" I asked. The way those two were looking at each other was making it clear what Skywalker was going to choose. No contest.

    "Are you joking?" grumbled Padme. "That will destroy Anakin''s life! Being Jedi is who and what he is!"

    "Thanks. But I am more concerned what it would do to you. I am sure that the people in the Senate would use that to attack you. Not to mention the reporters. Those vultures would have a field day..." Anakin ?r??n?d.

    That was surprising. The Chosen one actually was using his head for a change. And he was right about the circus in which their relationship would be turned by the media. The reporters would have a field day with it. On the other hand, when the secret was out, if the news got handled in the right way, it could become a PR coup for the correct people and unmitigated disaster for the Order...

    I gave the married couple my best friendly smile.

    "Skywalker, by expelling you from the Order, the Council will do more harm to its credibility than anything else. Anakin, even if the GAR is forced to strip you of command because you could no longer be a "Jedi General" I can ?ssure you that by the end of the day there will be a lot of people offering you to accept a commission with equivalent rank. If you accept, that would solve the greatest problem for anyone expelled by the Jedi ¨C no roof over one''s head and no income. As you very well know, being a Republic general pays well. Besides, I doubt that your girlfriend will let you stay on the street for even a moment."

    "Of course not!" declared Amidala. She had admirable look of resolve on her face.

    Skywalker was deep in thought for few minutes. In that time he was like an open book. I could feel his emotions which were turmoil his heart. Regret that he could be pushed in such a corner. Anger at the unfairness of fate. He felt sorry about the possibility of being separated from his friends and apprentice.

    He was confused when wondering: What would Kenobi think about him if he was thrown out? There was regret about how his actions might reflect on Ahsoka and he hoped that his apprentice would understand. But beyond all that was his love about Padme. It was blazing like a beacon.

    I felt what was in the cauldron of his emotions and had an epiphany.

    Some of those who had watched the ROTS in my original dimensions might have wondered why Anakin fell so easy. Many might have thought that his turning to the Dark side was because of his love of Padme. That his fall vindicated the Jedi and their Code ¨C emotion was to blame. But now, when this young man had his very heart open for all to see, I can tell you that the very reason he would have fallen in that other future was rooted in the Council and their dogma.

    I knew his emotions. His feelings. Any loyalty Skywalker had towards the Jedi Order as an organization was a pale shadow of what he felt towards individual people. He would go to hell and back for Amidala, Kenobi, Ahsoka and Palpatine as well as his few other Jedi friends. But if he had to choose between any of them and the Order? There was no contest.

    The Jedi Masters never understood the heart of this man. They could not. Not while following their own creed. That''s where the seeds of their destruction were sown. The Council made it a choice between his wife, unborn children and a man who had been his friend since Skywalker was a kid and the Jedi as a whole.

    The young Jedi sitting in front of me could make only one decision in such circumstances. And the Order would always loose. Bloody fools.

    I watched the turmoil in his heart subduing. Skywalker had calmed down himself. I could sense vines of hope sprouting within his heart. Anakin took a deep breath before grinning impishly at me.

    "You know, I''ve never thought about it in such a light. I''d hate to be exiled or made to choose between my wi... ahem Padme and being a Jedi but..." he trailed off and gave a fond look to his spouse. "If it comes to that, it is the easiest decision that I''ve ever made."

    Apparently that was the right thing to say because he was engulfed in a rib cracking embrace by the Senator. Amidala had thrown all thoughts about appropriate behaviour and was busy sticking her tongue deep in Anakin''s throat.

    "Ah. Young love. At least you still got all your clothes on." I smirked. "You might want to get yourselves a room."

    I knew that once Amidala had at least few hours of uninterrupted sleep she would be back to her composed self and likely continue to be a pain in my ?ss. Back to her much more vocal self too, which would not be an improvement. After days with little to no sleep, stuck into a hazmat suit and watching Theed go to hell thanks to the virus, Padme was not acting exactly as the Senator I''ve met back on Coruscant.

    Eventually the Skywalkers had to come out for air. After the display, both of them were flushed more scarlet than Shaak Ti''s skin.

    "Anakin, am I to judge by that slip of the tongue that you two managed to get married already?" I asked gleefully.

    "What? No, that''s not how it sounds!" Skywalker hastily denied.

    "Definitely not!" Suddenly Amidala was a perfect picture of affronted indignation.

    Their immediate reaction to my question was a lot of spluttering denials. I rolled my eyes and waited for them to calm down a bit.

    "Just don''t go complaining to me when Kenobi or worse Ahsoka come asking why they were not told earlier... Or invited." I grinned at the couple.

    Skywalker winced at that. One of these days he''ll have a very interesting conversation with his former master. One with the little spitfire that was his apprentice too.

    He glared at me then smirked. "Well, at least I won''t be the only one in trouble with the Council. Taking an apprentice to restore the Sith, are we?"

    Amidala frowned at that thought. I guess she was not too pleased to have disregarded what Jaybo''s presence meant until Anakin spelled it out. I could positively feel her self-recrimination because she had not paid attention to her surroundings when she came to once again accuse me of being an unrepentant monster.

    "Should I be concerned?" asked Anakin. It was obvious he meant Jaybo.

    I knew what confused him. No trace of the Dark side upon the kid, though that shouldn''t be surprising at any rate. Even if I intended to train him to be a typical Sith, I did get the kid just yesterday and I''ve been quite busy since then. Well, I had no need of a typical Darksider, which would be something that would throw a lot of Jedi for a spin in the foreseeable future. I was not going to teach Jaybo much about the darker aspects of the Force until he had the basics up to par and he knew much more about the source of our power and himself. He needed the right mindset to make falling to the Dark Side unlikely too and crafting that into him would take time. Perhaps more time than I could spare before the end of the war.

    "About what?" I asked innocently.

    "Another Sith trying to cut off pieces from me." Anakin deadpanned.

    "Don''t worry. If Jaybo cut something off you I am sure you would deserve it." I smiled at him.

    Amidala rolled her eyes at us. "I''m going to have a chat with the kid!" She declared and marched out of the room undoubtedly to begin interrogating Jaybo. I had no illusions that she would soon convince him that it was his idea to tell the pretty lady everything she wanted to know. It was no problem ¨C the kid knew nothing of note anyway.

    "Where did you find him anyway? What do you intend to teach him?" Anakin asked

    "I found him on Iego where I went for the key compound of the cure. It was obvious that he is Force s?ns?t?v? and he wanted to be trained. I believe its obvious what the Council would think about training him as a Jedi. However, now that he is my apprentice they might make an exception and try to get him away from me." I snorted in amusement.

    Anakin got a far-away look in his eyes and nodded.

    "I was nine when Qui-Gon brought me in front of the Council. They told me I was too old. If it wasn''t for Obi-Wan''s insistence I would not have been trained either." He admitted.

    "And he is much older than you were." I agreed.

    "I will reserve judgement until I see what you are teaching him." Anakin took a deep breath. "You deserve the benefit of the doubt." He sighed. "I guess."

    Skywalker being level-headed and using his brains. That was something that would take some getting used to.

    A shiver went through the Force. It was the echo heralding that the thread of a possible future had unravelled. Whether that would be for the better or worse remained to be seen...

    When Padme finished her chat with Jaybo Skywalker had to carry her to their quarters. She was too exhausted to walk there by herself. Anakin did not look too good himself. I had to remind myself that he was still recovering from injuries received during his last mission. I would not see them until we exited hyperspace. It did not take premonition to know how they kept themselves busy during the journey.

    =RK=

    I took Jaybo to the mess hall for a light lunch before leading him to a large training room which I had made for my use. It was time to start with his training in earnest.

    I sat cross-legged on the training mat in the centre of the compartment and waved him to follow suit.

    "The Force. It is what gives us our powers. She is our greatest ally. And our most vicious enemy." I began lecturing.

    I stretched my right arm forward and showed my apprentice an open, empty palm.

    "Watch." I ordered.

    A mere thought and with a quiet crack, bluish lightning arched between my fingertips.

    "Wow! That''s so cool!" Jaybo exclaimed.

    I chuckled at him. Rule one of being a good teacher ¨C make things interesting and keep the attention of your student.

    "Concentrate. Until now you''ve used this power unconsciously. Feel the Force. It has always been there. Just beyond your grasp. Like a sound you could almost hear. Open your mind and embrace it."

    Jaybo looked at the electricity dancing in the palm of my right hand with hooded eyes. I watched him for nearly an hour while was trying to reach for the Force. Then he gasped in wonder.

    The currents of the Force around him changed their direction and flowed through him. I could feel him drawing it in him and smiled.

    ''That''s it. Good work!'' I spoke directly into his mind. ''This is the first step on a hard and wondrous path!''

    He was startled by my words and the Force slipped from his grasp. Jaybo gave me a proud smile and gasped for air. I had forgotten how much it could take from you the first time you consciously touched the Force.

    "Good. Now you must be able to do that without even thinking about it. And keep your connection with the Force open indefinitely..."

    =RK=

    Senator Amidala''s Office

    Senate building

    Coruscant

    Once the Requiem reached the capital I left Jaybo on board. There was no need to expose him to the Council right now. Dealing with that particular complication would be a distraction at a time when I was about to have an important hearing in front of the whole Senate. That was the reason I was with Amidala and Skywalker in her office. The Senator was checking her messages and arranging to speak with few of her allies before the hearing. We needed to know what the real agenda behind this session was.

    Was it really just meant to discuss the latest Separatist atrocity?

    After resting and coming back to her normal self, Padme was not particularly thrilled with my actions towards Naboo but was ready to at least consider the possibility that I knew what I was talking about. Though she still thought I was a blood-thirsty maniac, now I was one with a tiny bit of hidden depth, something that was a source of unending amusement for her husband and myself.

    "If it was not for this kriffing virus we would be resting right now!" grumbled Skywalker. "We''d be able to leave for some place where no one knows us. Where we could be just husband and wife with no strings attached! Instead, we are stuck here being a Senator and a Jedi!"

    "You know we can''t Any." muttered Padme. "We have to deal with this and ensure that Naboo receives enough aid."

    "I know!" grumbled Anakin.

    "If the Senate wants a scapegoat. We have Vindi in custody." I added my two cents. "Undoubtedly a big part of today''s agenda will be ?ssigning blame."

    "Our work as Senators is to serve the Republic. To protect those who could not defend themselves. It is natural that the Senate wants to know how the attack on Theed could happen." Padme continued to be her quite blind idealistic self.

    "Those are laudable ideals. Too bad that outside the Core words they do not mean much." I whispered to myself. In fact they didn''t mean much in the Core either.

    The door chimed and Bail Organa strode in without waiting for an invitation.

    "Senator Amidala." he saw me and Skywalker and nodded stiffly. "Generals. I am sorry to interrupt you but Mon Mothma called a meeting before the hearing. She wants to speak with you, Senator." Bail spoke formally.

    "Ah. Senator Organa. Of course. I''ll be there shortly." Padme looked back at us. "I''ll meet you two in the senate Chambers. Try to behave yourselves." She ordered.

    "I''ll keep Anakin out of trouble." I smirked at the Jedi who gave me a dirty look.

    Organa turned to leave and looked back at Padme.

    "Are you coming, Senator?"

    "But of course. I''ll see you later. "

    When they left, Anakin slumped in a nearby chair.

    "I hate politics!" he grumbled.

    "Unfortunately, that''s what keeps the world spinning." I commiserated.

    =RK=

    GAR Headquarters

    Coruscant

    In the building housing the High Command of the Republic''s army it was business as usual. Officers ¨C both clones and naturals were striding in and out of the headquarters doing whatever was needed to keep the army running. From the high level strategic decisions directing the war to insuring that the logistics needed for a campaign spawning the whole galaxy were flowing freely.

    In all this, the droids maintaining the building went on with their jobs mostly unseen beyond some routine scans. On that day the clones responsible for the security of the headquarters were working with faulty equipment though they did not know it. A captain responsible for the maintenance of the scanners had gotten a fat addition to his bank account and helped ensure that six droids with some unusual equipment slipped in. Late last night he got on a flight to Scipio and was never seen again.

    Just like every other day, the machines went on to do the jobs they were programmed for. Most of them did what good cleaning droids would do. A few of the altered ones did the same but only until their internal clocks reached specific time. Then a non-standard circuits came to life for the first and final time. A spark of electricity was sent into a mechanism buried into the torso of each machine. Then two things happened. The plating covering their chassis blew outwards in a rain of shrapnel which wounded the people unlucky to be around the droids at the time. Then two spheres housed in the ?h?sts of the droids exploded spreading thick blue gas.

    One of the robots was working on fixing a faulty computer in the main junction where the ventilation of the building was passing through in order for the air to be filtered. Two minutes before the rest of its brethren self-immolated, that droid froze for few seconds while a hidden programming kicked in. It proceeded to place two canisters full of Blue Shadow within the heart of the ventilation system before going to a nearby terminal and slicing into it. It would take two minutes and four seconds by the time the intrusion would be detected. Another minute before it could be stopped, which happened moments before security cut through the sealed door keeping the droid safe.

    That would prove to be an eternity too late. The droid temporally disabled the automatic shut down routines of the ventilation in case a biological or chemical agent was detected in the building. By the time it was turned into slag, blue mist was spreading throughout the whole headquarters.

    =RK=

    Freighter Sea of Tranquillity

    Coruscant Airspace

    Ferok Loren was captain of one of the countless trade ships delivering the supplies needed for the survival of a planet turned into one giant, spawning metropolis. At a first glance his craft was nothing to look at twice. The scans it suffered prior to entering the atmosphere showed nothing out of the ordinary ¨C just a small compliment of crew and a holds full with droid parts. After that ordeal he had chuckled nervously. He was in! It was time for those kriffing Republic murderers to pay!

    The Tranquillity''s cargo was in fact much more sinister than its manifest or any cursory scans could show. In Loren''s opinion it was great that on surface scan there was now much difference between parts for various robots and deactivated commando droids hidden among those components.

    The freighter was one of three that managed to slip through the Republic''s navy umbrella over the capital. Two headed for the GAR bases closest to the seat of the Republic''s government and the last flew towards the biggest space port nearest to the Senate.

    Sea of Tranquillity veered sharply off its course and headed straight to military base Pelor.

    Its crew, who were hand-picked from people whose colonies in the Outer Ring had suffered from mistakes caused by the Republic''s forces, disregarded the frantic calls of various controllers and multiple warning about entering restricted airspace. The freighter came in screaming low over the buildings surrounding the target, which it used to take cover from the surface to air weapon emplacements planted around the base. By the time fighters were scrambled and reached the descending transport it was too late for its mission to be stopped.

    "Raise shields." calmly ordered Lorak. "Head towards that row of warehouses. Blow the underside of the holds the moment we are over the base."

    The human male smiled contently. Soon he would join his family who were murdered by an "accidental" orbital strike. As if he was dumb enough to believe it. You do not wipe a peaceful village by mistake!

    Shields too powerful for a mere freighter snapped to life and absorbed the few volleys the weapon emplacement had time to unleash before the ship was over the base. Pelor''s own shields were just a heartbeat too late in coming to life and the freighter slipped through. Its own defensive field held long enough, despite not having enough time to charge to full capacity before coming into fire. The underbelly of the craft was sundered by a series of well-placed charges which opened it spilling two hundred commando droids. Yet, the machines raining all over the base were merely an afterthought. It was the four big spheres which detached from the freighter and blew up five hundred meters over Pelor which were the real danger. Their payload covered the base with blue mist.

    =RK=

    The same scene unfolded over the second military base near the Senate as well as at the nearest space-port.

    Ferok withdrew a small silver locket from under his shirt and opened it. He smiled contently at the holo-image of his murdered wife and little daughter. He was still looking at their faces when his ship''s nose cleaved through the roof of the first warehouse chock full with military equipment.

    The last act of the freighters attacking the bases was to crash land straight in the motor pools of the military installations.

    At the space port, the transport attacking it was turned into a burning wreck by the guns of an Acclamator, which was preparing to launch. Its crew wasted no time, zeroed on the approaching intruder and unleashed all weapons that could bear on the freighter. However, the Republic Assault Ship was in the atmosphere above a friendly space-port. It simply couldn''t afford to use the full power of its weapons in fear of causing more collateral damage than the incoming freighter could do itself. The fire-power raining upon the approaching ship was not sufficient to fully stop its deadly descent and it crashed in the command pylons of a defenceless Venator. The resulting explosion crippled the cruiser and waves of blue mists washed over the space-port.

    Moments later, the airwaves over Coruscant were filled with calls of distress and pleas for back up by beleaguered Republic forces.

    =RK=

    Senator Amidala''s office

    Senate building

    Coruscant

    My first clue about the newest mess rearing its ugly head was a tremor in the Force. It was a sense of premonition. Skywalker and I looked at each other. Something was about to happen. It was going to be bad. Very bad.

    I turned my head towards the window. I could see five big vehicles ¨C basically flying buses, break from their lanes and head straight towards the Senate. Considering that those were just the ones I could see, there probably were four or five time more all together.

    I jumped from my stool and activated my comm. My intention was to warn the building''s security and then call for back up from the nearest military base. I did not believe for a second that what was happening was something harmless like another anti-war protest.

    My and Anakin''s comm s came to life before my call could go through.

    "This is General Valentra, identification Besh-Delta-Three-Niner-Five. Code Midnight. I repeat Code Midnight! GAR headquarters has been hit with bio weapon! Bases Hercal and Pelor are under separatist attack and confirm Blue Shadow released in the area! This is not a drill! All GAR units on Corusss..."

    The transmission was lost to the characteristic hissing produced by powerful jamming.

    "Skywalker, get your wife and as many of the senators as you can out of the building. I''ll try to meet with the senate guard and slow down those bastards!" I ordered. For once there were no protests from the peanut gallery.

    =RK=

    Republic Cruiser Requiem

    High orbit over Coruscant

    "All GAR units on Coruscant implement plant Winter."

    For few precious seconds Commodore Pellaeon stood frozen by the unbelievable orders coming from GAR headquarters. The sheer audacity displayed by the CIS with attacking targets on Coruscant while simply bypassing was stunning in its sheer audacity.

    With sheer act of willpower, Pellaeon shook himself out of the stupor and started barking orders.

    "Battle stations! Raise shields and power up weapons! I want all fighters launched yesterday! Assume that this is combined space and ground attack and the Seps kriffed the timing until we know better! Comm, find out who is in charge of our forces in system! I want what little ground forces we have on board to be ready for deployment on the surface ASAP!"

    The commodore turned to Piett who was still struggling with the sheer impossibility of the situation.

    "Ensign do whatever you can to contact the General! Move it people!"

    =RK=

    Senator Amidala''s Office

    Senate building

    Coruscant

    We just exited Padme''s office when the lamps cut off only to be replaced by subdued red emergency lights. The floor shook lightly when a flying bus struck the building. Then again and again. I counted at least six impacts nearby.

    Skywalker darted along the right corridor undoubtedly tracking Amidala''s force signature. I ran to the left. Before I reached the corner I could hear the subdued sounds of battle. At least for now there were guards who were still alive and fighting.

    I rant towards the sounds of gunfire and a minute later reached a corridor where one of the doors along the left wall was blown out. A bunch of commando droids were exchanging fire with a dwindling group of men in distinctive blue armor.

    I vaulted forward and jumped at the backs of the CIS Special Forces. Their first clue that I was amongst their ranks was my lightsaber vertically bisecting a black coloured droid. A reverse strike sliced in two a machine to my right while I sent two others at the wall on my left with a telekinetic push. Before that pair could recover I picked them up and threw them at their brethren.

    My intervention raised the morale of the Senate guards who intensified their fire. Caught from the both sides of the corridor and with no place to take cover or escape, the only thing the droids could do was to perish. Within moments the Commandos were dismantled but not before they managed to gun down three more of the blue armoured guards

    "Thank you, sir. If it wasn''t for you we''d be goners." said an old, gruff NCO who was the senior of the surviving guards. Only two of them were left combat effective with a small group of wounded laying on the floor.

    "You are welcome. The comms are jammed. Any idea what is the best way to call in the cavalry?"

    "If you go to the computer control room there''re landlines connected with the nearby GAR bases. Or one of the antennae arrays near the rooftop ¨C you should be able to boost your signal enough to cut through the jamming."

    "Thanks, sergeant."

    I helped them move their wounded to a nearby guard room which had basic medical facilities as well as a lot of guns, while they gave me directions both to the roof and the control room. Considering that I was about to speak in front of the senate the only weapons I had on me were my lightsaber and dart launcher. I used the opportunity to take a pair of blaster pistols and few thermal detonators. You could never know when you''d need the fire-power.

    =RK=

    Anakin made his way to a parapet overlooking a large room where seventy or eighty senators and their aides were herded in. The men and women were surrounded by twenty odd droids and few mercenaries.

    Skywalker hissed angrily. A tall man wearing dark brown duster and a large hat which hid his face from the position where the Jedi was, had Padme caught by the chin. He was both proud of her bravery and pissed off because she was endangering herself, again, damn it! She was telling the terrorist that the senate would not negotiate with such as him which made him laugh at her. Anakin could sense that the man was amused and had no care in the world. He was either insane or knew something that neither Skywalker nor the senators knew.

    Padme somehow saw Anakin and their eyes met. The man holding her noticed it and spun around. His weapon moved in a blur and unleashed a hail of laser bolts at Skywalker''s cover. The Jedi rolled away from the opening and ran down the corridor.

    "It''s Skywalker! Get him!" shouted the terrorist.

    As he ran, Anakin made another futile effort to raise someone on his comm.

    "This is useless!" he grumbled and turned around a corner only to find himself face to face with a pirate armed with a pistol and a droid carrying a long barrelled blaster.

    Before either of them could shoot him, Skywalker had his lightsaber in his hands and had it ignited. He deflected their first shots at the walls and then the man fell slowly to the ground with most of his brain and the back of his head missing. The droid was made by a sterner stuff because few deflected shots did little to slow it down. That prompted Anakin to advance towards the machine. With an economic slash he cut the barrel of the droids gun and with the back stroke took off its hands. The machine''s distressed wh?n? was cut off by a blue laser blade applied to its head.

    =RK=

    Chancellor''s Office

    Senate Building

    Coruscant

    "Sorry for disturbing you, Chancellor." said a holographic figure that was projected in the centre of Palpatine''s cabinet. Judging by the smugness in his voice the man did not regret it at all. "I already have control of the eastern part of your building and fifty odd senators. I will soon have most of the Senate in my grip. If you care about your senators I advise you to release Count Dooku and General Grievous."

    Palpatine frowned.

    "You know that the Republic does not bow down to terrorists. No deals."

    "What just happened to two of your nearby bases should be an object lesson about my abilities. If my demands are not met I will release Blue Shadow not only in the Senate but across Coruscant."

    Palpatine stood still at hearing that. Getting the virus released around the planet was not part of his plans! He narrowed his eyes dangerously at the mercenary.

 Chapter 10 - Crisis

    Part 1

    Senate building, Coruscant

    My hopes to find more alive Senate guards were dashed when I reached the main guard station for the Eastern part of the building. Its door was blow out and over its twister remain laid the body of a man clad in scorched blue armor. I did not need to be clairvoyant to figure out what had happened to most of the guards. The stench and smoke coming from the room were more than enough.

    When I glanced inside I could see pieces of men and armor splattered all over the walls and ceiling. Most of it burned beyond recognition. It looked like a thermal detonator had blown up in the midst of about twenty to thirty people. It was not a pretty sight. The smell was even worse.

    So much for that plan. It was time for improvisation. And calling in a couple of thousands clones to clean up the mess. If I was lucky and Palpatine was sealed in the Senate, that would give me few interesting options. But I had a decision to make first ¨C getting out of the Senate and calling in the cavalry will give me free reign to deal with the situation. With the GAR headquarters and the nearby bases hit I was one of the highest ranking officers on Coruscant who could clean up take command of the situation. On the other hand once I left, getting back in could prove problematic. That is if I cared about the welfare of the hostages. However the only value most of them had was as obstacles to Palpy getting even more power.

    Decisions, decisions...

    =RK=

    Skywalker found himself near the rooms where the mainframe of the senate was locate. The door leading to the computer complex slid open and a short, bluish alien sauntered out. The being gave one glance at the Jedi, screeched and darted back inside.

    The Jedi turner around and ?r??n?d. Twelve commando droids had sneaked up to him and two of the mercenaries were approaching from the far ends of the corridor. One was a Weequay male armed with a pistol and the other a woman who looked human. She had a sniper rifle levered at him.

    "Damn!" grumbled Anakin.

    As if his words were a signal the droids opened fire. He had trouble holding his ground under the onslaught. Skywalker deflected most of the blaster bolts and b?r?ly moved from the way of the others. The fact that the commandos were made from better materials than your run of the mill clankers did not help him. In order to disable one of the robots he had to deflect two or three blaster shots in the same area of the damn machines.

    Anakin knew that he could not stay at his present position for long. It would take only a single lucky hit or another group of droids showing and he''ll be in real trouble.

    The Jedi concentrated and blasted the commandos with a telekinetic wave which threw them off their feet. Only the Weequay and the sniper, who were staying back remained standing. Skywalker deflected few shots at the man who few backwards when they connected with his body. Before Anakin could dart in the opening he had created the door behind him slid open and he felt imminent danger. The Jedi tried to move away but was stopped by few well-placed sniper shots which he was forced to deflect.

    Before he could react the small being had jumped on his back and struck him in the neck with something. Skywalker''s world exploded with agony. The last thing he saw before darkness claimed him was a yellow glow.

    =RK=

    Palpatine glared at the image of the smug bounty hunter suspended over his desk. He was in a bind. He could feel a bunch of droids trying to cut their way in his outer offices. While the fact that most of the senators were hostages was something he could use, Sidious could not permit himself to be caught. That could easily force him in a situation where he must show his powers. Something he was not ready to reveal. The easiest way to avoid that would be for him to ''cave'' under the demands of that arrogant bastard.

    The downside of such an action was that he''ll miss a golden opportunity to dispose of some of his most vocal opponent. Well, he could always spin it in a way as him doing his best to placate the terrorists because of the bio weapon and pretend that he was waiting for the GAR to deal with the issue.

    "Senator Taff will carry the necessary papers to the prison where Grievous is held. I am afraid that the Jedi will be most reluctant to release Dooku."

    "Leave them to me." sneered Bane. "Just sent your friend to take the general."

    =RK=

    These days I was supposed to be a general not a common grunt so I decided to act like it. I cut my way through the door of one of the thousands offices spread around the building and made my way through the devoid of life rooms. The thick window which stood in my way of getting shattered when I sliced through it. I frowned at that. I always thought that what happened during the battle between Sidious and Windu in episode 3 was either done for a dramatic effect. You''d think that the windows in the senate building would be made from a sterner stuff... Another point for the lowest bidder I guess. Some things apparently were the same no matter in which universe you were.

    I slid down the curved surface of the building and in the last moment jumped off it. After few seconds of free fall I landed on the hull of a freighter that was parked on one of the docking slips of the Senate. That gave me a nice view of a droid manhandling a big blue alien man into a speeder. The man was wearing an expensive looking robes. A senator I think. I frowned. There were a lot of things wrong with that picture.

    I hurried down from my vantage point and jumped into a red, two seat air car. I sent a bolt of lightning at its on board computer and used my powers to force start its engine. Then I sped after the robot and the man it was holding hostage while checking my com every few seconds.

    Few minutes later I flew out of the jamming field and grinned. It was show time.

    "This is General Veil. Commodore Pellaeon report!" I spoke into my com.

    =RK=

    The bridge crew released a collective sigh of relief when they heard the general''s voice. None more than Gilad who was getting sick from dealing with Rear Admiral Borav Quid ¨C the man who had taken command of the Navy units over the capital after the start of the emergency. How the fool had reached such a rank, the commodore would never know. The man had refused to allow any troops from the fleet to be sent to the planet, which meant that with the virtual neutralization of the bases near the senate (both installations were hugged under their theater shields in an attempt to stem the spread of the bio weapon) the nearest ground ponders that could arrive at the scene of the attacks in force were hours away.

    But the Rear Admiral was afraid to do anything without orders from the HQ. The same High Command that was sealed after a bio attack and under heavy jamming preventing communications. So when the General had contacted them, Pellaeon was glad. Technically Veil outranked that toad Quid. The question was if the admiral would and most importantly his subordinates would agree.

    The Commodore hurried to give sit rep to his commander, for all it was worth considering how little hard information they got.

    "Kriffing bastards!" cursed Veil. "Those attacks were only distractions. There was an attack on the senate. Most of the building is under enemy control. I can confirm that there are dozens and perhaps hundreds commando droids crawling all over the building. Assume that the Chancellor and all senators in there are either dead or under duress. Who is in charge of this clusterfuck?"

    "Rear Admiral Quid." deadpanned Pellaeon. "And as far as we can determine there is no one in command down there. The comms are either jammed or down due to quarantine procedures."

    "By the Force! That at least explains the lack of reaction from GAR units. Listen, Commodore. I am taking command of the situation on the ground. I want you to launch all ground forces you have on board. I want two LAAT''s to vector on my signal and sent the others to establish a perimeter around the senate building. And contact Quid. I want ground forces deployed to contain the situation within the hour. If the idiot gives you any problems patch him to me."

    "Gladly, sir."

    =RK=

    Secret prison, Coruscant

    I sped up and pointed the air car I had borrowed at the ride which the robot and its captive had used. That had the additional benefit of giving me a nice view of what was happening on the platform. A door in its far end opened and four clones came out. They were escorting a sled filled with clear liquid in which the crippled body of Grievous was floating. I was glad that the RI (republic intelligence) folks were not dumb enough to rebuild that menace. Not that it would have helped the tin can, given the circumstances.

    I vaulted out of the car moments before it smashed into the vehicle which my targets used to came here. The sheer kinetic strike send both craft spinning under the platform where they smashed in the side of the building and exploded.

    While I was still in the air I drew my lightsaber and delivered a diagonal slash. I landed lightly on the platform and smiled at the clones who had their blasters trailed on me. I deactivated my weapon and glanced at the droid in front of me. It tried to turn its head towards me but that little motion was enough to make it understand that it was finished. The upper part of its torso slid to the ground with metallic clatter.

    "Stand down men." I ordered. My words were given more weight by the two LAAT''s which dropped from the sky and floated over the platform. Their side doors opened and they disgorged 71st platoon.

    I walked between the two lines of clones who had snapped to attention after a hissed command from their officer. I stopped in front of the container in which Grievous was floating and beamed when I saw that he was awake and was glaring at me.

    "No, my tin friend. You are not leaving so easy. It would be a most impolite thing to do." I turned to the clone officer. "Commander get that thing back to his cell and lock down this facility. There is still a possibility of Separatist attack."

    "Understood General! I''ll see to it at once, sir!"

    I went to the senator and all traces of humor disappeared from my face.

    "And take this fellow into custody. He was either under duress or he is a kriffing traitor. When we deal with this mess we''ll have to figure out which."

    "This is commander Rex! The Jedi Temple is under attack! We need reinforcements!"

    I shook my head. So much for cannon events. Perhaps it was a good thing that I remembered very few things about the Clone Wars era, so I won''t be lulled in a false sense of security by future knowledge I might take for granted. I was sure that there was no attack on the Temple in this period until Order 66 was called and if that was the case it would not be a clone calling in for reinforcements to help the Jedi.

    I glanced in the direction of the Senate and then to where I thought the Temple lied. With which mess should I deal first? I wondered before jumping in the LAAT.

    =RK=

    Part 2

    Jedi Temple, Coruscant

    Padawan Ahsoka Tano was cooling her heels in her small room in the temple. Apparently the time she had spent in the presence of Delkatar was deemed a "bad" thing and she was put under intense scrutiny. She was in what amounted to a house arrest as a result. But that was not the worst ¨C many of the older Jedi and even a significant number of her friends were giving her wary glances when they thought she was not looking at them! That was... It was frustrating! What did she do wrong?! It''s not like she had become a murdering Sith like Dooku or that skank Ventress! But did the other Jedi see it that way?

    "It''s not fair!" she grumbled quietly.

    She jumped from the small bed on which she was sitting cross-legged in a futile attempt to meditate. She simply could not clear her mind and concentrate. It was supposed to be "simple"! Just stuff all your emotions in a tiny mental box, lock it up and throw away the key. And the box while you were at it. Well, it did not work!

    Her ordeal had started innocently enough ¨C a strange look here, a whispered word there. Then she was summoned in front of the Council where they interrogated her in excruciating detail about every second she had spent near Delkatar. When she had refuted their thinly veiled claims that he was trying to turn her into a Sith Ahsoka could sense that most of the masters did not believe her. Interestingly enough, with the notable exception of Master Windu none of those who were vying for Delkatar''s blood had even spoken to the man! By what she could gather from their questions they had no evidence that he had done anything wrong. In the past three thousand and six hundred odd years at least.

    What she had "overheard" from his conversation with Master Ti did not really count, right? Ahsoka would be the first to claim that torturing those ancient Jedi was anything but acceptable, however if anyone had something approaching a just reason for such action it surely was Veil!

    She shook her head ruefully. Won''t this madness end at last?

    Her brooding was interrupted by the chiming of the doorbell. Ahsoka looked at the entrance to her humble home and smiled. She could sense Rex outside!

    The Padawan hurried to open the door and grinned at the clone who was wearing his armor sans helmet. The man was looking at her with amused expression on his face.

    "Commander Tano, I am bringing you ''requests'' from Generals Skywalker and Veil to attend the Senate hearing which will be held this afternoon. I am here to escort you to the visitor''s chambers of the senate." he declared in a calm, professional tone.

    At hearing that her face was stretched by a huge grin. She summoned her lightsaber which was resting on a table near her bed and eagerly nodded at the clone.

    "By all means, commander! Lead the way!"

    Rex gave her a very proper salute, spun on the soles of his feet and marched down the corridor as if he was on parade.

    Ahsoka followed suit. She carefully wiped the grin from her face and did the best she could to give herself an outwards appearance of serenity. She wondered what stunt, Delkatar was trying to pull off this time.

    Minute later both of them heard a frantic call from a republic general on Rex''s com. They looked at each other and ran down the corridor.

    They reached the huge hall leading to the main entrance of the temple and Tano heard the roar of forced engines. She looked at the huge, half-closed doors and saw three shuttles heading straight towards the opening.

    She stared in the approaching ships with disbelief. The few Padawan and Jedi knights in the huge hall mirrored her reaction. This was the Jedi Temple! No one dared attack it ever since the Sack of Coruscant!

    Ahsoka was still staring at the onrushing doom when Rex turned around, grabbed her across the waist and picked her up as if she was a little girl. The trooper ran to the closest row of columns lining the hall and used one of them as a cover. He was just in time because a missile flew through the opened doors and slammed in the ground nearby. The blast wave threw them off their feet under a rain of smoking pieces of marble.

    The commander acted on instinct and grabbed Ahsoka again. He dragged her away to another column.

    The entry hall shook when the first shuttle battered its way through the gates. Its wings were sheared off but its main body remained intact and it crash landed on the floor. The craft was deadly wounded ¨C it would never fly again on its own but it did its intended purpose. Its passenger survived the crash and the moment the shuttle stopped scrapping along the ground ramps on its sides opened. Its two companions used the whole it battered to fly in mostly intact. They slammed into the ground further along the long hall.

    A dazzled Ahsoka could see a young Padawan ¨C no more than twelve trying to running towards an older Jedi who was laying bleeding on the floor near the first craft. The human girl looked up at the shuttle and gasped. Her hands scrambled to grab her lightsaber and yellow blade came to life. She managed to deflect the first six blaster bolts which splashed harmlessly on the armored bulk of the shuttle before a shot slipped through her defense and pierced her right shoulder. She shouted in pain and her arm dropped uselessly. The young girl had a moment of horrified realization before she was torn apart by a hail of blaster fire.

    Rex scrambled to his feet and activated the comm built in his left arm-guard. He asked for help but did not hold much hope for reinforcements arriving any time soon. With the bases around the Senate attacked it was clear where the bulk of the Republic forces on the planet would be heading.

    He glared at a commando droid which jumped from the first shuttle to crash into the temple. The machine raised its weapon and shot the bleeding Jedi multiple time. The commander drew his pistols and took aim but held his fire. More clankers were exiting the wrecked shuttle. Amongst the machines were two figures wearing black cloaks. One male and the other female judging by the curves of their armors. Those two activated blood red lightsabers and looked up. Six masked Jedi wearing light brown robes and light armor underneath jumped in front of the droids and their leaders. Each of the Order members had a saber staff which when activated revealed short yellow blades.

    As if that was their cue, eleven more droids exited the shuttle. They had gray cloaks slung over their right shoulders and force staffs in their arms. The ends of their weapons sparkled wickedly with purple energy.

    Beside Rex, Ahsoka shook off the after effects of the explosion that stunned her and jumped on her feet. She activated her lightsaber and moved to join the Temple Guards but the commander grabbed her left hand and shook his head. He pointed at the other two shuttles which had disgorged much more droids and another five men and women brandishing crimson lightsabers.

    =RK=

    Jedi Temple holding cells, Coruscant

    Count Dooku allowed himself a small smile when he heard the subdued sounds of explosions. He knew that his master and the CIS won''t leave him to rot in the Jedi''s clutches. Despite the ancient shackles dampening his power, the former Jedi retained connection to the Force that was strong enough for him to sense what was happening beyond the door of his cell. The surprise of the two Temple Guards who were lounging behind the armored door was a profound source of amusement for him. The taste of their stunned disbelief was like a sip of well-seasoned wine.

    "It''s about time." he muttered when his s?ns?t?v? hearing detected the approaching "whoosh" of rocked engines.

    That was followed by the "snap-hiss" of activating lightsabers and rapid blaster fire. Dooku''s cell shook and the one armed man had to struggle to remain sitting on the hard bed. He shook his head in an attempt to banish the ringing in his ears caused by the five explosions which rumbled along the corridor where his cell was located.

    The Sith could sense the death of one of his prison guards and the agony wracking the other one. That was ended a moment later and he could feel a familiar presence on the other side of the door. So his Acolytes came to his aid.

    A minute was spent in silence while the armored door glowed orange and started melting. It was time to leave the Jedi''s dubious hospitality.

    =RK=

    On the other side of the Temple and few hundred meters down was another cell where Asajj Ventress was stuck. Needless to say the young woman was bored out of her mind. The "interrogation" attempts of the Jedi were bloody useless but at least they were her one source of entertainment. But for more than a week she was left alone with no contact if you discount the opening of a small slit in the door barring her way out from where her meals were delivered. She had to admit that boredom was a better method to force her into revealing information than the sessions she had with the Jedi. Their pathetic attempts to bring her to the light were laughable. Cast off the Dark side? And for what? To become an emotionless drone?

    She scoffed at the very thought.

    Ventress was in the middle of her daily training regimen ¨C the only thing with which she could fill up her time while stuck in that bland cell when she felt the floor shaking lightly. It was not an earthquake. Not on Coruscant. She grinned like a hungry predator who had just smelled freshly spilled blood.

    Suddenly Ventress found herself on the floor when the corridor outside was engulfed by the edge of a massive explosion. She ?r??n?d and spit a mouthful of blood. Asajj had managed to bit the inside of her cheek when she fell. She coughed from the dust that was filling her room and blinked at the door. Something was hissing and burning the armor.

    Her boredom was at its end.

    =RK=

    LAAT Gunship, near a Secret Republic prison, Coruscant

    My mind was made up when I felt sudden shock and pain from a weak connection through the Force I did not knew had formed. I could sense the distant presence of Ahsoka from the direction of the Jedi Temple. She was hurt and in danger. Bloody hell! That was a complication that I did not need! Besides I already got an apprentice and she was a bit too young for my tastes to consider her as anything else... besides a friend.

    That thought froze me. Its been a long time since Vael had someone who he trusted enough to give such a title. And no matter how much I might have wanted to deny it, I had merged with the echo of the man. His memories, his past, they were mine too. They felt, they were as real to me as my own. I winced. If anyone ever tries to tell you that the Force comes without a lot of strings attached, they are shameless liars.

    I called to the pilots.

    "Head towards the Jedi Temple." I turned my attention to the clones who were in the troop compartment with me. "Prepare for battle. I doubt that whoever attacked the Temple has come with something less than what they deem sufficient numbers to at least hold off a lot of Jedi for some time."

    What left unsaid was that if that was anything more than a raid the enemy would most likely have enough troops deployed there to make our contribution irrelevant. But I deemed such an outcome unlikely. The fact that whoever was orchestrating these attacks had tried to have Grievous released meant that the most likely target was the rescue of Dooku and perhaps Ventress.

    I activated my com and called for any forces which were not busy cordoning the senate to head towards the Temple. Don''t get me wrong, a bunch of Jedi getting themselves a real taste of war and getting killed in the process was not something awful in my books. But I had an image to create and uphold. When the time to face off with the Jedi Council came I wanted to have the moral high ground amongst other things. Me coming to their rescue would be remembered by the Jedi who were not to far gone thanks to the Order''s indoctrination. Besides I did like the kid. It would be a damn waste if Ahsoka got herself killed.

    =RK=

    Part 3

    Great Hall, Jedi Temple, Coruscant

    Rex was trying to pull back Ahsoka who was grimly standing her ground. That delay let them have a front row view of the fate of the six guards.

    The commando droids ignored the Jedi and moved away leaving them to their melee armed comrades and the pair of organics with lightsabers of their own. First to attack were the eleven Magna guards who charged the Jedi with their staffs spinning in tight circles around their bodies. They were closely followed by the two Force wielders who reeked of the Dark side. That skirmish was short and vicious.

    For the first few seconds the six men held their ground by working as a team. The wave of droids literally bounced from a wall of lightsabers leaving one of their numbers on the ground in a smoking heap. Yet that was only a probing attack. What followed was an all-out charge which was about to overwhelm the Jedi. The two guards in the center of their line used the Force to push away six of their foes. That however bought them just a moment. The droids flied back only couple of meters before being stopped in midair and hurled back at the Jedi. The two Dark Acolytes had waited for something similar to happen before engaging in combat.

    This surprised the Jedi who were caught off position in an attempt to overwhelm the remaining robots. That''s when the droids slammed into them, force staffs first. One unfortunate man landed on the ground hard with three of the machines on top of him. Before he could recover, one of the robots grabbed his head in its metal fingers and twisted. The Jedi''s corpse convulsed once and laid still.

    Another was a bit luckier if such a term could be used for a Force user. He managed to interpose his weapon between himself and the two droids which hit him. He hissed in pain when the sparkling tip of a force staff connected with his left th??h however that was a small price to pay. The droid that hit him on the right side ran head first into his blazing blade. That was one clanker that wouldn''t bother anyone again.

    The second one tried to use its machine strength to overpower the Jedi but ended being thrown in the air and met a whirling of yellow blades when it fell.

    The last of those three Jedi managed to slice through the waist the droid that collided with him but not before his face was struck by a staff. His mask shattered revealing a middle aged human man who was knocked unconscious.

    The other three Temple guards were not that lucky. The man on the left lank of their original line found himself facing four Magna guards who fell on him like berserk uncaring for their own safety. He exchanged a flurry of blows with them while failing back from their unrelenting ?ssault.

    Two of the droid attacked him simultaneously from the both sides. He managed to interpose the blades of his saber-staff between their weapons but that pinned him down for a moment. A third of the elite robots landed a crushing blow in the middle of his weapon shattering both it emitters and the Jedi''s right hand. The man''s pained scream was cut short by multiple bone-breaking blows from the other three droids.

    On the right flank, the other two Jedi had it much easier. For about five seconds. In that time they were facing a single droid each. The Temple Guards knew that only seconds remained before additional enemies engaged them so they went on the offensive. That caught the droids by surprise and they were forced back under an unrelenting ?ssault. One of the Magna Guards was not fast enough to reposition his staff to parry a diagonal slash and his staff was sliced in two. That was followed with a short upward cut which melted through the lower torso of the machine. While not immediately disabling, the damage slowed it down considerably and the Jedi took the opportunity to cut it to pieces with few precise attacks. His partner was still busy with the other droid when the two Acolytes choose to attack.

    They darted from both sides of the robot and struck simultaneously. The Temple Guard managed to throw away the droid with a Force push and met the attack from the right with one of his blades but was not fast enough to intercept the slash from the woman on his left side. He grunted when her crimson saber cut a fiery line through his ?h?st. His legs refused to support his weight and he fell to his knees. He saw a flash of red and the world rolled madly. The Jedi blinked in confusion at a kneeling headless body before his eyes closed for one last time.

    Meanwhile Ahsoka was slowly stepping back under the onslaught of multiple commando droids who were shooting rapidly at her. Behind her Rex was returning the favor with his two pistols.

    They watched helplessly how the Temple Guards were taken out one after another. It was worse for the Padawan who could feel them dying through the Force.

    And they were not alone. Of the thirty odd Padawan and knights in the hall prior to the beginning of the ?ssault only eight were still alive.

    The Magna Guards concentrated on the Jedi that had taken out two of their numbers while the Acolytes attacked the last of the Temple Guards. Both battles were over within the seconds. The man facing the droids was simply buried under an avalanche of swinging Force staffs.

    The Jedi attacked by his dark counterpart fared a bit better. He was retreating under a rain of slashes and jabs expertly delivered by his opponents until the woman used the Force to pull him towards her. He tried to counter her technique but to his horror found out that he was simply not strong enough.

    She sidestepped a desperate attempt by the Jedi to impale her and surged forward. She cut off the left hand of the man at the elbow and sent his staff flying away. In the next moment her fellow Acolyte finished the Jedi by plunging his scarlet blade in his ?h?st.

    =RK=

    Council Chambers, Jedi Temple, Coruscant

    Both Yoda and Windu, the only two Jedi Masters currently on the planet had made their way to the Council Chambers when they felt a strong disturbance in the Force. Unfortunately their sight of the future was even worse than usual so they did not know what to expect besides being aware that it would be bad. For all their experience and supposed wisdom, or perhaps because of it, neither of them could have imagine what was happening. They stared at a holo-image from a security camera showing the Great Hall. What prompted them to check what was happening there? Was the b?r?ly heard sound of explosions and even worse the Jedi deaths they felt?

    "Dark day this is." muttered Yoda.

    He had a sad frown on his face and his ears had drooped in a sign of regret.

    "Distraction this is." he said.

    Windu nodded. They both sensed Jedi dying from both east and west sides of the Temple ¨C far from the site of the main attack. But where their Sith prisoners were held.

    "I''ll go after Dooku. Undoubtedly he is their real target."

    "That you must. Greet our uninvited guests I should."

    Before they left towards their targets they called the young-lings caretakers and ordered them to take the children deeper in the Temple where they should be reasonably secure as well as ordered additional guards sent to protect them as well as the Archives. All other combat ready Jedi were ordered to converge upon the Great Hall.

    The Jedi Masters ran in different directions. One who did not know better would be surprised at how fast Yoda moved ¨C by jumping from the floor and walls more often than not.

    =RK=

    Great Hall, Jedi Temple, Coruscant

    If it was not for the Jedi Knights and Padawan joining the battle in constantly increasing numbers, Ahsoka doubted that she or Rex would have lasted much longer. The clone commander was taking cover behind a column and she was holding her ground in front of him, facing a semicircle of commando droids who were trying to shot them to pieces with mechanical precision.

    "Hey! ''Soka!" exclaimed a voice which was all too cheerful considering the circumstances.

    A short Mirialan woman sprinted from a side passage and joined Tano in deflecting the storm of blaster bolts. Her midnight blue robes were a stark contrast with the lighter colors that most Jedi preferred to wear.

    "You know me, Barriss! It appears that trouble finds me no matter where I am." Ahsoka chuckled despite their situation.

    Which had become grimmer. The two Dark Acolytes noticed them and headed their way. The only silver lining was that the commandos decided to go search for other prey but the remaining Magna Guards from the first shuttle moved their way.

    "This is going to be unpleasant."

    "You think?" asked a new, male voice.

    The Padawan glanced behind and grinned at the young Mon Calamari male who had joined them. Nahdar Vebb gave the girls a rueful smile and activated his blue lightsaber. The new Jedi Knight ¨C he had been promoted mere weeks ago did looked with disapproval with the six droids marching towards them and their dark masters. The sheer audacity of those CIS people... frustrated him. They had the sheer gal to attack the Jedi Temple itself!

    The Jedi Knight strode forward and took position between the Padawan.

    =RK=

    Part 4

    Holding cells, Jedi Temple, Coruscant

    The melted remains of the armored door barring Dooku''s cell were hauled out with the Force and the aging Sith saw a brown skinned Zabrak woman on the other side. She gave him once over and looked him in the eyes critically.

    "Kadrian. It''s nice to see you again."

    The woman bowed to her master and walked towards him. He waved with the stump of his left arm at the metal belt to which his remaining hand was chained and his part-time bodyguard cut through his bindings with her blade.

    Dooku stood up and stretched. Once the artifact binding his powers was sliced open he could again bathe in the full presence of the Force. Suddenly he looked a decade younger.

    Kadrian retrieved a curved lightsaber from her belt and respectfully presented it to his master who gave her an approving nod and retrieved the weapon. It was one of his spare sabers which he kept in his various strongholds.

    "We need to leave, master. Unfortunately we do not have the forces at hand to deal with the Jedi today."

    "Indeed. We''ll have our vengeance another day."

    They hurried away escorted by four bounty hunters wearing mandalorian style armors and two squads of commando droids. However when they exited the prison wing the Separatists ran headlong into a single man.

    The vanguard which consisted by six droids opened fire. Their shots were intercepted by purple lightsaber blade which reflected them back at them. The man threw his cloak at a pair of the commandos obscuring their vision for a moment. He moved much faster than a human should be able to and cut off the heads of two machines with single sweeping strike. The Jedi used telekinesis to hurl another pair at nearby wall from which they bounced with godawful clatter.

    In the next moment he was upon the last two droids which were still trying to shoot him. He deflected a blaster bolt at the weapon of the one that was further away and slashed through the ?h?st of the closer robot. He pulled the second one to him and impaled it on his saber. The Jedi discarded the destroyed droid and turned to the Sith and his Acolyte.

    "Count Dooku." the black man hissed the Sith''s name. "You won''t escape."

    "Is that so, Master Windu? Your anger is plain for all to see. That''s not the Jedi way, is it?" taunted Dooku.

    The Count and Say activated their crimson blades and charged the Jedi Master.

    =RK=

    East Ball Room, Senate Building, Coruscant

    Anakin came back to the land of the living feeling cramps all over his body. He blinked owlishly trying to figure out where he was. On the bright side he found out that his head was in Padme''s ??p. That was the only good news. He looked around and saw a bunch of Senators with few aides. They were all gathered in the center of a large, round room. Around them he could see a cage made of visible laser beams which emanated from charges placed on the walls around them.

    "What did I miss?" he quipped at his wife who looked at him with relief in her eyes.

    "That your Chancellor does not value your lives." Bane deadpanned.

    The bounty hunter had tried to contact the droid he sent to retrieve Grievous but for the last few minutes that was unsuccessful. He drew one of his blaster pistols and shot couple of senators in the head. The rest of the politicians huddled together like a herd of scared cattle. All but that pretty senator from Naboo who was tending to Skywalker. Bane smirked and aimed his gun between the woman''s eyes.

    The Jedi jumped on his feet and shielded her with his body. Bane''s hand twitched and he pressed the trigger.

    "Anakin!" shouted Padme.

    =RK=

    LAAT en route to the Jedi Temple/ Great Hall, Jedi Temple, Coruscant

    We were minutes away from the battle and I was treated with something I dreaded. It was a surreal experience ¨C like being in two places at the same time. On one hand I was in the hold of the gunship and was looking outside at the space-scrapers flashing by us. Yet, through my connection with Ahsoka, I perceived what was happening in the Temple. It was like the nightmarish memories of Veil on Shili. I could only helplessly watch what was happening.

    In the Great Hall Rex opened fire on the advancing Magna Guards as the Jedi charged them. He was able to hit few times the rightmost droid in the head but that only slowed it down.

    The Mon Calamari Jedi twirled his saber in his hands and struck it in the ground. A wave of telekinetic energy flew from his blade and moved under the droids then exploded upwards. The Magna Guards were thrown straight in the air.

    Ahsoka and Barriss jumped at the momentarily helpless droids but were intercepted by the two Acolytes. Nahdar let the Padawan to face the Dark Jedi for the time being and he jumped at the closest airborne robot. He sliced the machine in two and before landing threw his lightsaber at another.

    Rex used this opportunity to unload shot after shot at the momentarily disabled Magna Guards and managed to take out one of the droids.

    The machines crashed on the ground and before they could recover, Vebb and Rex were upon them. Concentrated blaster fire destroyed another droid leaving the last two to face the male Jedi. They were behind the rest of the combatants so the clone commander did not have a good shot at them.

    Barriss was holding her own against the male Acolyte but Ahsoka was not so fortunate. The woman she was facing was something else. There was no sight of the furious attacks which the Padawan had expected thanks to her encounters with Ventress. Instead she was facing cold and calculated precision. Every movement the female she was fighting with made was measured and economic. The only reason why Tano was not falling back in front of the woman was because the Dark Jedi was not advancing but content to probe Asoka''s defenses and take her measure.

    The woman was using a Makashi form which she had modified to suit her own mindset.

    On the other side of the hall the tide of battle suddenly turned. The advance of the droids and their few Dark Jedi leaders was stopped cold when a small, green figure jumped from one of the upper floors.

    Yoda landed on the ground and his lightsaber flew from his belt to his outstretched right hand. He frowned at the carnage that littered his Temple. His ears drooped in regret. He had failed his people. For a second time the Sith had waltzed in the Jedi Temple without a care in the world.

    To his left a young Padawan was fighting in a desperate attempt to shield his fallen master but was hard pressed to survive against two droids using force staffs. For a brief second anger flashed through the ancient eyes of the Jedi''s Grandmaster before being beaten back and locked away. The two Magna Guards crumbled to the floor smashed to pieces. It was like a careless giant stepped on and flattened the machines.

    Yoda gave a small nod to the Twi''lek Padawan and jumped in the fray. He was an emerald blur which moved from droid to droid, leaving machines destroyed by precise strikes behind. The frantic efforts of the commandos to shoot him down had no effect. They either missed the small ball of mayhem or their shots were expertly directed back to the sender. Only the Magna Guards lasted a moment or two longer because they were simply a bit sturdier and Yoda was not about to exhaust himself when he did not know if those were the only forces he''ll have to face that day so he did not go all out.

    He had turned over a thirty droids into scrap metal when two of the Dark Jedi darted in his way. The look of determination on the small Jedi''s face never wavered and he jumped at his new attackers.

    Yoda parried a slash by one and rolled over a sweeping strike from the other. Before landing for a split second he tried to cut the left side of one of his adversaries but the man managed to interpose his saber in front of the attack. The Jedi touched the ground and slashed at the legs of the same man only to be forced to jump away from an overhead strike by the other. While in midair he pulled his first target towards him with a telekinetic force and landed on the unfortunate man''s shoulder. His emerald blade was buried in the Dark Jedi''s mask.

    He jumped up when a horizontal strike aimed at him decapitated the dead man. Yoda parried another slash and went on the offensive. He was jumping and spinning around the remaining fallen Jedi who was desperately trying to parry or avoid slashes coming from all sides.

    The man had to jump when Yoda found himself at his feet and tried to cut him off at the knees. The Grandmaster grabbed the airborne man in a solid Force grip and slammed him in the ground hard enough to crack the marble. The broken man expired with a lightsaber blade struck through the top of his head.

    Yoda rolled between a pair of commando droids who were taking pot shots at his Jedi, jumped up and took their heads with a single strike. From the height of his brief flight he saw a sight that made his eyes widen.

    Ever since they felt Master Yoda joining the fight the Jedi were heartened and fought with redoubled efforts. Nahar, with the help of a lucky shot by Rex was able to deal with another of the Magna Guards leaving him only one as an obstacle to helping the Padawan.

    That''s when everything went wrong for the Jedi.

    Rex was trying to find a clear shot to the remaining droid. He was not about to send blaster bolts where Ahsoka and her friend were engaged with the Sith. A stray shot there could end deflected at anyone.

    The commander sensed something from behind him and tried to roll away but an invisible force slammed in his side and send him flying at a nearby column. He struck the hard stone with a grunt of pain. He felt a rib or two snapping in his right side. Rex frantically searched for his pistols which he had dropped but before finding his weapons an armored foot slammed in his left side and sent him back at the column. He looked up and found himself starring at the barrel of a heavy blaster held by a man in a gray mandalorian armor.

    "Don''t." grunted the warrior who had him at gunpoint.

    Rex glanced to the battle between the Jedi and his heart froze. Another enemy had stalked up to them unnoticed.

    Ventress was upon the Padawan like a Fury. The girls sensed her in the last moment but could hardly disengage from their opponents in order to face her.

    Barriss was the one to feel her wrath. The young Jedi stepped back so she could face both the enemy she was engaging and the onrushing Sith. She looked grimly at her new enemy and prepared to defend herself. However moments later she found out that Ventress was on another level altogether from the man she was facing. And the female Sith was pissed off.

    Despite that the young Mirialan managed to hold off both of them for few seconds. Their blades moved too fast for ordinary human eyes to follow as they clashed in a short and lethal union. Barriss deflected a slash that would have cut off her left hand and would have demolished her heart but was not fast enough to defend herself from Asajj''s next attack. The Sith woman darted forward and plunged her scarlet blade in the Jedi''s gut.

    "Tano, stand down or your friend is finished!" growled Ventress.

    Ahsoka shouted Offee''s name and tried to run to her aid but was stopped cold by he own opponent. The female Acolyte used the distraction to swipe at the Padawan''s saber arm and left a deep burned scar on it.

    Skywalker''s apprentice shouted in pain and surprise before finding herself on the ground after being kicked in the back of her knees. She tried to stand up but froze when a hand snaked around her and a crimson lightsaber blade was activated centimeter from her throat.

    "That''s quite enough, Jedi. Drop your weapon or the girls die." Ventress ordered the Mon Calamari male who had just disposed of the last Magna Guard.

    Vebb glared at the Sith but after seeing the condition of the Padawan nodded sullenly and deactivated his lightsaber. He glared at the Dark Jedi and let his weapon fall to the ground.

    Nahdar cursed when he was yanked hard by a Force pull and found himself lying on the ground next to Barriss who was clutching her abdomen and m??ning quietly. Ahsoka grunted when she was thrown to nearby on the floor and the woman who had kept her at lightsaber point turned around and spoke through a voice amplifier. She could be heard over the rumbling sounds of the battle.

    "Master Yoda, unless you want to see more of your Jedi die, you will stand down now!"

    As if those words were a predefined signal, the droids and remaining Acolyte''s disengaged and jumped back from their enemies.

    The Grandmaster of the Order stared at the Dark Jedi who apparently led this attack. The woman nodded at one of her men who raised his red lightsaber over the prone form of Ahsoka Tano.

    "Drop your weapons now or more of you will die!" she nodded at the Acolyte.

    Many of the Jedi in the great hall could see how the Dark Jedi''s lightsaber arched towards the young Togruta who was laying stunned on the ground.

    "Not again!" I hissed through clenched teeth.

    We were close, damn it! Only twenty more seconds and the LAATs could fly straight through the demolished doors of the temple!

    My right hand shook while gripping a handhold so hard that the metal under my fingers ?r??n?d. I could see through Asoka''s unfocused eyes the crimson blade falling for the kill.

    =RK=

    Part 5

    East Ball Room, Senate Building, Coruscant

    Anakin did not flinch when the blaster bolt flew centimeters from his side and hit Senator Ben Iblis in the stomach. However he stiffened when a scared Padme shouted his name and engulfed him in a frantic embrace from behind. Her hand were busy roaming all over his front searching for injury before it dawned to her that he was not hurt and she compose herself.

    Skywalker glared at the smirking cutthroat who had sheathed his blaster and was grinning at them. If eyes could kill, Bane would be a stream of scattered atoms by now.

    The Jedi could feel his anger and fear bubbling in him, trying to gain control. The whispers of the Dark side which was out there, just waiting for him to reach for her was not doing anything good for his state of mind.

    Before meeting Veil, Anakin would have tried to suppress his anger, put it in a small box and lock it away. To disregard the dragon which lived deep within his heart. There is no emotion only peace. Riiight...

    ''Try telling that to my anger.'' he mentally snorted. His feeling were real. Not something that could be simply disregarded or discarded. All the wonderful ones. And those leading to a particular kind of madness and self-destruction.

    For first time in his life, instead of trying to deal with his emotions the Jedi way, which had never worked for him (see the Wife who was embracing him from behind) or stumble in the dark grasping for a way to deal with his feelings he decided to do something different. Anakin followed an advice given to him by Delkatar and let the anger flow through him. Instead of fighting it all the way, Skywalker channeled his emotions. Used them with a purpose.

    For a moment he saw red and was terrified. If it was not for Padme holding him and her presence acting as an anchor he probably would have lost it and went berserk just like that time on Tatooine. But she grounded him and give him the strength to rally himself so he won''t be controlled by his anger which was about to turn into pure fury.

    Just as fast it had come, the perceived lack of control was gone and he was in charge again. Ah. Yeah. Suddenly Anakin felt the need to bash his head into the nearest flat surface. Delkatar had warned him not to try this stunt for the first time without someone to monitor him because after a life when he was trying to suppress his feelings they might overwhelm him if he let his emotions run mostly free.

    He let those thoughts go. This was not the place or time for self-blame. Padme was here and was in danger. That was the important thing.

    Anakin looked around the ball room with new eyes. He could feel the Force rushing through him like an unchained river which until now had been barred by a damn which was no longer there. Its rejuvenating power coursed through his veins and he felt more powerful than ever before.

    His eyes stopped at each of the charges and the laser emitters attached to them which created a crimson spider web around him and the Senators. His glanced at the two dozen commando droids surrounding them and the few bounty hunters lounging around Bane. How was he going to get his wife and preferably the senators too, from this mess?!

    =RK=

    Near the holding cells, Jedi Temple, Coruscant

    Dooku and Kadrian separated, moving to flank the Jedi Master. That gave a clear firing lane to the bounty hunters and the remaining droids, two of which were Magna Guards¡ªthe only survivors of a group which had dealt with a bunch of Jedi who had tried to reinforce the prison guards. The remaining commando droids placed their blasters on clamps built in their backs and drew vibroblades. Both machines and bounty hunters waited for a sign to attack.

    The Force users looked at each other for a moment then they exploded in action. Windu sent a wave of Force energy at the woman staggering her in the middle of her charge and turned to his left side where he met the former Jedi turned Sith Lord head on. Purple and crimson blades crashed with tremendous force and Dooku was forced to step back in an attempt to keep his balance. His missing arm not only halved the power with which he could swing his blade. It also disrupted the balance of his body and would take him time and training to become accustomed to it. Or to the changes a prosthetic would bring. What was worse in his opinion was the slightly diminished connection he had with the Force because of his lost limb.

    So the first clash of blades was enough for the Count to conclude that he won''t be able to win a one on one battle with Mace. It was fortunate that he did not have to face the Jedi Master alone. Windu was forced to jump back and to the left to avoid being attacked from behind by Kadrian, whose blade swept through the position where the black man stood.

    Dooku sent a concentrated lance of telekinetic energy at his former comrade who was surging at Say''s flank. Windu blocked the attack by creating a half dome of Force energy in front of him before the spear of invisible power slammed into him. A whoosh of displaced air could be heard. The clash of energies could be actually seen as attack and shield collided. Mace remained unharmed but his charge at the Zabrak woman was disrupted and she could recover from her failed attempt to slash him in the back.

    Windu faced the two Sith who moved in tandem leaving enough distance between themselves so they did not get in the way of each other ¨C a typical mistake of people who had not trained to fight as a team.

    On the Jedi''s left, Dooku was advancing behind his stabbing lightsaber which he used as a rapier. In his current condition the old man had no intention to enter a contest of strength with his younger and hale adversary. On the right, Mace was confronted by the powerful strikes and slashed which were emblematic for the Djem So form.

    For all his skill with lightsaber, Windu was hard pressed to defend himself when confronted by this two radically different styles at the same time. In order to counter the woman he had to place significant strength behind his parries and strikes which slowed him down a bit. Dooku''s insistent attempts to skewer him required different approach... unless he could concentrate only on the traitor. The matter was not made easier by the inherently offensive nature of his own Vaapad style. Windu could not cut loose against those two. Not when he had to keep them between himself and their kriffing droids or risk to either be shot/stabbed or bludgeoned and shocked.

    He glanced at the bounty hunters. At least two of those had flamethrowers mounted on their arm-guards. Or fired. Where were the other the Jedi? He was definitely not above asking for help when he needed it. When all was said and done, neither the Order nor the Republic had much use for dead heroes. Not that he saw himself as such. Windu had always done what he believed right for the people he was responsible for. As a Jedi Master that included most if not all other Jedi and the Republic as a whole. That''s why he had to stop Dooku from escaping. He was a former Jedi who was a living proof that letting people leave the Order and go on their own was a monumental mistake for which everyone was paying even before the end of the war.

    The only thing he felt towards a man he once saw as a kind of a mentor was pity. And determination to stop him at all costs.

    The Jedi Master''s thoughts ran in similar way as far as that other Sith was concerned. Windu did not know what games Veil was playing but that man had to be stopped. He felt it in his bones. If Veil was left to his own devices the Order as it was now would cease to exist replaced by some kind of abomination molded by the ideals of that monster. He had seen the records from the Great War all those eons ago. The murdered and tortured Jedi. Shattered Republic fleets. Whole worlds burned from order by that man''s command. Mace shuddered to think what would have happened if Veil was not catapulted to the future. That Sith was a special kind of monster. Even worse than most common animals with who he shared name. Veil and Dooku were the greatest danger the Jedi and the Republic faced in millennia. It was not only their skills as battlefield commanders. Far from it. Their ability to use honeyed words to corrupt their enemies as well as their patience ¨C that was the true threat that they represented.

    It was a danger that the Republic and unfortunately a lot of young Jedi, both Padawan and Knights were not ready to face. Left unchecked those two could shatter the integrity of the Order and the Republic it had to protect without firing a shot. Their words were poison which would find all too many receptive ears.

    Indeed, who would balk when one of those two offered a much easier and faster path to master the Force? It will be a lie but the Dark side is insidious. It confuses the mind and blinds. The power it confers in the short term is a mere hook, a tool which uses to twist a person until no one could recognize him anymore.

    He was present for Tano''s report and immediately saw the danger. The poor girl was unwittingly walking towards a path that will destroy her. Damn that man! He was openly corrupting young Jedi and right now was untouchable! Those blind fools who had never brushed with the dark side ¨C both the Senators and the countless masses could never understand why a Jedi needed to cast off his feelings! Emotion was the greatest enemy to a Force s?ns?t?v?! It left you open to the predations of the Dark side!

    But those who did not know the Force simply could not see it that way. For them feeling emotions was the natural thing. So in the court of public opinion Veil would be a winner as long as he was careful and did not show his true face.

    Windu ducked under a swipe from the woman that nearly took off the top of his head and deflected to the side a stab from Dooku. Getting distracted in the middle of combat almost got him killed!

    Mace was still kneeling when he staggered under a powerful downwards strike from the woman. Dooku was moving to attack him again and he was in a bad position. Windu twisted his wrists to change the angle in which his and Kadrian sabers were locked and rolled to the right. His left leg snapped along the ground and he kicked the woman''s feet from under her.

    The Jedi Master was b?r?ly able to stand up when Dooku jumped over the prone form of Say and slashed at Mace. Windu parried and went on the offensive seeing probably the only opening he was going to get in this battle.

    He surged forward with his purple blade dancing in an unpredictable manner. With every strike he was battering at the unsteady guard of Dooku and forcing the old man to retreat. The Vaapad master saw his opportunity and unleashed his deadly style. He let the Force fly through him and siphoned the dark side derived energies surrounding his opponents like cloaks.

    Only the Count''s excellent footwork and decades of experience permitted him to remain millimeters away from the purple blade seeking a piece of his flesh. Kadrian''s attempts to counterattack and break up the Jedi''s momentum turned out to be unsuccessful. Windu moved like a storm front, keeping the Sith between himself and the droids, and bounty hunters. Every time when Say tried to flank him he maneuvered in such a way as to mitigate any advantage she would have gained or used brute Force attacks to keep her close to Dooku. Ironically enough, despite being the least experienced of the three combatants, thanks to her preferred style, Kadrian was the one better suited to face Mace''s powerful attacks. But considering that Windu resembled more a whirlwind of purple blades than a man at that time it was largely irrelevant.

    "Enemy reinforcements just entered the Temple. Veil is on one of the LAAT''s!" the comms worn by the bounty hunters came to life with the voice of one of the scouts watching for the Republic''s response.

    Dooku swore and nodded at the mercenaries and the droids. It was time to leave.

    The Sith wasted a moment pondering the look of anger that flashed over Windu''s face when he heard about Veil''s arrival. So at least the good Jedi Master was not on good terms with the Republic''s rising star. That was a useful information to have.

    Dooku''s lightsaber was battered away leaving him open for attack but before the purple blade could cut into his side, Kadrian''s weapon intercepted the attack. Then the two Magna Guards were upon Windu followed by the commandos.

    The old man breathed a sigh of relief. He summoned his lightsaber from the ground and followed the bounty hunters who waved him to hurry up.

    Windu used a massive wave of Force to throw the droids out of his way and jumped after the running Sith only to have to scramble back when four flamethrowers bathed his way with hellfire. Before the bounty hunters stopped feeding the wall of fire the droids were back on their feet and fell on Mace like a pack of starving dogs. The Jedi Master raised his blade over his head and charged the machines.

    =RK=

    Great Hall, Jedi Temple, Coruscant

    Yoda glared at the Dark Jedi who had three of his people on their "mercy". A concept that those fallen to the Dark side lacked. Two of the Acolytes were blocking his way. He could easily blow through them but not in tame to save young Ahsoka. Or his other two Jedi.

    The lull in the battle gave an opportunity to most people present in the hall to watch the unfolding tragedy. The Grandmaster fought the urge to look away. Ahsoka was another child he had failed. Just like all other Jedi lying dead in the hall. This was the one building in the galaxy where his people should have been safe!

    The ancient being''s eyes widened. He could see it through the Force moment before it happen. So he acted.

    The two Dark Jedi facing him were blown away like a twigs on the way of a hurricane as well as the droids who were nearby and could stop him.

    Nahdar used the Force to reinforce his body to the breaking point and beyond. He knew that any direct attack would be sensed and stopped before it could do anything so he went another way. He moved like a blur and was over Ahsoka before the crimson lightsaber was halfway down. The attempt of Ventress to throw him out of his way with the telekinesis splashed over the energy surrounding his body.

    He was in front of the swinging lightsaber and made a pushing motion with his arms discharging the Force he had gathered. He could feel the power racing to his hands and smiled.

    The Mon Calamari blinked in confusion when he felt the Force dissipating with only a fraction of it pushing the Dark Jedi stumbling a couple of steps back. Something caught his attention and he looked to the right. The masked woman had her saber arm outstretched and her weapon was not in sight.

    Nahdar looked down and his smile became sad. There was a still active lightsaber sticking to his right side. Vebb had a moment to wonder why it did not hurt before slowly toppling to the ground like a centuries old tree.

    Asoka''s sight cleared and in front of her horrified gaze the spark of life departed Nahdar''s eyes. She was oblivious to the man who had tried to execute her actions.

    He snarled and jumped forward ready to impale her on his blade. The shocked Padawan felt a tug and was hastily pulled away from the descending blade which stabbed the marble floor.

    That was the last help Yoda could give her because he was attacked by a mixed group of Magna Guards and commando droids. One of the Dark Jedi he had thrown away had recovered enough to join the fun.

    "You should have stood down, Jedi." muttered the masked woman. She made an intricate motion with her left hand and Ahsoka froze where she stood. She could feel a cocoon of Force which felt sickly sweet, twisted around her body preventing her from moving.

    The masked man stood up and walker towards her.

    "Third time is the charm, little Jedi. You are out of luck."

    Ahsoka frantically grabbed at the Force with all her will. She was desperately trying to either free herself form this captivity or somehow stop the Dark Jedi.

    Her blue eyes widened in fright when his blade arched towards her head for the third time.

    =RK=

    LAAT gunship, Jedi Temple, Coruscant

    I could kiss both that brave boy who sacrificed himself to protect Ahsoka and the little green troll who was dealing havoc upon the CIS forces in the temple.

    That thought flashed over the rage I was feeling. With every close call Ahsoka had while I was helpless to help her fed my fury. If I had a mirror I bet that my eyes right then would have been sickly yellow.

    The LAAT flew through the smoking remains of the main temple gates. Moments later I used the Force to propel myself forward. I threw my lightsaber and used my mind to guide its flight. It ignited in midair with its crimson blade emanating the blood-thirst I felt towards those who dared to hurt Ahsoka.

    I am not really sure how or when it happened, but there was a part of my mind that saw in her something of the person my unborn daughter could become. I had not thought about the way I felt about her. The only way I could describe it at the time was a strong affection and over-protectiveness akin to something you could feel towards a younger sibling. The fledgling Force connection only made those dormant feelings stronger.

    It was an excellent food for my fury.

    After I jumped from the LAAT the world moved in slow motion. I could see my lightsaber spinning lazily in the air, Ventress who was oh so slowly moving towards a female Jedi laying on the ground and a masked woman who was turning towards the gunships.

    I twisted midflight so I could land on my feet while I gathered Force fueled lightning in my left palm. My lightsaber hit the blade of the man trying to cut down Ahsoka mid-swing with enough force to push back his weapon and make him stumble a step back.

    My armored boots hit the ground hard and sent a pulse of force energy which collided with the two female Dark Jedi. They were thrown off their feet but managed to use their powers to land safely few meters away. The man was not so lucky. I sent a torrent of lightning at the bastard trying his best to kill Ahsoka. A part of my brain noted that she was kept in Force induced stasis and filed that tidbit of information for later digestion. I was too busy frying an idiot who wanted to be Sith without knowing what that truly was and guiding my lightsaber back to my outstretched right hand. The screams of the masked man was music to my ears.

    If it was not for the bloody single-mindedness of the droids all combat in the great hall would have stopped. I could feel the shock of both the Jedi and their darker brethren at what they felt from me. I was drinking deeply from the Dark side and channeling it in a way only a True Sith could. From my position its icy tendrils were spreading through the Great Hall. And the screams of the man under my lightning ?ssault were rising high over the din of battle. What I used on him was not my battle version. Oh, not at all. I was not feeling particularly merciful. It was the standard Sith lightning attack that was made for torture.

    The man was suspended in the air with dark blue bolts of electricity arching through his body and grounding in the floor. I pushed more juice through my attack and he was pushed backwards. The Dark Jedi slammed hard in a column pockmarked by blaster fire and his smoking body lay still when it hit the ground.

    I gave a slight nod to Ahsoka who was still paralyzed and walked towards her until I was between the young Togruta and the two females who probably thought they were Sith. Heh. What a joke.

    "Ventress." I my voice hissed in a tone I did not immediately recognize. "It was foolish of you to participate in this... mistake." I muttered. Now it clicked. It was I''ve heard only in my memories. That of Darth Vael.

    I fixed Asajj with an icy glare.

    "Foolish children bumping in the night. I can see it in your stance. The way you move. And in your eyes. "I smirked. "You do not even comprehend what you are trying to emulate."

    She glared fiercely at me.

    "I am Sith!" she shouted but made no move to attack. I could see it plainly. The strong aura of darkness that I had shrouded around myself like a common cloak was terrifying her as well as drawing her in. And she did not know how to react.

    "Nonsense." I snorted in response. "Girl, you b?r?ly qualify as a Dark Jedi." I pointed my ignited lightsaber at her. "You do not know the full power of the Force. All I''ve seen you do is surrender to the Dark side like a common thug. Where is your pride, woman? All I see are ignorant children who thing that being slaves to the Dark side is what mean to be a Sith! You are a bunch of blind fools!" My voice was gaining strength with each word until it was a dull roar echoing throughout the Great Hall.

    I glared at the women.

    "You want to a be Sith? I will educate you! It''s time to learn what means to face a True Sith. It will hurt. A lot." A sinister smile stretched my lips.

    I gathered upon myself the Dark side energies I was letting loose around me like a mantle and surged forward. Living shadows clung around me like a cloak which chilled the blood of everyone looking at me.

 Chapter 11 - The Force Unleashed

    Part 1

    Great Hall, Jedi Temple, Coruscant

    I stalked towards Ventress and her Dark Jedi friend. The latter, a masked woman raised her lightsaber in an overhead grip and charged me. I pointed my left hand in her direction and unleashed a wave of lightning that she caught on her blade but was forced to stop by the intensity of the attack. My eyes never left Asajj''s face, who looked at me with apprehension. She summoned another lightsaber to her left hand from the blackened corpse of the man I fried and prepared to face me with her two weapons. Her spine stiffened and I could see determination shining in her dark eyes. I smiled thinly.

    "So you do have spine then. Splendid."

    I ceased my lightning ?ssault at the masked woman and sent a nearby piece of shuttle''s wing flying her way. Behind me, the clones were deploying and opening fire on the remaining droids. The weapon pods mounted on the gunships were making mincemeat of any concentration of enemy forces that was sufficient distance from the Jedi fighting in the hall.

    The woman jumped over the smoldering piece of metal that flew her way just as I expected her to do. She was slammed backwards by a telekinetic wave that I sent at her. She flew back, and bounced off one of the columns lining the Great Hall.

    I returned my attention to Ventress, who was running at me with raised swords. I faced her with blood-lust roaring through my veins. The Dark side was whispering to me that my enemies were at my mercy and I should take exquisite joy in destroying them. For once I agreed with its seductive suggestions.

    I called to my empty left hand the lightsaber of the fallen Mon Calamari Jedi, the plain hilt rising from the ground and floating to my open palm. I think that the kid would have approved that his weapon be used one last time against those who slew him.

    The azure blade, the color of v?r??n sea, came to life and I pointed it at the heart of Ventress, who was nearly upon me. My crimson lightsaber battered aside the sword in her left hand and the Jedi''s weapon I held parried a diagonal slash aimed at my heart. In the first moments of our battle Asajj''s torso was left wide open. I grasped the opportunity and I kicked her with my right leg like a battering ram. The sole of my foot connected with her midriff. My kick knocked the air out of her lungs sending her tumbling through the air.

    I absentmindedly slashed behind me with the Jedi blade and deflected a scarlet lightsaber thrown at my back. The masked woman was back in the fight and she too had acquired additional weaponry. The Dark Jedi''s own lightsaber was in her right hand but her left was gripping one of the saber-staffs of the fallen Temple Guards.

    While she was sprinting my way she ignited the three blades. Her dark cloak and gray armor were illuminated by crimson and emerald glow.

    The masked woman attacked me with sweeping strikes which I either parried or sidestepped. It was almost easy. The way she was wielding her weapons was awkward. She had let herself fall under the influence of the Dark side. While her attacks were powerful, they were erratic, lacking precision. If I paid attention I could dance around her the whole day without receiving a scratch.

    I was not in the Temple for dodge training, though. The strength behind my strikes increased as I stopped testing her technique, which was lacking and not only because she was letting her anger blind her. I started cursing Darth Bane and Darth Sidious in Huttese. Properly trained, the woman I was facing would have been something to watch. As she was now, a mere initiate in Korriban''s academy could fight with her and prevail. Despite her strength in the Force.

    Both Jedi and the so-called Sith of this age were soft. Weak. However, there was hope yet for them. The war was young. There would be enough time for the survivors of both sides to be tempered and reforged. The flames of the Clone Wars would see to that, and if I had anything to say about it, neither the Jedi Order or the Sith would continue to exist as the corrupted abominations they were in this day and age.

    I was advancing against the masked woman. My weapons were stabbing closer and closer to her body while she was desperately trying to interpose her blades between my attacks and herself. I rotated to the left, avoiding a clumsy counter-attack and used my momentum to batter aside her single hilt lightsaber. She stumbled to the side under the force of my attack and I twisted around once again and crouched under a weapon thrown by Ventress as she returned to the fight.

    My left leg swung parallel to the ground and struck the masked woman in the back of the knees, sending her tumbling to the ground. I "aided" it with a telekinetic push thanks to which she was thrown away, bouncing off the floor.

    I felt Ahsoka''s distress through our bond and threw the Mon Calamari''s saber her way. I acted on instinct, not even realizing what I did before the azure blade was spinning through the air. A damaged Magna Guard had made its way to the still paralyzed kid and was about to crush her skull with its force staff. Nahdar''s blade flew true and was buried into the machine''s torso, held in place by my will. I tugged at its hilt with the Force and the saber moved erratically slicing the droid to pieces. I could feel Ahsoka''s relief and gratitude. I gave her a small nod.

    Ventress used that minor distraction to cross the distance separating us and attack. If she expected to surprise me, the woman was delusional. Her Dark presence was like a delicious morsel to my senses. Our blades clashed with the unique sound of touching lightsabers and I locked our weapons together. A deft twist of my wrist was all I needed to push her saber to my right. My left fist darted through the air and struck her right cheek. I felt bone snapping under the impact of my armor-clad hand.

    The hit staggered her and I repeated it again and again, turning that side of her face into a bloody mess. A short and non-lethal lightning bolt later she was convulsing on the ground.

    "You know, the definition of madness is doing the same thing again and again, expecting different results." I quipped at the Dark Jedi attacking me.

    She used telekinesis to send the remains of a few droids at me as a distraction and darted behind the scrap metal, with her lightsaber leading the way. I banished the metal pieces at the ceiling and rotated around her weapon which was trying to skewer me. At the end of my spin I stabbed at the back of the woman who was passing by me. My crimson blade entered her back and exploded through the armor over her ?h?st.

    The masked woman stumbled a few steps forward and fell to her knees.

    I did not expect to hear her rasping laughter. She used her left hand to remove her mask and turned her face towards me.

    "You were deceived." There was a smile on her disfigured face. Its right side was a sculpture presenting perfect features which could be the envy of any woman. But its left was deformed, with the eye mostly hidden by a drooping flesh. "Ah, I see you''ve figured it out," she chuckled. "this was not as badly planned as you might think..." the words of the Chiss woman were lost to a fit of coughing.

    "A clone. You are only days old." I declared, examining the creature carefully through the Force.

    If I had met the original or if there were two copies of the same type in the Temple I might have sensed the deception earlier. As it was there was nothing to tip me off besides her bad training, yet she was too powerful for a mere clone with no time to be trained. How?

    My eyes widened. I remembered a game I played back on my Earth. It felt ages ago.

    "The Valley of the Jedi." I declared.

    My attention snapped back to the dying clone of the Chiss woman. I could feel Ventress'' confusion. She was on the ground a few meters behind me and was starring at the clone.

    "Well played." I congratulated the soon to be corpse.

    She gave me a stiff nod.

    "I have no regrets..." she coughed again. "At least my death has meaning."

    "On the contrary child," I shook my head. I definitely did not mean ''Well, done! You''ve thrown your life so now you can have a biscuit as a reward.''. "Your masters saw that their pawns stood no chance against me, and found a way to address the issue of their incompetence. After all is said and done quantity does have its own quality."

    Behind me Ventress attempted one last "surprise" attack. Foolish girl.

    I ducked under one of her sabers and parried the second. Our eyes met. I grabbed her left wrist before she could attack me again with the lightsaber in that hand. I drew power from the Dark side to summon a lightning in the palm of my left hand. The same one holding Asajj''s arm.

    The Dark Jedi shrieked as energies born from the Dark side itself coursed through her body, lighting her nerves on fire. Her shouts were cut short when I buried my blade deep into her ?h?st. Our eyes met and I saw the spark of life leaving her. Then something unexpected happened. I could feel a bit of power flowing from her corpse into me as the Force in her body started dissipating.

    I shook my head. That was something to think about later. I released my hold on the remains of what until a moment ago has been Asajj Ventress slide to the ground in a boneless heap and returned my attention to the dying clone.

    As the Chiss woman was weakening so did the stasis field surrounded Ahsoka. The kid finally managed to cut through her bindings and stumbled to her feet.

    "Thank you, Delkatar." she mumbled with a sad smile and ran to the other wounded padawan who had been lying abandoned on the ground.

    "Always, kid," I smirked at her and returned my full attention to the dying woman in front of me. "Such a waste," I muttered to her. "Is this what you truly d?s?r?, child? To throw away your life before you had a chance to experience it?"

    Inside I seethed with fury. What the Republic was doing with its clone army was bad enough. The Force cursed Separatists and that prick Sidious had gone a step further. This woman was a slave sent to die as a damn test! And she did not even know it! That was something that I wouldn''t permit.

    "Look at me!" I ordered.

    Her hooded eyes met mine. She was weakening fast.

    "Tell me what do you wish. Not what you were told that you want. But what..." I poked her in the ?h?st near the wound I carved in her torso causing her to wince. "you d?s?r? for yourself!"

    I stared in her eyes. Through the Force, I could sense the rough conditioning which was used to give her the minimum knowledge needed to accomplish this sick test. The same incompetent butcher had carved a geas in her mind, convincing her that dying to accomplish her mission was all she could ever look up to. Whoever did that had just won a special fate when I got my hand on the bastard.

    Now she got my undivided attention. With no real training or experience to speak of she had fought splendidly against the Jedi. That was something I had seen through Ahsoka''s eyes. Her crude attacks were not a sloppy form or because of a lack of talent. On the contrary, during her battles she had drawn instinctive knowledge from the Force about the fundamentals of lightsaber combat. It was a rare talent that I had not seen in a very long time.

    "Oh. What did you do?" she pouted like a little girl.

    "Set you free, little bird. Now answer me. What do you wish?"

    She looked at me with confusion. To be fair, it was a kind of a stupid question. She did not know enough about anything to know. Yet her answer was more than good enough.

    "To live." she whispered, amidst a fit of coughing. The days-old woman fixed my eyes with a determined stare. "To win." Despite being on her knees and my fingers holding her chin, she gave a small nod towards the lightsaber in my right hand which was pocking her painfully in the ?h?st.

    I smiled at her proudly.

    "You''ll do."

    I let the hilt of my saber slip from my fingers and clatter to the marble floor. I gathered the Force to me and used the emotions raging within my heart to demand its cooperation. I subjugated the Dark side to my will, gathering its energies in my right hand. The power of the Light side flowed to my left palm. I placed both hands on the ?h?st of the expiring woman. Her mouth opened in a wordless "O" and her eyes widened when the unleashed power of the Force blazed into her body.

    I could sense the Jedi gathering around us and felt their eyes upon me. Ahsoka was shouting something but I could not afford to listen. I was literally holding the life of this woman in my arms. What little was left of her life force was gripped in my metaphysical fingers and held in place only by my will.

    I opened myself fully to the Force, becoming a conduit for the energies I was manipulating. Light and shadow danced around us. Through us. I could see the wound I had dealt to the woman, and see that even without it she had only weeks to live. Whatever process was used to clone her original who was undoubtedly one of the Dark Jedi in service of Sidious or Dooku ¨C was far from perfect.

    "I will not let you die! I won''t fail again!" I did not know that I shouted those words loud enough to shake the Great Hall.

    The poisonous touch of the Dark side flowed like acid through the woman''s veins, burning away strands of corrupted DNA. Right behind it, I poured copious amounts of Light side energy, modulating it in such a way to rejuvenate dying flesh and rebuild the basic code of life.

    The hole in her ?h?st was sealed shut by newly formed healthy flesh. Her heartbeat became steadier and stronger, while my own heart was hammering within my br??st trying to jump out. I panted with the exertion of using so much power.

    I was by no means finished but a warning I could not ignore was delivered through the Force. I quickly scaled down the energies I was channelling and looked around.

    The battle was over. I was surrounded by the majority of the clones who survived the skirmish. My men were tense. They were gripping their weapons and I realized they were ready to aim and open fire. I wondered what had them on edge until I noticed the shouting. Yoda and Windu were arguing while Ahsoka was yelling at the Vaapad master.

    In a loose semicircle around my troopers were scores of Jedi ¨C both padawans and knights. Some were looking at the arguing masters but many more were starring at me.

    I extended my senses beyond the woman I was busy tending. She was by no means alright but at least she was no longer in danger of dying any time soon. I had stabilized her DNA enough that she could sustain her own life using the Force. For more, she needed to see a specialist who could devise a therapy to clean up the rest of the mess. With my limited knowledge it was a small miracle that I was able to help her as much as I did.

    I stiffened when I felt the emotions of the Jedi surrounding us. A small but still significant number were in awe by my performance. But most of them were afraid. Those people were giving me wary looks. I could feel it. They wondered how big a threat I was.

    That was what Windu was arguing about. He was citing some kind of ancient law according to which the Jedi Order had jurisdiction over all Force s?ns?t?v?s in the Republic. Which included me too.

    I was a threat that could not be ignored, wasn''t I? Damn Jedi!

    =RK=

    Part 2

    East Ball room, Senate Building, Coruscant

    Anakin was looking glumly around the big room. He was confident that if the worst happened he would be able to get Padme out of this deathtrap in one piece. The same could not be said about the rest of the senators and their staff. Many of those people were his wife''s friends so he was reluctant to leave them to their fate, even if he was not a Jedi.

    Truth to be told he had a lot of options, in theory. What he''ll be able to pull off while saving most of the hostages was different matter. He could use telekinesis to dealt with most of the droids and mercenaries, temporally, but such an act was likely to set off the charges around the room. It would be very easy for one of the enemies hurled by such an attack to cross one of the laser beams keeping the hostages secure. After what happened on Master Secura''s flagship not too long ago, Anakin was convinced that he wouldn''t be able to use the Force to erect a force field around himself and the senators to protect them from the explosions. At best he''ll be able to save few people. At worst, even with the Force raging through him, now that he used his emotions to fuel its power, they all would be turned into pieces.

    Skywalker thought about trying to use what most people called the "Mind Trick" to influence Bane but disregarded that idea almost immediately. Such a thing worked only on the weak willed and the bounty hunter was anything but. Failing in such an attempt was guaranteed to get people killed.

    If he had his lightsaber he could have cut through the floor, provided there were not so many prying eyes... But that idea was not entirely without merit. He could use the Force to do it. It would not be fast but he might be able to weaken the thick metal enough, without being noticed, so one massive strike could cave it in. At least some of the senators had a good chance of getting away. Yet, if he messed up, he could shake the room and blow them all up to the stratosphere.

    It all came back to the kriffing bombs! If they weren''t there...

    Anakin perked up at that thought and looked at the charges. He did not know how much explosive was in there or what kind. But he could see only the laser tripwires. He closed his eyes and concentrated on one of the charges. It took him more than a few minutes to make head from tails of what he was sensing, and then, Skywalker, had to suppress a grin. There was a built in receiver but no transmitter. The bombs were not linked by comms to detonate if one of them was tampered with. If they were, his plan would have gone down in flames. Anakin admitted there was no way he would be able to disarm all the charges at the same time. By the Force, he would only be able to work on two or three at the same time, at best, and there were nearly eighty of the things!

    He concentrated on one of the charges with intangible fingers, and traced its internal mechanisms with the Force. Skywalker needed to sabotage the bomb in such a way that the enemy would remain unaware. It was a conventional explosive device. Which meant that there was a detonator in the compound that was meant to be blown up. After a minute of careful probing his "fingers" found it. Then a second and a third. Whoever built the thing was a firm believer in redundancy.

    With great care, Skywalker traced the wires that connected the detonators to separate power sources and thought about the best way to disable the device. It took him minutes of painstaking work to ensure that the bomb thought it was still armed and ready to go off. However there would be no energy racing to the detonators. The charge was little more than expensive wall ornamentation now.

    One down. Too many left to deal with. Anakin hoped that the damn bounty hunter didn''t decide to shoot more senators before he had disarmed most of the charges.

    Minutes later he had dealt with four more bombs when he sensed a disturbance in the Force. Anakin paled, and his head snapped to where he was hearing the death cries of Jedi! It was the Temple!

    Bane noticed his reaction and chuckled.

    "So the rumors are true. You Jedi can feel it when a number of your kind dies," the bounty hunter nodded to himself as if this was just a confirmation to something he knew.

    "What have you done?!" growled Anakin.

    "Me? Nothing besides what you see around you. Tell me, Jedi, do I look like a fool?! We always knew you wouldn''t release Dooku, so steps were taken to release the good Count. The CIS wants him back."

    Skywalker stared at the mercenary''s eyes and shivered. He was mistaken about the aim of the attacks. He could see it in the man''s eyes. Bane had no intention of letting any of them go. Oh, Anakin knew that rescuing Dooku and Grievous were high on the Seps priorities, but in the end it was a secondary goal. Skywalker was a Republic general so he was painfully familiar with the strategic situation. The CIS held all the cards because GAR needed at least six more months to be truly ready for a war of this scale. Naturally, their enemies were not inclined to give them the needed time.

    The nightmare on Naboo was siphoning precious naval units for the blockade. With the consequences of the attack on Coruscant, the Republic was in even worse situation. If the bastards managed to kill enough senators, the army was likely to be paralyzed while the remaining politicians scrambled to organize. If the political crisis became bad enough, the CIS could force peace on their own terms. A devastated senate was unlikely to be able to resist. At least not with the GAR put on the defense upon all fronts as it was at the moment.

    Either that, or the Chancellor would be forced to take even more power to clean up the mess. However, in doing so Palpatine may damage the Republic beyond repair, the Republic he had been frantically trying to save ever since he became Chancellor.

    Anakin glared at the bounty hunter but declined to reply. He closed his eyes and sat down as if he were meditating. He disregarded the muttering of the senators, and concentrated on the next bomb. He was quickly running out of time. Skywalker gritted his teeth as he felt another Jedi die, and continued to disarm the charges.

    He was up to number fifteen when his concentration was shattered, almost detonating the explosive by accident. Skywalker could feel Ahsoka fighting for her life, and loosing. It was very hard for him to suppress the instincts screaming at him to run to the Temple and help his padawan.

    Anakin shuddered when he felt every one of her close calls. When she was caught is some kind of strange stasis field, he was ready to jump through the air. If it was not for all the people around him, counting on him to protect them, Skywalker would have been halfway to the Temple by now.

    His body shook with impotent fury when he felt Ahsoka''s despair. Anakin could almost see the blade descending towards his helpless padawan. Then everything changed. A wave of Dark side energies exploded from the location of the Jedi Temple and drowned everything else with its oppressive miasma.

    The last thing he could clearly sense from Ahsoka was relief. Anakin smiled in a way that looked just wrong on the face of any Jedi.

    Anakin knew the source of that Dark power. He had wondered why Veil had not tried to save the hostages and him, but now he knew. His fellow general had gone to the Temple, and was unleashing a fury that matched the emotions within his own heart.

    Skywalker just hoped that the rest of the Jedi would not overreact about Delkatar. He smirked and returned to dealing with the bombs.

    Padme was looking at him in a way that demanded answers, he soundlessly mouthed "later," and then returned his attention to the delicate work of disarming the bombs without using his physical limbs.

    =RK=

    Great Hall, Jedi Temple, Coruscant

    I rose on my shaky feet and looked around again. If I was so inclined this mess would make a great justification for something resembling Order 66. That way I could have rid the galaxy from most of the irrevocably brainwashed Jedi.

    I had carefully removed the worst of the mental conditioning from my troopers during the weeks when my forces were being ?ssembled. This was one of the reasons why my soldiers were ready to back me up to the hilt. But after dealing with the droids, only twenty four of the clones were still on their feet, and combat ready with five additional medics caring for the wounded.

    I had arrived at the Temple with fifty people, excluding the pilots. Half of my men were lying dead or wounded. Death without purpose was something that I never found acceptable during my time as Darth Vael. For most Sith commanders, their troops were expendable resources. That was a school of thought that I had never subscribed to, and as a result the soldiers under my command tended to have much better morale. I smiled proudly at my men. They were professionals, and knew that if the Jedi decided to do something stupid, and attack us, there was not much that they could do. There was infantry on the ground, and two gunships floating protectively over my head. If the Jedi decided to be violent, they would be met in kind. Knowing my men, there were heavy reinforcements on the way as well.

    I shook my head. With the Senate taken hostage by CIS agents, I did not have time to deal with the Jedi''s insecurities. They were justified, I''ll grant you that. I wanted the Order in its current state dismantled, ensuring that the fanatics amongst the Jedi were not free to cause problems with my future plans, but that did not mean that I was too keen on Sidious going through with Order 66. There were some good people in the organization who I would prefer to be reformed under the ancient Jedi creed, or as Sith, under my teachings and not under the dogma from any of the sects that existed in the Empire. Or even worse, this Rule of Two abomination.

    I swayed with exhaustion and one of the nearby clones grabbed my left arm to help keep me upright.

    "Thank you, corporal." I muttered quietly.

    I gathered some of the ambient Force energy drowning the Temple, and used it to rejuvenate myself a bit. It did not make me even close to one hundred percent but it took the edge off the weakness I was feeling. I stretched and heard my bones creaking. I needed to rest, damn it! But, there was no use in hoping for something I knew I would not receive any time soon.

    I strode slowly towards the arguing Jedi. At the moment, I was in charge of the whole clusterfuck on Coruscant, but I was out of communication with either ships in orbit or the forces investing the Senate for the last fifteen minutes or so. I prayed that the building was still standing, or if it had fallen I prayed Palpatine had died with it. I may have missed his death while preoccupied... Nah. Neither I or the galaxy were that lucky.

    I heard argument as I moved closer. "Delkatar has not made a single action against the Jedi! He came here, risking his life to help us while he probably should have been dealing with the situation at the Senate! And how do you want to repay him for his ?ssistance?!" Ahsoka Tano was almost foaming at the mouth. Mace Windu was glaring at Tano as if he were tempted to activate his lightsaber.

    "Ahem." I cleared my throat loudly. I had to keep myself from smiling when Windu almost jumped. I regretted that I was not able to pay closer attention to the show, and hoped that my soldiers had the cameras in their helmets up and running.

    Yoda, who looked much older then the last time I spoke with him, nodded in my direction. If his expression was anything to go by, the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order was becoming tired of the arguments.

    "Master Yoda, Ahsoka. I am glad you are fine, considering the circumstances." I pointedly excluded Windu.

    "Fine, we are not. But your sentiment, appreciated, it is." said Yoda.

    "Its time to end this farce!" hissed Mace. "The Sith are a forbidden organization in the Republic. In the name of the Galactic Senate you are under arrest!" he declared grandly.

    I snorted. "Two points. First, prove it. I am willing to bet that I do not qualify as a "Sith" under Republic law. I was a member of an organization of the same name ¨C nearly four thousand years ago. And second, I am not a Republic citizen. I have not broken any Republic law, Jedi. Third! At the moment I am the GAR commander responsible for all Republic forces on Coruscant until we can contact High Command or the Chancellor. Under the circumstances, first it should be confirmed that Palpatine is not acting under duress before he could countermand my authority. So, choose your next words very carefully. You have no reason to arrest me besides your fears. I have not done a single thing against either the GAR or the Republic." I declared calmly.

    If anyone is wondering I did check the Republic laws concerning me and the Sith in general. In the last thousand years some very interesting loopholes were added by newer laws...

    Ironically, the Jedi were the ones who granted me the greatest boon possible as far as legal protection goes: the fact that I stated in front of their Grandmaster that I was a Sith, and he did not order my arrest. With that information in hand, any half competent Councilor could argue that what I thought to be Sith, and what I considered myself was nothing like the monsters of old with which I only shared a name...

    The fun part was that if the matters ever reached court, Palpy would gleefully support me in an attempt to hamstring the Jedi. After all, I stood as an example for a staunch defender of the Republic, a successful and popular general! All the while, the Jedi were unable to keep in custody the engineer behind the CIS, a former Jedi to booth. Lawyers and politicians are such fun people! To a Sith.

    "Let''s leave the courts to decide, Sith," Windu spat.

    I could see that he prayed for me to resist. That would permit him to attack me in my weakened state. As we all know history is written by the victors. With me (and my clone troopers) out of the picture, the Jedi would be free to spin whatever outlandish story they wanted.

    "You can''t just arrest him! Delkatar has done nothing wrong!" protested Ahsoka.

    "Padawan Tano! Be silent! One more word and I''ll see you expelled!"

    The Togruta teenager glared daggers at him. She looked between me and the Vaapad master.

    "Hasty such an action is, Master Windu." said Yoda in an attempt to defuse the situation.

    Our argument was put on hold when six LAATs flew through the remains of the shattered main doors. The gunships flew over us and from them rappelled scores of heavily armed clone troopers.

    A Jedi Master I knew jumped from the leading troop transport and hurried to join us. I could feel the turbulent emotions of the newcomer. I was sure the reason for that was one of my contingency plans in place just in case some of the Jedi decided to make fools from themselves. Windu was a case in point.

    The Jedi who surrounded my troopers and I looked uneasy when the clones who just arrived moved to face them.

    Yoda looked around with a sad expression on his face while Windu gave me a satisfied smirk.

    "Now, you all see the truth!" the Vaapad master pointed at the clones.

    "The Sith is about to show his true colors!"

    I shook my head in exasperation. I knew that Windu despised me for what I was ever since he laid his eyes upon me but this was bloody madness! He was about to screw over the Jedi in a such a way that even Sidious would be envious. You see, the LAATs which brought me to the Temple had various cameras. What was happening here was streamed live to the various GAR commands on Coruscant which were not jammed, as well as to the fleet in orbit...

    =RK=

    Part 3

    Republic Cruiser Requiem, High orbit over Coruscant

    Commodore Pellaeon, who under orders from General Veil, had ?ssumed command over all navy forces over the capital, watched with trepidation the live feed from the Jedi Temple. The revelation about what his commander truly was not as much a shock as one might expect. Gilad was not blind. While it was easy to see that Veil was a Force user, he was nothing like any of the Jedi the officer knew or imagined them to be.

    When Pellaeon saw the Jedi Temple under attack he was torn. Oh, the Order members had great reputation, one they managed to keep mostly intact for nearly a thousand years. However for most people the Jedi were just a myth. Even with present day speed of travel, the explored galaxy was enormous. It was not surprising that only a very small percentage of the population had actually met a Jedi or seen them in action. That was all changing with the onset of this war.

    Truth to be told, as a kid Pellaeon had admired the Jedi and the tales about their incredible achievements, something that had not really changed as he grew up. But then the war started and the Jedi were immediately given the ranks of generals and commanders, without any military training!

    As a ship''s captain, Gilad was privy to a lot of confidential information. Thanks to his lover, who was an RI agent, he knew even more. Both GAR internal After Action Reports and the rumor mill painted a grim picture. While as warriors, the Jedi were superb (excelling in relatively small battles where they could have a great impact on an individual tactical level), the performance of most of them as commanders was sorely lacking. The list of bloody ground battles and shattered ships thanks to their mistakes was horrendous. The fact that most Jedi now outranked men and women with decades of actual experience in the army and navy just acted as an additional point of friction.

    Gilad shook his head. This whole war was dragging the Jedi Order through the mud, and they couldn''t even realize it! There were times he wondered if most of the Jedi understood the rest of the galaxy. While his respect for the Jedi as individuals was still there, that of the Order as an organization had gone down the drains when the Jedi Council had taken the offered command position for the Jedi with b?r?ly a notice and sent unprepared boys and girls to lead troops in battle. He did not blame too much the Jedi who fought and died with their soldiers, but their leaders who had put everyone in such a position without a second thought.

    The Commodore stared grimly at the holo-display showing the live feed from the Temple. Veil, who for some reason had healed the Chiss woman he had impaled with his lightsaber, rose up swaying and one of the clones helped steady him. Pellaeon watched grimly as Master Windu declared that he was placing the General under arrest. From the corners of his eyes he could see his aide and some of the clones working on the bridge wincing. When GAR reinforcements arrived on the scene, Gilad and the crew who were watching felt relieved. The medics from the second flight of LAATs to arrive were already spreading through the former battleground and helping the wounded, while the clone troopers were taking defensive positions around their still standing brethren, ready to protect the General.

    In the long term it did not matter how the situation was resolved. The Jedi had just taken a hit to their credibility that they would spend decades recovering from.

    Right now, the Republic was in a gray area. With the Senate, the Chancellor and the GAR headquarters out of communication and presumed either destroyed or under duress, General Veil had taken charge and had a very good case for being the Acting Supreme Commander of all Republic forces. At the very least he was in command of everything in the capital system. Trying to arrest the General for what amounted to trumped up charges, during during such a crisis was madness. "Or treason." added a small voice in the back of Pellaeon''s mind.

    As far as the Commodore knew, Veil had not done a single thing against the interests of the Republic. Just the contrary, in fact ¨C in a few skirmishes, the General had won great strategic victories for the GAR. More than the Jedi combined could boast so far.

    He knew that the stunt pulled by Windu was not going to go well with the troops. It was obvious that the Jedi was banking on the revelation that Veil was a Sith to carry the day. However the Sith were were little more than a half-forgotten story told to scare children into behaving. Gilad was ready to bet anything that the General had done his homework and knew what he was talking about when he stated that he could not be considered a Sith under Republic law. That would be enough for a lot of people, especially when combined with Veil''s record so far. To be fair, Dooku, the man who forged the CIS and was leading them until his capture, was a former Jedi turned Sith. Pellaeon found it deliciously ironic that another Sith was now on the side of the Republic to balance things. He only hoped that Dooku was still in custody: that bald woman Veil killed was supposed to be in prison too. Letting the Count escape would be another nail in the coffin of the Jedi''s reputation.

    The Commodore cursed quietly. They had more than enough problems to deal with without the Jedi making additional problems!

    He glared at the screen where a close up of Windu''s smug smile could be seen. Pellaeon hoped that the Jedi who had just arrived at the Temple could help cool down the explosive situation, but that was not something he could afford to count on.

    "Comms, give me a line to the fleet. I want half of the reserve ground forces heading towards the Jedi temple yesterday. Those fools aren''t taking the General without a fight! Make sure that the boys know not to start anything, but if the Jedi down there are foolish enough to start something we will finish it!" the Commodore declared.

    The final straw was Windu''s declaration that the Jedi would leave for the Senate to debate Veil''s fate. Under the circumstances, that was madness! For all anyone knew the senators might be all dead already! Pellaeon was not going to allow one of the Republic''s best generals, not to mention his Acting Commander in Chief, to rot in prison for months, or if they were really unlucky ¨C years, until the senate managed to sort itself out, and be able to deal with the Jedi''s accusations.

    At least that was what he would say if anyone asked him. But there would be something else he would leave unsaid. Gilad knew that there were some Senators that were too close to comfort to the Jedi Council. If some of those survived it was likely that guilty or not, the General would finds himself in a tough spot without having done anything wrong.

    It was a hard thing to admit, but the government he had sworn to protect had its flaws, some of which were pretty big. He would have had to be blind to not be aware of the rampant corruption within the Senate. Gilad knew that the Chancellor was doing his best to clean up the monumental mess but the man''s efforts were often not enough. If he looked at it objectively, Pellaeon knew that the systems making the CIS often had legitimate grievances and reasons to secede. However that did not mean he agreed with the way they went about it.

    Kriff it all! He hated being placed in position where he had to deal with politics!

    Pellaeon nodded when he received reports that the Navy ships in orbit had acknowledged his orders and were executing them. Now he could only wait and see how the crisis on the ground was resolved.

    =RK=

    Great Hall, Jedi Temple, Coruscant

    Obi-Wan had felt the disturbance in the Force before his command ship exited Hyperspace near Coruscant. However the truth about what was happening was much worse than his greatest fears! GAR High Command attacked and silent. The senate (with most of the government in attendance) in enemy hands. The bases near that building attacked and under lock down and even the Jedi Temple under ?ssault.

    The Jedi General had wasted no time to act ¨C he sent Cody with the bulk of the troops on the Negotiator to join the cordon forming around the Senate while he left to aid his fellow Jedi.

    He was informed by Commodore Pellaeon, one of Veil''s protegees, that the General had taken command of the situation and was already on his way to the Temple. That was a cause for a bit of relief, after all the general knew what he was doing, but it had lasted only until the LAATs with Kenobi''s... acquaintance, reached the Temple and activated cameras relaying to all GAR units in the system what was happening.

    To say that Obi-Wan was appalled by the destruction and the death toll he was seeing with his own eyes would be an understatement. Yet, the Jedi Master was glad that Delkatar arrived in time to save at least the two girls ¨C Anakin''s padawan, who just like her master was pursued actively by trouble, and was that Luminara''s apprentice lying wounded on the ground?

    While he did not approve of the blatant use of the Dark side powers displayed by Veil for, Obi-Wan''s fears that the man was going to lose himself in the dark turned out to be unfounded. Delkatar even saved one of the women he fought after killing Ventress. He idly wondered what was that about Valley of the Jedi they all heard, but decided it could wait.

    Thanks to the audio pick ups mounted on those two LAATs, Kenobi and all other people receiving the signal could hear what was being said in the Great Hall.

    Soon things turned out for the worse. Windu had appeared and started to argue with both Yoda and Ahsoka Tano. It was inevitable, really. From the beginning, Obi-Wan knew that once the true identity of Veil was known to the rank and file of the Order, there would be hell to pay. Unfortunately, most Jedi were not as open minded as himself.

    He knew that the Order was far from perfect but still believed that it was the best way to keep force s?ns?t?v?s from the corruption of the Dark side. Yet, now, after some long conversations with Veil, Kenobi''s faith in his Order''s teaching was wavering. It was hard to argue with Delkatar when Windu was showing for all to see some of the worst failings of the Jedi Order as an institution. That this display was made by one of the most respected Jedi Masters made it even worse.

    Obi-Wan was praying that the gunships could travel even faster. He could see the clones who had arrived with Veil ready to resist the Jedi if they attempted to arrest their general. He glanced at the men in the troop compartment with him. Their helmets did not give any hint what they were going to do, but he doubted that they would stand against their brothers. Most likely the clones would follow the military regulations, and the troopers knew that Veil had ?ssumed command of all GAR forces.

    Kenobi prayed that he would be able to defuse the situation. Anything less and his actions would just add to the body count.

    =RK=

    The good news was that Obi-Wan arrived at the temple before the situation exploded in everyone''s faces. He jumped from the hovering transport after ordering the medics he had brought to take care of the wounded. He frowned when he saw his clone troopers joining Veil''s men and taking defensive positions. This had the potential to become very ugly. Kenobi did not know if his fellow Jedi were aware that everything was going live but considering what he felt from Windu and some of the men and women facing the clones he doubted that they would care anyway.

    ''How did we end like this?'' wondered the Jedi Master.

    Obi-Wan walked between Delkatar and Mace who were glaring at each other. Kenobi nodded respectfully to Yoda, and then turned to padawan Tano, ignoring Windu for the moment.

    "Ahsoka, I see you''ve learned how to get into all kind of trouble from my former apprentice. I should have a talk with that boy about what he is teaching you." he said with a straight face, looking at her wounded right hand.

    "Ah, that. Its just a scratch, Master Kenobi!" exclaimed the young Togruta.

    "Good to hear it. What about the shouting match you are having with two council members?"

    Ahsoka looked uneasy for a moment but then her azure eyes blazed with determination, and she stood straighter.

    "Master Windu is being entirely unreasonable!" she declared with conviction ringing in her voice.

    "Is he, now?" muttered Obi-Wan and turned his gaze towards the fuming Vaapad master.

    Meanwhile Yoda was watching the antics of the younger Jedi with an amused smirk on his face. He could feel the tension bleeding out of the Jedi present in the great hall. Only Windu was refusing to let go of his anger. That was not good for so many reasons...

    "Master Windu, I missed most of the excitement. Please enlighten me, what is going on? We all have more important issues to deal with! Should I remind you that, the Senate is under enemy control, and the Senators are hostages?!"

    "Not to mention that the confusion of these attacks could give the CIS navy opportunity to strike targets that were previously out of their reach. The GAR reaction speed is crippled until we can clean up the mess on Coruscant." added Veil.

    Kenobi nodded in agreement. The Separatists would be fools not to capitalize on the Republics confusion, but before such things could be dealt with, the immediate crisis had to be averted.

    Windu pointed an accusing finger at Delkatar, who rolled his eyes at the Jedi.

    "He is the greatest threat to both the Jedi Order and the Republic I can see!" stated Mace.

    "This madness, end now, it must!" grumbled Yoda.

    Some time during the argument he had summoned his crooked cane and now used it to strike Windu in the shins. The look on the Jedi Master''s face was priceless.

    "Stand down, you will, Master Windu!" the irritation the Grandmaster felt towards his much younger colleague was plain to see. "The future shrouded in darkness is. Torn asunder by paranoia we must not be! Master Windu! Suspended your position it is! The Jedi Council your actions will judge!" Yoda''s tone of voice brook no argument.

    The Vaapad master glared at the tiny Jedi but managed to reign in his fury.

    "He is a Sith! Our ancient enemy! How long must we wait for him to act against us?" pleaded Windu.

    "Has Veil done anything to warrant such animosity, Master Windu?" asked Kenobi with exasperation in his voice.

    "The Confederacy and the Sith leading it, our enemies are. Delkatar Veil that man is not. Today too much death we saw. More bloodshed your actions would have caused, Master Windu," Yoda pointed his cane Delkatar''s way. "Shown hostility towards the Jedi, he has not."

    The Grandmaster of the Jedi Order glared at Mace. "Master Windu! When the current crisis over is, explain your actions to us all you will!"

    Obi-Wan allowed himself to relax a bit for the first time since he first sensed the disturbance in the Force that heralded the attacks on Coruscant. He could sense the same being true for both Jedi and clones. Even the aura of danger surrounding Veil had subdued a bit. That had been much too close for comfort.

    Kenobi knew that the consequences of Windu''s stunt would be grave, though he was mentally thanking the Force that the worse did not come to pass.

    "Master Yoda, I hope that at least Dooku remains in custody?" Veil asked almost innocently but Obi-Wan could see that the question was anything but.

    Yoda looked at Mace Windu with interest and soon everyone who was not too busy tending to the wounded turned their heads towards the Jedi Master who looked uncomfortable with the attention. Obi-Wan had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

 Chapter 12 - A vision of a possible future

    Location: Base camp "Secura", Imperial Jungle training grounds, Felucia; 12 years post-Yuuzhan Vong Invasion.

    He was once known only as a designation: CC-2224, but those times were long past. For decades, he''d proudly carried the name he had chosen for himself.

    Cody''s upper lip twitched with amusement as he watched an uncomfortable looking reporter trying to sit calmly across his desk. He was familiar with her, the "black sheep" from a family he considered friends. She was creating a series of holovids about the conflict that shaped the galaxy as it was today: the Clone Wars.

    He took a sip from a steaming cup of Caf, and gave a brief nod to a small tray covered with refreshments, prepared by his frighteningly efficient aide. "Help yourself, Miss Solo. When you manage to calm your nerves, you can begin with your questions."

    She flushed.

    "Before you ask, no, I am not nearly as bad as your father claims me to be. How''s the old pirate, anyway?" the veteran wondered aloud.

    "He''s fine, General!" exclaimed the girl. "My father sends his regards."

    "I really doubt that he used exactly those words, Miss Solo, but we digress. You wanted to know about the Clone Wars from someone who had been in that conflict since its beginning. So ask away," said the aging man.

    She took a deep breath, before asking her first question.

    "General Cody, you are one of the few remaining first-generation clones. Please, tell us how you view the purpose you were created for?"

    "This again," he grumbled. It was the same question that was asked every time by the post-Clone War generation, as if he and his brothers hadn''t given them the same answer again, and again, and again. He deigned to answer anyways. "My brothers and I were given our purpose from ''birth''. We were proud to have been soldiers of the Republic. We were content.

    "Being excellent soldiers made us happy," he smiled broadly. "As you can see, that''s something I still enjoy." Even though he wasn''t too pleased with his current ?ssignment. He had lost a game of Pazaak with Rex and Veers, which dumped him here for two months. They were overseeing the training of Armored divisions on Corellia, while he was stuck on an unpleasant jungle planet, trying to impress his hard won knowledge about warfare upon ungrateful green recruits.

    "The clones have always been, and always will be, proud to be reliable and professional, the very best at our jobs. At the time of the Clone Wars, we had no complaints¡­ Our attitudes changed when the General revealed the mental conditioning that we were unknowingly subjected to, and the expiration date that was placed on our lives by Palpatine."

    She glanced at the notes on her wrist mounted computer. "I''m sorry to interrupt, the ''General'' is none other than Lord Delkatar Veil, correct?"

    Cody nodded with a wan smile.

    "Correct. For those of us, who fought with him in the Clone Wars, he''ll always be ''General''. But you didn''t come all this way to talk about him, you could have met him back at the capitol."

    "I''m sorry, I only asked for the sake of our audience who may not be aware of who the ''General'' was. Back on topic, speaking of Palpatine, what are your thoughts on Order 66 and the fate of the Old Jedi Order? Your part in those events, as well as those of your friend General Rex, is a controversial topic."

    Cody stared at his desk for long minutes. Finally, he raised his head and looked calmly at her. "This is a loaded question, Miss Solo. My brothers and I have a complex relationship with the Jedi."

    "Well, your friend did marry a Jedi, after the war. It doesn''t get more complicated than that."

    Cody snorted with amusement at the thought of Rex and his wife. "Yes, Rex and his wife are a funny complication." Lucky bastard, they were together on Corellia, he with his ?ssignment, and she helping with the reconstruction of the Green Temple.

    "Now, in order to give you a comprehensive answer to Order 66, you need to know a lot of the background leading to the final weeks of the war. The seeds of that disaster were sown long before the creation of the Galactic Army of the Republic. Palpatine had it planned for a very long time. I shudder to think what would have happened to us all if it was not for the sweeping changes caused by the General''s entry into the war." Cody paused for a moment to take another sip of his beverage.

    "Order 66: one of the many contingencies we were taught to memorize and obey since the cradle. The exact details are public record nowadays, so I don''t need to recite it. The very broad gist of it was that in an event that the Jedi turned against the Republic, we were to respond with lethal force. No prisoners were to be taken."

    "But, obeying such orders..." muttered Solo.

    Cody shrugged.

    "The General once said something about things like this. It all depends on who won. We won, so our troops are guilty at worst of a few ''regrettable actions'' needed to expedite the end of the war, saving lives. If we lost, well¡­" He shrugged again.

    "As you know, the GAR units apprehended their Jedi commanders, but many of them refused to gun down their prisoners without a very good reason They disobeyed direct orders, which was only possible because of the additional protocols added after that mess on Coruscant. The first one, I mean."

    "You''re referring to the ?ssault on the Jedi Temple in the opening months of the war." She, as well as anyone who studies history, knew what the general was talking about.

    "That''s right. At the time I had just finished my training and received promotion to Clone Marshal. I was on board The Negotiator, General Kenobi''s first flagship, when the attacks occurred. We arrived on Coruscant soon after they began."

    Cody stared through the young woman, remembering the past.

    "It was a kriffing mess. The Senate under enemy control with most of the governing body inside, attacks with Blue Shadow on a spaceport, two military bases, as well as GAR High Command, and of course, the event that changed the outcome of Order 66."

    "You know, until that day, I didn''t believe that a contingency plan like Order 66 was necessary, especially after the time I served under General Kenobi. Within days of talking with him, I knew that if the rest of the Jedi were anything like Kenobi, there was no way in the Nine Corellian hells that the Order would ever betray the Republic," Cody took a deep breath and smiled sadly. "Now we all know that what I believed was naive."

    "Given the circumstances, the General was the acting Supreme Commander of all Republic forces. What Windu, " Cody spat the name, "tried to do that day was the catalyst for what was to come. I remember that moment clearly even today, more than six decades later."

    "I was on board one of several Lartys, along with most of the Negotiator''s ground troop compliment, flying towards the Senate building to help establish the cordon around it. We knew virtually nothing about what was happening at the time, except that at least a few hundred commando droids had taken residence in there. I was rechecking the plans, thinking on how to storm the damn building if it came to that, when one of the men I had left to monitor the situation in the Jedi Temple got my attention."

    "Windu was attempting to arrest The General on trumped up charges. There were about twenty five of my brothers ready to protect him, against scores of Jedi. We all know how powerful the General is nowadays, but facing so many Jedi all at once?! It made me angry and desperate. There we were, under attack, with the Senate as hostages or worse, and that Windu was losing it." The old general shook his head in exasperation.

    "By then we knew that the Jedi were nothing like the near divine beings from the stories that were told around the galaxy. We fought and died with them, mostly died in those awful first months. I know that it isn''t fair to place all the blame for their blunders on their shoulders. Both the Chancellor and the Senate wanted them as generals and commanders, despite the fact that they had no military training whatsoever. Although, command came naturally to some and they became splendid leaders, people like Kenobi and Skywalker, those we were proud to serve under."

    "What about the then general Veil?"

    Cody chuckled, good-naturedly at the question.

    "You can hardly argue that he lacked training. Hell, The General was the most experienced military leader in the whole war, and in the conflicts that followed. Granted, he did make his share of mistakes, but none of them were born of inexperience."

    "Where was I? Ah, the ''incident'' at the Temple. It delivered a severe blow to our confidence in the Jedi. If ever there were a more clean-cut situation for implementing Order 66, I am not aware of it. Generals Kenobi and Yoda managed to defuse the situation, but the damage was already done. We would never trust the Jedi like we did before. That day in the Temple set the stage for everything that followed, at least as far as the Old Jedi Order is concerned."

    "We didn''t know it then, but those were the days when the future of us clones was decided. Almost nobody thought that the Clones were an army of what amounted to slaves. We definitely didn''t see ourselves as such, our mental conditioning at the hands of the Kaminoans was that good. That brings us to the greatest betrayal to my brothers and I."

    "Our lifespan. We were bred for the war and expected to quietly croak afterwards, unless we were given a gene treatment to let us age like normal people. Heh. The General put that to shame."

    "The Ashara Option," said Solo.

    "Yes. A few geniuses under his payroll produced a treatment that not only works for us clones, but for most near human species out there. It nearly doubled a man''s natural lifespan. It''s the reason why I am looking so good, despite the hair." he joked.

    "But back to the Purge," interjected the journalist.

    "Right. The only thing that stopped us from following Order 66 when it was issued were contradictory orders given by General Veil. Intead of executing them, he wanted us to attempt to apprehend the Jedi in the event of Order 66."

    "Just as you did, by placing General Kenobi under arrest on Mandalor," she said. The young Solo frowned at Cody and began again. "But, that doesn''t change the facts. In the last week of the war, you led your Fifth Sky Corps along with Rex''s 501st against the Jedi Temple."

    "The one event that made me infamous across the galaxy." Cody declared. His expression became sad as he remembered. "We had a real chance for peace. If it wasn''t for the hardliners amongst the Jedi Order, not only would the Clone Wars have ended before one of the bloodiest battles of the whole conflict could take place, but the next war could have been averted. Not to mention that without the actions of the Jedi, the Republic might have remained mostly whole."

    Solo interrupted again. "Even now, the purge of the Jedi Temple and the later manhunt that wiped out the remains of the OJO are one of the most controversial subjects in the galaxy."

    "That it is. We believed with Palpatine gone, the ceasefire with the CIS was about to be forged into permanent peace. But we all know how that ended. At the time, very few Senators were fit for duty, so for all intents and purposes the General was the government."

    "Despite what his detractors claim, the General was convinced by both his wife and Senator Amidala to give the Republic one last chance to reform itself. He had even announced a date for general elections so the Senate could start working again so it can clean up its mess!"

    "But what did the Jedi do?!" Cody struck his desk with a fist. "Those fools tried to stage a coup! You''ve seen the recordings. They decided that the General had corrupted the remaining Senators, and the higher echelons of GAR, and tried to take us out. You know who those traitors allied themselves with! They gave us no choice!"

    "Yes, this is the version of the events that most of the galaxy accepted after all evidence was brought to light." interjected Solo.

    "Then, that led to the battle of Corellia, where the Green Temple was taken out from orbit. While General Veil was commanding what was to become the last battle of the war, we were sent to subdue the Jedi at the Temple on Coruscant. We were led by people who had left the Order and tried their best to minimize the loss of life. You know how that ended... It was the last chapter of the Clone Wars, but it led to another civil war a year later." Cody trailed off and closed his eyes.

    =RK=

    LAAT crash site, near the Senate Building, Coruscant; The present

    The first thing Cody felt was dull pain across his whole body. He cracked his eyes open and carefully looked around. Someone''s hand was covering most of his visor, but he was able to see his surroundings: the troop compartment of a LAAT, buried under a pile of silent clone troopers. He shook his head, clearing it from the strange, vision-like dream, and concentrated on the task at hand ¨C getting himself and his men out of the crashed gunship.

    He heard something arrive outside, so he grabbed the bu?? of a blaster on the back of an unconscious soldier, switched off the safety, and pointed it at the side door.

    "Do you think they made it?" asked a familiar voice, identical to Cody''s own.

    "Don''t be ridiculous. As if something as minor as this can do in the commander. Let''s get the boss out of there."

    The door was forced open to the sound of tortured metal, then a clone glanced inside. "The commander is alive and conscious, but we have wounded in here. Bring the medics forward."

    "Well done, sergeant. What took out the Larty?" asked Cody.

    "A sniper, sir. After we deployed our own she''s been keeping her head down," answered the clone.

    Cody''s comms hissed to life."This is General Veil. Give me a sit-rep on the situation at the Senate."

    He tried to pull out his left hand, where the device was located but was unable to do so. His limb refused to obey, and he felt acute pain from it.

    ''This is getting better and better,'' he thought.

    Phase 10: Hostage Crisis

    =RK=

    Part 1

    East Ballroom, Senate Building, Coruscant

    Anakin had dealt with almost two thirds of the charges, when an angry Bane called one of his minions. The precise manipulation needed to disarm the bombs, combined with the novel way of connecting with the Force, had taken its toll on the young Jedi.

    Then his time ran out.

    Something happened that had caused Bane lose his patience. He could hear it in the voice carrying from a comm, mounted on the right forearm of a weequay mercenary.

    "Turloq, round up a few Senators," Bane addressed a merc. "We''ll make an example of them in front of the cameras and show it to the Republic. We have more than enough of the fat bastards as bargain chips," grunted Bane. "Also bring that girl from Naboo. She''s one of the more popular ones. If they don''t meet our demands, she''ll be next."

    "Yes, boss! Right away!" Turloq responded.

    After speaking with Bane, the cutthroat gave Skywalker a wary look. The fire in the Jedi''s eyes made the merc take an involuntary step back. That look promised him a slow and painful end. He shuddered. There was a growing sense of danger in the room. The hostages felt it too, and became uneasy. Well, more than they already were given their situation.

    The rest of Bane''s men present in the room looked around carefully, as if searching for invisible danger. Only the droids remained stoic.

    Turloq stared at the Jedi. Something wasn''t right. He felt like he was in the presence of an apex predator, hungry for his flesh.

    The mercenaries looked at each other. One of them, a disgruntled Trandoshan, grinned, showing an impressive array of needle sharp teeth. It was unclear whether he was braver than his companions, or just plain dumber.

    "You heard the boss, boys," grunted the voice of the oversized lizard. "Uh, which was the female Bane wanted?" He asked after glancing in the direction of the Senators, where Mon Mothma and two other women had gathered around Amidala.

    Turloq wasn''t thinking straight. He pointed at the correct Senator. Too late, he figured out that doing so was a mistake. The last one that he''d ever make.

    The Jedi gave him a disturbing smile.

    =RK=

    Anakin''s body had frozen rigid the moment he heard Bane''s words. On the outside, everything but his eyes was a mask of serenity. Inside however, it was another story. The passion with which Skywalker was channeling the Force was going wild.

    Pure rage seathed deep within the Jedi, like a raging sea. ''Make an example of my Padme?!''. The single thought ran rampant through his mind, putting everything else on the back-burner. He won''t allow it! None of these wretched fools would lay a finger on her!

    But, he didn''t have a lightsaber. What would happen to Padme if he were cut down by blaster fire? His fears, and his anger¡­ They strengthened him.

    The look in Anakin''s eyes became cold and harder than durasteel. If there were someone present with the ability to see, one could watch as the Force itself pulsed angrily around him, his emotions made manifest.

    For the young Jedi, it felt strange; similar to what happened at the Tusken camp where his mother died. He was aware of the darkness surrounding him, of the anger feeding it, but this time he didn''t go into a mindless rage.

    He could feel Padme standing behind him. She blazed like a beacon in the darkness threatening to engulf his mind. She was the anchor that let him retain control in the face of the emotions to which he had fallen prey to once before.

    The Dark Side. It offered him the power to save Padme. He only had to let go of his control, and drink deeply from its tainted well.

    Anakin struggled with his passions, the emotions he was taught to ignore ever since he joined the Jedi Order. He was supposed to lock them down and throw them away, as if they were something worthless, that he should be ashamed of. In that regard, he was a terrible Jedi, but he didn''t care.

    His wife, the woman he loved more than life itself was right there, next to him, in mortal danger. The same wife he was prohibited to marry, just as he was forbidden to love. But that wasn''t something he would ever accept. Padme was his light, one of the few things that made his life worth living.

    So he decided. Or perhaps Skywalker only acknowledged the choice he had made, when he heeded an advice by a man from the past.

    When one of the mercenaries pointed straight at his Padme, he smiled grimly at the man. Anakin''s mind was made up, and for the first time in ages it was clear.

    Skywalker decided to stop hiding and acknowledge the truth. His fellow Jedi would do whatever they believed to be right, and he would do the same. There was no longer a doubt in his mind where his future lied. Next to his wife.

    Anakin felt the Force shift. The Dark Side was surrounding him like a warm cloak, whispering seduction he no longer paid attention to. Instead of letting go of his control, he grabbed at it with all his will. A tremor went through the Force when he consciously commanded the Dark Side for the first time. The power he felt was incredible, tempting. But he fought to keep his mind clear.

    "I will not lose control again!" he snarled so quietly that no one heard him.

    The raging sea within his heart roared to life again. This was only the second time he had ever felt this. This time, Anakin was the one ruling his emotions.

    Skywalker surged to his feet and the Force rose with him.

    Turloq was the first to feel the Force unleashed. He felt an almighty fist snap his bones, a sensation that might have been pain, and finally nothing as his body crunched against a wall.

    The people stood bewildered, as the droids raised their weapons at the clustered Senators.

    The Republic''s governing body was terrified by the oppressive feeling of doom, and furious with General Skywalker for risking their lives, and yet hopeful for rescue. Senator Amidala simply trusted Anakin.

    Skywalker knew nothing of their thoughts. In that instant, his mind was in overdrive. He was channeling an immense amount of the Force, and knew that if his plan didn''t work they were likely dead. Thanks to Veil''s suggestions, Anakin had more power at the tips of his fingers than ever, but was untrained in its use. He''d be exhausted soon, so he wasted no time and acted.

    The mercs and droids were slammed by powerful telekinetic waves. While the machines were sturdy enough to remain mostly intact, the men pulped against the walls.

    Anakin ?r??n?d as he drew even more of the Force to himself.

    He threw a barrier of Force energies between the hostages and the remaining active explosives. He was just in time. Debris wildly scattered through the laser trip wires attached to the bombs.

    The world ended in light and thunder. Skywalker screamed when his barrier was hit by the focused power of thirty two shaped charges. The explosion was far greater than the one he had shielded against on Aayla Secura''s flagship. Anakin would be dead without his new strength.

    He was able to stop the blossoming explosions. Mostly. His shield buckled and was partially breached in the few places where blasts from multiple charges met. Pieces of molten shrapnel and a few thin geysers of flames spurted through his barrier. Some Senators screamed and fell to the ground, scythed down by unlucky hits.

    Anakin shouted in denial when something hit the left side of Padme''s face, and she fell to the ground with a spray of blood. He saw red, and the Force itself screamed as if sharing the agony slashing his heart.

    =RK=

    Chancellor Office, Senate Building, Coruscant

    Palpatine was in his comfortable seat, with his hands crossed over his desk. He looked calm, a testament to his skills as a politician. The Sith Master plan, the conclusion to which generations of his kind had worked towards, was falling apart. If he were not furious, he would have found it amusing. Here he was, while his grand design, which was build upon the plans made by his predecessors, was being obliterated by a single man who had appeared from nowhere.

    With Dooku and Grievous temporarily out of the picture, very few knew that Darth Sidious was the real leader of the CIS. None of them were aware of his identity as Palpatine, which was turning out to be troublesome.

    The Chancellor scowled at the wall of his sealed inner sanctum. Outside, a bunch of droids and some bounty hunters were trying to breach the entrance. The Sith smirked. While he was loath to show his true abilities, a bit of subtle manipulation with the Force, and all the efforts of those fools were for naught. He drove the insects clawing at his door out of his mind, and thought about how he could salvage something of this mess. With his two most important pawns within the CIS out of the picture, Palpatine''s plans were unraveling at the seams.

    The last thing he heard before all comms were jammed, was that those fools had used the Blue Shadow on Coruscant. The City-planet was the worst possible place for such a virus to be unleashed, but the number of casualties was not important. What mattered was how the war was going to escalate. Oh, that would give a myriad of opportunities for someone as devious as him, but it would at the same time sow too much chaos in the conflict.

    Sidious always knew that despite being in charge of both sides, he wouldn''t be able to control everything, even before these new complications were added to the mix. The future was uncertain for even someone like him.

    Sidious relaxed and let his senses wander. He felt Skywalker diving deep within the Force and using his passions. The Chancellor smiled. At least on that front, his plans were going strong. It was good that the Jedi of this day and age did not know how to handle a young boy. They were the ones who sowed the seeds of Skywalker''s eventual fall, Palpatine merely nurtured those thorny vines, like a patient gardener.

    Then his attention carefully drifted towards the Jedi Temple where he could sense men and women dieing. Splendid! The raid to release Dooku was underway!

    It was all he could do not to cackle madly! The plan of that attack was straight from the legends of Dart Magnus, the man who pillaged that damn Temple many years ago.

    Sidious sat contentedly, drinking the wine that was the essence of Jedi suffering when a wave of darkness like no other he had ever felt exploded from the Temple!

    He jumped from his seat and started pacing. What was this?! It felt powerful, familiar.

    Sidious closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He concentrated on the cause of the Dark side maelstrom, centered upon the Jedi Temple. He had to fight his way through the layers of shadows that blocked his sight, until he was able to glimpse the source of the Dark Side energies drowning the Jedi Temple.

    To his total lack of surprise it was Delkatar Veil. But, of course! That man had to be in the center of his problems. He looked more carefully and frowned before the shadows gathered around the man and his sight was occluded again.

    However, what he felt in the last moment before his observation was interrupted, was something quite shocking! That man was not merely an exceptionally powerful and talented Dark Jedi. On the contrary. Sidious was certain of it. He knew one of his kind when he really looked at him. Delkatar Veil was a Sith!

    For one of handful moments in his life, Palpatine was truly confused. This was a development he had not planned for.

    For a thousand years there were only two Sith, no more and no less. Today, those two were himself and Darth Tyranus. That was all!

    Sidious had kept a close eye on his apprentice in order to avoid such a thing! He was reasonably sure that Dooku had not been the one to train Veil. Did the man find an ancient Sith Holocron? It was the most plausible explanation he could think of, and if it were true, then this new element was an unknown. That was dangerous, especially to a man such as Sidious who was accustomed to near omniscience.

    Palpatine sat down, and pondered his options. The best outcome was that the attack on the Senate removed many of the senators, preferably those who were opposed to him, such as Skywalker''s wife, he thought with distaste. True Sith were beyond such weakness.

    At least the troublesome girl would prove a splendid tool for turning Skywalker to the Dark Side, she and the Jedi in their blindness. Thanks to Skywalker''s "secret" marriage, he would soon be alone, and paranoid about anyone learning the truth. Once he was in such a state, the boy would be in a deliciously vulnerable position. Perfectly ripe for conversion.

    But what to do about Veil? The younger man was powerful, there was no doubt about it. He had obviously learned a few tricks about disguising his true nature, just as Sidious had. However, the real danger was the shadow thrown through the currents of the Force. Somehow, Veil, and Sidious had no doubt that was him, had robbed the Dark Lord of the Sith of his insight into the future. While a sign of admirable amount of skill and power, this was not something that could be borne in the long term. One way or another, Veil had to be dealt with.

    Palpatine wondered: with Dooku losing an arm, this was a good time to go searching for another apprentice. Perhaps one day, he could have Skywalker and Veil fight for that honor. To the death, of course!

    Palpatine''s eyes widened and he bolted up. He was nearly deafened when the Force itself screamed in pain!

    =RK=

    Part 2

    LAAT Gunship, on route to the Senate Building, Coruscant

    I was resigned to the fact that the Jedi would be a major thorn in my side. Yoda slapped Windu down, but there were a lot of Knights and Padawans in the Great Hall that shared his sentiments. Their numbers were less than half of those still standing, and yet that was too many considering that I just fought a battle to help them.

    I was going to give Yoda and Kenobi, as well as the moderate faction amongst the Jedi, a chance to clean up their mess before taking action. Unless I was provoked again. My patience for hostile elements of the Order was running thin.

    At least I was able to send the Chiss woman I saved back to the Requiem. I expected her to be out for a few days. The healing I performed would have taken a lot of her.

    I glanced to Ahsoka, who was riding in the same LAAT as me. The distraught padawan had a glum expression on her face. Yoda and Obi-Wan, while supportive of her attempts to dissuade Windu from making the biggest mistake in his life, were not too pleased with how she went about it. A padawan, shouting down council members was apparently a big no-no. At least they were not expelling her. Yet.

    Perhaps it was because Windu had admitted that Dooku had managed to escape, and instead of going after him, the Vaapad master decided that I was the real threat. The looks that Yoda and Kenobi gave him were priceless, and now immortalized on holovid.

    If the some of the Jedi were not turning against me, it would have been easier for me to admit that they had a very good case. Especially Mace. What happened in the Temple was a delicious irony, one which would warm my heart for a long time. After all, The Grandmaster of the Jedi Order himself, had supported me against my most vocal Jedi opponent. I did not have to do a thing to manipulate the little green fella either.

    To be fair, I am a Sith, whose long term plans would see the Jedi Order in its current form dismantled. I had not decided what to do about the Republic in the long term, but it was a very real possibility that it would not serve my purposes, and would have to go. Time would tell what I would need to do.

    I smirked. The Jedi were incredibly lucky that some other Sith was not thrown in this time. If another of my kind was propelled forward in time, and they had actual mastery over concealing their true motives with the Force, it would have been trivially easy to infiltrate the Republic military and subvert it from within. Hell, it''s what I did, but I was able to control my grudge against the Jedi Order. I was not going to destroy them unless they gave me a very good reason to do so... Windu almost did.

    I stared through the sealed door of the transport with unseeing eyes. My mind had drifted elsewhere. The Jedi may never know what a bullet they dodged.

    Darth Vael, the Sith, whose memories and powers I had. If he woke up in the past without me, he would have given them no mercy.

    The part of me that came from Darth Vael was baying for their blood. What happened a few short minutes ago was a powerful reminder that the Jedi Order as it existed today, and my kind, could not co-exist in the long term. Not unless their world view changed dramatically, but I was not sure that even Yoda''s power within their organization was strong enough to force such a thing. I had to step up my plans where the Jedi were concerned, and I had to find a way to persuade the people I found worthy of conversion, away from the deeply flawed teachings of the Order.

    But all that had to wait. Dealing with the mess of epic proportions at the Senate came first, and with the fallout of the CIS stunt a close second. I looked at Tano and smiled at her.

    "Ahsoka, thank you for standing up for me back in the Temple," I gave her a seated bow. "Without your passionate words, Windu might have done something that we all would regret."

    "Ah..." she stammered, and blushed at my praise. "You''re welcome, Delkatar."

    I stared at her. Nope! Nuh-huh. I was not going there! What is with teenage girls and dark, mysterious strangers, anyway!?

    ''Concentrate on the situation at hand!'' I ordered myself. Right. The Senate.

    I activated my comm link and spoke into it. "This is General Veil. Give me a sit-rep of the situation at the Senate." I ordered.

    A clone answered me few seconds later. "General, we''ve established perimeter around the building sir. Our observation teams could see groups of commando droids patrolling the outer halls of the Senate. "

    "Has clone marshal commander Cody arrived and taken command?" I asked. Kenobi told me that he had dispatched his soldiers to handle the Senate.

    "Negative, sir. His transport was shot down."

    Da fuq?

    "How did he manage that?" I asked incredulously. I had to remind myself that this was an especially unpleasant day, so I should not be surprised by such stuff happening.

    "His LAAT was disabled by a sniper before crashing. A rescue party has been sent, and should be there any minute now."

    I shook my head. I had to check the LAAT''s specs. Those things were supposed to be tougher than that! The LAATs were able to make orbit to ground ?ssaults if needed. The sniper rifle used to down Cody''s transport might be something special, in which case I would love to get my hands on it. Or perhaps, that particular gunship was not built according to specs. If someone was neglecting or sabotaging my troops'' gear, I would have to look into it. I disliked the idea of dying to shoddy construction.

    I was not dumb enough to say that the things can''t possibly become worse! Either way the universe decided to prove that point. I was less than a minute from the perimeter around the Senate, when I heard the Force itself scream. Moments later I could feel Anakin''s anguish through my bond with Ahsoka.

    Pain, denial and surging fury. That was an explosive combination, especially for someone who was not trained to deal with this emotions.

    "Master!" exclaimed Ahsoka, who was feeling the full brunt of his raging passions.

    That boy was about to lose himself. Having Skywalker go on a rampage in the heart of the Senate was not something that flowed well with my plans. If the worst had happened and he really went off the deep end, I would find a way to use it to my advantage, but I preferred to avoid such a thing happening.

    I called up the plans my clones were working on, and frowned. We did not have information about the enemy composition beyond the commando droids. Their numbers and locations were unknown. We did not know where the hostages were being held either, except Padme who was obviously at Anakin''s location on the east side of the building.

    This was going to be ugly, but I did not see a good alternative. If Skywalker lost it, the CIS agents were liable to overreact and start killing hostages.

    "All units, we are going in. Eliminate enemy forces holding the Senate and locate the where the hostages are being held. If practical rescue them, otherwise contain the areas where they are being held. Do not forget to keep your eyes open for ambushes and traps. Go! Go! Go!"

    I ordered my pilot towards the East side of the building as fast as possible. The wh?n? of the LAAT''s engine increased and it darted towards the Senate.

    =RK=

    East Ballroom, Senate Building, Coruscant

    The instant the shock-waves from the exploding charges dispersed, Anakin dropped his exhausted shield. The droids he had thrown at the walls were getting up, and more than a few still held blasters.

    Skywalker glared at the commando droids and gave them all a taste of what he felt at that moment. All his fear and anger, he used them as fuel to draw even more from the Force.

    The building itself ?r??n?d as deep rents appeared in the metal floor and walls. Droids were torn asunder by invisible scythes, while others were simply wrenched into pieces by giant invisible hands.

    Within seconds only the living remained in the Ballroom.

    Anakin glared at his work and smiled thinly. The Jedi''s blue eyes showed a hint of yellow.

    Then, Skywalker was on his knees panting. He could feel the Force slipping out of his grasp. When he tried to hold on to it, Anakin found out that he no longer had the strength to do so.

    He had pushed himself beyond his limits and was paying the price. The exhausted man crawled next to his downed wife and Senator Mon Mothma who was kneeling next to her, checking her wounds.

    "Padme!" he slurred the words. Anakin could feel that she was still alive, but that was all. His eyes rolled within their sockets and he collapsed next to Amidala.

    The wounded Ben Iblis shook his head at the scene.

    "Kids these days, will do anything to impress a girl." muttered the older man. He glanced at his colleagues, most of whom were milling around, half of them stunned by the display of power, while the rest were trying their best to tend to the wounded.

    "Stop staring and get armed!" he bellowed at the men and women surrounding him. This short "battle" was sure to had gotten the attention of the rest of their captors, and he had no d?s?r? to be shot again while lacking anything with which to return the favor.

    =RK=

    Senate Building''s East side, Coruscant

    From this close, it was easy to feel where Anakin unleashed his power. I could sense the disturbed currents of the Force, as well as the echo of the young man''s last anger fueled lash against his opponents. His collapse too.

    I frowned. Skywalker needed instruction on how to handle using the Force when channeled through his passions, or he would burn himself out like he just did.

    My LAAT and scores more had made their way to the Senate, and used their weapons to blast to pieces any CIS droids that dared show their heads anywhere close to us. Then the transports started unloading troopers on the buildings, or flew next to windows which were shattered by weapon''s fire.

    We used the latter method to enter an empty office. I led Ahsoka and two squads of clones deeper in the building after using my lightsaber to carve through sealed doors.

    A few droids tried and failed to slow us down.

    We found ourselves at the entrance of a modest sized ballroom (by Coruscant''s standards anyway), where I could feel Skywalker''s presence.

    I raised an eyebrow at the scene that greeted us. The farthest side of the room was blackened, with the walls mostly missing and revealing obliterated rooms. Closer to the entrance, the ground was littered with the gruesome remains of mercenaries, as well as heaps of droid scrap. There were large gashes in both the floor and ceiling.

    The Senators were in the center of the room. Some of them were holding blasters, which were pointed our way.

    I could see wounded people on the floor behind t. I recognized two of them: Skywalker and his wife, both of them unconscious. Anakin looked healthy, so I thought that he was simply exhausted from whatever stunt he had pulled out.

    Next to him was Padme, whose head was placed carefully on the ??p of a woman who was about her age. I could see the left side of Amidala''s face from my position, and I winced at the sight. It''s lower part was a burned, bloody ruin. I wouldn''t be surprise if her jaw was shattered.

    I returned my attention at the Senators, a few of whom were still pointing their guns our way. Civilians...

    "We are here to help. Kindly lower your blasters so we can avoid accidents." I spoke firmly but gently. There was no need to freak them any more than they already were.

    "Ahsoka, see to your master and Senator Amidala," I told the young Togruta. She held back because two Senators, a human and one from an insectoid race I''ve never seen before, were still pointing weapons at us.

    I snatched their guns from their clutches using the Force and chided them. They jumped back, obviously frightened.

    "None of that, gentlemen. We are here to help," I turned towards the clone sergeant in charge of the troopers with us. "Call in a for a medical evacuation," I nodded at the wounded, "and provide what first aid you can."

    The man saluted me and started snapping orders to his subordinates.

    I looked at the Senators who were started to look relieved by our presence. "Can anyone tell me exactly what happened? Do you have any idea where the rest of your colleagues are being held?" I asked the politicians, while Ahsoka made her way to her master and his wife.

    If I was not wiped out from the events at the Jedi Temple, I would have helped heal, or at least stabilized the wounded. Well, except Amidala, I would have helped the rest of the senators only for the positive PR. However I could not afford to use up what little strength I had remaining. Something told me that this day was far from over.

    =RK=

    Part 3

    East Ballroom, Senate Building, Coruscant

    I sort of liked Senator Bel Iblis. One tough fella, who didn''t let being shot in the gut to slow him down much.

    Damn lucky too, a credit to his homeworld of Corellia. A few centimeters to the left or right, and the wound would have killed him before we arrived. As it was, he had to be f?r??b?? convinced to lie down so a clone medic could begin treatment.

    Despite being wounded, Bel Iblis was the one who was able to give me the most coherent account of what occurred. The Senators in the room had been gathered to personally discuss the hearing regarding Naboo with Amidala just before all hell broke loose.

    After receiving his account of the events, I let the medics deal with the grumpy Corellian. I still had to reassure the Senators that they would be escorted to safety shortly, then went to check on Skywalker and his wife.

    "How''s Senator Amidala?" I asked the clone treating her.

    "Shattered jaw, concussion, multiple fractured vertebrae and she''ll have some impressive scarring, but otherwise fine."

    Well, damn. I suppose that she still lucked out, considering that whatever hit her didn''t inflict life-threatening levels of damage.

    From the corner of my eyes I saw Ahsoka wincing as she heard the full extent of Amidala''s injuries. I glanced at Skywalker who looked oddly peaceful while unconscious. He certainly wouldn''t be thrilled about what happened to his wife.

    When he awoke I should be around to run damage control. Can''t have him completely losing it right now. Too many other crises that still needed to be dealt with.

    "Padawan Tano, you are in charge here. Remain with the Senators until reinforcements arrive and ensure they are safely evacuated." I ordered.

    I gave a nod to Ahsoka who shook her head, as if to clear it out of extraneous thoughts.

    "Ah, yes. I''ll do it!" she exclaimed.

    I headed for the Senate''s main chambers, where all of the debates and voting occurred. On my way there I met a short platoon of clones who were exchanging heavy fire with commando droids and mercenaries.

    The CIS contingent were barricaded at the end of the corridor. While a frontal attack with me deflecting the enemy fire had a reasonable chance of success, I had another idea.

    "Lieutenant, I want a heavy weapons squad with me, equipped with breaching charges. Just draw their attention for a bit," I pointed at the enemies who were trying their best to blast us to pieces, "and we''ll flank them."

    "Yes, sir!" the man answered. "Beta section, you''re with the General!" he ordered.

    Four clones, who were carrying heavy blasters and a repeater cannon perked up noticeably at that.

    I led them past a side door and went to cut through the walls with my lightsaber. It took me several minutes to literally carve a new route to the flank of the CIS agents.

    We found ourselves into a deserted office, which had a wall anchoring the enemy''s choke point. I nodded at one clone, who had a backpack filled with multiple varieties of explosive goodness, and pointed at the relatively thin barrier of metal separating us from the enemy. We could clearly hear them shooting from the other side.

    "It''ll be a p???sur?, sir!" the man cheerfully exclaimed as he extracted several shaped charges.

    He carefully placed a spread of high-explosive(s) on the wall in a pattern to ensure maximum devastation on the opposite side. A minute later he was finished, as we took cover in a neighboring room behind a desk we upturned with its top side facing the doorway. The demolitions expert turned his head my way, and I could feel his anticipation for the order to be given.

    "Do the honors, sergeant."

    He pressed a bu??on on the computer built into his left arm-guard. In a moment the adjacent room exploded in flames, with the roar of the detonation nearly deafening us. Well, mostly me.

    The clones had sound dampeners in their helmets. My own was back aboard the Requiem. I should have appropriated one from one the wounded troopers at the Jedi Temple. Not like they would need them for the next few days.

    When the rumble of the explosion subsided, I shook my head in a futile effort to dispel the ringing in the ears while jumping over the desk. I activated my lightsaber and charged into the smoke from the explosion, with the clones just behind.

    The charges turned out to be borderline overkill. The corridor behind where the wall used to be was a figurative charnel house, full of pieces both biological and mechanical; many of them no longer recognizable.

    The enemy force blocking the way was simply annihilated. The blast wave had utterly shredded them. In the literal sense, at that.

    I waved the rest of the platoon forward (those who were still at the other end of the corridor) to follow us, and we headed deeper into the complex.

    That was the last major opposition we encountered on our way to the primary objective.

    Several droids and the odd mercenary tried to slow us down, but they were either gunned down by the clones, taken out after I re-directed their blaster fire, or felled by the business ends of my lightsaber.

    Our advance halted short twenty meters or so from the nearest entrance to the Senate''s Main Hall. There we linked up with multiple additional clone squads and platoons which had fought their own way there.

    We were confronted by an unarmed, smug-looking Weequay mercenary.

    "Take another step forward, and we will kill the Senators!" declared the cutthroat.

    I could sense that he was telling us the truth, or at least as he believed it to be.

    "How interesting." I muttered. "Lieutenant, I want the Senate chambers sealed. Spread the word."

    "What do you think you are doing?!" exclaimed the Weequay. "I told you, we''ll... *argh*..." his speech was interrupted as I began squeezing his throat through the Force.

    I maneuvered the choking individual through the air so we were face to face. I smiled coldly.

    "Now, my new friend, you are going to tell me all about the hostages held by your band of misfits."

    The mercenary was too busy futilely clawing at the intangible grip on his throat to answer.

    =RK=

    Part 4

    Near the Senate Main Chambers, Senate Building, Coruscant

    "You were saying?" I asked the weequay I had suspended in the air.

    He was gasping, trying to get some precious air in his lungs. The merc stared at me with horrified eyes. I could see it clear as a day. It was dawning on him that I could do what I wished with him and none of the clones would lift a finger to stop me. Hell, considering the crap pulled by the CIS and their pawns the last week or so, I could probably interrogate him on live TV and a lot of people would approve. For some reason the average citizen didn''t like folks who want to kill them with bio-weapons. I wonder why...

    "The chambers are rigged to blow! Both HE and gas!" my reluctant informant stammered.

    "Ah. So you''ve got chemical weaponry covered too. Do you have a nuke or two squared somewhere close?" I grumbled.

    This whole situation was starting to stink. It was as if the Separatists were doing their best to become the most hated group in the galaxy. Granted, with all the bullshit they were pulling out, it was likely that my revelation as a Sith would fade into insignificance in comparison. However, it simply made no sense for Palpy to escalate the war to such an extent, even when you took into account the coup I had made with the CIS leaders. The blame could go either way. Palpatine could get his hands on even more power, or get railroaded with the most of the blame for this debacle. After all, as a Chancellor, it was ultimately his own responsibility. It did not matter if he actually had control over the situation (something I was starting to doubt) or not.

    "Men, you heard the idiot. Re-check the seals of your armor and pass the word." I ordered.

    I really should have taken a helmet. As a Sith, I was trained in how to deal with poison gas, so even if the chemical weapon was released I should be able to last for a few minutes even if it acted through skin contact.

    While the clones made sure that they would''t drop dead if the mercenaries made complete ?sses from themselves, I started pumping my captive for additional information. I did not have to give him a single electric jolt before he started singing. So there were commando droids covering all entrances. The senators were at the bottom of the chambers, covered by HE charges and a few gas canisters. The merc didn''t know what type of weapon they contained but he was convinced that the chemical agent would kill at least two thirds of the hostages.

    That was nothing to sneeze at. There were representatives from hundreds, perhaps thousands of species. There were few chemical agents that could kill them all, and those would kill the mercs too.

    I looked at the closed door leading to the Senate Chambers. The prudent thing to do would be waiting. The information from the merc was not enough for an ?ssault. The building was still being secured, and the jammers were online. Yet, that gave me the opportunity to act without interference from Palpatine.

    The big question was: Did I want the senators alive? When all was said and done I did not care about the Republic beyond the way it would affect my still forming plans for the future.

    I smirked. When you don''t care about the hostages, that opened up a lot of avenues for negotiating.

    I gave instructions to the clone lieutenant. Then I used telekinesis to haul the weequay man in front of me and walked to the sealed door. A wave of my hand, directing the Force, was all that was needed to open it. I strode in and looked around. The chamber was an exact copy of what I remembered from the movies.

    There were thousands of beings gathered on the bottom levels. Over them I could see crimson laser beams crisscrossing into an intricate web over the hostages. Over that were floating four spherical droids, which had canisters attached to their chassis.

    Everyone, including the droids spread to cover the multiple entrances glanced in my direction. About a hundred blasters snapped up and aimed at me, and my captive.

    A woman with pale, almost snow white skin stared at me in surprise. Here head was shaven, except for a single, long ponytail. Her huge, calculating eyes were examining me carefully, behind the scope of a long-barreled sniper rifle. I wondered if she was the one who had shot down Cody''s LAAT.

    I looked around but was unable to see anyone else who I felt that might be in charge. I smiled to the mercenaries and their hostages. If their expressions were anything to judge by, they were disturbed by my expression. I wonder why...

    I twisted sharply my left fist and the Force field suspending my captive followed suit. His neck snapped like a twig and he twitched a few times before becoming still. I let his corpse out of my grasp and it fell to the floor. Everyone''s eyes followed the gruesome spectacle.

    "Well, folks, is there anyone else who wants to negotiate?" I asked cheerfully. "If any one of you idiots wish to survive the next few minutes, lay down your weapons and hit the ground, face first."

    Their answer was nervous laughter and incredulous stares from the Senators. I had the nagging feeling that they were not taking me seriously. What a pity.

    The woman nodded to one of her henchmen and he turned around. His blaster snapped a shot and a Zabrak wearing expensive robes crumpled on the floor with most of his face missing. The mercenary who executed the senator smirked at the hostages, before I focused my attention on him for a single moment. His weapons slipped from his fingers. He grabbed his throat and fell to his knees chocking as blood flooded his shattered trachea.

    "That was a foolish thing to do, girl," I addressed the apparent mercenary leader. "How do you think you''ll get out of here? Trade Senators for a secure transport off world?" I sneered.

    Oh, I was aware that without my presence it may have worked. Splendidly at that. However, the CIS pawns in front of me were out of luck. I did not feel like making deals with what amounted to state-sponsored terrorists.

    The white skinned woman was glaring daggers at me. I was sure that if the looks could kill I would be dying slowly after she had shot off some very important equipment.

    "I have nearly ten thousand Senators at my mercy!" she declared in a grave voice. Under other circumstances I could have found it even pleasant, but I could hear the traces of doubt in her tone. She was confused, almost afraid. I guess, she had never expected to "negotiate" with someone who did not care for the hostages'' lives. Too bad for her.

    "So?" I deadpanned.

    The mercs just stared at me. Obviously things were not going according to their plans.

    "You fools used bio weapons on Coruscant. There is no way in the Nine Corellian Hells, that any one off you is leaving this building in something other than chains or body bags." I declared.

    The Senators gasped at my little revelation. It was no surprise that they were not aware that however inefficiently, Blue Shadow was deployed on the planet. I could sense anger rising in a lot of the captives, hastily overwhelming their fear. Huh. May be not all of them were a lost cause.

    The woman pointed at the droids floating over the hostages.

    "A press of a bu??on and they all die!" she declared boldly. "You will meet our demands!"

    "No. By the way you have one minute left." I said in a bored tone.

    My attention was on the droids floating over the hostages. I did not like what I sensed.

    She stared in my eyes. The cold, dead gaze of a Sith met hers. She gulped.

    "You are insane!" she spat. "We''ll kill them all if we have to!"

    I tilted my head to the right, b?r?ly restraining my amusement. I drank the fear of both mercenaries and hostages. It tasted like a well seasoned, sweet wine. Its been a long time since I felt something like that. The Dark Side was stirring around me, pleased by the fuel that it was feeding it.

    "And you are a fool!" I declared. "Most of the honorable Senators were dead men and women from the moment you took them as hostages!"

    Said dead men walking stared at me as if I had grown a second head.

    "Do you think that your Separatist masters planned to let any one of them, or you for that matter, get out of here alive?! The best outcome for the Confederation from today''s debacle is if the Senators are decimated! Why do you think they sent so many commando droids to this excursion?" I nodded at one of the said robots, which was studying me dispassionately.

    Few of the mercenaries gave speculative glances to their "allies". The woman was glancing between me and the droids. But most telling were the expressions on may Senator''s faces. They were experienced political animals, who were keenly aware what would happen to the Republic if most of them were suddenly killed. Many of them were in shades that were the equivalent of ''deadly pale'' for a human, with some looking in confusion at their esteemed colleagues.

    The woman''s glare intensified.

    "You''ll be lynched if these fools die on your watch!" she pointed at the hostages.

    "It will be nothing compared to the fury I''ll face when the Republic Citizens understand that every one of them, and their future representatives are turned into targets, and that is precisely what will happen if any one of your demands is met. In the great scheme of things both me and the Senators are expendable for the good of the Republic." I declared.

    Well, that was a creative editing of the truth. After all, I was a selfish bastard, who did not care for the Republic. Yet, from a certain point of view, all I said was true. Every competent GAR general should have made the same decision. The only thing that negotiating with a terrorist did, was making your citizens targets. Of course, too damn often the short term, politically expedient thing was to do so anyway, and damn the consequences.

    Well, I guess that many Senators did not agree with me. Their baleful glares were telling.

    "So, tell me, do you have control over all those charges, littered around the senators, or are they under the control of the droids?" I smiled at the woman.

    Thirty more seconds.

    She frowned and gave a nervous glance at one of the commando droids. Ah. That was going to be unpleasant. The only variant where most of the hostages walked away was one in which the mercs were in control. With the CIS droids holding all the cards...

    Twenty seconds.

    This was going to be ugly. I drank deeply from the poisoned well that was the Dark Side. I felt power rushing through my veins like a liquid fire. My senses expanded, feeling the clones taking positions around every entrance to the Senate Cambers. There were breaching charges placed on many doors, or the troopers were readying thermal detonators with which to blast a way in. On a few occasions, missile launchers were prepared for that exercise.

    It was a good thing that there were no senators used as a live shields at the entrances.

    Fifteen seconds.

    I concentrated on the platforms at the bottom of the big chamber. They should do.

    The female mercenary was scared. I could taste her fear. She was saying something about executing senators but I paid her no more attention. A lot of the hostages were about to die anyway.

    Ten seconds.

    The clones were in place. Those who were carrying concussion grenades had them primed and ready. My attention was on the droids carrying the chemical weapon. I examined them once again. They were interlinked. If one was disabled or tampered with in any way, all would blow up. Those things were shielded too, which made precise work on them much harder. Especially when I could not see with my eyes what I had to manipulate. So it was the hard way.

    Five seconds.

    I stretched through the Force and tapped the shoulders of various clone officers, who were commanding the troopers around the chambers. Those men started snapping orders.

    Show time. The doors leading to the Senate Chamber blew inward, showering the vast expanse with shrapnel and pieces of molten metal. Half of the commando droids were wiped out in an instant. Yet, the rest were already acting, before the lethal rain of twisted metal had stopped.

    The platforms at the bottom of the huge chamber leaped from their docks, creating a crude dome over and around the hostages. The charges around them detonated but most of the blast-waves and sharpnew were absorbed by my improvised shield. Yet, hundreds were scythed down by the shock-wave anyway.

    In the same time, I grabbed the droids carrying the chemical weapon with a sure, telekinetic grip and hurled them at the ceiling, maintaining a sphere of Force energy around them. I threw a pod after each one of them.

    If it was not for the multiple droids shooting at me and draining my shield, I could have used the Force to contain whatever was in those canisters, but that was not going to work. I was exhausted even before returning to the Senate.

    Clones were pouring in the chambers after a barrage of concussion grenades.

    The droids carrying the chemical agent detonated but the gray gas was contained in bubbles of Force. Moments later, they were smashed into the ceiling by the pods I hurled at them. A lot of the gas was sealed into an air tight shell of metal. The rest was contained by me for few more seconds, until my shield fell.

    I jumped away from a hail of blaster fire. I called my lightsaber to my right hand and ignited its ruby blade. I rolled under the shots of a nearby droid and impaled it on my saber. I threw another across the chamber.

    Above me, thick ropes of gray gas started descending. Fast.

    "Get the hostages out of here! Now!" my roar echoed around the vast open space.

    I could sense that the clones at the bottom were already doing so, but I knew it would be too little, too late. Unless I decided to sacrifice myself for the senators, most of them would be exposed to the gas, and that was not something that I was inclined to do.

    I cut to pieces two more droids and hurled a pod at a group of mercs who were cheerfully shooting at the mass of hostages. Only one of them was fast enough to jump out of the way, however that was the extent of his luck. He landed in a stream of heavier than air gas and started chocking.

    All around me, clones were storming the chambers and blasting both mercenaries and droids apart. But it was not fast enough. The gas was descending fast, in a quickly expanding streams of gray death.

    I used telekinesis to throw away some of it but had to duck when a crimson blaster bolt nearly took my head off. I glanced at the direction from which the shot came, just in time to see two more blasts heading my way. I deflected them and glared at the woman who was sniping at me. Our eyes met for a brief moment, and before she pressed the trigger again I could see a mix of resignation and fierce enjoyment. I deflected another blaster bolt, this time at her, but she ducked back into the pod she was using for cover.

    Around me the gas descended, splashing over a hastily erected telekinetic shield. I held my breath, using the Force to extend the time I could survive without air. However that feat was the extent of what I could pull off without collapsing.

    My muscles were already on fire, and I could feel my strength ebbing away.

    The sniper was able to shoot one last time before she was engulfed by the gas, which moments later fell over thousands of hostages. Many of them clutched their ?h?sts and collapsed, their bodies wracked by convulsions.

    What a clusterfuck!

 Chapter 13 - Consequences

    Corellian Defence Force Headquarters, Corellia

    In front of a massive, reinforced building, a holo-projector showed a rendering of the images that were etched in the psyche of most Republic citizens. The ?ssault of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant and the battle in the heart of the Senate itself.

    A gray haze.

    Blue and red bolts of light crisscrossing in the air.

    Men fighting, screaming and dying.

    "All of us who were on Coruscant that day knew that something fundamental had changed. " spoke a middle-aged man. "We felt it in our bones, and for once that was not just a figure of speech."

    The ?ssembled crowds in front of the planetary Defense Forces Headquarters were silent, captivated by the speech of Bel Iblis.

    "Some say that it would be a day that would live in infamy for generations." he continued. "While they are correct, what happened that day is so much more."

    The Senator paused and looked all over the massive crowd which had ?ssembled to hear him speak. Amongst the sea of men, women and children, he could see hundreds in the uniforms of the CDF.

    "It was a wake up call!" his voice echoed over the ?ssembled people. "Many of us believed that this conflict between the Republic and the Confederation of Independent systems, was of no consequences for us! After all, some of the Separatists do have real grievances! So we chose to remain neutral." his voice became quieter, yet the ?ssembled people had no problem understanding his words. "But many who remained nominally loyal to the Republic, supported their cause." another pause. Iblis took a deep breath, and his voice thundered over the crowd.

    "We all saw what those madmen of the CIS did! First Naboo! A neutral and peaceful planet still suffers under the unleashed horrors of the Blue Shadow! A terror that was eradicated from the face of the Galaxy centuries ago! Yet that was not enough! Confederate agents struck in the very heart of the Republic itself! Their agents, war criminals, every last one of them, used both biological and chemical weapons on the center of galactic civilization! In the very heart of Coruscant! But even that was not enough for them!" Iblis paused again and nodded to the general in full dress uniform standing to his left. The older man stepped forward and his powerful voice carried over the crowd.

    "Everything that Senator Bel Iblis said is true! But that does not show the full extent of the depravities of the CIS! Republic Intelligence agents uncovered what is the true purpose of the recent Separatists invasion of Ryloth! It is to satisfy the terms of an alliance they made with the Hutt cartels! And the price of those criminals is slaves! Yes, that is correct! As we speak, millions of men, women and children are being enslaved and sold as mere cattle! Republic citizens, just as any one of you!" the general pointed at the crowd.

    He stepped back and let the Senator to the front again. Garm looked at his people, and gave them a solemn nod.

    "That is correct, my brothers and sisters! No matter how they began, the Confederation is now little more than the scum of the galaxy! Murderers! Slavers!" he took a deep breath.

    The crowds surrounding the Defense Headquarters were growing restless. Iblis could almost taste their rising anger, and he could only imagine what was happening across the rest of Corellia and the star system. This speech was going live.

    "In light of all that happened in the past few weeks, after heavy deliberation, the government of Corellia, unanimously, decided that we could no longer remain neutral in this conflict. The CIS has shown its true colors ¨C that of a mad beast that must be put down for the safety of us all! As of noon today, Corellia rejoins fully with the Republic and declares war on the Confederation of Independent systems!"

    His next words were drowned by the approving roar of the crowd.

 Chapter 14 - The Fires of Ryloth

    Part 1

    Senate Building, Coruscant

    It was almost over. I could feel thousands of beings dying. Part of me felt a pang of guilt. Perhaps there was a way to save more of the senators. But the cold, calculating piece of my mind that was the General whispered that the price would have been too high. It was almost a given that Palpatine would have tried to cut a deal, probably by releasing Grievous. That was unacceptable. The cyborg was a butcher who could rival some Sith. A few thousands senators'' lives were small price to pay for keeping him contained and sending the message that the Republic won''t negotiate with terrorists.

    While I didn''t really care for the Republic as a government, or its senators, that didn''t mean that I wanted to see whole worlds full with innocent people held as hostages, something that the CIS was bound to do if their gambit here worked.

    The clones below me were trying their best to drag as many senators as possible from the gray gas which was engulfing the chamber. Around me, the remaining commando droids were unloading their weapons at the advancing troopers, determined to sell their synthetic lives dearly.

    I felt a danger through the Force and ducked under a blaster shot. The woman was back up. She was ignoring the gas and sniping at me. I deflected her next blaster bolt and frowned when I let my sensed wash over her. She was Force s?ns?t?v? and had at least some rudimentary training.

    I waved at a nearby group of clones who just finished blasting apart a commando droid and pointed them at the sniper. She had to duck under a rain of blue blaster bolts.

    I used my last reserves of the Force to dart her way. I vaulted from pod to pod until I was able to jump at the woman''s sanctuary.

    She met me with few well placed shots from a hold out blaster, most of which I battered away with my lightsaber. Whether it was her skill or my weariness, two shots slipped through my defenses and hit me in the ?h?st. However the blaster bolts splashed onto my armor, blasting small craters in an alloy which was created to handle much greater punishment.

    Our eyes met and I saw comprehension dawning on her as my scarlet blade descended and nailed her to the floor of the battered pod she used as a fire-base.

    A soft gasp fell from her lips. She tried to whisper something, but there was not enough air in her ruined lungs. I watched dispassionately as her eyes glazed over and felt the spark of life leaving her body. Once again I sensed a tiniest piece of Force energy rushing from a woman as she died to join with me. I frowned when it made me feel refreshed. What in the name of the Force was that?!

    I acted on instinct and turned to the right. My blade snapped up and met a the dark edge of a vibro blade of a one armed commando droid. The machine chassis was battered and blackened from glancing hits. It stumbled in my direction and swung wildly and relatively slowly. My lightsaber shot forward, scrapping the outer edge of the robot''s weapon, before cutting through the metal fingers gripping it. My next move slammed the tip of my blade between the photoreceptors of the droid, destroying its cybernetic brain. I withdrew my weapon and turned around, letting the neutralized machine to fall to the floor in a clatter of metal hitting upon metal. I scanned the chamber, searching for more threats, but aside for the gas which was still raining from the ceiling there were none left. I gazed at the clones busy removing the senators from the chamber and shook my head.

    For a moment I stared at my hands, wondering with how much blood would stain them before it all was over.

    =RK=

    Chancellor''s Office, Senate Building, Coruscant

    Palpatine grimaced when he felt hundreds of clones approaching the Senate. He had hoped that the CIS troops would dispose of the Senators, particularly those that opposed him before the GAR cleared up its act and rode to the rescue. No matter. Most of his political opponents should be held as hostages in the Senate''s main chambers. A bit of negotiating and he should be able to not only ensure Grievous'' release, but a favorable outcome of the mess in the building. Favorable for him of course.

    He smiled like a kind, elderly gentleman, when the thick glass behind him exploded and a squad of clones rappelled in. Palpatine nodded at the officer in charge.

    "Thank you captain!"

    A LAAT with open doors appeared next to the shattered window.

    "We need to go, sir!" stated the clone captain. "We do not know what else the separatists have in reserve. It is not safe here."

    Palpatine glanced at the dead comm built into his desk and nodded. As he was cut off from all communication in his office, he was for all intents and purposes removed from power. Something the Sith Lord loathed.

    "Right..." the Chancellor''s next words were cut off by the Force screaming at him with a warning for immediate danger. Palpatine''s eyes widened.

    He needed to get out of the office. NOW!

    Sidious raced between the clones, surprising them. He began gathering the Force around himself as a shield, but doing it subtly so that Veil and the young Jedi who he felt approaching wouldn''t sense him. He was about to jump towards the LAAT, with an agility that would be the envy of a man half his age, and the consequences be damned, when the office behind him, as well as the clones were engulfed in a wave of fire and shrapnel.

    Palpatine was thrown away by the blast wave, which struck the gunship and nearly sent it out of control. The Chancellor survived only thanks to the Force which was shielding him. However the energy field protecting him at that moment was not even close to what was needed to keep him unscratched, which in hindsight turned to be a good thing.

    Sidious found himself flying through the air and passing through the open doors of the LAAT which, moments later, was spinning, with its pilots fighting for control. Palpatine''s arms snapped to the side and grabbed the edge of the gunship''s floor.

    The Sith used the Force to reinforce his limbs and pulled himself into the wildly shaking machine. He hissed in pain. His robes were smoldering and he could smell the stench of burnt human flesh. His own. The back of his right hand was a ruin of torn blisters and cooked tissue. He could feel the hot burns on the right side of his face too.

    The Dark Lord of the Sith swore an eternity of pain to the fools within CIS who had tried to ?ssassinate him! HIM! Their future Emperor!

    His fury was whipping around him, causing the force to act up and trash random items within the troop compartment. The Sith swore. He could not allow himself to be revealed right now. If it happened, it was foregone conclusion who the Jedi would blame and it was sure that Veil would use such a golden opportunity to move against him. Such a thing may very well spell disaster for his plans.

    But there was a silver lining to his pain. If he played his cards well, he could emerge from this debacle like a hero, with his wounds as a proof, which would give him even more power. That thought cheered him up.

    The pilots regained control over the LAAT and Palpatine ordered them to take him to the nearest command post where he wanted a doctor waiting. He started plotting a gruesome revenge upon the people who had dared wound him.

    Temporary GAR Headquarters, Cruiser Requiem, High Orbit over Coruscant

    I slumped heavily in one of the few free chairs in the conference room which acted as a headquarters for GAR until the clusterfuck down on the planet was unfucked. I felt n?k?d in my green general''s uniform. My armor was in engineering when after an even more thorough decontamination, it would be fixed after the shots it had tanked earlier today.

    Below us, Coruscant was still under a full lockdown, while the remains of the CIS forces on the ground were hunted down. However, after a brief meeting with Palpy, who had part of his face and right hand melted when apparently, separatists agents who did not know about his later ego tried to blow him to kingdom come, confirmed me as acting commander of GAR until we found out what happened with High Command. They were still under lockdown and heavy jamming.

    That in turn meant that I could no longer act as little more than a common trooper. Not when the immediate crisis was mostly resolved. Besides, the prudent thing to do was to get out of sight of the surviving senators. Right now I was not their favorite person even if some of the saved hostages did agree that the CIS agents planned to kill them all anyway. So I designated my flagship as a temporary GAR headquarters.

    I wondered if the Chiss woman I saved knew something about that. I added questioning her about it to the growing list of things I would ask her about when she awoke.

    Meanwhile I was sipping from a steaming mug of caf and overseeing the supposedly organized chaos in the room. Various officers, both natural born and clones were busy making sense of the mess on Coruscant, and across the galaxy.

    I stood up and smiled tiredly when Obi-Wan and Ahsoka entered the madhouse. After the debacle of the temple and my new, temporary promotion, Kenobi was sent as a liaison between the Jedi and the GAR. The kid was already on board. She had came up on the LAAT bringing the Skywalkers to the med bays of the cruiser. Considering that Coruscant was a long way from being declared secure, I had ordered them taken to my flagship for treatment.

    "Obi-Wan, I am glad to see you," I said. "Ahsoka." I nodded at the kid. "How are Skywalker and the Senator?" I asked.

    "The doctor swears that Padme will make a full recovery, but she''ll have a mean scar. My Master should be awake sometime tonight. "

    "What happened with Anakin and senator Amidala?!" exclaimed Kenobi.

    I gave him the b?r?-bones of what senator Iblis told me. He shook his head at Skywalker''s latest stunt. I nodded in commiseration, praying that my apprentices wouldn''t give me so much grief.

    "Have the Separatists executed other attacks, banking on us being preoccupied with Coruscant?" asked my fellow general.

    "None that we''ve heard about so far. However they seem to have reinforced most of their armies engaged with our forces." I answered. "Then there is what RI agents uncovered about the CIS actions on Ryloth." I spat. If I had anything to say about it, that would be my next destination as soon as the mess here was more or less cleaned up.

    "Oh?" inquired Obi-Wan.

    I could sense that he was wary from the anger I let slip through my shields when I thought about what those confederate bastards were doing on the Twi''lek homeworld.

    "It appears that our Huttese "friends" have cut a deal with the separatists. They would support them for some concessions. One of which is slaves. That is one of the primary aims of the invasion of Ryloth."

    "The CIS are participating in slavery?!" exclaimed Ahsoka.

    The horror was on her face, clear for all to see.

    "Its unclear if that is the official position of the Sep government or if someone cut a personal deal with the Hutts, but it does not really matter. It''s the CIS leaders responsibility anyway." I spat.

    Kriffing slavers! I couldn''t wait to get my hands on those bastards!

    I took a deep breath.

    "Unfortunately, we can''t do anything about it until Coruscant is reasonably secured. With the attacks on Naboo and here, we are stretched almost to the breaking point." I whispered.

    Ahsoka looked incredulously at me but Kenobi only nodded gravely. I looked at the girl. As a mere commander, she was not briefed on the overall strategic situation. Which was that for the moment the Republic was loosing the war. If we could hang out for about a year or so, until the clone army was fully mobilized and the next couple of naval construction cycles were completed, we would have a very good chance to turn the tide. That and hopefully after the attacks on Coruscant, some of the systems which declared their neutrality in this conflict would come to our side.

    "What exactly happened at the senate?" asked Kenobi.

    "Ah. That." I muttered.

    The gas deployed by the separatists was called something that I could not pronounce. It was also known as the Gray Death. It killed outright nearly three thousand senators with almost as many who were not expected to make it. The preliminary reports were saying that if I had not pulled my stunt, the damn thing would have wiped them all out. Not that most of the survivors appeared be of the same opinion. There was already grumbling heard that I risked their lives instead of negotiating.

    I smiled viciously at that thought. After speaking with Palpatine and before heading for the Requiem I had a brief chat with few chosen reporters. I didn''t really have to manipulate the newsies. I just mentioned that few ungrateful senators would prefer to make all their constituents targets for terrorists and the CIS butchers in order to save their own skin.

    For once the media was helpful and was already tearing those politicians apart.

    "The two bases hit with Blue Shadow..." I continued to brief Kenobi.

    Part 2

    Med Bay, Republic Cruiser Requiem, High Orbit over Coruscant

    I entered one of the compartment of the Med Bay, where the bacta tanks were situated, and walked next to Anakin. He was standing still in front of a cylinder which was holding his wife. Padme was floating peacefully within, submerged into green colored bacta.

    After few minutes of silence I asked, "How are you holding up?"

    Skywalker turned his haunted eyes towards me.

    "I kriffed up!" he hissed angrily.

    "That is a big steaming pile of bantha poodo and you know it!" I scoffed. "You got your wife alive out of that damn killzone as well as most of the other hostages. You did well, Anakin."

    "Then why is she in there!" he shouted, pointing at the bacta tank.

    "Its war. Shit happens. People get hurt. It''s a messed up age we are living in." I fixed him with a cold stare. "Despite everything the universe has thrown your way, your wife is still alive. So be glad that she''ll recover, and train so you can do better the next time our dear Senator gets herself into trouble."

    "Padme won''t..." he winced and trailed off.

    I shook my head at the poor bastard. If he believed that Amidala will stop putting herself in danger, or finding herself in sticky situations anyway, I had some prime farm land to sell him. Smack in the middle of the dune sea on Tatooine...

    "She would." he grumbled.

    "Well, I doubt that you would have married an obedient wife, who would stay safely at home waiting for you." I quipped.

    "It would be much easier on the nerves..." he muttered.

    "Just don''t let her hear you saying that. You''ll sleep on the couch for a long time."

    Anakin gave me a small smile, before growing serious.

    "You didn''t come here just to check up on us. Not with everything that happened yesterday," he stated.

    "Unfortunately not. There is a meeting of the ranking GAR officers who are present in the system. Its in fifteen minutes. Conference room Sigma Three. There will be some changes in High Command. We have three generals and an admiral dead with two more who would be out of commission for months thanks to complications from the Blue Shadow cure."

    "That''s bad." muttered Skywalker.

    =RK=

    Conference room Sigma Three, Republic Cruiser Requiem; High orbit over Coruscant

    When we gathered for the meeting, which would decide where the GAR would be going on after the debacle on Coruscant, there were only six people present in person on the cruiser. Yoda, Kenobi, Skywalker, Pellaeon and General Telar Valentra and me. Valentra was the only one who had survived the attack on High Command, and was the only one of the high ranking officers there lucky enough not to be infected. It was thanks to his habit to be in his armor while on duty, with his helmet always nearby. The aging Zabrak male possessed a healthy dose of paranoia.

    Around the large, round table which dominated the room, could be seen multiple pale holographic projections of Jedi generals as well as that of admiral Yularen. In total it was a small number, which represented those of us who were both healthy enough to participate in the meeting and not present into an active combat theater at the moment, in order to mitigate the possibility of the communications being intercepted. I knew that it would be a futile effort with Palpy being our commander in chief, but that was no reason to slack on the security protocols.

    One of them was glaring daggers at me. I smiled nervously at master Shaak Ti, who was overseeing the training of the clone troopers on Kamino.

    "You can''t stay out of trouble for even a week, can you?" she grumbled.

    I shrugged. It wasn''t like I goaded the CIS into doing insane operations!

    "Blame the Separatists. I''ve only done my best to clean up the mess that they did on Naboo and Coruscant."

    "Speaking about the capital, what is the status of the Senate?" interjected Master Secura.

    General Valentra''s expression became grim.

    "Six thousand eight hundred and thirty one Senators are either dead or not expected to make it after the attacks. That''s about sixty percent of them all. Those number does not include all the aides and attaches, most of whom were simply gunned down in the Senate halls." he declared in a grave voice. "We do not have complete number for them but there are more than twenty three thousand confirmed dead in the Senate building alone. That is before units under General Veil''s command ?ssaulted the building."

    The generals who didn''t yet know the numbers stared at the old Zabrak in stunned disbelief.

    "Grave blow this is," stated Yoda. He looked me in the eyes. It was obvious that he disapproved the way I handled the Senate business.

    I stared back calmly and wondered what would have happened if a Jedi was in charge of that mess. Would they have negotiated with the mercenaries, despite the consequences of such actions?

    "What would you have me do in such circumstances? Negotiate with the terrorists? Meet their demands, which would have seen the CIS taking whole worlds as hostages? It would have been a disaster for the Republic, even greater than what happened yesterday." I stated dispassionately.

    "Yes. Our duty is to save lives!" snapped Ayala Secura.

    "As a Jedi, that might be the case, Master Secura." I answered with the same calm tone. "But, as a General, your duty is a bit different. It is tragic, but often we have to decide which course of action is best for the Republic as a whole and stick to it. As GAR officers, which all of us are, our oaths are to the Republic as a whole and the people that make it what it is, not only to the Senate and the individual Senators, despite them being the civilian leadership we answer to."

    I was really not surprised to see General Valentra and Admiral Yularen nodding in agreement while most of the Jedi glared at me.

    "In a war people die. Our duty is to spent the lives of our subordinates wisely, not to waste them pursuing impossible objectives." I added.

    "If someone had not only negotiated with the hostage takers, but actually met their demands... The consequences would not b?r? thinking about..." grumbled the Admiral.

    "That''s right. Besides, you are obviously ?ssuming that they wouldn''t have killed the Senators anyway." added Valentra. He patted a data pad which laid on the table in front of him. "The preliminary reports from the Senate Chambers show that the commando droids had remote control over the charges and the gas."

    "General Veil had no way to know that." declared Master Adi Mundi.

    "I suspected it. The elimination of the Senate would have been the best outcome for the Separatists. Even with a partial success they now have a huge advantage. We''ll have huge political problems." I said.

    "Finding out a way to deal with the aftermath is one of the main reasons for this meeting," added General Valentra.

    Moments later one last figure appeared, projected over an empty chair. That was the Chancellor who was in an undisclosed location on the plant below us. Palpy resembled a mummy with the thick bandages covering the right side of his face.

    That earned him a lot of sympathetic looks. The poor fella. It couldn''t have happened to a nicer guy.

    "Let''s get this meeting started." said Palpatine with gravel voice. "After yesterday, it is clear that the Confederation of Independent systems is a clear and present danger for the very existence of the Republic. In light of that, our strategic aims in prosecuting the war have to change. A peaceful settlement of this conflict, aside from the Separatists unconditional surrender is no longer acceptable!" declared the Chancellor with conviction ringing in his voice. "They have proven themselves as murderous criminals who could not be trusted! The use of biological and chemical weapons on Coruscant itself can''t go unpunished!"

    Most of us, even a lot of Jedi agreed with the last point. The WMD genie had to be nipped out in the bud as soon as possible. There were more than enough, mostly conventional, ways to wipe out a planet anyway.

    I had to suppress a smirk. This was probably the first time since the war started when Palpy was saying the truth. Besides I was ready to bet that what really irked his Royal Sithiness was that he was actually hurt. By what was supposed to be his own people. I found it hilarious.

    "Because of what happened, I am under tremendous pressure from the remains of the Senate for immediate action." said Palpatine. "In order to secure the support needed for further expansion of the GAR, we must restore the faith of the public and Senate into the Army. Ladies and gentlemen, we need a victory. Soon."

    "With the hit taken by GAR High Command, we have few critical jobs that need to be filled." said General Valentra. "We are hardly at a position to produce a major victory soon."

    "There is a possibility," whispered commodore Pellaeon.

    We all looked at his direction.

    "Speak, Commodore." ordered Yularen.

    Gilad straightened in his chair.

    "Yes, sir. I heard some disturbing information from Republic Intelligence. It concerns Ryloth."

    "I''ve have been pressured by the Senate to liberate that world for the past few weeks," stated Palpatine. "However, I was told that we didn''t have the ?ssets needed for such an operation."

    "The blockade there is too strong. We can''t spare the starships for a successful attack there without critically weakening other fronts." confirmed Yularen.

    "That is a supposition based on incomplete information." said Pellaeon. "At least that is what the RI agent with whom I spoke believe."

    "Please enlighten us, Commodore Pellaeon." Palpatine waved at the man.

    "Yes, sir. Big part of the blockade consists of Droid command ships, which would usually imply a huge number of Munificent frigates as escorts. That is not the case. Those ships are there as transports. It appears that the Separatists had cut a deal with the Hutt cartels. In exchange for looking to the other side where their activities are concerned, the damn worms wanted slaves to accept the deal. That is one of the primary reason for the invasion of Ryloth. It is unclear whether the last part is the CIS official policy or one of their leaders is being opportunistic, but there are millions of Republic citizens turned into slaves and shipped to the damn Hutts."

    The silence that descended upon the room after that information came to light, could be cut with a vibroblade. Yularen and Valentra were looking horrified at the Commodore, while the Jedi had gobsmacked expressions on their faces. They could scarcely believe it, or so it seemed.

    However, what I sensed from the man to my left, resonated with the fury rising within my heart. All the shit they pulled was not enough! The accursed CIS had to become a bunch of kriffing slavers too! I fumed silently. I spoke before I could think things through.

    "I volunteer to lead a force to liberate Ryloth." I declared.

    "I''ll go!" exclaimed Skywalker.

    We spoke simultaneously. We looked at each other and chuckled, an act that diminished the rising tension in the room.

    "You two will still need a lot of additional forces for such an operation. General Veil''s fleet is far from ready. Besides most of the ?ssets under his command are tied down at Naboo." General Valentra dashed our enthusiasm.

    "What happens on Ryloth is not something we could let continue." said Shaak Ti. "There are a few fresh formations that would be ready before the end of the month, as well as various groups of clones designated as replacements of combat losses..." she started thinking aloud.

    "That''s a possibility." I muttered.

    Many heads turned my way. I frowned, thinking.

    "Sent the green troops to enforce the quarantine on Naboo. Then we could pull out the veterans from that mission and use them as the heart of a liberation force. But we''ll still need more ground troops and ships to retake Ryloth. As well as enough equipment for the infantry and armor formations."

    "I''ll lit a fire under our logistics corps and see what we can provide. The cupboard is a bit empty right now." said General Valentra.

    "It is decided then. The GAR will liberate Ryloth as soon as possible." despite his mellow tone, Palpatine''s words were an order. "Now, what about the casualties suffered at GAR headquarters?"

    That was thorny question. A lot of high ranking officers were either dead or incapacitated for the near future.

    "Sir, I have a proposal for changes in the GAR leadership, that I believe would serve us well in view of the casualties taken yesterday..." said General Valentra.

    Hours later, when it was finally over, there were some changes made in how the GAR was run. High Command on Coruscant was left with the strategic planning of the war as well as the most important job of them all ¨C handling the unholy mess that were the logistics of a galaxy spanning conflict. General Valentra was confirmed as overall military commander of the circus that was the GAR, with only the Chancellor over him. Me and most of the Jedi were relegated as Direct Action Command ¨C read the field commanders of the army, which became a separate branch of the Republic armed forces. That came with something that I liked very much. The members of the DAC had command authority even if there were higher ranking officers from other branches of the GAR in any given war theater. No more REMFs in charge of combat troops. Yay!

    Another thing that was discussed was a proposition to pass the commanders of the GAR through a review commission of their peers, to confirm that they actually deserved their current ranks. Most Jedi were against such a thing, believing that it was aimed against them. Which it was.

    For now the suggestion went nowhere, but I hoped that it will come to pass at later date. While a lot of Jedi did become good field commanders, a lot of them were b?r?ly passable or worse. That was something that could have been at least partially solved if they had at passed through rudimentary officer training.

    When the meeting was over, Valentra gathered me, Skywalker, Kenobi, Yularen and Pellaeon, in order to start planning the liberation of Ryloth. I wanted to speak with him about some changes in the standard infantry equipment and ship designs after that as well.

 Chapter 15 - The Fires of Ryloth [Continued]

    Part 3

    General Veil''s office, GAR High Command, Coruscant

    I was checking for one last time the finalized list of forces dedicated to Operation "Retribution", the plan to liberate Ryloth.

    Eight Venator cruisers, which included all of those under my command, the three still active from Skywalker''s fleet and two more ships, the brand new Conviction and the Coruscant''s pride. Those as well as four Acclamators and sixteen frigates were dedicated as the strike force that would break the blockade over Ryloth and make way for the ground component of the invasion. That would be ten additional Acclamators under the command of Kenobi''s Negotiator.

    211,000 clone troopers and support personnel. Eight hundred LAATs. Four hundred fifty seven armored walkers and three hundred and sixty Self-Propelled Artillery pieces as well as thousands of speeders. All of them counted on me to get them safely to the ground.

    Yeah, lucky me. I was granted my wish and would be the overall commander of the operation. Part of it was my actual combat experience. The other ¨C it was deemed healthy for my future if I was away from Coruscant for the foreseeable future.

    Thanks to a few statements and carefully leaked pieces of information, most Republic citizens were thrilled with me. As it turned out, the common folks on the streets liked the fact that I placed their well being before that of their Senators. Most of the surviving politicians on the other hand were not too thrilled with me. I think that a lot of them hoped that I would get myself killed one of these days and they were insisting that I''d be given a battlefield command as soon as possible. Preferably far from Coruscant. Of course, none of them said that they actually wanted; to send me on the first available suicide mission, but their true sentiments were obvious.

    Ironically enough, I did have more than a few supporters within the Senate Remnants, men like Bel Iblis and most surprisingly, Padme Amidala, who was horrified when she awoke and found out what the body count was.

    The death toll in the Senate alone was more than thirty four thousand, most of whom died before the ?ssault I led. That little fact went a long way proving to those who were willing to listen that my actions were justified.

    Before I merged with the ghost of Darth Vael, what happened that day would have given me nightmares for a long time.

    The other reason Senator Amidala started changing her world view was what happened on Naboo.

    Despite the cure, the planet would be under quarantine for at least a year, perhaps much longer. The worst thing was the number of people who perished before sufficient quantities of the cure could be manufactured and distributed.

    In Theed alone, more than one point seven million people died from the Blue Shadow. The numbers were still coming in. The experts expected at least two million dead as direct casualties from the bio weapon.

    I looked over the numbers once again and nodded to myself. Those troops should be sufficient in the short term. I hoped that Valentra would be able to scrounge a second echelon to help liberate the planet. A few more capital ships to keep away enemy reinforcements wouldn''t go amiss either.

    =RK=

    General Valentra''s office, GAR High Command, Coruscant

    I sipped from a mug filled with a steaming Caf and took a deep breath of the invigorating aroma. From the other side of his desk, which was covered with various data-pads, General Valentra was doing the same.

    The graying Zabrak placed down his cup and scanned the finalized troop list for Operation "Retribution". A deep frown creased his face.

    "Finding all that hardware in the time required will be tough. The so called Chameleon paint is out of the questions. There is some kind of bottleneck with its production and all we have as well as the equipment needed to reapply it on armor is tasked for the Special Forces Command (SFC)."

    "That is unpleasant." I muttered. "With the standard white color, my boys will stick out on Ryloth like Jedi in a Twi''lek massaging parlor." What that meant was self-explanatory. It was the Coruscant''s slang for your friendly, local whorehouse.

    My commanding officer smirked at that image.

    "That all-white foolishness is over. We are changing the basic color schemes of the GAR armors to dark gray and black, except for the places where it is useful as a cammo. However, there is one thing that we can''t fix for the moment," he grumbled.

    If his expression was anything to judge by, someone should have found himself at the nastiest ?ssignment the Army had over it, whatever it was.

    "The damn color coding on the clone officers armor." he spat in disgust.

    Oh, that was something I loathed. It''s only purpose was to tell the CIS snipers who to shoot. As one could expect, those kriffing bastards had a field day with it.

    "We are obliged by our contract with Kamino to keep it." the General hissed.

    I blinked at him owlishly. He was joking, right?!

    He saw my incredulous expression and smiled grimly.

    "I''m not pulling your leg, Delkatar. Master Shaak Ti is in talks with the Kamino government in attempt to resolve the issue. It appears that their leaders see the clones just as another piece of equipment, and don''t seem to understand what is the problem with the armor color coding." I could hear the distaste in his voice.

    Of all the bloody, stupid things... God damned politicians! I really wanted to have few minutes alone with those idiots!

    On the bright side, the General was obviously disgusted by the way some people treated the clones. That was reassuring. I could use that.

    "I take it that bad things happen if we just disregard that piece of the contract and leave the politicians to deal with the aftermath?" I innocently asked.

    He snorted in amusement.

    "That was my first reaction too. But no! Not if we want the amount of clones we need at prices that the Republic can afford." he grumbled. "Those are people damn it! Not pieces of equipment!" he exclaimed.

    I nodded. "All, too true, my friend. Perhaps we can somewhat mitigate our reliance on Kamino for manpower." I mussed.

    "Hmm... There are a few Generals and worlds that are raising militia as their armed forces. Not everyone trusts the clones."

    Which was smart, all things considered. At this stage I was probably the only GAR general who could trust the clones under his command. After all, I had removed their mental conditioning.

    "That''s a start, but we need much more than just planetary militias. Such formations could be sufficient as PDF forces, to help defend their respective homewords. The Republic as a whole needs more. The times when things could go on without a standing army or a true combat navy are over." I said.

    Telar drank his Caf and nodded in agreement.

    "We need an aggressive recruitment campaign for both the Republic Army and Navy," he said thoughtfully. "After the way you handled the media in the aftermath of the Coruscant attacks, perhaps you should ask the Citizens of the Republic to enlist." he smiled at me.

    "Another PR campaign." I grumbled. However I saw his point.

    Right now my popularity within the Republic was second only to Palpatine and that was only thanks to the sympathy he got for his wounds... I saw a date with the army PR department in my near future and recording some recruitment clips.

    "Now, about the additions you want for the standard infantry equipment, and the changes in our armored forces doctrine..."

    Republica 500, Coruscant

    Anakin hurried towards his wife''s flat. He intended to move quietly, so he wouldn''t awake her, but when he came near the apartment he could clearly sense that she was still up. He let himself in and moved in the direction of her presence.

    Padme was siting on a couch in the dark living room. The only light in there came from the lights of nearby building, few passing aircars and from the data-pad, which occupied her attention.

    Anakin, who was at the living room''s door, smiled softly at his wife.

    "Hey, Angel." he whispered.

    Padme turned her head so she could see him and rewarded his presence with a small, sad smile. She refused to show him the left side of her face, despite that he had seen her scar many times during the last week. However, aside from a brief time they had on Veil''s Flagship, this was the only time that they were alone since she was wounded in the Senate Attacks.

    "Ani..." she whispered quietly.

    Anakin frowned. He might not be the brightest fella out there, but did he ever gave his wife a reason to doubt his love?! It wasn''t like that a little scar could change the way he felt about her! She was the best thing to ever happen to him!

    "Now, love. We''ll have none of that." he stalked towards the couch and knelt in front of Padme.

    Padme grimaced, when Anakin stared at her disfigured face. Then she gasped when he gently kissed her scarred cheek.

    "Is that all?" Anakin gave her a careless, boyish smile. "As if something like this could make me love you less."

    "Ani, I''m..." Padme tried to speak but was interrupted by a soft, index finger touching her lips.

    "Padme, you are as beautiful as ever, my love."

    His finger was replaced by a pair of searching lips. She m??n?d, as a wave of heat raised within her, and Padme leaned forward, needing more contact with her husband.

    Anakin smirked with satisfaction and deepened the kiss.

    It was hours before either of them was in a state to talk again.

    Shortly before sunrise, the married couple found themselves in Padme''s bed, with only a thin, silky sheet covering their intertwined, n?k?d bodies.

    "You are about to leave again!" pouted Padme.

    It was Anakin''s turn to smile sadly. He would have preferred to stay that way, instead of heading to his ship in orbit, but that was not to be. Something both of them knew, not that it prevented them from wishing it to be otherwise.

    "Unfortunately, I am damn good at what I do!" Skywalker declared bashfully.

    Padme gave him a brief, content smile, which expressed her thoughts on the subject.

    "That you are, dear," she cuddled next to his ?h?st and whispered fiercely. "Be careful, you hear me! I want you back in one piece!"

    "Aye, aye, ma''am!" answered Anakin and kissed her passionately.

    He was one of the last men to report to the fleet in orbit.

    =RK=

    CIS Council Chambers, Location Classified

    Multiple beings, some of whom were more machine than organic, were ?ssembled around a long table. Most of them looked understandably nervous.

    From a massive holo-projector, they watched a news cover of the events that occurred on Coruscant few days ago. Every one of them had a data-pad in front of them, showing the CIS intelligence reports about the debacle on the Republic''s capital. One they authorized, or so so most of them thought.

    "What in the name of all the galaxy''s credits, is this?!" shouted San Hill, the Chairman of the InterGalactic Banking clan, and threw the data-pad he had been reading at the table. The inoffensive piece of equipment shattered over the metal surface.

    Voros Argaya, the new Neimoidian Viceroy could not help but agree to the sentiment.

    In the next few minutes accusations flew left, right and center, while the politicians were blaming each other for the debacle.

    Duke Poggle the Lesser cursed in his clicking native language, grabbed his walking stick, which he had left leaning to his chair and used it to strike the table as if it was a gong.

    "Enough!" he shouted in a heavily accented, but nonetheless understandable basic.

    His uncharacteristic actions were shocking enough to shut up the crowd of cowards which was supposed to lead the Confederation.

    "Despite all that happened on Coruscant, our armies are still winning! Even in the few battles we''ve lost, the Republic has been hurt. We''ll have at least one more year of nearly unchallenged strategic superiority until our enemies could fully mobilize. Total victory is in our grasp! "he declared. "Unless your squabbling leads to the Confederation''s fracturing! After those madmen unleashed both Blue Shadow and even a gas attack on Coruscant itself we have no other choice! Now it is victory or death for every one of us!" shouted the old insectoid.

    "Our esteemed colleague is correct." declared Argaya. His words were the only thing interrupting the silence following Poggle''s statement. "We are now forced into a different kind of war. None of us can change what happened. However, we need to know how such madness was came to be! Those were our people on Coruscant, yet they grossly overstepped their orders!"

    A shadow separated from one of the conference room''s dark corners. It was soon revealed to be a tall woman, who was mostly hidden by a dark cloak. Only her full lips and the blue lower part of her face were visible.

    "Perhaps I could shed some light on the events on our enemy''s capital." her sensual voice floated through the room.

    "By all means, go on my Lady." Poggle gave her a respectful nod.

    She was the nominal leader of Count Dooku''s Acolytes, and no one in his right mind wanted to mess with them. Especially with this one, who was probably the most competent and dangerous of them all.

    "My agents uncovered that the orders sent to the operatives we used for the Coruscant operations were altered. Additional equipment was provided, enough Blue Shadows to paralyze two of the military bases on the planet as well as the gas used on the Senators. It all came from our stocks with council authorization." she almost purred, enjoying the horrified looks and the terror she could feel from many of the beings in the room.

    "I trust that you''ll find and deal appropriately with the one''s responsible?" asked the Gianossian Duke.

    "But of course, my dear Poggle! It will be my p???sur?!" she almost sang with joy.

    "That disaster aside, what would we do concerning the public''s reaction? If we don''t strongly denounce the attacks, many of our own citizens may stop supporting us." said Argaya. He turned to the holographic image of Wat Tambor. "The stunt you are pulling off on Ryloth won''t help us where that matter is concerned."

    The Foreman of the Techno Union bristled at that! This Neimoidian had the gall to challenge his brilliant idea!

    "My plan secured us the support of the Hutts, something that can''t be overstated. Now we can use their territory with impunity. Not only that, but they have provided our cause with a lot of mercenaries, many of whom have their own ships! Already I have a small fleet of privateers and thousands of men on the ground, here on Ryloth! "

    "Not to mention the killing you are making selling them weapons..." someone muttered not too quietly.

    Passel Argene smirked. He and his corporate friends were making a fortune selling drugs directly to the Hutts, now that a middle man was no longer needed.

    "Its already done. For your sake lets hope that those criminal''s contribution would make up for the outrage our Confederacy will be receiving over your actions there." Shui Mai from the Commerce guild chided Tambor.

    "We need to make a statement declaring the perpetrators of the attacks a rogue element." declared Poggle.

    For once there was a universal agreement between the council members.

 Chapter 16 - The Fires of Ryloth [Continued 2]

    Part 4

    Republic Cruiser Requiem, Task Force "Retribution" Flagship; Hyperspace

    She was bored. Reeealy bored!

    All the channels the small holoprojector in her room could get were showing the same things, again and again! Or they were speculating about the consequences of the attacks on Coruscant.

    She knew more about the CIS operation on the planet than the reporters anyway. So she had to speak with those folks from Republic Intelligence for days!

    What was wrong with them anyway?! She told them the truth as she knew it the first time! And the second, and the third... She lost count how many time she had to repeat it! But they continued asking the same questions, day after day, until she was tempted to Force Choke them to death! That would at least be interesting... Riiight?!

    The blue skinned woman pouted. If this was it, living was overrated!

    The bland routine was driving her insane.

    Where was that man, the one who saved her, anyway?! He promised that he''ll talk with her soon. She had met him for a couple of minutes after she awoke. Then he somehow managed to persuaded her to speak with those people from Republic Intelligence and then disappeared. Men!

    She glanced at the image shown by the holoprojector. It showed the domed building she thought was the Republic''s Senate and dozens of small specks swarming it. Ah. It was showing how the clones ?ssaulting it. Again.

    Her head whipped around and her mismatched eyes stared at the sealed door which slid into the walls with a quiet hiss.

    "Hi! We finally have some time to catch up!" said the man who had saved her, and then sent her to this hellish boredom!

    She felt his presence in the Force. It called to something dark deep inside her. She heard a seductive whisper before everything went red. She smiled, relishing in the feeling of power coursing through her very being. A growl escaped her lips before she sent a telekinetic push his way.

    =RK=

    Republic Cruiser Requiem, Task Force "Retribution" Flagship; Hyperspace; twenty minutes earlier

    I smirked at Jaybo who waited impatiently next to the workbench over which I was working. The kid wanted some "serious" training. So I decided to oblige him.

    The last component of the device I was finishing slid in place with a quiet click.

    "Its done." I declared cheerfully.

    I used telekinesis to levitate the short cylinder, made of dull gray metal to the expectant hands of the kid.

    "A lightsaber?! Cool!" he exclaimed and grabbed it from my intangible grasp.

    Jaybo wasted no time in pressing the weapon''s activation bu??on. A vibrant, azure blade came to life with the characteristic snap-hiss of a lightsaber. He stared at it and his brilliant smile fell. Jaybo pouted at me.

    "Its blue!" he stated the obvious. "You are a Sith, right?! And I''m supposed to be your apprentice! So why is it blue?!" he asked in accusing tone.

    I grinned at the kid like the proverbial Chestire cat.

    "You see, my young apprentice, while I may be a Sith, you are not. Not yet at any rate. Two things must happen first, for you to be one." I started lecturing my student. "First, you have to want to be a Sith, and frankly you don''t know enough yet to make an educated decision. When the time comes that you know the basics, you''ll have to make a choice."

    "You are damn persistent with sending me back to school!" Jaybo grumbled.

    I chuckled. Oh, he had no idea!

    "Second, you have to earn the right to be called a Sith. But that is a topic for a later time. Now, you wanted some "serious" training, as you put it, didn''t you? Oh, my foolish, young apprentice. You''ll learn to be careful what you wish for. Sometimes it comes true!" I gave him an evil smile with accompanying chuckle which made him take a hasty step back.

    I used the Force to manipulate the contents of couple of lockers which were hugging the wall behind Jaybo. Their doors snapped open and six fist sized spheres flew out. They had small red blisters spread evenly over their surface.

    "Uh, oh." muttered my apprentice.

    The spheres darted forward and surrounded Jaybo, floating about a meter and a half over the floor.

    "The average Jedi starts training with one of these toys. I naturally expect better of you." my smile grew wider.

    One of the balls sent a tiny, red bolt of energy at Jaybo who jumped out of the way, letting the attack to harmlessly splash on the ground.

    "I''ve shown you how to access the Force. Let it flow through you, then use it to enhance your perception and reflexes. Soon enough you would be consistently seeing the attacks a moment before they occur. When you reach that stage, what you need to do is train your body to be able to keep up."

    "Ouch!" exclaimed Jaybo after he was not fast enough in avoiding the next attack.

    "Tsk. You have a training saber now, kid. Use it."

    He tried to parry the next attack, but missed, and started waving around his left hand which was stinging from the hit.

    "It hurts!" he grumbled.

    "It will keep you motivated to get the hang of it faster. Besides you have stage two to look up to!" I quipped.

    "Do I even want to know!?" he exclaimed.

    This time two of the spheres shot at him. Jaybo sidestepped one bolt and managed to interpose the blade of the training lightsaber in the path of the other attack, deflecting it at the ceiling. It was crude, but worked.

    "That''s the spirit!" I cheered him. "Just remember, next you''ll have to do it with your eyes closed." I smirked.

    "What?!" Jaybo exclaimed, loosing his concentration. "Argh! Delkatar, you bastard!" he shouted when three bolts struck him simultaneously.

    "Have fun kid!"

    I left the grumbling Jaybo to his fate and headed for a meeting I''ve postponed for more than long enough.

    =RK=

    Perhaps I should have made the time to visit my guest earlier. Much earlier.

    I could feel her frustration and boredom. Not a good combination for a Force Adept, especially one whose training I suspected to be a hack job. Oh, boy. I had my work cut out for me.

    I nodded to the squad of clones guarding the room of the woman I saved and waited while they executed a security scan. They all knew better than becoming sloppy. I made sure of that.

    I really should have met her earlier. For the past week or so since she awoke, the Chiss female was known only as Azure, the code name given to her by RI. Not terribly original. She needed a real name.

    At least she had managed to control herself and the agents who interrogated her made it out of those interviews unscathed.

    Perhaps it was time for me to get myself a personal staff. There was only one of me and an eternally increasing mountain of paperwork that had to be done in order for my fleet to keep running. That was before the conception of Operation "Retribution". Now, despite Piett being back from Naboo and doing excellent job as my aide, I was simply swamped. Even getting Veers to help didn''t improve the situation.

    I lamented the days of the Empire when I could simply dump most of that never sufficiently damned paperwork on my minions. I frowned. That thought just reminded me that I didn''t have minions anymore.

    Whose idea was that I should become a Republic general anyway?! I wanted to have a "chat" with the bastard. Oh right, it was my idea.

    The door slid open, revealing a spartan compartment. It had a small bed with a standard mattress, no particularly comfortable one at that, a desk which slid into the wall and a small stool. In the far end of the room, a holoprojector was tuned to a channel showing images of the Assault on the Senate.

    The Chiss woman was sitting on the bed. The moment I entered, her head snapped my way and she stared at me.

    "Hi! We finally have some time to catch up!" I greeted her with a nervous smile on my face.

    I felt a tug through the Force, as if a void within me had become a bit less... It was hard to put the sensation into words. It was like the feeling of a Force bond forming. Yet it was so much more and at the same time... less.

    I felt the Dark Side trying to possess her, her spiking anger. The woman liked the sweet sensation of the energies running through her body.

    Then she attacked.

    I retaliated with stream of telekinetic energy which met her onslaught. Our attacks canceled each other, producing a wave of displaced air in the process. It battered us in the form of a short lived, but strong wind.

    That didn''t deter her. She snarled and jumped at me.

    "Sir!" exclaimed one of the clones behind me. I could hear the clicks of disengaging safeties.

    "I''ll deal with the lady. Do not engage unless she attacks you." I ordered.

    If she was thinking coherently and had the necessary training to back up her ferocity, the Chiss woman could have been dangerous in hand to hand combat. As she was, she proved to be little more than a berserker who had slipped under the influence of the Dark Side.

    That was what made it so dangerous. One moment the woman was simply frustrated. In the next she had lost it. Not that it was surprising. I should have expected something like this. After all, the woman was supposed to be a one shot, disposable weapon. The people who made her what she was didn''t care for long term consequences. She was supposed to be dead by now.

    It felt strange. As if I knew her every action before she tried to execute it. It was easy to counter her uncoordinated attacks.

    I used the back of my right hand to slap aside a wild swing before delivering a Force enhanced palm strike at her solar plexus. At the same time, my left hand caught her other fist which tried to give me an impressive shiner.

    I used telekinesis to roughly pick up the gasping woman and slammed her in the far wall. She wheezed as the little air left in her lungs was f?r??b?? pushed out. I felt the uncontrolled rage leaving her body as fast as it had overtaken her faculties and let the dazed woman to slide to the floor.

    "The emergency is over boys. The lady will behave from now on. Won''t you, my dear?" I asked her.

    "Yeah..." she wheezed.

    I could sense the fight draining out of her. She was more confused than anything else.

    The sergeant in charge of the squad shook his head. He was apparently not convinced. Can''t blame him for doing his job.

    "You liked the rush of power." I stated.

    During our short lived skirmish, I could sense that she enjoyed the feeling of the Dark Side flowing through her. Hell, I usually loved the rush of the Dark Side when I used it too. But that was not the point right now. I knew what I was doing. She didn''t.

    She studied me for a moment before nodding.

    "We will have to work on this temper of yours." I grumbled.

    She blinked at me in confusion. There was an innocence in her eyes that one would not expect from the woman who led the attack on the Jedi Temple. Not to mention that before my arrival she did a reasonably good job.

    Thanks to our new connection, which I was shielding from my side so she wouldn''t be able to take a stroll through my mind, I was able to see the truth of the matter. She was not faking it. Part of her really was just an innocent little girl. One that had a strong connection with the Force and an affinity to the Dark Side to booth.

    "What am I to do with you?" I wondered aloud.

    Being a babysitter was definitely not on my schedule for the foreseeable future.

    She simply stared at me, but remained silent.

    After her little temper tantrum, it was clear that ignoring her was not an option. At least not a good one. She needed training, and I needed to make sure that she wouldn''t be bored for long. Idle hands and all that.

    I gave her a reassuring smile. I should have listened to my own advice. At one point I wanted an apprentice, and now I had my hands full with a pair of them.

    "Please sit on the bed. The floor has to be cold." I spoke softly to the girl in a woman''s body.

    She sprang to her feet and jumped on the hard mattress. Good enough.

    "You know, we can''t continue calling you Azure. Or hey you."

    Her mismatched eyes stared at me. She simply didn''t care one way or another.

    "How do you want to be known from now on?"

    She shrugged, as if it was not important. I could clearly sense her confusion. She was wondering what all that fuss was about.

    I once again had the sudden need to strangle the people who had made her the way she was today.

    "Aria." I suddenly stated. The name just came to me out of the blue, yet it somehow felt right. It... suited her.

    "Aria Astra." I said a bit louder. "How do you like it?"

    "Its just a name." she shrugged.

    She pursed her lips in thought and nodded.

    "It will do." she said in a calm tone, one you would use to discuss the weather.

    Despite her outwards indifference, she liked the name. It resonated with something deep within her.

    That was something to pursue at later date. When she trusted me more. I decided to change the topic.

    "Aria, would you like to tell me what were you taught about the force?"

    She bit her lower lip and mumbled something unintelligible.

    "Uh huh. A bit louder please."

    "Just how to grasp it. To let the Dark Side flow through me."

    "Ah." was my intelligent response. This was going to be a very long day.

    I could glimpse through our bond that this was more or less the truth. It raised my opinion about her potential even further. With that kind of "knowledge" that she had been given prior to her one way mission to the Temple, she should not have been able to use the Force in the way she actually did.

    A very long day indeed, however I just knew that it would be worth it in the end.

 Chapter 17 - The Fires of Ryloth [Continued 3]

    Part 5

    Conference Room Alpha, Republic Cruiser Requiem, Task Force "Retribution" flagship, Dark Space, 5 Light Years from Ryloth

    "The Fleet is present and accounted for, sir." reported Commodore Pellaeon. "Data links are established."

    "Thank you, Gilad."

    He gave me a thoughtful nod. I could see him wondering why I had the Fleet drop out of Hyperspace short of our intended target. While his face was presenting me a dispassionate professional mask, I could see it in his eyes. He was pondering over various reasons that would force me to alter the plan in the last minute.

    Of course, he had no way to know that the main reason was very simple. Palpatine was briefed on the original plan, so I had no intention of following it.

    One after another, the fleet''s Captains appeared around the table. To my left were the ethereal images of Skywalker and Yularen. To the right, on the other side of the physically present Pellaeon was the ghostly figure of Obi-Wan, who was in charge of our ground component.

    Two third of the officers gathered for this unscheduled meeting wore the same dark faces.

    "What is the emergency?" asked Anakin.

    "You''ll see. You all know the plan to liberate Ryloth by heart." I declared to the ?ssembled men and women.

    They all nodded at me, giving me a long suffered looks, before nodding.

    "Well, you can forget all about it. I have reasons to believe that it was leaked to the Seps long before we left for our little excursion." I told them.

    Stunned silence reigned for the next few seconds. Then more than a few of my officers who didn''t wear Jango Fett''s face started shouting over each other.

    "Preposterous!" the voice of Captain Krello Lombar rose over the rest.

    "Silence!" I barked after listening to them for few seconds.

    I glared at Captain Lombar. Figures. He was one of the political appointments within the Navy, whose main call to fame was his close friendship with the Ryloth senator, who in turn was a close friend and supporter of Palpatine. Just to make my life more difficult, said Senator was on visit to Kuat during the attacks on Coruscant, so I couldn''t just fire Lombar.

    I ignored him for the moment and gazed at the rest of my problem children. Luckily only he was the only one of them commanding a capital ship. The rest of his type were suck on a dozen light cruisers.

    During the short time we had to plan Operation "Retribution", the folks that would make trouble had made themselves known. At least most of them. I had suspicion about few more Captains, but nothing concrete. It was not like I could choose the members of the Fleet in this case.

    Unfortunately that had left me with a small nucleus of officers in command positions who had gotten their rank thanks only to their political connections, and so far had evaded being sent to the front where their dubious competence could be tested.

    With this being the Republic Navy, I couldn''t just dismiss them without cause, though if they fu?k?d up sufficiently in the coming battle, their sorry ?sses were mine. On the other hand, if at least one or two of those turned out to be competent, then I could put them to good use.

    "As we speak, the five CR90 we have in the Fleet, which are in scout configuration, are making a recon sweep of Ryloth and the CIS fleet blockading the planet. We''ll receive their preliminary report in few minutes." I declared.

    "You know something." stated Kenobi, who had silently observed the short spectacle.

    I smiled at him.

    "I suspect." I said. "You all saw the Intel we have about the present enemy forces. One Luckrehulk command ship, a Luckrehulk battleship, twelve Munificents as well as two or three Luckrehulk freighters. That and three to four thousand fighters, which would be the real threat. Our forces should be able to deal with that suffering light casualties."

    "We all know that! What''s your point general? Our fleet is an overkill against such an enemy!" sneered Lombar.

    He was becoming an irritant. Too bad that he still hadn''t crossed the line and went into insubordination so I could be finally rid of him.

    "What I expect is a significantly larger enemy force. That''s why I did my best to gather such a powerful fleet for our excursion. It is the same Force damned reason we are cooling our heels light years from our target while the Corvettes are scouting the opposition! And that is why I am allowing you to shut up, before you cross the line from arrogant idiotism straight into insubordination, Captain Lombar!" I spoke with enough sarcasm to blister the paint from the walls.

    "You expect a trap," declared Yularen.

    I simply nodded.

    "This entire operation is suspect," I grimaced. "The Separatists would have realized from the beginning that such a large operation couldn''t be missed, and we would be required to take action. They would have to be stupid not to see it, and considering that we can''t afford to believe that they are, the only other conclusion is that they are setting up a trap. The question is do they have the forces on hand to make it an effective one."

    A light started blinking on the console built in the table in front of Pellaeon''s seat. He pressed few bu??ons, stared at the screen for few moments and winced, before being able to school his face back to his usual mask of professionalism.

    "Sir, the scouts preliminary report just came in." he said calmly.

    "By all means, Commodore, enlighten us."

    "Long range scans detect one Luckrehulk command ship, two Luckrehulk Battleships, two freighters of the same class and twenty plus Munificents."

    "If they don''t have reinforcements waiting in space, we all know what the worst case scenario is." I stated.

    "Yeah. If those freighters are in fact battleships with full fighter compliment, we''ll have serious problems," said Anakin.

    "That, with the second battleship could give them up to four thousand five hundred additional fighters!" exclaimed Captain Lombar who had become white as a sheet.

    "Add another thousand or so Vultures with the rest of the frigates." interjected Skywalker.

    "Its unlikely, that the separatists had so much vultures to spare." one of his "friends" disagreed.

    "Nine to ten thousand enemy fighters as a ball-pack figure." muttered Kenobi.

    "If the fleet is hit by all of them at once..." someone muttered.

    "Don''t forget that they can have more fighters based on the planet." Kenobi decided to add his two cents.

    "That''s not something we are going to allow." I spoke loudly. "Luckily for us, the Vulture droids do not have hyperdrives." I smiled at the officers under my command. "General Kenobi, when the main fleet start its ?ssault on Ryloth, I want the ?ssault ships under your command to jump on a random destination in Dark Space within five light years of our target and wait for the signal. Just in case the CIS has an informant in the fleet and additional forces they can send against your ships. This is what we are going to do..."

    Luckrehulk Command Ship Procurer, CIS Blockade over Ryloth

    Captain Mar Tuuk was leaning forward in his command chair. Thanks to his data goggles, Wat Tambor, whose hologram was projected in front of him, could not see his narrowed eyes.

    "Captain, are you ready?" asked the Foreman of the Techno Union.

    "The reinforcements arrived a few hours ago. Our trap is set. I have over twelve thousand fighters waiting for the Republic fleet." answered Tuuk. "We know their forces, we know their plans. When they arrive, I''ll have an unpleasant surprise for our uninvited guests." he smiled.

    "I am counting on you, Captain. The Republic must not retake this planet! Even if they do, we must bleed them dry first!"

    "I''ll see to it," said Tuuk, before his nominal superior cut the connection. "Not that any of us has much choice after what those kriffing insane fools did on Coruscant!" the Neimoidian hissed quietly.

    Once the news about what really happened on Coruscant circulated through the ranks, it became painfully obvious to all of them that they no longer had any choice except for victory or death. He doubted that the Republic would be in any mood for mercy, so he would grant them none.

    If only those accursed imbeciles hadn''t used bio-weapons, or at least had managed to be competent enough to just kill off the Senate rather than play stupid games, then the situation would be different. However that was not to be.

    He sighed. The war was already changing, and at least some elements of the CIS with it. While he personally didn''t care for the rampant enslaving of the locals, Tuuk wasn''t blind for the opportunity it represented.

    The Captain was confident in his abilities and forces. Mar knew that against almost any Republic commander, he would be victorious, given the advantages he had. Yet, he felt a pang of anticipation.

    The Confederation didn''t have any records on this new Republic general, besides his recent actions. As such, they had no idea what he would be like in a fleet engagement.

    This coming battle was going to be interesting.

    =RK=

    Republic Cruiser Requiem, Task Force "Retribution" Flagship, twelve light seconds from Ryloth

    The whirlwind of the Hyperspace was replaced with star filled void as the main body of the Fleet jumped back to real space and started accelerating towards Ryloth at a calm pace of five hundred gravities.

    Eight Venators and seven Dreadnought Heavy cruisers formed three vertical lines, with the leviathan form of the prototype Imperator-I Star Destroyer Executrix in the center. All around them, the escorts, led by the three Flak modified Acclamators Dauntless, Honor and Warspite, were reforming into defensive formations around the capital ships. Those were twenty seven Carrack light cruisers, all of which were in their anti fighter variant, which were joined by twenty three Arquitens Light Cruisers and twenty seven CR90 Corvettes.

    "Launch all fighters." I ordered.

    While that was being done, I stared at the holographic display showing the disposition of the fleet and that of the enemy. Normally I would have left a ten to twenty percent fighter reserve, but we were too heavily outnumbered for that. Especially when I was keeping the two Acclamator carriers as well as the Escort Carriers which were just a bunch of converted freighters, and their escorts as reserve.

    The armored decks covering the hangars of the Venators slid open and they started disgorging their brood. Part of me wanted to jump in my new fighter and head out with the pilots, but as a Commander of Operation "Retribution", that was not my place.

    I wondered how many of the Jedi Generals would have sortied with the fighters if they were in my shoes. It would have been a damn foolish thing to do.

    At least this early in the battle. Once the reserves were committed and every fighter out there counted that might change, but for now, my place was on the bridge commanding. Besides, the pilots were in good hands.

    "This is General Skywalker. All Wings, form on me. Check your course and stay out of the firing lanes of the big guns."

    "This is Blue Leader, affirmative." answered Ahsoka, who had her first independent command in this battle.

    Moment later, the holoscreen to my right lit up with green dots showing the fighter Wings which had confirmed their readiness.

    Few more seconds passed before the powerful sensors of the fleet could partially burn through the enemy ECM.

    One Droid Command ship, three confirmed battleships, six possible freighters and thirty plus frigates. That and more than ten thousand fighters swarming out of their motherships. Our capital ships had near parity in firepower, which meant that a long range duel would see both forces decimated. That was something that the Separatists could afford if it meant the destruction of a fleet like mine in exchange.

    My other alternative was to close in, where my light ships could add their guns to the equation, but that would bring us in the range of the enemy fighters and their capital ships lighter guns. It would be a double edged sword. Plus, I was sure that the enemy commander was keeping a reserve too.

    Plan A was simple. Draw out the enemy fighters and annihilate them, then deal with their battle line. Of course, if their commander decided to send in his reserve early, that would give me other tactical options.

    One thousand four hundred and thirty eight V-19 Torrent Starfighters as well as two Jedi piloted Delta 7 would soon meet nearly ten times their number.

    Our Starfighters punched out until two third of them were at medium range from the fleet, forming a screen against the expected onslaught. The rest stayed behind, forming a CAS (Close Space Patrol).

    An imaginary line was crossed when the main body of the fleet passed the ten light second mark from our targets.

    "Sir, we are in range," informed me Piett, who was monitoring one of the navigation consoles over the shoulder of its clone operator.

    "All capital ship, execute fire plan Alpha." I ordered calmly.

    Few seconds passed until the order made it through the chain of command and targets were ?ssigned through Requiems data net.

    The Venators were divided in pairs, each of which had a separate Munificent as its intended victim and the Dreadnoughts divided in two groups tracking separate targets. The Executrix targeted two of the enemy craft by itself.

    A second passed.

    Then a light shudder ran through the deck of the Requiem. Twelve, dual turbolaser turrets spoke as one. Azure bolts of scarcely comprehensible power, flew at the distant CIS formation. The rest of the Venators, Dreadnoughts and the Executrix followed suit seconds later.

    At the same time, our escorts started executing erratic maneuvers, making them much harder targets.

    The heavy guns of the enemy battleships and frigates answered with a crimson barrage of their own. It was time to start paying the butchers bill.

    Enough firepower to decimate continents splashed over straining shields, blinding sensors and scorching hull on the few places where it achieved partial bleed through the defensive fields.

    Once they entered optimal range, the Venators shuddered harder as their capital launchers started to unleash their payloads.

    Heavy proton torpedoes sped towards their distant targets, guided by both the sensors of the ships that launched them and their internal seekers.

    The first casualty of the Battle For Ryloth was a frigate which was under long range ?ssault by Resolute and Defender. Her shields failed under the relentless onslaught. Turbolaser shots rained over her superstructure, vaporizing armor and opening compartments to space. The starboard side disappeared under a jagged line of explosions, which shattered the ship.

    The next to fall was a second CIS frigate, which was claimed by the Executrix. The prototype''s heavy Ion cannons of the Star Destroyer battered down her shield with ease, leaving the warship easy pray for the six dual heavy turbolasers targeting her. A single salvo struck the center of the ship and blew her in two amidst a colossal explosion.

    Then was the Separatists turn to claim their pond of flesh. The Dreadnought Onderon was battered by six enemy ships which soon stripped down her shields. Their heavy cannons blew its weapons blisters one after another, until a rampant chain reaction ran through her brutalized power grid. Her reactors scrammed in a desperate attempt to save the ship and she fell out of formation as a toothles wreck.

    An unlucky Carrack cruiser followed suit when she found herself in the way of a battleship barrage aimed at the Redeemer. The small warship was hit by six heavy turbolaser bolts and was torn apart from enough firepower to vaporize a lesser ship. Few of her crew survived in relatively intact compartments, thanks to the highly modular nature of the ship.

    =RK=

    Anakin hated waiting. Especially while the battle was just starting to rage around him. Both Fleets were throwing at each other enough firepower to devastate a planet, and that was only the beginning. He knew that not only this battle, but the war itself would become much worse.

    "General Skywalker, execute Mirror Image." he heard Veil''s calm voice over the comm.

    "Affirmative. All Mirage elements, form on me. We are going in." Anakin ordered.

    Ahsoka and her Blue squadron fell in formation to his right. He was about to lead a force of two hundred and fifty fighters against the swarm of Vultures near the Separatists blockade, in order to encourage them to attack. It was going to be ugly.

    "Master, is this one of those suicide missions you are famous about?" asked Ahsoka over a private channel.

    Skywalker snorted at his apprentice''s question.

    "Nah, nothing to worry about, Snips. We''ve faced worse odds!" he said without thinking things through.

    After a moment of silence Ahsoka asked: "When?"

    =RK=

    Republic Order of Battle for Operation "Retribution":

    Imperial-I Star Destroyer Executrix (prototype); It carries only Starfighters and few shuttles; No other craft or any ground forces besides ship security detachment (3000 clone troopers); 300 V-19 Starfighters;

    7 Dreadnaught Heavy cruisers;

    Venator Star Destroyers:

    Requiem ¨C Flagship; Victory; Onderon; Resolute; Defender; Redeemer; Conviction and Coruscant''s Pride;

    8 Venators in total;

    1088 V-19 Torrent Starfighters; 448 Y-Wing Bombers;

    Acclamators SA:

    Dauntless, Honor, Warspite ¨C all three are Flak Modified (have half of their main armaments replaced with anti-fighter laser turrets); Leveler and Victorious: carrier refits (120 fighters and 36 bombers;);

    240 V-19 Torrent Starfighters; 72 Y-Wing Bombers;

    Light Cruisers:

    Carrack-Class CL (32);

    Arquitens-class CL (23)

    Frigates:

    Consular (Medical) (21)

    Carriers:

    Escort carriers : PLC 27 (Class A bulk freighter), ¨C 3 converted into escort carriers; 200 V-19 Torrent Starfighter carried by each;

    600 V-19 Torrent Starfighters in total;

    Corvettes:

    CR90:Various configurations; (37)

    Total small craft strength:

    V-19 Starfighters 2238; Y-Wing Bombers: 520

    General Delkatar Veil''s reserve:

    Leveler, Victorious, 3 PLC 27 Carriers escorted by 6 Carrack CL, 10 CR90

 Chapter 18 - The Fires of Ryloth [Continued 4]

    Part 6

    Blue Squadron, en route to the CIS blockade on Ryloth

    Two hundred and fifty Torrents raced toward the ungodly swarm of droid fighters milling around the CIS fleet. Below them, the capital ships were tearing at each other with bolts of energy more than powerful enough to vaporize any fighter deployed by either side.

    The scanners of Ahsoka''s Delta 7 beeped, announcing that they had detected heavy proton torpedoes passing under the fighters. She glanced at the readout and smiled.

    "This is General Skywalker. Keep it steady, men. Be ready to execute Sucker Punch on my command."

    "General Skywalker comes with the most interesting names for the parts of this exercise," muttered Blue Two, known to his friends as Ax.

    "Nope. That wasn''t Master''s idea!" chirped Ahsoka. "It was all General Veil''s brainstorm!"

    "That figures..." mumbled Blue Four. "Who put that maniac in charge anyway?"

    "Do you have problem with our overall commander, Sev?" asked Blue Five.

    "Just with our tiny part of his plan," quipped Blue Four. "It requires us to piss off ten thousand or so Vultures. Nah. What possible issue could I have with such orders?" he deadpanned.

    "Look it from the bright side, Sev. The General expect at least some of us to survive. After all we need to be in one piece in order to goad the droids to follow us." said Ax.

    "It may even work." whispered Blue Three.

    =RK=

    While the fighters were closing in on their targets, the first salvo of Republic heavy torpedoes hit. Seven proton warheads made it through the last ditch defensive fire and the thick fighter screen. They were concentrated on only two ships, both of which were bathed in white hot plasma.

    One frigate was struck by four torpedoes. The first three smashed into her armored nose milliseconds from each other, annihilating the forward third of the ship. The last one struck the junction where the bridge pylon and the main hull of the craft met. Its buried itself in the armored hull before detonating. The resulting explosion sent a shock-wave which shattered the whole bridge section and rent a massive crater in the remaining part of the ship. Series of internal explosions tore what was left of the ship apart.

    The second Munificent was marginally luckier. The torpedoes hit her port side, with one colliding with the fin sticking from her nose. It blew up, vaporizing the offensive protuberance. The short ranged blast-wave stripped armor plates off the forward section, opening multiple compartments to space. Scores of unfortunate droids were either outright destroyed or su?k?d out to space.

    A few minutes later, she was put out of her misery by a barrage of turbolaser fire from the Requiem, which got her sights on the frigate while traversing her guns to aim at her next chosen target.

    =RK=

    Light Cruiser Stalker, Arquitens-Class

    Commander VLK-531 calmly surveyed the bridge of his ship, where his brethren were efficiently doing their jobs. He was newly promoted as a commanding officer of the Light Cruiser, which for all intents and purposes was a scaled down model of the Venator-Class.

    However, he didn''t care about that. Volk, as he was more commonly known, was proud of both his ship and crew.

    "We are in missile range," said the weapons office.

    "Very well," the Commander looked at one of the data feeds from the Flagship. Eight seconds later it blinked green, showing that all Arquitens were in range. That was his que. "Flush all tubes. Maximum rate of fire!" ordered Volk.

    It was time to see if the first phase of General Veil''s plan was going to work.

    A light tremor passed through the deck as the four missile launchers released their deadly contents at the clankers. They ware a part of a staggered salvo send by all of Stalker''s sister ships.

    Blue Squadron, near the CIS blockade, Ryloth

    "Execute Sucker Punch!" barked Skywalker.

    "You heard him boys! Go!" ordered Ahsoka.

    Two hundred and fifty V-19 Torrents sent a pair of missiles each at the armada of enemy fighters, which were just outside of effective energy weapons range. Yet that didn''t stop the machines from opening fire. In the next instant, the Republic Starfighters broke off their headlong charge at the enemy, and separated into two groups, which looped above and below their previous vector. Only two hundred and seventeen of them lived long enough to do so.

    Four hundred twenty one droid fighters became prey to the missile strike, one moment "living" and ready for battle and in the next becoming so much short lived stars.

    More than a thousand Vultures separated from the swarm and flew in pursuit of the offending enemy Torrents. To their machine intelligence, the outcome was predetermined. Their enemies had made a mistake. By trying to loop back to their lines, the Republic craft had placed themselves in a vulnerable position, where the Vultures could easily out-accelerate and catch them from the rear. Or so they believed.

    "Uh-oh..." was sent over the droid network by one of the Vultures leading the pursuit.

    Its sensors revealed the truth and it sent the data to its brethren in the last moments of its existence. Not that it was going to do them any good.

    The ninety two "light" missiles from the first Light Cruiser salvo had changed their direction and flew in the teeth of the pursuing Vultures. They were followed by the third and fourth spread of heavy torpedoes launched by the Venators. All of which were rigged with proximity fuses.

    Usually using such weapons against fighters would be a waste. Blast waves didn''t propagate well in space. A warhead that could wipe out anything in the air for dozens of kilometers in atmosphere, was virtually useless in space beyond a few hundred meters, a kilometer at best.

    That, however, didn''t take into account the spread usually maintained between fighters. With the swarm chocking the space around the CIS capital ships, while flying in such vectors as to be clear from the barrages exchanged by the heavy combatants, the tactical picture was different. The Vultures were vulnerable to proximity kills.

    The ordered formations pursuing the fleeing fighters which had executed Mirror Image, flew apart as the droids tried to evade the blast zones of the oncoming missiles.

    It was too little too late. For brief seconds, more than a hundred suns were born, lived and died amongst the Vulture formations. When the glare of the proton explosions subdued, the tattered remains of the pursuing fighters could be seen. Eighty one battered droid fighters remained combat effective from one thousand strong.

    "Great work men!" exclaimed Anakin. The odds were just evened a bit more.

    Unfortunately he doubted that they would be able to do that ten more times. The Vulture swarm was already diffusing, so it wouldn''t represent such an easy target again.

    "That actually worked..." Blue Five wondered aloud.

    =RK=

    Luckrehulk Command ship Procurer, CIS Blockade

    "This was creative." muttered Captain Tuuk.

    At the same time, three more of his frigates died but they took another enemy Dreadnought and couple of those missile armed Light Cruisers with them. While the exchange was nominally in the enemy''s favor, that was only because the Republic capital ships were much tougher than his frigates. A state of affairs that won''t last long when the enemy''s shields failed.

    He looked at the plot. Sure enough, one of the Venator was loosing its shields. The drop of the ships energy emissions was an obvious tell. The eight frigates pounding that cruiser would soon have her gone.

    Tuuk checked the distance between the two fleets. They were still at long range from his ships. When the enemy closed to medium range, he would play one of his thump cards.

    He watched as the Republic fighters which played bait for the trap reformed, receiving a couple of wings as reinforcements and flew to execute another stinging attack.

    The CIS Captain lamented the fact that he had no missile armed interceptors in his fleet. He knew that they were on the drawing boards, but it would be few months at least before the Vulture modification which would be able to carry four missiles could be produced in numbers. At least the specs of the Confed fighter missiles made the ones used by the Republic look like pieces of obsolete junk in comparison.

    Not that it helped his situation, when he lacked any of those "wonder" weapons.

    The enemy crawled closer, while another two Munificent died in exchange for an enemy light cruiser. Then, two important things happened in quick succession.

    First, the shields of one of the Venators failed and the cruiser was promptly turned into a drifting burning hulk by the heavy guns of seven frigates. Second, the enemy fleet passed into medium range.

    "The time is right. Call in the reserves. Send them here and here." ordered Muuk, giving the relevant coordinates to his subordinate droids.

    "Roger, roger!" answered a command B1, which had its head painted yellow.

    "The moment our reserve attacks, send two thirds of our fighters at the heart of the Republic fleet."

    Now all Mar could do was wait for the Republic''s commander answer, as well as for the right time to play his next card.

    =RK=

    Republic Cruiser Requiem, Task Force "Retribution" Flagship

    More than a hundred wings of Vultures were already gone. That was just a drop in the bucket. There were too damn many of the buggers remaining.

    There were cheers on the bridge as the ninth enemy frigate was consumed by fire, but they were soon subdued as another Arquitens cruiser was shattered. That ship went afoul of the heavy guns of an enemy battleship which promptly swatted it out of the way. However that wasn''t the only reason the bridge crew grew quiet.

    The Defender, one of Requiem''s sister ships space frame cracked after a series of massive explosions engulfed her. I don''t know how many times she was struck after her shields failed, but the final salvos that hit her were just too much. She started blowing apart when more than a dozen heavy turbolaser shots hit deep into her structure. The armor that was supposed to protect her was long gone by that point.

    The Defender was torn asunder into eleven big pieces, which bled men and air into the unforgiving frozen abyss of space.

    Of the seven thousand and four hundred sailors crewing her, it would be a miracle if only few hundred were still alive.

    While the men and women under my command fought and died for the Republic, I stood impassive, showing only a calm, professional exterior. I didn''t show that I felt the death of my people or how much I loathed it.

    The only gift I could give them was to spend their lives as wisely as I could in the cauldron of war.

    I felt a shift in the Force, moment before four Munificents slid out from Hyperspace on each flank of my fleet. They were covered with the predatory forms of hundreds of Vultures, which wasted no time and flew away from their motherships.

    It was time. The smart thing to do for the CIS commander would be to send most of his Vultures to smash through our fighter screen and hit the fleet, while we were preoccupied with the enemy reserve. That would give me a brief moment of opportunity.

    "Call in an Escort Carrier at each flank. I want them to hit those frigates from behind." I calmly ordered.

    Internally I fumed. If only I had couple of months to train my rag tag fleet, I would have made this a battle of maneuver, but as it was, I had under my command a force made from parts of multiple different fleets. It was a small miracle that my ships were able to follow my orders to the letter so far.

    The only ships I could trust for intricate maneuvers were those that were already part of my fleet as well as the three, two now, Venators under Skywalker''s command. However most of those were Venators, and I needed their firepower with the main fleet.

    My reserve on the other hand consisted by my handpicked officers, commanding my two Assault Carriers as well as the three converted freighters. Their actions were going to make or break this battle.

    The enemy frigates flanking us opened fire the moment they exited hyperspace. They smashed through the light picket of CR90s, blowing up six of the Corvettes, which stood no chance under the concentrated fire of the heavier ships. However their brave sacrifice bought time for the two Escort Carriers I called to jump in behind the Munificents and start launching their deadly brood.

    To make the counterattack even sweeter, every one of the carriers was equipped with one shot racks of proton torpedoes. While those were light, the same carried by bombers, the PLC 27s had box launchers holding two hundred each. Each had only two of them, because the logistics corps were not able to provide more torpedoes before Operation "Retribution" was launched. Not without striping weapons from the Coruscant defense fleet which was out of the question after the attack.

    Despite the strong image we were showing to the media, the Republic''s situation was bad and it would be months, perhaps a year before the economy could be fully geared to a war footing, and most equipment shortages could be met.

    The Escort Carriers targeted two frigates each and unloaded their torpedoes at the Munificents rears.

    A wave of proton death struck the engines of the Separatists ships and spread from there up their hull. Flowers of blue colored plasma blossomed where the torpedoes impacted. The drive pods of the frigates, couldn''t handle the energies battering them and blew up almost in unison, sending their ships tumbling through space.

    Two of the frigates suffered catastrophic damage. Their reactors couldn''t scram in time. The resulting detonations turned those craft into so much shrapnel, which decimated most of their fighter compliments.

    With their work done ¨C weapons expended and four hundred fighters in total launched, the two Escort Carriers jumped into hyperspace. That left the fresh Torrents to brave the fire of the remaining enemy frigates while racing in a tail chase to catch the nearly twice their number of Vultures. Said killing machines were plunging headlong at the Republic fleet, heedless of losses or their pursuers.

    I saw all of that on one of the holographic displays showing the space near my main forces, however most of my attention was at the enemy units near Ryloth. I smiled coldly when a wall of about seven thousand odd droid fighters raced towards my Fleet.

    "Call in the rest of the reserve. Hammer Blow is a go." I said with a calmness I didn''t feel. "Shift to fire plan Beta, and inform Admiral Yularen that he has tactical command of the fleet. I''m heading out."

    "Yes, sir." confirmed Pellaeon. I could see the question in the Commodore''s eyes.

    "Right now I can do more outside, strapped in my fighter''s ???kpit. I have no more tricks to play, Gilad. May the Force be with you." I said and headed for the armored doors at the back of the bridge.

    "And with you, General. Good luck." said Pellaeon.

    =RK=

    Luckrehulk Command Ship Procurer, blockade over Ryloth

    Captain Muuk was watching the holographic representation of the battle with a frown. Four of the reserve frigates were already gone, blown up by those damn retrofits! Yet, it meant little. Most of their fighters were out and heading at the heart of the enemy fleet. Even better, most of the anti-fighter escorts the Republic had, were concentrated to the front. That would be painful for the main wave fighters he had sent to strike at the enemy, but Mar had more than enough ?ssets so he could afford the losses.

    "New contacts! Critical proximity!" exclaimed one of the droids manning the sensor stations.

    Tuuk snarled when the relevant information was displayed into his data goggles. So this is where the rest of the enemy reserve went. The last of the so called Escort carriers were above his fleet with the two Acclamator Assault Carriers at the flanks. They were already launching their fighters and bombers.

    "What should we do?" asked one of the droids.

    "Sent the rest of the Vultures at these ships. That''s why I kept them back," the Captain smiled viciously.

    He had nearly three thousand more fighters left. They would swat out of the sky those arrogant fools.

    All that time, he didn''t stop to think where the republic''s bombers were, believing them to be in the safety of the Venator''s hangars.

    =RK=

    Republic Assault Carrier Victorious, CIS Blockade of Ryloth Right Flank

    This was a suicide mission. Everyone on board knew it, but none more keenly than Captain KLR-71, known as Klark.

    The attack of the three carriers was a diversion. He knew it and what it meant for him and his crew. Yet, strangely enough, the clone officer was all right with it. If it worked, it would mean that thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of his brothers would live to fight another day.

    "I want those sensor sweeps done yesterday!" he barked at the man operating the sensor console.

    The three Republic carriers managed to launch their fighter compliments before something bigger than light guns could target them, but that was of no consequence. It appeared that the CIS Commander was declining to take off the pressure from the main fleet. It was the right decision. The three ships from Task Force "Anvil" were doomed anyway. Each of them had about a thousand Vultures converging on their positions with only only a fraction of those numbers in Torrents to meet that onslaught.

    It would be a slaughter, just as general Veil had planned. But while the damn clankers were too busy killing them, their fighters were not available to protect the capital ships.

    "Its done! We have the coordinates!" shouted the sensor operator.

    "Excellent! Transmit them to ''Hammer''!" Klark ordered.

    It took ten seconds, in which the bulk of the Vultures were coming closer and closer, while the hundred and twenty Torrents of the Victorious'' fighter compliment were dueling with three time their number of enemy starfighters, which were closer to the carriers than the rest.

    Before she was swarmed, the Assault Carrier under Klark''s command managed to finish off a Munificent which had her shields down.

    While the Victorious was being torn apart by waves of vultures, the units of Task Force "Hammer" jumped out from hyperspace to the coordinates provided by the three Republic ships which were sacrificing themselves to create that priceless opening.

    =RK=

    Republic Cruiser Requiem, Task Force "Retribution"

    Commodore Pellaeon glared at the Vulture droids which were attacking his ship. They were coming in, guns blazing, and slamming in his precious Requiem at full acceleration. Gilad''s eyes narrowed at the enemy fighter which was flying straight at him.

    The last ditch defensive fire missed the Vulture and it slammed straight through the windows of the port command tower of the Venator.

    At the same time, five hundred and twenty Y-Wing bombers jumped in point blank range of the CIS fleet under the command of Captain Mar Tuuk. It was possible only thanks to the data sent by the three carriers. The bombers jumped on such vectors so that there were no enemy fighters between them and their prey.

    =RK=

    Order of battle for the CIS Fleet blockading Ryloth:

    Luckrehulk Command ship Procurer; 1500 Droid fighters;

    Luckrehulk Battleships: 3; 1500 Droid fighters each;

    Luckrehulk Freighters (lightly armed): 6; 300 Droid fighters each;

    Munificent frigates:

    Main fleet: 32; 100 Droid fighters each;

    Reserve fleet: 8; 150 Droid fighters each;

    Vulture fighter compliment: 12,200

 Chapter 19 - Storm of Blood and Steel

    Part 1

    Task Force Hammer, CIS blockade over Ryloth

    All Y-Wing bombers dedicated to Operation "Retribution" exited hyperspace at point blank range of the Confederation fleet. Even better, they returned to normal space on vectors not only clear of enemy fighters, but more than far enough from the nearest Vultures, so they could execute their first attack run without opposition.

    Each of the still combat worthy Munificents in the main body of the blockading fleet, all twenty two of them, were pounced on by twenty four bombers. Some of the frigates close in weapons opened fire but it was too little, too late. Only six Y-Wings were unlucky enough to be swatted away by the final defensive fire of their prey, before the rest of the bombers were flying over their targets, unleashing every last weapon they carried.

    The bombers moved in waves of six, leaving one lucky CIS ship to be hit by only sixteen Republic small craft.

    The weapons of the first Y-Wing group would shatter armor and scorch weapon emplacements, leaving easy to exploit gaps in the defenses of their chosen target. The second and third left the frigates as little more than drifting wrecks, which were engulfed in fire. In most cases the firepower of the last six bombers was almost wasted as they delivered coup de grace to the stricken Munificents.

    One minute. That is how long it took for the unopposed bombers to turn once proud ships in so much flotsam. So far the total price for that coup were thirty nine Y-Wings and their pilots.

    It was about to rise.

    =RK=

    Republic Cruiser Requiem, Task Force "Retribution"

    Commander Pellaeon stared at the distinctive form of a Vulture droid, which was becoming bigger by the moment. Then it hit the starboard command tower. The live feed of the camera cut of, leaving the monitor shaped like a window go black for a second, before it started showing the images caught by another camera.

    Which promptly was cut off too as a whole squadron smashed through the other bridge tower of the Requiem. Gilad shook his head. He, and the men working around him should be dead right now. They would be, if it was not for the General''s insistence, that they ran the ship from the newly installed CIC, which was deep within the Venator''s superstructure.

    It took almost a month for the engineers to make what used to be one of the damage control stations and its attached storage rooms in a single, reinforced compartment, not to mention making sure that the cruiser could actually be ran from there.

    He took a deep breath. It was worth it. So much for the damn tradition that had directed ship construction for countless millennia!

    Pellaeon frowned at the monitors which were showing camera feeds from the outside. He believed that General Veil wanted to make a point when he ordered the engineers to shape said monitors and the walls on which they were placed into an exact replicas of the bridge''s windows.

    It worked too. Everyone in the CIC was now aware what would have happened if they were up in the standard bridge. Seeing the damn fighters closing in on the windows would leave a lasting impression to every one of them.

    The single thing Gilad regretted, was that the Requiem was so far the only warship with such modification. Prior to the Coruscant Attacks, most of the brass had been adamant that there would be no need for such an expensive refit, which left the rest of the fleet vulnerable. Unfortunately after the attacks, there wasn''t sufficient personnel to do such modifications in the time required. Trying to do so would take a ship out of commission for a month on average, something they could not afford.

    All that, was a cold comfort for the men and women who were about to die today. As things stood no other Venator or Acclamator could be effectively run from anywhere but the bridge.

    That was one tradition that was going to bite the Republic Navy in the ?ss.

    "Target that Munificent!" snapped Pellaeon pointing the closest enemy frigate which was flanking the fleet.

    Half of the Requiem''s heavy turrets rotated and unleashed hell upon the charging Confed ship.

    Few seconds later, he received confirmation that "Hammer" had jumped in. That should pull out the teeth of the enemy capital ships.

    There was only one small problem remaining. That kriffing wall of Vultures which were about to hit the tiny in comparison, fighter force under the command of Skywalker.

    At least the CSP was moping out what was left (read not already rammed into Republic cruisers) of the Separatists reserve fighter force.

    =RK=

    Republic Escort Carrier "Remember Coruscant", CIS blockade over Ryloth

    "Keep her steady for few more seconds!" shouted Captain Jole Solo.

    His first mate, the Wookie Traaw roared affirmative. The large being''s dark, almost black fur shook in unison with their ship, as the old girl took hit after hit. Traaw was an old friend of Jole, who had also volunteered when he figured out what Solo was about to do. The Wookie mentioned something about Jole needing an ?du?t supervision...

    Captain Solo and the rest of his crew were all volunteers. He had been more than eager to offer his ship, when a week ago the Republic Navy had put out the call for container transports. They even offered to buy her at a price that exceeded the market one but he had declined that extra payment in exchange of being allowed to retain command.

    Few hours later he had been contacted by general Veil himself, who was alternatively being declared as the hero of the day or the infamous man who let most of the senate get killed.

    Solo wasn''t interested in any of that. What did he care about a bunch of corrupt politicians, when he had buried his little sister and two nephews just days earlier?! They were his closest relatives, and were waiting for his arrival at the spaceport near the Senate Building when it was attacked by the kriffing Separatists!

    The biggest piece they found of his family members was an arm! Arm! He had to bury them in sealed caskets which were mostly empty.

    So he spoke with the General, and they reached an agreement. Solo enlisted in the Republic Navy and waited for a chance to get the vengeance he craved.

    Skip forward about a week or so, and here he was, comanding his old girl. She had been refitted as "Escort Carrier" and given teeth. Now he was a part of an all volunteer crew, participating in what for all intents and purposes was a suicide mission.

    It was irrelevant. He would take another piece of the Separatists scum, even if it was the last thing he''ll ever do!

    But it was not enough! The fighters his ship had deployed were fighting for their lives and would buy him few more precious moments. Remember Coruscant still had her light torpedoes. She was darting at full speed at the back of an enemy battleship which itself was a converted Luckrehulk freighter. Its heavy guns were already traversing and tracking the much lighter ship. Solo smirked viciously. Only few of them would be able to shoot at his girl before it was too late.

    "We are in range!" shouted his weapons officer.

    "Fire!" spat Solo.

    The converted container ship screamed as heavy turbolasers cut through her lighter shields and impaled her hull. The rear section of the ship was reduced to ruble but it wasn''t enough to stop her.

    Captain Solo''s head met the deck, before everything went black.

    The Escort Carrier spat one hundred seventy five torpedoes (one of the box launchers was gone thanks to a Vulture which kamikazed the ship), and continued on her previous trajectory. Remember Coruscant was aimed straight at the main junction between the sphere and the rest of the Luckrehulk battleship.

    Light guns started eating through her shields, but only three heavy turbolaser clusters could bear on the ship. However, those were able to shoot only twice before they and most weapon emplacements on the upper half of the heavy capital ship were annihilated by a wave of torpedoes.

    =RK=

    "What kriffing piece of junk hit me?" m??n?d Captain Solo.

    "Rwooarrwt!" someone roared.

    "Told me so?! About what?" Solo grumbled.

    He opened his eyes, which was even more painful for his abused head and blinked owlishly at Traaw. The Wookie was pointing his huge paw towards the window of the escape pod.

    Outside, the shattered remains of Remember Coruscant slammed into the scorched leviathan that had destroyed the Escort Carrier.

    After the massive torpedo strike, this was one abuse too many. The huge battleship was torn in two huge pieces, which tumbled through space. The sphere where the reactor was still working, was relatively intact but its few still operational weapons were useless while she was floating aimlessly through the aether.

    Far behind it, the main hull of the Luckrehulk, was a flaming wreck, which while still had about a third of its heavy weapons intact, hadn''t enough power to use them.

    "Look at that kriffing son of a bitch go!" cheered Solo.

    He was smiling for the first time since his sister and nephews were murdered.

    Traaw answered Jole with a triumphant roar which nearly deafened him.

    Assault Carrier Victorious, CIS blockade over Ryloth

    "All hands, abandon ship!" coughed Klark.

    The bridge of the modified Acclamator was turned into pandemonium. Three Vultures had struck the command tower near simultaneously, wrecking most of it. By some miracle, the bridge itself was still airtight but the shock-waves had caused the power system to overload, blowing up relays and couple of consoles which were struck by power-surges. Three of his brothers were dead as a result.

    Damn the kriffing lowest bidder! This was the real world and not some stupid holodrama! Such things were not supposed to happen!

    "Watch out!" shouted the navigation officer.

    Klark turned his head towards the windows behind him. He died with a curse on his lips, when a Droid Fighter smashed through the bridge before exploding. Klark''s last thought was to thank the stars that his ship had only skeleton crew.

    On the other side of the blockade, the crippled Leveler had done her job and tried to evade the heavy guns of the closest battleship. A relentless barrage wrecked her starboard side, sending the Assault Carrier into uncontrolled spin. She would end her doomed flight in the upper atmosphere of Ryloth where she would be torn asunder during the reentry. Pieces of the Leveler would rain all over the northern hemisphere of the planet.

    =RK=

    Republic Cruiser Relentless, Task Force "Retribution" Flagship

    Admiral Yularen cursed whoever first introduced the exposed bridges used by everyone''s warship designers. Two Venators, Conviction and Coruscant''s Pride, were drifting out of control. The third cruiser which was similarly stuck ¨C Requiem, continued to fight as if nothing had happened, despite having both its command towers sheered off by repeated Vulture strikes.

    When this battle was over he would insist that all ships under his command were outfitted with dedicated CICs. If he lived that long.

    The Admiral stared at the plot. Of the enemy''s reserve, only one frigate, which was being blasted to pieces remained as well as twenty odd fighters, which were being hunted down by the CSP. However, the price has been heavy. Hundred twenty one Torrents were lost and all cruiser in the fleet were damaged, thankfully most had only few weapon emplacements missing. But if that was the damage dealt by nine hundred odd Vultures, then what horror could be wrought by almost eight times that number?

    The wall of Droid Fighters would strike the bulk of Torrents commanded by Skywalker in seconds. The Jedi general wouldn''t be able to stop them. They were just too many of those things.

    The Vultures were coming in for a suicide run, accelerating all the way. The damage each of them would cause, would make the previous attack pale in comparison.

    "I want that frigate silenced, then shut down the heavy weapons and divert the power to shields and anti fighter guns. Then brace for impact." ordered Yularen.

    =RK=

    General Skywalker''s Delta 7 Interceptor

    Anakin let the Force flow through him, preparing himself for the coming onslaught. This was going to be ugly. Outnumbered seven to one, Skywalker knew that he wouldn''t be able to stop even a third of the coming Vultures. He had only nine hundred and seventeen fighters, with the rest of the Torrents flying as a CSP for the fleet at his back. He prayed that the escorts and Veil''s last surprise would be enough, if not all capital ships were going to be shattered.

    He took a deep breath.

    "Here they come! Open fire!" ordered Skywalker.

    He sent two missiles at the swarm of dark metal which seemed to fly straight at him and opened fire with his laser cannons. His fighter force, which was nothing to sneeze at, no matter how outnumbered they were, followed his lead.

    "May the Force be with you, Master!" he heard Ahsoka''s voice before her squadron entered the fray.

    "And with you, Snips. Stay safe." he whispered.

    Then there was no time for anything but fighting for his life.

 Chapter 20 - Storm of Blood and Steel [Continued]

    Part 2

    Task Force "Hammer", CIS blockade of Ryloth

    As per their orders, the Republic bombers finished their attack run and headed towards the Command ship. That would be their last target, and after it was silenced, they would retreat to hyperspace.

    The V-19''s launched from the three carriers that were attacking the blockading fleet, were doing their best to tie up the Vultures, so that the bombers could execute one last attack before the thousands of enemy fighters could cut them to pieces.

    It worked. Mostly. The Y-Wings, which had targeted frigates close to the CIS heavy hitters, b?r?ly managed to reach the command ship before a wave of Droid fighters jumped them. The clone pilots and their gunners braved the fire and death spat from the vengeful Vultures and defensive weaponry of the battleships.

    From the two hundred and nine bombers, one hundred seventy five lived long enough to hit the Command ship. They unloaded their remaining torpedoes at the huge craft and overflew its superstructure with guns blazing.

    Hundred and three Y-Wings survived to try escaping to hyperspace.

    The Republic bombers which originally attacked frigates further away from the battleships, fought valiantly but were unable to reach the battle-wagons. Nearly two thousand Vultures swarmed them.

    Five hundred and twenty Y-Wings as well as four hundred and forty V-19 attacked the CIS battle line, decimating it. They also took with them nine hundred fifty nine Vultures.

    Forty one bombers and sixty seven fighters survived long enough to retreat.

    =RK=

    Luckrehulk Command Ship Procurer, CIS blockade over Ryloth

    Captain Mar Tuuk glared balefully at the information fed into his data goggles. He kriffed up. He''d made one bad call. One flawed ?ssumption, and it was going to cost him his fleet. Oh, he would keep the Republic from achieving their objective, but that was no comfort for him. It might save his carrier but he''ll be lucky to ride a desk until the end of the war.

    He ordered two thirds of his escorting fighters towards those damn bombers, but he knew it would be largely futile. This was a damn trap and he had fallen into it! It was his kriffing fault for ?ssuming that those Y-Wings were still on board of their motherships! He knew that the Republic small-craft had hyperdrives, damn it!

    But to execute such a precise tactical jump! It was risky, kriffing suicidal even! Or would have been...

    He shook his head in a grudging admiration. It all made sense!

    Those three escort carriers were not sacrificed in vain! They would soon die, but the damage was already done. They had scanned his fleet and the space surrounding it, and sent jump coordinates to the bombers.

    Now it was time for the hammer to fall. In quick succession, Tuuk''s frigates went off the grid.

    Now it was all over but the moping up. The bombers would soon be done for and he''ll watch how his Vultures tear apart the Republic fleet...

    "Sir! The bombers are coming our way!" exclaimed one of the droids.

    "They won''t make... it..." stuttered the Captain, before he saw one of the battleships flanking his Command ship, being torn in two when a Republic carrier rammed it! Were those people insane?!

    Mar frantically started struggling with the security harness on his chair. He had to strap himself in before it was too late!

    The behemoth that was the Procurer shuddered as wave after wave of Y-Wings tore into the battleship''s hull. She lurched to the port as her armor was breached, and whole wings of bombers unleashed hell into the chink in her defenses.

    The light and data feeds abruptly cut off, causing the Captain to bathe in cold sweat. This was the longest minute in his life.

    When the onslaught ended, Tuuk was left in a drifting wreck, which had no communication with the outside world. Only the emergency power was on, bathing the bridge in sinister red light.

    Mar looked around, and saw that the B1 droid crew was largely intact and milling around their dark consoles.

    "Orders, Captain?" asked the yellow painted droid commander.

    "All organic personnel are to abandon ship." snapped Tuuk, while trying to get out of his harness. He no longer felt confident in the outcome. He thought for a moment how long it would take him to reach an intact escape pod. "Give that order in sixty seconds." he growled at the poor droid.

    Tuuk had to get off the crippled ship before the Republic battle line managed to finish it off.

    =RK=

    Blue Squadron, Near Task Force "Retribution"

    Ahsoka sent her Interceptor into a spin, desperately trying to evade the fire of dozens, perhaps hundreds, enemy fighters. Her gloved thumb was clamped on the trigger for her Delta 7''s cannons, which were sending a stream of blue death at the droids trying to kill her and her men.

    Her blasterfire blew up a Droid fighter, then a second and a third in quick succession. Yet for every one she downed, two more were taking its place. Behind Ahsoka, her squadron was flying in close formation, sending missiles and laser bolts at the offending Vultures.

    It was a scene repeating itself dozens of times, all along the front of the oncoming swarm.

    The Torrents took first blood by salvoing close to two thousand missiles at the armada of enemy machines. Significant parts were shot down by a wall of crimson fire, others homed in on the same fighter. Many detonated prematurely when striking fragments of already destroyed Vultures.

    Despite all that, the clone pilots reaped an impressive harvest! One thousand one hundred thirty three enemy fighters lit up the eternal night of space with their funeral pyres.

    That was the easy part, something everyone knew. After the first missile volley, the Vultures were upon them. The skirmish was short and brutal.

    Fifteen seconds. That''s all it took for the droid formation to pass through the Republic fighters trying to stop them. Men of flesh and blood met with beings of cold logic, electronics and steel, in a whirlwind of fire and death.

    After becoming an Ace once today, Ahsoka blew up her sixth Vulture for the battle, starting a second tally. She aimed at the seventh and pressed the trigger, before banking up in a futile attempt to evade the enemy. The Force was screaming warnings, and she could feel where the danger laid. The padawan trusted her instincts, weaving her Interceptor between lines of scarlet laser fire, yet it was not enough.

    In a perfect moment of clarity, Ahsoka knew that the Jedi''s foresight could be as much curse as a blessing. She could see in her mind where the droids'' blasterfire would go. Her reflexes were better than even those of the machines she was facing.

    Her squadron tried to protect her. They flew at the enemies attacking their leader and managed to buy her a few more seconds. One after another, the members of Blue Squadron perished, turned to space dust as their fighters became funeral pyres.

    First to go was Sev, after smashing two more Vultures. His brothers followed suit in the span of moments until only Ax remained. He launched his last two missiles, then proceeded to blast another Droid fighter with his cannons.

    With his last breath, he took out one final enemy, when his V-19 annihilated both itself and the Vulture it struck headlong.

    She felt them all die in the Force. Even the two who were fast enough to eject in time, were extinguished moment later. Their loss hit her hard, causing her to feel almost physical pain. It broke her concentration for a moment. Her deep connection with the Force wavered and she missed the last opportunity to evade the incoming enemy fire.

    After that, her supernatural reflexes were irrelevant. Her Delta 7, simply wasn''t agile enough to evade all the fire directed at her. Despite all that, the sacrifice of her squadron meant everything. She found herself into an impossible situation for only few seconds, before the CIS fighters moved away. In that brief slice of time, Ahsoka became the target of a hundred or so machines.

    The right wing of her fighter shattered as if it was made of glass. Its nose was speared by a long line of laser bolts, which blew huge chunks of armor and delicate machinery away. It was a small miracle that the fighter didn''t explode up there and then.

    In a desperate bid for survival, Ahsoka used the force to eject. She knew that her hands wouldn''t be fast enough.

    Below her, the mortally wounded Delta 7 exploded, followed by a nearby Droid Fighter. She was touched by the edge of the blast-wave, but mercifully enough, no shrapnel punctured her suit. Before loosing consciousness, she thanked the Force and Delkatar for the sealed suit he had insisted she wear during the battle.

    =RK=

    Anakin cursed when he felt Ahsoka''s presence dimming. She was knocked out and hurt, however he could do nothing to help her right now. He had to suppress an un-Jedi like rush of fury, which threatened to engulf him. He knew that loosing it here and now was likely to get him killed.

    Skywalker snarled and blew another enemy fighter which had the unfortunate luck of passing in front of his interceptor. Those kriffing machines had hurt his apprentice! His friend!

    He remembered what happened in the Senate. Instead of continuing his attempt to suppress his fury, he let it flow through him, fueling the Force, which he used to further enhance his reflexes.

    He pulled off such a sharp turn that the frame of his Delta 7 ?r??n?d in protest, but he ignored it and lined up in his sights a squadron of Droid fighters. His laser cannons tore through the offending machines, and he felt a fierce satisfaction of his small victory.

    When the short explosion of the last one cleared away, Anakin searched for another target but found none.

    The Vultures were speeding away, continuing their self-destructive charge at the fleet. He scowled at the machines and raced after them, followed by the remaining Republic fighters.

    The short skirmish saw the destruction of six hundred eighty six Torrents and two thousand five hundred forty seven Vultures.

    Anakin wasn''t aware of those numbers, but that was irrelevant, There were too many of the kriffing machines remaining, and all his channeled anger wouldn''t make his fighter go fast enough.

    =RK=

    General Veil''s Custom Delta 7B, Task Force "Retribution"

    By the time I''d made my way to the hangar and launched, most of the Vultures attacking the fleet had either rammed or were blasted to pieces.

    That didn''t stop me from claiming a few kills. I pounced on a squadron of the Droid fighters, which were making beelines to the remains of the Requiem''s command towers. I smiled under my helmet at the way my Interceptor was handling, when I executed a sharp turn and found myself at the tail of the enemy formation.

    Few short bursts later and the Vultures were turned into a bunch of disintegrating wrecks. Most of them blew up, raining cooling debris at the cruiser, with only one remaining sufficiently intact to slam in the heavy upper armor. Its only effect was to leave a small dent.

    The fighters of this era were nice pieces of equipment. I especially liked my new custom ride, however that didn''t stop them feel somewhat lackluster. Here I was, four thousand years in the future, and the standard small craft of both sides didn''t even have shields! To be honest I expected so much more! The fact that I could just jump in any given bird of this era and fly without any additional training was telling. Where was the progress?! The amazing new equipment one would expect?!

    I helped the CSP to mop up the remaining Vultures and had them reform between the capital ships and the escorts.

    While we were dealing with the enemy reserves and reforming after that, the main attack had passed through the fighter screen commanded by Skywalker and was heading our way. Hope that my preparations were sufficient and wait to play my last card. I had kept the escort ships which should have been deployed with my own reserve back.

    Six additional Carrack Light Cruisers and ten CR90 Corvettes waited my signal to join the defense line. It won''t be long now. The swarm of enemy fighters was just entering into range of my other surprise...

    It all began few months ago, when the three Acclamators under my command were being refitted into anti-fighter role. I disagreed with the Navy engineers. They believed that gutting half the heavy cannons of the Assault ships and replacing them with light laser guns would be enough. I beg to differ with such a statement. My problem was that even if all other weaponry was replaced with flak guns it still wouldn''t be enough. Not for dealing with the swarms I believed the enemy could deploy if pressed. Besides such a radical refit would need a major redesign of the cruiser''s power distribution network, which would place them in dock for a lot longer that I could afford.

    That led me to visit the R&D department of the Navy, where I checked some of the concept for dealing with enemy fighters, which were not approved by the brass for one reason or another.

    One of the concepts I came through with was something that would be familiar to the wet navies of my Earth, which was few dimensions away. It was to stuff Acclamators or Venators with racks of VLC tubes, advanced sensors and shoot a lot of missiles at the enemy. It would turn the ships in something akin to an Aegis cruiser''s big brother. While the heart of the system ¨C the fire control computers and those processing all the data needed to defeat the enemy ECM were deep within the hull of the cruiser, the additional sensor arrays and the box missile launchers were bolted on the hull.

    The downside was that the additional sensors and the anti-fighter missiles were relatively expensive. Just one missile cost as much as the combat load of a V-19. Combine that with the fact that so far the CIS were not deploying even close to the maximum fighter strength their ships could carry (I blamed that on Palpy''s meddling), and it made clear why the system was not deployed. Damn, there were a few prototypes but no one seemed interested at mounting them on ships.

    That changed when the refit of the Dauntless, Honor and Warspite began. It took a lot of bargaining to have the system, which was called Guardian, installed and supplied with missiles. I had to give credit to the creators of the system, though a success would see it build and installed through the fleet, which will make the bastards filthy rich. Not to mention that until the end of the war those folks wouldn''t have any problems with getting their new prototypes tested.

    Now it was time to put it to the test. My one regret was that each of my three Assault Ships had only a thousand missiles.

    When the Vultures entered range, it seemed that the front of the Acclamators disintegrated. Their forward third disappeared behind the violet glare of hundreds of engines.

    The Guardian Prototypes could guide two hundred missiles each at separate targets. Even better, they could burn through the ECM carried by the Droid Fighters at relatively long range. However, the missiles we had at this time were not designed for the role. They were relatively dumb. Even with a combination of the ship''s massive targeting systems and the Guardian designed for defeating fighter ECM as well as tracking such an agile targets, the success rate was average.

    However, not everything was going our way. In a standard engagement, the Guardian would have much longer time to track the targets and shoot them down. That was a big problem because the current iteration of the system had trouble tracking close targets. It simply wasn''t designed for that. With the enemy coming in under constant acceleration...

    By the time the Vultures were too close to make the missile strikes no longer effective, each Acclamator had fired half their magazines at the coming swarm. Most of those missiles actually hit their targets, creating the illusion of a fire wall heading our way.

    Over a thousand Vultures were claimed by the Guardian system, making it a favorite of mine. If I had anything to say about it, which I did, there would be a lot of money thrown into producing and improving it.

    That was not the end of the Vulture''s troubles. It was time for them to run through the Escorts gauntlet.

    First to open fire were the Carrack''s, followed by the Arquitens and CR90''s. The cold night of space was light up by green and blue laser show and the Acclamators promptly added their own gunfire to the spectacle.

    Fighters died by the scores, yet the machines came at us regardless. Some of the droids calculated that it would be prudent to reduce the amount of incoming fire and redirected their flight path at the escorts.

    A Carrack staggered under two kamikaze impact, the combination of detonating fuel cells and sheer kinetic impact taking their due. It fell out of formation with its gun silenced but mostly intact thanks to its highly compartmentalized interior. One of her sister ships was not so lucky. She was shattered when a whole squadron hit her in the space of three seconds. Even her over-engineered structure couldn''t survive such abuse. The Light Cruiser disappeared in a bright explosion.

    There were no survivors, and she wouldn''t be the last to fall this day. An Arquitens followed into oblivion, then another.

    Corvettes were left as drifting hulk after a hit or two, and the day''s bloodletting was far from over.

    "Here they come! Choose your targets and May the Force be with you!" I said.

    Few seconds later, they were in range. My Interceptor leaped forward, carried by its powerful engines, and I opened fire with the missiles with which I had it modified. Eighteen fire and forget weapons leaped from their box launchers, which I hastily ejected once they were empty, in order to reduce the weight. They had for company the missiles sent by the four hundred and seventeen fighters riding on my heels.

    "Jump now!" I ordered the remains of my reserve, moments before my Delta 7 was engulfed by the whirlwind of close range combat.

    As the fighters under my direct command met the tattered remains of the enemy Vulture swarm, the remaining Light Cruisers and Corvettes jumped behind. Straight between the enemy and the capital ships.

    My laser cannons sliced in two one of the leading Vultures. I spun my Interceptor between the fire sent my way by two of his friends, which I blew away with precise bursts.

    All around me, the void was filled with exploding fighters.

    I destroyed another target and winced when my brand new astromech droid lost its head to a close miss. I blasted the damn machine which came close to shooting me down and then there were no more targets in my sight.

    I made a sharp turn, guiding my Interceptor towards the fleet. I could see on my scanners that the Acclamators had turned to the side, and shooting more missiles at the tails of the Vultures. Few might even catch them before they hit the core of my fleet.

    The Droid fighters blew through my second line of escorts, taking some of them out. Over seven hundred remained to strike the umbrella of close in defense weapons of my capital ships.

    We were hot on their tails, but there was no way to catch up in time.

    All I could do was to watch as the drama unfolded. Few hundred more Vultures were brushed out of the void. A hundred or so were damaged by close misses so they didn''t succeed in ramming my ships.

    All that was not enough. Just as I knew it won''t be.

    When all was said and done, it would be estimated that just over three hundred Droid fighters made it through everything we were able to throw at them. They struck my ships with tremendous force, leaving only carnage behind. And while all that was happening, the two still intact CIS battleships never stopped shooting at us.

    First to suffer were the Dreadnaughts, which were forming the front line. One was destroyed thanks to series of lucky hits at a few weak points, causing chain reaction. Its reactor failed to scram and took the ship with it. Another three were left as drifting wrecks, which had their weapons and sensors stripped from their battered hulls.

    By the grace of the Force, the last one somehow remained unscratched.

    Then it was the turn of the Venators. All of them were hit with the exception of the two drifting out of control. Their heavier armor fared much better. Only Onderon was destroyed after taking sixty nearly simultaneous hits at the area over its reactor. Something went wrong, because the tough armor over that area should have been able to handle such an abuse. The cruiser simply blew up spectacularly. What caused it to go up in such a way would remain a mystery.

    She was lost with all hands.

    That didn''t meant that the rest remained unscratched. Armor buckled and was shattered, weapons were torn from their moorings or outright destroyed. Various systems were wrecked from the repeating hammer blows, and thousands were dead or injured on board.

    Redeemer was left as a drifting hulk, and on the Resolute, Admiral Yularen and his staff survived only because he found it prudent to evacuate both command towers before the enemy struck. Those structures were flaming wrecks, which had damage control teams trying to cut them off the rest of the ship.

    The Requiem as well as the Conviction and Coruscant Pride were left largely untouched, because the Vulture''s programming deemed them a lesser threat once the loss of their bridge towers was noted by the machines.

    The Executrix was not that lucky. At the start of the onslaught, her heavy anti-fighter defenses laughed at the incoming Vultures. That was until a lucky one managed to smash into one of the two massive shield domes. That was noticed by the remaining Droids ?ssaulting her. Then that behemoth was struck by full hundred and forty kamikazes, which fell on her like rain.

    Even then her tough armor shrugged hits which tried to brutalize her upper superstructure beyond recognition. It appeared the Executrix and her class would become the face of the Republic''s might.

    Then everything went to hell. Her shield domes blew up in titanic explosions and the waves of Vulture droids started finding multiple weak points the hard way. When the storm of steel and fire was over, the Star Destroyer was left as a little more than a drifting wreck. The huge tower here her bridge and shield generators used to be located were shredded beyond belief.

    The Droid fighters which survived delivering that hammer blow were viciously hunted down and annihilated with extreme prejudice.

    I headed back to the Requiem after ordering SAR teams to be deployed. I still had work to do. There were two battleships and another two thousand or so enemy fighters as well as those six big ?ss transports to deal with before the liberation of Ryloth could begin.

 Chapter 21 - Storm of Blood and Steel [Continued 2]

    Part 3

    Republic Cruiser Requiem, Task Force "Retribution" Flagship

    "Skywalker! Guide the SAR bird to Ahsoka and then get your ?ss back to the Requiem. We still have clankers to deal with." I snapped into my comm.

    Ever since the threat of the massive Vulture wave had passed, he had been frantically calling for someone to rescue the kid. It was getting irritating, and even besides that the moment I noticed that she was shot down I had sent a shuttle to retrieve landing in the Requiem, I took the scenic route so to speak, noting the state of my capital ships.

    It was a bloody disaster. I didn''t really believe that the damn Vultures would be a major threat if it wasn''t for those never sufficiently damned exposed bridges! I was wrong. Two thirds of my fleet was stripped off its heavy guns, and had its armor either weakened or shattered. How the hell the damn fighters had managed to blow up the Onderon, I''ll never know.

    I thought about my remaining forces. There were at least a few escorts that would do what I ordered them to do without screwing it up. And the Requiem, while missing a third of her weapons was still combat capable. Further, I had one intact Dreadnought as well as Conviction and Coruscant''s Pride, which were virtually untouched aside from the total loss of their bridges and command staff.

    That left those two Venators in interesting positions. They no longer had nav computers or central control, but still could fight... if not all that well. There was no one left to coordinate their weapons. But if their engineering received coordinates from another ship, they could still jump...

    Before reaching the CIC I ordered recall for what remained of "Hammer."I went next to Pellaeon, who was examining the fleets status report. After the Relentless lost its bridge, command of the fleet had went to the Commodore, at least until Yularen, who had thankfully survived, could make his way here."

    We took a hammering, sir." stated Gilad.

    "That we did." I said studying the fleet''s status for a few seconds I had a very rough plan in place.

    "I want the three Guardian equipped Acclamators as well as escorts to jump at maximum missile range of those two battleships. Their targets are the remaining Vultures. Our surviving Torrents will support them. Once what''s left of our bombers rearm aboard of this ship, we''ll execute a tactical jump and cover them while they attack the battleships. When the heavy guns of those behemoths are gone, they will be easy to take down."

    "Sir! General Kenobi hailing us." Spoke the lieutenant manning the comm station.

    "Patch him through." Answered Pellaeon.

    The image on one of the screens, which was showing a camera feed, was replaced by Obi-Wan and Cody, who had mostly recovered from the crash. My fellow general''s face was grim.

    "I''m glad to see you made it. We watched the live feed of the battle." he shook his head in exasperation. "What ?ssistance can we provide?"I glanced at the sensor readouts of the remaining CIS space forces.

    "We can use the Negotiator when taking out those battlewagons. You have seventy two bombers, right?"

    "That''s right. Also forty two Torrents and the rest of the ground units of the 221st. "

    "I can definitely use that. Besides, we might need your boys for those six freighters. While lightly armed and shielded, they may have locals on board." I smart thing to do would have been to get those big fat targets out of the battlezone.

    "Here is what we are going to do..."

    Assault Ship Dauntless, approaching CIS blockade of Ryloth

    Admiral Yularen, who had insisted on taking command over the force which would deal with the remaining Vultures, had taken his flag to the Dauntless.

    Meanwhile, the main body of the fleet with more than half of the remaining escorts was under the command of General Veil and Commodore Pellaeon, who were coordinating battlefield the last half hour, the mostly intact Venators had taken pounding, while they dueled with the two battleships. That at least had proved to all that the remaining CIS forces were under the command of droids, not particularly bright ones too.

    Any commander worth his salt, would have concentrated on the disabled republic cruisers, denying their further use to the enemy. It wasn''t like the three Venators still retaining most of their heavy weapons could deplete the massive shields of the battleships any time was a mistake the Separatists would regret.

    The Dauntless, Warspite and Honor, bracketed by their escorts, which consisted by the light ships with the best captains and crew, executed a tactical jump a short distance outside of effective missile range of the remaining escorts tightened their formation around their charges, and the Republic ship moved slowly forward.

    "Open fire." ordered Yularen.

    By the time the order came, the Guardian systems had scanned the enemy fleet, shared data and ?ssigned targets for their weapons. Missiles jumped from their VLS launchers and raced towards their prey.

    At the same time, the surviving and rearmed Torrents, which were reconstituted in makeshift squadrons after the brutal mauling they suffered during the previous engagements of the battle, emerged out of hyperspace behind the Republic flotilla attacking the Vultures.

    An organic commander, might have decided that cutting out his losses and getting away might be the prudent thing to do. Especially when he figured out that his remaining fighters were going to be droids in charge of the CIS fleet''s remnants had other ideas. Their orders were to defeat the Republic fleet. So that was what they were going to do. Or at least try. The Vultures were ordered to soften up the attacking force, while the battleships maneuvered to get better firing angles at the new contacts which were well into their engagement envelopes.

    Before the V-19''s engaged within gun range, the Vultures were cut almost in half, demonstrating for all to see the great disadvantage the Droid had. It was their glaring lack of longer ranged weaponry than their built in laser cannons. The missile strike sent by the Republic small craft shattered what was left by the enemy squadrons, before the Torrents looped to the side, leaving the tattered remnants of the once two thousand strong force to smash against the fire of eleven Carrack''s and the AA guns of the Acclamators.

    Before the surviving Vultures could ram the three Assault Ships, the V-19s fell over them like a hammer, sending a second salvo at their tails. This time the enemy craft had not build in enough speed to escape the Torrents engagement envelope before striking the fleet.

    Only eleven Droid fighters were lucky enough to kamikaze the Republic ships, none of which hit a critical location. The Acclamators could manage well enough without couple of heavy guns and few missing AA emplacements, especially now, when the CIS fighter force was gone.

    "The Battle for Ryloth (its space component) will enter the history as the point when both Starfighter and bomber doctrines had to change. The widespread use of the Guardian system by the Republic and the Defense Net introduced by the Confederation of Independent systems two months later (which was based on stolen Guardian plans) would change the face of Naval warfare during the next year of the conflict know as the Clone Wars..."

    Extract from "Naval Warfare History Volume XXVIII", published by the Axxanis military academy

    =RK=

    Red Squadron, 71st Bomber Wing, CIS blockade over Ryloth

    Lieutenant FLK-256, who was usually called Falk, pushed a level and his Y-Wing jumped out of hyperspace. He glanced at his sensors readouts, confirming that his craft was at the correct coordinates, and that the surviving bombers from "Hammer" flight were around him.

    "Lets do it once again boys." He said in his comm unit.

    In the next moment Falk forced his bird''s engines, and the Y-Wing flew forward, accelerating towards its target. The battleship grew closer, its lighter guns opening fire at the scratch force heading its way.

    The forty one bombers, all that survived the initial anti-shipping strike, hurled themselves at the of the Lieutenant''s craft were obliterated by laser cannons while closing to the huge Luckrehulk. The rest of his scratch force darted near the behemoth''s hull, sending proton torpedoes and energy blasts at vulnerable areas.

    The heavy turbolaser guns were singled out with extreme prejudice, each receiving a warhead or two, turning them in so much flaming confetti. Secondary targets were the lighter anti-ship guns and AA weapons, which were struck with the Y-Wings'' cannons or the odd the bombers finished their attack run, they pulled away from their burning target, and jumped into hyperspace, evading the impotent fire from the crippled leviathan and its sister ship.

    At the same time, the seventy two bombers which rode out the battle in the safety of Negotiator''s hangers, jumped near the other battlewagon. They repeated the exercise, delivering even more damage to the second both bomber forces left the battlefield, they left behind fifteen of their number, and two crippled capital ships.

    Meanwhile, all Republic warships capable of it moved into weapon range of the two ships, and continued to bombard the battleships. One of the Acclamators was moderately damaged, a Venator, Coruscant''s Pride received additional light damage, and three escorts were mission killed ¨C one unfortunate Carrack, which was mauled by a damaged heavy turbolaser cannon, which was brought back online at the precisely the wrong time, and a pair of CR90.

    Before Wat Tambor, who was the senior Confed leader on Ryloth finally gave the retreat order, only one, heavily damaged battleship managed to fight its way through the Republic fleet which was tearing the behemoths down piece by piece.

    Its fellow mountain of steel wasn''t so fortunate. It took another fifteen minutes for the depleted Republic ships to pound it into impotence, and then, what was presumed to be its droid commander, scuttled the vessel instead of letting it fall into enemy Blockade of Ryloth was over, at a heavy price for both path to the planet and all the CIS forces waiting there was now open.

    =RK=

    Cruiser Requiem, Task Force "Retribution" Flagship

    "Confirm that!" exclaimed Pellaeon.

    I cursed my arrogance. Despite their huge number, I didn''t truly believe that the Vulture swarm could be a serious threat for my capital ships, besides their obvious exposed bridges!

    I was proven wrong. Smashed escorts, destroyed weapons, shattered armor, not to mention the lost lives... The list was long. The the two heavy ships what were lost with all hands, to the only Force knows what freak combination of circumstances, only added salt to the wound.

    I glanced at one of the close by monitors, which was showing the sorry state of the Executrix. She was powerful ship, that much she had proven. However, being taken out by fighters, something her designers were swearing won''t be possible. Heh. I knew better when I attached her to my fleet. Her heavy firepower and the three hundred Torrents she carried were good enough reason why I was glad for her presence, despite the fact that now Executrix was a yard job. She won''t see combat for months, perhaps a year. Still, she was in far better shape than the enemy battleship that escaped. That thing might have to be scrapped.

    I returned my attention to my, hmm, friend, Gilad. And wasn''t this an admission I was reluctant to make!He came to my side with a grim expression on his face.

    "Admiral Yularen has a report for you, sir." he reported.I suppressed a grimace and nodded.

    "What is it, Commodore?"

    "The freighters were scanned by both fighters and recon corvettes, to confirm it. There are nearly quarter of a million life-signs between them."

    "Slaves." I hissed.

    Before I could place my fury back under control, the air around me rippled with a wave of telekinetic energy, which caused Pellaeon to flinch.

    "Further, all our hails for surrender remain unanswered."I thought for a moment.

    "If those are stock freighters, then we have their schematics. I want their hyperdrives taken out. I''ll speak with General Kenobi and we''ll figure out how to capture those ships. It''s time for the ground forces to start liberating Ryloth at any rate. We''ll just have to add this to the list."

    =RK=

    Republic and CIS losses during the Battle for Ryloth

    Task Force "Retribution"

    Venators:

    3 Destroyed ¨C Defender, Redeemer, Onderon

    Relentless, Conviction, Coruscant''s Pride, and Requiem: destroyed bridge towers; moderate to heavy damage over armor and weapon systems; Victory ¨C intact bridge but lost 90% of her weapons

    Dreadnoughts: 2 destroyed; 4 crippled

    Acclamators: Leveler, Victorious ¨C lost; Warspite ¨C moderately damaged

    Carracks CL: 9 destroyed; 4 crippled; 6 moderately damaged

    Arquitens CL: 8 destroyed; 1 crippled; 3 moderately damaged

    PLC 27 Escort Carriers: 1 Destroyed: Remember Coruscant

    CR90: 19 Destroyed; 4 moderately damaged

    V-19 Torrent: 1578 lost

    Y-Wing bombers: 488 lost

    CIS losses:

    Luckrehulk Command ships: 1 lost: Procurer

    Luckrehulk Battleships: 2 lost; 1 crippled and fled to hyperspace

    Munificent frigates: 40 lost

    Vulture fighters: 12,000 lost

 Chapter 22 - Storm of Blood and Steel [Continued 3]

    Part 4

    Republic Cruiser Requiem, Task Force "Retribution" Flagship, 1 light second from Ryloth

    Disabling the hyperdrives and engines of the six freighters, turned out to be the first damn thing that went right today. After that, Admiral Yularen used the ships under his command to systematically dismantle the light weapons on those transports.

    Despite that the calls for surrender remained unheeded. That was one of the reasons for the conference call I was attending.

    Skywalker, a banged up, but otherwise fine Ahsoka, Lieutenant Veers, Cat and me. Those were the people physically present on Requiem. The rest, amongst who were General Kenobi, Commander Cody, Captain Rex and myriad other ground commanders, were here in the form of ghostly holograms.

    "This smells like a trap, sir." grunted Cody.

    There were nods and whispers of agreement.

    "That much is obvious. However, we can''t just leave those people, if they are in facts locals, in the hands of the CIS and the Hutts. We have to at least scout the freighters." I shrugged.

    "Every moment we are wait, is one more for the Seps on the ground to dig in, sir." said Rex.

    "That''s right. We afford to waste too much time, sir." Cody backed up his friend.

    "We have at least few hours." I countered. "No one is setting a foot on Ryloth until orbital reconnaissance is completed. As we speak, our remaining bombers are being refitted with sensor pods. In an hour or so they will overfly the planet and scout for concentration of enemy forces and suitable landing zones. I''m not sending you down there before we are reasonably sure that there aren''t any anti-orbital emplacements."

    The ground commanders winced at that. I didn''t have to tell them what would happen if we attempted landing against an un-suppressed AA defense net, especially if the Confeds had deployed weapons which could maul the Assault ships.

    "We can use our recon elements to check the freighters. Unfortunately, there are no special forces teams attached to our army." proposed Kenobi.

    "We should lead the reconnaissance of the freighters." said Anakin. "With the force, we would have a better chance to sense and avoid any traps. "

    "It''s tempting." I nodded.

    Granted, the whole set up could be a trap for Jedi, but that didn''t make Skywalkers idea any less viable. While we were all high ranking officers, thanks to the Force, often the best effect we could have during a battle was on the frontlines, taking out critical objectives, or plugging the gaps when our subordinates simply didn''t possess the best skills for a given job.

    Just like now. Clearing out the freighters was a task tailor made for the Republic commandos. Too bad that none of those fellas was under my command.

    "Admiral Yularen will take command of the fleet, and you General Kenobi, will plan the initial landings when the scouts reports come in. The rest of us, Force Adepts will lead a reconnaissance in force on the freighters. Lets see what we have to work with..."

    =RK=

    LAAT gunship en route to Phantom 1 (Luckrehulk-class Freighter), high orbit over Ryloth

    The other notable people riding with us were Captain Cat, who I had promoted when he recovered from the injuries received on Naboo, and members of his Sword company.

    All of them were wearing the new color scheme on their armors ¨C black and dark gray. I was the sole exception, with my apparel covered by the Chameleon paint, which made me almost melt into the background.

    A company strength force was being deployed to each freighter. The first four ships were going to be hit by units under the command of Skywalker, Ahsoka, Rex and me, with the remaining being visited by recon elements of 93rd Legion.

    We breached the freighter''s exterior through the tears in its hull made by the fleet, while my ships were taking out its weapons.

    The LAAT''s pilots parked the transport so it almost touched the hull and we piled out of it. Our magnetized boots slapped into the metal skin of the freighter and we made our way to the hole in it.

    After a moment of tense waiting, while I checked the compartment we were about to enter and those surrounding it, with the Force, I was the first to vault in. I braced myself for the moment the artificial gravity was about to "catch" me. My stomach protested when the apparent lack of up and down was no more and I felt like being on solid ground once again.

    I hurried to move out so the next person could came in. That was Aria who was spoiling for a fight. Being sealed in her room during the battle had made her on edge, and she needed something to bleed off her nervous energy. I was ready to bet that we would soon meet some droids which fit that bill.

    Soon enough, Cat and two squads had jumped in. The rest of the platoon had chosen other points of ingress.

    I nodded at the sealed armored door at the left side of the corridor where we were. Cat pointed at it and one of his men hurried up to a panel next to it. He pulled out a cable from the over sized computer mounted on his left arm, connected it with the door''s control and started typing. Thirty seconds later, the armored barrier blocking our way divided in four and slid into the walls. If we were lucky, his brief hack had gone unnoticed and we were under the radar. That is if no one saw our gunships approaching the Luckrehulk.

    The ?ssault made by Yularen had slagged the all the sensors possessed by the six freighters so we didn''t have to worry that they would detect our approach that way.

    We went into the next section of the corridor, and the tech sealed the door behind us. We could hear the hissing sound of air being pumped into the compartment. Soon a green light blinked on the door in front of us and it slid open.

    That would hasten our mission, at least until someone on the other side smartened up and put the ship on lock-down. Something that I expected to be done by now.

    The strangest thing was that I didn''t feel any more danger than any other time I was entering a potential combat zone. I would have expected a stronger warning through the Force if the freighter was about to blew up or something...

    "This is unit Delta! We have contact!" came over the comms. "Only light clankers so far. We are proceeding to the target coordinates."

    Their destination were the starboard cargo holds, with Gama going after the port ones. Beta was heading straight to the reactor, to secure.

    My own team was making its way to the bridge, and hopefully some answers.

    The next clue, besides the very light resistance, and radio silence from the ship, that something was wrong, were the destroyed droids and few Trandosian bodies we started encountering. It gave me a clue about what might have happened on the freighters...

    "This is Gama, we are under attack by what appears to be mercenaries, sir!" reported an incredulous clone.

    We were nearing the bridge when Beta reported.

    "Sir, we stumbled on a firefight between clankers and a squad strong Trandosians. Please advice on how to proceed."

    "Try finding an alternative route. If that''s not practical wait for them tow weaken each other, eliminate all resistance and secure that reactor." I ordered.

    "Wilco, sir!" answered the clone, before cutting the transmission.

    =RK=

    Phantom 2, high orbit over Ryloth

    "Kriffing huttspawn!" cursed Anakin, after he ducked his head back behind the corner, around which he was glancing.

    A damn big, heavily armed and armored Trandosian was sweeping the corridor leading to the engineering, with an oversized automatic weapon. The gun was shooting huge slugs at a prodigious rate of fire. Skywalker doubted that most pieces of the armor he and his men were wearing could stop those bullets.

    The standard Phase 1 Republic armor was optimized for stopping blaster fire and shrapnel. That heavy gun was something else entirely.

    So it was a very good thing that the fool who was blocking his way, was fond of wearing grenades on his harness. Anakin smiled thinly, closed his eyes and concentrated.

    One after another, the safeties of the grenades carried by the Trandosian heavy weapons specialists were pulled out by invisible fingers. The huge reptilian stared at his harness when a small motion there caught his attention. He growled loudly in protest when he saw what was happening.

    It was too late. He was just extending his right hand to throw away the first of the live explosive devices, when they detonated.

    When the smoke cleared, the biggest part left from the overgrown lizard were his feet, which were still in their armored boots and firmly planted to the ground.

    Anakin wasted no time and led two squads of the 501st into the reactor control room. There they were met by six more, thankfully relatively lightly armored Trandosians.

    Still, those things proved to be not only better armored from his clone troopers, but also tougher, more resilient to punishment. Skywalker''s soldiers had to put a score or more shots at the Trandosians ?h?sts in order to put them down. In contrast, a clone could tank only a hit or two in the torso before being taken out.

    Anakin found out that the enemy''s toughness didn''t extend to lightsabers.

    He deflected six shots back at the closest ugly lizard, without the kriffing thing even wavering. But then he was in melee range.

    Skywalker sliced the blaster rifle carried by the Trandosian in two and stabbed at its ?h?st. That finally proved too much. The male lizard growled weakly before sliding to the floor in two pieces.

    Anakin puled towards himself a second enemy, one who was taking pot shots at his men and impaled him on his lightsaber. Despite that the Trandosian tried to club the Jedi with his gun. In answer, Skywalker''s hands blurred while he cut the damn things to pieces of steaming flesh. For a moment a smile of fierce joy stretched his lips, before the General returned to his mission.

    He threw his saber at the last still standing Trandosian. The brute fell to the ground under a hail of blaster bolts and without his head.

    "Secure the reactor and take care of the wounded!" ordered Skywalker.

    They had to make sure that the ship wouldn''t be blown up around them.

    =RK=

    Phantom 3, high orbit over Ryloth

    Ahsoka cut vertically in two the last Super Battle droid blocking her way. With the last obstacle between her and the door to the port cargo bays gone, she ran forward, followed by five clones. The rest of her team were either down or tending to the wounded.

    She reached the door and frowned. A stray shot had slagged the control panel. That would slow her down for a few seconds.

    She plunged her lightsaber into the door and started cutting through the alloy. It took her seconds to do it, showing that the entrance was sealed by a regular metal and not reinforced one. It was another thing confirming that the Freighters were almost unmodified, stock designs.

    The padawan used telekinesis to push in the circle she cut into the door. Ahsoka jumped through the glowing hole, with her saber raised in a defensive stance. Her men followed suit. They had their weapons up and were sweeping the compartment for threats.

    Instead they found people sealed into large cells. Men, women and children were stuck in huge numbers behind thick metal bars. They all looked dirty and malnourished.

    Ahsoka stared with pity at the sight. If it wasn''t for her sealed helmet, she was sure that the stench of filth in the cargo bay would be unbearable.

    "We need help over here." muttered one of the clones.

    His tone betrayed his disbelief at the sight. None of them, besides being veterans of months of war, expected to see such a sight. It was especially hard on the young Jedi.

    She knew that slavery was outlawed in the Republic, so the view of thousands of people in such a state was almost incomprehensible.

    However for her it was worse. The Jedi, who were supposed to be protectors of the galaxy, usually didn''t work outside of Republic space. And the sight before her was undeniable evidence that out there, in the outer Rim, the slavery was well and prospering...

    Why did the Jedi Order allow such a thing to happen anywhere in the galaxy?! If they had done heir jobs... Ahsoka shook her head. She didn''t have time for what ifs right now. There were people needing immediate help.

    She came out of her stupor and started snapping orders.

    "Is the reactor secure?! Check all cargo compartments for booby traps! And call in the medics! We need more people in here! Now!"

    Similar dramas were happening in the cargo bays of all six freighters.

    =RK=

    Phantom 1, high orbit over Ryloth

    The news of tens of thousands enslaved people on board, as well as on the other ships, who were kept in appalling conditions, did nothing to improve my mood, which had been taking a dive ever since the battle started. In contrast, was the cheer, which was positively leaking from Aria, who was enjoying herself.

    She was busy dismantling battle droids using her saber and telekinesis. The CIS forces were either able to retain control of the bridge or retook it before our arrival, because we found it defending by a platoon of robots.

    That was b?r?ly enough to slow us down. The droids ended being either cut to pieces or blasted apart by Cat and his men.

    When the last machine defending our target was destroyed, Aria and me, started cutting through the armored doors leading to the bridge. It took us time to melt through the nearly a meter thick blast doors but it was done nonetheless.

    We used the Force to sweep the molten metal away from our path and then we stormed the bridge.

    It was anticlimactic. The command center was badly torn up from combat. Its floor was littered with the chassis of destroyed machines, bodies of Trandosians, humanoids in full armor, hiding their features. There were few Neimoidians, laying around, one of whom was still alive.

    I walked to the still breathing man, who turned out to be the skipper. His ?h?st was opened by a heavy slug, and he didn''t have much more to live. To be honest I was surprised that he hadn''t joined the rest of the corpses.

    I knelt next to him, and pulled out a med pack. I retrieved a large bandage which I pressed over his wound, in an attempt to slow down whatever blood he still had from leaking, and used the Force to pick up a vial with a universal stimulant. I plunged it into his neck and he shuddered as the adrenaline derivative, which I was pretty sure worked almost the same way for his species too, kicked off.

    The plan was to keep him alive until I could get what I needed from his mind.

    "Ahh..." he m??n?d, when my mental probe hit his defenses.

    To my surprise he had unusual natural shields. In his state, the shock from me breaching his defenses would kill him before I could learn anything.

    "Captain, tell me what happened over here."

    "We..." he was interrupted by a fit of coughing, which caused him to spit blood all over the front of my armor, "... the Hutt mercenaries... wanted the leave the instant your fleet arrived. But half my crew is still down there." he coughed more blood. "I didn''t want to leave them to your mercy... not after what we were forced...arrhh... the Trade Federation...those kriffing..."

    The captain convulsed and his eyes rolled in his sockets before he went still.

    I frowned at the cooling corpse in my hands. His regret about whatever he did was genuine. Either the captain was the first Neimoidian with consciousness I''ve met or whatever he did was so much beyond the pale that it had shocked him to the core.

    The second possibility had unpleasant repercussions about what we were about to find on Ryloth.

 Chapter 23 - Inspiration

    Rows upon rows of Republic troopers, clad in dark gray and black armor, are marching in formation up the ramps of Acclamator Assault Ships. They are flanked by lines of AT-TE walkers and hover-tanks, waiting for their turn to board.

    "In mere hours, we will step foot on Ryloth! Our path has been cleared by the valiant sacrifices of our brothers and sisters in the Navy!"

    Venator cruisers are locked in a long range duel with five times their number of Separatist frigates. The space between them blazes with blue and scarlet turbolaser bolts. Hundreds of Torrent fighters are fearlessly flying to meet a wall of Vultures, which are descending to pick apart the Republic fleet.

    "We will not let their noble deaths and the achievements paid with them be in vain!"

    Images from the cameras built in to the Y-Wings show how squadrons of the bombers fall upon Munificents, which shatter under their torpedoes. It could be seen how republic small craft are picked apart by AA fire or Vultures which were close enough to engage them. Yet the bombers press through the hellish onslaught and strike a CIS Command ship, which is left as a wreck in the aftermath of their attack.

    "I won''t lie to you! We are going into battle against a tough and unrelenting enemy! One who has no concept of mercy!"

    Droids marching across a hundred worlds could be seen. The machines are shown shooting at both Republic troopers and more often than not, at unarmed civilians, who were at the wrong place in the wrong time. Wounded clones, as well as members of scores of planetary defense forces, were being dispatched by the steel legions.

    "As for their masters on the Separatist Council..." the well known face of General Veil was twisted by a sneer, "We all saw what their questionable sense of "mercy" entails!"

    Video captured by the helmet cameras of clone troopers followed. Large cells were shown, each of which were filled with gaunt men, women and children. Many of them were wearing rags, which did little to hide a multitude of bruises... or the old fashioned slave collars that were clamped around the necks of about a third of those poor people.

    "Here, in orbit of Ryloth, we saw the true face of the Separatists! They want the rest of the galaxy under their steel heels, and demonstrated what awaits every one of us if they win this war! It''s either a clean death in battle or a protracted one as a wretched slave!"

    Short clips taken by high altitude reconnaissance vessels were shown next. Camps filled with countless Twi''leks could be seen. They were gathered behind high fences like a herd of animals. Most of them didn''t have even a flap of tent over their heads. In many parts of Ryloth, especially near the deserts, such a treatment would prove to be a death sentence.

    "I can''t promise that I''ll bring every single one of you back alive. We all know that some of you who are today, here with me, won''t be alive at the same time tomorrow,"the General took a deep breath before continuing. "They at least will die free! Let us show the galaxy what we are made of! Today we fight for the freedom which is yours by right! Today we liberate Ryloth!"

    Squadrons of fighters and bombers scream from the heavens, plunging through the atmosphere of Ryloth as so many falling stars. They are followed in by Corellian Corvettes, and finally the dagger shaped Assault ships. Waves of gunships carrying men and equipment separated from the Acclamators and headed to the predetermined staging area.

    High in orbit, two Venator cruisers maneuver and unleash barrage after barrage of turbolaser death at exposed enemy formations. Recon craft show columns of Separatist vehicles disappearing in blinding flashes as the orbital bombardment hits.

    "By now, every single Republic citizen knows what our enemies are capable of. What awaits us if we ever fall into the Separatist''s clutches.

    Even now some are calling for peace. Let us be fair, the choice between war and peace is an easy one.

    There is only one sure way to guarantee that there is peace, and it takes only a second. Its a surrender. On Ryloth we saw what a surrender will mean for the Republic! It is enslavement for every man, woman and child!

    There can be no more appeasement with the Separatists! No more compromises! We are long past between the choice between peace and war! Now there can be only fighting or surrender! It is clear what will happen to us all if we continue to back off and retreat! The only accommodation the Separatists will accept is the steel heels of their soulless armies over our necks!

    The Separatist leaders believe that their victory is near after they struck at the very heart of the Republic. They believe that we are morally and economically weakened, because even now there are voices from our side who call for peace at any price!

    Those people would see us begging on our knees before a Separatist slave-master instead dying on our feet!

    They do not speak for us all! They do not speak for the Republic!

    As I speak, The Grand Army of the Republic is fighting across thousands of planets to stop the Separatist onslaught! They fight and die for every single one of you! Can any of you do any less for your own freedom?

    The Republic Army and Navy need your help to turn the tide! Enlist now, and help us stop the Separatists once and for all!"

 Chapter 24 - Turning Point

    Part 1

    Conference room, Republic cruiser Requiem, Task Force "Retribution" Flagship; High Orbit over Ryloth

    "We''ll have Galactic Mercy arriving in system within the next seventy two hours, sir." informed us Piett.

    "Thank you ensign." I answered.

    The command staff of the fleet and ground forces were gathered for another conference. This time we had more information to work with. The first recon flight over Ryloth were completed and we had some data from the people we saved when we took the freighters. It wasn''t good...

    "This...This is madness!" exclaimed Anakin after examining few images of processing camps set up by the CIS.

    The population of whole regions was being gathered in such places, which were a high tech version of something a Nazi would have approved. Then they sorted the people in two groups ¨C prospective slaves who were either collared or implanted with slave chip(which did have an explosive charge built in), and the rest, who were left to rot in awful conditions. What made those places deathtraps was the fact that after the invasion, the logistics network on Ryloth had broken. As a result, there was no longer food, and in places not even sufficient water, reaching the camps.

    Whether that was an oversight which had murderous repercussions on the locals or by design of some madman within the CIS rank, we didn''t know. However in either case, the outcome was the same. There were already hundreds of thousands starving with a lot of people, especially those in camps near the deserts, dying from thirst.

    "The only places more or less functioning are the towns and cities near major industrial or mining centers. While occupied, the people in those settlements are left largely alone as long as they meet the CIS production quotas. If they fail at it or show any resistance, the locals are sent at one of the camps to be turned into slaves." finished Piett.

    "While there are few resistance movements, their success is less than one can usually expect on a world as Ryloth." added Commander Cody.

    "Its hard to be a guerillas, when there is no population in which to disappear, as is the case over most of the planet." I muttered.

    "Most concerning is what we were told by the people we liberated." said Ahsoka, pointing at one particular stack of pads, amongst the many covering the table.

    "The proton cannons." grumbled Rex.

    "That''s correct, Captain." I said. "We have to deal with at least three artillery sites with overlapping range, or land on the other side of the planet from our most important target."

    "Wat Tambor." Anakin spat the name of the Sep leader who was responsible for the mess below us.

    "If we can capture him, Ryloth is as good as free. He will have deactivation codes for the droid armies on the planet." said Kenobi.

    I stared at the holomap of Ryloth which was projected over the table.

    "The easy way is out." I grumbled.

    The cannons in question were placed in the middle of settlements, with the local population used as live shields. So taking them out with orbital strikes wasn''t on the table. At least for now.

    "We need to insert small number of ground forces, who are to take out at least three of those sites. Then our Acclamators can land safely." said Skywalker.

    "Those three." I pointed at a specific point of the world map. "They will give us an access to a few mountain passes leading to the Capital and will provide cover from enemy proton cannons on the other side of the mountain range. The city itself is on the edge of the desert," I studied the terrain for a moment. "On three sides it has nice, clear open terrain for hundreds of kilometers around. If Tambor calls for reinforcements, we will be able to take them out easily, before they are in range to cause any trouble. If they use people as shields, our cruisers'' turbolasers can turn the desert into a lava field, cutting off the capital from ground bound help."

    "And once we have Tambor..." Anakin trailed off.

    "Considering our glaring lack of commando units, the three strike teams will be lead by me and the Jedi. Admiral Yularen," I nodded respectfully at the man. "Will take command of the fleet. On a brighter note, I spoke with General Valentra. We should receive few more cruisers and escorts before the day is over. Hopefully those ships as well as our fleet will be able to discourage the CIS from contesting the orbitals."

    It was time to get close and personal with the separatists.

    Unfortunately my newest apprentice would be unable to join us for at least a day. She had exhausted herself while we were clearing up the freighters. A significant part of her Force powers were used in sustaining her, because of the genetic damage I was unable to fix.

    The good news was that I had contacted few scientists on Coruscant who were already looking into the problem. Unfortunatelly they were at least months from a viable cure.

    =RK=

    LAAT gunship, en route to Alpha Site, Ryloth

    We plunged through the atmosphere behind three Assault Ships. Each of the Acclamators was targeting a separate settlement, using its heavy shields and armor as a barricade between the proton cannons and the Gunships deploying three companies of clone troopers.

    Those were Torrent from Skywalker''s 501st, Ghost from 212th Attack Battalion under Commander Cody, and Krayt company under Captain Cat, from my own 11th Legion.

    Below us could be seen the dying glare of proton explosions. The Acclamators blew up a heavy torpedo each, in the upper atmosphere, blinding sensors on the ground for a short period of time. It bought us only a couple of minutes, but that was better than nothing. At any rate, the Assault Ships did their jobs and retreated with medium damage from the enemy bombardment.

    The LAATs carrying us flew at the ground at insane velocity, fighting to pass under the proton cannon''s engagement envelopes as soon as possible. Our passage through the Ryloth airspace was hazardous, with cannon shells configured as makeshift flak exploding nearby and rocking the gunships.

    One of the LAAT''s was crippled from a near miss by warhead meant to contest an Assault ship''s defenses. It''s left side was cut to pieces, and it fell to the ground as a brick, trailing smoke and bodies behind. A shell blew up behind another, totaling its engines and the stricken transport continued flying at the ground at top speed. It struck nose first, compressing the craft into a metal pancake, for a brief instant, before its on board weapons and fuel detonated thanks to the impact.

    The rest of us made it in one piece and I was thankful for insisting that each bird carried only a single squad each. When the gunships touched down, we disembarked hastily and hurried to ?ssemble within the forest surrounding the small clearing where we landed.

    On my way to the tree cover, I idly noticed a huge dead insect, which was half devoured. Two brownish, armored beings were running away, spooked from the LAAT''s. I hate insects. Especially the damn big ones. It was a side effect from my time fighting those damn things on Alderaan during the war.

    I glared at the retreating forms and continued running to the trees.

    We had to hurry. It was a race between a bunch of enemy reinforcements trying to reach the village we were about to strike (if they didn''t get wrecked by orbital strikes) and us taking down the cannons.

    My sight lingered over the equipment carried by my men. Most of them were lugging heavy blasters, man-portable cannons and repeaters as well as missile launchers.

    The Jedi in contrast had their troopers carrying only blasters and ion grenades. Something about not wrecking the settlements of the locals. I had nothing of that when my men were concerned. The damn buildings were much cheaper than the life of my soldiers.

    =RK=

    Outskirts of a Ryloth village, codenamed Site Alpha

    The village itself was surrounded by a meters tall wall, which was in bad repair. It was probably build to keep the local wildlife away from the inhabitants. It presented a bit of a problem. There were towers built in it, spaced every ten meters or so from each other. Each of those was manned by a squad of B1 droids, which by itself would have been easily to handle.

    They had heavy repeating blasters (read machine guns). Add the fact that there was a mercifully short clearing before the edge of the forest and the wall itself, and taking that enemy position with only infantry would have been costly, especially if we had a restricted rules of engagement like the Jedi.

    "I want a missile put into each of the closest towers!" I ordered quietly. "Preferably before the clankers figure out that we''ve arrived." I added.

    "Yes, sir!" whispered Cat, before he relayed my orders.

    Naturally, the droids noticed us before we hit them. Either one of the machines was paying closer attention than the others or one of my men fu?k?d up.

    "Movement!" a synthesized voice shouted.

    "Open fire!" snapped another.

    I shook my head. I''ll never know why the CIS droids didn''t use wireless comms to communicate between themselves. Not that I was going to complain, when their shouts bought my men an extra couple of seconds to get into cover.

    The repeating blasters opened fire, sending red energy bolts to chew up through the treeline.

    "Suppressive fire on those towers! Now!" I snapped while deflecting a stream of crimson death heading towards my position.

    Every one of the clankers trying to overwhelm my defense was one less that was shooting at my men.

    "We are on it, sir!" couple of my men shouted in unison, their voices b?r?ly coming over the cacophony of combat.

    I glanced at the pair and smirked. They were both carrying blaster carbine, a heavy blaster and a missile launcher. One of them opened up on the closest tower, blasting a droids from the rampart and forcing the rest to duck. Meanwhile his buddy prepared his missile launcher, acquired the target and fired.

    The warhead surged over the no mans land between the two sides, and slammed in the repeating blaster. Its HE charge detonated obliterating the upper half of the tower in an explosion that didn''t look particularly impressive. The pieces of droids and rock raining all over us would beg to differ on that account.

    In short order the nearby towers were silenced by missile strikes. I nodded approvingly to my men.

    "Hell yeah!" exclaimed the clone who blew up the first tower.

    "Great work! Pass my regards to the men." I spoke to Cat. I could feel him grinning proudly under his helmet.

    It was a sweet, short op. I could sense that we lost only a single man with four wounded.

    "By the way where did you get these characters?" I asked Cat and nodded at the pair which was strutting around with three weapons each.

    "Ah. Those." muttered the Captain.

    "I sense a story there," I said while he was preparing to scale the wall.

    That was an easy exercise thanks to the grappling hooks attached to the weapons carried by my men.

    A Force ?ssisted lunge later I was on the wall and examining the village. It was ominously quiet. The only sounds were coming from the squads dispatched to deal with the remaining enemies on the wall, so those droids couldn''t hit us from the back.

    I mentally cursed not remembering the events of most seasons of the show. I knew that there was going to be trouble in here but not what exactly.

    Cat scaled up the wall seconds after me and joined me in examining the settlement.

    "Those two are Waxer and Boil. They requested a transfer from 212th Attack Battalion."

    "That''s Kenobi''s unit. Why?"

    "Apparently there is persistent rumor that under your command the rules of engagement are more liberal. I had a chat with Commander Cody about them. He is not pleased that we got couple of his best men." the Captain shrugged and nodded at the pair who had just came up the wall.

    Yeah, most Jedi would disapprove from their affair with heavy firepower. I grinned. Those were my kind of soldiers! Now, let''s see if they are only good at blowing up shit or if they had other talents too...

    "I''m taking couple of squads and we''ll be scouting up ahead. I don''t like the look of this." I waved at the deadly quiet village. "Let the men take a brief breather and tend to the wounded, while we check for surprises. "

    "Consider it done, sir!"

    When we were behind the wall, I called the pair who had taken my interest.

    "You two, troopers. Front and center!"

    "Boil and Waxer, reporting, Sir!" they ran next to me and straightened up, at attention.

    "We are going to scout the village. Who know what nasty surprises the clankers have left for us!" I looked straight at them. "I was led to believe that you two are some of the best 212th had. It''s time to put it to the test."

    "Uh... Us, sir?" asked the one to the right.

    "That''s right." I smirked. "And you know what the reward is for a job well done in the army!"

    They ?r??n?d. Yup, they knew!

    =RK=

    CIS positions, Site Alpha, Ryloth

    "We lost contact with the outer perimeter." reported a B1 droid.

    "I told you that those tin cans wouldn''t be able to even slow the republic!" muttered a bounty hunter.

    The tactical droid in charge of the CIS contingent tilted its head to the right.

    "It was expected. I want to know their plans. Send probe droids. I want 855th platoon and the remaining tanks to reinforce the chokepoint."

    "Roger, Roger!" the B1 snapped at attention.

    "Release your pets." added the merc.

    "Indeed. The modification you suggested could prove useful." chimed in the tactical droid.

    The masked woman nodded nonchalantly. Mentally she cursed being stuck at this position. Her commander wanted eyes on the inside of the CIS operations after those madmen attacked Coruscant with the Blue Shadow. It was the prudent thing to do, however it let her in a nasty position. Now she was at least partly responsible for the atrocities committed by the damn Separatists!

    She nervously re-checked her gear. Her rocket backpack was fully fueled and operational. The same was true for her wrist mounted rocket launcher and flamethrower as all her other toys.

    She had a bad feeling about what was going to happen...

 Chapter 25 - Turning Point [Continued]

    Part 2

    Alpha Site, Ryloth

    So far, the scouting exercise went without a hitch. That in itself was troubling. We met no resistance at all. No booby-traps either.

    The village appeared empty, which was making me nervous. A company or two of droids should have been able to bleed and slow down any attacker unwilling to level the settlement.

    The only other good place to make a stand would be the chokepoint between two cliffs, leading to the small plaza where the cannons were located. It provided nice, long and clear fields of fire, but that worked as a double edged sword. Any attacker who secured the village would have some cover, not to mention that a spread of missiles would be all it would take to disable the few CSI tanks seen by the recon flights.

    Well, if I was an arrogant idiot, I might have presumed that the droid in charge of this little slice of Ryloth were lacking in programming and thought that deploying all it''s forces at the small pass was a good idea. However, with me instead being a paranoid bastard, me and my troopers were searching for the surprises prepared by the Separatists for any uninvited visitors such as us.

    Boil and Waxer were stalking down the street in front of me, their heads snapping in all direction, scanning for possible threats. At least those two were turning out to be competent scouts, with more talents than just their commendable reliance on overwhelming firepower. As the folks at a forum dimensions away would say, there were very few problems that couldn''t be resolved by deployment of sufficient Dakka! Not that there was such a thing in existence, of course...

    I sensed a tiny presence in the Force couple of seconds before we heard something shifting a bit of rubble. The sound came from a small alley to our left. There was someone alive here, beside us.

    My soldiers turned their weapons in the direction of the sound and moved out, taking positions to the sides of the alley.

    I frowned. I felt anxiety and fear coming in waves from the unknown person.

    I nodded at Waxer who had his head turned in my direction. I didn''t expect a threat, but better safe than sorry. We weren''t playing a game on a training field after all.

    My men darted into the alley, with their weapons at the ready. I followed suit, thinking that such actions would be made much safer by the addition of short ranged drones. Just another thing to add to the list. At this rate the R&D boys and girls would be busy for years after the end of the war.

    "A little girl!" exclaimed Boil.

    I walked behind the clones who were looking at a child who couldn''t be older than five. She was cute little thing with light green skin. She was examining us with huge brown eyes. Fear and curiosity were fighting within her tiny hear which was fluttering within her ?h?st.

    I wondered how those two men, who still had their mental conditioning made by the Kaminoans would react to the kid.

    "What are we going to do with her?" Waxer wondered aloud.

    "We shouldn''t do a thing. We have a mission to complete!" stated Boil.

    "We can''t leave her! We should take her with us!" exclaimed Waxer.

    "Are you kidding?! She''ll slow us down! Right, sir?"

    "Perhaps." I muttered. "What do you two think we should do?" I asked innocently.

    "Look at her! She''s terrified of us." pointed out Boil.

    "Not from us. Take cover!" I snapped quietly and pressed my back in a shadowed corner. The Chameleon paint on my armor made me melt into the darkens.

    The clones followed my example, hiding behind nearby columns, while I projected a small Force field which I hoped would made us appear nonexistent to life-signs detector. It would work only on crappy sensors but it was the best I could do short of disabling the droid.

    Boil agreed with my reasoning and said so.

    "We can''t leave her here! Not with the clankers searching for us!" Waxer disagreed.

    I could clearly sense Boil''s confusion. He stared at the kid for few seconds before reaching a decision.

    "Fine!" he snapped at his friend. "I''ll carry her."

    Before any of us could say a thing, he went to grab her and to Waxer''s and my amusement, she growled at my subordinate and clamped her teeth at his index finger.

    "Ouch! She bit me!"

    I went behind Boil and slapped the back of his helmet.

    "Ow! What was that about!? Sir?" he grumbled.

    "You are scaring her!" exclaimed Waxer.

    "The child either thinks we are droids or she just don''t like you." I smirked at Boil, who shook his head in exasperation.

    "I wonder why..." muttered Waxer.

    He removed his helmet and grinned at the kid.

    "Hey little one! See, we are made of flesh just like you!"

    I could almost see Boil rolling his eyes at his buddy''s antics, before his shoulders slumped.

    "I think she''s starving. Here take this." he retrieved a piece of a field ration and handled it to his friend.

    Waxer presented it to the girl who looked him warily, before carefully sniffing the food. She glanced at each of us in turn before grabbing the meal and taking a small bite off it. She smiled and started eating the food.

    Boil removed his helmet too and massaged the back of his head, where I slapped him.

    "Definitely starving. No way she would eat a piece of MRE otherwise." I muttered.

    Those things kept you alive and that was their only redeeming quality. The less said about the taste the better...

    "Nerra! Nerra!" The girl cheerfully pointed at the clones, then she looked warily at my masked face.

    "No, sweetie. I am Waxer and he is Boil!" he tried to correct her.

    I chuckled at her antics.

    "Congratulations!" I cheered my men. "You were just adopted as big brothers!"

    "Joy..." grumbled Boil.

    I knelt next to the kid and removed my helmet.

    "Hi! I bet you know all the fun hidden places around here..." I said.

    She had to, in order to evade the droids since the invasion began.

    "Can you show us how to sneak to the plaza where the droids are gathered?" I asked in Twi''leki.

    She eagerly nodded, with her head-tails swinging wildly.

    "Wouldn''t you know, the short stuff''s useful for something." muttered Boil.

    "Waxer, please." I nodded at my other subordinate.

    He smirked and slapped his friend at the back of his head.

    "Ouch! What is this?! Pick on Boil day?!" he exclaimed, while the girl giggled at our antics.

    I listened to a rapid string of explanations from the kid.

    "Yes. Of course." I grumbled. "Why it always has to be sewers?! You sure that there is not another hidden way?" I asked with forlorn hope.

    She shook her head and continued nibbling at her meal.

    "Splendid." I muttered dryly. "Get you helmets back on. We have a mission to finish." I pointed at the kid, "By the way, your new sister''s name is Numa."

    =RK=

    Site Alpha, CIS positions

    "We located them. The attack can begin now. Release the beasts." It ordered in a voice lacking any emotion.

    The mandalorian woman rolled her eyes. Unless the clones were incompetent, she doubted that the animals would be something more than a slight irritation. After all, if the rumors were true, they were made in the image of one of her own kind, and trained by mandalorian mercenaries to boot.

    Yet they were content to be slaves to the Republic, and that was something that made her blood boil. No true mandalorian would let herself stay in such a position!

    Bo-Katan could hear distant growling from behind her. She shrugged. The beasts should at least slow down the Republic soldiers. She looked over the locals who were used as live shields, and were probably the only reason the village wasn''t turned into glowing crater from orbit.

    Evaluating what foolishness would be done by the CIS next was one thing. Being caught as what amounted to a hostage taker by what she expected to be vengeful Republic troops was another.

    Truly, the only reason she was still on this damn planet was her expectation that the CIS fleet in orbit would crush the Republic''s Navy attempt to break the blockade. Instead, the Separatist fleet was so much dust across the stars, and she was trapped on the planet. Her FTL capable fighter was securely locked back in the capital, and she was unable to refuse the "suggestion" to examine and improve the defenses of the artillery positions. Not when Tambor had a platoon of Super Battle droids nearby, and her ride was under lock-down.

    Besides, after the mauling they received, the Republic ships in orbit were likely to shoot first and not ask questions if anyone tried to leave the planet.

    Kryze knew that after Coruscant, the GAR would somehow change the way it operated. Witnessing it would be useful to the Death Watch. However, she had the feeling that doing so from the CIS side would prove hazardous for one''s health.

    Her frown deepened. Perhaps it was time to cut out her losses and seek a better arrangement. After all, she was not a common mercenary. She owed no allegiance to Tambor and the CIS...

    She moved away from the crate she was leaning on.

    "I''m going to see for myself how good the Republic clones are." She said to the tactical droid and stalked away with a predatory grace.

    =RK=

    Krayt Company positions, Alpha Site, Ryloth

    I was thankful to the Force and all the gods I could think of for my sealed armor. Slogging through the filth in the sewers to reach the position where Cat and the rest of my men were waiting wasn''t fun. If the kriffing droids had sensors to pick up smell, they would have found us sniffing around the plaza, when Numa led us to recon the place.

    Well, it could be worse, I guess. That way we avoided any roaming scout droids, while en route back to our lines. Thanks to the Force and few helpful pointers from Numa we soon reached our destination.

    I started climbing the ladder leading up to the manhole closest to my men and shouted: "Hold your fire! Incoming friendlies!"

    I could sense my soldiers attention snapping our way. I shoved away the manhole cover and got out, to be greeted by half a dozen blasters pointed my way.

    "Stand down, men. Good to have you back, sir. How did the scouting go?" asked Cat.

    "Much better than anticipated. We have a covert way in. However there are a lot of clankers and civilians out there. We''ll need a diversion before hitting the place."

    Behind me a muttering Boil came out of the manhole, followed by Numa and Waxer.

    Cat glanced at the kid. "You picked up a stray, sir," he pointed out the obvious.

    "Its not like we could just leave her behind. Besides she is damn useful..." I trailed off.

    Something bad was coming our way. I could sense anger and hunger.

    "Take defensive positions! We have company!" I snapped and grabbed my lightsaber and activated it.

    My men darted in all direction, in a carefully orchestrated chaos. They ran towards hastily prepared positions, preparing to face whatever was coming our way.

    Behind me Waxer grabbed a startled Numa who shrieked in fright, and sprinted towards a nearby building.

    I could hear the sound of clawed feet scrapping over the rocky ground. My first thought was that the animals we startled when the LAAT''s landed had come back with a vengeance, and brought back friends. That idea was reinforced when a bunch of overgrown bugs covered with brown armored plates appeared behind a nearby corner. They growled at us and sprinted our way without slowing down.

    "Open fire! Don''t let them get near you!" I shouted.

    I could see the blinking lights of demo charges, which were fitted on the beasts. Huh. Using animals as kamikaze. Someone on the other side was becoming creative. I needed to find that one. Such creativity needed a fitting reward.

    My men opened fire on the horde rushing us with everything they got. To my unpleasant surprise, all but few of the heavy blaster bolts were harmlessly absorbed or deflected from the animals armor. I made a note to take samples for the R&D folks. That stuff appeared to be doing much better job than the armor worn by my men.

    Two missiles passed around me and struck a pair of the insect like creatures, shattering their carapace and dazzling the nearby monstrosities.

    I gathered as much Force as I could in the seconds I had before the beasts reached me, molded it and unleashed the energy at the pack of predators.

    =RK=

    A building overlooking Krayt Company position, Alpha Site, Ryloth

    Kryze watched as animals rushed at the clones position. She stated at the man in color shifting armor, who appeared to be in command. That was a useful feature to have, mused a part of her brain.

    Her attention was on the officer in charge. He looked familiar. Bo-Katan was sure that she has seen him before, probably on the holonet. When he ignited a lightsaber in the color of freshly split blood, it all clicked into place.

    That was General Veil, the new GAR prodigy. The man credited with engineering both Grievous and Dooku''s capture.

    If the rumors which reached the Death Watch were true, he was a very dangerous man, who apparently was allowed to do whatever he deemed necessary to achieve his mission''s objectives. Something that a mandalorian warrior could respect. What was even more interesting was the rumor that he tortured at least one man and faced no repercussions from his Republic overlords. That in itself was troubling. If the Republic was discarding its foolish ideals and the kiddy gloves with which they appeared to operate for centuries, it would mean that her and her brother''s in arms cause could be threatened.

    Or perhaps, this man and what he represented was an opportunity for the True Mandalorians.

    She watched him snapping orders and the soldiers obeyed without a moments hesitation. Bo-Katan nodded in approval when they fell in a bunch of prepared positions and opened fire at the beasts attacking them. They were better than she was expecting.

    The General just stood there, in the middle of the street and appeared to wait. Then he slammed his hands at the ground and the predators, the closest of which were few meters from him were thrown in the air by invisible force. They floated for a moment, before he made a pushing motion and the beasties were thrown towards the far end of the street, where they hit the facade of a building. Hard. Even from couple of hundred meters away, she could clearly hear the sound of cracking carapace.

    Bo-Katan smile became a grin. So he was really a Force user. Not a Jedi either. They didn''t use crimson lightsabers. This day was becoming even more interesting.

    Kryze pressed a bu??on on her wrist mounted computer and the explosives fitted to the animals detonated, turning the far end of that street into a charnel house.

    She jumped from the building and slowed her fall with the aid of her rocket pack. Bo-Katan landed twenty odd meters from the General and was about to greet him when she was yanked forward by an invisible force.

    The man pointed at the animals she just turned into shreds.

    "I''ll make an educated guess. That was originally your idea." He stated in an ominous tone.

    Yeah. Interesting day indeed...

 Chapter 26 - Turning Point [Continued 2]

    Part 3

    Krayt Company positions, Alpha Site, Ryloth

    I glared at the woman. This stunt with the overgrown bugs turned into living bombs was too creative for the run of the mill CIS imbeciles, while being exactly what a Mandalorian would do. For fun, amongst other things. I wondered if her armor was just for show or if she was the real thing.

    The female I was keeping suspended in mid air shrugged. "It seemed a good idea at the time."

    "Indeed." I muttered.

    If those things had reached our lines and detonated, my men would have suffered severe casualties. Anything less than missile strikes was pretty useless at taking down the animals.

    "What is your game, I wonder?" I thought aloud while studying her armored form.

    I liked what I saw. Heavy armor, enough weaponry to make Boil and Waxer drool... She could fit right in with the Empire''s Mandalorian auxiliaries from my past. Not to mention she had curves in all the right places...

    I shook my head in an attempt to get my mind out of the gutter. It wad too damn long since the last time I had gotten laid. I didn''t have time to act like a hormonal teen.

    "Like what you see?" she asked.

    "Oh, my! Definitely!" shouted one of my soldiers.

    "Waxer! If you will." I snapped.

    Metal striking metal sounded from behind me.

    "Ow! What did I do this time?!" grumbled Boil.

    "Thank you, Waxer." I quipped.

    I swear I could hear Cat muttering something about idiots and the nastiest ?ssignments he could find for them.

    A bit of telekinetic manipulation and a soft clicking could be heard as the seals holding her helmet popped open. I waved my fingers, and it lifted revealing a beautiful face framed by a crop of shoulder length fiery red hair. I blinked at her.

    I knew her! Ironically I remembered more bits from the later seasons of the Clone Wars than the first few, and all things considered, that was information that was already mostly useless. With the changes that occurred, it was highly unlikely that most things that I could recall would happen in a similar way, if at all.

    The first time I had any recollection of this woman was while reading RI intel briefings. Granted, those things were largely a work of fiction with only hints of reality mixed in, but they had her name and possible allegiance.

    "Bo-Katan Kryze. Fancy meeting you here." I smiled under my helmet. "How''s your sister nowadays?" I quipped.

    For few seconds her face was a mask of utter shock before she schooled it back in a cold mask.

    "We need to have a chat," I declared. "But I am curious. You are supposed to be one of the best amongst the Death Watch. So, lets put that to the test. I want to see if this age''s Mandalorians are anything like the ones I had the honor to fight side by side with during the Great war.

    "Captain Cat, give us some space and don''t interfere." I ordered.

    "A challenge, eh?" she gave me a lopsided grin, before snatching her helmet and putting it on.

    "I accept!" she declared and drew her blaster pistols.

    =RK=

    Ghost Company, Gama Site, Ryloth

    "They are flanking us!" shouted a clone.

    His voice came over the roar of battle and was b?r?ly heard by his comrades.

    "Of course they are..." grumbled Cody.

    He blew off the head of an irritating B1 droid, before snapping out orders: "Send in what''s left of the reserve to the right flank!"

    "This could have gone better." muttered Kenobi.

    He and his men had managed to break through the outer perimeter of the village and take the first two rows of buildings, before the CIS forces counterattacked. The battle had been raging ever since.

    Obi-Wan felt his men falling one after another. By now, over a third of the clones were down, and the droids showed no sign of relenting in their attacks. Ghost Company simply didn''t have the firepower necessary to stop the onslaught.

    From the corner of his eye, Kenobi saw a trooper have his ?h?st perforated by a long burst of blaster fire. The man slumped back, never to move again.

    Obi-Wan glared at the machines. They had to reach the cannons and disable them. Every minute they delayed meant more people were dying all over the planet.

    =RK=

    Torrent Company, Beta Site, Ryloth

    "Master! Is this your whole plan?!" shouted Ahsoka.

    She was back to back with Anakin, in the center of a large intersection. Nearly a hundred droids were advancing towards them from four sides, constantly shooting at the two Jedi.

    "Pretty much!" he answered with a confident grin on his lips. "Just about now! Wait for it..." he trailed off.

    Even more droids were joining the onslaught, straining the Jedi''s ability to deflect blaster bolts.

    "Wait for what?! There are more clankers coming!"

    Anakin frowned. He used telekinesis to activate his wrist mounted comm. "Rex! Where are you?! We can''t hold them for much longer!"

    Couple of seconds later, the Captains voice came back.

    "We are a bit busy here, sir!" screamed Rex, so he could be heard.

    Two hundred meters away, most of Torrent company was pinned down by two platoons of Super Battle droids, which came to reinforce their metal brethren.

    "Those B1s are trying to flank us, sir!" someone shouted.

    "Send Echo squad to stall them!" snapped Rex. "General, we won''t be able to make it in time. A platoon of SB''s just got between us, sir! We don''t have the firepower to dislodge them any time soon! They are taking defensive positions and trying to contain us!"

    Anakin cringed. "Snips, we''ve got a problem."

    "You think!?" she deadpanned. Ahsoka could see a couple of droidekas rolling towards them.

    Part 4

    Krayt Company position, Alpha Site, Ryloth

    I sealed my helmet and brought my lightsaber back to life. I did it just in time to deflect a burst of fire from the red-haired woman. Her blasters were snapping shots at meas fast as she could pull the trigger.

    She apparently had trained to fight against Force Adepts, because her blasterfire was targeted at my blade, near the hilt. That increased the chance of my saber being blasted out of my hands from the force of the shots, and made it much harder to reflect her weapons fire back at her. Or that was the theory, anyway.

    I used the Force to strengthen my grip and my smile grew. Bo-Katan could prove to be a challenge.

    She jumped in the air on jets of flames coming from her rocket-pack. She made a motion with her left hand I was closely familiar with and a rocket flew my way.

    I smirked and slapped the weapon away with a telekinetic wave, then I returned the favor. I sent two stun darts from my the launcher built in my left armguard. At the same time, my blade continued to deflect the blaster fire from the airborne mandalorian.

    The rocket struck the ground to my right and detonated, showering me with pieces of rock and soil.

    Bo-Katan twisted gracefully in the air and my dual shots missed her, spending their electric charges at the wall behind her.

    Kryze flew up, ascending over the reflected attack, which smashed through the wall behind her. She rotated in mid air, so the missiles mounted on her back were pointing my way.

    Her heavier weapon roared my way. Perhaps she thought that I would have a problem thanks to its greater weight and speed. It was time to dissuade her from such notions.

    I pushed at the missile with both hands and the guided weapon stopped two meters from me. Then I used telekinesis to turn it so it pointed at the woman and released it, before rolling away to avoid a hail of blaster shots.

    She plunged down, trying to evade her own missile, but I used the Force to guide it after her. Bo-Katan didn''t let that slow her down. She turned around, so she flew backwards, and shot two yellow energy bolts, from her left armguard. One missed, but the second struck the missile pursuing her and detonated its warhead.

    The explosion sent shrapnel in all direction. It also threw the mandalorian woman skidding across the ground. She landed hard, and stopped only when she struck the wall of a nearby building.

    I used her temporally distraction to pluck out of her hand the blaster she managed to keep during her crash landing.

    It didn''t slow her for even a moment. Kryze sent two of the yellow energy bolts my way and while I deflected them, she launched a metal cord which darted towards my hands, followed by a single metal disc.

    I used the Force to sent away the projectile but the rope snacked around my sword arm. Bo-Katan wasted no time and she flew up, dragging me with her. If it wasn''t for the Force enhancing my body, her move would have dislocated my right shoulder. If I was lucky...

    I cursed as I headed towards an inconveniently placed building. I twisted my body so I hit the wall feet first and leaped from that surface in a Force ?ssisted jump. My still ignited lightsaber connected with the metal line, cutting through it and I switched it off before smashing in the woman and grappling her.

    The time appeared to slow down for me.

    Our midair collision threw away her attempts to control her flight with my additional weight. We spun through the air in uncontrolled fall.

    She smashed her armored head in my face, which combined with our tumbling through the air was mildly disorienting. However thanks to the Force I was well aware where exactly we were and of our distance from the buildings and the ground.

    I returned the favor, rattling her head within her helmet and twisted us so she''ll take the brunt of our fall. I used the Force to slow down a bit our headlong plunge to the ground but it wasn''t enough to let either of us get away from that stunt unscratched.

    We landed hard. I could hear the unpleasant sound of cracking bones. I could feel pain exploding in my left arm and hand, which was under Kryze''s body when we hit the ground.

    Son of a bitch! That kriffing hurt!

    =RK=

    Ghost Company, Gama Site, Ryloth

    "Cody! Ion grenades! I''ll guide them so they''ll have maximum effect!" shouted Obi-Wan.

    He darted behind a half-demolished wall and nodded to the Commander.

    The Jedi closed his eyes and concentrated. He let his senses fly over the battlefield, noting the positions of his men and the ghostly signatures of the machines.

    A nearby soldier took out a grenade, primed it and threw the sphere at a group of droids. Kenobi picked up the weapon with the Force, and guided it so it would have maximum effect.

    It detonated, releasing a pulse of ion energy which fried the electronics of fifteen machines.

    Obi-Wan repeated the process, wiping out robots left and right, until his men ran out of grenades. By then the droids ?ssaulting them were decimated.

    Five minute later, the forces attacking Ghost Company were obliterated, and the path to the cannons and the final defenses around them was clear.

    Half of Kenobi''s men were either dead or wounded by that point.

    =RK=

    Torrent Company, Beta Site, Ryloth

    "This way!" shouted Anakin.

    Skywalker sent a concentrated beam of telekinetic energy at the wall of a nearby house, blowing a large hole through the stone. He grabbed his apprentice and darted inside, using the Force to move faster than humanly possible.

    It was almost enough. A shot from a droideka''s cannon, smashed into his arm, blowing the porsthetics in two. He grunted as shrapnel and few stray blaster bolts struck his armor. It held admirably.

    Ahsoka was not that lucky. She wasn''t wearing an armor. The blaster bolts which managed to hit her during their brief flight to temporally safety, seared wounds across her left th??h and shoulder.

    She shouted in pain and sagged in Anakin''s grip.

    Skywalker cursed venomously. His lightsaber was still outside, gripped by the fingers of his severed artificial hand. At least it wasn''t the good one.

    He glanced at Snips, who was in no condition to move on her own. At least not fast enough to matter.

    Anakin could hear the metal feet of the machines clattering over the rock covered ground outside. They would be all over them in moments.

    =RK=

    Couple of hundred meters. It could as well be miles.

    Rex threw an Ion grenade at a group of Super Battle droids, which danced under the energy discharge before falling to the ground into a smoking heap. The damn things weren''t heedlessly throwing themselves into his men''s blasterfire. Instead the droids were taking cover, and were simply content to pin him down.

    The Captain knew why. If the machines managed to take out the General and Ahsoka, he and his soldiers would be easy to dispatch. Kriff it all, the damn things didn''t really need to directly kill the clones. If their commander found it practical, the robots could simply keep them under siege and starve them out.

    It wasn''t like he had a bunch of tactical options as he and his men were armed only with blaster carbines and Ion grenades. Besides, the latter were running out...

    =RK=

    Krayt Company, Alpha site, Ryloth

    I submerged myself deeply in the Light side of the Force. It stung as it passed through me and interacted with the tendrils of darkness still clinging to my being. As usual, I had used the Dark side during the battle, and the both sides of the same coin, so to speak, didn''t like playing nice with each other.

    The Force energies were like a cool balm, extinguishing the stabs of pain in my left arm. I felt the cracks in my bones knitting together, until only a light, dull ache remained.

    Good enough.

    I turned my attention to Bo-Katan, who lied dazzled on the ground. The crash had made a number on her. Broken and bruised ribs, a bit of internal bleeding, concussion, broken arm...

    I placed my hands on her ?h?st and let the Force energies use me as a conduit and flow through me and into the wounded woman.

    The Force could be a wondrous things. Injuries which would take hours spent in a bacta tank to heal, were mending moments later under my ministrations.

    =RK=

    Bo-Katan grunted in pain as the pieces of a broken rib shifted within her ?h?st. She felt woozy and her eyes weren''t working right. She blinked and stared. Over her, a blurred image of two men were kneeling. They had their hands on her ?h?st.

    She frowned and tried to slug the bastards but her right arm exploded in pain and refused to obey.

    Broken. Her mind dutifully supplied the explanation.

    Kryze froze. She could feel her broken rib shifting and then... knitting back together. It was not by any means the only strange sensation passing through her body.

    She could feel... Liquid? Draining from her lungs. There was a pinch within her ?h?st and Bo-Katan somehow knew that an internal injury had just been sealed by a patch of healthy flesh.

    Soon her right hand followed. The bones under her skin moved like they were alive, but it didn''t hurt.

    No, that wasn''t right. There was the pain, but it was distant, as if it was behind a wall of light, which was not only acting as a painkiller, but it made her calm. That thing, whatever it was, was the reason she felt unusually calm, given the circumstances.

    Her right hand twitched as the bone was regrowing in the correct way. Around the bone, injured tissue was healing at an astounding rate.

    At last, Bo-Katan could feel a warm stream passing through her body, washing her headache away. Her eyes focused and now there was only one man kneeling over her. It was the general she fought with. Her eyes trailed down his arms and she frowned. His left had was laying in the valley between her br??sts and his right was over her heart, with its palm cupping part of her left br??st.

    Bo-Katan''s right eye twitched and she put her freshly healed right hand to the test. She slugged the armored head of the man standing over her. Hard.

    He just took it and tilted his head to the left.

    "If you''ve got it out of your system, we need to talk." he said calmly, as if she hadn''t hit him hard enough to crack someone''s jaw.

 Chapter 27 - Turning Point [Continued 3]

    Part 5

    Krayt Company, Alpha Site, Ryloth

    That stung. If it wasn''t for my helmet, her armored fist could have easily broken my jaw.

    "That gives a brand new meaning to the term ''battle''!" whistled Boil.

    I glanced his way and then to where my hand was a moment ago. I cringed. I knew I could claim that placing my palm over her heart made healing her a bit more efficient power wise, which was even true, but no one would believe me. Besides, that never passed through my mind while I was patching up our resident Mandalorian.

    I could hear Boil whispering something to his buddy and couple of clones started snickering.

    "Waxer!" I snapped.

    "It will be a p???sur?, sir!" said the man, with a bit too much relish for his friend''s comfort.

    "Waxer! No, wait a minute!" Boil walked backwards in an attempt to get away from his fellow soldiers.

    Which led him straight to Captain Cat, who was talking with Numa and ignoring our antics. The glare the officer gave him was obvious despite his helmet. Cat slapped Boil on the back of the head.

    The Captain barked, making his displeasure evident to us all:

    "Boil! Stop acting like a kriffing joker! You are a soldier of the Republic! Act like it!"

    If it wasn''t for a warning which came through the Force, Bo-Katan would have blindsided me with her next punch. Instead, I grabbed her armored fist centimeters from my face.

    "Our spar is over, Kryze." I snapped.

    She chuckled in answer.

    "I would say that the Jedi haven''t fallen as much as we believed, but you aren''t one of them. Are you?" she asked.

    There was a hint of mischief in her tone.

    "Me?! A Jedi? That''s a good joke." I smirked. "Now, I believe that there was a point for your brazen entrance. What do you want?"

    She stretched and m??n?d. The newly healed flesh was screaming in protest. It was something with which I was intimately familiar with. Good thing that I could use the Force to dampen any pain in my body.

    "Wat Tambor, the local Confederation leader is losing control of the situation. He even gave up control over a significant portion of the droid forces deployed away from the capital to Hutt mercenaries." she grumbled. "As a sign that the CIS are willing to ''honor'' their deal!" she sneered.

    "Is that how you apparently have some authority over this mess?" I asked and pointed to the still smoking remains of the beasts.

    Kryze shrugged. "It felt like a good idea at the time. However, I''m not in overall command of the droids stationed here. There is a tactical droid who does the job. I was sent merely as an adviser." she grumbled.

    My men gave her dirty looks, and a few of them started muttering before a glare of Cat silenced them. Can''t blame them. I wasn''t thrilled either from the attack of those unwilling kamikazes.

    At least my men got out of it unscratched, which in combination with my little spar with the woman, did a lot to make cooperation with her acceptable. Without really hurting the morale. They were trained by mandalorian mercenaries themselves, so each one of my troopers was aware of at least the basics of the Mando culture.

    "You still haven''t answered my question, Bo-Katan. What do you want?"

    "Tambor dead. And preferably to get of this rock in one piece."

    "I can guarantee the first. We may have some issues with the second."

    She stiffened for a brief second. Only my Force enhanced senses allowed me to perceive it. Kryze was ready to attack me if the situation warranted it.

    "Your presence here, no matter the "official" reason, paints you and the Death Watch as accomplices of all the atrocities committed by the CIS on Ryloth. The fact that your organization is little more than a bunch of common terrorists, who now will be seen as slavers to booth, doesn''t help you." I stated.

    She bristled hearing my accusation.

    "That''s a lie! We are True Mandalorians, not a bunch of common criminals! All we want is to return our people to their senses! We are not a bunch of pacifistic cowards!"

    "So you want to turn back the Mandalorian people back to their warrior roots. Commendable." I gave her a respectful nod, which took her off guard.

    "That''s an unexpected sentiment from a Republic General..." she whispered.

    "However, the Death Watch is doing it the wrong way. All that you''ll achieve by acting as common terrorists is to antagonize your own people. "

    "Those cowards are not our people! We are warriors through and through!" Bo-Katan snapped at me.

    "Perhaps. Yet you need them if you want to amount to anything but a single rogue clan. You need to win their hearts and minds, something that won''t happen thanks to acts of petty terrorism." I smiled under my helmet. "You need to give a cause to the average New Mandalorian. A reason to put away his pacifism and embrace

    their true nature."

    Kryze stared at me thinking furiously.

    "You have a plan, I take it?" she asked.

    "Many in fact." I nodded in the direction of the CIS artillery. "Tambor and his ilk, with their actions of Ryloth gave us unbeatable propaganda victory. In days, the entire galaxy will know what to expect if the CIS win. What happens on this world can, if presented properly, turn your peace loving New Mandalorians into bloodthirsty warriors of legend, ready to tear the Confederacy apart."

    She shook her head in denial.

    "Its unlikely. My sister and her ??pdog abhor violence and war."

    "Then persuade them otherwise." I challenged her. "Once it is clear that Death Watch members were on Ryloth, aiding the CIS, they''ll have no chance of swaying the masses on Mandalore. And that is if you are lucky." It was left unsaid that if they supported the kriffing Confed bastards, there would be hell to pay.

    Once the true extent of the CIS depravities on Ryloth became known across the galaxy, the war was going to become really ugly.

    Bo-Katan glared at me. I could sense her mood. At the moment her emotions were shifting like an interceptor trying to evade multiple enemy fighters.

    Kryze and the Death Watch were now in a trap unwittingly made by whoever sent them here, and I was pretty sure that was done by their leader. Even a rumor of her organization''s involvement with the events here would deal a deadly blow the their credibility. Even worse, from her point of view, was that she was that proof.

    I could feel how the realization was dawning on her. After nearly a minute of silence she shook her head sadly.

    "Even if we manage to pull off a Coup d''etat, it will be for naught. Unless we do it with full support of the CIS." she grumbled.

    "In such a case, there will be a hell to pay." I added.

    My smile turned into a grin. I had the best weapon to use against a mandalorian. I had a just scored a great victory in space, despite the severe mauling my forces had taken in the process. Even better, I had challenged her in single combat and won.

    "You''ll have a choice to make, Bo-Katan Kryze." I declared. "You can help your misguided people open their eyes and become what they were meant to be ¨C True Mandalorians! Honorable warriors, who could be the envy of the galaxy." I lowered my voice. "Or will you try to turn them into a bunch of barbarians like the most of the Death Watch."

    "What do you know about what it means to be a True Mandalorian?!" she scoffed.

    "You''d be surprised." I muttered quietly. "You have some time to make your decision." I said aloud.

    "Aren''t you the generous one?!"

    "When I can afford to be." I ignored her sarcasm. "You are pretending to be a common mercenary. Its time to act as one," I waved at her. "Congratulations! You are hired to ?ssist us in liberating Ryloth."

    Bo-Katan shook her head in exasperation. That man was trying his best to push all her bu??ons! And almost succeeding!

    Even worse, he actually beat her in single combat! Her, Bo-Katan, the second in command of the Death Watch! His gall at outright saying that her organization was nothing more than a bunch of common criminals didn''t sting her pride that much! She was defeated by a non-mandalorian!

    She glared at him.

    And it was getting worse. Of course it did.

    There was a small, treacherous part of her mind that agreed with his logic. That was even worse.

    Bo-Katan glowered at the man, wondering what she was going to do.

    =RK

    CIS Positions, Alpha Site, Ryloth

    Cat was not thrilled with his General''s newest harebrained scheme. The only thing preventing him from complaining was the fact that Veil''s ideas tended to work. So far.

    Cat waited until the countdown, displayed on his helmet''s visor, hit zero and nodded at Boil, who was armed with his missile launcher. The rest of the clones toting such weapons were further back, out of sight from their enemies, and took their lead from him and readied their own weapons.

    A single missile flew from the clone line and impaled a CIS tank. Its armor was found lacking and the machine slumped to its right, sending a fountain of smoke and fire into the air.

    This acted as a signal, causing the clones to send a torrent of blaster fire at the droids. Many of the machines were scythed down before the tanks returned the favor. Their cannons and secondary armaments roared in defiance, sending streams of scarlet death at the clones.

    This first barrage saw eight of Cat''s men obliterated. He bit of a curse and continued to lay down blaster fire, shoulder to shoulder with his men. He had to make it look believable.

    =RK=

    Ghost Company, Gamma Site, Ryloth

    Obi-Wan and Cody looked at each other. They were standing over the destroyed chassis of a Super Battle droid. One that had been modified with a missile launcher in its left arm.

    "That might work, General."

    Twenty odd minutes later, Kenobi led the survivors of his company into attacking the final CIS defensive perimeter. They had seven salvaged missile launchers with nineteen reloads spread amongst them.

    Two tall buildings, which were remade into strong points by the droids, were turned into rubble by a pair of warheads each. That opened the way for the clones by silencing the heavy repeater blasters placed in the dwellings upper floors.

    Obi-Wan led the charge, using his lightsaber to deflect the blaster bolts coming his way. By making himself the primary target, he allowed more of his men to live. The troopers in turn did their best to eliminate the droids shooting at them and their general.

    As per the plan, Cody ordered two squads to secure each flank and slow down the droids converging on the site where the GAR had just penetrated their lines. The Captain led the rest of his men after Obi-Wan, straight towards the artillery position, which was just behind a low row of lightly defended buildings.

    Three more missiles shattered most of the resistance in their front, allowing Kenobi to lead an understrength platoon to the proton cannons.

    Behind them, the rearguard were fighting for their lives in a desperate attempt to hold the attention of the CIS droids protecting the perimeter. For them, the next few minutes were an orgy of death and destruction.

    Needles of azure and crimson colored energy crisscrossed in the air, leaving ruins everywhere they hit. Soon the broken bodies of men and machines littered the ground.

    Cody signaled most of his men to spread out throughout the buildings and start clearing the droids, while the clones carrying the remaining missile launchers went after the cannons.

    In front of them, Kenobi burst in the small plaza, where the artillery was located. He charged amidst the squads of B1s acting as a last ditch defense, thus concentrating their attention on himself.

    It worked. Mostly.

    One of the B1''s, which was operating a proton cannon, was not fooled like his brethren and turned his weapon at the cluster of buildings being cleared by the clones. It send a snap shot at a wall behind which a squad of Republic troopers were advancing.

    The only reason Cody and the rest of his men survived was that the smart fuse of the shell decided that it was too close to the gun which fired it to detonate at anything more that a fraction of its potential yield. The explosion only ended the lives of five clones, knocked four more out and despite the sound dampeners on their armors, deafened five more.

    Yet, that was too little too late. Cody''s men who had salvaged missile launchers had shot a moment earlier.

    The armor of the proton cannons, which were protecting them from light weapons and shrapnel, proved woefully inadequate against missiles. Besides, each warhead was aimed at the open fire control station of the mobile artillery emplacements.

    Four of the five guns fell to the ground as neutered wrecks.

    The only one that had no missile aimed at remained in CIS control for couple of seconds longer, before the B1 operating it was struck by a blaster bolt which Kenobi had deflected its way.

    The Jedi and his still battle ready troopers made a short work of the few remaining droids trying to protect the artillery emplacements.

    Cody who had been dazed by the artillery shell that wiped out one of his squads came back to the real world. He winced. His head was ringing something awful.

    The Captain stared through a nearby window and saw that the proton cannons were neutralized. The General and two of his men were busy releasing the locals and pointing them at the guns of the destroyed droids.

    Right. They were still in danger.

    Cody accessed the comm suite of his armor and smiled grimly. The jamming in the surrounding area was almost gone. His comm could easily burn through what little enemy ECM was bleeding from nearby areas.

    "This is Ghost Actual! Gamma is condition green! I repeat Gamma is condition green! The cannons are neutralized!" he took a deep breath before shouting in the receiver. "We need immediate air support! I repeat, we need immediate air support at my coordinates!"

    "Roger, Ghost Actual. We are lifting now. Eta, two minutes." Cody who was nearly deaf was unable to hear the cool answer of Razor One, the leader of the gunship wing which brought them down to Ryloth.

    =RK=

    Kenobi had released twenty four locals, before he felt that he was running out of time.

    "Release the others and grab a gun. There are a lot of droids which are about to hit us any moment! We need your help to hold them off until reinforcements arrive." Obi-Wan ordered the elderly woman who appeared to be the village leader.

    She nodded and repeated his words on her native tongue.

    Most of the released locals, who were the men and women Kenobi felt would be best for helping him and his men in stopping the inevitable droid counter attack, were hastily arming themselves. Only two, who were armed with vibroblades given to them by the clones, continued to cut free their fellow prisoners.

    The Jedi glanced at the sole still operational cannon and shook his head. It was useless right now. They had to stop the droids before the machines reached the buildings surrounding the artillery site. Anything less would leave few hundreds of bound locals in the crossfire.

    He rushed towards the place he felt Cody''s presence.

    Moments later, Kenobi found the Commander. The clone was shouting in his comm for air support. Good. With the local guns silenced, the LAATs should be able to help dispatching the remaining droids.

    "Cody, what''s the ETA of the air support?" asked Obi-Wan, but his subordinate didn''t even notice him.

    It took Kenobi patting the clone on the shoulder, before Cody paid him any attention.

    "Sorry, sir! I didn''t hear you!" screamed the Commander.

    "No need to be so loud!" quipped Obi-Wan. He glanced at the devastated interior of the building and frowned.

    "Can''t hear you sir!" shouted Cody.

    The Jedi shook his head. He only hoped that his friend wasn''t permanently deaf.

    Kenobi patted Cody on the shoulder and pointed him in the direction of the droids who had mostly mopped up the squads left to slow them down.

    The clone officer nodded, and took position behind a half-demolished wall.

    They were being joined by more and more locals, who had armed themselves with weapons taken from destroyed droids.

    One of the clones, a corporal who Kenobi didn''t know, looked at the volunteers and muttered: "Great. We might even make it."

    "We will make it, soldier!" the General said loudly, in an attempt to reassure both the clone troopers who were not deafened and the locals.

    Heartbeats later, the droids which were still active, disregarded the couple of survivors from the rearguard and charged the rest of Kenobi''s force.

    They were met with whithering amount of blasterfire. However most of the shots snapped by the locals missed by miles.

    The B1 droids, were falling down in droves as the cannon fodder they were, but in doing so, those machines were soaking up fire which was not hitting their more dangerous brethren. The B2 Super Battle Droids were the ones retaliating effectively to the fire of the flimsy line of clones and armed civilians.

    The walking wall of steel was coming closer and closer, paying with four of their mechanical lives for every one of the defenders they were claiming.

    It was an exchange rate that the CIS troops could afford to pay.

    Even the sole survivor of the rear guard, who was sending blue needles of concentrated energy at the backs of the advancing machines, did little to dissuade the machines from wiping out Kenobi, his men and the locals helping them.

    The droids were mere three meters from the Republic remnants, when the air vibrated with the familiar droning of LAAT gunships. Some of the robots turned around started scanning the air for the perceived threat.

    It did them little good besides being able to see the craft which ended their existence.

    A whole wing of heavily armed LAATs flew centimeters over the roofs of the village''s dwellings. The predatory forms of the gunships dashed over the advancing droids. They unleashed missiles and rockets, blowing up the droids farthest from Cody''s position. Thin darts of laser fire came to life from the small ball turrets mounted at the noses of the LAATs, neatly slicing the droids into pieces.

    Kenobi released a breath he didn''t realize he was holding. The Force be damned machines were caught in the open and demolished in short order. The sight of droids being turned into scrap didn''t make him feel any better.

    Most of his men were gone or mercifully only wounded. Dozens of the locals had perished in the last, desperate firefight.

    Despite all that, they had "won". The artillery at this position was neutralized, and hopefully Anakin and Delkatar had also taken their objectives, or would do so soon.

    Obi-Wan looked to his right. There was a girl, no more than fifteen years old, laying slumped on her side. Here empty purple eyes were looking straight at the Jedi.

    Kenobi closed his eyes, calling on the Light Side of the Force once more. He felt its rejuvenating touch and concentrated on it, releasing the bitterness he was feeling, as well as the first wisp of anger aimed at the CIS leader who had decided to use the locals as live shields.

    To Obi-Wan, the so called "success" of taking down the guns tasted as bitter as defeat.

 Chapter 28 - Turning Point [Continued 4]

    Part 6

    Krayt Company, Alpha Site, Ryloth

    Cat had lost twenty two men, dead and wounded before calling in the retreat. Most of them were taken out by the damn tanks.

    The Captain glanced behind his back once he had slid behind a new cover. Half a dozen tanks were moving in pursuit, followed by two companies of Super Battle droids. Behind those, four more tanks, the last that were supposed to be in the region as well as more droids are moving in to defensive positions in the chokepoint.

    So far everything was going according to the plan. If the damn woman kept her part of the deal with the General, that is.

    A loud roar revebratted through the canyon, almost deafening Cat. An overpressure wave slammed at the rock he was using as cover, shaking it. He glanced over it and smiled.

    The tanks, while unharmed from the blast-wave, were moved out of their precise formation. Most of the droids were on the ground, thrown off their feet.

    So she came through.

    "Fire at will!" ordered Cat and followed his own order.

    A moment passed before eight missiles streaked at the six CIS tanks which were pursuing the clones and the machines infantry support. The warheads slammed into the CIS armor, blasting through the tough composite. Once the tank''s defenses were breached, the inside of the machines were engulfed into a hellish storm of plasma, molten metal, and shrapnel. In two cases, something truly critical was damaged, and the machines blew up, sending their turrets sailing through the air. The rest of the tanks died less spectacular deaths, but were nonetheless left laying on the ground as expensive sculptures of modern art.

    =RK=

    Bo-Katan was almost impressed by the clones tenacity. They had kept up their mock attack until nearly a sixth of their company''s total numbers were down, then executed a flawless fighting retreat, taking their fallen with them.

    Only to lead their pursuers into an ambush, which Kryze sprung when she blew up the charges planted by the CIS at the chokepoint. By that single action alone, she buried a third of the droids protecting the proton cannons, as well as their remaining tanks.

    The blast wave sent a lot of the machines into disarray, something she took advantage of. The Mandalorian warrior activated her rocket-pack and jumped from behind the boulder behind which she too cover. She strafed a mauled platoon of Super Battle droids, raining blaster fire and missiles at the machines.

    Only on her third pass any of their counter-fire came anywhere close to her and by that time only three B2''s were still relatively intact. On her last pass one of them even managed to hit her, but its shot splashed over her Mandalorian steel forged armor, melting off some of the tough alloy but leaving her unharmed.

    There was nothing left standing to warrant a fifth pass.

    I led my chosen strike team through the sewers, with Numa trailing off at the back of the column with Waxer and Boil. According to Bo-Katan, there were at least few remaining scout droids hunting for stragglers through the village. All of them armed, so I decided that the kid was safer with us as long as she stayed underground while we dealt with the robots.

    When we were at the exit leading to the plaza with the cannons and the hostages, I stopped for a brief moment. I drew the Force to me, drinking deeply from it.

    Pale Ionic energy danced around my left hand, ready to be unleashed.

    "Check your targets, we have civies spread amongst the clankers. Cover each other and don''t get killed. That''s an order!"

    A round of brief chuckles answered me.

    I levitated the hatch barring our way. It turned out to be well oiled and opened without a sound. I exited first, with my sword at the ready, but inactive.

    There was a droid in front of me, with its back turned towards me. It was busy clearing up a nearby cage. Probably where the now filleted animals were being kept. I sent the energy engulfing my arm at it, which struck it soundlessly. The droid froze, giving off a soft buzz/hiss sound and fell like a puppet with its strings cut.

    I caught it with the Force, gently placing it on the dirty floor, so it won''t clatter.

    Behind me, my men were quietly exiting and taking positions near the walls of the tunnel.

    I waited patiently until the counter reached zero, despite the battle ?ust racing through my veins, feeding off the Dark side energies I was using to empower myself.

    An explosion sounded not too far away. I could sense a lot of droids heading that way.

    I waited while my men attacked the CIS forces as a diversion. I waited as they fought and died, sensing each one of them passing away.

    Fourteen of my soldiers died to give us an opening to destroy our targets and save the locals.

    Explosions, strong enough to shake the ground echoed overhead and darted forward. A Force enhanced leap led me in the middle of the plaza, where I landed feet first over the torso of a B1. The flimsy machine''s torso caved under my weight and momentum, wrecking it.

    The one which was next to it was bisected by my blade, while I sent an energy bolt resembling a thin, pale bolt of lightning at one of the robots controlling a proton cannon.

    That machine died with its internal components slagged.

    I was on the move, not stopping for more than a moment in order to sent an ionic bolt at an artillery droid.

    My men surged from the tunnel, taking aimed shots at any droid that was moving.

    "Take out the left!" I shouted an order to my AT troopers and ran straight at the one to the right. Its gun was almost pointing at me.

    If it shot now, I was likely a goner as well as a lot of civies.

    I threw my lightsaber at an annoying Super Battle droid which flew backwards, impaled with my blade. The Force surged through me as I commanded and molded it to my will. My arms were covered by a ghostly sheer of energy which became concentrated enough to blur their outlines.

    I used this energy to grab the artillery emplacement that was my target and pick it up. I wrenched it upward. The gun barrel tore from its chassis split second after sending a proton shell at the heavens.

    I left the two pieces fall to the ground and they smashed two Super Battle droids which were shooting at me.

    Crimson blaster bolts scorched the ?h?st-plate of my armor, its composite leaking in half molten streams down my torso. I winced at the heat which fought with the environmental controls of my armor in an attempt to sear my flesh. I felt stinging sensation over my ?h?st before the armor managed to regulate the internal temperature and cool down to acceptable levels.

    The ancient piece of equipment saved my life once again, but was mostly ruined. I hoped that I''d be able to patch it up to an acceptable condition before I entered in my next battle.

    Replacing my armor with something giving me equivalent protection would be possible only when the first variants of light power armor were operational in few months. At least the exoskeletons would be ready for combat testing earlier...

    A stray shot which passed too close for comfort brought me back to the present. Damn it all! I had spaced out in the middle of combat! A great way to get oneself killed.

    The plaza was battered by a blast-wave as two missiles blew up the last proton cannon, before it could bear on any of us.

    After that, moping up the few still active droids which were nearby was easy.

    "LT! Get a couple of squads to start releasing the hostages. Two more squads with me. We are going to hunt down the remaining droids. The rest of you establish a perimeter and secure it." I ordered.

    Before we headed for the pass, to deal with the enemy stragglers I checked the casualties. Five of my men were hit during the melee. Only two of them would recover.

    Eighteen Twi''lek were wounded. Ten died before the Acclamators landed and we could provide them with adequate medical ?ssistance.

    Four of them were children.

    =RK=

    Bo-Katan flew through the canyon, towards the artillery position. On her way she strafed few droids, most of which were the almost harmless and useless B1s.

    Half a click from the plaza, she found a single tank driving away from the rock-slide she had caused. Kryze grinned when she recognized the droid whose upper body could be seen from the open commander''s hatch. It was the Tactical one responsible for the defense of this village.

    She dived towards the ground and released her single remaining heavy missile. It struck the tank in the lesser rear armor, punching through like a heavy turbolaser through defenseless freighter. Bo-Katan must have hit something vital, because the armored vehicle erupted in an impressive pyrotechnic conflagnation, which sent the half melted and shredded upper torso of the Tactical droid high in the air.

    The woman chuckled and sent few blaster bolts at the failing piece of scrap. It was demolished even further and pieces of it rained all over the canyon.

    Soon after that, Bo-Katan met Veil, who was leading ten men against the last remaining droids. He was deflecting the machines shots and frying them with wide arches of lightning emanating from his left hand. No one seeing him at that moment could mistake him for a Jedi.

    He fought with ferocity that could be envied by many a Mandalorian.

    She licked her lips and smiled like a predator who had just scented its next meal.

    Down below, the General stopped his progress and stared straight at her.

    Bo-Katan smirked. She was going to have so much fun with that clueless man!

    =RK=

    Torrent Company, Beta Site, Ryloth

    The Captain threw his last grenade at a pair of Super Battle droids which had missile launchers and were preparing to use them.

    The energy blast fried the circuits of the machines as they tried to fire their weapons. One warhead blew up in the barrel of its launcher, making the robot attached to it into so much steel fillings.

    The other was marginally "luckier". Its missile launched clearly and promptly struck a nearby building, tearing up its facade.

    Three more droids were taken out with well aimed burst of fire, then another trooper fell after being hit in the head. An Ion grenade dropped a quartet of B2s which were bunched close to each other.

    For first time in his life, Rex felt totally helpless. He had committed his reserves, his men were pinned down and encircled, with no room to maneuver, while the enemy was picking them one by one.

    The Captain emptied the last few shots remaining in the power cell of his left hand pistol, demolishing a particularly troublesome Super Battle droid and went behind the low wall he used for cover to reload. He was wracking his brain for anything that could permit him to save at least few of his brothers but there was nothing he could think of.

    Even worse, he had lost contact with the Jedi and any attempt to raise them was met with static.

    Another clone died ¨C the cover he was kneeling behind was demolished by a missile, and the blast-wave hurled the man''s body was hurled into a nearby wall.

    Rex opened fire at the machine that just killed one of his soldiers and didn''t go back under cover before the damn thing was down.

    The Captain blinked in confusion. He was feeling hot, very hot. Rex looked down and stared at the smoking ruin which was the piece of his armor that was supposed to cover his gut.

    Ah. That explained it. At least he didn''t feel pain. Which was not supposed to be a good thing. Right?

    He grunted and shot off the head of a B1 which was trying to advance despite the fierce resistance of his men.

    Kriffing clankers!

    =RK=

    Anakin was standing in front of his wounded apprentice who was leaning on the wall behind them and using her lightsaber to deflect the shots coming from the advancing droids.

    "I''m sorry, Snips. I kriffed up." he muttered.

    "We can''t win them all, Master!" she chuckled with dark humor. "You should get away while you still can, Skyguy." she added in a somber tone.

    Anakin smiled sadly and shook his head. If he ran, and abandoned Ahsoka as well as Rex and rest of his men, he had a chance to make it out. Small, but it was there.

    He glanced Ahsoka''s way and gave her a reassuring smile, which both of them knew for the lie it was. Their only chance for survival was an immediate airstrike at the proton cannons, followed by a wing of LAAT''s taking apart the droids before the clankers could blast them to pieces. But even if the gunships left in that precise minute, they would be too late. The LAAT''s that brought them down, which were the closest Republic ?ssets, were three minutes away.

    In less than a half of that time the droids would have his position demolished and overran.

    Anger aimed at his own self, at his overconfidence and the arrogant way he had carried out this mission raged within Skywalker.

    He knew it in his heart. It was his own mistakes that got them all killed. While he could sense about a third of Torrent company still fighting, the clones under Rex''s command were blinking one after another from Anakin''s perception. Even the Captain was slowly becoming less bright to his senses.

    Rex was wounded. Badly.

    Another clone died. A man he was responsible for.

    Anakin shouted in anger and frustration. He gave voice to all his bottled feelings, his anguish and failure.

    Skywalker scream revebratted through the Force, resonating with dark power.

    The half-demolished wall through which he had brought Ahsoka in their short lived redoubt was shattered to grain sized pieces as a visible ripple passed through the air. It continued after smashing the stone and released its power outside, tearing apart the droids in its path.

    Anakin panted, gasping for air. At least a hundred droids lied in pieces.

    He stared at the devastation he had somehow wrought before he was brought back by Ahsoka''s shouting: "Skyguy! This is your chance! Run!"

    Skywalker glanced at his apprentice for a moment, uncomprehending. She gazed back, straight at his yellow tinted eyes.

    He shook his head, grabbed her and used the Force to blast open a hole in the wall at the back, while no one was shooting at him.

    Anakin disregarded Ahsoka''s protests and dragged her deeper in the building.

    ''Skywalker! What the hell are you doing? Why can I hear you even over here?!''

    Anakin was startled as Delkatar''s Voice sounded in his head. He glanced at Ahsoka who looked back with her huge eyes.

    "Did you hear that, too?" he wondered aloud.

    The padawan nodded her head and winced as her wounded leg hit an upturned table. Her attempts to suppress the pain through the Force weren''t working as well as she hoped.

    ''We are in deep banta shit!'' Skywalker thought aloud.

    ''That we are.'' mentally answered Ahsoka.

    ''Explain! Now!'' snapped Veil, through the bond he shared with Skywalker''s padawan.

    Her eyes widened. She was connected through the Force with both men and Delkatar was using her like some sort of conduit to speak with her and her master!

    ''We are in trouble, Delkatar. Master lost his prosthetic arm, I''m wounded and Rex and Torrent company are getting cut to pieces. We won''t last much longer!''

    =RK=

    Krayt Company location, Alpha Site, Ryloth

    I closed my eyes and frowned. If Ahsoka''s and Anakin''s situation was as bad as I felt thanks to my strange bond with the kid, then I had no planet bound ?sset that could make it to their position in time.

    Fighters or bombers from orbit wouldn''t cut it either. I felt that they had only few minutes. At best.

    An orbital strike would wipe them out. They were too close for such a thing. The space ships weapons were too powerful for danger close strikes. Or were they...

    Ion cannons. But those that could effectively hit ground targets from orbit were the heavy guns on the Venators. At least couple of those were still operational, but even at low power they had very high chance of frying unprotected people on the ground. It was the reason why I didn''t use them to take out the cannons and had to proceed with the ground attacks.

    I ran to a nearby trooper who was carrying a laser comm system. It was a foolproof way to connect with our orbital ?ssets despite the enemy ECM, which was death to long range comms.

    Despite having dealt with the droids in our immediate vicinity, there was at least one ECM emitter hidden nearby which was keeping us in the dark, so to speak.

    It took one long minute, in which I could feel echoes through my connection with Ahsoka. Anakin''s soldiers were dying.

    "Sir, I''ve got the Admiral on the line."

    I grabbed the comm set from my man.

    "Admiral, Yularen. I need immediate Ion cannon strike in the vicinity of Site Beta. Minimum safe distance and power. Skywalker''s being overran as we speak." I ordered and snapped the long string of my identification code for the day.

    "Immediately, sir!" he answered crisply.

    =RK=

    Republic Fleet, High orbit over Ryloth

    It took nearly another minute for the frantic orders to pass through the chain of command. The Victory had to rotate so her sole surviving Ion cannon could bear on the surface, while targeting solutions were crunched by her computers.

    Then she fired, sending columns of Ion energy at a certain spot on the planed below. They struck one point two kilometers behind the Proton cannons which were Skywalker''s target. That was about two and a half clicks from where Torrent Company and the Jedi were making their last stand.

    The Ion energy, which is so deadly for any machine usually had mild effects on organic life. A pulse of a grenade could give a light shock, perhaps cause mild burns.

    The main cannons of a Venators were of entirely different league. And while they could dial up and down their power, those weapons were never meant to be fired where an unshielded beings could be hit.

    A tsunami of ion energy washed over the village. The power surged around and through the buildings, often discharging itself in the form of lightning bolts.

    Droids burnt and melted. Some even exploded.

    The artillery park was engulfed by an ion storm which shattered the cannons and some of their shells, wiping out everything in the plaza and hundreds of meters around.

    The Jedi and the remnants of Torrent Company were lucky. The blast-wave was stopped by the buildings of the village short of them.

    Those same dwellings did nothing to even slow down the energy surges, powerful enough to fry an ?du?t humanoid with a single strike. Both clones and droids were electrocuted by torrents of power.

    Nearby, in a half demolished building, Anakin sensed a warning screamed at him through the Force. He tossed Ahsoka in nearby corner and jumped over her, covering his apprentice with his body.

    Skywalker raised over them the most powerful anti-radiation shield he could and prayed to the Force that it would be enough.

    Bolts of Ion energy arched through the house and struck Anakin''s barrier. Skywalker felt as if his entire body was on fire and he screamed hoarsely until he blacked out.

 Chapter 29 - Ryloth: Endgame

    Part 1

    =RK=

    Med bay, Assault Ship Courageous, Republic LZ, Ryloth

    I was watching as doctors and med droids were working on Anakin. They were cutting charred pieces of cloth and armor off of him. In the room to the right, Ahsoka was being treated for her blaster wounds. Thanks to Skywalker, who had mostly shielded her with his body and Force powers, she was only mildly singed. If she had been wearing an armor, she might have gotten away only with mild injuries.

    That was something we were going to talk about, once the docs were finished with her.

    Next to me, Kenobi was staring with empty eyes at his former apprentice, who was covered with first and second degree burns.

    When all was said and done, Anakin got lucky. Oh, he''ll have some impressive scarring across his ?h?st and would need to wear a resperator mask for the next few weeks, but he was expected to make full recovery.

    So would Captain Rex, who would be out of commission for a month or so. However, with the exception of four grievously wounded troopers, Torrent Company was gone.

    Kenobi''s men had fared a bit better; a small platoon could be ?ssembled from the survivors of Ghost Company. Once they all are back on duty, which wwould take months and artificial limbs for some of them.

    All in all, the ?ssault on the artillery positions had turned out to be almost as big a clusterfuck as the space battle. I could scarcely believe it.

    What in the name of the Force possessed the Jedi to go into battle with only blaster carbines and Ion grenades?!

    "General Kenobi. Walk with me." I said in a tone leaving no room for mistaking my words as anything but orders and headed to the nearest conference room, where we could speak without someone interrupting us.

    His head turned slowly my way and he stared at me for a few seconds before shaking his head and following me.

    When we were both inside, I manipulated the door panel with the Force, making sure that we wouldn''t be disturbed.

    "General Kenobi, I''ll read your and Skywalkers AARs when you are able to finish the damn things. Right now I want to know what the hell were you two idiots thinking?! You went in carrying only light weapons!" I shouted at him, which tore him out of his funk.

    Obi-Wan winced and lowered his head.

    "Two Companies of the finest men the Republic had, all but destroyed! Tell me General Kenobi, what were you thinking when you ordered your men to carry only carbines and Ion grenades against a numerous well entrenched enemy?!" Now, that I had his undivided attention, I spoke quietly. No need to shout any more.

    "We came here to liberate the people of Ryloth. Not to demolish their homes..." he mumbled.

    "Let me get this straight. You were armed for a peacekeeping action, despite being aware that the CIS would be dug in deep to protect the proton cannons. All because you wanted to keep a few damn buildings safe?!" I was incredulous.

    "It''s the Jedi way... causing wanton destruction, especially on a Republic world..."

    I glared at him and pointed at his apparel.

    "From the moment you put on that uniform, General, you have been a GAR general first and a Jedi second. Your duty is to the Republic and your men. The Jedi''s creed is a very distant third. "

    Obi-Wan opened his mouth to say something but I didn''t give him the chance to speak. I slammed a Force enhanced fist at the table, denting it.

    "Tell me, how many Twi''lek died because you two were playing games? If Skywalker had not followed your example, he might have been able to deal with the Confed resistance on the ground! I wouldn''t have been forced to call in an orbital strike to clear the last kriffing cluster of proton cannons!" I hissed.

    I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The turmoil that Kenobi was radiating, was obvious to anyone with the senses to pick it up.

    "This is war! Not a police action or a run of the mill peacekeeping! When you mess around, more people die. The longer any single battle or the conflict as a whole lasts, the casualties became greater. For both sides, not to mention the civilians caught in between.

    Obi-Wan, if you and the rest of the Jedi can''t move from the mindset of a peacekeepers to that of a generals, you will get more people killed. Either directly by kriffing up as you and Anakin did today, and causing the deaths of your men when you kriffed up by the numbers. Or indirectly. Like you did by forcing me to sacrifice the civilians at Site Beta, so we could safely land our main force and proceed with liberating Ryloth. As we speak more people are dying in the CIS camps."

    "Sometimes people either under your direct command or civilians must be sacrificed so more people can be saved."

    "That goes contrary to everything we are taught as Jedi! To everything we are!" exclaimed Obi-Wan.

    "Then you have a decision to make, General Kenobi," I stated in a carefully bland voice. " You will either become the leader of men I know you can be, an officer that will be the pride of the Republics Armed forces. A General who does right by his oath and brings as many of his men home alive as possible. Or you will get out of the GAR. That is a choice all Jedi will have to make, sooner than later. We can''t afford any more such ''victories''!" I pointed at the deck, and Ryloth''s soil below it.

    My comm beeped, breaking the moment. I bit off a curse and activated it.

    "I''m listening."

    "Sir, we have holocall from Coruscant. It''s the Chancellor and General Valentra."

    "Patch it to conference room 3A." I ordered.

    The holoprojector around which the round table dominating the room was built, came to life showing the blue tinted images of Palpatine, Valentra, Yularen, Yoda and that of Ryloth''s senator.

    He was the same man I had ordered arrested for trying to release Grievous under Palpatine''s instructions during the Hostage crisis on Coruscant. He got away, but not without suffering a serious blow to his power.

    That man wasn''t one of my greatest fans, but so far he''s been unable to stir up too much trouble.

    "Ah! General Veil! What is your progress?" exclaimed Palpatine.

    He appeared pleased to see me in one piece. Which, considering who and what he was, meant nothing.

    "We hold Ryloth''s orbit and have annihilated the Separatist fleet blockading the planet. One Droid Command ship, two battleships and forty Munificents were destroyed by our forces as well as twelve thousand Vulture fighters. However we suffered heavy casualties in order to achieve such a feat."

    "Excellent work, General!" Palpatine smiled at me.

    It wasn''t reassuring in the least.

    "What is the situation on the ground?" asked Valentra.

    "Our forces are disembarking and we''ll proceed with the liberation of Ryloth as soon as that is done." I stated with a blank expression. "However there are some grim news you all should be aware of..." I proceeded to inform them about the slaves we saved in orbit and the Camps set up by the CIS.

    Ryloth''s senator started screaming for immediate action and I could see that Palpy was going to order it.

    "You have to save those people, General! Consider this an order!" snapped Palpatine, faking a look of horror.

    "The fastest way to finish this campaign will be to capture the Capital where Wat Tambor has his command center." I said, calling up a projection of the said city. It was build in on a solid rock spire, surrounded by a kilometers deep abyss.

    "A siege could go on for months." Palpatine stated the obvious.

    It was probably what he was hoping for. That would mean that I''ll be stuck here for that long. Too bad, that I had other plans to deal with it...

    "My people have suffered greatly! Such a siege will be too much!" grumbled the senator.

    "Plan, have you, General Veil?" asked Yoda.

    "While the Capital is our primary target, we need to dispatch strong forces to liberate the Camps. From a single battalion, up to an entire Regiment will be needed depending on how powerful the garrisons are. Once I have sufficient men near the major camps, we''ll attack them at the same time. Because of that, I won''t have enough free troops to ?ssault the city while liberating the CIS held population. I intend to ask for help. It appears that despite their vicious attempts to suppress the resistance of the locals, the CIS has been unsuccessful. Cham Syndulla, leads the largest contingent of resistance fighters. I''ll do my best to procure his ?ssistance."

    "He has the reputation of an extremist." the Chancellor gave me a grandfatherly smile which would have made Dumbledore proud. "He can be unpredictable."

    "I don''t trust him!" shouted the senator. "He is a power hungry maniac!"

    "I''ll leave Ryloth''s politics in your capable hands, Senator. As per your orders, Chancellor, I''ll do everything in my power to help the local population."

    "And why we are not sending additional reinforcements?" asked Palpatine.

    "We are stretched to the limit, sir." General Valentra joined the conversation. "There is no one else to send."

    It was extremely fortunate that a squadron of Venators with escorts were already on the way, which would do a lot to shore up our space defenses. I didn''t relish the possibility of the CIS sending in another fleet and blowing me out of orbit.

    "It''s unlikely that we would be able to achieve a timely victory without Syndulla." I stated with a grim expression on my face.

    "Something to add, have you, Master Kenobi?" asked Yoda.

    Obi-Wan shook his head. "No, Master Yoda."

    "Very well. Liberate Ryloth, General Veil." ordered Palpatine before cutting the connection.

    It was time to stretch my orders to their limits.

    "Obi-Wan, if you decide to stay with us I have a job for you..."

    =RK=

    Part 2

    Maximilian Veers watched the sensors display of his command tank like a hawk. The young officer was leading the vanguard of one of the armor columns braving the mountains. He was currently commanding a hover tank platoon, which was scouting ahead of the main force.

    Above him, a pair of heavily armed gunships were lazily sweeping over the pass. Higher still, a couple of squadrons of fighters were flying CAP, on the lookout for any sign of CIS Vultures or bombers. Even in orbit, the ultimate high ground, a Venator, the Victory, was hanging vigilant, ready to provide ?ssistance if needed.

    All that, didn''t make the Lieutenant any less apprehensive. He was in a light tank, with only a shield generator for defense. One that maybe could take two shots before being overloaded.

    You had to add to that the unpleasant fact that his hovercraft were no good for scaling vertical surfaces, such as the cliffs to the left, or flying, with the over two kilometers deep chasm on the right.

    In front of his vehicle were two tanks of his command squad, both of which had their turrets sweeping from left to right in search of hostiles.

    "Contact! You have enemy tanks and infantry activating to north east!" The voice of theVictory''s sensor operator sounded from comms all along the armor column.

    "Affirmative. We have them on our screens!" Confirmed the pilots of the gunships. "We are engaging."

    "Lieutenant Veers! Push the vanguard forward and try to flush out any other surprises the Seps have for us." Ordered General Veil, who was riding with a group of a quick response LAATs, which had two companies of troopers ready to deploy.

    "Wilco, sir!" Answered the younger man. "You heard, the General. We are moving out. I want five hundred meters separation between the platoon''s elements."

    The hover tanks'' engines roared and the light machines darted forward, following the contour of the pass.

    =RK=

    The gunships flew over the mountain''s peaks and followed the siren song of the droids energy emissions. Those two LAATs were heavily armed with both missile and rocket pods as well as rapid-fire lasers mounted under their short wings.

    The pair appeared over the CIS forces. The Separatists machines were getting out of shallow trenches, where they had waited deactivated for Republic forces to come in range.

    The lead LAAT released a couple of missiles aimed at two tanks which had gotten out of their hiding holes and were heading into firing positions over the GAR column. The heavy weapons struck the CIS machines from above, drilling effortlessly through their lighter top armor and detonating. The top third of the two stricken tanks disappeared into a flash of detonating explosives, and the resulting shock-wave obliterated a few B2 droids which were too close.

    That first successful strike was followed by the gunships unleashing the rest of their weaponry before they finished their attack pass. Missiles blew up three more tanks, while rockets and lances of energy smashed into groups of droids.

    The initial success of the LAATs was short-lived. The next CIS machine to awake was an AA emplacement, which opened up on the gunships. They were already finishing their strafing run and were able to avoid its initial flak fire. The two missiles it sent after them were a different matter.

    The Republic craft spread out, increasing their speed and turning so they could target the weapon which which went after their comrade. One of the LAAT''s managed to shoot down the missile going after its wing mate, before it could connect with it. The fire of the second one missed by centimeters, twin stilettos of green energy passing below and above the CIS weapon.

    The missile struck the gunship from the side destroying one engine and heavily damaging the other. The LAAT spun out of control and plowed in the rocky ground.

    The second one flew straight down in an attempt to go below the engagement envelope of the AA emplacement. That maneuver, as it turned out was not needed. A missile sent from one of the CAP fighters erased the AA site out of existence. Moments later, six V-19''s strafed the CIS position.

    =RK=

    Lieutenant Veers glared at a mountain hill which was on the other side of the pass they were crossing. It was a good news/bad news thing.

    The kriffing CIS had a position defended by proton cannons and heavy AA emplacements, from where their tanks and infantry could take potshots at the advancing Republic column without being too concerned by air or orbital attacks. The second option was out anyway, if the General wanted to use this pass. But the heavy cannons ensured that a Corvette or a Light Cruiser couldn''t pass over the place where the Seps had entrenched themselves and plaster them with its secondaries. Not without getting shot down in retaliation.

    Which was a problem. The fleet couldn''t afford to loose any more ships, even one of the lighter ones. Such a thing would compromise even further the tentative hold the Navy had over Ryloth. Not a single GAR member on the ground wanted to think what would happen if the CIS sent a heavy fleet to retake the orbitals.

    That left the ground forces with a problem. Now they had to brave a gauntlet under enemy fire. It wasn''t a fun place to be.

    Two of the CIS tanks which had taken positions on the ridge overlooking the pass concentrated their fire on the leading part of Veers'' platoon.

    They missed.

    Maximillian had never been more grateful to the Seps own bean-counters, who were too cheap to pay for a decent targeting sensors and programing for the droid ground forces.

    "Press forward! We need to get out of the pass ASAP and flank them!" Ordered the Lieutenant.

    "Yes, sir!" He heard his driver shouting back a second before the tank darted forward, at a reckless speed.

    That was all Veers could do. The position where his platoon was didn''t give him many options.

    They couldn''t maneuver, or go back. Staying put would be a death sentence for his light tanks, and worse, would achieve nothing.

    The eleven hover tanks flew towards the end of the pass, while exchanging fire with the CIS forces. The only high point was that while the Seps were busy shooting at his shielded machines, they were not bombarding the ponderous walkers which were striding forth with unmatched determination.

    =RK=

    Eagle Flight, Lorek Pass, Torangua Mountains, Ryloth

    A droid operated tank took careful aim and fired. A fist made of crimson energy splashed over the shield of Maximilian''s leading tank. The defensive field flashed brightly as it struggled to absorb and reflect the energies unleashed upon it, before the light show ended.

    The hover tank, which was still intact, rotated its turret and roared its defiance. Its lighter, but faster firing cannon spoke. Three green bolts flew back at the CIS lines.

    One missed.

    The rest found their mark.

    A deep, smoking rend appeared in the front armor of the enemy tank and the secondary weapons on the right side of its cupola were slagged by a hit.

    In retaliation, four more of the Confed machines zeroed on the leading hover tank and fired in unison.

    The shield stopped the first hit.

    The next pierced the depleted defensive barrier as if it was not even there. It sliced through the thin armor protecting the turret and unleashed what remained of its fury on the people manning the hover thank.

    The machine''s commander, who acted a gunner too, was turned into ash from the waist up. The driver lived a bit longer thanks to the compartmentalization of the tank doing its job.

    That proved useless when the front of the armored vehicle was struck by another cannon shot, which blew a hole in the glacis and obliterated the man.

    I turned my senses towards the higher ground where the CIS forces had taken position. Their AA emplacements were already sending streams of laser fire and flocks of missiles at my CAP, forcing the Torrents back.

    The fighters answered with their own weapons, which were met by wall of blaster fire. Only a handful of missiles got through, with only one reaching its target.

    The end result was an AA site blown up in exchange for a pair of V-19''s. It wasn''t a trade I could afford.

    Then another hover tank went in flames under the relentless enemy barrage. And I was grateful for it. I would gladly accept them blowing up my entire vanguard, despite Veers leading it, because it meant that the kriffing clankers weren''t shooting at the pass itself.

    Granted, the whole exercise was a damn diversion, but I needed everyone seeing what they believed my forces were doing. It was probably my best chance to end the mess on Ryloth fast.

    So I was leading three regiments into a meat grinder while Kenobi prepared to do his part.

    That still left me do deal with the CIS forces on the damn hills overlooking the pass.

    Oh, I got a plan how to do it. It was just that a bunch of gunships from Earth would have been ideal for dealing with this situation. Flying through the pass, under the enemy AA umbrella, then popping a sensor pod over the edge of the canyon, locking on the targets and sending missiles to deal with them.

    It was too bad that thanks to the enemy ECM my own gunships were unable to do so. They needed a line of sight to fire and that was suicide against the massed AA emplacements.

    No orbital strike, an air attack being too costly on my remaining ?ssets... And no kriffing indirect fire artillery! That was soon going to be climbing near the top of the list I needed the R&D to see. Few self propelled arty pieces would have done wonders against the entrenched CIS forces. Hell, few mortars would do nicely too.

    Just another thing to add to the list.

    That left us dealing with the enemy the old fashioned way. With grunts on the ground.

    The quick reaction force flew through the canyon until the LAATs were in position, just two meters under the edge of the cliffs where the droids deployed. Below us and to the left, the leading elements of my walker force were coming into range

    Their heavy mass drivers opened fire, carefully aiming so they won''t smash one of my transports by accident. That at least kept the droids nicely distracted from our approach.

    My men launched grappling hooks, and once the devices found purchase on the rocks above us, they started climbing up. Once they were just below the edge, the clones drew thermal detonators and Ion grenades with one hand, and threw them at the droids above us.

    It was what I was waiting for. I had mental picture of the enemy forces seared into my head thanks to the Force, which I had used to search for their exact positions.

    Streams of Ionic energy clashed with blast-waves and machines started dying. Squads of B2''s as well as tanks and couple of AA emplacement went out in a flash of searing fire or few twitching on the ground with their circuits fused.

    This brief surprise was all it took for the leading elements of my two companies to scale up the cliffs, discard the grappling hooks and scatter in search for cover. Aria and I joined them, jumping meters in the air from the LAATs carrying us. Our lightsabers were already active when we landed on the rough ground. We wasted no time and charged the enemy lines.

    Behind us my armored column had ceased fire and was advancing up the pass.

    I used my free hand to levitate grenades from my harness and sent them flying at various juicy targets, while blocking the ineffective fire from the droids.

    I dreaded the day when those things would get their programing straight and start acting as the advanced war machines I remembered from my past. Against them the ?ssault I was leading would be magnitudes bloodier if successful at all.

    To my right, my apprentice was following my example. Her excitement and joy was like a beacon for my senses.

    I chuckled at her antics and threw a thermal detonator straight under the gun of a Sep tank, which was trying to acquire me as a target. The resulting explosion melted off most of the machine''s armor around its turret and warped the cannon, making it useless.

    I frowned, but didn''t allow myself to stop in surprise. The damn weapon was faulty! It should have destroyed the tank, not simply crippling it. The damn thing still had its secondary weapons which were moving my way.

    A missile slammed into the tank''s weakened armor and blew it up.

    The second wave were up here and engaging. They were exclusively carrying heavy weapons.

    The third should be following us withing moments.

    It was just in time, too. The CIS forces were finally straightening out their programming and were counterattacking. The droids which were acting as individuals when we surprised them were engaging us as a units, with B2s and tanks engaging us in well coordinated manner.

    The local CIS commander had reestablished control. Joy.

    I ducked under a cannon shot. The bolt of concentrated energy passed over my head, and I rolled over the rocky ground. A repeating blaster stitched a line of smoking craters where I was a second ago.

    Aria drew the weapon''s operator a B1 towards herself and sliced it in two without slowing down. Then she vaulted over a boulder and landed amidst a squad of Super Battle droids. Her blade danced around her armored body, leaving pieces of glowing metal in its wake.

    My roll ended near an AA position. I threw my last thermal detonator into it, before making myself scarce.

    A geyser of dirt and flames erupted behind me.

    =RK=

    Aria was grinning as she charged through the CIS lines. The Force sang in her ears, and the apprentice grabbed it and forced it to follow her directions.

    She felt more powerful than ever, and more importantly, Aria felt in control. She was no longer just an ill taught pawn whose lot in life was to be used and discarded.

    The Sith apprentice twisted the Force flowing through her veins and sent a bolt of lightning at a quartet of Super Battle droids. Their well polished armor shone under the onslaught, but did nothing to slow down the stream of energy that fried their internal components.

    Four metal ssculptures fell to the ground, while Aria''s attention was redirected to her next prey.

    She ran at a speed which should have been impossible for a member of her species, avoiding the desperate fire from the secondaries of a CIS tank. Aria vaulted over the last ditch defensive fire of her target and landed on its side. Her glowing blade sliced through the weapons barrels, then she jumped down and rolled under the tank, which was suspended over the ground by its repulsors. She slammed her blade into the flat armor of the machine and started cutting a way through it.

    That gave her few calm seconds to think.

    The last couple of days were the best in her short life.

    It was a radical shift from what she knew from her brief time with the people who had made her. For them, she was just a one use weapon, to be unleashed and forgotten about.

    Her master was different.

    Once he had finally found the time to give her, (and what was with all that boring waiting, anyway?!), he made her feel important. Unique. As if she actually mattered, and that was something she had trouble believing.

    She was weapon with a single purpose. Or so she had been led to believe. For the ones who created her, she was just as disposable as the droids she was fighting now, or the clones were for the Republic. That had been something she had been able to sense even then, hours after being released from the cloning cylinder.

    She had been alright with that. She had no reason for existing then. No purpose.

    They gave her one and she had been grateful for that.

    Now, Aria knew it for the lie it was. All of it.

    Now, she was being trained to use the Force right. As a real Sith should, not like the Confed fools who "trained" her for her one way mission.

    She smiled wickedly as her lightsaber finished cutting through the tank''s armor. Aria threw away the slab of metal barring her way as well as the droid crew of the tank, after taking them apart. She took a long look inside, and then she used the Force to manipulate the machine''s controls.

    As Aria took aim and opened fire on an AA emplacement, a content smile appeared on her face.

    Her master''s teaching were helping become her own person, not just a disposable copy.

    Slowly but surely, the Force was setting her free!

    =RK=

    Part 3

    200 km north-east of Lessu, Ryloth

    Bo-Katan was flying over a rocky desert, riding a speeder bike, which she had "borrowed" from the GAR forces. She had been contracted by the Republic general to find out the location of the local resistance leader, Cham Syndulla, who had his hideout somewhere in the desert surrounding the capital city.

    The bleak brown landscape around the Mandalorian woman was littered with the burned out hulks of CIS landing ships, shattered droids and the burned out frames of vehicles used by the Ryloth''s security forces, which had made a futile effort to stop the Confed army.

    This was the region where the man she was seeking operated.

    Thanks to her short time as a mercenary for the CIS, Bo knew where to start the search for her quarry.

    She hid her ride into the twisted ruin of a crashed transport and patiently waited.

    That in turn gave her some time to think about her situation.

    Bo-Katan was in a bind. She simply couldn''t refute that man''s arguments. Because of her leader''s orders, the Death Watch was liable to be painted in the same light as the CIS ¨C as a bunch of slavers and common murderers. And many within the organization''s ranks would revel in receiving such reputation.

    Was that what the Mandalorians were seen as by everyone outside their culture?

    What she believed in was that her people were honorable warriors, the best the galaxy has ever seen. That was what they should strive for once their thin veneer of pacifism was lifted.

    Kryze sat on the warm sand partly burying the wreck she was using as cover and frowned. Bo had the nagging feeling that what she wanted for her people and the aims of the Death Watch might not be the same...

    Then there was her loyalty to Vizsla...

    It was one of the rare times she didn''t know what to do...

    =RK=

    Republic Cruiser Requiem, Task Force "Retribution" flagship, High Orbit over Ryloth

    In one of the cavernous hangars of the Venator, Kenobi was attending a meeting, in which Veil''s plan to resolve the situation on Ryloth was fleshed out.

    "Who put that lunatic in charge?!" exclaimed Captain Trent Wombas, of the Escort Carrier Reprisal. He hated his ship''s role in the madness that was being planned.

    Solo, who, along with his Wookie first officer attended the meeting, shrugged at his colleague''s antics.

    "It may work." said the Corellian.

    "Rwaar!" the Wookie''s below of approval echoed around the hangar.

    "It''s certainly an interesting idea," mused Yularen. "Under normal circumstances, I would say that even if it works as planned, it would be too expensive to attempt..." the Admiral trailed off and looked at the deck plating, and the planet far below them.

    "The ship should hold," Lieutenant Commander VCT-091 added his two credits.

    "Should or will?" Yularen looked sharply at the Requiem''s chief engineer.

    "Those container ships are extraordinary tough for merchant vessels. However, they were not built in with determined attack by military weaponry in mind. It can survive a strike or two from proton cannon, especially when you consider that those craft are going on a one way mission," answered Vector. "If those shells don''t strike something vital..." the engineer shrugged.

    "What about passing through the theater shield over the Capital?" asked Kenobi.

    The clone smirked.

    "Usually it would be a no go. However if the shield configuration has not been changed, which is unlikely given the terrain at the site, it will work."

    "It better." grumbled Obi-Wan.

    The Jedi didn''t fancy getting splattered over the city''s shields, not to mention what would happen to the regiment of clones he would lead.

    "It''s done!" a too young voice shouted behind Kenobi.

    He turned around and saw a young, grease covered boy no older than fourteen, exit from under a damaged bomber. Around the kid a pair of clones, wearing colors announcing them as engineers were busy removing a shredded engine.

    "Good work, kid! Now give me that number six spanner." said one of the men wearing Jango Fett''s face.

    "Right away, Fixer!" exclaimed the kid, who had a cheerful grin on his grime covered face.

    "Since when do we have children fixing our ships?" asked the Jedi.

    "Since the General found himself an apprentice who happens to be a genius with everything mechanical." deadpanned Vector.

    "Say, what?!" exclaimed Kenobi.

    The Jedi shook his head in exasperation. The Chiss woman wasn''t enough, was she? Veil appeared to be doing his best to push the Council bu??ons.

    Obi-Wan knew that the Jedi Masters wouldn''t be thrilled to learn that Delkatar had taken second apprentice. The fact that the woman who led the attack on the Temple was not only under Veil''s protection, but his student was bad enough, but this?!

    They would believe that Delkatar was corrupting the kid, despite the fact that Kenobi was sensing no darkness from the boy... What kriffing mess...

    =RK=

    200 km from Lessu, Ryloth

    Bo-Katan''s musings were interrupted when a platoon consisting of B1 and Super Battle droids marched past her hiding place. From the machines chatter it became clear that they were searching for a missing patrol. Undoubtedly one that had ran afoul of the resistance fighters.

    She smirked. Splendid. Those tin-cans would lead her straight to her quarry.

    Kryze let them pass and stalked after the droids.

    =RK=

    Lorek Pass, Torangua Mountains, Ryloth

    The thin mountain route, which was sneaking through the canyon behind me, ended amongst desert dunes strewing from here to the Capital and beyond. Veers'' surviving tanks were moving out to screen the advance of the walker column, which was still a kilometer behind us.

    After we dealt with the second CIS ambush, I had the transports of Eagle flight deposit a company of troopers and me, at the exit of the pass. There we took defensive positions until my main forces were clear of the bottleneck.

    To my pleasant surprise, there were no more attacks while my men were braving the mountain passes. Within hours I would have three mechanized regiments loose in the desert. I hoped that they would be enough to sweep clean the way to the Capital.

    It was at that time, when my comm came to life with signal relayed from one of the ship in orbit.

    "Veil, I''ve got his location." I heard Bo-Katan''s pleasant voice. She continued speaking, giving me the coordinates of the resistance hideout as well as the best way to approach it in order to minimize the chance of detection.

    "Splendid work. You earned yourself a bonus." I told her cheerfully.

    I cut orders to my soldiers to head towards the capital city at moderate speed, while dispatching scouts for ambushes in the desert, before I went to retrieve Aria, who was resting at a temporally Command post near the pass end. It was time to visit the locals.

    =RK=

    Resistance HQ, Location Classified, Ryloth

    A flight of LAAT/i transported a platoon of my 11th Legion and me five kilometers from the crashed CIS landing ship, which the resistance was using as a headquarters.

    It was a small enough force not to alarm the locals too much, while strong enough to give us a good fighting chance if they turned out to be hostile. Or so I hoped.

    Few minutes after we landed and the transports flew back to the safety of my advancing regiments, Bo-Katan melted out of the brown sands surrounding us.

    "Took you long enough!" she grumbled. "What were you doing? Took the scenic route or something?"

    I looked around us. Unless you consider endless sand dunes with a lot of burned out military equipment lying around a tourist attraction, we didn''t do such a thing. In my opinion the fact that we were in a desert was more than enough to disqualify this region from my vacation list.

    "That we did." I deadpanned. "Sand and scorching heat everywhere! We just couldn''t miss seeing it all!"

    She shook her head at me, but I could feel a tingle of amusement fighting with her irritation. Can''t blame her. I would be in even a worse mood if I had to sulk around the desert for a day or so in a search for the bloody resistance.

    "This way!" Bo-Katan waved us to follow her. "Try not to move like a bunch of toy soldiers on a parade!" she added.

    It was my men turn to grumble. They didn''t appreciate being bad mouthed by what they believed to be an ordinary merc.

    "Children, play nice. We have a job to do." I said aloud.

    Kryze glanced my way and muttered something too quiet for me to hear. Nothing flattering I bet.

    It took us nearly two hours to sneak to the resistance hideout. It was slow but easy task, when I could sense their sentries from a long way off.

    We were few about a hundred and fifty meters from the entrance to the hideout, which was through the busted landing bay doors of a CIS landing ship. I made a sign to my men to hold their position and waved to Bo-Katan to follow me.

    I would have preferred to execute this exercise with at least couple of companies at hand and preferably few SF teams ready for action, but my transport units were tasked to capacity. All in the name of a deception I hoped would win me Ryloth with minimum casualties from my men.

    I removed my helmet and walked towards the entrance. I could hear shouts of surprise and distress. The locals found out that their perimeter was breached without them noticing. The sentries we bypassed would have some pointed questions to answer, the unfortunate sods.

    "Hi, there folks!" I waved at a pair of Twi''lek males who ran out of the wreck with blaster rifles pointed my way. "I''m here to see General Syndulla. Be nice chaps and go fetch him."

    I said it all with nonchalant smile on my face. Bo-Katan, who was to my right, was starring at me. No doubt, she was wondering what the hell was I doing.

    The men looked at me, then at each other and ran back in. I beamed at Kryze who was scowling at me under her helmet.

    "I can''t believe that worked!" she muttered. "Lucky bastard..."

    Dominating the minds of weak willed people had always been handy for the Force Adepts who knew how to do it.

    Few minutes, and couple of squad of sentries, who had come near my men taken into custody, later, a tired looking, orange skinned Twi''lek came out. He was accompanied by twenty odd men and women, who were carrying a diverse ?ssortment of blasters.

    They all looked worse for the wear. The group had a sense of exhaustation around them.

    Syndulla looked at me with a stare I''ve seen before. On men and women who had seen too many horrors on the battlefield and were close to breaking.

    I was well aware that all the resistance had managed to to is merely inconvenience the Seps, in their race to ship as many locals as possible to the slave markets controlled by the Hutts. The failure to do more than saving a few of his people, was taking its toll on the resistance fighters.

    "You found us." stated Syndulla. "So the Republic finally deigns to notice our pleas?" he looked at the dunes around us, which were nested within deep shadows.

    "General Syndulla." I said aloud. "I came here to make you an offer."

    "Is that so? The mighty army of the Republic ridding to the rescue. Or are you another bunch of overlords who come to place us under the yoke?!" he glared at me. "Look around us! Thousands of my men lie buried on these plains! Do you know why, Republic?!"

    I rolled my eyes. It wasn''t the diplomatic thing to do, however I''ve never been particularly good when dealing with local resistance fighters. Especially those that were supposed to be on my side. I probably was biased, but in my experience, they usually were more trouble that they were worth. At least those on non-imperial worlds during the last war.

    "I''m sure you''ll enlighten us, General." I managed to say it with neutral tone.

    Huh. I think that the use of the Dark Side was effecting me a bit. Was I getting arrogant, or perhaps I was just biased against most people of this day and age...

    "When the Droids came, we were alone. Unarmed. We were going to surrender, but they came with tanks and tried to ground us down or place a slave collars on our necks. Where was the Republic when we needed it?"he glared at me. "Millions of my people were taken, and now you come?"

    Yeah. He was right. During this war the Republic had failed the very reason it existed ¨C providing security to its member worlds. When all was said and done, the economic benefits were always secondary. Or they were during my time. Then it at least the Republic worked, however badly.

    Ironically, if it was not for the so called Sith Sidious, who arranged the creation of the GAR, it would be ripe for the taking. Hell, it was anyway. The army was already stretched to the breaking point. It will be months until Kamino could have enough clones ready so the line could be held with any certainty. Perhaps even longer until a the new recruits, which were enlisting by the freighter-load could be ready for battle.

    Two things could stop the GAR''s from collapsing in the next few months. Palpy''s meddling with the CIS strategic planing, because of which the Confed armies had almost ran out of steam and will need to stop their major offensives for at least couple of months, and if everything went without further problems, Corellia''s entrance in the war on our side.

    All that would give me time to consolidate my power base and put few plans in motion. If I was able to wrap the mess on Ryloth soon, that is.

    "You have a decision to make, General. You can let your grievances get the better of you and continue irritating the CIS while they enslave your people. At best. Or you can help me liberate them. The only reason more of your people are not shipped to the Hutts as we speak, is my fleet in orbit. The same fleet which paid a terrible price in blood and ships to kick the Separatists navy out of this star system!" I looked him in the eyes. "I have a two hundred thousand strong army on the ground. Those men are the best chance your people have. What will it be, General Syndulla?"

    =RK=

    Lessu, Ryloth

    Wat Tambor glared at the holo-image of Count Dooku. He had requested reinforcements, which were to break through the Republic Navy in orbit and allow him to save his skin.

    "Denied!" snapped the Sith Lord.

    "We are trapped on the ground! The Republic have parked a pair of cruisers overhead! I can''t leave Ryloth!" protested Tambor.

    "You lost a full fleet! In what should have been an ambush for the Republic forces!" fumed Dooku. "Your stunt at Ryloth already cost us dearly! Minutes ago Corellia announced that they are joining the war! On the Republic side! After your strategic blunder, we no longer have the forces at hand to easily crush our enemies! Now instead of short victorious war, we are looking at one of attrition!" the Count''s glare made Tambor shake in fear. "You will start bombing all settlements in range of our forces on Ryloth! The Republic''s victory there must be a hollow one!"Dooku took a deep breath.

    "At the moment there are no forces to spare for your misguided adventure, Tambor. I will not weaken another front to save your worthless hide."

    The Sith Lord turned his head to the right, where a Tactical droid was holding a holoemitter in front of Tambor.

    "Follow my orders." growled the one handed man, before cutting the connection.

    Far away from Ryloth, Dooku pondered his situation.

    He had his "hands" full. After his not brief enough visit to the Jedi Temple, he had to reestablish his power base within the Confederation.

    The madness that Tambor had somehow hatched, would hound them for years to come. It was almost as bad as the fiasco on Coruscant.

    He growled and strands of darkness whipped around him as Dark side fueled fury festered within his heart. Once he got his hand on the fools who had botched the Coruscant raid he would keep them screaming for a long time.

    The only bright light in the end of the hyperspace tunnel was that thanks to the reinforcements the Republic was rushing to Ryloth, the CIS would be able to take control over few contested planets.

    Back on Ryloth, Tambor stared at the Tactical Droid who refused to follow his orders. He looked at the heavens, where the Republic cruisers were waiting. The Emir thought about using the Lessu''s population as bargaining chips to buy his freedom, but then remembered who was leading the enemy forces.

    The cyborg felt like a trapped animal.

    Part 4

    5 km from Lessu, Ryloth

    I was riding in a command walker with General Syndulla and a group of clone officers, who were helping me "plan" the ?ssault of the Capital. We were even patched to Coruscant, so Senator Taff and by extension the Chancellor could be aware of our intentions.

    That had resulted in an amusing verbal sparing match between the resistance leader and the politician who was supposed to represent Ryloth. Of course, it was all a giant deception, just in case Palpy was feeding the local Separatist forces real time intel on my plans.

    Only my men in orbit and I were aware of the scope of the trick I was trying to pull off.

    For everyone with actual combat experience or a bit of military sense, attacking the Capitalwith three mechanized regiments and few hundred locals as auxiliary would look like anexpensive suicide attempt. By my most conservative estimates, there were at least a hundred thousand droids defending the city.

    More than enough to destroy my few regiments if I attacked them head on.

    According to the intelligence I had, there were supposed to be only a quarter of that number in Lessu, but I didn''t trust those numbers. That city was the most important place on the planet as far as the CIS was concerned. At least while Tambor, who had the droid army deactivation codes was there and in one piece.

    My plan should work even if that bastard bought the farm, but in such a case, the casualties my men were going to suffer would be astronomical.

    "We need to seize the plasma bridge. It''s the only way to pass through the city shields without a prolonged siege." said Syndulla.

    He was looking at a tactical map representing the Capital. On it could be seen many angry red designation, each of which was showing known enemy positions. That didn''t even include the anti-personnel turrets that lined the city walls. There were few hundred of those things.

    Another problem was the proton cannons hidden in the city. They would cripple any ship overflying the city from anything lower than high orbit. Those weapons and the theater shield covering the capital made the CIS commanders within Lessu confident that they could hold for a long time. I planned to dissuade them from that notion.

    "Let''s hope that the Separatists believe that too." I muttered.

    The resistance leader gave me a sidelong glance.

    The display in which the data from the sensor monitoring the surrounding airspace started beeping. Everyone''s heads turned that way.

    "So it begins." I muttered.

    =RK=

    Escort Carrier Retaliation, 500 km from Lessu, Ryloth

    On the bridge of the modified container ship, Jole Solo grinned like a maniac.

    He was given command of the ship, after her previous skipper, a volunteer civilian had refused to execute what he saw as a suicide mission. The Corellian scoundrel jumped at the chance to take command of the carrier.

    It was just too bad that he was about to wreck this one too.

    In front of his craft, the last Escort Carrier in the Republic fleet over Ryloth was plunging through the atmosphere at a dangerous velocity. Its shields were glowing white in an attempt to disperse the heat generated by the reentry.

    Soon enough that would be the least problem for that ship. Reprisal, was flying with only a pair of clones on her helm. They had volunteered for the task.

    If those men were lucky, they might even make it to the special escape pod mounted next to the bridge.

    Reprisal was flying as a shield for Retaliation, which carried two clone regiments led by General Kenobi.

    The former container ships forced their way through the atmosphere fast enough to shred their shields into tatters. The twin craft''s bows started glowing red from the molecules of air hitting their hull.

    The Escort Craft roared through the heavens, on a course leading straight towards the capital. The droids monitoring for space borne threats noted the two descending ships, paused for few seconds when their databanks registered them as merchant vessels, before deciding that those things were a threat anyway.

    Proton cannons raised from their hiding places, tracked their quickly approaching targets and opened fire.

    Reprisal shook from near misses, while the enemy artillery zeroed in on the carrier. The craft, which was on its final flight disregarded the enemy fire and continued its doomed approach.

    The following shots struck the bow of the ship, rending huge holes in its civilian grade hull.

    The pilots put the engines in overdrive and sent the Escort Carrier straight at the city itself. They locked in the course on autopilotand ran toward the escape pod.

    The clones reached the life boat and were just entering it when a proton shell struck the Reprisal in the exactly wrong place. The pod disappeared into a short lived storm of fire, which turned the two men into so much mincemeat.

    Despite the loss of its pilots, the Escort Carrier continued on its path, tanking shot after shot. She rained behind, pieces of her fuselage, which were torn away by enemy fire, yet she continued doing her duty.

    The ships course had been painstakingly calculated, so even if she was destroyed, her pieces would rain all over the shielded city, providing cover for her sister ship.

    Two hundred kilometers over Lessu, Reprisal was hit one too many times and she blew up. Yet, most of her mass had too much momentum, and continued tumbling on the same vector.

    Flaming pieces of the destroyed ship rained all over the shield protecting the capital. It was like a barrage of shooting stars, which intercepted the majority of the artillery fire aimed at the Retaliation.

    The second carrier flew through the air in a shroud of flaming atmosphere. She appeared to veer off its headlong plunge at Lessu, before straightening her course under the deft hands of Jole.

    "Hold on, girl!" chanted Solo.

    Next to him, his friend shook his massive, furry head.

    "Wraarw!" protested the Wookie, when Jole suddenly guided the refitted transport straight at the ground.

    "No worries, buddy! I know what I''m doing!" answered the Corellian.

    "Rawar!" grunted Traaw.

    "What do you mean, that''s what you''re afraid of?!"

    Retaliation struck the ground seven kilometers away from the city and skidded across the dunes. She left in her wake a deep gorge in both rock and sand. Her repulsors wh?n?d in protest, when Solo overloaded them in attempt to slow down the crash-landing ship.

    "I know they aren''t meant for this stuff! Trust me! They''ll handle it!" shouted Jole.

    The Wookie glared at him, but followed his instructions.

    One after another those devices suffered critical overloads and either exploded or melted, but they did the job the Corellian forced them to do. The Escort Carrier, which was skidding across the ground slowed down enough to pass through the theater shield instead of smashing into it.

    The forward section of the ship went over the deep chasm surrounding the capital, creating an artificial bridge over it. Retaliation''s nose struck Lessu''s wall hard enough to shatter a part of it, obliterating the nearby anti-personnel turrets.

    =RK=

    4 km from Lessu, Ryloth

    I stared at the camera feed in awe. That crazy Corellian pulled it off!

    "All units, this is General Veil. Execute Trinity! Now! I repeat..." I ordered, using one of the comm''s which was tuned on so it can transmit to all of my forces on and above Ryloth. "Get us to the Retaliation ASAP!" I told our driver, before smiling crookedly to Syndulla.

    "You are all insane!" he declared.

    "You know the alternative, General Syndulla. Months long siege in which the Force only knows how many people will die. Now we have a bridgehead into the city and if we move fast enough, we''ll be able to keep it open!" I nodded towards the holo-map showing my forces all over the planet.

    There could be seen the signs of regiments attacking the ten biggest camps holding the local population captives.

    That was a necessary sideshow. While the actions of that part of my forces was important, it was little more than diversion. A swarm of green dots rising from our primary LZ could be seen on the plot. All of them were heading towards the capital. Those were LAAT/t carrying another mechanized regiment, with the rest being transport variants chock full with heavy infantry.

    We needed to not only keep our bridgehead open, but if possible strike deeply in the city. My orbital ?ssets had noted the location of the enemy proton cannons. Once those were taken out, I had two Acclamators full with fresh troops, ready to deploy. If we could neutralize the theater shield, then those men could land directly in the city.

    =RK=

    Retaliation''s landing site, Lessu, Ryloth

    "By the Force! It worked!" exclaimed Kenobi.

    The carrier had been shaking in such a way that all of them thought that she was about to fly apart thanks to Solo''s insane piloting. But the Corellian came through for them. The capital''s defensive shell was cracked. It was time for Obi-Wan to make up for his terrible decision during the initial phase of the landings.

    "Blow up the charges! We are going in!" shouted Kenobi.

    The clone sergeant sitting next to him just nodded and pressed a bu??on on his left armguard. That was a scene repeating itself in each surviving cargo container on the Retaliation.

    Shaped charges detonated, cutting through the thin sheets of metal which had protected the clones during the descent.

    With their path blown open, two regiments of infantry surged out of the Escort Carrier, leaving behind nearly a battalion wounded or dead suffered from the few proton shells which hit their ride during its reentry.

    Whole companies armed with heavy weaponry converged to the sides of the ship and opened fire on all threats in sight. The anti-personnel emplacements covering the wall answered with crimson beams of concentrated death and managed to scythe down nineteen clones before being silenced forever under a storm of heavy blaster fire a repeated missile strikes.

    Kenobi was the first to run up to the nose of the ship and jump into the city. He landed on a rubble covered street with a smile on his face. Veil''s regiments were few minutes behind and there was no way the droids could execute a strong enough attack to dislodge them from the foothold they had within Lessu.

    Besides, the machines would have other things to worry about too.

    Overhead, Bo-Katan, a mercenary Veil had somehow persuaded to switch sides, flew on her rocket-pack. She, and teams consisting of the best soldiers in the liberation force would head into the capital ahead of the main force. They would hunt down the proton cannons and try to neutralize the shield protecting the city.

    A door opened to the left of the Jedi, disgorging a squad of B1s. The group of cannon fodder lasted for a couple of seconds, before the general shattered them against a nearby wall with a telekinetic push.

    "Follow me!" he ordered to the first group of clones who rappelled into the city.

    The battle for Lessu had just began.

    =RK=

    Bo-Katan flew over the city with a smile on her face. Ever since the proton cannons in Lessu opened fire, she and the Hunter teams received up to date information from one of the cruisers in orbit.

    They knew where every one of the weapons that fired was.

    She flew hundred meters above the ground, heading to her first target. She passed around the side of a tall skyscraper and saw her prey.

    A pair of cannons were covering the sky over both directions of a long boulevard. Kryze headed to the ground and sent a heavy missile at one of the mobile weapon which was pointing her way.

    The ponderous cannon tried to acquire her, but it wasn''t designed to deal with such an agile target. An organic or better programmed droid might have fired anyway, in hope that it would take her out. But the robot controlling the artillery piece hesitated while waiting for targeting solution.

    It would wait forever, because moments later the missile smashed through the light armor protecting the proton cannon just under its barrel. The warhead detonated within the self-propelled weapon and blew it up rather spectacularly.

    Bo flew over few squads of B1s, which were carrying out sentry duty for the arty pieces and strafed them, shooting with her blaster pistols. Before the fragile robots could manage something better than a couple of stray shots, which never came close to endangering the Mandalorian woman, she was upon them.

    Thanks to years of training and her armor''s built in targeting system, her fire was deadly accurate.

    Only a single lucky machine remained in her wake.

    A pair of Super Battle droids, leading two squads of their light brethren were guarding the second proton cannon. There Kryze didn''t bother using her blasters. Instead she sent four rockets from her wrist mounted launcher. Those dumb munitions flew straight where she aimed them and obliterated the droids in flashes of light and fire.

    Before heading to her next target, Bo-Katan threw a thermal detonator at the remaining cannon. Her parting gift turned the weapon into another piece of scrap blocking the boulevard.

    =RK=

    Holding Camp Codename "Helos", Southern Hemisphere, Ryloth

    Cody was examining through a binocular a large clearing in the jungle. It was a circle, five kilometers in diameter. Two hundred meters from the surrounding trees, there was a fence made of barbed wire. Towers on which were stuck search lights, various cheap sensors and repeating blasters were erected on the perimeter of the camp, on a three hundred meter intervals. Half their weapons were pointing in.

    In one corner, the commander could see a makeshift space port on which a squadron of Vultures were standing in their walker configuration. The reason for that was the pair of transports which were stranded on the landing pads. Those craft were undoubtedly there to lift loads of enslaved locals. They were obviously unwilling to brave the gauntlet of the Republic Navy in orbit.

    Cody, who was accompanied by the few combat ready survivors of Ghost Company, was in charge of liberating that particular camp. There were supposed to be at least fifty thousand Twi''lek cramped in it.

    He prayed to whoever, or whatever was listening, that this operation would turn out better than his last. Not that it could get much worse.

    The Commander cringed at that thought. He was leading a whole regiment of his Sky Corps, and there were tens of thousands of locals that could die if he kriffed up. It actually could go much worse.

    He glanced left and right at his few surviving friends from Ghost. Cody had full command authority on this mission, as well as generous ROEs. Do anything you have to achieve the objective.

    He could work with that.

    The usually stoic clone grimaced. Until the landing of Ryloth he had believed that General Kenobi knew what he was doing. That was the reason he hadn''t protested when the Jedi had ordered them in without heavy weapons.

    That particular delusion lasted until they struck the clanker''s outer lines. It was the first time, Cody truly felt that the Jedi were amateurs in the art of warfare. Very talented ones, where Kenobi and Skywalker were concerned, but amateurs nonetheless. An experienced officer would have known that attacking an entrenched position with light weaponry only was a suicide.

    It was a miracle that Kenobi managed to lead them to "victory". Ghost had at least succeeded in achieving their objective. Skywalker''s men were not so fortunate. General Veil had to call in an orbital strike on their position to salvage something of that debacle.

    To make matters worse, Krayt Company, who went after their objective loaded for rancor, managed to fulfill their part of the overall mission with only light casualties.

    It was a painful example, showing the difference between the Jedi Generals and Veil.

    Cody only hoped that General Kenobi had learned his lesson and won''t waste his brothers lives again.

    "All units, this is General Veil. Execute Trinity! Now! I repeat..." General Veil''s orders sounded over the Commander''s comm.

    Cody ended his musing and turned his head towards his XO.

    "You heard the man, Gral. Fire for effect on all marked targets."

    "Right away, sir!"

    A barrage of missiles descended upon the camp. Guard towers were shattered, the few patrolling tanks were each blown to pieces scattered over few hundred meters, and special munitions blew lanes through confirmed and suspected minefields.

    On the other side of the clearing, the spaceport was turned into firestorm after thirty missiles struck the Vultures, transports and fuel tanks.

    Yet more explosions sounded when the CIS motor park, containing the rest of their armor was hit too.

    In the same time, smoke grenades detonated, obscuring the clearing between the jungle and the fence. Moments later, Cody''s leading platoons charged the enemy lines which were thrown into disarray.

    Nearly seventy kilometers from the camp, LAATs of all types lit up their engines and rose from their camouflaged positions. They were bringing in CAS, the regiments armor elements as well as additional medics that would be sorely needed.

    =RK=

    Part 5

    Lessu, Ryloth

    I jumped out of the command walker before it ground to a halt behind the crash landed Escort Carrier. That gave me a splendid view of the wall surrounding the city.

    A section of it, just to the right of the Retaliation, exploded outwards, showering the chasm separating us from Lessu with fist sized chunks of metal. I cracked a small smile. The combat engineers were doing splendid work.

    Soon enough, there would be a nice hole in the wall, more than big enough for my tanks.

    However, first my armor needed a bridge in order to reach the city, and I wasn''t crazy enough to try capturing the plasma one leading to the main gates.

    Unless whoever was in charge of the CIS forces was a babbling fool, that approach would be a deathtrap. So I had something else planned.

    I turned my attention to the converted container ship. It was carrying half of the improvised bridging equipment which my fleet had loaded on Coruscant.

    It was quite simple, really.

    The basic component were sheets of warship grade armor, on which my engineers had worked while we were in transit to Ryloth.

    What those things were remade into was a modular bridge which could be deployed fast. Provided that you had the necessary heavy equipment to move the segments and a few engineers to anchor the ends of the bridge on the two sides of whatever you wanted to cross.

    Or a powerful Force adept who could do the heavy lifting and possibly speed up the process...

    "Give me covering fire if necessary and make sure that the engineers get their ?sses here ASAP." I ordered before closing my eyes and concentrating.

    I lifted the top most container containing the necessary equipment and floated it to the edge of the chasm. I used the Force to rip open its doors and willed the bridge sections to move. They flew out, one after another and headed to the edge of the cliffs.

    A squad of walkers carrying a platoon of Combat engineers and their toys strode past me and started disgorging their cargo.

    The clones hurried towards the point where I wanted the bridge build and prepared to anchor it to the ground.

    =RK=

    Obi-Wan ducked under a shot from a CIS tank, which struck the side of a building twenty meters behind him. He deflected a burst from the secondary weaponry of the armored vehicle with saber. He sagged with relief when two AP missiles ended the threat before its main cannon could speak again.

    "Send the next two platoons over the wall at our left flank!" Kenobi shouted to his aide who had taken cover behind the nearby wreck of a burning aircar.

    "Right away, sir!"

    The Jedi gave the clone a satisfied nod before glancing at his surroundings.

    They had taken the defenders by surprise. That was the only explanation to the confused and uncoordinated resistance the Republic forces were facing.

    Which was a very good thing. The CIS had about sixty thousand droids within the capital. At least, that was the reasonable estimate. Kenobi wouldn''t be surprised if they had twice those numbers.

    Nevertheless, at the moment that didn''t particularly matter. The main droid forces were concentrated to cover the main doors leading into the city. Those troops were redeploying to shore up their right flank but were not even trying any spoiling counterattacks.

    Apparently their commander was thinking that his other forces were more than enough to handle the GAR bridgehead or believed it to be a diversion.

    Kenobi''s biggest problem was a CIS armor battalion, whose lead elements were hitting his left flank. The Jedi had only AT infantry to throw against them but that should be sufficient at the moment. Even if the droids managed to overrun that flank, it wouldn''t be before the walkers were inside the city.

    He had received reports that the Combat engineers had started blowing up the wall and that Veil was aiding another group in constructing the bridge.

    It remained to be seen whether Tambor could be captured alive, or if they would have to clean up the city the hard way.

    =RK=

    Kryze flew over a deserted street after dealing with another proton cannon, when she noticed movement on a nearby roof. She banked in that direction, activating the zoom function on her helmet.

    A pair of commando droids were setting up shop on a building to her right. One of them was carrying a big ?ss rifle, almost as tall as it was.

    A sniper and his spotter. How cute.

    She raced their way and sent her last light missile at them.

    The spotter noticed the incoming ordinance in time and jumped back, getting out of the kill radius of the weapon. The sniper had time to look her way before the missile struck the body of the weapon in the robot''s hands.

    The resulting explosion obscured the Mandalorian woman from the view of the spotter. She appeared from the cloud of smoke and dust like a swooping bird of prey and opened fire.

    The second commando droid managed to send a single shot her way before she blasted it with her pistols. The droid managed to hit her, however the blaster bolt merely melted a part of the armor protecting her left shoulder, leaving Kryze unharmed.

    She flew away, searching for a secure location.

    Minute later, Bo-Katan landed on a deserted terrace and smashed through the glass door separating it and the nearby room. She darted inside the apartment building and swept the flat for enemies.

    Once Kryze was sure that she was safe for few moments, she started reloading her weapons.

    She had made it about two kilometers into the city, passing the outer ring of CIS forces. On her way, Bo had taken out three artillery positions and about a company of droids.

    When she finished reloading everything, she checked her remaining ordinance. It was a good thing that she had started this insane operation with triple her usual munition load. The only downside was that her rocket-pack fuel was at sixty percent thanks to the heavy load she started with.

    No matter. What she had left would do.

    Bo-Katan had to scout the CIS command posts for Tambor and report his location to the GAR forces, and to capture him if practical.

    She pressed a bu??on on her left armguard and a map of Lessu appeared over her hand.

    "Where are you..." she muttered while her eyes were scanning the locations of the command posts she knew about.

    =RK=

    Republic Cruiser Requiem, High Orbit over Ryloth

    "Multiple launches detected!" reported one of the clones manning the CIC of the Venator. "We have CIS fighters rising all over the planet!"

    "All units, this is Requiem. Initiate fire plan Red." another clone spoke calmly in the comm unit built in his station.

    All over Ryloth, CR90s and Carracks slashed through the upper layers of the atmosphere to sent a barrage of laser or ion fire. After a few shots, the Republic light ships retreated back into space, where they were beyond the reach of the CIS proton cannons.

    Whole squadrons of droid fighters and bombers disappeared in firestorms caused by the near orbital strikes. Even shots that missed their targets and would be harmless in space, hit the ground creating explosions and shock-waves that obliterated all nearby small craft.

    After the first pass, two thirds of the nearly thousand droid fighters had been turned in so much rubble. That would be followed by precision Ion cannon strikes and two squadrons of Torrents led by Ahsoka, which would hunt down the remaining enemy bombers.

    Before the brief air raid was stopped cold, the CIS forces managed to bomb only a single village, which was uncomfortably close to a camouflaged CIS installation and one of the industrial sites in the southern hemisphere.

    Minutes later, there would be a cruiser over all previously unknown Confederate bases. Blue and green lances would pierce the heavens, obliterate those facilities.

    =RK=

    Holding Camp "Helos", Southern Hemisphere, Ryloth

    Cody led his command section to the outskirts of the camp once the perimeter was secure.

    Before him, the leading elements of three battalions were storming the enemy positions.

    The droids defending the camp never stood a chance. It appeared that all their plans were centered upon preventing the locals from escaping and dealing with the occasional harassing attack by the lightly armed resistance forces.

    When hit by the missile launchers of a single battalion, they simply disintegrated as a coherent fighting force.

    Instead of the coordinated resistance Cody had expected, his men were confronted by a squad here, half a platoon there, and single tanks often without any infantry support. Those enemy forces were quickly overwhelmed by the concentrated fire of the clones.

    Within ten minutes of the first shot, there was not a single intact droid left within the camp.

    It was the first time in his career that a plan went off without too big of a hitch. There would be precious few times when that would happen again.

    Nevertheless, it wasn''t an entirely one sided affair. He lost thirty men when one of his leading companies was hit in both flanks by a platoon strength Super Battle droid detachment and the only CIS tank with sufficient infantry support.

    There were also a forty odd wounded when all was said and done.

    However none of that reflected the situation of the locals. Many of the Twi''lek were sick and starving. Too many for his limited number of medics to help them all before it was too late.

    When the dust settled days later, in would be revealed that more than fifteen thousand people had perished in that single camp. Only a hundred had been wounded or died as a consequence of the clones attack.

    =RK=

    Lessu, Ryloth

    It took us fifteen minutes to have a seventy meters wide bridge over the chasm surrounding the capital. In that time the combat engineers withing the city had managed to demolish twenty meter wide area of the tough wall.

    For the moment that should be good enough.

    Already, ten tanks were through the breach and the rest of my leading armor battalion were moving in.

    Meanwhile, the droids defending the main approach to the city had decided to move their metal bu??s and my right flank was under attack by a regiment of enemy infantry.

    Their forward elements had ran headfirst into a hastily prepared killzone, which ran along an avenue leading to the center of the city.

    While I was finishing moving the bridge segment I could hear how that attack was handled.

    "Here they come!" declared a nameless clone.

    "Wait for them." ordered the captain in charge.

    "We are under fire." stated another of my men.

    "Loki is hit. We need a medic over here."

    "The clankers are coming like they are on a kriffing parade!" someone exclaimed.

    "Can the chatter. Ten more seconds and blow the charges!" ordered the captain.

    "Wilco, sir!"

    Even from my position I could hear when the mines were detonated. It sounded like one long explosion which thanks to the echo, went on and on.

    "Watch them burn!" one of my men shouted gleefully.

    "Ready Ion grenades. I want their next charge broken before they can cross the street!"

    Soon afterwards, the last pieces of the bridge were secured. To my left, the walkers were already crossing and heading in.

    When the construction work was over, I headed to my command tank, which was parked nearby. I needed few minutes of rest in order to replenish some of the Force energies I expended doing the heavy lifting.

    It wasn''t glamorous, but without dedicated bridging equipment that could be used in this case I had to improvise.

    Inside I found five of the clones who were a new addition to my command. Those folks were my staff, and their presence had made a lot of my work as a general somewhat manageable.

    I looked at the various displays showing the progress of my troops.

    My men had captured nearly five square kilometers. There was heavy fighting on the flanks, but strangely enough the path forward wasn''t heavily contested.

    It was tempting to sent an armor column thundering straight into the center of the city, but that would leave them vulnerable if one of the flanks collapsed.

    "I want an armor company to reinforce the right flank. Send the rest of the seventh walker battalion to encircle the enemy battalion hitting our left flank."

    Seventh battalion was the vanguard of my columns entering Lessu.

    =RK=

    Bo-Katan grinned like a cat who had just eaten the canary.

    She was near the main CIS Command and Control center within Lessu, when she saw a group of droids exiting the building. They were followed by the unmistakable figure of Wat Tambor, who headed towards the APC in the center of a column of separatists vehicles.

    There were four tanks in both ends with ten personnel carriers in between.

    Kryze would bet a lot on two things. First that each of those machines was chock full with droids. And second: they weren''t heading towards the fighting.

    "Overlord Actual. This is Huntress. I have a visual on Black King. He is preparing to leave point Eagle. Requesting instructions. Over."

    "Affirmative, Huntress. Wait one."

    "This is Rogue Knight. Tail him. I''m heading your way with reinforcements."

    Bo-Katan''s smile became a hungry one. She loved stalking her prey.

    =RK=

    Part 6

    Lessu, Ryloth

    I stared at the map of the city. The best route we could take to intercept the convoy passed through that glaring hole in the enemy lines, which appeared to lead straight into the center of Lessu.

    The whole thing smelled of an obvious trap, however given the average tactical "competence" I''ve seen so far from both the CIS and the GAR, I wouldn''t put it past the Seps to be just that incompetent. It wasn''t like such a kriff up was particularly worse than their usual penchant for marching towards our lines in a nice square formations that doubled as artillery bait.

    Something I was going to prove the moment I got my hands on some indirect fire arty. Or the standard beam type when I could use it against the droids on open ground.

    Despite that, I couldn''t just ?ssume that whoever was in charge of the CIS here was an idiot. That would be a good way to get a lot of my men killed.

    "This is Overlord Actual. Send in the hover tanks once seventh armor battalion enters the city. They are to split in company strength and commence reconnaissance in force," I ordered and turned my head towards one of my staff officers. "Pak, you have tactical command. I''m heading in with the recon elements. If we can get Tambor, we can end this mess now."

    "Yes, sir!" he answers and started snapping orders to the tank crews.

    Five minutes later I was entering Lessu. I was on top of one of the hover tanks, holding a handle wielded to its hull.

    Before we reached Ryloth, I had all of those machines modified so they could transport a squad of infantry each. Thanks to the tank''s shields, the troopers had a reasonable degree of protection while riding on top.

    It was a useful stop gap measure that allowed me to quickly transport a strike force of infantry and armor while I waited for the R&D boffins to get a dedicated IFV designed. Using the walkers, which were not only relatively slow with their 60 km per hour top speed, but were also my dedicated armor force, wasn''t practical for transporting infantry in a lot of cases. Like right now, when those things were not only needed elsewhere, but were too slow for what I needed to get done.

    Six companies of hover tanks spread out from the breach in the enemy defenses and headed deeper into the city.

    I had given orders for my recon units to avoid the area around the main entrance where the majority of CIS forces were located. So most of the tanks headed either towards the "free" passage at the center of the enemy lines, or looped around the bulk of seventh battalion, which was moving to flank the enemy armor ?ssaulting our left flank.

    =RK=

    Bo-Katan had been tracking the CIS column for nearly fifteen minutes. They had bypassed the majority of hangars she knew of and were steadily moving to the part of the city furthest from the GAR attack. Incidentally, that was the area of Lessu where the main space port was located. Complete with the largest concentration of CIS air ?ssets in the region.

    Kryze had thought it strange that the Seps hadn''t used their air power against the breach in the city defenses until now. Then, suddenly, everything became obvious. Tambor was hoarding his remaining Vultures, believing that they would be able to screen his escape from the planet.

    That was unlikely considering that majority of the Republic fleet in-system was parked over the capital. Though, considering what he was responsible for, Tambor would grasp at any chance to get away. She could imagine what would happen to him if Veil turned him over to the locals, and that was something she could see the general doing in order to make an example of the CIS leader.

    From her position on the top of a tall building, she glanced at her map, then at the city strewn below her. Unless the CIS convoy took a right at the next intersection, they would have to pass through a chokepoint in order to reach the space port.

    Bo checked the ordinance she carried. She still had the four blocks of explosives she had taken on a whim from one of the Republic armories.

    She smirked at the CIS column which moved passed the next intersection without even slowing down.

    Bo-Katan activated her rocketpack and flew towards the spaceport.

    =RK=

    Obi-Wan allowed himself a tiny smile. The flanking attack on the CIS armor ?ssaulting the GAR left flank worked like a charm. That Separatists battalion was annihilated in full when Seventh Armor struck them from the left and rolled up their own flank.

    As a direct consequence, the Republic forces were now able to spread in that direction, giving them options other than ?ssaulting the teeth of the CIS defenses around the main gate or going straight into what was now confirmed to be a trap.

    The recon units scouting the main, supposedly enemy free, approaches to the center of the city, had nearly ran into a particularly nasty ambush. Those tanks were puling back in an attempt to break contact with what appeared to be a regiment of enemy infantry supporting another CIS armor battalion.

    Right now, those Confed forces were moving straight at the Republic positions.

    Kenobi looked around. A second battalion of walkers was already in the city, but that might not be enough tho stop the advancing enemy battalion cold. Not with the regiments of droids concentrated at the GAR right flank.

    Obi-Wan''s eyes fell on the combat engineers who had demolished a section of the walls and now were busy preparing defensive positions at the center of the Republic positions.

    He looked at the tall buildings flanking the main avenue through which the droids would need to pass if they decided to attack head on, as usual, and smiled.

    That smile was out of place on a Jedi''s face.

    =RK=

    Wat Tambor was staring glumly at the brown interior of one of the rare APC carriers the CIS possessed. Those machines were exclusively reserved for moving the Confederation leadership when air transport was not available for one reason or another.

    He had considered taking an aircar to the spaceport, but quickly disregarded that idea. It would have been a foolish thing to do with that kriffing traitor Kryze wreaking havoc throughout the city.

    No matter. The convoy should be more than enough to protect him from a single Mandalorian cutthroat. His bigger problem was getting off world.

    Tambor had no illusions about what would happen to him if he was taken alive.

    When he planned this enterprise it all looked so simple!

    The Republic was loosing the war and it was only a matter of time before its military collapsed under the onslaught of countless droids!

    However all that was before that new Republic general captured or killed two of the highest ranking Confederation leaders, placing the quick resolution of the war into question.

    So he decided to hedge his bets and give the CIS military a boost. Until his brilliant diplomatic coup, the Hutts were either "neutral" or somewhat supportive to the Republic cause.

    But he had ended all that nonsense! Now the overgrown worms were on their side and all it took was capturing a bunch of Twi''lek no one really cared about! It wasn''t like those people were important!

    Tambor''s indignant musings were rudely interrupted. Twin explosion shook the CIS column, making the column ground to a halt. The pair of tanks leading the Confed forces were obliterated a split second before the trailing two met the same fiery fate.

    To put the situation into perspective, the droids escorting Tambor had taken the shortest route to the spaceport, disregarding everything else. That led them straight through a narrow street, which was now blocked by the burning remains of the armored vehicles.

    To add insult to injury, Bo-Katan flew over the street on which the convoy was now stranded, sending half of her remaining missiles at the APCs near the one carrying Tambor. Those weapons hit the thinner upper armor of the vehicles, wrecking the top mounted weaponry and in one case breaching the troop compartment.

    Inside, the B2 droids were bathed by the condensed overpressure which scalded the inside of the armored vehicle. Moment later only two of the ten Super Battle droids were still combat effective.

    =RK=

    "This is insane!" Waxer screamed.

    I had to agree, despite this being my damned to hell plan. Which in fact seemed to work. At least partially.

    The remaining recon forces were not only pinpointing CIS positions, but were also drawing the attention of the enemy forces. That allowed us to slip through the positions which the droids were fortifying in an attempt to stave off the inevitable GAR ?ssault into this sector of the city.

    It looked like that after the destruction of that CIS armor battalion, there weren''t any Separatists forces on our left flank that were big enough to try anything larger than a spoiling counter-attack. The main enemy forces appeared to be concentrated at the main gate and near the center, which left us a large corridor where we could spread out and fortify. As long as my men were able to hold the breach in the city wall that is.

    That at least looked good. By now, there was more than an armor battalion reinforcing the regiment holding my forces right flank. Even better, moments ago Obi-Wan gave me a gleeful report. He used the Combat engineers to rig six buildings, which he blew up in such a way that they buried a battalion of enemy infantry as well as at least two tank companies. That had left the leading elements of a regimental strength counter-attack by the Separatists facing my hastily dug in forces unsupported.

    Those droids were slaughtered in short order.

    All that was well and good, but didn''t particularly help my situation.

    I was gripping a handhold for a dear life, while the tank carrying me was racing through the largely deserted streets at more than hundred kilometers per hour.

    The operative word here was "largely".

    There were various group of droids which were converging towards the breach. They loved sending potshots our way as we practically flew through their ranks.

    Thanks to the shields, that was usually not a real threat.

    Yet, there were exceptions.

    On two occasions we met B1s carrying missile launchers. While the single hits they managed, were harmlessly absorbed by the shields of my tanks, the sheer force of the impacts and resulting explosions shook the hit tanks. Some of my men were unable to hold on and were thrown off the hovercraft.

    Needless to say, at this speeds none of them survived hitting the ground.

    That wasn''t the worst.

    We passed through an intersection towards which a column of enemy armor was advancing. Half of my tanks roared past the enemy unscratched, before the droids in charge got their shit together and opened fire. Accurate fire.

    The trailing two tanks were struck multiple time. They, as well as the men they carried, were turned into so much confetti.

    At least that was the last true obstacle we met before breaking into the enemy rear. After the close encounter with the enemy armor, we faced only one more enemy unit: a platoon of B1 and B2 droids marching straight in the middle of the street my tanks passed through.

    Veers, who was in charge of the hover tank company, merely slowed down a bit so we wouldn''t be thrown off and rammed them through. It wasn''t as effective as it would have been if we had threaded vehicles, but it was good enough.

    =RK=

    I laid eyes on Bo-Katan''s handiwork and smiled coldly. She had stopped the convoy carrying Tambor cold. I could clearly see the pair of burning CIS tanks which were part of its rearguard. She was still tracking Tambor and attacking his escort. He was trying to reach the spaceport, which was two kilometers from here, but was moving slower than a crippled bantha thanks to her constant harassment.

    I had my men dismount and sent the light tanks towards the spaceport. I intended to run down my target long before he could reach his destination, but I wanted my light armor to cut him off just in case.

    We made a short work of the enemy armored column, which stood no chance, stranded as it was. All it took was some thermal detonators, which were thrown by my men and I guided towards the enemy armored vehicles.

    The powerful explosive devices wrecked the enemy column and we headed towards our target.

    The reason I wasted a bit of time to destroy those Confed vehicles was simple. I didn''t want that force at my back despite them being prevented from moving for the time being.

    I found Tambor hidden behind the column in front of an ancient looking building. He was surrounded by seventy odd droids, who were shooting in the air in an attempt to take down Bo-Katan.

    She was strafing them using her blaster pistols. It was obvious that she couldn''t get close enough to use her guns effectively without getting shot down, but it was apparent that the CIS leader didn''t know that, so he was hunched down behind his cover.

    Splendid. It was time to end this battle.

    =RK=

    Tambor cringed when he saw the distinctive forms of Republic soldiers appearing from a side alley to his left. The enemy troopers wasted no time. Approximately half of them opened fire while the rest ran for cover.

    All but the man who was obviously leading them did that.

    "Oh, kriff it all..." whispered the leader of the Techno Union.

    That man simply strode in the blaster fire of his droids. He had a red lightsaber in his right hand and used it to swat aside the shots aimed at him.

    Then that man, who could only be General Veil, the accursed leader of the Republic forces which had destroyed Tambor''s plans, raised his free hand.

    Tambor''s eyes would have fallen out of their sockets if they hadn''t been replaced by cybernetic implants. A stream of purple lightning erupted from the man''s palm and struck down nearly half of the droids.

    More of the machines were cut down by blaster fire, a few of them by their own shots reflected back at them.

    Another lightning attack all but destroyed the remaining droids, with the survivors lasting a handful of seconds longer.

    Tambor shook with fear. He could feel unnatural dread gripping his heart with icy fingers.

    The politician tried to steel himself. He still had few valuable bargain chips...

    "Wat Tambor..." whispered the general''s voice, which was distorted by the helmet he wore into an unnerving hiss.

    "General Veil, perhaps we can reach a compromise?" he asked trying to remove the tell tale trembling from his voice.

    "I have a better idea," said the general. "You will deactivate all the droids on Ryloth, and I won''t give you to the locals. They seem to be a bit peeved with you. I wonder why..."

    Despite the way his voice was distorted by the helmet, Tambor could hear the sarcasm dripping from Veil''s words.

    "That isn''t enough! I want passage out of this system or you won''t get the codes!" he said with a determination he didn''t feel.

    Veil simply shook his head and muttered, "They always choose the hard way. Well, it''s better that way..."

    The man strode towards him and Tambor moved backwards on instinct. Something deep inside him screamed that he should have accepted the general''s terms.

    Suddenly, Tambor found himself paralyzed. He felt something touching his... mind? Then the world exploded in a wave of crimson agony which engulfed his consciousness.

    =RK=

    Kenobi was on the right flank, helping the clones stave off the main CIS counter-attack when the droids froze in mid motion before shutting down. His shoulders sagged in relief. Veil had done it! The CIS on Ryloth was finished.

    Nevertheless, the Jedi decided not to take any chances.

    "I want the city swept for any enemy stragglers! And make sure that those clankers stay down for good! I don''t want someone reactivating them and catching us off guard!" he ordered.

    The latter was a very real possibility. After all, the droids were simply shut down, not destroyed. Something which will be taken care of soon.

    =RK=

    General Syndulla, who had been leading his fighters and two companies of clones through the city sewers towards the complex containing the shield generators protecting the city, allowed himself a small smile.

    What was left of his people were now free... if the Republic kept its word. Yet it was too late for millions, perhaps more.

    He looked up to the ceiling and the stars beyond it, ignoring the cheering of his fighters. Despite this victory, he had a sense of foreboding. After the atrocities that the damned Separatists committed here on Ryloth, as well as on Naboo and Coruscant, the war was far from over.

    He could almost feel it.

    =RK=

    Bo-Katan landed near Veil and looked at him. He had Tambor pressed against the wall and had his right hand pressed to the CIS leader''s forehead. They stayed that way for about five minutes despite her few attempt to get answers from the infuriating man,

    The clones on the other hand had acted as that had been business as usual and simply took up defensive positions around them.

    When Veil was finally finished, he released Tambor. The leader of the Techno Union activated his comm and started typing a long code before speaking with an empty voice.

    "It is done. The droids are deactivated. This is the data you require."

    He continued to type for a minute before retrieving a data chip and handling it to the general.

    "Splendid!" answered Veil. He turned towards his men and ordered: "Take him into custody. I want him on a shuttle to the Requiem ASAP and move him straight to the med bay where he should be treated for possible brain damage."

    Then Delkatar activated his wrist mounted computer, plugged in the chip and started working ignoring everyone else.

    "Is that it?" she snapped at him.

    That man had the gall to ignore her!

    "Yeah. The majority of enemy forces are inactive. There are probably a few Commando droids which will be pain in the ?ss until my men and the locals hunt them down, but there isn''t much I can do about that anyway. Now, if you excuse me, I am a bit busy."

    Bo-Katan gave him a dirty look.

    "With what? You just said that the enemy has been dealt with!"

    "Denying the enemy some liquid ?ssets."

    That usually meant money. Despite not being a mercenary, Bo was very interested in what Delkatar was doing.

    =RK=

    Chancellor''s Office, Undisclosed Location, Coruscant

    Palpatine''s right eye twitched.

    Days. Three kriffing days, and Veil had Ryloth more or less secured. Enough at least, that he could move most of his forces away from that world soon, and the general himself would be returning to Coruscant in a week or so.

    It was a good thing that he had a lot of plans going on at the same time. At least the whole debacle on Ryloth wasn''t a total loss. Now he had a reasonable idea of how dangerous Veil was as both a ground and a space commander. Now that he knew, Sidious could plan better for the future.

    Besides, there were other bright spots. With the crushing defeat at space, the Confederation would have to stop its offensives within two to three weeks and start consolidating before another major push could be launched. So with a bit of tweaking, Palpatine could insure that he would get the long war he needed.

    Ironically, he could use Veil until both sides were truly stalemated. Until such a time, which was still months away, Sidious should have decided if he would want that man as his new apprentice or if the good General would meet an unfortunate accident somewhere.

    The Sith Lord grinned. Two weeks. Then he would have some free entertainment to look up to. The trial of Windu was fast approaching. He just hoped that the Jedi would mess it up and do his job in destroying most of their reputation themselves.

    Meanwhile, he would be busy. After those idiots killed most of the Senate, and not even the right part, kriff them all, he had to deal with a mountain of paperwork.

    On a more cheerful note, now it would be much easier to concentrate more power in his hand as he planed from the beginning.

    =RK=

    Council Chambers, Jedi Temple, Coruscant

    Yoda was sitting in his chair and to anyone who would look at him, it appeared that he was meditating.

    However that was not the case. He was pondering the future. Both of the Republic and the Jedi Order.

    The present was changing in ways he could have never foreseen.

    Now he had to deal with the fallout of his own mistakes. With Veil coming from the past, Yoda was now almost certain that he had shaped the Order in a wrong way. He had prepared his people to fight the wrong kind of war.

    Against the influence of a Sith as Veil, they were in a bad position. The only ray of hope, where that man was concerned, was the fact that he apparently didn''t hate the Jedi or d?s?r? their destruction as an ordinary Sith would.

    "Enough, it is not." muttered the ancient being.

    Veil''s very existence was a threat to the Order''s stability like no other. Arguably, Delkatar was as dangerous to the Jedi as the Sith who started the war. Just in a different way.

    Yoda could almost appreciate the irony of this situation. Faced with a Sith who didn''t want their destruction, the Jedi were about to shatter the Order themselves.

    There were many of his people who were blinded by the Jedi Creed. They were seeing in absolutes... almost as a Sith would.

    Granted, he had been trying to slowly push for reforms, targeted at making the Jedi more open minded. Yet, the truth was that he was far from successful. Or at least not as successful as he should be.

    Changing the Order was a very slow process, which was met with a lot of opposition.

    Despite what many outsiders might think, he was no dictator. As the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order, Yoda was first amongst equals.

    It had taken him decades to build a somewhat progressive council so that on a good day he could push for some small changes.

    Now that looked scarcely enough. There was a rift forming amongst the Jedi. And soon it would all come to a head.

    Windu''s trial was approaching, and Yoda had no idea how that would go.

    He had spoken with all the Jedi Masters and knew that they were evenly split right now. When Windu and Veil speak in front of the Council, everything will be decided.

    Yoda knew that for a lot of Jedi it won''t be about the evidence, or whether Windu had broken the Republic''s laws. In fact, in the eyes of many of his people, Veil and the Jedi supporting him will be the ones being judged.

    From the cradle, the Jedi had been taught that the Sith were the one true enemy. And now one of them was left to do whatever he wanted, or at least so it seemed.

    Yoda shrunk in his chair. He felt trapped in a net of his own making.

 Chapter 30 - Interlude 4

    Briefing Room, Assault Ship Leveler, High Orbit over Coruscant

    I entered the room and sealed it behind me. I looked around at a sea of the same faces looking straight. There was a whole company of clones standing at attention, waiting me to act.

    I give them a sharp nod. They''ll do.

    I went to the small dais at the left side of the room and spoke: "Stand at ease men."

    I met the eyes of the newly promoted Captain Trek. He returned my look and I could clearly see his unflinching determination.

    I used the Force to sweep the room for any active or passive listening devices just in case. I found none, but just in case I surrounded us in a dampening field which would ensure our privacy.

    "You''ve all volunteered for a special ?ssignment. As of this moment, you are officially part of ninety first Reserve company. As far as anyone outside this room is concerned, your unit''s only purpose is to provide replacements for casualties suffered by the forces under my command. Do you understand?"

    "Yes, sir!" they spoke as one.

    "You will undertake a special training regiment, which amongst other things will prepare you to face Force Adepts and not only survive such an encounter, but win!" I stated.

    During the last war I was part of, we, the Sith, trained ordinary people to become competent Jedi hunters amongst other things. These men in front of me were going to become a nucleus for such a force.

    While right now I didn''t plan to fight the Jedi, I wanted to have troops able to go against them and win without overwhelming numeral superiority. Just in case. Besides, having my own black ops outfit could be useful for a lot of things.

    These men were special. I had not only removed the programing placed upon them by Sidious'' cronies on Kamino, but had used the Force to subtly probe their minds. That''s how I had chosen who to recruit. I could be sure that these men would be molded into weapons who would obey only me when their training was complete. And that was without screwing with their minds with the Force.

    The downside of this method was that there was a tiny pool of future recruits, unless I wanted to mess with their heads to such an extent that they would be little more than slaves.

    In few months I would have the first black operations unit under my exclusive control.

    =RK=

    Lower levels, Coruscant

    Officially, I was inspecting some of the equipment that my forces were expected to use as a break from the monotone work needed to turn my army and fleet from a fiction written on a data pad into reality. Which was slow going, boring work as I knew it would be.

    In reality, I had discarded my recognizable armor for a dark, hooded robe and was going to a meeting into Coruscant''s not so pleasant underbelly. After dealing with the pirates who had captured Dooku, I finally had some credits to burn, and I could start to build my power base outside the GAR. I was well aware that in the future I would need to do some distasteful things outside the official channels.

    "I''m here to see Vonx. Lorek sent me." I told him.

    He studied me for a moment, sniffed in my direction before nodding.

    "Back room. Don''t make any trouble or I''ll use your spine to clean up my teeth." he grunted and grinned at me.

    He had a lot of teeth. Big one''s too. I could easily believe that he can use someone''s spine to clean them.

    It wasn''t my problem. I just shrugged and entered the cantina.

    Inside, I was greeted by a semi-dark expanse. The deep shadows did a great job of hiding everyone''s faces.

    I briefly scanned the room and walked in once I felt that I wasn''t in any more danger than the average visitor of this "fine" establishment. Then I immediately regretted not bringing my helmet.

    The damn place stank worse than a week old battlefield, where no one bothered to retrieve the corpses.

    Perhaps it was because I was human. There was only one of my species inside and all others were aliens, a few of whom from species I wasn''t familiar with.

    Thankfully, the back room had working ventilation and there the stench was mostly gone.

    I found myself across a plain desk, behind which was sitting a Rodian. His huge eyes were fixed on a data pad.

    In the four corners of the room were standing guards. A quartet of huge Trandosians armed with blaster carbines.

    "Sergeant Lorek sent you. Or so you claim..." whispered the Rodian.

    "I''m his new business partner." I answered nonchalantly. "I need to procure few ships and a lot of equipment. You came highly recommended."

    Who would have thought that a crooked supply sergeant could be such a spring of useful information? It was too bad that when I had finished with him his brain was ready to start leaking from his ears...

    "Is that so? Then where is that shifty human?"

    "Dead." I deadpanned.

    The guards stiffened. I could feel that they were ready to pounce on me, figuratively speaking.

    "Is that so? It''s such a loss." he said in a tone, which made obviously that in his opinion it was anything but. "Now, you just have to prove that you aren''t some kind of law enforcement, and we can talk business."

    I smirked and take hold of the Force. It swirled around me and I used it to grasp the necks of the four guard. A mental nudge in the correct directions and four almost simultaneous snaps could be heard.

    The dead mercenaries grumbled to the dirty floor. I looked at the shocked Rodian. I guess that my little demonstration wasn''t something that you see often, or at all, in this age.

    He tried to press a panic bu??on under his desk, and no doubt summon more guards, but I had his hands in a secure telekinetic grip.

    "Vonx, I believe that this is a sufficient demonstration?" I asked, nodding to one of the cooling corpses.

    He stared at me for a long moment before frantically nodding.

    "Ah, yes. Obviously you are not with the security forces..." he stammered.

    "Now, I believe that you''ll uphold your reputation and get me what I need?" I asked cheerfully.

    Sith negotiations one oh one. I was glad to see that it still worked.

    "Yes... Sure!" he exclaimed.

    "That''s great, Vonx! Now, here is what I need. A bulk freighter, which has docks for smaller ships. At least three smaller transport ships, which can dock with said freighter. Minimum six ?ssault shuttles, two hundred sets of medium armor. Same number of blaster rifles and pistols..."

    By the time I had finished listing what I wanted to purchase, Vonx''s eyes were wide for very different reason. I could feel the greed positively oozing from every pore of his green body. Nasty image that.

    "You can pay, right? That will be three hundred. Minimum."

    "Vonx..." I muttered, making sure that he could feel the disappointment in my voice.

    He gulped and shuddered in fear. His greed had become secondary for the moment.

    "I wanted to say that it will be no more than three hundred thousand in total..." he stammered.

    This time he was telling me the truth.

    "Splendid!"

    We spent the next hour straightening up the details of our deal.

    =RK=

    I was meeting with Trek in a secluded part of one of the Venator''s hangars. That by itself was a normal sight. By now everyone knew that I made sure that I knew the men under my command.

    "The coming ops on Naboo represents an opportunity for us." I said.

    "Yes, sir. How many of us can be taken off the books?"

    "At least a squad. It won''t be hard to list that many as casualties. Perhaps more, if everything goes to hell. I want your men to scout the locations of the primary list. If they find one of them uninhabited, inform me and start preparing the facilities there."

    "What about civilian personnel?" asked the Captain.

    "It''s unlikely that we''ll be able to retrieve Force s?ns?t?v? kids under the noses of the Jedi any time soon. However if the opportunity arises, we may have to retrieve such children and their families so they are not indoctrinated. Start screening appropriate candidates for a small new colony. We''ll go from there."

    "Yes, sir."

 Chapter 31 - Intrigues

    Part 1

    Council Chambers, Jedi Temple, Coruscant

    Skywalker was looking through the windows at the evening traffic flying near the Temple. He had finished giving his report about the holding action he and Kenobi''s forces had executed on Felucia. While that world was lost for the time being, the Separatists had committed their last operational reserves in order to take the planet.

    At least for the time being, everyone expected that there would be a lull in the fighting, so far as attacks on new space systems were concerned. Both sides were constantly sending reinforcements and supplies to the various active theaters, but after the battle of Ryloth the Republic and CIS were exhausted.

    "Two months. That''s how long it would take for both our new warship construction and the Separatists'' to be completed, and for the next production batch to begin. Until then, neither side could attack without committing their strategic reserves." Shaak Ti, who had returned to Coruscant hours ago, summarized the strategic situation.

    "This will buy us some breathing space. Thanks to Corellia, we may be in position to go on a limited counter-offensive before the CIS are ready." said the hologram of general Valentra.

    "We are drawing various plans for such action." added General Veil''s holo-image.

    "In the meantime, we can finish with this distasteful affair." muttered Shaak Ti.

    Everyone present knew what she was talking about, Windu''s trial was less than a week away.

    Anakin shook his head. He could scarcely believe what the Vaapad master had tried to do. If it wasn''t for the video of the event, he would be in denial.

    Skywalker took a deep breath and winced. The rasping sound of the respirator mask was grating on his nerves. And he was supposed to wear the damn thing for eight more days!

    "Away from the battlefield, some time you two should take." said Yoda.

    The old Jedi Master looked at the two youngsters in the center of the room.

    "As archive security, you can be, young padawan." he continued, nodding at Ahsoka, who didn''t look thrilled by the announcement, but kept her tongue in check.

    But giving cheek to the Grandmaster of the order wasn''t a good idea. Especially for a padawan.

    "Skywalker, rest you should."added Yoda.

    Anakin didn''t protest either. If he was lucky, he could "rest" with Padme. That is if she didn''t kill him first. Skywalker had understated a bit the injuries he had received on Ryloth, and dreaded meeting her face to face for the first time since then...

    =RK=

    Undisclosed Location, Coruscant

    Bane was cooling his heels in one of his safe houses on Coruscant ever since the debacle at the Senate. Since that incident, hewas on the Republic''s most wanted list. It was only his skills and a bit of luck that allowed him to get away.

    The comm terminal in his room came to life. A holographic image of a human male, hidden under a dark cloak appeared over the only desk in the room.

    "Excuse the interruption, bounty hunter. I have need of your services."

    Bane stiffened. This was the man who had almost gotten him killed. He turned from the window and sneered at the cloaked figure.

    "Now, listen you..."

    "A new, foolproof identity." stated the human.

    Bane''s mouth snapped shut. That was what he needed in order to continue operating with relative impunity. However at the moment he had no access to his usual contacts. They were not crazy enough to bring on themselves the heat that will came with him.

    "And that will be just a free bonus for your services so far."

    "What do you need?"

    "I need a Jedi Holocron." stated the old man.

    "In order to get a Jedi Holocron, I need to break in the damn Jedi Temple. You know the place, I presume? The same Temple that was attacked few short weeks ago. The place will still be on high alert and it will be crawling with clone troopers!" he deadpanned, unable to keep the disbelief out of his voice.

    He was a mercenary, not a crazy fanatic with suicidal tendencies!

    "It''s a kriffing suicide!"

    "I will provide you with the means to get inside and out, as well as a way off world. I have some expendable agents that will be useful for the occasion. What do you want to do the job?"

    Bane stared at the image of the Sith Lord. He could accept. Or rot in this kriffing room... When all was said and done it wasn''t a hard decision. He was going insane in this glorified cell.

    "I want triple my usual rate as well as a..."

    =RK=

    General Veil''s office, Republic High Command, Coruscant

    I finally finished my AAR for the whole mess on Ryloth. Even with the help of my staff it took about a week to get it all done.

    I drained the remaining caff from my mug and checked the time. It was around nine twenty in the evening. I smiled. For once I would be able to get out at a reasonably early hour. That hasn''t happened since the whole Blue Shadow fiasco.

    I sent the electronic copy of my report to Valentra, saved two copies on different machines for myself and placed the pad on which I was working at a pile of similar devices in the "out" basket on my desk. Then I activated the security and a golden force field appeared over the stack of electronic devices.

    An overworked lieutenant would gather them in the morning and upload the information in the secure archives in the building''s basement.

    I checked what was left of my paperwork and smiled. It wasn''t something that my minions couldn''t do in the morning. Besides I had let the lucky bastards to retire early tonight.

    I grabbed my black cloak and headed out, when the door on my office chimed. I opened it a moment later and saw Shaak Ti in all her vibrant glory.

    She smiled at me. Too cheerfully. Uh-oh.

    I''ve been married, you know. I knew exactly what that type of smile on a woman''s face meant. I was in deep trouble...

    "Hi, Delkatar." she said sweetly.

    Yup. Very deep trouble...

    "Hi!" I smiled at her.

    I think it was a normal and not a nervous smile...

    =RK=

    500 Republica, Coruscant

    "I know. The death toll on Ryloth rivals the total Blue Shadow casualties, and that doesn''t even take into account the millions taken by the Hutts." said Amidala.

    She was sitting on the couch in her living room, with a holo-comm placed on the table in front of her. The transparent images of Bail Organa and Mon Mothma were floating over it.

    "The sheer devastation caused by the droid army on Ryloth means that world would be unable to sustain itself for the foreseeable future. "added Mothma.

    Padme frowned.

    "We''ll be sending what little humanitarian aid we can, but after the last crisis caused by the war, there is not much that Alderaan could provide at the moment." said Bail.

    He looked tiredly at Amidala. It wasn''t like her homeworld of Naboo could help anyone but itself right now. The consequences of the Blue Shadow on the planet''s economy were catastrophic.

    Padme had rarely felt so helpless as she did ever since Naboo was attacked. The following events made it even worse, if that was even possible.

    For weeks, a cancerous thought had been running through her mind. What would have happened if she hadn''t tried to stop the creation of the Republic army? Would everyone have been better prepared for the terrors of this war? What about Naboo? Even if anything she had done couldn''t have prevented the bio-attack on Theed, that still left Ryloth and the nightmare that the damn slavers had unleashed on that world''s inhabitants...

    Padme sighed and looked at her friends.

    "We should try to persuade what''s left of the Senate to send more aid to Ryloth." she said in a tired voice.

    "Yes, that will be for the best. If we can persuade them." muttered Bail.

    The front door of Amidala''s apartment chimed.

    "So that''s what we''ll do. Let''s meet tomorrow morning in the Senate and we''ll start." she said and stood up, heading towards the door after a brief good bye.

    She opened it and looked at Anakin. At first she was overjoyed, giving him a breathtaking smile.

    Then Padme saw the way he was behaving. Her husband was a bit stiff and thanks to her vast political experience she could easily see that the smile he had under his mask was forced one. He was hiding something.

    She grabbed his shirt and dragged him inside.

    "Anakin Skywalker!" snapped Padme in a tone that brooked no argument.

    A delicate finger pocked his tender ribs making him wince.

    "Explain! Now!" poke, poke.

    He grunted.

    "Only a scratch, is it?!" she grumbled.

    "Wait, Angel! I can explain!" he stammered...

    "This better be good, mister..."

    =RK=

    I got lucky. For the moment at least. Shaak Ti was temporally mollified by a dinner in a nearby restaurant. At the moment a lot of her attention was dedicated on devouring of a juicy steak from a mammal native to Shili. Even better, I still have all vital body parts attached.

    I had learned the hard way, that one of the best way to calm down and make up to a pissed off Togruta female. That is, beside the obvious groveling, and a lot of it (sincere too if said woman is a Jedi...), was getting to the nearest restaurant. Preferably one that provided meals native to Shili.

    I think it was a legacy of the way her species evolved from predators, that you could calm down an irritated Togruta female by feeding her a rare steak or something similar. It definitely won''t solve the problem, but it would buy you time to explain yourself.

    That last part was vital, when the female you''ve pissed off was a lightsaber wielding woman, who knew how to use it...

    Shaak Ti swallowed a bite of her steak and pointed her fork at me.

    "I still haven''t heard a good explanation."

    Well, that was my problem. I didn''t have one that was likely to satisfy her. Just logical ones, from the POV of a Sith that is. All of which would piss her off even more...

    I took a sip from my Corellian ale and prepared to bite the bullet. Part of the truth would be best I think.

    "You and Ahsoka are Jedi." I stated the obvious.

    She gave me a deadpan look and silently beckoned me to continue.

    "I ?ssumed that you knew how to neutralize any tranquilizer or poison that the pirates had placed into the drinks. Obviously I was wrong."

    Granted, if I didn''t know better, that would have been a prudent ?ssumption.

    "Uh-huh. I''m still listening. You not only used us as bait, but made sure we didn''t know your plan for dealing with the pirates. You lied to us."

    Her dark eyes bored into mine with intensity that I found fascinating.

    "No, I didn''t." I confirmed with a small smile. "There is a fundamental difference in the way you Jedi operate and the way I handle things. I don''t fear that my actions would ''turn'' me to the Dark Side. It gives me much larger pool of tactical options. What the Jedi in general find unpalatable or unthinkable, well, it''s just another day in the office for me."

    "You weren''t going to accept Ohnaka''s deal anyway, were you?" she asked.

    "No. While there was a tiny chance that he wouldn''t try to back-stab us, it wasn''t something that I was going to count on."

    I took a bite of my own steak. It tasted terrific.

    "That isn''t the way a Jedi could afford to look at the world." she nodded after thinking for few moments. "If we had such a mindset, we would be perilously close to falling. And if we pulled the stunts you have so far or suggested..." she muttered.

    I think she meant my requesting a permission to purge big parts of Naboo if necessary to stop the spread of the virus.

    "Do you think that I''ve fallen to the Dark Side?" I asked her calmly.

    Her eyes widened a bit and she stared at me. I could sense her probing me with the Force. For a moment I let the camouflage over my "alignment" slip so she could sense me as I was.

    Here mouth opened making an "O" and she stared at me.

    "That''s not exactly what you expected, is it, Shaak Ti?" I asked her quietly.

    =RK=

    Undisclosed Location, Coruscant

    Three men and two women were meeting in an old apartment building. They gathered around a holo-projector over which could be seen the plans of the Jedi Temple.

    "You all know the plan." said their leader.

    A chorus of "yes" sounded in the small room they were using as a headquarters.

    "Let''s recap it anyway. Tomorrow is our big day, and we can''t afford any mistakes. That building will be swarming with Jedi and clones. We won''t have a second shot at retrieving the object."

    By that he meant that even if successful, the odds of any of them making it out of the Temple were minimal. Besides, after tomorrow, the security there would be about as possible. The Jedi wouldn''t allow a third breach. After their play, the next one who wanted to waltz in the Temple would need a whole damn army to do it.

    "Let''s begin. We''ll infiltrate in the morning with..."

    =RK=

    500 Republica, Coruscant

    Anakin twisted on the couch, trying to find a more comfortable position. His tender ?h?st didn''t help in that venture.

    In the end he had been able to calm Padme down, after coming clean about what had happened on Ryloth. He had told her everything. From the beginning of the space battle to the disastrous ?ssault on the village. About the way he had kriffed up and got most of his men killed. Of how Veil was forced to call in an orbital strike on his position.

    In the end Skywalker told his wife about his own injuries, which along with Delkatar''s stunts were the two things that pissed her off the most. He was sure that Padme would have "words" with Veil, which the general won''t enjoy, but that was a cold comfort.

    She was still royally pissed off because he lied to her. As a consequences he was sleeping on the couch. Alone.

    Anakin grumbled and twisted on his so called "bed". The damn thing was uncomfortable as hell.

    Part 2

    Galactic Delight Restaurant, Coruscant

    It lasted only a precious few seconds. However it was more than enough to mesmerize her. Shaak Ti''s wide eyes stared at the river of Force energies calmly bubbling in front of her.

    She could see strands of Light and Dark fighting for supremacy, all over Veil''s aura. Yet the end result was something akin to a balance. This wasn''t something she expected to see from a man who used mostly the Dark side of the Force.

    Veil smirked and she could feel him accessing the energy permeating his body. What followed left her speechless.

    First she could sense how he grasped the Force itself as it was the hilt of a lightsaber. The tendrils of darkness around him became a storm of midnight black flames consuming all that was light.

    The Jedi Master felt chilled to the core as she stared into an inferno made of freezing shadows.

    Then it abruptly halted. Shaak ti could almost experience the way Veil subjugated the Dark side and made it leave him.

    His aura cleared, once again becoming a battlefield between the two mirror images of the Force itself.

    Nevertheless, that wasn''t the end of the demonstration. Delkatar gave her a soft, almost serene smile and closed his eyes.

    Suddenly a surge of warm light engulfed his whole being, pushing back the Darkness, which dissipated like moths of made of twisting shadows.

    For a moment, Shaak Ti could swear that another Jedi Master was sitting at the same table instead of a Sith.

    She bathed in the warm glow of the Light Side of the Force for the next few seconds, until it too drained from Delkatar, leaving him as he was in the beginning.

    In the next moment Shaak Ti felt something snapping into place and she was facing only a man powerful in the Force, who no longer showed his alignment. She stared at Delkatar with an open mouth which was disinclined to obey her commands.

    "That''s not exactly what you expected, is it, Shaak Ti?" his quiet question snapped her out of her stupor.

    She closed her mouth with an audible click and looked at Delkatar with fascination. A small smile of pure joy tugged the corners of her lips. Her eyes sparkled with excitement.

    "Why do I have the feeling that I''ve been just served for dinner..." muttered Veil.

    Shaak Ti couldn''t help it and laughed.

    "Perhaps later." she whispered showing him a toothy grin, which apparently was not reassuring judging by his reaction.

    Shaak Ti took control of her emotions and pushed them down, becoming somber.

    "You are aware that Windu''s trial has the potential to become a very big problem for both the Jedi and the Republic, right?" she asked, abruptly changing the subject. She had to, because various un-Jedi like thoughts and instincts were stirring within her.

    Veil frowned, with his posture suddenly becoming deadly serious.

    "I am. At least in part. I have to admit that some actions of today''s Jedi make no sense whatsoever."

    "Have we changed so much from the Jedi of old?" Shaak Ti asked.

    She just couldn''t help herself.

    "More than you can ever imagine..." muttered Delkatar. "You asked me what I think about Windu''s stunt. He kriffed up by the numbers, and probably harmed the Jedi more than the Sith did in the past thousand years. If you don''t clean up this mess in a satisfactory manner, you''ll lose something you can''t afford to lose." he said with conviction.

    Shaak Ti frowned. She thought about the possible consequences of the trial. The Jedi master knew that the Council was divided, almost evenly. And despite what their decision would be, many Jedi would make their own minds up about who was right and wrong in this matter...

    She spat a quiet curse in her native tongue, which made Delkatar smirk.

    Ah. Right. He had been married to a Togruta and apparently had spent a lot of time on Shili.

    "Our credibility." a soft whisper fell from her b?r?ly parted lips.

    Delkatar nodded in response.

    =RK=

    Next morning, Jedi Temple, Coruscant

    Yoda was discussing the direction of the war with Obi-Wan and Anakin when he felt a disturbance in the Force. The ancient being closed his eyes and concentrated. His insight into the possible future was clouded by dancing shadows, which acted almost as if alive.

    He could feel... a possibility. Trouble was coming to the Temple, but at least this time he had a warning. Whether that would be enough to stop whatever was approaching was another question.

    "Intruders there will be, in this Temple. Today." Yoda stated with conviction.

    "That wouldn''t be a smart thing to do." mussed Kenobi.

    A week after the attacks, the Chancellor had managed to persuade the Jedi that the Temple needed additional protection. So now, they had a garrison consisting of a whole clone battalion, with a company on shift at all times.

    That wasn''t all either. The Temple was being refurbished to be more easily defended, despite the misgivings of some Jedi. Armored doors, laser turrets, even AA emplacements in the four towers surrounding the main building.

    Yet, those defenses were still under construction, with a lot of people coming and going. That was something that could allow an intruder to sneak in, despite the enhanced security protocols.

    "What would they want?" asked Anakin.

    "They won''t be after our starfighters." Kenobi thought aloud. "Perhaps yours." he smirked at his former padawan, who loved to thinker with and upgrade his interceptor.

    "That is certainly something that couldn''t be found in another place." chuckled Anakin. "What else?" he asked.

    The two Jedi looked at each other.

    "Information." stated Anakin.

    "Jedi communication codes. After the attacks, the only other place those could be obtained is High Command, but Veil and Valentra made that place a deathtrap for any intruder." added Kenobi.

    He didn''t comment on the fact that those two were the main figures behind the Temple''s ongoing security upgrade. That was a mixed bag. Some Jedi, especially amongst the younger ones, were supporting those measures, while a lot of the older and more experienced ones were against it or at least neutral.

    "Those codes, as well as a lot of information about troop movements can be found in the eastern tower. I''m going there right away." said Anakin, before sprinting down the corridor.

    "I''ll check the perimeter defenses from the central security station." shouted Kenobi.

    =RK=

    Holterra Clinic, Coruscant

    Later in the morning, after I passed through my office and found to my delight that there were currently no fires needing to be put out, I went to pick up Aria. She was in a clinic, owned by a group of doctors working for me. They were working on a cure for her condition.

    Speaking of my students, I had left Jaybo on the Requiem, where he was trying to learn meditation, when he wasn''t helping the engineers fix the battle damage to the ship.

    The Venator was docked at one of the defense stations in high orbit over the capital, which could act as a small shipyard. It was more than enough to fix the cruiser, and I preferred to have it on hand. Once its destroyed weapons and armor were replaced, which would be soon, she would be combat ready despite missing its two command pylons. No big loss there, though a fella in the R&D division found a use for them besides being convenient places to stuff additional sensors and comm equipment.

    I found her in a small garden, which was built on the top of the clinic. She was pouting while reading from a data pad.

    "Hi, Aria. I hope that the docs here treated you well."

    "They always poke me with various devices or want blood." she pouted and looked at me with her mismatched eyes. She was trying to master the puppy dog look, but wasn''t there quite yet. "Get me out of here, master. Please!"

    I chuckled at her antics.

    "I guess that today is your lucky day."

    "Yay!" she jumped up and started bouncing around like a little girl.

    Which in a sense she was.

    "Where are we going? Something fun?"

    "To the Jedi Temple. I believe that there is something useful for us to see, then we are going on lunch."

    "Yes!" she exclaimed. "No more hospital food!"

    "Let''s go then." I turned around and headed for the door, with Aria bouncing after me. I could feel her excitement through our bond.

    I had to do something about her and Jaybo. With the war, I didn''t have the necessary time for even one, much less two apprentices. Hopefully, once she was cured and could accompany me on most missions, that could be fixed.

    Jaybo, who had a lot more to learn about the Force was another matter. I wasn''t going to put him into combat any time soon.

    Once Aria and me were out of the clinic, we boarded the shuttle I had commandeered as my personal transport for the day. Today, I was going to use some of my privileges as a Republic general, and incidentally troll the Jedi. That however will be just unexpected side effect. I swear...

    I boarded the shuttle, with Aria walking next to me, and saluted the troopers of Krayt company, who were acting as my bodyguards for today. Ever since the attacks on the Senate and High Command, all Republic generals were entitled a protection detail.

    Needless to say, this morning was the first time I was going to take advantage of that. We were heading towards the Jedi Temple where I had three objectives. First, the official one: to inspect the defenses being build by the GAR corps of engineers and one of Coruscant''s premiere security firms, which had some nice toys to offer.

    The second one was more interesting. I had remembered something about the Jedi of my time and checked the data net if it was still the case. There was one particular holocron in the temple which was technically available to every Force Sensitive person in the galaxy. I believed that it my be useful to check it and show it to my apprentice.

    And third, if possible, I wanted to check the Jedi archives about the fate of a few friends from the Empire era. I wasn''t hopeful about that part, but who knew...

    =RK=

    Jedi Temple, Coruscant

    ''The Jedi are in for a rude awakening.'' thought a woman disguised as representative of Keldon Security, the firm which was upgrading the Temple''s defenses.

    She had her Force signature suppressed by an amulet she wore, as was the case for her five compatriots.

    The other woman in their group was walking next to her, wearing a similar outfit, while the three men had arrived early. They, as well as another agent, were dressed as tech specialists, who were upgrading the buildings perimeter sensors. That would give them an opening to exploit.

    The women reached the main entrance of the Temple, where they presented their ID cards to the clones manning a checkpoint. They were scanned with a portable scanner, which found nothing out of place, the same with the cases of s?ns?t?v? equipment that were trailing behind them on a hover sled.

    =RK=

    At the same time, a woman who had the ability to shape-shift, was making her way towards the Archives. Her mission was to hack the security network from one of the terminals there.

    Unknown to her, that would be only possible thanks to the other two women, who would be upgrading the Temple''s security network at the time, giving her an opening to exploit.

    Unfortunately for the covert agents, none of them had any chance to pass as a Jedi Master and simply waltz in the vault where the holocrons were held, even though they could use the Force.

    Retrieving the device was only the first step. After they got the holocron, the real prize must be captured ¨C the data crystal that was used to read them. Even more irritating, then they would need a real Jedi to make the kriffing thing work. Persuading him or her to help was going to be a major pain in the ?ss.

    After all, those things were usually set up to destroy themselves and the data if someone who didn''t know precisely what he was doing tried to tamper with them.

    The shape shifter entered the archives and had to suppress a wince. A young Togruta female, who was obviously bored out of her mind headed her way.

    =RK=

    We landed in one of the Jedi Temple''s hangars, and I waited for my men to disembark. They gave me the all clear signal and I marched down the ramp, followed by Aria. She was looking around nervously. I couldn''t blame her. The last time she was here, my apprentice was attacking the damn place.

    We were met by a squad for 812th Infantry battalion, who, after checking our ID''s, waved us through. Good for them. If they just let us through on my behalf, there would have been hell to pay.

    It was time to start the inspection.

    =RK=

    Part 3

    Great Hall, Jedi Temple, Coruscant

    I shouldn''t be surprised. Not at all.

    What was irritating me wasn''t the dirty looks many Jedi were giving my apprentice or me. It was kind of expected. It wasn''t a problem with the inspection either, which was a pleasant surprise. The GAR engineers working on the Temple were a competent bunch.

    It was the damn alarm which started blaring that soured my mood. The building was being put on lock-down.

    The clones who were on guard duty scrambled to seal up the exits and cover the various civilians that were in the building for one reason or another.

    I turned to the lieutenant who was our guide and ordered: "Take us to the security control room at once."

    The clone gave me a crisp salute and headed to the far end of the Great Hall, and we followed suit.

    The damn Jedi just couldn''t stay out of trouble!

    =RK=

    Bane finally reached his destination, and started slicing through the vault defenses. Behind him, the irritating tin-can provided by the Sith Lord''s agent''s was doing the same.

    The mercenary was already starting to regret agreeing to this ?ssignment. He was almost caught by a clone patrol before entering the ventilation shafts and then he was moments from being sliced into salad by a giant kriffing fan!

    That didn''t even take into an account the insane extraction plan, which apparently consisted of five idiots raising hell within the Temple so he could get away with the prize.

    =RK=

    My apprentice and me were admitted into the security center of the Jedi Temple, after another round of scans and checks. I left the troops outside and entered, accompanied only by Aria.

    Inside we found the Clone commander, who was in charge of the troopers protecting the building, four of his men working on various consoles, and of course a group of Jedi. Those were Yoda, who had a deep frown on his face, Ayala Secura, who until recently was leading the GAR forces on Felucia. To my pleasant surprise, the third Jedi in the room was Shaak Ti, who have me a curt nod. My only disappointment was that she was wearing heavy robes, which hid her mouth watering figure.

    "Deep in the Temple, the intruders are." declared Yoda.

    I smirked at his words.

    "I hope you don''t mean us, Master Yoda." I said, unable to keep the amusement from my voice.

    He glanced at me. The look he gave me was enough to summarize his feelings on that question. It practically screamed "Children, these days..."

    Yoda closed his eyes for a moment and I could sense him drawing on he Force, which swirled around him, ??r?ssing the small being like a gentle wind.

    "Possible it is, inside help help, they have." stated the Jedi Grandmaster. He went to a nearby console with a built in comm unit and spoke with deceptive calmness in his voice.

    "Possible deception I sense. Disguised as a Jedi, the intruder may be. Find Madam Jocasta, you must."

    "I take it that Ahsoka is in for some fun time." I muttered. Unless they found her another job to keep the little spitfire busy.

    =RK=

    Archives, Jedi Temple, Coruscant

    "Bane, the two Jedi have turned around and making their way towards you." said the Archivist.

    Ahsoka frowned. That was the old woman''s voice, all right. However, the padawan couldn''t really believe that the sweet old lady was the one helping the intruders. She tried to feel that person through the Force and frowned. Whoever was masquerading as madam Jocasta was someone Ahsoka had never met before.

    She drew her lightsaber and used the Force to pull the stranger as well as the chair she was sitting on towards her. The doppelganger shouted in surprise as she flew backwards and landed in a heap at Ahsoka''s feet.

    The Padawan glared at the confused expression of the old woman, who in turn was starring at the green lightsaber blade pointing at her head.

    "Who are you? What did you do with the Archivist?" growled Ahsoka.

    The shape-shifter sneered: "The same thing I''m going to do to you!"

    Ahsoka felt a warning coming through the Force and jumped back. She b?r?ly evaded the needles which were shot from the wrists of the Archivist''s double.

    The impostor wasted no time and jumped to her feet, grabbing the lightsaber hilt she had retrieved from the old woman. She had to deal with this girl fast and get away from the Temple while she still had a chance.

    The mercenary charged at the padawan, holding the saber in a comfortable two handed grip. She hoped that her skills with a vibroblade would be up to the task.

    For an instant, Ahsoka was surprised by the sheer ferocity of the onslaught. She hadn''t expected that someone who wasn''t a Force s?ns?t?v? to be more than marginally proficient with a lightsaber.

    The Togruta fell back, deflecting the blows raining on her with practiced ease. A powerful strike pushed her to a nearby table, and she twisted to her left, avoiding the next attack which sliced through the furniture.

    Ahsoka glared at the impostor and went on the offensive.

    In the next few seconds, the padawan found out, that despite somewhat skilled with a blade, her opponent didn''t really know how to use a lightsaber. Tano locked their weapons together and used the Force to pick up a nearby chair, which she used to strike the impostor in the back.

    The doppelganger was smashed against a computer console and slumped to the ground. The intruder''s shape blurred, revealing her true form, that of a green alien female.

    Ahsoka used the Force to slam her adversary to the ground, so she was on her back and her arms pointed away from the Jedi.

    "I want answers!" hissed the padawan.

    =RK=

    Security center, Jedi Temple, Coruscant

    "Master Skywalker, I caught the impostor. She says that the target is the holocron vault."

    "That makes no sense!" I could hear Kenobi''s exclamation over the comm. "The holocrons are protected. You need a genuine Jedi to retrieve the information."

    Or a Sith who knew what he was doing, but I didn''t say that aloud. If they thought that the holocrons could really be accessed only by Jedi, well, that was a delusion I was glad to let them keep.

    "You can reach the communications tower from the vicinity of the vault if you cut through a few walls." said one of the clones, who was examining the Temple schematics.

    "The vault is a decoy. We are going to the communications tower!" Anakin''s distorted voice rumbled through the comm''s speaker.

    A moment later, we all could hear a subdued rumble.

    "That was an explosion at the Vault!" informed us one of the clones.

    "Is this a diversion?" wondered Master Secura.

    "Perhaps. Cloak''s the future, the Dark Side does..." murmured Yoda. "See the truth I can not."

    "Sirs, we just lost the sensor grid over the comm tower!" shouted one of the clones.

    "I''m detecting a jamming field there too!" added another.

    Anakin and Obi-Wan, who were patched through to the Security Center, could hear that too.

    "The Vault is a diversion! We are heading towards the tower."

    "Seal that section of the Temple at once!" ordered Shaak Ti. "No one leaves it without being cleared by a Jedi Master first!"

    I heard a clicking sound from the right, where the panel covering the air vent fell into the room. A short droid looked at us.

    "Hey, guys!" it waved at us.

    I could swear that this machine was acting nervous.

    The Force screamed a warning, loud enough to cause a headache.

    I acted without thinking, and grabbed Aria''s arm, pulling her behind me. In the same time I was wrenching as much Force power as I could into my grasp, and desperately molded it into a shield in front of us.

    The Jedi''s were scrambling too. Shaak Ti, who had the bulk of a massive holoprojector between her and the small droid grabbed the surprised commander, and dragged him to the ground.

    Yoda and Master Secura, who were next to the robot sent telekinetic waves at it. I could see a shield flaring to life around it, absorbing most of the power which struck it.

    Nevertheless, the droid was pushed back. I could hear it impacting the wall of the air-duck.

    Then it exploded, showering Yoda and Ayala with a stream of liquid fire. The geometry of the air-shaft worked against the Jedi, channeling a significant part of the blast-wave straight at them.

    My hastily erected shield was buffered by the dissipating blast wave, but it held easily.

    I could sense that the two of them were alive. Through the smoke, I could b?r?ly make out a shimmer where the two Jedi Masters stood. I waved my hand, sending a telekinetic wave of my own, which dispersed a lot of the smoke, revealing that Yoda had erected a shield to protect them.

    My estimations of the little fellas abilities were raised up even further.

    "This is another diversion." I stated, meaning the attempt to bomb us. I could feel clones dying in the Temple.

    =RK=

    Holocron Vault, Jedi Temple, Coruscant

    Bane could hear a pair of Jedi running by near his hiding place. He smiled when they passed him without taking any note. So that medallion he was carrying actually worked. How interesting. The possibilities...

    But this was not the time for scheming. He had work to do.

    The mercenary moved to the half blown Vault door and squeezed himself through the hole. Once inside he looked around. Three of the walls, as well as a vast column, which was taking most of the space in the room, were covered top to bottom with small niches. Big enough for cubes little bigger than a grown man''s fist.

    He walked to the column and retrieved three of the objects at random. Bane knew that his client needed only one, but he wanted to have few spares. Just in case.

    Now, it was time to see if the extraction plan would work...

    =RK=

    Communications Tower, Jedi Temple, Coruscant

    When Kenobi and Skywalker reached their destination, they found pandemonium waiting for them. There were three squads of clones cut to pieces with lightsabers as well as the bodies of two Jedi Knights and their padawans.

    The armored doors leading to the comm center were a twisted ruin. That caught Anakin''s eye.

    "Obi-Wan, those doors were blown from the inside!" exclaimed the younger Jedi.

    "So it appears." agreed Kenobi.

    They carefully entered the comm center. Their eyes were scanning all around for traps, and the Jedi searching for threats through the Force.

    Inside they found only dead equipment and the bodies of the men and women who were supposed to operate it.

    What got their attention was the ragged hole in the ceiling. It was painfully obvious how the intruders had gained entrance to the comm center.

    "This section of the temple is being sealed off. They won''t get away with it!" hissed Skywalker.

    Obi-Wan looked at the mangled bodies lying around. Most of them had died in the explosion which had caved in the ceiling, but a few were finished with lightsaber strikes.

    "I agree." whispered the Jedi Master.

    =RK=

    Security Center, Jedi Temple, Coruscant

    "Commander, I want this whole building sealed off. No one leaves the Temple. Is that understood?" I ordered the clone officer.

    "Yes, sir!" he answered and started snapping orders of his own.

    "This is an internal Jedi matter." protested Master Secura, who had escaped the explosion intact.

    "We can argue about it when the intruders are caught!" she was cut off by Shaak Ti. "We have bigger problems, so I don''t want any bickering about who is in charge!" she glared both at her fellow Jedi Master and myself.

    "There will be no problems from my side, Master Shaak Ti." I answered formally.

    "Stopped, the intruders, must be." declared Yoda. "Deception within deception, I sense. Careful, we must be."

    "Sir, we just lost contact with one of the detachments escorting a group of civilian contractors." informed one of the clones.

    =RK=

    The two female infiltrators nodded at each other. They had acted a bit sooner than expected, but that was only because a golden opportunity had fallen in their hands. A pair of Jedi had ordered their padawans to help the clones escorting their group of civilians. So, a few minutes later, when they were reasonably sure that there were no Jedi in their immediate vicinity, the covert operatives pounced.

    They used the Force to surprise the wet-behind-the-ears padawans, summoning their blades and slamming the unfortunate youngsters in the nearby wall. Then, they ignited the weapons and pounced on the squad of clones escorting them.

    Before the padawans could recover, the troopers were dead and the ?ssassins cut them down as well.

    The stunned civilians were next to fall.

    The pair of ?ssassins then separated, running towards their ?ssigned targets.

 Chapter 32 - The Future of the Order

    Part 1

    Jedi Temple, Coruscant

    "Sir, Jammers are going up all around the Temple. We just lost sensor coverage over most of the building." one of the clones reported calmly, showing no sign that the explosion had affected him in the least.

    "I can''t sense the intruders with the Force," stated Master Secura.

    "There are a lot of techniques and trinkets that can aid someone evade the foresight of a Force Adept," I shrugged.

    I wondered what had happened with my stash of Force related artifacts in the last few millennia. They were probably plundered by now.

    "As Master Secura observed, its your temple, Master Yoda. What do you need done?" I asked Yoda. "The Republic Army is ready and willing to ?ssist the Jedi in their hour of need." I didn''t add aloud the obvious "again".

    "Track down the intruders, we must. Their true purpose we know not." grumbled Yoda.

    By his expression, I could gather that he wasn''t relishing almost being blown up to kingdom come in his own Temple. Then, there was the fact that a smug, smirking Sith Lord was standing in front of him, offering to help them. Again. Yeah. That had to grate.

    I could hardly conceal my glee. Who could have thought that being evil could be so much fun?

    Yoda''s ears twitched with exasperation.

    "Secured the younglings and the archives must be. The Communications Tower, handled by Kenobi and Skywalker will be."

    "I''m going to the archives. I don''t think that any of you would tolerate me being anywhere near your Younglings."

    They didn''t disagree with my ?ssessment of the situation.

    "Escort the General, you will, Master Ti," declared Yoda, disregarding the glares headed my way. Or perhaps not. I could almost feel a tingle of amusement in his aura.

    I turned to my apprentice. "Aria, stay here and make sure that the security center remains more or less intact. Besides, I won''t risk some overeager Jedi mistaking you as one of the intruders. That''s a complication neither of us want."

    This time the Jedi agreed with me.

    "This way, Veil." Shaak Ti darted towards the door, without sparing me a second glance.

    I dashed after her. I reached the Jedi Master when she was next to the exit. I was just in time to have a front row view of the armored door sliding to the side and a lot of heavily armed clones trying to rush in. Trying was the operative word.

    The door was b?r?ly opened, when my security detail rushed through, almost colliding with Shaak Ti. Only her deft reflexes allowed her to slide to the right, avoiding Waxer, who was leading one of the squads charged with keeping me in one piece.

    "Watch out!" warned Waxer, and moved to his right, opening space for the rest of the men.

    If the damn building wasn''t under attack, (and the Jedi who was almost trampled wasn''t Shaak Ti), it would have been an amusing accident.

    "Sergeant Waxer, your squad is with me," I ordered. "The rest of you, protect the security center."

    "Right away, Sir!" answered me the freshly promoted NCO.

    Waxer was one of the many clones who found themselves bumped up a rank after the AARs from the Ryloth debacle got completed. There were a lot of free slots that needed filling when the dust settled. And that was a victory for what it was worth. A decent one even, considering that we were ordered to go straight into a trap.

    I could detect a tiny hint of disapproval in his voice. Ah, yeah. He wasn''t relishing the thought that the general he was supposed to protect was about to get himself in another mess. It was a good thing that I had chosen my security detail with the idea that they would be acting as a back up instead as a bunch of glorified bodyguards.

    =RK=

    GAR Detention Center SIGMA

    Classified Location

    Coruscant

    They headed to a nondescript building, which as far as anyone knew, contained a minor R&D lab working for the Republic. After the attacks on Coruscant, no one was surprised that the army was providing security for the site. However, it was anything but. The place was home of one of the GAR''s most secret detention centers. From outside it looked like just another building ?ssociated with the Army. Nothing special. It was simply another one of the hundreds, if not thousands "ordinary" GAR facilities on Coruscant.

    "Sigma Station, Avatar Zero-Three-One requests permission to land. Stand by for identification code."

    "Roger, Avatar flight. Send the identification code."

    "Sending ident..."

    "Code received... and its clear. Avatar flight you have permission to land. Head to pad two."

    "Wilco, Sigma Station."

    Thirty seconds later, the three LAATs landed on the designated platform. The only door leading deeper opened, revealing two squads of heavily armed clones. The troopers moved towards the transport calmly and professionally. They did a brief scan while taking a position around it.

    =RK=

    Communications Tower

    Coruscant

    A man wearing a work clothes sneaked through the top levels of one of the Jedi Temple''s towers. His mission was complete and he only needed to get away clean. It was both easier and more difficult than one might expect. The Temple''s sensor grid was either disabled and the Jedi themselves couldn''t sense him.

    Yet, he was far from safe. There were clones converging on his position, and soon reinforcements would arrive at the building, sealing it.

    He was running out of time.

    He was running out of luck.

    ''Make that he was all out,'' he observed to himself as five clones turned the corner. They were carefully sweeping the corridor, their weapons at the ready.

    Had he been less professional, he would have cursed. Instead he acted, would have hesitated. Instead he acted.

    Before the clones could react, he was already in motion. He blasted them off their feet with the force, and was in their midst before they could even cry out in surprise

    He landed blade down, impaling their leader, before pulling a second soldier to him. The clone''s armor provided no resistance to his crimson energy blade, and landed behind him, neatly divided in half.

    The last thing he saw was the nondescript face of his killer, as he pulled his weapon from his torso, his expression as dispassionate as any Jedi.

    The man pretending to be a common worker, deactivated his weapon and ran. A minute later he passed through an air vent and crawled to the exterior of the building. One of the LAAT gunships patrolling around the Temple passed near him and he jumped inside through an open side door.

    There, he donned a suit of clone armor, making him appear just as one more of the countless duplicates of Jango Fett.

    =RK=

    Near the Archives

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    We met a human woman, dressed as an employee of the security company helping upgrade the Temple''s defenses.

    "What an honor," she chuckled after studying us for few seconds.

    The fact that she was out and about to begin with was remarkable. In a situation like this, it was a warning sign, one and enough to detain her with lethal force... However, that was almost an afterthought. She got our undivided attention, for a different reason. We couldn''t sense her in the Force.

    She gave us a demure smile and charged, activating a blue lightsaber. I drew my own weapon and sent a telekinetic wave at her, which she canceled with one of her own, with no apparent effort at all. Then she counterattacked, blasting us with a solid wall of Force energy.

    I managed to remain on my feet by shoveling a wedge of telekinetic energy in front of me. Shaak Ti did almost as well. I think that facing something who wasn''t there in the Force had surprised her a lot and kept her off balance. She stumbled few paces back, but remained upright.

    I had to break Shaak Ti of that habit. Being surprised by someone or something "blank" in the Force was a good way to get yourself killed. There were various artifacts and Force disciplines which could create that effect.

    For me, it wasn''t anything I hadn''t faced as an apprentice on Korriban, and that''s before you take the various Sith Assassins into account.

    There was no more time for thinking. The woman, whose most distinctive feature was an utterly ordinary, forgettable face, was upon me. That in itself was ringing alarm bells in the depths of my mind, but I was too busy fighting to pay enough attention to whatever my subcouncience was trying to tell me.

    She was an unpleasant surprise. This nobody, turned out to be one of the most dangerous opponents I faced ever since coming to this time. She was fast. Strong. Unpredictable. And a damn fine blade-master.

    Our blades clashed in a screech of released energies. Moment later, Shaak Ti was at my side, yet we couldn''t immediately overwhelm our adversary. She ducked and weaved around our blades, parrying and riposting.

    "Who are you?" I asked.

    Her smile grew wider.

    =RK=

    Communication Tower, Jedi Temple, Coruscant

    Anakin and Obi-Wan followed a trail of death. While they couldn''t feel the intruders responsible for the massacre at the comm center, they could sense the death of a Jedi. The Force signature that winked out felt familiar, but neither of them could place a name to it.

    Despite what someone might expect, neither of them knew all ten thousand of their brothers and sisters.

    It wasn''t too far away. They rushed that way, only to find a Jedi Knight and squad of clones, who were cut to pieces.

    They could hear shots and the distinctive sounds of blaster bolts being deflected by lightsaber, coming from nearby. The two friends wasted no time and dashed that way.

    Less than a minute later, they reached an intersection. There they found another group of gutted clones. A human girl laid sprawled on the ground. Her unseeing eyes looked accusingly at Anakin.

    He frowned, noticing her padawan braid. He knew her face, but the name escaped him. Helin? Helen? Something like that. And now she was dead, cut down within the Temple, where she should have been safe.

    There was a charred hole where her heart used to be, a testament of how much both the Jedi and the GAR had failed that day.

    Behind the death, the two Jedi could see one of their own facing a pair of men in worker''s coveralls.

    Kenobi recognized the man facing the intruders. He was Kolren Plox, one of the better healers in the Temple. However, the medic had never been particularly good with the blade, preferring to dedicate his time to studying medicine.

    Anakin and Obi-Wan activated their lightsabers and charged at the enemies. It took them exactly three seconds to reach the intruders.

    More than enough time for the infiltrators to deal with Plox. One battered aside Kolren''s azure lightsaber, leaving the man open for a slash. A crimson blade cut through his ?h?st, leaving him to fall back to the ground without uttering a sound.

    A moment before Obi-Wan and Anakin were upon them, the duo of ?ssassins whirled around and faced them. Blue and crimson blades clashed in a deadly dance.

    =RK=

    Lower Levels

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    While the Jedi and their clone ??pdogs were loosing their heads trying to contain multiple threats, a single figure stalked through the corridors of the Temple. She was cloaked thanks to a stealth field and a liberal use of her Force powers.

    Deception, within deception, within deception... Rinse and repeat. That was her master''s modus operandi.

    Everything that was happening on that day was a sleight of hand. Strictly speaking, they didn''t need to steal a Jedi Holocron. Not from the Temple anyway. Her true master had access to few of those toys. Only a Jedi who would know how to bypass the encryption on the crystal containing the names and location of the Force s?ns?t?v? children across the galaxy was really needed. However, that wasn''t her concern.

    She had an objective to achieve, and in the great scheme of things, the games played by Sidious and the Jedi were irrelevant.

    Down she went, level after level. Each one was less traveled than the last. Soon enough, she was stalking through halls which haven''t been visited in years, perhaps decades. The only ones which paid any attention to these places were few old cleaning and maintenance droids.

    The infiltrator continued to decent. She was closing to her objective. She could almost feel it.

    =RK=

    Kelins, Outer Rim

    Meanwhile, thousands of light years away, Bolla Ropal was oblivious to the four figures stalking him.

    It wasn''t surprising. When all was said and done, the Jedi and most other Force Adepts through history, were reliant to their extraordinary perception and senses. Too reliant to them.

    An experienced clone trooper or mercenary might have noticed the stalkers. Not that would have done them much good.

    The four hunters stalking their prey, passed through the crowds on the busy streets of this relatively new colony world as a bunch of ghosts. No one looked twice at them.

    Nearly an hour later, Ropal reached his destination. It was a small home on the outskirts of the town. He was there to pick up a particularly powerful Twi''lek boy. The kid was going to make a great addition to the Order, the Jedi Master was sure of it.

    Bolla was few hundred meters from the house when he was able to clearly feel the child''s Force signature. It was notable, because he was not even trying.

    The Rodian took few more steps towards the house and halted. He sensed something, though it wasn''t through the Force. Perhaps it was some kind of instinct, or his sense for self preservation.

    Rapol could feel eyes upon his back, something that wasn''t surprising. No matter where they went, the Jedi were often stared at by the populace. Yet, there was something different this time.

    He turned around and frowned. Four figures disguised by black cloaks were walking towards him, like predators ready to pounce on their prey.

    If he wasn''t a Jedi with all that imply, his eyes would have popped out of their sockets. He could see them, but as far as the Force was concerned, they were non-existent.

    He felt eyes upon his back and turned around. Four figures disguised by black cloaks were stalking towards him. His huge eyes almost popped out of their sockets. He could see them, but as far as the Force was concerned, they were non-existent.

    The Jedi''s right hand fell on the hilt of his lightsaber.

    The figures continued walking towards him. They drew lightsabers of their own, which snapped to life a moment later.

    =RK=

    GAR Detention Center SIGMA

    Classified Location

    Coruscant

    The three LAAT''s that just landed, shut down all their equipment as the welcoming committee was surrounding them. The clones in the transport carefully came out, wary of their "prisoner".

    The lights in the hangar blinked once and cut off. The computer system of the detention center crashed under a dedicated cyber attack. At the same time, the men who got out to secure the new prisoner were mercilessly cut down by a hail of blaster fire.

    "Good. Let''s go." grunted the man who played the role of prisoner. He towered almost two heads above the clones who acted as his escorts.

    They ran towards the entrance of the Detention center.

    =RK=

    Part 2

    Lower Levels

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    It didn''t look like much. Just a plain metal door, one among many, in a long, dusty corridor.

    She took a deep breath, tasting heavy, stale air. Her body tingled in anticipation.

    The woman wiped the dust and grime covering a panel on the wall, next to the door and started typing a long sequence of numbers. It took her thirty seconds to enter the whole code.

    Then she paused, waited for a five seconds and did so again.

    To an impartial observer, her actions might have looked pointless. After all, the panel appeared to be out of power, dead like everything in the deep warrens under the Jedi Temple. After all, this part of the maze under the Jedi''s home had been cut off from the power grid for a long, long time.

    However, her actions were rewarded by a mechanical clicking, which came from the door. It slid in the walls, revealing a short corridor, which was lit by a soft blue light.

    The infiltrator, stepped in and waited for the door to close behind her. Moment later, she heard quiet buzzing and actually felt the beams of ancient scanners mapping up the depths of her body.

    A quiet ping latter, and the machines concentrated their attention on her head.

    The buzzing grew louder. She felt a tingling sensation within her cranium, where one of her implants came to life. A blinding lance of power slammed in her head. An ancient computer up-linked with her implants. It touched her mind, probing, watching. Judging.

    For an endless moment, she felt like ice picks were stabbing her brain. She stumbled, almost falling.

    She knew if it found her lacking, her life was forfeit. If the security system had been set up by ordinary Jedi, she might have hopped for non lethal protections in place, but she knew better. That place had been created by the Old Republic''s Special Operations Command and the some Jedi who weren''t afraid to get their hands dirty when it was needed. And that place''s contents needed protection.

    The machines around her chimed in content, almost as if the AI was happy.

    After all those countless years, it finally had purpose!

    The presence of the Old Republic AI became a soft buzz in the back of her head. Her codes and implant signatures checked up, matching what was stored in three thousand and six hundred years old data banks.

    The door in front of her slowly opened with a quiet grinding noise.

    The infiltrator looked at the large room that was revealed to her and smiled. Her prize was at hand.

    =RK=

    Communications Tower

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    This anger he felt. It brought comfort.

    Obi-Wan knew it was wrong.

    It shrouded his senses, numbing the pain of seeing one of his friends cut down in front of his eyes. Feeling Korlen die, drove him even closer to the breaking point. Another friend lost due to this senseless war.

    For a first time since Qui-Gion''s death, Kenobi lost his calm. Again. hate tried to worm its way within his heart, but this time, it succeeded.

    If it wasn''t for this second attack on the Temple in little more than a month, Obi-Wan would have remained in control, the Model Jedi Master.

    Instead, he was betrayed by his own feelings.

    Anger and hate surged through Obi-Wan''s being and he fell on his chosen target as a rabid Krath hound. The ?ssassin was caught off guard by the ferocity of the onslaught.

    The infiltrator fell back in a desperate attempt to avoid the savage bite of Kenobi''s azure blade. He took a defensive stance parrying the furious attacks raining all over him.

    The surprise almost did him in. He was facing a Jedi Master. They weren''t supposed to attack in a berzerker rage!

    For Kenobi, that moment was a solitary slip in judgment, one that would have... interesting consequences down the line. He had to draw on all of his experience, years of training, and sheer willpower to pull himself out of that maddened state.

    The sudden outburst of fury tampered off, but the anger was still there. The events of the past weeks were of sufficient gravity that his outage was too great to silence. Instead, his burning rage was tempered into a frozen spear of determination by a force of will that only a Master Jedi could accomplish.

    Obi-Wan took a brief moment to focus himself. He lost some of the momentum his outburst had gained him, but that was a small price to pay in comparison. One that Kenobi would pay gladly.

    He regained some of his control, yet this time the anger he felt, refused to be banished. All he could do was to clamp down on this emotion, prevent it from distracting him in the heat of combat.

    Nevertheless, the anger effected him. While Kenobi fought it on one level, on another, deep within his subconsciousness, the Jedi used it. It made him faster, stronger. It gave Obi-Wan a killer instinct he usually lacked, no matter who or what he faced.

    =RK=

    Anakin glared at the man who faced him, his own anger burning in his belly like a furnace, but not yet to the point where it overcame his good sense.

    ''This is The Jedi Temple, not a kirffing Sith playground!'' he silently fumed.

    Skywalker bit off a snarl and went on the offensive.

    This madness had to end!

    He was angry that these bastards would date to attack his home. Furious that they dared murder his brothers and sisters. And frustrated that he seemed completely unable to stop them

    So he reached down into that pit of fury sitting in his belly and seized it. Harnessed it, and shook as a he felt the passion surge through his body.

    =RK=

    Near the Archives

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    Something was terribly wrong. I could feel it in my bones.

    It went beyond the irritating woman we were facing, but she was the immediate threat. I knew that the warning within the Force wasn''t something that should be disregarded, though we needed to deal with her before I could investigate what my instincts were telling me.

    But that was proving out to be somewhat troublesome.

    The obnoxious woman we were facing was a different type of threat. She wasn''t skilled enough with a lightsaber to pose a significant threat to either one of us, much less both of us. The main problem was that whatever she used to cloak herself from the Force, removed one of our main advantages. Sith and Jedi both, we depended a lot on anticipating our opponents through the Force.

    But even that, wasn''t enough to completely explain it.

    Doing so could be extremely useful, at times, but it came at a steep cost. An artifact could hide your signature, the proper techniques could conceal it, but drawing on the Force in that state was like turning on a light while hidden in the shadows. The moment you used your powers the veal would drop.

    While often forgotten in the face of our more obvious abilities, one of the things that truly separated Force Adepts from the common throng was our ability to enhance ourselves. Even a Jedi Youngling could boost their strength and reflexes to a point that could challenge even a seasoned warrior.

    Shaak Ti was a Jedi Master, one of the best the Order had. Her skill was admirable, even to someone from my era, and I was a kriffing Sith Lord, with all the power and ability that such a title implied.

    This woman should have been limited to human physical norms, yet she was matching us blow for blow. What she was doing should have been physically impossible.

    To make everything more irritating for me, there was the nagging feeling that she was somehow familiar. While I could swear that I had never laid my eyes upon her, somehow I knew her. It was maddening.

    "Veil, have you faced someone like her before?" Shaak Ti asked a moment after ducking under a lighting fast swipe and riposting only to meet air as the infiltrator jumped back, avoiding my attempt to remove her sword hand.

    It was a good question.

    "I''m not sure..." I muttered.

    I propelled myself forward, using the Force. My blade crashed into the infiltrator''s stolen saber a moment before I slammed into her.

    I was a head taller, twice her mass, and not to mention in heavy armor. The collision should have thrown her off her feet, sending her dazzled to the ground. The first did happen. She flew couple of meters back, before rolling at a low crouch. As she glared at me and her eyes shone with soft blue light.

    A smile came to my face as the situation finally made itself clear. I stretched my neck, letting the bones pop quietly for effect.

    "Ah. It''s been a while since I faced something like you. Pray tell, how much are you enhanced?" I asked.

    =RK=

    GAR Detention Center SIGMA

    Classified Location

    Coruscant

    The masked mercenary leading the raid grunted in displeasure. There was almost no resistance while he led the troops under his command into storming one of the better defended facilities on Coruscant.

    Just as expected. Most of the building were on lock down, cutting off the defense forces stationed within the detention center from his path.

    When all was said and done, he had to face a short company of clone troopers. Piecemeal.

    If he''d had to take them head on, he''d have never taken the job. But with the aid of benefactor and the agents he had within the Republic, a suicidal ?ssault had been transformed into a cake walk.

    Enough that he felt a pang of disappointment. While he might be a merc, and this was easy money, he still wanted a bit more of a challenge, kriff it all! Damn Sith and their schemes!

    Still, he reflected as he blew the head off yet another clone, killing all of these cut rate Mandalorian knockoffs was still quite cathartic

    The conclusion of his primary objective was underwhelming. A bunch of shaped charges blew the doors leading to their target. They were followed by a spread smoke and fragmentation grenades, with couple of Thermal Detonators for effect, which left the last defenders easy prey for few well aimed burst of fire.

    The last squad of clones trying to stop him never knew what hit them.

    A hacked door later and he entered a small cell, dominated by delicate life support machinery, surrounding a large cylinder filled with clear liquid. Inside he could see a few pathetic bits of meat and one glaring eye.

    Behold the great and mighty General Grievous in all his terrible glory!

    This was all waste of time, if you asked him.

    "Pack this cretin and lets go, before the Republic drop a regiment or something on our heads!" grumbled Durge.

    "Roger, sir!" answered one of the soldiers aiding in the jail break.

    =RK=

    Kelins

    Outer Rim

    Bolla Ropal steeled himself in the face on the oncoming ?ssault.

    "This is a first." he muttered.

    Facing ?ssailants who were apparently non-existent in the Force was a new experience for the Jedi Master. Under different circumstances, he might have found it fascinating.

    But not now. Not only his life was on the line, but that of the Force s?ns?t?v? kid he had come to recruit.

    "I gather that just going on our separate ways isn''t an option?" Bolla inquired calmly, and fell in a Soresu stance, waiting them to act.

    The cloaked men ignored his words and charged.

    The Rodian met their onslaught without flinching. He parried a slash aimed at his head, sidestepped an overenthusiastic lunge and jumped over a swipe which tried to cut off his legs, only to receive a kick in the ribs for his trouble.

    Bolla was caught mid air by the strike and it sent him crashing on the ground. He wasted no time and rolled away, b?r?ly avoiding one of his attackers, who jumped at him and nearly impaled him with his blade.

    Ropal sent a Force wave at his attackers before jumping to his feet. To his unpleasant surprise it only staggered them for a brief moment. But at least it allowed him to regain a bit of the initiative in the fight.

    He ran away, in an attempt to get some distance between himself and the strangers trying to kill him. From the brief encounter it was painfully clear to him that facing them all together was a losing proposition.

    Bolla sprinted to the nearest house and jumped to its roof. A moment after he landed, the Jedi turned around and his blade was singing through the air.

    He caught the fastest of his pursuers off guard and cut through the ?h?st of the cloaked man, sending him back over the edge to crash on the ground, meters below them.

    The remaining ?ssassins moved as one, jumping together after their prey.

    =RK=

    Lower Levels

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    She smiled. The large room was full with tables and shelves, each one of which was covered by artifacts from the Great War. Any one of them alone would be a great prize, yet she didn''t spare them a second glance.

    Those trinkets, no matter how dangerous and useful, paled in comparison to her goal. At the far wall of the room, behind a solid wall of warship grade armor laid her targets.

    She went to a lit up terminal, which was near the goal and started typing, all the while the AI protecting the small sanctuary under the Jedi Temple watched her with ill disguised curiosity.

    It took her minutes of manually inputting codes which no living being should have remembered after all those years, before she heard a series of mechanical clicks. The room rumbled and sections of the nearest wall slid down, revealing another room, much smaller this time.

    The infiltrator smile grew and she walked into the computer core of the AI. She retrieved a datapad from her belt and hooked it to the ancient machine.

    Moment''s later a chime rang in announcing that the new device was recognized and connected to the core.

    "Copy all information to projects under Case Red and above." she ordered aloud, while sending a mental command through her implants.

    The AI hesitated for a split second and obeyed. The woman had the necessary codes and had followed the procedures hardwired in its computer core.

    Meanwhile, the woman walked to the back of the room. Her next prize waited there.

    A pitch black cube, with a meter long sides. A cylinder made by transparent metal in which a gray humanoid droid was suspended into a stasis field. A pedestal with a single silver Holocron.

    That was it. She frowned. There was supposed to be something else there too!

    "Computer. Where is Subject ''Ascension''? "she asked.

    "It was removed three thousand six hundred eighty eight years ago." answered a bland, emotionless voice.

    "To where?"

    "No data available."

    "Damn it!" she cursed, though three out of four should be good enough.

    The woman removed a star-burst shaped necklace from her neck and concentrated on the Force. She reached with her right hand and the Holocron rose in the air. It started shifting under her directions until it revealed an emerald which was in its heart.

    The crystal flew to her outstretched hand, while the Holocron returned to its previous shape and gently laid back to its resting place.

    The infiltrator pocketed her prize and went to the cube.

    She started pressing various points on it, apparently at random, while sending brief bursts of Force energy through her fingers.

    Soon enough, it rang with a single note. A pulse of silver energy ran all over it''s surface and it started shifting. It''s outer edges became blurs, leaving an impression that the object now existed in more dimensions than a human could perceive.

    A quiet hum could be heard in the computer core. It was slowly becoming louder.

    "It actually worked!" she exclaimed.

    She could feel how the object was drawing in Force energy to power itself.

    Moments later, she could feel a confirmation from the AI that the data transfer was complete.

    "Erase all logs concerning my presence here and delete the data concerning projects under Case Red and above from your data banks." she ordered after retrieving her data pad.

    It was time to make herself scarce. Her job was done and the device she activated should deal with any physical backups of the information that remained. Or so she thought.

    She left without sparing a second glance to the room containing the AI''s computer core. So it was no surprise that when the former cube started sending electrical discharges all around itself, it went unnoticed.

    One of those lightning bolts struck the pod containing the droid and disrupted the stasis field.

    =RK=

    Part 3

    Kelins

    Outer Rim

    Master Ropal dashed over rooftops, moving away from his pursuers. His mind was racing. He had to draw them away from the kid. Bolla didn''t have enough time to ponder how they tracked him, though considering they were undetectable through the Force, that wasn''t such big a surprise as it would have been otherwise.

    He had kriffed up. Relied too much on the Force for a warning that never came. He should have known better.

    Ropal landed on the street behind the house, with pursuers hot on his heels. He looked around, noticing a pair of box shaped droids. The machines were cleaning the street, paying no attention to the commotion.

    If the Force didn''t work particularly well when directly applied on the ?ssassins, then he would have to improvise. To be fair, he was unpleasantly surprised when his Force push didn''t throw them off their feet, but he had the nagging feeling that his plan was going to work.

    Bolla turned around and used his free hand to more easily grab the droids with the Force. When the attackers jumped to the street, they were meet by a pair of heavy metal boxes flying straight at them.

    One managed to use the Force to deflect the incoming projectile, which slammed at the side of the house behind the trio of cloaked pursuers. The man next to him wasn''t so fortunate. He was unable to fully push away the droid, and it caught him on the right shoulder. The impact hurled the ?ssassin back, who crashed on the ground in a m??ning heap.

    The Jedi Master used the opportunity to counterattack. He not only temporally incapacitated one of the remaining attackers, but had bought himself precious seconds before the one who deflected the droid could rejoin his unimpeded fellows.

    Ropal charged the masked man who was able to reach him ahead of the rest. Their blades met in a fury of blows and counter blows.

    Bolla smirked when the second ?ssassin tried to join the duel. He used the Force to pick up one of the droid he had hurled like battering ramps and pulled it towards them. The machine flew low over the ground, demolished a section of the low fence surrounding the house it had impacted and forced the second ?ssailant to jump back.

    The man engaging Master Ropal flinched when the fence behind him was demolished. His guard wavered for a split second and he got a lightsaber blade in the gut for his trouble. The ?ssassin gasped in pain and tried to stab the Jedi, but Ropal grabbed the wrist of his sword arm before moving his weapon up and to the right.

    The azure blade cut through the man''s ?h?st as if it was made of bu??er, slashed his heart and exited over his left shoulder.

    Bolla left the dead man fall to the ground and jumped over the fresh corpse. He liked the new odds much better.

    =RK=

    Lower Levels

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    A Jedi wearing hooded robe, which concealed his features, stalked through the deserted corridors of the Temple. The lock down of the building had actually helped him. No one expected that another one of the infiltrators would head for the basement, so both clones and Jedi alike were scrambling to seal all the exits and secure the perimeter, all the while they kept guard on what they believed to be critical areas.

    Well, the half forgotten halls under the Temple were none of that. Besides, there wasn''t supposed to be a way to leave the building from there. As far as the current crop of Jedi knew anyway.

    Bane smirked, and followed the directions displayed on his datapad. It took him about half hour to reach his destination. A massive sealed door, which lead to a tunnel stretching for kilometers.

    He scanned the surrounding walls, found where the hardline for the sensors watching his exit was located and got busy.

    Five minutes later, that part of the security system was thrown for a loop and he started hacking the doors control panel. It was a good thing that this part of the Temple''s underground was mostly forgotten or he would have had to dealt with clone troopers and modern security systems.

    Cad Bane couldn''t help but wonder how much the Jedi had forgotten about their own Temple, though he was ready to bet a lot that after today''s events, those ??pses in security would no longer exist.

    The wall panel blinked green and the armored door started opening with an ear piercing grinding sound. The damn thing hadn''t been in use for a very long time, which wasn''t surprising. The sheet of thick dust in the corridor was a dead giveaway.

    Bane smirked and disappeared in the dark tunnel leading to safety.

    =RK=

    Near the Archives

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    "Enough to get the job done," the infiltrator answered and charged us again.

    I shook my head. All things considered, she was rather good. Good enough to slow down either one of us if she was lucky, though that was mostly due to whatever cloaked her.

    Against Shaak Ti and me, once we adjusted to fighting an opponent such as that obnoxious woman?

    I met her charge head on, forcing her to back off under a flurry of brutal strikes. That gave Shaak Ti an opening and she took it, slipping to the woman''s left side. The infiltrator tried to turn so she could continue facing both of us, but I didn''t give her the chance and pressed my attack. I saw a look of resignation in her eyes a moment before my Jedi Master friend made her move and literally disarmed our adversary.

    The crippled woman jumped back, and leaned on the wall behind her.

    "Heh. Just as expected from the two of you," she smirked. Then scowled at us. "You''ve won nothing!"

    Her head twitched. Her eyes became bloodshot pools crisscrossed by crimson veins and she crumbled to the floor.

    I''ve seen more than enough corpses in my day. I knew she was dead before she hit the ground.

    I frowned at the body. This war was gaining a new and unexpected dimension. I wondered what secrets her body held. The GAR R&D teams would love to get their hands on her implants.

    "We still need to check on the Archives."

    Shaak Ti''s voice got me back to the real world. I nodded and we sprinted forward.

    =RK=

    Near the Communications Tower

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    The raid on the Jedi Temple was all but over. The only remaining resistance were the two men who were engaging Skywalker and Kenobi. Those two infiltrators weren''t faring too good.

    While they had superb training and top of the line cybernetic enhancements, they were never meant to meet opponents such as those two Jedi, unless they had heavy reinforcements at hand. It was too bad that the ones who could count on help were Obi-Wan and his former apprentice.

    Not that they needed it.

    Both Jedi were quite furious, struggling to control their emotions. At least Kenobi was. Yet he wasn''t quite successful. While the Jedi Master was getting calmer, he was fighting with an aggression that would surprise those who knew him. His opponent was forced to fall back constantly in order to absorb the strong attacks raining all over him.

    The only reason that ?ssassin was still alive was simple. Obi-Wan was a master of Soresu. While he was quite proficient with some of the other forms of lightsaber combat, they felt off to him, especially when on the offensive.

    It didn''t matter in the end. The infiltrator he was facing merely got an extra fifteen seconds to live, but the outcome was a foregone conclusion. A sweeping strike pushed away the crimson blade of the infiltrator, who was too slow to parry the next attack. The tip of Obi-Wan''s lightsaber slashed through half his neck, before stabbing him in the ?h?st for good measure.

    Behind them, Anakin was already done. Cybernetic implants or not, Skywalker''s powerful strikes, enhanced by the Force and the strength of his prosthetic arm were more than the last of the ?ssassins could handle.

    Punishing blow after punishing blow had struck the infiltrator''s defenses, until he could no longer keep up. There was no finesse in what Anakin did. He simply battered his opponent into submission, shattering his guard.

    That was it. The next strike cleaved the intruder in two.

    =RK=

    Lower Levels

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    Awareness came slowly. First to come online was the energy core, which started humming quietly, before the sound dampeners build around it were fed enough energy.

    Automatic diagnostic programs ran next, on the heels of the power running through the droids conduits. Surprisingly enough, the machine was in reasonably good shape.

    Next to come online was its datacore, which immediately started running diagnostics. The hardware appeared to be all right, though it could use some newer parts.

    Then it was turn for the software to be scanned by expert systems before the droid could be really brought online.

    Its photo receptors came to life, glowing blue. It, no he, remembered everything.

    HK-117 looked around, recognizing a much bigger AI core than his own. How interesting...

    But that was an afterthought. He was confined into a stasis tube, which apparently no longer worked. Getting out shouldn''t be a much of a problem. He still has a few of his build in weapons installed. A blaster and a vibroblade in each arm. More than enough.

    What took almost all of his attention though, was the construct spinning in the air to his right. How could he not, when the kriffing thing was sending cascades of electricity all around it?

    More importantly, HK-117 recognized it. He had seen the effect of one of those things detonating. He and his master were safely in orbit at the time.

    The sentient wardroid really didn''t want to experience the detonation of this weapon firsthand.

    He wasted no more time, unfolded his vibroblades, and started carving his way out of the stasis pod.

    =RK=

    Near the Archives

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    Meanwhile, all around the Temple, the Jedi and Veil could feel something siphoning the Force from underneath them. Only one of them knew what that meant.

    Shaak Ti was rather disturbed when she felt something draining the Force from around the Temple. Then she saw Veil''s face. It was pale, like a ghost. He closed his eyes, his face becoming tense.

    "I need to get to the tunnels under the Temple! Now!" Delkatar snapped, surprising her even further. "Or we are all dead..." he added more calmly.

    For a moment she was still, wondering what to do. It was easy in the end. For some reason she trusted him. Veil had more than ample opportunity to betray both the Republic and the Jedi, yet he didn''t do it, instead he risked his life again and again to help them.

    "This way!" she said and ran down a side corridor, with Delkatar sprinting hot on her heels. "What is happening?"

    "We have a WMD charging under our feet!" growled Veil.

    =RK=

    Kelins

    Outer Rim

    Master Ropal made a short work of his latest ?ssailant. One on one the ?ssassins, despite their tricks, stood no chance against the Jedi master. That only left the wounded one, who laid stunned on the ground with a shattered shoulder. Which was great. That man had a few pointed questions to answer.

    Before Bolla could reach his prospective captive, he was nearly thrown off his feet by a massive explosion. A house to his right went up in a huge fireball, obliterating the dwelling.

    The Jedi stared at the smoking heap of rubble, which used to be the home of the kid he had came to retrieve.

    "You did better than I expected, Master Jedi!" another cloaked figure appeared.

    It appeared to be male, at least a head taller than the men Bolla was forced to dispatch. The stranger''s features were hidden by an expensive looking black cloak, but all that was secondary. Ropal could see what was in the newcomers hands.

    A sleeping baby boy. So this was it. The reason for the attack.

    The Jedi glared at the man who dared endanger the future of the Order.

    The stranger chuckled.

    "Are you angry, Master Ropal?" he nodded at the kid in his arms. "You''ve gone to great lengths to secure the future of the Jedi. He doesn''t look like much, does he? Merely few months old, yet so strong. Though I would have thought that the Jedi would have sent his father to retrieve him. He is one of you, after all..."

    Bolla''s eyes almost fell off their sockets. How in the name of the Force? The ones who knew it could be counted on the fingers of one hand!

    "Galen Marek. I sense a ''bright'' future for this child,"taunted the cloaked man.

    Ropal gripped the hilt of his lightsaber. He couldn''t let that man kidnap the kid! Yet, engaging him would endanger the boy!

    The Jedi Master was concentrated on the obvious threat and his objective on this world. He never saw the faint ripple through the air behind him. The Force gave him no warning.

    Nevertheless he sensed something and rolled to his left, his lightsaber sweeping behind his back. The Jedi''s blade was stopped by something solid.

    Before he could jump to his feet, the tip of a Force pike caught him under the chin, almost shattering his jaw. Ropal''s world exploded with agonizing pain and purple light. He convulsed when another pike touched his ?h?st and his whole body seized in convulsions.

    "So predictable," the man holding Galen shook his head.

    Two men clad in black light body armor faded into view and stood at attention, their force pikes extended in parade rest. Three pairs of eyes fell on the knocked out Jedi.

    What Ropal had on his person was priceless. After all, the Jedi Master was carrying the key for his Order''s very future.

    =RK=

    Part 4

    Near the Archives

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    "This is General Veil. Code Black. I repeat Code Black. Evacuate all critical personnel within five hundred kilometers from the Jedi Temple. I repeat Code Black! This is not a drill! Move it people!" I ordered in my comm after sending my clearance codes.

    It was going to be close. If we were lucky that is.

    "Explain!" snapped Shaak Ti.

    She was well aware what the code meant. An active WMD, with the powers that be, me in this case, believing that it had a very good chance of going off.

    I could sense her worry and a hint of anger, which was trying to worm its way in through her defenses only to be stamped out by her indominable will.

    "You are sensing the Force being drained, right?" I asked.

    "It''s hard to miss!" she deadpanned.

    True enough. It was like a vacuum cleaner su?k?n? the power surrounding us.

    "That is a kriffing Nexus bomb!" I declared.

    She gave me a confused look. Ah. So that unpleasant bit of history hadn''t made it into any history books she had read. It would be fun to check what else they forgot. If I ever got the free time...

    "It is a particularly nasty piece of work, that is useful only on locations seeped with Force energies. It absorbs the Force into a multidimensional matrix, and when it has reached critical charge or there is no more Force left to eat, it detonates."

    "The Jedi Temple is one of the most Force saturated locations in the Galaxy," muttered Shaak Ti.

    "That''s why I want everyone important within five hundred kilometers radius evacuated. We would never get everyone out in time. Besides if we aren''t blown up to orbit, the panic a widespread evacuation will cause would cause a lot of avoidable casualties."

    That earned me a withering glare from Shaak Ti, who fired up her own comm and started speaking with Yoda.

    =RK=

    Lower Levels

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    The transparent alloy making up the stasis pod turned out to be much tougher than HK-117 expected. It took him ten slashes before his vibroblades could rend it asunder enough for him to break his way out.

    Even then, it was an awkward affair. The droid managed to make a roughly circular hole in the middle of the cylinder and had to craw out of it. It was good thing that his master had designed him with a lot of agility in mind. Who knew that a feature meant to help him in sneaking around on recon and ?ssassination missions would come in handy in such a way?

    Once he was out of that technological tomb, HK-117 turned his attention towards the Nexus bomb. The weapon was charging, but it was obviously defective. The arcs of electricity emanating from it were a dead giveaway.

    The droid scanned his databanks for all information he had about the weapon preparing to go off. If his sensors were correct about the power buildup, he wouldn''t be able to get away fast enough, unless there was a fighter waiting fueled and ready in a nearby room.

    HK-117 had to disarm the bomb. Somehow.

    However, there was a tiny problem with that plan. As far as he knew, once a Nexus bomb was active, only a Force adept should be able to prevent it from going ''BANG''.

    =RK=

    Lower Levels

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    Our dash to the Temple''s underbelly was a blur. We passed groups of Jedi and Clones who were hastily, almost frantically making their ways to the docks, seeking a way out of the building, but we paid little attention to any of them.

    With every step towards the bomb we could feel the Force being siphoned from around us and as soon as we passed beyond the commonly inhabited parts of the Jedi''s sanctuary, Shaak Ti and me entered an empty void. At least that''s how it felt. We dashed through parts of the buildings that have been abandoned by anyone but some old maintenance droids and the occasional curious padawan.

    The ancient corridors pressed upon us, making us feel claustrophobic, despite being tall and wide.

    It was the lack of the Force around us that caused such sensations. And it was getting worse.

    I could feel my very life essence being slowly drained from my body. All I could do was to gather the Force deep within myself and try keeping it from being stolen by the charging warhead.

    Going in deeper and deeper into the abandoned tunnels under the Jedi Temple was becoming an agonizing journey. It felt like tiny pieces from my very being were being torn asunder with each passing heartbeat.

    I don''t know how long it took us to reach the epicenter of the vortex draining the Force, or how we actually managed to go there while still possessing some of our power, yet we made it. Was it luck, the will of the Force or simple stubbornness, I didn''t care at the time.

    We found ourselves facing a short corridor, with half sealed blast doors at each end. I could see bolts of lightning lancing at random from the room within. Next to me, Shaak Ti winced at the display.

    Going inside would be problematic.

    I gritted my teeth and raised a shield around us, and sprinted through the cascading arches of electricity. Bolt after bolt struck me, harmlessly dancing over my defensive dome and discharging in the floor. Shaak Ti was a step behind me, for some reason trusting me not to get us killed.

    We passed through a large storage room, filled with once useful Sith and Jedi artifacts, which now laid dormant, drained from any shred of Force energies. I cursed quietly, which fortunately remained unheard by Shaak Ti thanks to the sound of cracking electricity drowning my words.

    So much useful tools now fit only to be harmless museum exhibits. What a kriffing waste...

    I shook my head and pressed on, reaching the far end of the room, where the door leading to the Nexus bomb waited for us open wide.

    I stepped in and looked around. My eyes were busy scanning the much smaller compartment where the WMD was preparing to blow up.

    Bare walls. Something that looked like a computer mainframe. The dazzling display of the charging multidimensional matrix, which looked like a bunch of shifting and twisting snowflakes made from silver energy. White and blue lighting bolts cascading in a deadly waterfall all around us.

    I would have called the spectacle beautiful beyond measure if it wasn''t about to murder us.

    "Master, is that you?!" exclaimed a painfully familiar synthetic voice.

    It was a ghost from a bygone era, which reminded me of better times... Hearing it almost shattered my concentration and I was b?r?ly able to retain control of the shield protecting Shaak Ti and me.

    I looked at the source of the voice and smiled, a silver of hope raising in my ?h?st. The form of a familiar droid was standing next to the Nexus bomb. The torrents of lighting merely twisted around him, leaving him unharmed.

    "HK, what the hell are you doing here?!" I blurred out.

    It should have been impossible. He was lost about a year before I was catapulted to the Clone Wars era.

    "Ah, Master! You were found!" exclaimed the droid.

    His head moved few centimeters to the right and two sapphire photo receptors locked on Shaak Ti.

    "Togruta. Jedi. And she is definitely not your wife, though I could see some resemblance. Is she hostile?" asked HK-117 while he took a defensive stance. A pair of vibroblades pointed at Shaak Ti in what was supposed to be not too threatening manner.

    If the way her emotions shifted was anything to go by, she decided that HK''s actions were fairly concerning.

    "She''s friendly. I''ll deal with the kriffing bomb and we can catch up later. Make sure that I''m not disturbed," I ordered and moved closer to the dimensional matrix.

    "As you command, Master. I''m glad you are back!" exclaimed HK-117 and moved to cover my back, while looking at Shaak Ti with what I supposed was curiosity. "Master, I have to ask a question in order to execute your orders more efficiently."

    "What is it?" I asked distractedly, while I was trying to remember how exactly I was supposed to stop the bomb from evaporating us.

    "What are your intentions towards the Jedi? Are you going to marry and ?mpr??n?t? her too? Should I consider her my new Mistress and ensure that she is protected?" HK asked with what passed for an innocent tone, but was anything but. I could almost sense him laughing his metal ?ss off, the bastard!

    Behind me, Shaak Ti spluttered. I suddenly felt like running far away and it wasn''t because of the bomb in front of me.

    "HK, shut up!" I growled. "I''ll deal with you later. Bloody joker."

    I could feel Shaak Ti''s eyes boring holes in my back. Great. Just Great. If I didn''t get blown up, I would get killed by pissed off Jedi Master.

    "HK, right now I hate you so much..." I muttered.

    "I aim to please, Master!" exclaimed the droid. "However, I think you should concentrating on the ticking bomb for now, Master."

    The tin can was enjoying this. Nevertheless, he was right. The live WMD first, dealing with my rampant droid second.

    I closed my eyes and drew on what Force powers I had left. My mind concentrated on the sensation of the energy being ripped from my body and I followed the channel through which my very life was su?k?d away.

    Soon enough, I found myself in the epicenter of an energy storm. My senses were touching the dimensional vortex, a part of them even piecing it. I could feel the general form of the matrix condensing the Force into a ready to release destructive energy. I started examining it, until I sensed what I could describe as otherness, wrongness. A line in the fabric of reality that didn''t belong here.

    Jackpot. That was what I was looking for. It was one of the seams connecting the matrix with another dimension.

    I weaved my remaining Force energies into a thin scalpel wielded it carefully. I needed to work precisely or my life was forfeit, in which case a significant part of Coruscant was kriffed beyond belief.

    I cut through the very foundation of the dimensional matrix, manipulating parts of it and destroying others. More often than not, I had to leave the Force to guide my actions as some of the parts I worked on were phased out in such a fashion that I couldn''t perceive them clearly. Or at all.

    It was a surreal experience. Like I was on multiple places at the same time, yet not. It was hard, almost impossible to describe with words. Like I was split into multiple copies of myself, each of which had a piece of my mind and was directed by my will. I could feel what all of them experienced.

    Suddenly it was all over. The matrix was altered. The drinking the Force slowed down and stopped.

    The last think I could feel was the build in energy being dissipated in other dimensions instead of blowing up a significant part of Coruscant. I grinned, a moment before the backslash hit me and I knew no more.

    =RK=

    "Master, not again!" HK spoke in exasperation.

    The general got himself knocked out. Again. Kriffing organics.

    "Ahem!" the Togruta, Shaak Ti, cleared her throat.

    HK-117 turned his head in her direction.

    "So, are you my Master''s new girlfriend?" he asked. Just to make a conversation, until the general was conscious again. A bit of small talk, nothing to get angry about. Right?

    The Jedi actually growled at him. If he had lips, HK would have smiled. So his master was already getting under her skin. This was going to be so much fun!

    =RK=

    Part 5

    Medical Center

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    I looked at Piett with incredulous expression on my face.

    "Ensign, remind me to have whoever is responsible for the Republic''s counter-intelligence efforts in general, shot for incompetence."

    "Sir?" asked the poor junior officer. It was evident that my words made him uneasy.

    "Despite how we''ll be spinning this mess for the public, we got kriffed. Again!" I deadpanned. "Grievous, or what''s left from that imbecile ¨C gone! What we presume to be CIS agents managed to get their hands on at least a few Holocrons, the Army and Navy''s comm codes and partial force dispositions, and almost blew up a big part of Coruscant, including the Senate and the Jedi Temple."

    Firmus cringed.

    "Yes, sir. You are correct. At least you stopped that bomb!" he tried to cheer me up.

    "And I ended in the damn hospital!"

    "Ahem!" an elderly, female Jedi glared daggers at me.

    Master Olendra Jolind was the Temple''s Chief medic and for some reason scared the crap out of me. There was something in the way she sweetly smiled at me when I tried to release myself an hour ago, long before the battery of tests she wanted to run on me was complete, that chilled the blood in my veins.

    Yeah. She didn''t want loud voices or curses in her domain.

    Did I mention that I''m scared from doctors? It had something to do with my experience with them as a Sith and in what happened to me in my previous trans-dimensional adventure.

    Even HK-117 had decided to wait outside. I still hadn''t made my mind whether he was apprehensive of her or simply enjoyed my suffering.

    She-who-must-not-be-named-or-irritated-for-that-matter glanced at me as if she knew I was thinking about her. I gave her a nervous smile and returned my attention to Piett, wondering if my skittishness was because the head Jedi doctor was a good friend of Shaak Ti, who was really pissed off at me at the moment. All thanks to HK''s oversized mouth.

    "Did I missed something else important?" I asked.

    "Commander Tano apprehended a shape-shifter masking as a Jedi Master. The infiltrator gave us some information in exchange for more lenient treatment. Apparently the Holocrons were stolen because they are the only way to read a crystal containing the names of all Force Sensitive children across the galaxy of whom the Jedi Order is aware."

    I stared at Piett for at least a minute, before my faculties returned and I was able to restart my brain. I snapped my hanging jaw shut and grinned. This was an excellent opportunity! I needed to get my hands on that info and send it to my Black Ops detachment.

    "What are the Jedi doing in order to retrieve the information?"

    "They sent Generals Kenobi, Skywalker and Shaak Ti to retrieve the crystal and the Jedi master in whose possession it was."

    "Well, given the gravity of the situation, we should help our Jedi friends. After all, we can''t leave them hanging in their hour of need." I said sincerely.

    Naturally, by helping them I meant rescuing as many of those kids as possible from Jedi indoctrination, but no one here needed to know that.

    I tried to get up again and winced. The Nexus bomb''s dimension rift had made a number on me. I was b?r?ly able to stand up and my connection with the Force was shaky. It would be some time before I was up for my usual tricks.

    "General Veil!" snapped the voice of Master Olendra Jolind.

    This was going to be a loooong day...

    =RK=

    Council Chambers

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    When I was finally released from the hospital, I made my way to meet Masters Yoda and Secura, who wanted to know how the hell their nice Temple almost got blown up. That was going to be entertaining conversation.

    I was escorted to the Council Chambers by my bodyguards, who weren''t particularly thrilled at me. After all, I had left them to guard the Temple''s security center instead of taking them with me when I went to chase intruders and disarming WMDs. For some reason they were more peeved because they missed the part with the big ?ss bomb than anything else...

    Needless to say, HK-117 was walking a step behind me the whole way. I didn''t miss the suspicious looks exchanged between him and the clones who were supposed to keep me in one piece.

    "Master! Is this really necessary?!" asked an exasperated HK. "Those meatbags can''t protect you! Look at them! They don''t even have half-decent armor and heavy weapons! No proper Force Adepts as minions! Not even an angry Wookie tagging along!" wh?n?d the droid.

    More than a few of the clone troopers growled at HK, who somehow managed to look smug.

    "Chill HK! I know that the GAR''s standard equipment is trash. I hope that we''ll have a much better kit before our next major deployment."

    "That is the understatement of the week!" declared the droid.

    I shook my head at his antics. At least he had stopped riling up the Jedi after royally pissing off Shaak Ti, which reminded me. I needed to find a way to make up to her for HK''s insinuations before she decided to gut me on general principle alone.

    When we reached the Council chambers, I left my guards behind and entered accompanied only by HK-117, which I hoped wouldn''t turn out to be a mistake...

    Inside I found Yoda and Secura waiting for us in person, with Masters Plo Koon, Kenobi and most importantly, Shaak Ti, present via the holonetwork. Anakin, being a wet behind the ears Jedi Knight, was excluded from this meeting.

    I nodded at the Jedi and smiled nervously at Shaak Ti. Her glare promised retribution. Our byplay wasn''t missed by Yoda, whose ears twitched in amusement. Or irritation. I honestly couldn''t tell.

    "General Veil. We would like an explanation about the events that occurred under our feet yesterday," Master Secura started the inquisition.

    I shrugged and gave them my account of the events.

    They were silent for few moments, while shooting each other pointed looks.

    "Delkatar, do you know how a Sith weapon of such destructive capabilities ended under the Temple?" Obi-Wan was the one who asked the question that was one every Jedi''s tongue.

    I gave them a cheerful smile. Oh, I was going to enjoy this.

    I raised my right index finger.

    "I must make something clear, Master Jedi."

    I could sense a shift in their emotions. I think there was something in my grin that they found disturbing.

    "That Nexus bomb wasn''t a Sith weapon."

    Unfortunately, their reaction was subdued. Only frowns and cross looks sent my way. Eh. I can''t rile them up every time.

    "Explain, you will, General Veil."

    I nodded at Yoda.

    "The Nexus bomb was created during what you call the Great War. It came into being thanks to a collaborative efforts of the scientists of the Jedi Order and Old Republics Special Operations command. As far as I know, it saw four actual deployments. Three of them were by the Republic, with the fourth by the Empire after we captured one of the weapons, reverse engineered it and improved it."

    My only answer were few quiet gasps and a deafening silence.

    "My master should know!" HK-117 interjected. "I was a part of a team he led to capture the bomb a Republic Special Operations unit tried to use on Korriban."

    "HK, you don''t know when to keep your mouth shut, do you?" I asked exasperated.

    "Master! You wound me! Before I was deactivated, your exploits were made public by the Empire in order to raise morale and increase recruitment quotas! The Jedi should have this information in their archives. I''m just reminding them how awesome my master is!"

    I glared at the droid.

    "Since when did you became a bloody brownnoser?!" I snapped at HK -117.

    "Proud response: It is not often that I have the chance to rile up the Jedi Council!" the droid beamed at me. "Just look at them, Master! The look on their faces is priceless!"

    I glanced at the Jedi and smirked.

    "Please tell me you are recording this!"

    =RK=

    General Valentra''s office

    GAR Headquarters (Location Classified)

    Coruscant

    Veil crashed in the nearest free chair, quietly cursing the still persistent weakness which clung to his body.

    Three days had passed since his close encounter with evaporation and he obviously wasn''t fully recovered. While he was being treated at the Jedi Temple, Coruscant had become a much greater circus than usual, thanks to the second round of attacks. To add insult to injury, news about Grievous'' escape had been leaked to the general public, causing near panic by itself.

    That''s why Veil and Valentra had called this meeting. The newest attacks were a painful reminder that the Republic''s security situation su?k?d and that wasn''t something either of the people gathered in the general''s office was going to let slide.

    Valentra looked at the men and women who were sitting on the other side of his desk, while sipping from a steaming cup of caff.

    Veil looked like he needed to catch up on a week or so of shut eye.

    Next was Marik Yle, a pale human male, who looked like he had crawled from some deep dark cave. Fitting in a way. He was the Director of the SBI, the Senate Bureau of Intelligence, the civilian intel agency of the Republic. Yle got the job after his predecessor died in the attack on the Senate. Marik''s hard pale eyes were examining the people in the room with cold indifference.

    The Director of ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence), was sitting as far away from her civilian counterpart as possible. She was a middle aged Twi''lek woman, with light green skin which almost blended with her uniform thanks to its olive green color. Ivon Fell, had her face mostly hidden by a data-pad from which she was busy reading.

    Last, but not the least, was a Clone General who was indistinguishable from his more common brethren by design. He was JC-31, also know as Jack. His position in the military was interesting one. Jack was in charge of the Republic Intelligence, the military intel agency, ever since his Duros predecessor, General Solt Ner, was murdered during the attack on the army''s headquarters.

    To the unenlightened, this meeting was "simply" a bunch of army and navy officers doing their job. While that was a correct answer, it was far from complete one. With the Clone Wars ongoing as they were, and most of the Senate decimated with its remnants unable to find their ?sses even with a recon platoon guiding them, the importance of the meeting, and the people participating in it couldn''t be understated.

    Beside the Chancellor and Master Yoda, the most powerful people in the Republic were gathered in Valentra''s office. To be fair, no one, especially either of them, knew what consequences their meeting would have in the fullness of time... But that was a story better told much later.

    Valentra drank some of his caff and forced himself to smile.

    "Now that we are all here..." he trailed off and pressed a bu??on under his desk. A wave of static electricity passed through the room a moment before its door slammed shut. Various shields and counter-surveillance fields sprang to life, isolating them from the outside world.

    With a simple press of a bu??on, they were in one of the most secure places in the Republic as far as unwanted eyes and ears were concerned.

    "Now we can talk freely," added General Valentra.

    The only answer he received were four guarded nods.

    "First item. It''s obvious to all of us that we need to clean house and plug the leaks to the CIS, before it is too late."

 Chapter 33 - Future Imperfect

    Part 1

    Industrial District "Helios"

    Coruscant

    Darth Sidious prowled through one of his secret sanctuaries within the very heart of the Republic. It wasn''t exactly a place what one would ?ssociate as the lair of the Dark Lord of the Sith. In fact, his current adobe was a luxury executive apartment on one of the highest floors of a building housing a droid ?ssembly plant. Officially he was visiting a wealthy Coruscanti magnate, who had few issues concerning the build up of the Republic army to bring up with an old friend.

    Needless to say, the truth was a bit different. Said businessman was one of the many puppets of Palpatine, this one even helping him willingly and making a fortune from the war. Of course, the man, one George Kol, was unaware of the Chancellor''s true identity and real plants for the future, though he might have approved.

    It didn''t matter. Kol had been under the Force induced influence of Sidious for a long time, making him little more than a puppet if the Sith Lord so wished. As it was, the magnate was providing Sidious with a fool proof alibi, while the Sith Lord was busy investigating how exactly his plans went awry. Again.

    Palpatine had a data-pad in hand and was reading reports from two different sources about the attack on the Jedi Temple, which was executed the previous day. On the face of it, the raid went flawlessly. Almost too good to be true and it was.

    He was looking at two documents in particular. One was the GAR preliminary report about the attack on the Jedi Temple and the other was the summary from the CIS agents who made it out after the attack. There were subtle, but critical differences.

    On the face of it, the reports agreed. The CIS agents had infiltrated the building without too much trouble and by all accounts had achieved their primary objectives, despite suffering heavy casualties. The high points were the death of some Jedi, who''s names were included in the GAR report, something that brought the Sith Lord a lot of p???sur?. Further, thanks to the successful break into the Jedi Temple''s comm tower, his hands were untied. Now Sidious could provide ever better intelligence to the CIS in order to steer them against targets he needed eliminated, or straight into traps if he deemed it necessary.

    Even better, that mercenary Bane managed to get his hands on more than one Jedi Holocron. With that fool Bolla Ropal captured and the crystal secured, it was only a matter of "persuading" the Jedi Master or one of his brethren to unlock the data. That would give Sidious access to the most powerful Force s?ns?t?v? children the Order knew about. By retrieving or disposing of them, he would strike another blow to the Jedi, one aimed at their very future.

    Not that the fools had any.

    That was a stunning revelation. The Force didn''t warn him about any danger. The only thing he felt was the Light side in the Temple weakening, which he thought was due to the raid being more successful than his wildest dreams.

    Instead, he had come close to being blown up by something called a Nexus Bomb. Sidious didn''t recall ever hearing about it, but he would make sure by checking up his Sith archives. It was supposedly some kind of area denial weapon from the Great war, which used the Force as an energy source to charge a massive explosion. Or so the GAR believed. What made that part of the report even more interesting, was that Veil had confirmed it.

    Ah, the Rogue. That strange man was becoming more and more interesting. Sidious would need to move soon and contact him with a proposition to join his side. Or kill him for being so troublesome.

    Either way, that self styled Sith was becoming too dangerous to be left on his own devises.

    But he could wait a bit. What Sidious wanted to know right now, is how one of his CIS pawns knew about that bomb under the Jedi Temple. Whoever that person was who almost got him killed, wasn''t working alone.

    First he was wounded during the attack on the Senate and now he almost died again. This was no coincidence. Someone within the CIS was attempting to get rid of him. The questions remained, who was to blame and whether he or they knew his true identity. Provided that Dooku wasn''t to blame.

    Sidious grimaced. He had to clean up house before he could continue building the foundations for his Galactic Empire.

    That was the bright spot. Thanks to the recent attacks, pushing through the necessary laws had become much easier.

    Palpatine continued reading the reports until something unusual caught his attention. It was about the infiltrators. The fact that they were Force Adepts with somewhat decent training was something he knew. He was also aware of the artifacts they used to conceal themselves. By the Force, he was wearing one similar to what they used, which helped hide the fact that he was a Force Adept. However, in his case, it was a contingency in case that for some reason he was unable to maintain the technique hiding his true face.

    Sidious snarled and drew a secure comm device from the folds of his midnight black robes. Someone was going to pay for this!

    =RK=

    Munificent Command Ship "Invisible Blade"

    Hyperspace

    Count Dooku glared at one of his most trusted agents from his command chair. The Chiss woman had her eyes lowered in shame. She was kneeling on the metal floor of the bridge, while the droids manning the consoles around her and her master paid them no attention.

    "This is unacceptable!" declared the Sith Lord. "I expected much more from the leader of my Dark Acolytes," Dooku''s voice rumbled through the bridge. "Sev''Rance, we didn''t go to such lengths to fake your death, only for you to prove next to useless in this new role. You will explain this failure. NOW!" he snapped at the kneeling woman.

    "My Lord, my investigation started after the first attacks on Coruscant... On the face of it, everything was simple. Or should have been so. In both cases, we got better information on the Republic military and security forces in the Capital System than the GAR itself. In hindsight it was too good to be true. As you know master, it was."

    "But not in a way that either of us would have expected," muttered Dooku. Indeed, if the CIS forces attacking Coruscant had simply walked into a trap, he wouldn''t have been so concerned. Minus the fact that in such a case he still would have been a prisoner to the Jedi.

    "The plans for both attacks were altered while the forces were en route and sent to the commanders designated to execute the operations. The basics remained the same. Take the first series of attacks, the ones in which you were freed, Master."

    "Extrapolate."

    "The command staff in CIS Headquarters crafted the basic plan. An operation to capture the Chancellor and as many senators as possible. A spoiling attacks against few critical GAR bases, slowing down the enemy response. Finally, a direct action against the Jedi Temple in a secondary attempt to free you if Palpatine couldn''t be persuaded to order your and Grievous'' release."

    "It worked. More or less. But the release of Blue Shadow on Coruscant dealt a heavy blow on our credibility. That''s before a nerve agent was used at the Senate. Even killing so many of the Republic leadership won''t make up for what we lost," growled Dooku.

    "That''s correct, master. The additions to the plan were added by parties unknown, using Council codes, though I was unable to confirm any treason on their parts. I scanned the minds of the suspects. They had no idea about any of this."

    That bit of information caught the Count''s attention. He had expected that some Councilors were playing their own game. By the Force, he knew that they were plotting. But, this mess not being their fault was a concern. It implied that there was a faction within the CIS he knew nothing about. A competent and dangerous one at that.

    "I had two avenues of investigation open. First, one of my tech experts was able to locate the network hub from which the order alternations originated. Second, perhaps a more important clue was the intelligence we received from sources within the GAR. The forces that were used in the first attack on the Jedi Temple was what caught our attention."

    Dooku gave her a grim nod.

    "The Force using clones of my Dark Acolytes who spearheaded that ?ssault, allowing a commando team to release me. They were led by a clone of you. One that the new Republic General, Veil, defeated and now has as an apprentice."

    "This is correct, master. About which investigation should I speak first?"

    "I want to know the origin of the altered orders."

    "I started my hunt in the heart of the CIS Military Headquarters..."

    =RK=

    General Valentra''s office

    GAR Headquarters (Location Classified)

    Coruscant

    "It is decided then," declared Ivon Fell, the civilian head of ONI.

    "We know it''s a trap," supplied Jack. The clone didn''t relish sending his brethren in another meat-grinder, but sometimes it simply couldn''t be helped.

    "One we have to spring," said Veil.

    "Indeed. We are offered a tempting bait. Those new factories on Geonosis can''t be allowed to come online," added Director Yle. The new chief of SBI didn''t like it any more than the rest of the people in the room.

    The target was one that couldn''t be left alone. Furthermore, the intelligence had come from a source within CIS none of the people present could confirm as one of their own. Yet the Chancellor considered the information to be gods'' own gospel...

    It made one think. The CIS Council had to see the writing on the wall. The Clone wars had become a conflict of survival. Simply put, the Separatists couldn''t afford to lose, especially their leadership. All of them had a parsec long war crimes charges waiting for them in such a case. Both the surviving Senators and the masses wanted blood. So, why did one of Palpatine''s friends feed the Republic this information, when if the CIS lost, even the Chancellor''s growing influence might be unable to keep their necks off the chopping block?

    After all, if it was the oldest motive, money and power, you needed to be alive and free to make use of them. Then again, it could be blackmail or something like that. Even someone who had a change of faith after the Spectre of the biological weaponry was released.

    Nevertheless, Mark couldn''t help but wonder. Something didn''t feel right with that information. If he had to be fair to himself, there was something off with the whole war. He should know. He had access to more information about the conflict bar almost anyone in the galaxy. It was one of the questionable perks about his position as a Director of the SBI.

    "Well, we''ll be starting Angel Fall within the week," declared Valentra.

    Everyone gave him a slight nod. It would be b?r?ly enough time to organize things in the critical locations of their organizations across the galaxy. However, the simple truth was that they could scarcely afford to wait even that long. The Republic was leaking intelligence on all fronts like a busted dam. Which in turn was the Rancor no one was willing to talk about so far.

    "Let''s cut to the chase, shall we?" asked General Veil.

    Valentra smirked. It was about time.

    "So, you want us to discuss the obvious, eh boss?" quipped Jack. "Finally..." he muttered.

    It was Ivon who actually said it aloud.

    "We all have some idea how badly the enemy agents had penetrated the Republic. That combined with the strategic advantage the CIS has until our economy is firmly on war footing and we can muster our clone armies with new recruits... We should have been military defeated in the first four to six months of the conflict."

    There was grim silence after her declaration. If there was anyone who knew how true her words were, it were the people ?ssembled in Valentra''s office.

    "The GAR and the Republic Navy, before it was folded under the army''s umbrella for the duration of the conflict, simply didn''t have the numbers to hold off the CIS. But some enemy''s strategic decisions simply make no sense whatsoever, if they fought to win the war," said Veil.

    The intelligence chiefs looked at him grimly. They all had read highly classified reports saying the same thing. There were too many instances where the enemy had been making disastrous decisions. Even more concerning, a lot of the analysts who had created those reports had been either reassigned or had suffered fatal "accidents". Then there were other cases where Republic forces were either ambushed and annihilated or simply placed in a position, which would insure long and hard campaign.

    "You''ve seen the pattern," Yle deadpanned.

    "Someone wants a protracted war," Valentra whispered with a venom in his voice. It was his boys and girls who were paying the price.

    It was a simple sentence. Yet, it would have repercussions no one in the meeting could have imagined. Isn''t it interesting, how just a few words could be the pebble that would one day cause an avalanche changing the whole galaxy...

    =RK=

    Two Days earlier

    Security Center

    Jedi Temple

    One of the Clone technicians monitoring the various sensor feeds from within the Jedi Temple stumbled upon something interesting. A small sphere shaped drone, one of the hundreds patrolling the corridors of the vast building, passed near a group of Jedi Masters. To the Clone''s surprise, Mace Windu was one of them. That fact by itself would have been more than enough to get his undivided attention, even if he wasn''t one of General Veil''s special operatives.

    The Clone, who was going by the name of Ink, which went with his face designation, listened carefully what the Jedi discussed. They would meditate, hoping that the Force would lead them to the most threatened Jedi children. That made sense to the agent. He was made aware by his contacts what have been the point of the Holocron theft that occurred days prior. The CIS, or at least Dooku''s agents now had access to the means to read the information on the names and locations of the all Force s?ns?t?v? children across the galaxy that the Jedi knew about. Which was significant because the Order had lost contact with the Master who had that information on an encrypted crystal on his person.

    Ink knew hot information when he stumbled upon it so he had redirected various sensors and security droids to rotate around and focus on the Jedi Masters in question. To his pleasant surprise, none of them thought that there was something wrong. So he was able to listen to them and find out the location of the kids that the CIS was likely to target from the Jedi''s own lips. The agent wasted no time and at the first opportunity that presented itself, he transmitted the data to his superiors.

    The information was in the hands of the General''s special forces before the Jedi had made arrangements to go after the kids themselves.

    =RK=

    Black Fleet Carrier "Dragon Claw"

    High Orbit over Yavin IV

    A second hand cruiser, which once belonged to the Republic Navy was hanging over a green moon, which in turn orbited a gas giant. That was the current flagship belonging to a clandestine military group answering to a certain Republic General.

    On a deck outfitted as an intelligence gathering and processing section, a holocom message was received from a source on Coruscant. It was promptly scanned for any unwelcome surprises before being decrypted and read by an operative with sufficiently high clearance. Moments later, the Intel deck of the cruiser become a beehive of controlled chaos.

    "Colonel, you need to see this!"

    A man wearing gray uniform showing no sign of any insignia, looked up from a data pad from which he was reading. He was the Clone in charge of the steadily increasing, in both capacity and reach, black operations outfit created by his commanding officer.

    "What is it, Operations?" he answered in a mellow voice, which was a bit unusual for one of the copies of Jango Fett.

    "We have a confirmed Case Shallow Dream. We just got four locations. Glee Anselm, Rodia, Naboo and Onderon. The Jedi believed that the subject on Glee Anselm has been lost already."

    "Naboo and Rodia. We don''t have ?ssets that can reach Onderon before the Jedi."

    "We have at two units as a part of the blockade over Naboo. One of our Q-Ships should be able to reach Rodia before the Jedi."

    "Good. Dispatch the teams. I want the colony below us to be up and running ASAP. It will be needed if we are able to get any of the kids. Is this all?"

    "There is nothing else that can''t wait for the briefing in three hours, Colonel."

    "Carry on then."

    =RK=

    Part 2

    Republic frigate "Keen Blade"

    High Orbit over Rodia

    A heavy Republic frigate blinked into existence, finishing a short hyperspace jump. The ship was squeaking a current Navy IFF, designating it as a part of the Deep Core reserve fleet. That much was true. On paper. In reality, the frigate was one of the few dozen "official" warships doing odd jobs for General Veil''s black operations division.

    "Keen Blade" had been returning from its latest mission, that of a glorified taxi for a bunch of clones testing some of the new toys cooked up by the R&D division, when she and her crew received new orders. They were to secure a couple of VIPs on Rodia, which was only a couple of short jumps from the frigate''s current location.

    A few hours later, the warship arrived over the Rodian homeworld and launched a heavy shuttle escorted by a quartet of upgraded Torrents. Just in case something went wrong, the transport was carrying nine heavily armed and armored clones.

    =RK=

    Republic Navy "Nomad" flight

    Rodia

    Sergeant Soap glanced over his men, who were looking at the droid strapped near the shuttle''s ???kpit. The robot was plugged into a tactical console surfing the Rodian Civilian holonet while they all waited for the machine to find some more information about their targets besides names and general location.

    The NCO in charge of the retrieval team made a final check of his men equipment. His heavy gunners, Tank and Grunt, were clad in full armor, turning them into two meter tall juggernauts made of shields and composites. They were carrying rotary cannons and backpacks full with ammo.

    Next was the demo expert. A crazy bastard calling himself Drake. The fella was wearing the same medium armor as the rest of his troops, resembling what the commandos were equipped with at the start of the conflict. The main difference were the crimson flames painted on the man''s helmet.

    Drake was hugging his grenade launcher, even petting the damn thing. Soap was almost sure that his somewhat disturbing soldier was whispering sweet nothings to the gun. He really didn''t want to know. Besides, Drake was fiendishly good with everything that made bang, which made up for his quirks. The backpack chock full with exploding goodies for every situation helped out too.

    Next were the pair of a sniper and spotter: Reaper and Farsight. Those two could wreak havoc on an enemy from kilometers away. Plus, neither of them had any disturbing habits, making them Soap''s favorites.

    Finally, the three "ordinary" grunts. First, Ghost, an infiltrator and close quarters combat specialist. He was a good man, but had the uncanny habit of stalking his teammates, "to hone his skills", or so he said. Ghost had nearly caused Soap a heart attack a few times.

    There was Doc, the squad medic, who had a really morbid sense of humor, and last but not the least, Wes, an average grunt, who was still wondering how he ended up teamed up with those maniacs.

    "Wee Dunn. Eleven months old Rodian. Lives with his single mother Mahtee Dunn in Kay-Tap square. Father deceased. No other living relatives on the planet."

    Holographic emitters built into the shuttle''s troop compartment came to life, showing a 3D map of a domed city and zooming in until a single small house was visible. A window opened next to the map, showing a smiling Rodian woman proudly holding a toddler.

    "Those two are the VIP''s we''re after!" declared Soap. "The kid is the primary objective. We are to retrieve him, unharmed, at all costs. If practical, we should get the mother too. If by some miracle, this op goes without a hitch..." Soap waited for the chuckling to subside, "we''re to just go there and take them into protective custody."

    "Fat chance," muttered Doc.

    "Indeed. We are never that lucky," deadpanned Tank.

    Soap snorted. It was damn true. At least now they had some decent equipment at hand. For a moment he looked at the back of the shuttle remembering the banter of his men in the armory.

    =RK=

    Flashback

    Armory

    Republic Frigate "Keen Blade"

    Hyperspace

    Gear hobbled after his squad mates. He was going to make a final check up on their armor and equipment, hoping to avoid an accident like the one which nearly crippled him on their last mission.

    "Drake, we are know how much you love the new launchers and want to have a love child with them, however, if you shoot again one of the Ion grenades danger close, even the improved armor won''t save you!"

    "Hey! Your armor was fine! The discharge b?r?ly scorched it! How was I supposed to know that the Ion grenades you were carrying were defective and would go off at the slightest discharge near you?!" exclaimed the demo expert.

    "Idiot! If I was wearing the standard armor, my nervous system would be fired right now!"

    "Next time take one of these babies and it won''t matter," interjected Grunt, while gently patting the ?h?st plate of his heavy armor.

    "I''m the damn tech, not a walking tank! What the hell is wrong with you all?"

    "Oh, chill off already!" exclaimed Ghost.

    The infiltrator was checking up his brand new carbine and its under-slung grenade launcher. The weapon was much better than the standard gear used by the clones ever since the war started. It was more accurate, had different fire modes and hard points for mounting additional equipment.

    "Sweet, isn''t it? I can''t wait to see how well it takes apart Droids. And people," muttered Doc.

    "Who was the genius that made him a medic anyway?" Wes wondered aloud.

    "I heard that kid."

    "Kriff it all."

    "Stow it soldiers. Doc, you won''t be messing up with Wes, is that clear? And you, Drake! If you pull a stunt like that again you''ll explaining to me why I shouldn''t put your ?ss on report! Is. This. CLEAR?" Soap''s voice silenced the banter of his maniacs.

    ''Why me?'' wondered the NCO. What did he did to deserve serving with these lunatics under his command?

    "Clear, sir! Though Grunt has a point. If we all wore the heavy armors, that incident wouldn''t have hurt Gear. Those suits are sweet piece of work! They are shielded against Ion discharges! They even have motorized joints so we can carry even bigger guns and more ammo!" Tank spoke with a gleam in his eyes.

    "That''s right!" added Grunt. "And look at this armor! It can stop at least a couple of heavy blaster bolts!" he patted the chess plate of his suit.

    "Yeah. I can''t wait! Soon enough all of our brothers will have such gear and then the kriffing droids are going straight to the scrap heap!"

    "That''s nothing! I heard from one of the eggheads that all equipment we are testing is merely a stop gap until the exo-skeletons and power armor finish development!" added Reaper.

    "Rediscover them you mean," said Gear. "I''m fairly sure that power armor and light exo-skeletons were used during the Great War few thousand years ago. It''s a pity the Republic had lost all that tech."

    "Show off," muttered Farsight.

    "What? The man loves studying history in his copious free time. What''s wrong with that?" Wes wondered aloud.

    Flashback End

    =RK=

    Jag-Wa City

    Naboo

    "Easy job, you said. Protect a little girl. What could possibly go wrong? You had to say it, didn''t you, Fixer?" grumbled Scorch as he ducked under a burst of fire.

    Around the members of Delta Squad of the Republic Commandos, a once pristine city street was promptly becoming a slice of hell.

    "More shooting, deal with Fixer''s big mouth later!" shouted Scorch a moment before throwing a pair of thermal detonators.

    The deadly spheres flew through the window of a nearby house, the current fire-base of a group of mercenaries. Second later, those men ceased to exist, along with most of the building they used as a shelter.

    "That was a bit much, Scorch," chided their commander.

    "No such thing as an overkill, Boss!" quipped the demo expert.

    "Bloody jokers..." grunted a nearby clone wearing armor painted in black and gray.

    The situation was FUBAR''d to hell and back. Three separate groups of Clones, sent to secure one little girl and her family until some Jedi arrived to retrieve them - it should have been a trivial exercise. Instead, the Republic troopers found themselves in a five sided running battle across the streets of Jag-Wa city.

    First, the various Republic units coming for the kid. Second, some local resistance fighters who resented the blockade and partial occupation of Naboo, decided to throw a row. Then, the folks of a PMC, hired to boost security on the planet and relieve some of the pressure on the GAR ground forces, started shooting at everyone, hell bent on taking the kid too. And just to make everything even more fu?k?d up, it turned out that a local criminal cartel had moved their stash of illegal goods near the kid''s home after the blockade came into effect, so the damn criminals decided to join the party too.

    Finally, a squad clad in featureless advanced armor, was making a beeline towards Delta squad''s position and the VIPs they were desperately trying to keep alive, while systematically gunning down everything in their way.

    =RK=

    Part 3

    Kay-Tap Square City

    Rodia

    "Nomad" flight''s Navy IFF cleared the ?ssault shuttle for landing reasonably close to their target''s house. The clones disembarked and headed to their designated positions. Reaper and Farsight went to a nearby tower, which provided a good line of sight to the Dunn house. Ghost went ahead to scout, using the built in stealth features of his armor to vanish from sight.

    A minute later, Soap led the rest of his team towards their target, creating a show for a few pedestrians, who stared at the Republic troopers. You can say many things for the heavy armored duo of the squad, but inconspicuous they certainly were not.

    Soon enough, Soap was in front of the Dunn house, ringing the door bell, while Ghost was sneaking around the back in case of trouble. The sergeant could hear someone moving inside the house and coming closer. So the droid was right and the Dunn''s were home.

    He heard quiet beeping and the front door slid open. Soap''s eyes widened when he saw a blaster pointing at his head. He had an instant to process the sight and throw his body into motion, before the gun fired...

    A ruby colored bolt of energy flew true, straight at Soap''s helmet. The sergeant saw a flash of light an instant before he hit the ground. His training kicked in and he rolled away, clearing the line of fire.

    Wes wasted no time on being surprised that a civilian woman shot his commander without provocation. He took aim and pressed the trigger. The grenade launcher slung under the barrel of his carbine thumped quietly. The female Rodian was struck in the ?h?st by a stun round, neutralizing her by sending enough current into her body to knock her out twice over.

    "Sweep the house and find the kid!" ordered Doc.

    In the next moment, simultaneous explosions of multiple concussion grenades rattled the house. The clones moved in, sweeping for hostiles.

    At the back Ghost was about to take out his slicing kit and start dealing with the locked door, when it slid open. A robed figure holding the toddler they were after was standing in the door frame.

    "Contact back! I have eyes on the target!" Ghost sub-vocalized.

    "Copy that."

    Bane glared at a slight shimmer in the air in front of him. He made a punching motion with his free arm activating the blaster built in his arm guard. A hail of crimson shots shredded the sleeve of his robe and swept the backyard. Two blaster bolts slammed into an invisible figure, dissipating the stealth field.

    The bounty hunter snarled. The clone he shot should be dead! Instead, the man shrugged off the impacts, taking them on an until then invisible shield. Bane was sure that he would have died at that moment if it wasn''t for the kid he was holding. The Rodian boy was the only reason the damn clone didn''t drill him with a burst of blaster fire then and there.

    Instead, the infiltrator took careful aim while Bane continued shooting at the soldier. He didn''t have much choice; even more troopers were storming through the building behind him. The bounty hunter needed to take care of the man blocking his way fast and leg it while he still could.

    The shield deflected four more bolts before shattering and leaving the clone vulnerable. Bane cursed and shot again a moment before Ghost pressed the trigger himself. Red energy splashed over the clone''s armor, gorging the composite. He stumbled back, throwing off his aim. A burst of blue fire grazed Bane''s right shoulder, instead of turning it into bloody mist. The bounty hunter hissed in pain, but didn''t let the wound slow him down.

    The Duros darted forward and kicked Ghost in the ?h?st before the clone could recover from the hits. The clone was thrown to his back, giving the mercenary the opening he was looking for.

    That was all Bane needed and he didn''t waste the opportunity. He activated the small rocket motors in his reinforced boots and flew up, heading straight for his fighter.

    "One hostile is flying away with the VIP!" Ghost hissed in pain.

    While his shield and armor tanked enough punishment to kill a few clones, he didn''t get out unscratched. The shots, which connected with his ?h?st and shoulders, while stopped by the tough composite, still scorched up a bit his flesh directly under the impact points. Still, while painful, it was much better than the alternative.

    "Affirmative. I have him in my sights," Reaper said.

    "I have eyes on the landing pad he''s headed for," added Farsight.

    "Take the shot once he lands but don''t hit the kid!" Soap ordered. The sergeant was back on his feet and ?ssisting his men in sweeping the house.

    "Wilco," Reaper confirmed.

    =RK=

    Bane landed few meters from his brand new fighter, bending his knees to help absorb the impact. He was almost home free.

    The bounty hunter stood up and took a step towards his ride off the giant swamp that was Rodia, when a sledgehammer struck him from behind. He stumbled forward, falling and spilling the kid, who hit the ground hard. Though Bane noticed none of that. All his attention was taken by the blinding pain in what used to be his right shoulder. A huge chunk of it was missing. Whatever hit him almost took off his right arm entirely.

    Acting on instinct, he pressed his left hand on the seared wound where his shoulder used to be, making him scream in agony.

    Then his training and experience kicked in. Somehow, Bane managed to fight his way through the pain and the shock, which was beginning to numb his body.

    A sniper. It had to be.

    For a moment he fancied the thought of trying to grab the kid and jump into his fighter. However, that feeble hope was immediately dashed when an azure blaster bolt blew a hole in the landing pad near his head.

    Bane ?r??n?d. The message was clear. Do something dumb and you die. Still, he might have risked it, if it wasn''t for the familiar wh?n? of Ion engines. He carefully rolled to his back, hissing in pain at every little jolt and pull and looked up. Two pairs of what appeared to be meaner looking Torrent fighters were circling like vultures over the closest exit of the domed city.

    With him wounded, Bane didn''t have any illusions that he would be able to breach the atmosphere before those fighters shot him down. If the damn sniper didn''t get him first that is.

    "Caught by a bunch of clones. What a kriffing disgrace!" he muttered, waiting for the soldiers to reach him.

    Nearby, the Rodian kid laid clutching a broken arm to his ?h?st, wailing for his mother.

    =RK=

    Jag-Wa City

    Naboo

    "QRF will be hire in five!" shouted the comm specialist of the platoon, which had accompanied Delta squad for the VIP extraction.

    "We may not last that long!" grunted one of the clones in black and gray armor.

    "Unfortunately, he''s correct," added Fixer. The two squads wearing armor colored in the new pattern were an unexpected, but pleasant surprise once all hell broke loose.

    "Trandosian heavies!" shouted a soldier moments before the distinctive sound of slugs screaming through the air made the cacophony of battle ever greater.

    "How the hell did the locals miss someone like that?!" exclaimed the last member of Delta squad, who had taken position on a nearby balcony and was sniping the opposing forces.

    If he was a lesser man, the sight of the pair of overgrown lizards, clad in crude yet fearsome armor and carrying rotary cannons, would have made him blanch. The Trandosians had appeared from a side street, missed by everyone until they opened fire on a group of Gungan rebels. Seconds later, the locals were simply gone, torn to bloody chunks by heavy slugs.

    "They were either too busy playing rebel fighters or were outright bought," Scorch deadpanned.

    "Won''t surprise me," Boss agreed. "We need to pull out to a better position. Delta, we are keeping the VIPs safe. Targ platoon, start falling back by squads at my signal!"

    "The folks in that fancy armor are tearing a new one on the PMCs. The traitors that are left on the right flank will be gone soon," said Delta''s sniper.

    He had a great view, allowing him to see how the strangers were taking apart the mercs, without really slowing down. They took the enemy fire on their shields and armor, and gunned down the PMC troopers like the scum they were.

    "That''s all and good, but we are next!" deadpanned one of the regular clones.

    "Half of my people can''t pull out without passing through those heavies'' field of fire!" shouted Targ''s Lieutenant.

    "We''ll deal with them. Just get your people out, now!" answered one of the men wearing the new paint pattern.

    =RK=

    A man armed with a heavy blaster blew apart the last mercenary in his way. Six figures clad in light power armor proceeded to annihilate a group of local rebels who had the misfortune to be in their way and fell on the next obstacle in their path ¨C a squad of clones.

    Corporal Hal had a nice view of the PMC flank. He watched as the mercs were torn asunder and knew that he and his men were next. The clone had positioned his troopers as well as their position allowed, though he was almost certain that it wouldn''t be enough. His people were armed only with the standard load out, which was light weapons and some grenades. His only hope was that the few thermal detonators they had would be enough to stop the armored titans that were advancing towards their position.

    It was not to be.

    Heavy weapons roared, blaster carbines spat back in defiance. Thermal detonators and frag grenades flew in both directions. Hal hissed a curse when he saw the enemies move away from the immediate blast radius with speed that should have been impossible for someone who carries that much weaponry and armor.

    Bright flashes robbed him from his sight for couple of seconds. When he could see again, Hal ?r??n?d. Half his men were down. As far as he could see, the horrors who were slaughtering any opposition in their path were still unscratched.

    He could hear them coming closer.

    A figure in gray armor appeared before Hal and he pressed the trigger of his gun. Heavy weapons spoke aloud, answered by blaster carbines.

    For a moment, that little corner of the battlefield grew quiet.

    The half vaporized body of Hal fell to the ground in a smoking heap of seared flesh and melted armor.

    "I have the target. She is hundred and twenty meters north east from here," announced a mechanically distorted voice.

    "Good. We are going in," the man leading the unknown black ops unit ordered. "Five and six, hit the clone platoon and buy us some time. The rest are with me."

    =RK=

    Clone sergeant Sol shot a rebel in the back and ducked back behind a half demolished wall. A simple babysitting task. Riiight...

    "Lorne, Zed, flank the bastards! Well keep their attention occupied!" the NCO ordered.

    Those two nodded and darted into a nearby half-demolished building, leaving the rest of their squad to deal with the two heavies.

    Sol winced when one of the Trandosians concentrated on his hiding place. The sound of bullets chewing up the low wall he was using as a cover dug into his brain.

    "Concussion and smoke grenades on my signal!" the Sergeant ordered in the squad net. He made a sharp signal and grenades were thrown at the slowly advancing lizards.

    Seconds later, he was shaken by a series of danger-close explosions. A spread of thermal detonators had detonated, engulfing the enemy heavy troopers in a wave of scorching fire.

    Sol carefully looked over his cover, just in time to see the melted and twisted remains of a rotary cannon crash on the debris covered street. There was no further sight of the two Trandosians.

    From the pair he sent, only a hobbling Zed returned.

    =RK=

    "Fixer, cover the VIPs! Me and Scorch will provide you with cover. Go!" ordered Boss.

    His subordinate grabbed the Gungan woman and dragged her and the toddler away. A sniper cracked above them, providing additional suppressive fire.

    Meanwhile, squads of clones were leap-frogging backwards, in an attempt to disengage from worst of the fighting. They were moderately successful, thanks to the low level of training that most of their opponents had.

    The biggest snag came when a heavily armed pair in power armor flanked the clones at the front. That stopped the attempted withdraw cold, while some of the Republic troopers tried to aid their comrades.

    "Boss, hostiles on top of your position!" Sev shouted.

    "Get down!" ordered the commander.

    It wasn''t a moment too soon. The whole front of a nearby building exploded in a rain of debris and blaster fire. Three clones from Targ platoon were too close and were torn apart. The rest of their squad followed suit moments later, however their sacrifice bought enough time for the rest of their platoon and Delta to react.

    Boss rolled behind a nearby aircar, while Scorch took cover around the nearest corner.

    "They might be a problem..." muttered the demo expert when he saw who exactly was attacking them.

    Three men and a woman clad in what suspiciously looked like a working power armor. Each of them was carrying some kind of heavy energy weapon.

    "They have shields too," added Sev. He could clearly see how a clone in standard white armor was shooting at the new threat, only for his blaster bolts to be harmlessly absorbed by a form fitting bluish field.

    "That''s bullshit..." whispered Boss.

    Part 4

    Jag-Wa City

    Naboo

    Sev reloaded his sniper rifle and took aim. Below him, the group of power armored enemies made no attempt to seek cover, making them easy targets. However, it didn''t really matter. Their shields made the defenses of the droideka''s look insignificant in comparison.

    The sniper took a deep breath and gently squeezed the trigger. The weapon in his arms buckled, hitting his shoulder painfully despite the anti-recoil systems built in his gun. A green pulse of concentrated energy struck Sev''s target, splashing over azure shield. Nevertheless, the sheer power of the hit staggered the man despite his power armor.

    Sev wasted no time. He re-acquired his target and pressed the trigger again and again. The second shot shattered the man''s shields. The third struck him in the head, couple of centimeters above his left eye socket. The helmet cracked under the tremendous stress. Its outer layer ablated in an attempt to disperse most of the hit''s energy. If it wasn''t for the armor''s design it would have ended then and there, no matter what else the shot did. Its sheer kinetic energy should have snapped the man''s neck, but the armor locked in place saving him from that fate.

    However, he didn''t get away unscratched. While the power armor deflected or absorbed most of the sniper''s shot energy, it couldn''t negate all of it. The man crumbled to the ground with cracked skull and massive concussion, taking him out of the battle.

    Moment after pressing the trigger for the third time, Sev whirled around and left the balcony he used as a vantage point. He didn''t wait to see what his shots did.

    As it turned out it was the prudent thing to do. Two of the power armored enemies had detected his positions. They raised their heavy weapons and unleashed a hail of laser bolts and plasma upon the house where the commando disappeared.

    The building materials, which the locals used proved little deterrence to the firepower unleashed onto the house. Its facade crumbled as if made of sand, while spears of energy ravaged the building''s interior. Sev hissed a curse when the floor disappeared under his feet. He waved his arms, desperately trying to catch something stable. His hands clamped on a jagged piece of floor, which remained whole and attached to a nearby wall, stopping himself from falling two floors down.

    The commando tried to climb up when a bolt of plasma passed him by a hair breadth. His shields overloaded and he shouted in pain as his back was seared red despite his backpack and all the equipment in it. Another close miss scalded his left hand, which convulsed in pain.

    In the next instant, Sev found himself falling down, with the remains of the floor collapsing over him.

    =RK=

    Down on the street, the remaining members of Delta squad were frantically modding their DC-17 blasters. The versatile weapon''s system was the only chance they saw against the juggernauts advancing against them.

    Scorch was the first to finish refurbishing his carbine into its grenade launcher variant. He only hopped that the limited amount of ammo each of his brothers carried would be enough.

    The demo expert leaned around the street corner behind which he was taking cover, took aim and shot at the closest enemy. The armored behemoth was only ten meters away and thankfully, he wasn''t looking in the commando''s direction. The AP grenade came as a nasty surprise for the enemy combatant. It detonated against his shields, blowing him half a meter back.

    Scorch watched his target intently, while his left hand went to his harness to retrieve another grenade. However, the commando didn''t have time to reload. He saw another one of the power armored ?ssailants turn his way. A man portable cannon turned his way and Scorch darted back behind the corner. He sprinted down the side street and dived forward. A moment later, the corner of the house behind which he hid blew apart under heavy blaster fire. The blast wave shattered his shields, while various pieces of debris bombarded him, bouncing off his armor.

    Meanwhile, Fixer was ushering the Gungan female and her kid down the boulevard, while he himself was moving backwards and sending his limited supply of grenades at the heavily armored strangers. Near misses battered their shields, yet they were undeterred. Fixers knew that the only reason he was still alive, was because he was close to the VIPs and the power armored soldiers wanted them alive.

    Boss sent a grenade in the gut of the man who Scorch attacked, putting him down once and for all. Second later he found himself flying backwards. A burst of heavy blaster fire blew up the air car he used for cover, sending him tumbling through the air. If it wasn''t for his shields tanking the brunt of the shock-wave, he would have died then and there. As it was, Delta squad''s commander flew through the shattered front of a nearby shop and landed on a vegetable stand. He remained conscious long enough to feel pain spreading throughout his abused body.

    Fixer''s last AP grenade blew up a mere meter from the only woman in the quartet attacking them. Her shield vanished with a blue tinted flash and she was thrown to her left and fell through a shot up wall.

    That left the commando to deal with the last of the power armored men... without anything that could hurt the kriffing bastard.

    "Run!" Fixer shouted to his charges. He left his DC-17 fall to the ground, not bothering to try returning it into its blaster mod. The commando didn''t have the time for that.

    Instead, he drew his pistol, hopping to distract the behemoth for few more moments. With any luck, the VIPs would be able to evade any pursuit for few minutes, until the reinforcements got there.

    Fixer managed to press the trigger four times before his enemy was able to aim his heavy weapon. He was in the middle of the street, too far from any cover that could resist the firepower he was facing. The commando sent one last blaster bolt at his nemesis, while waiting for the inevitable.

    =RK=

    Abandoned mining station

    Mustafar

    "This is all? Only two kids?!" Sidious'' hologram sneered.

    The two droids tending to the kidnapped children decided to keep quiet and not provoke the Sith Lord. He had expected at least four potential minions, besides the unexpected boon that was Galen Marek. However, the Jedi''s reaction had been lighting fast. Unexpected even!

    Who would have thought that the damn fossils on the Council would have called the GAR for help instead of sending their own? So instead of Jedi scrambling to reach the targeted kids, the initial response has been from the nearest units of the Republic army. Further, Bane had been able to retrieve only one child, the boy from Onderon, before he went missing on Rodia.

    Sidious closed his eyes and concentrated. The shadow in the Force continued blocking his sight, yet despite that he could sense that it was unlikely that he would get any more children from the list. Whatever. Those two would have to do...

    "Commence with the operation!" he ordered the droids.

    "Master, with subjects at this age, the procedure has over fifty percent mortality rate!" declared one of the machines.

    "At least one of them will make it. That would be sufficient. Proceed!" Sidious snapped. Lately his patience had been growing increasingly thin.

    "As you command!" both droids answered in unison.

    One of the kids caught Sidious'' eyes. It was the unlucky one, whose parents tried and failed to avoid the Order''s scrutiny and by extension, that of his own agents.

    "Galen Marek. I sense... interesting future in front of you, my boy. I wonder what would have you done with yourself, if you remained out of my reach?"

    The toddler looked at his transparent projection and waved, sending a bit of Force with his gesture.

    The Sith Lord chuckled. The kid was strong. Given enough time, he might make a powerful agent.

    Soon enough the operation began and agonized screams replaced the children''s curiosity. By the time the Jedi could pinpoint the source of their suffering through the Force, the kids would be gone without a trace. Because once they were done, the droids packed their charges on a waiting transport and shut down the shields keeping the mining station protected from the lava river over which it was built.

    =RK=

    Jag-Wa City

    Naboo

    Fixer''s visor darkened an instant before he was thrown off his feet by an overpressure wave. If it wasn''t for the sound dampeners built in his helmet he was sure he would be deaf right now.

    When he could see again, a large section of the street where the power armored bastard was standing, was simply gone along with what had left of the facades of the nearby buildings. The ground under him shuddered again and again as heavy weaponry unleashed its fury upon the defenseless city.

    "I love air support!" Scorch shouted in the squad''s net.

    Fixer shook his head and glanced up. There was no sight of friendly craft... besides stilettos of blue and green light, which touched various parts of the city from the sky. The commando grinned. So much for the damn power armor! It won''t do much for the kriffing bastards, while the Republic had uncontested air superiority over the city!

    "Delta squad, sound off!" Fixer ordered. This wasn''t the time to watch the fireworks. They still had a job to do.

    "I''m alive!" declared Scorch.

    The demo expert''s words were followed by conspicuous silence.

    "Damn it! Boss? Sev? You two alive?" Fixer asked.

    "I have eyes on Boss. He looks banged up, but I think he''s alive!" said Scorch. "No sight of Sev."

    "Take care of him and search for Sev. I''ll get the VIPs out of here."

    =RK=

    "All Strike elements, sound off!" a female voice growled on the power armored commandos net.

    The only reason she was still alive was because of that AP grenade, which threw her through a wall, thus keeping her out of sight of the enemy air support. Strike One, their unit''s nominal commander wasn''t that lucky. She saw him being blown to tiny pieces by a fighter''s laser cannon.

    "This is Five. I''m still alive. Orders?"

    "The mission is a bust. We are getting out of here. Exit three."

    "Wilco, Two. See you on the other side."

    The woman with call sign Two, who when off duty was known as Lieutenant Romelia Vance, checked the mini map on her HUD display. The IFF markers of all but two of her Unit were silent. Only Three and Five could be seen. Though she was unsure if Three was still alive after being shot in the head by that damn sniper. Granted, their armor was tough, but that was a bit beyond what it was usually rated against.

    She closed her eyes for a moment. Many of her friends had just died on this ill-advised op. She wondered who was the idiot that conceived and approved it. Romelia would love to have a little "chat" with that person.

    If she made it out in one piece, which was her priority right now.

    She needed to keep out of the streets or risk being nailed by the enemy air ?ssets. That''s why after checking her map for the second time, Two charged through the walls of the house in which she had ended.

    Luckily, most of the surviving clones were too busy tending for their wounded as well as the civilians caught in the cross fire. That or shooting up the remains of the fools that made this ill thought op into a five sided fight.

    Moments later, Vance had to dart across a side alley. Once she reached the end of her cover she glanced up. Smoke and soot obscured the sky, but that wouldn''t be too big a problem for the enemy fighters. Without anything resembling decent ECM active in the city, the Republic air ?ssets didn''t have to rely on visual targeting or struggle with degraded sensors.

    She dashed through the alley and plunged through the wall of the closest building on the other side. Then through second and third wall. All thanks to a barrage of laser bolts, which lit up the house he just left, blowing it up sky high.

    If it wasn''t for her armor, Two would be on the ground, dying from multiple internal contusions. Instead, she only felt like on big, tender bruise.

    Romelia ?r??n?d and picked herself up. She glanced at the map and allowed herself to feel a bit of hope. She was almost there! She demolished her way through another row of houses and smiled. In front of her were houses built onto the river bisecting the city. Around the buildings she could see multiple places where the river could be accessed by the locals.

    Vance wasted no more time and sprinted forward. She jumped and plunged into the water, letting the weight of her armor to drag her down. She checked her map and activated the built in thrusters of her outfit, heading towards a stealth submarine, which was waiting for the survivors of Strike One. Once inside, she sent a series of scrambled codes towards the armors of her fallen comrades.

    =RK=

    Three, was unlucky. It looked like that the surviving clones and various other enemies, had decided to make their life''s mission to get him. Every time the commando thought that he broke contact, he ran straight into another armed group. Republic troopers, mercenaries, outlaws even what appeared to be rebels... It was a bloody madness!

    An enemy fighter strafed the street where he was moments ago, demolishing the fronts of all nearby buildings. Three ran through someone''s living room, only to find himself face to face with a pair of Duros wielding blaster pistols. They stared at him for a moment, before raising their weapons. The commando decided not to waste ammo on them and without slowing down, he simply bludgeoned the pair with the barrel of his blaster cannon.

    Three darted out of the building a second before it was disintegrated by an air strike. The shock wave picked him up and hurled his armored form down a nearby street. All the while he somehow remained conscious, though dazzled. The commando idly noted that the clones were really pissed off, because they were demolishing the city without carrying about collateral damage in order to get him. Though the presence of rebels in the settlement might have had something to do with that...

    Some time later, Three shook himself. He was laying on an open street with no convenient cover in sight. A bunch of LAATs were heading in his direction. His armor was warning him that he was locked on by multiple targeting sensors.

    He glanced around. There was no sight of his weapon, though it wasn''t a big loss. If he tried something, the weapons mounted on those ?ssault transports would cut him to ribbons, power armor or not.

    "Two, won''t make it. Leave ASAP!" he muttered in Strike One''s net.

    "Affirmative," his friend whispered in her comm.

    Three returned his attention to the enemy gunships. A pair floated couple of hundred meters away, pointing all their weapons in his direction, while behind them, transports were unloading squads of clones.

    He sneered at the Republic''s soldiers of choice. The damn clones were a disgrace!

    Three sent a series of commands through his implants. A moment later, crimson warnings obscured his vision, covering most of his HUD.

    "For the True Republic!" he whispered.

    Two almost simultaneous explosions shook Jag-Wa, marking the self immolation of the fallen Strike One.

    When the dust settled, the Republic search parties would be able to recover only one heavily damaged power armor, in which the self destruct mechanism had failed.

    =RK=

    General Valentra''s Office

    GAR Headquarters / location classified/

    Coruscant

    "Now, that we''ve finished with most present matters..." Valentra trailed off, while looking at a data pad. "Can someone tell me, who exactly deployed working prototypes of power armor against our forces on Naboo earlier today?"

    "Unknown. Our own R&D is at least few months away from testing the prototypes. At least the exo-skeletons are ready for field testing and should work as a stop-gap measure if we face power armor in numbers before our own is ready," the Director of SIB.

    "Did we recover at least one of those suits?" asked Veil.

    "One. Heavily damaged. It will be dispatched for Coruscant at first opportunity."

    "With a strong escort, I hope," the Director of ONI added.

    "That goes without saying," Valentra confirmed.

    "Now on another topic, I understand that you''ll be visiting Corellia soon, General Veil?" Ivon inquired.

    "That''s the plan. I''ll be heading there once the Jedi Council gets around to Windu''s trial."

    Most people in the room winced at the mention of the Jedi Master''s name. His stunts had come close to starting a civil war between the Jedi and the Republic armed forces. Who in turn weren''t thrilled that a high ranked Jedi tried to arrest their acting commander in chief during a crisis. Without a cause to make the mess even bigger.

    Needless to say, the outcome of the impending trial was something in which certain circles within the Republic military and civilian leadership were very interesting. One of the many reasons why, was that it had the potential to heal (or make almost unbridgeable) the growing rift between many of the Jedi Generals and the Republic soldiers.

    The Intel chiefs looked at each other.

    "General, while on Corellia, we would like you to inquire about certain matters with the system''s leadership, and Senator Bel Iblis in particular..."

    "Indeed?" asked the General. They had his undivided attention.

 Chapter 34 - Showcasing Equipment

    Part 1

    =RK=

    Republic R&D Centre

    Location Classified

    Coruscant

    Login: Star Snatcher

    Password: **************

    Login Successful

    Browsing files...

    R&D New Equipment Presentation (work in progress) selected...

    Access Granted...

    Playing file...

    A schematic of "BR-1 Hailstorm" floats in a holo-tank display. The rifle is modded with under-slung grenade launcher as well as reflex sight in case the uplink to a clone''s HUD display is down.

    "As you can see, the replacement for the standard blaster carbine used by our troopers is at hand. The Hailstorm is ten percent more accurate..."

    A line of clones could be seen, taking aim at a modified firing range. Suddenly the light dims and dozens of holographic targets appears. They start moving erratically, more often than not hiding behind cover strewn all over the range. A moment later, the targets start blinking out of existence, reaped by accurate burst of blaster fire.

    "Nevertheless, that particular ?sset of our new weapon is of secondary value, no matter how useful. Considering the toughness of the CIS Super Battle Droids, we deem that the next feature of the BR-1 is of a paramount importance. The Hailstorm is twenty five percent deadlier than its predecessor, making it an ideal tool to deal with the soulless hordes of the Confederation."

    A clone trooper appears in the holo-tank. The view angle changes to reveal that he is facing a Super Battle Droid. The soldier takes aim and sends a single tri-shot burst at the machine''s ?h?st plating. The metal plate boils at the points of impact instant before disintegrating, thus allowing the third blaster shot to pass unimpeded into the war droid''s innards.

    "Another great feature of the Hailstorm is that each rifle is designed to work seamlessly with a multipurpose grenade launcher. The "Grendel" itself is a superb piece of Republic engineering and know how. It could fire one of two dozen types of grenades. From the standard and loved Fragmentation, to the ever useful High Explosive, to anti-personnel rounds containing mono-molecular edged flechettes, stun and Ion rounds as well as various other munition types which would suit any situation the modern soldier could find himself in."

    A room full with mannequins of Geonosian natives appears in the holo-tank. A muted thump could be heard a second later. Then the room explodes in a eye-watering fire storm.

    The image changes to another group of the insect like beings. This time they are shredded by a storm metal shards.

    "Naturally, the BR-1, no matter how good it is, is not fit for every situation. Next I want to present you the SR-3 ''Reaper'', multi purpose sniper rifle. With few easy tweaks, this piece of deadly technology could be modded to fit different mission parameters. From anti-material work-"

    The view changes again, showing a standard CIS APC moving over a rocky road. Kilometres of empty tundra could be seen on both sides of the third rate motorway.

    "to a precise anti-personnel system."

    This time, the image is not staged. It shows a Duros clad in long coat, arriving on a landing pad, where an advanced looking starfighter awaits him. When the man reaches the ground he is struck by invisible force, which takes a huge chunk from his shoulder.

    "As the latest, gruesome display shows, no one is really safe on a modern battlefield. That''s why, we made sure to give our boys and girls the best possible chance of survival! I want to present you our newest series of armours! Please keep in mind, that no matter how good they are, those outfits are only a stepping stone for our true goal ¨C effective combat exoskeletons and power armours."

    The next image is a suit of armor, similar to that worn by the Clone Commandos. The only apparent differenced is that the new armor is a centimetre or so thicker.

    "As you can see, the new medium armor Mark II is not very different from what we outfit our special forces with. At least in appearance. However, the Mark II is a different beast. First, it''s made from a new composite, which gives it almost two and half times better protection against both energy and kinetic impact. Second, the Mark II has integrated shield generator, which not only doesn''t need a backpack to carry, but it releases orders of magnitude less harmful radiation!"

    A mannequin clad in said armor could be seen. It tanks the fire of six clones armed with the old type of carbines, for couple of seconds, before the shields are depleted. Then, the strength of the composite is truly shown, when the unshielded armor takes enough punishment to decimate a squad worth of soldiers before its breached.

    "When the going gets tough, our troopers need to break out the heavy weapons. For such instances, we designed the Juggernaut Heavy armor. As you can see, it somewhat resembles the Medium Mark II, all the while it provides protection close to a light vehicle. The trooper''s strength and battlefield endurance are vastly increased thanks to motorized joins, which not only take off a lot of pressure from a soldier''s body, but allows the use of heavy weapons with ease! Further, the Juggernaut, integrates much more powerful shields and can carry various other equipment. For example, a portable Jammer, AA or AT missile pack, high-powered comm equipment..."

    The next image shows a two meters tall behemoth of gleaming metal. He carries a heavy laser cannon. He has a backpack with two vertically launched AA missiles.

    "Next, something for our scouts. The Ghost Armor. It is lighter than the Mark II, though it features the same shield system. What makes this outfit a unique piece of equipment, is its purpose. Thanks to built-in sound dampeners and thermo-optic camouflage field, the Ghost Armor renders its wearer virtually invisible!"

    A soldier in a slimmer, form fitting armor is shown. Then he vanishes leaving a b?r?ly visible haze behind. Moments later it''s gone too, leaving no sight of the man.

    "Finally, we come to our crown achievement so far! The ''Raptor'' 01 prototype! This is our first working variant of a combat exoskeleton ready for field testing! It features..."

    Logging off...

 Chapter 35 - Political Manoeuvres

    Part 1

    Council Chambers

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    Good and Evil. No matter what some say, the very concept is subjective. One being''s Angel could very well be another''s Devil. It''s all about one''s morals. A being''s individual perception of the outside world. That and the perception of the society in which you live. In a future that won''t be, Vader said it best. From his point of view the Jedi were the evil ones, while Obi-Wan naturally thought otherwise. In essence, that was why we were gathered in the Jedi Council''s Chambers. The Masters were about to render Judgement on one of their own... and on me, though no one was saying aloud that dirty little secret.

    Finally, it was time for Windu''s trial. The most powerful and wise of the Jedi were about to decide whether Mace acted as overzealous fool during the first attack on the Temple, one who came very close to treason against the Republic. Or if he was right and I am an embodiment of the very Evil the Order was formed to vanquish.

    I looked around, trying to keep a shit-eating grin from appearing on my face. Despite the vocal protests of some Jedi, the trial was going to be public. Even better, it was going to be transmitted live throughout the galaxy. On the downside, besides few floating camera droids and the Jedi Council only few outsiders were permitted in this "hallowed" place. The first kind were the representatives of the Senate, which were Senators Padme Amidala and Bail Organa. When I tried to find out how much political capital those two spent to get the positions, I was impressed. Let''s just say that it was a considerable amount.

    But enough about the Senators. I was much more interested in the second kind of blokes let in. After all, I was one of them.

    Needless to say, those were the GAR representatives, made up by Valentra and myself. We had arrived escorted by teams of clones, who were pointedly heavily armed and armoured. That stunt, which was liable to piss off many Jedi, would have an impact on the public which saw us thanks to the running cameras floating around. They would reach their own conclusions.

    If someone had failed to figure it out, the trial had many purposes, with Mace''s prosecution about the actual laws he might or might not had broken being rather down the priority list.

    First, it was a publicity stunt. That was obvious to the most of the civilized galaxy.

    Second, the Jedi Council had to make a political decision. A monumental one, which one way or another would change the Order. Ironically, no matter what they did, this trial could easily lead to fracturing within their ranks that might be impossible to mend. Even without Palpy and me acting according to our own agendas... But I digress.

    I am a Sith. A well known one, whose, let''s say "religion", was becoming something of a public secret. At best. At worst everyone and their third cousin, twice removed knew it. Even if technically I wasn''t from the type of Sith who were outlawed in the legal nightmare that were the Republic''s law books. So as far as the Jedi should be concerned, I should be the enemy they had trained to fight for the last thousand years, right?

    That was the snag. I was also a well known person, who was even rather popular with the Republic citizens. A competent general, a war hero to boot, who was being called the Saviour of Ryloth lately... One wouldn''t be surprised to know that after the last few months of the war, I was better liked and respected than but a handful of Jedi. As important was the fact that a lot of the surviving crop of Senators believed that my intervention during the Senate Siege was the only reason they were still in one piece. More or less.

    Then, there was Mace Windu. A great bloke, who had managed to piss off the whole GAR, a baaad thing in the current political climate. During the massive CIS offensive that came perilously close to winning the war for the bastards, every one important knew that it was only thanks to the tremendous sacrifices of the armed forces, both Clones and ordinary people alike, that the line was held and the Republic was still in the game. So right now the GAR was getting everything we wanted and then some more.

    To say that the Jedi Council was under tremendous pressure to just throw Windu under the Airbus and wash their hands of him, was a hilarious understatement.

    Amusingly enough, they would have done just that under different circumstances.

    Nevertheless, there was one snag with that course of action. Doing so would be admitting to themselves that I wasn''t the Evil Sith TM out to Conquer the Galaxy, slaughter the Jedi and corrupt everyone in sight, and not necessary in that order. Which would piss off the conservative fraction of the Order, who were supporting Windu while believing that I must be stopped at all cost. To make things worse for the Council, that was not an insignificant number of the Jedi at large. The only reason I hadn''t had more confrontations like that with Windu was that the Jedi were spread thin across the galaxy.

    On the other hand, there was an increasing and influential minority of men and women within the Order who were at least neutral towards me if not downright friendly. Obi-Wan, Shaak Ti, Alaya Secura, Plo Koon, just to name a few. Not to mention, their own Chosen One, to whom I was slowly becoming a mentor...

    =RK=

    The doors of the Council Chambers slid open again, halting my train of thought. Master Yoda slowly walked in, followed by the towering figure of Ki-Ady Mundy. The Grandmaster''s cane was clattering ominously on the metal floor in step with his ponderous gait. Once the tiny Jedi Master made his way to his chair, he sat down and looked around. His eyes stopped on Valentra and me for a moment, and he hummed with something that resembled disappointment. He obviously wasn''t amused by the stunt we pulled out with our heavy guard detail.

    Yoda pointedly paid no attention to the cameras floating around like a bunch of overgrown insects and started speaking in a calm, almost bored tone.

    "Gathered today we are, one of our own to Judge," he came straight to the point, without wasting any time. "Mace Windu, brought in will be," Yoda ordered.

    Moments later the doors hissed open again, revealing two faceless masks. They belonged to a pair of Temple Guardians, escorting the Jedi Master in. Windu strode in, clad in simple brow robes. I would give him that, he had an aura of power around him. To the ordinary spectator he would appear sure in the outcome of the trial. There was no sign of worry or apprehension in the way he was carrying himself. As if he wasn''t the one on trial today.

    Perhaps it was an act. Or he simply believed strongly enough in his cause, knowing deep within his heart that it was a just one, the right one.

    When Mace was in the centre of the chamber, surrounded by a quartet of guards, the show really started.

    "Mace Windu, you stand accused of grave misconduct..." Ki-Ady Mundy started speaking. "...unbecoming of one bearing the rank of Jedi Master."

    Despite their steel discipline, the clones surrounding Valentra and myself stirred. To the left, my fellow general scowled.

    Meanwhile, the Jedi Masters were giving each other cryptic looks.

    "And attempted treason..." Plo Koon added in a rasping voice.

    I could sense the surrounding clones calming down, glad that the Jedi, who still were the bulk of their highest ranking commanding officers, didn''t just betray them out of hand by ignoring Windu''s near treason. As for myself, I had to suppress a grin. The game was finally afoot.

    "How do you plead?" asked Kenobi.

    Obi-Wan looked calm, almost serene ¨C the epitome of a Jedi Master. However, for someone who actually knew the man, like myself, it was obviously that he was on edge. Kenobi knew better than most what was at stake during this trial.

    "If doing my duty, protecting the Citizens of the Republic and my fellow Jedi from the very threat this Order was formed to combat is counted as Treason today, then I plead guilty!" Mace''s voice thundered around the chamber.

    Suddenly it was quiet. Deafeningly so. The Force was shifting wildly around us, like a nervous animal. It was bidding its time, waiting.

    It was a whisper, almost beyond one''s capacity to hear... It was a promise for boundless possibilities... And it was all centred around Mace Windu.

    I blinked, my eyes widening in understanding, something mirrored by some Jedi Masters. In this Force saturated place, we were able to perceive the edge of an ability one must be born with. A gift Mace had.

    We were sensing the outer edges of a Shatterpoint. One concentrated on the trial we were participating in. Windu could see it, perceive it''s very nature in a way none of us ever could.

    He could influence it, and the accused Jedi Master was doing it right now.

    "Tell me, my friends, since when is it a crime to arrest a Sith?! Since when is forbidden to do one''s best to stop an enemy in our very midst who is subtly gaining more and more power?"

    More than a third of the Jedi Masters were nodding in unison with his words, clearly agreeing. Another group, almost as numerous were displeased by what he was saying. The two main camps within the Jedi Order were revealed within seconds of the trial''s start. It was also clear that the outcome, whatever it was going to be, would be decided by those who were more or less neutral on the issue.

    Just as I knew it would be the case.

    "This enemy you speak of..." a human Jedi Master I was unfamiliar with asked.

    Windu turned his head towards me. I could see a gleam of triumph in his eyes. He pointed an accusing finger at my ?h?st.

    "Darth Delkatar Veil, a Dark Lord of the Sith! One who had wormed his way into the very heart of the Republic Armed forces! A position where he could cause untold harm once he shows his true colours for everyone to see!"

    "Indeed?" I asked, raising an inquisitive eyebrow his way. I was pleased to feel that the Clones present in the room bristled at the accusation. I looked the Jedi Master straight in the eyes... and that was a mistake...

    There was a tremor in the Force. It shook me, nearly throwing me flat on my back.

    =RK=

    To be Mace Windu at that moment, was akin to being a rock amidst angry white rapids. A redoubt in the centre of monstrous storm. The Jedi Master was beginning to comprehend that his attempt to influence the Shatterpoint that was his trial might have been a mistake. Somehow he was able to perceive glimpses of myriad futures, all passing by like speeding starships, all too fast to properly perceive. Some lighter, yet he sensed that the majority were much darker than the present he existed in.

    Mace frowned. His ability to interact with Shatterpoints wasn''t supposed to work like that. At least in his experience. After all, he wasn''t so arrogant as to ?ssume that he knew everything about that skill.

    Then he felt a presence. An inhuman one, vast and powerful beyond belief. Somehow he had gained its attention. Windu felt amusement, followed by a brief spell of clarity in the jumbled train of visions he was experiencing.

    He saw a hunched figure, cloaked by heavy black robes sitting on a throne engulfed by shadows... One that was possibly the most powerful Force user he had ever sensed... and that one was definitely not an adherent of the Light side.

    Windu was floating within crimson void, thick like a sticky syrup. It took him moments to comprehend that he was within someone''s Rage given form and substance. He could b?r?ly perceive a monstrous helmet made of black gleaming metal, before being engulfed by malevolence, pain hatred and regret mixed in a potent and deadly ???ktail by someone fallen to the Dark Side... Yet, there was something familiar in the Force signature ?ssociated in that vision. The Jedi master just knew it was about someone he knew for years or more, however he simply couldn''t place a name to his feelings. The Force signature of that person was simply that distorted... or cloaked by the entity allowing him to see a glimpse of a possible future.

    Another shift. He was floating over the Temple''s great hall. Which was filled with fire, smoke and the screams of the dying. His fellow Jedi were locked in mortal combat with tidal wave of white armoured figures. While the Knights and padawans he could see gave and excellent account of themselves, they were buried under a legion of clones, who had brought enough fire-power to overwhelm their adversaries by sheer volume of fire if nothing else.

    Then he was amidst a lava covered wasteland, where Obi-Wan was fighting a shadow wielding azure lightsaber. A fallen Jedi or a Sith, Mace didn''t know. He blinked and was within the Senate Chambers, just in time to see a tired and much older looking Master Yoda jump away from a senatorial pod hurling his way.

    The Vaapad master was brought down to his knees by the death screams of thousands of Jedi. He was shocked with emotion and finally he knew what he was allowed to see. A future... The Future that would have been if Veil hadn''t existed. The Fall of both the Jedi and the Republic.

    ''Now what?'' Mace wondered in his mind.

    He looked at Veil who was watching him through narrowed eyes, just like the rest of the Force Adepts in the Council Chambers. Someone was speaking, but Windu didn''t hear him, being too deep in his own thoughts. He knew a terrible truth now. Without the changes Veil brought, the Jedi would be all but annihilated in the future, and the clones would pay a part in that. Now there wasn''t a clear path to the future. Everything was in flux, changing too fast to glimpse anything beyond vague traces of danger. Yet Mace couldn''t help but wonder, whether the fate Veil had in mind for the Jedi was better or worse than the Fall he was just warned about...

    He stood up and turned towards Yoda. Mace Windu had a decision to make.

    =RK=

    Part 2

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    I don''t really know how I stopped myself from tearing into that kriffing prick Windu when it became obvious what the bastard was trying to do. Sheer incredulity was part of it for sure. It has been ages since I encountered someone who actually could influence Shatter-points... and I had no bloody idea that Windu was one of those people.

    Second, the episode was over as fast as it began, obviously in failure. We all could feel a wave of backslash passing through the Vaapad master. Which served him right. How the damn Jedi thought that he could get away with it if he had actually succeeded is beyond me. Not with a lot of the Councillors present in the flesh.

    Unless they liked the outcome and decided to cover it up. Needless to say, my opinion of the Jedi, whose only reaction was to give Windu a bunch of disapproving glares, didn''t endear them to me.

    "Master Windu," I hissed through clenched teeth, "In the future, keep your Force abilities to yourself."

    "Indeed!" rumbled Yoda, who narrowed his eyes at the accused. "More of that, have we will not!" the Grandmaster ordered in a tone of voice I had never heard him use in the movies. Though it wasn''t that surprising, given that this was the real thing after all.

    Around me, both Valentra and the Clones stiffened. While they could only guess what had just happened, the very idea that Windu could have used his "sorcery" on such an occasion was pissing them off. The way my men tightened their grip on their weapons was telling.

    Windu looked around with a pained expression on his face. The coiled cloud of tension that had descended over the Council chambers with his entrance tightened even move as he opened his mouth to speak. To my, and a lot of other people''s surprise, Windu proved that he was a Jedi Master and a Council member for a reason.

    "My fellow Jedi, it appears that I''ve lost my way as of late," he spoke in a voice dripping genuine regret. Which was actually something I didn''t expect from my brief acquaintance with the man. "In my perhaps overzealous pursuit to protect all we hold dear, I came close to tearing apart the very Republic we are sworn to protect."

    That was almost as clear an admission of guilt as one could have expected. The Jedi around us stared at their colleague, wondering where he was going. So did I.

    "While I can''t help but wonder, what future lies ahead of the Republic with a Sith at the helm of its armies, one fact remains unchanged. So far, all of General Veil''s actions had been for what he sees as the best of our nation."

    Oh, boy. Wasn''t this a nice, ambiguous speech!? While not said, it was implied that my vision for the Republic''s future might not be to the liking of either the Jedi as a whole or the power-brokers actually running the whole corrupt mess.

    He was right about that, but that''s another story...

    "At the time I took what I believed to be the right course of action for us all. That''s all I have to say for myself. I leave myself to the fair judgement of this Council," Windu finished his short speech with a deep bow in Yoda''s direction.

    All eyes turned towards the Grandmaster. The ball was in his court.

    =RK=

    Shaak Ti felt like massaging her forehead. The abrupt change of tune that Mace has after toying with his Force-given abilities, was going to create more problems than it would solve. But more importantly, unless she was very much mistaken, Windu had glimpsed something during his ill advised attempt to influence the future in his own favour. While he still implied that Veil was at least a potential danger, a person from whom both the Jedi and the Republic as a whole should be wary of, for at least some, the Jedi Master''s words would be viewed like an endorsement for Delkatar.

    In just few short sentences, Windu had poured fuel on the flames of both Veil''s supporters and the hard-liners who viewed him as the greatest threat to the future. Though in the end, Shaak Ti knew that unfortunately most beings would hear whatever they wanted to in Mace''s words.

    Ti stole a brief glance Delkatar''s way, seeing him scowl at Windu. She felt relieved that Veil didn''t attack her fellow Jedi Master when Mace kriffed up with his Force Abilities. It wasn''t like the Sith wasn''t provoked, if the way he had reacted was anything to judge by.

    Such a disaster didn''t b?r? thinking about. Though the usually suppressed part of her that was the evolved predator couldn''t help but wonder who would have won if those two went toe to toe against each other.

    At those thoughts, she had to consciously prevent a quiet growl of anticipation from escaping her lips.

    =RK=

    Master Yoda had a dilemma to solve. All because Mace had decided to act like a blithering imbecile. The ancient Jedi Master was sorely tempted to use his cane on the much taller human''s shins. Kriffing kids these days! He haven''t been in such a mess in centuries!

    "Hmm..." a quiet rumble escaped Yoda''s lungs. "Difficult it is. Served faithfully the Republic, you have, " he used his cane to point at Windu''s ?h?st. "Many conflicts resolved, you have. Many lives saved, you have."

    Yoda''s ears drooped in a sign of regret, while he wondered why the younglings like Mace just had to act so rash!

    "Yet..." the Grandmaster trailed off, glancing from Veil to Windu.

    Yoda was well aware of all facets of this trial. Of all the hopes riding on it, all the expectations and the incredible potential for disaster. Worst of all, no matter what one might have expected, his hands were mostly tied. It wasn''t right, yet the trial wasn''t about justice or guilt though there was plenty of both to go around. No, it was about both Jedi and Republic politics.

    There was a schism within his own Order, one Yoda didn''t see coming when he had decided that Veil wasn''t their enemy. And he should have. After all, Yoda had been the one to train the Jedi. The one who shaped the Order for more centuries than he wanted to count.

    Only to be blind-sided by an impossibility. A Sith that may not be an enemy. A logical impasse, which was undermining the foundation of the current Jedi Order.

    Yoda closed his eyes, opening himself to the Force, searching for guidance. Even if he already knew the path he should take. He needed to buy time and try to heal the rift in his own house.

    "Guilty you are... Of arrogance. Short-sightedness. Your actions, befitting a Jedi Master''s were not. Part of this Council no longer you are!" Yoda sharply waved a hand when some Jedi Masters whispered furiously at that turn of events. For Yoda wasn''t calling a vote. He was Commanding, something he usually avoided. "Punishment enough this is not. However, in a war we are. Leaving you in prison a waste of your talents would be. Until concluded the Clone Wars are, a common soldier for the Republic you will be."

    Plo Koon gave a firm nod. "So your guilt will be redeemed in service of the Republic."

    Windu answered with a single nod.

    "This show is over!" Kenobi announced after a subtle gesture by Yoda. The Temple Guardians wasted no time in ushering the camera drones out, before leaving with Windu.

    =RK=

    I kept quiet until the chamber''s doors sealed behind the last of the guards. Then I looked straight at Yoda.

    "You very well know that letting him go with just a slap on the wrist will be unacceptable," I said. Next to me Valentra glared at the tiny Jedi.

    "We surely could reach some kind of compromise!" Padme hurried to intervene. I''m not sure how much she was aware of the inter-council and Jedi politics in general, though it should be obvious to someone as experienced in the field of politics that this trial had to be resolved. Now.

    "Know this, I do," Yoda said, his ears drooping in what I thought was a sign of regret. "Get your wish, you will. All Jedi Officers, screened will be. Lacking the skills for command who are, removed from their positions will be."

    Valentra glanced my way and I gave him a nod. "That will be acceptable for the Army and Navy."

    "Won''t such an act be very disruptive?" asked Bail.

    It was a good question.

    "It will. However, in the long term, we well be much better for it. There were many instances so far that Jedi Officers of all levels made critical mistakes, both tactical and strategic. That''s not something that we could allow continuing."

    Some Jedi Masters looked like they approved. Others were unreadable, however the glares sent our way by about a third of the Council was enough to give me a good idea what they thought of our agreement.

    In the end they kept their mouths shut, deciding that enough of the Jedi''s dirty laundry had been flashed in public for the time being. Though I just knew those folks would be a pain in my ?ss in due time.

    "Well, now that''s settled, you all know what follows!" I smirked, letting some of my amusement show. After all, the trial''s outcome was something I was going to spin my way while giving the Jedi enough rope to hang themselves.

    "A meeting with our friends of the media," Kenobi grunted.

    "Inevitable it is," muttered Yoda, in a tone making it clear to us all that he wasn''t looking forward to the meet and greet with the vultures.

    The two Senators in our midst looked at each other, wondering what the problem with meeting the media was. After all, that was something both of them had to do often enough.

    =RK=

    The Great Hall

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    We made our way to the Temple''s gates, where a small mob of reporters awaited us. That part of the Galaxy''s scum was kept at bay by a cordon of Clone Troopers and Temple Guardians. I didn''t need the Force to know that the security forces'' tempers were already fraying while they were trying to contain the newsies. I put my best fake smile on my face and strode forward. Valentra moved to my right, schooling his face in a mask of calmness. We let the majority of the Jedi Masters in our wake, while they were striding slowly forward, refusing to show themselves as anything but dignified.

    Well except Shaak Ti and Obi-Wan, who hurried ahead of their fellows to join us. To be fair, I wasn''t really sure if it was a sign of support or if they wanted to be near in order to mitigate any damage the inevitable interviews were about to cause.

    I nodded at the Clone lieutenant commanding the trooper detachment at the gates, and as was pre-arranged he ordered his soldiers to make way.

    It took Kenobi''s sharp order and Ti''s glare to have the same effect on the Guardians, something that didn''t remain unnoticed.

    I made my way to the head of the mob and grinned at them.

    "My friends, undoubtedly you have some pointed questions for both ourselves," I tilted my head at my fellow general, "and the wise Jedi Masters of the Council. Please go ahead."

    As expected, what followed was a cacophony of shouted questions. I waited for a few moments, before raising a hand. It took them some more time, but they quieted, managing to get to a semblance of order before the rest of the Council could join us... Thus showing better control than I expected from damn reporters.

    "Let''s start with you, miss!" I pointed at a pleasant looking human woman, who reminded me of that reporter from the third Mass Effect game.

    "Tany Lorn, from Galactic Press. General Veil, our viewers would like to know the Army''s position on the Council''s decision. Further, some of them have concerns about a Sith being the nominal head of the Republic''s field forces in these dark times."

    "Miss Lorn, first I can ?ssure you that the Sith I ?ssociated with all those years ago are nothing like those you are most familiar with. I''m speaking of the same so called Sith who were outlawed during the Ruusan reformations. The same Sith who are in league with the Confederacy of Independent Systems in their dastardly scheme to plunge the whole galaxy into war!" I paused for a moment, to let my words sink in and better judge the emotions of the small crowd. There was curiosity, anticipation, a lot of cynicism, as one would expect from reporters and not a small amount of fear after all that had happened. At least those were the strongest feelings of the gathered beings before me.

    It was something I could work with.

    "What some of my detractors whisper in the dark is true," I let those words hang in the air. The pause was just enough for Padme and Organa to join us, shortly followed by the rest of the Councillors present on Coruscant. "During the Great War I fought for the Empire. In that conflict I killed both Jedi and Republic soldiers. However, that war has been over for a long time. The very Empire I served, the Republic that was its arch-enemy and even the Jedi Order have been gone for millennia! The Republic I now serve is the legitimate Galactic government!" I paused for effect. "In all the years I''ve lived one thing hasn''t changed! I still continue to fight for imposing order and stability onto the galaxy at large, just as the Grand Army and this very Republic does! Even as we speak, both Clones and ordinary people alike bleed and die for this same ideal!" I waved a hand, encompassing both Valentra and the Clones escorting us. "We will do our best to ensure that this conflict is fought to its conclusion with the least amount of bloodshed and collateral damage. However, the individuals who lead the other side, those so called Sith and their allies amongst the Separatist Council have shown their true colours. That of terrorists, delusional warmongers, Mass murderers who target military and civilian alike!" I took a deep breath. "We, your proud guardians from all branches of the Republic military forces, will do whatever it takes to stop the chaos and madness unleashed by this so called Confederacy! We will bring the War Criminals leading the CIS to justice, stopping their atrocities across the galaxy once and for all!" I declared.

    To my surprise, the small crowd exploded with cheers, taking me aback. I stood there, basking in their raw emotions. It was bloody glorious!

    Next to me, the Jedi stood rooted in their places, not knowing how to react. Few of them were in such a position before and the raw feelings of the gathered reporters were rocking their world!

    I raised a hand again, waiting for the people in front of me to calm down.

    "As for your other question," I looked the young reporter in the eyes, "The Army agrees that given the circumstances, simply imprisoning the former Jedi Master Windu and throwing the key away, would be a waste. No matter his other faults, he is a competent warrior, one who can be put to good use in defending the Republic in her hour of need. Nevertheless, he is not someone who we feel could be trusted. So how to best to utilise his skills will be the topic of some debates," I paused. "Thank you for your insightful questions, miss Lorn." I pointed at a deep blue, male Twi''lek next. "Let''s hear your questions, sir."

    "Dan Howtenstain, Coruscant News Network. General Veil, despite the successful military operations you led as of late, the Republic as a whole is seen as being on the defensive. What''s more concerning, some of our military annalists say that we are at severe strategic disadvantage, something that allowed the attacks on Coruscant to happen in the first place. How would you comment on that?"

    "Actually, that is a very good question Dan." I said in a serious tone. It was time to pour even more fuel on the fire of anti-CIS resentment and fear. "I''m about to tell you a secret that few outside the military know. It has been something that has given those of us in the know a lot of sleepless nights."

    That got everyone''s undivided attention. The reporters were looking at me with hunger in their eyes. After all, it wasn''t often that an official was about to tell them a deep dark secret. Officially. In front of the whole galaxy.

    I found it hard to keep the serious expression on my face. I had them now. Even better, this was one of the things we discussed in the meeting with the intelligence chiefs. It was decided that I would be the one to confirm the bad news to the citizens at large.

    "It is no real secret that when this war started, the Republic as a whole didn''t have a real army to speak of. Just some Judicial Forces, which while good in their role, were law enforcement units. The same could be said for the Jedi as well. They are excellent in their role. That of peacekeepers and fiendishly good investigators. The fact that they are some of the galaxy''s premier warriors helps as well."

    Some Jedi stood a bit straighter at the unexpected praise, while others, the more experienced and cunning of them (or simply paranoid) waited for the other shoe to drop. The newsies on the other hand, were ??pping up my words as if there was no tomorrow.

    "However, both groups had some major disadvantage. The most glaring of all is their startling lack of numbers. No matter how good you are, when the enemy could simply bury you in numbers without even notice, well..." I shrugged. I didn''t need to extrapolate on that front. Both groups combined didn''t have anything approaching the numbers to face an army. "Second, which is as important, pertains to a lot of Jedi. Luckily to us all, that was a problem to which we found a solution which will be announced today."

    The crowd was becoming restless again. As expected, teasing them with juicy information was working.

    "That problem is simple, yet complex. The mentality in which the Jedi are raised and encouraged to have, well it''s contrary to what one needs to be an effective military officer. There aren''t many who were able to raise above what they were taught all their lives behind the Temple''s walls and become the officers that the Republic needs in her hour of need. That''s why the GAR High Command and the Jedi Council reached an agreement. The performance of all Jedi already included within the Army structure will be reviewed. Those unsuitable for command positions will be replaced with beings who would find no conflict in executing their duty with their religious beliefs and ideals."

    I gave a respectful bow to the gathered Jedi Councillors. Most of them managed to keep their calm fa?ade, though there were a lot who were glaring at me. The fun thing was that everything I said was factually true. Yet, for one who was unfamiliar (or had vague knowledge about the Force), well they would make their own conclusions about the Jedi and the way the war was prosecuted under their command.

    While there were a lot of questions shouted my way, I wasn''t finished. I raised my right hand in a placating gesture, waiting for an opportunity to speak again.

    When the crowd calmed down a bit at my latest revelation, I was free to continue.

    "Nevertheless, that''s not all there is to our current problems. While the Republic is much bigger than what the traitors hold, with much greater potential economics, we do face some significant problems. To put it bluntly, when the war started, they were ready. Their economy was already on war footing, their shipyards and factories engaged producing warships, weapons and hordes of droids. While we were caught with our pants down." I waved a hand in a dismissive gesture. "I understand it. Really. No one sane wishes a war. Those of us who truly know it, are the last ones who would d?s?r? it. We have seen the horrors, we carry the scars and we have lost too much to it to willingly embrace it..."

    Unless that we knew that sometimes the alternative is worse. And/or we are Sith, but that''s beside the point.

    "So I can''t place all, or even most of the blame on those Senators who simply wished for peace and opposed the raising of the Grand Army of the Republic. However, now we all find ourselves with a problem. Until the economy can be placed on a war footing, we will be at a severe disadvantage against the CIS. The next few months will be precarious, even if the latest enemy offensive has run out of steam. Now it is a race between our boys and girls, fighting across half the galaxy, trying to stem the tide of evil and buy us enough time to place our house in order and start diminishing the Separatist''s advantage."

    I looked straight at one of the camera drones floating in front of me. "While it is a dauntless task, it is far from an insurmountable one. For we don''t stand alone! Many of our friends have come to the Republic''s aid in our hour of need! Even now, Corellian ships and crews race to bolster the Navy in a dozen sectors. That is something that we should be grateful for. Instead of choosing the easy way, instead of simply standing aside while the Republic and the whole galaxy is torn apart in war, the Corellians chose to do the right thing! To risk life and limb to oppose the genocidal madness of the CIS! And, that my fellow beings is something that should both humble us and make us forever grateful for their example!"

    =RK=

    That interview was going to have major consequences across the galaxy. For both the beings who were present there in person and the masses who watched it on the holonet.

    Ki Adi Mundy carefully studied the gathered reporters, while the various beings were wildly cheering Veil. He couldn''t help but wonder if this was a foreshadowing of things to come. The General was an increasingly popular man, one who was on his way to becoming indispensable for a Republic struggling with enemies from both outside and within... and Democracy seldom was able to coexist with indispensable beings around...

    =RK=

    Nearby, Shaak Ti had trouble keeping her head clear. She was starting to understand why all the Sith were building Empires in the past.

    This was a small crowd, yet the effect of those people''s emotions were staggering. Ti wondered how she would feel if faced with tens of thousands, or even more beings. And what a Sith could do with such a crowd?

    The Togruta knew that she should be, well scared isn''t the right word, concerned about the potential nefarious plots that might lurk within Veil''s head. But, she couldn''t help it! She was both scared and thrilled at the thought of what he could achieve when playing with such a crowd.

    She shook her head at those un-Jedilike thoughts. Shaak Ti needed to meditate and clear up her head. The shots across the bow that Veil sent as a warning towards the Council were going to give her additional headaches. She just knew it.

    =RK=

    Temporarily Chancellor Office

    Location Classified

    Coruscant

    The Republic''s Chancellor watched the proceedings with a frown on his face. His estimate of the threat that Veil represented was revisited once again. Upwards. However, that wasn''t his priority right now. He had to find a way to keep the bulk of the Jedi on the front lines, because he was sure that after Veil cleaned house, many if not most of those weak fools would be kicked out of their cushy positions of authority. Which, of course, would create some interesting opportunities for the Dark Lord of the Sith.

    Even if it meant that executing the original plan when the time came probably wouldn''t be as effective as envisioned. No matter! It wasn''t like he couldn''t change and adapt when the situation called for it. After all, he wasn''t a fossilised Jedi!

    =RK=

    Far away, the different members of the Confederacy council winced while watching Veil speak. The politicians amongst them found most disturbing the fact that their newest enemy apparently could easily win the reporters on his side. Those, and their networks were the ones shaping the opinions of the whole galaxy... It did not bode well, when that infernal Sith could whip up a bunch of reporters into such a frenzy. One had to wonder what he could do with the ordinary citizens... Something that soon everyone would know, once the news had some time to be absorbed by the Republic''s (and to a much lesser extent the CIS''s) population.

    When all things were considered, those beings running the CIS were grateful that they still had a strategic advantage over the Republic.

    And last, but not the least, the few beings who were the leaders of a rogue organization within both he Republic and the CIS itself, were planning how to use the latest upheaval within their adversaries to the best of their advantage.

    =RK=

    Part 3

    Senator Amidala''s Suite

    Republica 500

    Coruscant

    I can honestly say that spending my last evening on Coruscant here, before leaving for Corellia wasn''t something that I expected. Especially being amongst such pleasant company.

    The place was Padme''s relatively small dining room. As for the company, well there was Anakin as one might expect, and Shaak Ti. After the press-conference, she had been once again ?ssigned as my shadow. ''What amongst what I said could have prompted such a reaction among the Jedi, I wonder?'' I rhetorically asked myself.

    Shaak Ti, who was sitting across the table from me, snorted. She spoke as if reading my thoughts. "You all but called most Jedi incompetent, made many of us look like a bunch of crazy zealots and insinuated that you would be replacing us with a bunch of bloodthirsty maniacs in charge of the clones. What''s there to be nervous about?!"

    Obviously the time for small talk was over. A pity, I was enjoying the story Padme was telling us about Anakin''s antics on their flight from Coruscant towards Naboo during the Trade Federation crisis.

    Her words just highlighted one of the biggest problem I had with the Jedi. From my, and most objective people''s perspective, what she said was true. The Jedi, at least most of them, were incompetent as far as being military officers goes... As for bloodthirsty replacements, that would be true only from the Jedi''s perspective. For them most effective military commanders would probably be considered a bunch of murderous maniacs.

    "To be fair, Master Ti, Windu made a great example for most of the points you raised," Anakin snorted. "Further, Delkatar is right. Most of us are unfit for being generals," he muttered quietly.

    It was obvious that Skywalker was remembering his and Obi-Wan''s escapades on Ryloth.

    "How so?" asked Ti. "You are speaking from experience," she declared after studying him for few moments.

    "Yeah."

    "What happened?" she asked.

    "I want to know that too!" Padme added her two cents, sending a pointed look at her husband and then to the living room where I had noticed a couch. "And you," she pointed at me with her fork, "I can definitely say that the way you got your version of the story out first was very good... for a politician. As one of the leaders of the Army you should know better than to play such games. It is the Senate''s job to deal with the press and the politics of the situation."

    "There isn''t much of the Senate left, Padme. Besides, if I''m to be honest, I wouldn''t trust most of your colleagues with anything of importance," I turned my head towards Anakin. While she had grown up a lot in the short time I knew her, she could still be na?ve sometimes. "You know, Dooku was right when he spoke with Kenobi on Geonosis"

    Skywalker gave me an empty look. "I have no idea what you are talking about."

    "Ah. Perhaps you know what I imply?" I turned my attention towards Shaak Ti, who shook her head in denial. Her hypnotizing eyes were looking at me with interest.

    "He told Obi-Wan that the Senate and the Republic as a whole were under the influence of a Sith Lord. And he didn''t mean me."

    "So Dooku tried to gain Kenobi as an ?sset for the CIS by lying to him. It obviously failed."

    "Obviously. However, you are mistaken about one point. Dooku told the truth," I declared and watched with amusement the effects of the bomb I just dropped in their collective ??ps.

    It wouldn''t be the last for the night either.

    "Even if you are correct, I just can''t take your word for that. Not without evidence!" declared Padme.

    To my pleasant surprise, the one who asked the most important question was none other than Shaak Ti. "It is a grave accusation. One I can''t dismiss out of hand considering how the Senate has been behaving. Though most of those suspicious instances could be written off as simple greed and corruption." She fixed me with a stare. "Why are you telling this to the three of us? Such suspicions would be better served if brought to either the Jedi Council or your friend Valentra."

    "Hey! I am a Senator. This is need to know information for me too!" Padme exclaimed. "Yet, Master Ti raises a good point. Care to enlighten us?"

    Three pair of eyes converged on me. I leaned back into my chair. It was time to start laying the foundation of the future.

    "You need allies..." Shaak Ti trailed off.

    "I have my reasons to want you all on my side," I looked at Padme. "You are one of the youngest, yet most influential Senators in the Republic. A woman of integrity, who stands by her ideals when the going gets tough. Which is something to admire, though sometimes the consequences of your stubbornness could be to the detriment of us all."

    "You and Anakin are never going to let my stand against the Republic Army bill go, will you?" Padme grumbled.

    "Not any time soon," I muttered. To his credit Anakin remained silent. The young man obviously didn''t want to sleep on the couch. Again.

    "Padme, you are a staunch advocate of Democracy and freedom of choice. Something that will be missing from this galaxy if the CIS, or my hypothetical Sith backing them, win."

    "Fair enough," she said. It was no secret that there was a conspicuous lack of democracy after the Separatists seized a world. Or within their own camp if the rumours we got from Intelligence had any merit to them.

    "You, my young friend," I pointed at Anakin, "Will do anything to protect those precious to you. Something that the Jedi did little to help you with in the past. Besides to those that still believe in such nonsense as prophecies, you are the Chosen One in addition to being a powerful Force Adept. And a talented amateur as far as commanding troops goes."

    He gave me a stubborn look, but then shook his head. The reminder of what happened with his mother not too long ago was still painful. I could clearly sense his anguish at the reminder. So could Shaak Ti, but she chose to remain silent until she knew more about the situation she suddenly found herself in.

    "And what about me, oh wise one?" Shaak Ti asked.

    "You are one of the best that the Jedi have. An experienced leader, a virtuoso with a lightsaber. And most importantly, someone who no longer takes the Council''s propaganda for Holy Scripture that must be followed at all costs."

    That she was quite pleasant to the eyes was something I didn''t add aloud. It wasn''t something she would appreciate right now. Though that thought made a concern resurface in my mind. Was I thinking with my d??k as far as Ti was concerned?

    Well no matter. Right now was too late for second thoughts. I had made up my mind and it was high time to start recruiting some high profile people to my side. Or shoot myself in the foot if I had misjudged those three...

    "I have a vision for the future that I want to accomplish. Imagine a galaxy that is stable, a beacon of law and order. A place that no longer strains under the wasteful chaos of this war. I want a peaceful galaxy, one where you won''t have to fear the ambitions of petty warlords. A place without rampant crime. A galaxy free of slavery, no matter if you are fortunate to live within the heart of the Republic or you are from a Force forsaken world in the Outer Rim!" I took a deep breath. "That is my dream. And with your help, I might be able to pull it off."

    My little speech got Anakin''s attention at least. It was enough to mention that I wanted to get rid of slavery for good and he was almost guaranteed to have my back. Besides, straightening up the galaxy was something that he would agree with.

    "Oh, my. That''s a lot to take in. You sure are ambitious, Delkatar. I can''t help but wonder, while those are pretty words you say, do you really mean them?" asked Shaak Ti.

    "Words are cheap. I would like you all to judge me by my actions."

    "Yet, your path is one of carnage," supplied Padme.

    "You can''t change the galaxy with only your ideals. More often than not it takes someone willing to dirty their hands. Do you think that the Hutts will stop their criminal enterprises, or rein in their slavers if you ask nicely or force some kind of economic sanctions upon them?"

    "No," Anakin growled. "I know those... Beings!" he hissed, remembering his life as a slave. "There is only one language they understand. Unless you are willing and able to enforce your terms, nothing will change. For the longest time a big part of the Outer Rim has been a hell hole and yet, neither the Republic nor the Jedi have done a thing to clean up that mess! It is something that should have been dealt with centuries ago!"

    Shaak Ti shook her head in resignation. "Anakin! You know that isn''t the Jedi way! We are diplomats and peacekeepers!"

    "For all the good it did," he muttered.

    "Oh, Ani," Padme whispered, in a way one wouldn''t speak to just a friend. Anakin looked at his wife, his funk forgotten.

    Something that didn''t remain unnoticed by Shaak Ti. She was glancing from Anakin to Padme. I gave the three of them a wan smile. It was time to drop the hammer.

    "Anakin, I believe that you as well as many of the other Jedi are aware that I consider you a friend, right?" I asked lightly.

    Skywalker tore his eyes from the stunning image that was his wife (it''s truly amazing what some make up could accomplish!) and glanced at me. The change of topic had surprised him. By the way he shifted his posture, I could gather that he had considerably calmed himself.

    "I think it''s safe to say you are correct in that ?ssessment. You aren''t one to ask questions you know the answer to. Unless you want to make a point," Senator Amidala stated, while her husband was still regaining his cool.

    "I think Padme got it," I said.

    The Senator had paled a bit. She had a grim expression on her face.

    "Padme, what is it?" Skywalker asked. His tone was full with concern.

    "I should have thought of that after today''s interviews. Even earlier, though today would make it certain!" She gave me a cross look. "You said it plainly for everyone in the galaxy to hear that you are a Sith."

    "So?" Anakin shrugged. "It was a public secret anyway. Besides, it''s far from being the most memorable thing he said anyway!"

    "That''s my point! Combined with the contents of your speech, that will bring even more scrutiny upon you! And upon your friends!" she glared at me.

    Shaak Ti glanced between the secretly married couple. She had been wondering why Anakin had been invited to this dinner in the first place and I''m sure that she was disturbed by the way those two interacted even if they tried to keep things professional.

    "Especially if one of them is the Chosen One of the Jedi Order," the Togruta said with a thoughtful frown on her face. An expression which made her look very cute.

    I simply beamed at her.

    Say what you will about Skywalker, but he could be fast on the uptake when he wanted. He deflated and looked dejectedly at his half-eaten food. "It won''t be long now. Even without practically announcing it to a Jedi Master!" he pointed an accusing finger at my ?h?st.

    "Guilty as charged, Anakin. However, there is a method to my madness."

    I leaned towards him and mock-whispered, just loud enough for the women to hear. "It''s a test!"

    "Those two are in a relationship..." Shaak Ti grumbled. She glared at each one of us in turn, before taking a deep pull from the cup of Naboo wine in front of her. "In hind-sign it should have been obvious. How long? A few weeks? Longer?"

    The husband and wife looked at each other, conversing with but a glance.

    "We finally admitted our feelings on Geonosis," Anakin said.

    "And we married soon afterwards, when Ani escorted me back to Naboo after the battle was resolved."

    "Married?!" Shaak Ti spluttered.

    "Ki Adi Mundi," I interjected, earning myself a withering glare.

    "Don''t give me that, Delkatar! You know very well that he is a special case! His species is close to extinction!"

    "So? Do you really believe that there are no feelings involved between him, his wives and kids?" I asked.

    "He is a Jedi Master! He can control his..."

    "Heart?" I interrupted her. "Trust me about this, Master Ti. It doesn''t work like that. I know."

    She was about to argue further, but then abruptly clamped her mouth shut. She gave me a pained look and lowered her head. "What you showed me. Your wife. She fell for and married a Sith during the war, yet she remained a Jedi up until the bitter end."

    "Yes. She never fell to the Dark Side, despite reveling in her feelings. Ashara let her emotions run free and she was stronger for it," I spoke wistfully, remembering times long past.

    "You were married?" Skywalker asked.

    "What happened to her?" Padme was fast to add her own question.

    I gave them an empty stare. "She was murdered. By the Jedi of my own era."

    Two simultaneous gasps echoed in the suddenly cold dining room. Shaak Ti winced when I reminded her of my past again. She was looking at her ??p, refusing to meet anyone''s eyes.

    =RK=

    Part 4

    Padme''s Apartment

    500 Republica

    Coruscant

    Delkatar''s latest revelation stopped the conversation cold. While both Anakin and Senator Amidala were struggling with the implication''s of Veil''s past, Shaak Ti was trying to figure out what he was aiming for. Unless she was very much mistaken, there was far more to his goals than what he had revealed.

    Which was a given. After all, Veil hadn''t told them anything besides a very general outline for the future he wanted. Then it clicked. The Jedi Order. What was its place, the Jedi''s place in the galaxy Delkatar wanted to shape? Then again, if Delkatar wanted them discredited, or even worse, Windu had given him the perfect opportunity, during the first attack on the Temple.

    She looked up, unspoken questions shining in her eyes. Her gaze was met by the Sith''s amused expression.

    "What about the Jedi?"

    "What about them?" he repeated her question. "The Jedi will make their own choices and reap the consequences, whatever they may be. All I''ve done is try to steer your Council away from the path that your kind took in my past."

    =RK=

    Meanwhile, Anakin was staring at his wife, while his heart was gripped by fear''s cold embrace. It wasn''t that long ago that he lost his mother. Shmi died of her wounds in his arms... Because he had been too late. Because, the Jedi were unsympathetic to his plight... and finally, because despite all that power at his fingertips, he had been powerless to save his mother. He''d been unable to heal her, which was another failing of the Jedi. The only thing available to learn had been the Healing trance, something that worked only on one''s self. In contrast, he was sitting next to living proof that even a kriffing Sith could heal better than what was officially available to the Order... What was sealed within the Temple''s Archive out of fear, the knowledge that could have saved his mother probably gathered dust somewhere in the Temple all but forgotten.

    That angered Anakin, yet it was far from all that burdened him.

    Part of him feared the Order''s reaction once his marriage became public knowledge. Would they expel him? Demand that he dissolve his marriage? At any rate it would be a scandal and a public one at that. While he didn''t really care what the effect would be on him, he was exposed to enough politicking to know that Padme''s enemies would try to use their secret marriage against her.

    All those thoughts ran through Skywalker''s head, while he struggled with the bomb that Veil dropped in their ??ps. Part of him wanted to deny it. To believe that the Jedi, no matter from which era, would do such a thing. Yet, the darker part of his personality, which was born from his childhood in slavery, knew better. He hadn''t been innocent for as long as he could remember, knowing very well the evil men did. That cynical part of Anakin Skywalker could very well see it. A raid to either capture Veil''s wife to "rescue" her from the corrupting influence of the Sith... An attack meant to get Veil himself, which found his wife instead... An attempt to kidnap her in order to blackmail an enemy leader... It could have been any one of these scenarios gone wrong, even before Delkatar told them exactly what had happened. About Ashara possessing the fabled Battle Meditation.

    So Anakin could almost understand why the Jedi of that time had gone after Ashara.

    Though in the end it didn''t really matter. Anakin knew that if the roles were reversed, if the CIS somehow managed to get Padme, which the kriffing bastards seemed keen on doing, he would go to the end of the galaxy and beyond to make them pay... and if he somehow travelled to a far future in which the CIS or a successor organization still existed, they would be his enemies too.

    He would have thought that would be even truer for a Sith! Yet, instead of a vengeance driven monster, he was dining with a reasonable man, who not only wanted to finally bring order to a galaxy gone mad, but to crush kriffing slavery once and for all.

    So he was torn and confused. What Veil apparently wanted, was the same thing Skywalker''s heart d?s?r?d, beyond seeing his Angel safe and happy. Yet he couldn''t help but wonder what the catch was...

    =RK=

    Padme, while married to a Jedi and friends with a few others, didn''t really grasp the nuances of the Force. Especially the differences between the Light and Dark sides, beyond one being the "evil" one. That was through no failing of her own, considering the narrow views and understanding possessed by the Jedi of the era. So while she considered the death of Veil''s wife a tragedy, she missed most of the implications... Both about Delkatar and the Jedi who ordered and took part in the raid. Nevertheless, by extrapolating what she knew of the Order of her time, she could see that act as being out of character. Or one born out of desperation... Just as she viewed Windu''s actions.

    That''s how Padme Amidala started wondering how far some Jedi would go while Delkatar''s star continued to rise and he accumulated more and more power. A most disturbing thought as far as all its implications went. Both about the Jedi''s possible excesses and about what Veil would one day decide to do with his power. After all, she was opposed to even Palpatine, an old and dear friend gaining as much power as he already had, and Veil would come to match him if nothing drastically changed in the near future.

    While what Delkatar said he wanted sounded great for the galaxy as a whole, Padme simply couldn''t trust him. Not with this. Not with that much power. If she had to be honest with herself, she probably wouldn''t, couldn''t condone anyone gaining so much power. Yet, opposing his agenda, while she wasn''t really sure what it truly was, wouldn''t be the prudent thing to do.

    She sighed. The Republic was in shambles and barring a miracle, the situation would grow a lot worse before it started improving. The last thing the Republic needed was further internal divisions in the face of the CIS. Besides, Padme didn''t have a leg to stand on against Veil. Not when what he said he wanted would be embraced by most if not all Republic Citizens.

    She had few appealing choices. In the end, Padme decided to follow what she knew Anakin would go for. She would stand with Veil for now. To see what his vision for the future really was... and to be ready if he was indeed the power hungry tyrant his detractors tried to portray him as.

    At least that way she might be able to keep Ani on the straight and narrow path...

    =RK=

    ''So, it comes to this,'' Shaak Ti thought. Suddenly she was in position to fulfil her mission from the Council. She could easily become part of Delkatar''s inner circle and learn his plans. So the Jedi could be ready if he was anything but what he posed as. After all, their official position as far as this Sith was concerned, was trust but verify... From multiple credible sources.

    It was a simple thing really. An agreement, one that was non-binding or anything at least for now. Yet, the Togruta couldn''t help but feel trapped. Somehow Ti found herself in a position where no matter what she would chose, she would betray someone''s trust.

    That very thought caught her off guard. Since when did Veil''s trust mean anything at all to her?

    "I would like to see this future of yours, unfold," Padme broke the silence to everyone''s surprise. She smiled frosty. "As long as securing this galaxy from the insanity of this war is your goal."

    "That much I can guarantee. I don''t want this galaxy torn asunder by conflict or to crown myself emperor or other such nonsense."

    Shaak Ti was stunned. As he spoke, Delkatar dropped his shields for an instant. For a moment, she could clearly feel Veil through the Force... He was telling the truth! Not even a hint of deception!

    Then the barriers slammed back in place, and Delkatar was once again a whirlpool of Light and Dark energies. Shaak Ti briefly considered the possibility that he was trying to manipulate them, but she discarded it. The Force didn''t lie! Veil was serious about bringing order and stability to the galaxy without, unlike any Sith she had heard before him, wanting to be the one in charge of everything.

    Delkatar looked her in the eyes and smiled.

    "I know that despite everything that happened in the short time I''ve been here, I''ve yet to earn your trust. So I won''t ask you to choose between following my path or the Council. I''m aware that they want you to report on my actions, and that''s fine with me. I hope that by telling them the truth, you would help convince the more traditional minded Jedi that I''m not a monster fit to be tied."

    "I see..." Shaak Ti trailed off. That was certainly not what she had expected. She was glad that her loyalties wouldn''t be tested any further that day. "Well, we''ll see how your actions speak for themselves. Besides, you''ll need someone to keep you out of too much trouble," she smirked at Veil and gave him a toothy grin.

    When she turned her head towards Skywalker, the young Jedi shrugged.

    "What?" he exclaimed, noticing that everyone was looking at him. "You know my opinion on slavery! Neither the Republic nor the Jedi did a kriffing thing to clean up the Outer Rim! If Delkatar wants to make a difference, I''m behind him one hundred percent!"

    ''As for the catch, we''ll wait and see...'' Skywalker thought.

    =RK=

    "Well, that''s a much better reception than I feared!" I gave them a genuine smile. Oh, I was well aware that I had only their tentative support for now, and at least Padme was likely to go along only to see if in the long run, I was either an ?sset or threat to her precious Republic. Needless to say, I was all right with it. Those were just the first steps to binding them to my side. After all, if I wanted them as reliable long term allies, it would take some time and a lot of effort to convince them that my plans were not only necessary, but something that they should support of their free will.

    "What''s your plan, because what you stated were the end goals?" Padme asked.

    "Why, it is simple and obvious. We reform the Republic!" I declared.

    "That''s certainly a bold statement!" Padme gave me a wary look.

    "Oh, I''m aware of that. It will be painful and rocky process, but stunts like the invasion of Naboo and nothing being done about it... Such things can''t be allowed to happen ever again."

    "That''s a low blow, Veil," Padme glared at me.

    "That makes it no less true. We need to eradicate the corruption crippling the Senate, and that''s something in which you would be invaluable," I flattered her.

    "He''s kind of correct, Padme. If this war is to end, we need to solve the problems that caused the creation of the Separatists. A lot of their grievances were genuine..." Shaak Ti said.

    It was pleasant to see that she had her head out of the sand and knew that the Republic as it was, was one monumental train-wreck in progress. Or at least she was starting to suspect it.

    "So, how would we theoretically go about fighting the corruption on the higher levels of the Republic''s government?" I asked the Senator.

    Padme frowned for a time then she started speaking.

    =RK=

    Later that night

    Primary Republic R&D Complex

    Coruscant

    A few hours after the dinner was concluded, successfully at least in my opinion, I went to check up on a pair of projects, which would be combat tested during the coming ?ssault on Geonosis.

    It took me a lot of time to pass through all the now mandatory security checks in order to enter the complex, but I finally reached one of the "dark" rooms, from where I could access the data.

    Login: Veil, Delkatar; Codename: Rogue Knight

    Password: ****************

    Day''s Codeword: Purple Midnight

    Scanning...

    Voice-print Confirmed...

    Retinal Scan Confirmed...

    Biometric Scan Confirmed...

    DNA Scan Confirmed...

    Deep Scan Concluded... No foreign objects detected...

    Access Granted, General

    Voice Command Input active...

    "Display status of Project Helldiver," I ordered.

    Accessing data banks... Searching...

    Data Found... Warning...

    All files pertaining project Helldiver are classified under Codeword Crimson Sonata...

    "Ident Bloody Harvest."

    Codeword accepted... Displaying files...

    Project Helldiver... Status: Phase 1 ready for combat trials

    Phase 2 on stand by pending High Command approval and combat data from Phase 1

    "How many units will be ready for Geonosis?"

    Phase 1 prototypes approved for limited production run... 1000 +/- 5% completed units expected in allotted time period...

    "Splendid. Approval for preliminary funding of Phase Two is granted. Log off Project Helldiver. Access Projects Ascension and Rebirth."

    Accessing data... Warning Project Ascension is protected under Codeword

    Black Dawn... Warning Project Rebirth is protected under Codeword Black Sunrise...

    "Ident Shadow Contingency. Ident Last Resort."

    Codewords Accepted... Displaying Files...

    Project Ascension... Status: Phase 2 Complete... Phase 3 is ready for implementation... Selecting volunteers is currently in progress... Estimated time to completion: Two galactic weeks...

    Project Rebirth...Phase 1 is in progress... Analysis of gene sequences 30% complete...Research of Genetic Modification procedures in progress... Estimated time to completion: N/A

    "Raise priority on Project Ascension. I want the procedures to begin within the week. Log off Projects Ascension and Rebirth. Access Project Dragon."

    Accessing Data... Warning Project Dragon is protected under Codeword Crimson Tide...

    "Ident Whirlwind."

    Codeword Accepted... Accessing Data...

    Project Dragon.., Status: Phase 1 : Preliminary design complete... Phase 2 : On stand by pending completion of projects Phalanx and Hermes...

    "Good enough. Log off Project Dragon. It''s time to catch some shut-eye."

    Logging you off... Query unclear... Please repeat request...

 Chapter 36 - Operation Anvil

    =RK=

    Interlude

    GR: "Second Geonosis? Yes, that name brings back some memories. It was a trap. Just like Ryloth, at least that was the Sep''s plan. Even before the Skywalker Affair, the CIS had placed bait we couldn''t refuse on that world. A massive factory complex to produce an experimental class of war droids was nearing completion there. For our enemies, it was a way to leverage one of their strengths ¨C the mass production of troops. Once online, that single site could shift the balance of power even further in the CIS'' favour.

    Further, in the months since the war began, the Separatists fortified the whole world to a such a degree that any attack would bleed us dry. Defence belts that incorporated kilometres thick trench lines, thousands of heavily armoured and sometimes shielded bunkers, extensive minefields ... Whole mountains turned into veritable fortresses...Not to mention strong theatre shields over all critical locations...

    All that and more, was manned by three whole army groups in addition to the natives forces. The conservative estimate was that at least two million plus droids waited for us down there. That is, if the Navy could actually fight its way through the CIS space forces and get us into that meat-grinder."

    TL: "While a lot was said and written about the Geonosis Campaign, I would like to know about something that was missed by the spotlight during the war. Many people saw attacking Geonosis as a fools'' errand. Something that the Republic armed forces simply couldn''t pull off at the time and as you said yourself, the place was set up as a trap. Do you know how the powers that be reached the decision to attack, General Rex? How the Skywalker Affair affected that decision if at all?"

    GR: "How Veil and Valentra convinced the Chancellor to green-light the operation you mean? Yes Geonosis was a trap, one that even in the best case scenario would cost us too much in men and equipment. Though let me say something else first. What happened with the Skywalkers had no bearing on the decision to attack. The plans and necessary forces were already in place before that debackle. If anything, it just moved the timetable up a bit."

    TL: "So Operation Anvil would have gone down anyway?"

    GR: "Yes. The reason is simple. Where most people saw a lethal enemy stronghold, one that would prove too costly to take, General Veil saw an opportunity. Every enemy advantage I spoke about, well he saw that too... However, he had a different point of view. Those massive enemy forces? Three whole army groups, conveniently gathered in one place to be destroyed. Most of those heavily defended places all around Geonosis? Heh..."

    Excerpt from interview given by General Rex

    =RK=

    Part 1

    Temporary Chancellor''s Office

    Location Classified

    "Absolutely not! It''s too dangerous!" Skywalker snapped.

    Palpatine smiled at the people in his office in a grandfatherly way. "I agree with Anakin, my Jedi friends. Risking a Senator''s life in such a way..." he trailed off, sadly shaking his head.

    At the same time, behind his mental shields and gentle mask, Sidious was almost cackling with glee. He had some problems that might just solve themselves with a bit of improvisation. As a bonus, he could create a permanent rift between Anakin and the Jedi... Perhaps between the boy and Veil as well.

    All the while, removing someone who had been a long time thorn in his side. The most amusing part was, that all he had to do was let his "friends" be themselves.

    "That''s not for any of you to decide!" Padme snapped at them both.

    Just as expected.

    "Senator Amidala... Padme. I''ve been your friend for many years. Please trust me in this. The stunt proposed by the Jedi Council, while having good intentions at its core, is less than wise. Granted, the negotiations on Cato Neimodia are important..."

    "If there is any chance to prevent the further use of biological weapons in this war it is worth it! Even the Intelligence agencies agree, after the outcry the Separatist''s Council want to stop this madness from repeating itself!"

    "That doesn''t mean that you should be going, Senator!" Anakin pleaded.

    Sidious almost sneered at Skywalker''s display of weakness. That woman was holding back his potential next apprentice and Sidious would relish disposing off her when her demise would have the greatest impact. Which, if everything went well would be soon.

    "Skywalker! Don''t give me this! Not after everything that happened on Naboo and even here on Coruscant! Besides, if Clovis used to support the Separatists we need to know! If he still has contacts there, it could prove invaluable!"

    That was the second reason she would want to go. Thanks to her misguided principles, Palpatine was convinced that Amidala would try to bring her old friend back to the side of the Republic. Such a na?ve girl. After the bio-weapon''s attack, Clovis'' support for the CIS was a death sentence if it went public, which with little blackmail and manipulation made sure that the man would serve one last purpose. After all, Palpatine couldn''t allow one of his pawns to walk away when he had a change of heart.

    "Unless I place you under house arrest, you would be going, aren''t you?" Palpatine spoke, letting a tinge of resignation enter his voice.

    Padme fixed him with her piercing gaze.

    "Fine! At least take some precautions!" he seemingly capitulated.

    "Chancellor!" Skywalker exclaimed.

    "What? You should know this young lady well enough by now, my friend. When she set''s her mind on something, there is no stopping her."

    "Men!" Padme grumbled.

    =RK=

    GAR Special Operations Command C&C

    Location Classified

    Coruscant

    "No rest for us, eh?" Fixer mumbled.

    "Boss! That can''t be right! We aren''t babysitters!" Sev wh?n?d.

    "I''m not amused either, brothers. Nevertheless, our orders stand. We are to make a covert insertion at Cato Neimodia, and provide over-watch on one particular senator from the delegation which is there to sign a treaty banning the further use of biological agents for the duration of the war."

    "Who''s the lucky guy?" Scorch asked.

    "Gal. Senator Amidala."

    Fixer whistled. "That''s one tough girl."

    "Oh, great. The danger magnet..." Sev m??n?d. "She''s always on the news after getting in some kind of scrap! How are we supposed to keep her out of trouble?!"

    "We aren''t. Delta squad and as yet unnamed ?ssets will be there in case everything gets kriffed beyond any hope, in General Veil''s words. In such a case we are to grab her and get the hell out at any cost. Those orders are straight from the General."

    "Is she his girlfriend or something?" Scorch asked.

    "It doesn''t matter. We have our orders. Now finish checking your gear. We are heading for the shooting range in five!" Boss ordered.

    "Yes, sir!" three voices snapped in unison.

    =RK=

    "Emerald Light" Restaurant

    Atton'' Tower

    Corellia

    "General Veil, it''s my honour to introduce you to Diktat Shyla Merricope!" Bel Iblis declared with a flourish.

    I gave a respectful bow to the leader of Corellia''s people.

    "Governor-General Merricope, it is p???sur? to meet you. I''ve heard a lot of good things about you from this reprobate!" I smiled and nodded towards Iblis who chuckled in turn.

    The Diktat answered with a well practised smile of her own, continuing the little performance for the media we were all performing. It was the way the game was played and we all had to walk through the motions, to reassure the populace that all was as well as could be expected and we all were a bunch of good friends.

    Which meant that we spent about twenty minutes making small talk, mingling with Corellia''s dignitaries and making the newsies'' day; all while, the stern faced men and women from CorSec who were responsible for the gala''s protection had to wonder who if any of the guests, restaurant''s personnel or mingling reporters might be enemy spies or ?ssassins.

    While the locals were some of the better security forces in the galaxy, if I actually needed protection (heh with my luck what were the odds of that?!), the role of my bodyguard would fall to the gleaming black droid which was spending the evening behind me.

    Yeah. I had brought an Assassin droid among Corellia''s elite and none was the wiser. Sue me.

    To be honest, right then and there I was temped to let HK go on a little killing spree. We, and by that I mean, the Diktat, Iblis and me, were surrounded by a bunch of Corellian corporate sharks, who were bombarding us with hints how their respective mega-corps could prove invaluable ?ssistance to the Republic in her hour of need. With a pair of clowns actually dropping none too subtle hints that if any lucrative contracts went their way I might find myself considerably richer.

    If the imbeciles weren''t so blunt and making such an offer in public, I might have considered it. If they could actually prove useful for my Army and Navy, then that would be great. Besides, I could always use more funds for my black ops budget. That''s why I made a mental note to meet later with the corporation representatives who appeared to know what they were doing.

    "I hear you ran into some kind of trouble at the Spaceport, General?" the Diktat inquired, after we managed to ex-filtrate ourselves from the corporate flunkies'' clutches.

    "All things considered, it was a fortunate accident, I admit." I chuckled.

    "A little rascal trying to pickpocket you? How''s that fortunate, Delkatar?" Gram asked.

    "Well, you see..."

    =RK=

    Flashback

    Earlier that day

    "Lacrisca" Spaceport

    Corellia

    I''ve arrived on Corellia a few hours before the rest of my party, something that pissed off Commodore Pellaeon and my security detail. However, that wasn''t particularly big concern right now. I was reasonably sure that I could finish what I came to do and be back by the time my official visit started.

    "Let''s go, HK," I said.

    The pitch black droid which accompanied me turned his head towards me and nodded once. While he could be mistaken for an archaic looking protocol droid, an actually competent counterpart of C-3PO, my oldest surviving friend was anything but. He was a lethal machine created by the best Empire engineers...and then, once I stumbled upon him below the Jedi Temple, upgraded with what passed for cutting edge technology in this day and age.

    "Its been a long time, master. Do you think there''s anything left?" HK asked.

    "There is a monument for those fallen in the war near the site of our last battle here. It will have to do."

    "I still can''t believe that we lost that war!" HK wh?n?d, his head dropping down.

    "We really didn''t. Not exactly. By the time the Empire collapsed into civil war, the Old Republic had been all but defeated."

    "So they got lucky."

    I finished shuttling down and securing the shuttle before heading back outside, followed by the quiet Assassin droid.

    Setting my feet back on Corellian soil was strange. The last time I was here, during the war, I was leading my forces into capturing this world. Successfully at that. That particular information wasn''t something I wanted spread far and wide. It would create some political troubles I didn''t need.

    The spaceport itself was what I was expecting. A busy place making even the most heavily used airport on earth look like a calm lake in comparison. The place was packed with people, and while it had heavy CorSec presence, I could move virtually unnoticed. Just another traveller minding his own business and his droid. No sire, nothing to see here!

    My outfit, which was a plain grey cloak, and with its hood hiding my face probably helped in that regard.

    Everything was going so well, I believed for a moment that I just might be able to reach the memorial site of those fallen during The War without incident.

    Silly me.

    What happened was certainly unexpected. As one could guess, no one was dumb enough to try it ever since I became a Sith, while before that I had nothing to be stolen from me. So when a kid, no older than twelve, "accidentally" bumped into me and deftly tried to swipe the contents of my pockets, I was one very surprised Force Adept.

    My first reaction was to grab his shoulder before the little reprobate could try getting away and then to slap him upon the head for being this foolish. Before I could do anything but catch him, the boy looked up, giving me fierce glare.

    "The Force really works in mysterious ways, youngling." I laughed.

    The kid''s features were unmistakable, especially when not too long ago I had met Captain Jolee Solo in person.

    "Don''t even think about it!" I ordered and the kid flinched, but remained still. I was sure that the little menace was contemplating kicking me in the shins and running away. "I''ll make an educated guess. Your name is Han."

    The way his eyes widened was all the answer I needed.

    "What seems to be the problem, sir?" a CorSec officer with sergeant''s stripes walked towards us and asked.

    "This one tried to pickpocket me. Quite deftly too."

    "Ah. Another one of those. Well take care of the problem, sir."

    "That won''t be necessary officer. I''ll handle it." I said, reinforcing my voice with the Force.

    "That won''t be necessary. You''ll handle it," he repeated like a broken recorder, shook his head and walked away.

    Han''s eyes narrowed at me and he suddenly went limp in my hand. "You are a Jedi, right?" he m??n?d. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" he started chanting.

    "The only fool here is whoever put you to this stunt. Your place is at school and you''ll be going there soon enough."

    "What?!" Han exclaimed, with a horrified expression on his face. As if I just declared that I was going to kill him or something. Kids...

    Flashback End

    =RK=

    "Emerald Light" Restaurant

    Atton'' Tower

    Corellia

    "What do you intend to do with the kid?" asked a new voice. It belonged to someone quite powerful in the Force. A local Jedi who had been lurking around the restaurant and remained far away from me until now.

    "Reunite him with his uncle, once Jolee arrives here and make arrangements that he goes back to school. So you are one of the infamous Green Jedi. I haven''t yet the honour of meeting one of your kind. It''s a p???sur?, my lady." I smiled at the woman.

    She was looking great in her form fitting green robes, which were actually designed by someone who knew what he was doing in contrast to what most of the Jedi I knew wore. Her short black hair was tastefully framing her face, giving the illusion of a halo of all things. Further, from what I could sense, she wasn''t attempting to suppress her emotions. Oh, she was shielding her mind and feelings as well as she could, but it was obvious. Yet, she wasn''t letting her emotions to control her, just the opposite. She was in complete control of them, at least for now.

    Just moments after actually meeting one of the local Jedi, and paying attention to her, they had got my attention. A Jedi who might be actually competent!

    "I''m afraid I''m at disadvantage, my lady. General Delkatar Veil at your services."

    "Jedi Knight Scerra Halcyon," her voice was calm, betraying nothing of what she felt. Her soft brown eyes were fixed on my face, studying me in return.

    My eyes widened at that. I had to deal with a few people bearing that name in the past, during the war. Needless to say, they were major pains in my ?ss. Let''s hope she wont be the same.

    "It''s a p???sur?, Knight Halcyon. Pray tell, would it be possible for me to visit the Green Temple during this trip?" I asked, showing none of the eagerness I felt at the prospect. If she was anything to judge her fellows by, they were people I wanted to meet.

    "It''s not up to me," Scerra shrugged. "I will rely your wish to the Jedi Masters and we''ll see."

    "Fair enough," I beamed. It was better that what I had any right to expect.

    "I believe that Delkatar meeting our own Jedi would be a splendid idea!" the Dictat exclaimed. "On that note, now that Corellia is officially in the war, would you ?ssist us?"

    "That much I can confirm, yes," Halcyon said. "However, most of us aren''t trained as leaders of troops. We would do better leading small strike teams or acting as advisers and diplomats."

    My smile widened at that. The Green Jedi were also well aware of their capabilities and weakness. That immediately made me even more interested in them while I raised the potential threat level they represented.

    =RK=

    Senator Lott Dod Residence

    Cato Neimodia

    In the biggest ballroom in Dod''s residence, five Republic representatives mingled with some of their CIS counterparts. Even in those perilous times, diplomacy had its own pace and rules. The Grand Gala the politicians were attending was something that was more or less inevitable. They had to show to the media and the masses that they could actually act civilized towards each other at the party.

    The host, Senator Dod was staying near one of the walls, from where he could see all of his Republic guests. Lott''s eyes were fixed on one particular woman, who was wearing a stunning white gown. Neither the way he looked at her or his carefully blank expression betrayed his true feelings. He respected and loathed Amidala in equal measures. The way she had turned the tables during that ill thought invasion of Naboo had consequences with which he had to deal with up until the start of the war. On the other hand, it was rare to meet political opponents who not only had principles but stood by them, come fire or high tide.

    He almost regretted what was about to happen. Almost.

    Meanwhile, Padme was dancing with Rush Clovis, laughing dutifully at one of his jokes. Under different circumstances she might have even enjoyed herself, but knowing that the man in whose arms she currently was had supported the monsters who poisoned Naboo was making her sick. Yet, for the sake of their old friendship, she was willing to give him a chance to make it right.

    Still, in order to do that she needed to talk with him face to face, without unfriendly ears around. Padme believed that she had recreated their old friendship to a good enough degree for a frank conversation to work. And if not, well it wasn''t like Rush was dumb enough to try anything during such a high level meeting.

    At the same time, Anakin was seething inside. He was sealed within a clone trooper armor, pretending to be one of the honour guard present for the negotiations. That kriffing hutspawn was laying his hands on his Angel! All he could do was grit his teeth and hope that the bastard would give him an excuse, any excuse to go after him.

    That and to blame the Jedi Council for placing his wife in such a position! She shouldn''t be on Neimodia of all places!

    Anakin had a very bad feeling about this stunt they were forced to participate in...

    =RK=

    Commercial building near Senator Dod''s residence

    Cato Neimodia

    "Boss, Spectre Actual, we have a problem. At least a platoon of commando droids is moving on the floor above the ballroom," Sev said in his comm.

    "Copy that. We are ready to provide ?ssistance," If Boss felt any apprehension, his voice didn''t show it.

    "Affirmative. Our ride out is ready and my men are in position. Just give the word and we will deploy."

    "Do you have eyes on the Senator?" Boss asked.

    "Just a moment. She is in the far eastern corner of the ballroom. Kriff. Enemies confirmed! Deploy, deploy, deploy!" Sev shouted.

    By the time he acquired his first target and pressed the trigger, all hell was already breaking loose within Dod''s residence.

    Part 2

    =RK=

    Senator Dod''s Residence

    Cato Neimodia

    Senator Lott looked over the ?ssembled guests, anticipation shining in his eyes. It was almost time. Soon, very soon his ballroom would be a site of a tragic slaughter. One that will claim certain members of the CIS Council. The weak minded fools who plotted the Confederation''s downfall!

    Even now, when he had seen certain proof of their treason, he could scarcely believe it. Those beings had to be insane! Couldn''t they think about the big picture?! They planned not only a treaty to ban the further use of bio-weapons for the duration of the war, something he could agree with, but to eventually try for a peaceful settlement.

    Damned idiots! Didn''t they comprehend that after everything that had happened, the Republic wouldn''t settle for anything less than death sentences or lifetime imprisonment for all of the current CIS leadership? That was pure madness, even if they were responsible for the debacles on Naboo or Coruscant, the rightful leaders of the Confederacy wouldn''t surrender themselves to the enemy''s mercy. Considering that they were not to blame for those atrocities, the CIS leaders were not going to take the fall. They now knew that there was a third, shadow player in the galactic war so that was who would be blamed for tonight''s massacre.

    Besides, at least this way the Council''s soon to be vacant seats would be filled with people who knew that the CIS and its leadership had only two choices. Victory or Death.

    Dod''s train of thought came to a screeching halt when he saw one of the clone honor guards dart through the crowd. Before he could react, one of the ballroom''s doors splintered, showering the guests with pieces of carved wood.

    "Padme!" someone screamed.

    The shout was drowned out by the distinct roar of concussion grenades. Lott was thrown down by a nearby detonation. He hit the ground hard, the overpressure wave driving the air of his lungs. The Senator gasped for air and ?r??n?d when he felt sharp pain in his ribs. He cursed quietly and decided that it would be safer to remain down and looked around. Many of the guests were on the ground, stunned or worse, others were paralyzed with shock, while some were trying to escape.

    Meanwhile, the Republic Honor Guards and his own security detail, consisting of few Super Battle droids and B1''s started shooting at each other and the attackers. The sudden battle looked surreal, a feeling strengthened by the ringing in his ears, which robbed him of all other sounds for the time being.

    Pure madness, just as planned!

    Dod had a few more moments to stare at the deadly spectacle, before one Commando droid pointed its gun his way. The Senator''s eyes widened. He opened his mouth to shout, but his scream didn''t have time to manifest. Three rapid energy bolts silenced him forever.

    =RK=

    If a Force Adept laid eyes upon Anakin Skywalker during the Gala, she would have seen a pillar of smoldering, b?r?ly controlled anger. All evening the Jedi had fought against his rising hatred towards Rush Clovis, all the while his heart was being undermined by jealousy. The way that huttspawned bastard was looking at his wife, the way he held her during their latest, slow and sensual dance... It made Anakin see red. The worst of all, was that Padme appeared to enjoy herself. She was constantly smiling, laughing at that kriffing traitors jokes...

    A part of Anakin''s psyche was whispering that Padme was just playing a role, just as she did countless times as a politician. Yet, there was something else. A darker, alluring presence that was gaining strength within him. Some times he could almost hear it whispering too, though right now he didn''t need to know the words it would say in his ears. The dealing coming from the darkness gathering around him were clear. It was pure, undiluted hatred and anger. It would be so easy to stretch himself through the Force and snap Clovis'' neck. Though that would be too easy...

    Anakin shook his head in attempt to clear his mind. The darkness surrounding him subsided a bit. To Skywalker it looked like it was disappointed that he didn''t grasp the Force and obliterate Clovis.

    Then everything stilled. Anakin could feel the Force tensing, as if preparing for something. The world around him appeared to slow down, the guests moving like through thick syrup. He could sense approaching danger, though not it precise bearing or target.

    Skywalker cursed, while the shadows surrounding his very being appeared to be laughing at him. He had lost his situational awareness while moping under his armor. The darkness had distracted him. Deceived him.

    Anakin''s eyes few on his wife, who was still dancing with Clovis, though by now they were almost at the other side of the huge room. Skywalker cursed again and strode towards his wife, using the Force to somewhat gently part the crowd blocking his path.

    He couldn''t believe how foolish he had been. Veil had warned him that while the Dark Side offered great power, to flirt with it brought equally great danger. Especially for someone who had been trained as a Jedi all his life. Yet, Anakin simply couldn''t help it. There were dark places in his heart born from his childhood as a slave. More often than not, the anger came to him uncalled and the Dark Side and its temptation followed suit.

    At least now, he had some concept of what was happening when his emotions ran amok as it was happening that evening. So he had a better chance to resist the darkness within himself and not let it rule him.

    All those thoughts came to a screeching halt, when the Force screamed with warning. Whatever was going to go down was happening right now and he was still far away from Padme!

    The heavy doors at the far end of the ballroom splintered, wood shards racing on the heels of a raging shock wave. Skywalker had a great view of his wife. Of the way the explosion picked her and Clovis up and threw them on the floor under a rain of smoking debris.

    "Padme!" Anakin shouted and raced forward.

    The Force and the warning she sent his way was the only reason Skywalker survived in the next few seconds. He found himself charging straight into a killing field. The initial explosion had thrown the nearby guests on the ground, leaving him like a beacon for the attacking droids. Moments after retrieving his lightsaber from a secret compartment on his armor and igniting it, Anakin stepped amidst a barrage of concussion grenades.

    In the last moment before their detonations, the Republic General used the Force to shove the explosives away. Instant later they detonated, bracketing him with the edges of their explosions. Even that would have been enough to stun a normal sentient being, however as a Jedi, Skywalker was made of sterner stuff.

    He merely stumbled, nearly tripping over a downed Bith couple, before regaining sure footing and continuing his charge.

    Straight into the sights of a whole platoon of Commando droids.

    Anakin Skywalker was good with his lightsaber. One of the best the Jedi Order had. So it wasn''t inconceivable that he could meet the odds stacked against him and live to tell the tale.

    On the other hand, it wasn''t the first time when the CIS droids had faced Jedi or Skywalker himself. The planners of the attack had known that he might be present and they had planned accordingly.

    Mere seconds after the attack began, another Commando platoon entered the ballroom, by rappelling from the floor above, straight through the huge open windows of the ballroom. Ten of them few on Dod''s security droids and the just reacting Republic Honour guard.

    The rest concentrated on a single target and let loose with their blasters.

    Skywalker saw the tide of crimson death heading his way a moment before the new droids opened fire. He had a split second to decide his course of action before being shot to pieces. For an instant he entertained the thought of vaulting forward and trying to reach Padme who was still down. However, even if he managed that, such an action would leave him with his back to the new enemies. Yet, to do anything but, would let the first contingent of attackers to reach her first.

    Anakin snarled in frustration. The dark cloud which had surrounded him the whole evening flared with new intensity. The closest Commando droids crumbled like tin cans struck by war-hammer, when the Force eagerly responded to Anakin''s d?s?r? to see those machines erased from existence.

    Yet their fellows were undeterred. Time was up. With a shout of anguish, Skywalker jumped backwards, avoiding the first shots of the droids behind him. He turned in such a way, that he could deflect the attacks from both forces.

    A black painted droid towered over Padme. The machine knelt next to her and slammed a small device in her arm just before an invisible force hurled him away with enough strength to shatter it onto nearby wall.

    Too far any to be of any more help, Anakin stiffened. He could feel it. Liquid agony racing through Padme''s veins. Her body convulsing.

    The pain seared all traces of dizziness she still felt and brought her back to the world of the living. Something she didn''t appreciate. Her eyes opened wide and she screamed like a tortured soul.

    The backslash shook Anakin to his very core. While he was aware of what was happening, it was a cold comfort. Somehow he was able to sense what she was feeling. It was agony beyond measure. Whatever that kriffing machine did to her, all her nerve endings were on fire, shooting pain signals to her brain.

    It was pure torture.

    "PADME!" Anakin screamed again and charged to her side, despite the droids targeting him.

    It didn''t matter. He deflected the shots from those near his wife, counting on the shields and the laminated armor he was wearing to tide him through.

    That worked. Somewhat. The shields held long enough for him to cover half the distance, before blaster bolts struck his back and started carving up the medium armor he was encased in.

    He was not going to make it.

    That single thought cut its way through his clouded mind. It infuriated him beyond anything he had felt before. Padme laid over there, just beyond reach! Too far for him to help her... He snarled, the fury coiling around him and exploding outwards. It became corporeal, a manifestation of his raw emotions.

    Then few things happened simultaneously. The back plate of his armor finally gave away under the onslaught, a weakened shot biting into his back. Anakin stumbled forward, but immediately straightened up and charged forward. Crimson tendrils of Darkness clung to his figure, absorbing the few shots that managed to hit him. For now he was moving much faster than humanly possible, throwing off the droids aim.

    He screamed like a man possessed and struck the Commando droids like a whirlwind. His blade was azure blur, leaving scrapped machines in its wake.

    Skywalker himself was exhilarated, revelling in the sudden sense of power. He was an untouchable! The damn droids fell under his onslaught as easy as practice targets! He laughed as he bisected a hapless Commando, deflected the shots of another back at it and decapitated a third.

    Just like that, it was over. No one was shooting at him, something that felt rather disappointing. Skywalker frowned. He wasn''t finished! He wanted, needed to destroy, to revel at the destruction of his enemies. He turned around, his eyes wildly looking for another victim.

    As suddenly as it began, the power trip was over. The tendrils of ruby darkness surrounding him faded away and Anakin felt tired. So very tired. Unnatural cold seeped into his body and he felt chilled to the bones. Then what strength he had left, drained out of his body and he collapsed into a boneless heap.

    =RK=

    Boss and the rest of Delta squad were on the same floor as the ballroom. When Sev gave his warning, they shouldered their weapons and sprinted forward. Few seconds later, the Commandos turned a corner. They faced a quartet of SB droids, which had opened the door they were supposed to guard and were making their way in the chaotic mess that was the ballroom. Without pausing the Clones lit up the four machines, their new carbines chewing through the armour of the droids even easier than expected.

    "The primary is down. I have eyes on a Jedi masking as a honor guard fighting to her position. The enemy platoon is rappelling down."

    "We are moving to ?ssist," Boss said. "Scorch, Ion grenades."

    "With a p???sur?, Boss!" Delta''s commander could clearly hear the glee in his subordinates voice.

    When the Republic Commandos entered the ballroom, they found a scene of pandemonium. Many of the guests were on the ground, either stunned or dead. Others were scrambling for the exits, obscuring the soldiers fire lanes. Meanwhile, the droids guarding the residence, the Republic Honor guard and a ten or so Commando droids were shooting at each other, while the rest of the enemy platoon that Sev had spotted, were too busy unloading their weapons at the Jedi.

    Boss and Fixer opened fire on their enemy counterparts, while Scorch started lobbing his limited ?ssortment of Ion grenades.

    "Our ride out will be here in two minutes," Sev transmitted a message from their backup.

    "Good. Any sight of enemy reinforcements?"

    "None that I can see from here," Sev answered after a moment''s pause, "Though that doesn''t mean much."

    While that chat was taking place, the firefight was going to its sad conclusion. All sides were in the open, with scarce cover to be had, beyond the stray, panicked civilian who ran straight between the combatants. With predictable results.

    A Super Battle droid unloaded its blasters in the side of an Honor Guard. Another mowed down a pair of Commando droids, before succumbing to concentrated fire from their friends. Boss and Fixer were systematically shooting up the CIS special forces, glad that only a burst from the new blasters was enough to put them down for good. Scorch lobed his last Ion grenade and raised his own weapon seeking target.

    Across the street, Sev marked his sixth kill for the evening and moved his cross-hair onto another droid, when he heard the distinct wh?n? of repulsors. Not just any odd engines at that, but those of LAAT''s. He chanced a glance upwards and saw a pair of gunships racing towards Dod''s residence at almost perpendicular angle from the sky. The Clone frowned wondering where did they come from, before shrugging and returning to his sniping. He could ask them later.

    Thirty seconds, and four Ionic detonations after Delta entered the ballroom, the short but vicious fight was over. The three Commandos were the only troopers still standing.

    "Check the Senator and the Jedi. We need to get out of here ASAP."

    "Wilco, Sir!" Fixer answered and sprinted towards the far end of the ballroom with Scorch moving on his heels.

    "Boss, our ride home will be here momentarily."

    "Roger that. Get your ?ss here."

    "No need for that," a new voice, which sounded just like that of the rest of Delta squad interjected on their comms. "One of the gunships will pick up your sniper. Please do hurry up. We need to get out of here before the whole defence grid and fleet are aware that something is happening."

    "Who are you?" Boss asked calmly, not letting any of his surprise be heard.

    "Commander Tripton of the Shadow Before Dawn. Now move your ?sses, soldier!"

    "Kriff! This is General Skywalker!" Scorch exclaimed after removing the helmet from the head of the collapsed Jedi.

    "Pick him up. We are taking him with us. The Senator?"

    "In a bad way," Fixer muttered.

    Boss looked their way, engaging the zoom function of his helmet. He could see her thrashing on the floor, screaming soundlessly.

    "Knock her out. We are leaving."

    =RK=

    ONI Frigate Shadow Before Dawn

    Five kilometres above Dod''s residence

    Cato Neimodia

    "Delta squad and the VIPs are boarding the LAATs. They will be docked in two minutes top," his XO said.

    Commander Tripton gave him a nod of acknowledgement.

    "Navigation, spin the hyperdrive. We are heading to location Alpha the moment we can safely jump."

    "Aye, aye, sir."

    "Weapons, I want firing solution on the defensive platforms and that Munificent hanging out in orbit. I want them nailed the moment our cloak is down."

    "I have their locations locked on passive, sir. All missile tubes full, the birds are armed and ready for launch!"

    "Good work Weapons. Engineering, redline the reactor once we lose stealth. I want every possible drop of speed when we need it."

    The Wookie chief engineer roared in response.

    =RK=

    "Emerald Light" Restaurant

    Atton'' Tower

    Corellia

    I found Scerra Halcyon to be much more pleasant company than most of the Jedi I''ve met since coming to this time. The fact that she didn''t act as if she had a double bladed lightsaber shoved up her bu?? like most of the Force Adepts I''ve met in this era sure helped.

    We were amiably chatting about the differences between the Green Jedi and their counterparts on Coruscant, something that both the Dictat and Senator Iblis found interesting. It should be noted that both of then, especially Gram had a lot of dealing with Jedi, the Coruscanti type, during their careers, so they were more familiar than most with some differences.

    "If it wasn''t for the damn politics, we would have gladly dealt with it!" Scerra glared at me.

    "Unfortunately, as Dictat of Corellia and political leader of this whole sector, neither I nor my predecessors could really do much to allow our Jedi to take missions beyond our boundaries," Merricope shrugged.

    "Indeed. As you well know, the Council on Coruscant has nominal dominion over all Force Sensitives in the Republic... and all Jedi. While the Green Temple and its Jedi do have autonomy, that will only last as long as they confine their actions to our sector of space," Merricope said.

    "Despite that, many of our members had done what they could do help with the slavery situation. While we aren''t as free to act as our cousins on Coruscant..." Halcyon huffed.

    I snorted at that. It wasn''t like they did anything with some rare exceptions. Like Skywalker, though even then they had practically stumbled on him. By accident at that.

    The Jedi. The supposed guardians of Justice and Freedom across the galaxy. They did nothing about the slavery beyond the Republic''s borders. Because it was outside their mandate. I shook my head in frustration. Sometimes they made me sick.

    "...we at least could facilitate routes for extraction of escaped slaves in the Outer Rim, and help them start a new life. Though that is much less than we could do if our hands weren''t tied, " added the Jedi.

    "Let me guess. If you intervened and acted against the slavers, it would be perceived as aggressive action from the Council. Perhaps even a sign that your way has failed and you are all on the verge of failing."

    "Not to mention, that there would be a lot of people in the Senate that would use such a thing to Censure Corellia, spinning it as expansionist actions from our side. That is if I''m able to get sufficient backing to declare open support for such a cause. Fighting slavery outside the Republic, while a great thing in theory wouldn''t be as popular once the cost of dealing with the hutts becomes apparent. It simply isn''t something we can do alone, not without leaving us open for political and economic attacks from our rivals," the Dictat interjected.

    "Well, the situation right now is quite different. After Ryloth, we are in undeclared war with the Hutt cartels," I smirked.

    "I was wondering when someone would mention that," the Senator muttered. Small vicious smile was hugging the corners of his mouth.

    "While right now we aren''t in a position for direct offensive actions against them..." I was interrupted by a sudden tremor in the Force. Its very essence shifted, dropped even further into darkness. Next to me Scerra gasped and stumbled.

    "Excuse me. I need to check something," I said and made a hasty retreat.

    That rising darkness was familiar. It felt like Skywalker just after Padme was wounded, though so much worse.

    I cursed quietly while making my way out of the restaurant. I knew that Padme going to kriffing Neimodia wouldn''t end well.

    =RK=

    Kenobi''s Quarters

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    Fear. Rage. Hatred. Darkness rising to choke everything. The screams of man and woman.

    Obi-Wan shook awake with a gasp. He shuddered remembering what he just sensed through his bond with his former apprentice. Anakin had felt so much hatred, fear and pain before the connection clamped shut, that it scared Obi-Wan. Something had gone terribly wrong...

    Kenobi threw away his blanket and surged to his feet. He needed to find out what had happened with Anakin.

    =RK=

    Chancellor''s Office

    Senate Building

    Coruscant

    Palpatine was sitting in his rebuild office, dealing with his daily paperwork, something even he couldn''t get away from, when he felt the Force tremble.

    "So it begins," he whispered quietly.

    Soon enough Skywalker will be faced with a terrible choice and the Jedi would act as their typical selves, alienating him once and for all. Unless he missed his guess, even Veil''s actions couldn''t really help the boy. After all, the good General was a competent strategist and tactician. He simply couldn''t, wouldn''t make the necessary sacrifices to save one single Senator.

    Veil was a Sith after all. Sidious was sure that he would grasp the chance to get himself rid of the troublesome Senator.

    He smiled. If he guessed right, Veil would make sure that she never got the antidote and blame it on the Jedi, even if he made some effort to retrieve it in the first place.

    Part 3

    =RK=

    Medical Wing

    Green Site

    Somewhere in the inner rim

    "You did a good job, doc. Keep her stable."

    "We can do that much, General. Unfortunately, it will take some time to fully analyze the compound in her blood and create an antidote."

    "I expected that much. How''s your other patient?"

    "General Skywalker? His wounds are healed but we are keeping him under just as you instructed."

    "Splendid. I was relieved when at my arrival I found this facility standing. You don''t want to deal with a grief maddened Jedi of Anakin''s temperament and power."

    "That bad? I''ve heard some interesting stories about him, yet..." the Duros doctor shrugged.

    "Well, his wife has been getting herself into a lot of trouble lately. That combined with the strain of leading troops in the war and balancing it all with his duties as a Jedi¡­" I shook my head. "No matter. It''s time to wake him. I need to have a chat with our young Jedi friend."

    "Ah. Of course, General. I''ll see to it."

    =RK=

    A medical droid that looked like an overgrown floating spider made its way to the bed where Skywalker was slumbering. Its servos wh?n?d softly as it extended one of its manipulators and administered a mild stimulant to the sleeping Jedi.

    A few moments passed with no apparent change. Then I could feel the Force in the room stirring, slowly gathering around Anakin. He then grasped it, using its endless energies to revitalize his body. Suddenly Skywalker gasped.

    "Padme!" Anakin bolted upright with a shout. His wide eyes were scanning the room for his wife.

    "Try again."

    His eyes focused and he glared at me. Skywalker tried getting off the bed only to stumble and fall to the ground. Obviously the sedatives were still strong in his system, despite his Jedi resilience.

    I grimaced at his antics and grabbed him with the Force, returning him to the bed none too gently.

    "We need to talk. That daredevil wife of yours placed us in a tough position."

    Well, that''s new. He actually growled at me. His eyes even flashed yellow for a moment.

    "Padme. I need to see her. I can feel her pain!"

    "She''ll live. For now. Keeping her that way may prove complicated."

    His glare intensified, but at least I had his undivided attention.

    =RK=

    Venator Cruiser "Chimera"

    Staging area "Gray"

    Outer Rim

    My eyes glanced around, briefly stopping over each person in the conference room. Skywalker, Kenobi and Admiral Yularen were here with me in the flesh, while General Valentra, the Chancellor as well as Yoda were present via holocom. It was a small gathering, one that was about to decide the fate of a whole planet and one particularly troublesome Senator. So far everything was proceeding as expected. Ironically enough, under different circumstances I would be in complete agreement with the Jedi, who were in the middle of committing a grievous mistake.

    I had to fight a grin, which was trying to spread across my face, regretting that right now I wasn''t wearing my helmet.

    I wish I could say that I''m surprised. The Jedi were about to burn their bridges as far as Anakin was concerned, without even realizing it. In the meantime, Palpy was doing his best to help them along. While subtly giving me enough rope to hang myself as far as any ambitions towards becoming Skywalker''s master were concerned.

    Just as foreseen and planned for.

    "I understand, Master Yoda. The Jedi won''t compromise their principles on this issue," said the Chancellor, copious amounts of regret dripping from every word. "Is there something that our armed forces can do?" his image turned my way.

    "If this information is correct, the facility where the antidote might be located is at one of the most heavily defended regions of Geonosis. That''s not a place where our special forces could do a smash and grab run and we don''t have enough time to even attempt an infiltration," I shrugged. "We can''t take that place without reducing the Separatists space ?ssets and then fighting through whatever they have waiting for us on the ground."

    "Kriff it all to hell! You are just going to let her die!" Skywalker, who had been seething for the whole meeting, exploded.

    "Anakin!" Kenobi exclaimed. "Keep your feelings under control."

    "Under control!? She is parsecs away, unconscious and I can still feel her pain!" Skywalker roared. The Force itself shimmered around him, swaying from his fury.

    Anakin glared at us, then turned around and stormed out of the compartment. He didn''t notice the effect his parting words had on the Jedi. After all, you didn''t just form such a strong force bond with just a friend, especially if that person wasn''t force s?ns?t?v?.

    "Now, that the personal drama is out of the way," I frowned at the Jedi, "we still have battle plans to discus. Chancellor, can I count on additional reinforcements for this operation? With the current force dispositions heavy casualties both in space and on the ground are all but guaranteed..." I trailed off, pointedly disregarding the troubled looks passing between the Jedi.

    "What about Anakin?" Obi-Wan exclaimed.

    I gave him a deadpan look. "He obviously needs to cool off. If you mean about his relationship with the Senator, well that''s none of the Army''s business so long as it doesn''t interfere with his duties as a general."

    Kenobi glared my way and stalked after his former apprentice.

    "Perhaps we could scrape up some additional support for this operation..." Palpy mused, pointedly ignoring the byplay and effortlessly taking the moral high ground.

    "I''ll see what I can do. I may be able to free up few units here and there from secondary theaters." Valentra added his two cents.

    With that, the conversation drifted back on topic ¨C the impending ?ssault on Geonosis. Now all that remained to be seen was which way Anakin would jump. I had subtly pointed him in the d?s?r?d direction during our last conversation, shamelessly manipulating the poor kid.

    =RK=

    Skywalker left the briefing room, b?r?ly keeping a lid on his fury. Unless he did something¡­ Anakin growled. While he was ?ssured that right now Padme wasn''t in any real danger of dying, her mind was another matter. He could feel her pain even here, parsecs away. By the time the Force cursed poison was out of her system it was an even toss if she would be sane or not. The worst thing was that Skywalker actually knew that Veil was right¡­ from a certain point of view. The other general simply couldn''t justify throwing the whole ?ssembled fleet and attached ground forces into the teeth of the CIS defenses on the off chance they could get to the antidote. His hopes that either Veil or a Jedi healer could help Padme were dashed when he was informed that apparently whatever she was dosed with, reacted really bad at attempts to be removed using the Force.

    That only made things worse for Anakin. Sith spit! In Delkatar''s shoes he might have done the same thing, and yet¡­ The young Jedi reached an elevator and used the Force to smash its call bu??on. He paced restlessly while waiting for the turbolift.

    Anakin couldn''t help but feel betrayed. By the Jedi, by the Republic¡­ and by Veil. Padme was everything for him, yet they all were ready to throw her away. The reasons, no matter how compelling and logical didn''t really matter to Skywalker. She was his wife, the love of his live. In the end everything else paled in comparison to her importance.

    The elevator''s doors slid open and the Jedi stalked in, grateful that it was empty. He really didn''t want to be near anyone but his wife right now. Anakin saw Obi-Wan walking briskly his way and was grateful when the doors closed while the other Jedi was still at the other end of the long corridor. He really didn''t want to be anywhere near his former master. Skywalker simply didn''t have the energy for another argument right now, especially considering how angry he was at everyone.

    Kriff it all, it wasn''t like anything but helping Padme mattered. But how?! He ?r??n?d and leaned on the cool wall of the elevator. What was he supposed to do? Anakin needed a way to help his wife and damn the consequences!

    He briefly considered surrendering in exchange for the antidote but almost immediately disregarded that idea. It wasn''t like he could trust the enemy to hold to their part of such a bargain. What did that leave him with?

    Skywalker exited the turbolift once it stopped and wandered aimlessly through the ship, deep in thought. He needed to somehow get to the ground and the place where the cure was held. An impossible task for even someone like him. No matter how good a pilot he was, Anakin knew he wouldn''t be able to slip through the waiting fleet, not to mention the army on the ground. Not alone at any rate.

    He frowned at that thought. This was the heart of his problem. He couldn''t reach his objective without a fleet at his back distracting the CIS¡­ Something that was going to be denied to him. A frontal attack over the complex he needed to get to simply wouldn''t work. It would cost too much, a price neither Veil and the High Command, nor the Jedi were willing to pay¡­ Nevertheless that was the most expedient way to reach his objective and time was of the essence¡­ No one knew how long Padme''s mind could hold on¡­

    Anakin found himself in front of a small armored window. He could see scores of capital ships nearby, whole wings of fighters and bombers patrolled around them like moths around the behemoths. A whole fleet that was no use to him or Padme¡­

    ''What would you do to save her?'' a voice whispered in his mind.

    "What?" Skywalker glanced around. He could almost hear someone whispering in his ear yet there was no one around, that he could sense with the Force anyway.

    He shook his head. What indeed¡­ Anakin''s sight drifted to the window and the ?ssembling fleet beyond.

    =RK=

    My comm beeped while we were still discussing the fine details of the upcoming offensive.

    "This better be important."

    "Sir, a battle group is leaving the formation and not responding to our hails."

    Ah. So he went after the bait.

    "Which ships?"

    "General Skywalker''s unit, sir."

    "That young fool!" Yularen snapped.

    All eyes fell on the Admiral. Said battle group was nominally under his command. I glanced at Yoda who suddenly looked all his nine hundred years. The Jedi''s ears drooped, he slumped resting most of his weight upon his cane.

    "Darker the future is."

    "Ahem," Palpatine cleared his throat.

    "Skywalker seems determined to force our hand." I stated the obvious. "If you excuse us, Chancellor, Master Yoda. We have a battle to win." I waved my hand and two of the holographic images flickered out.

    "What is Skywalker thinking? His ships won''t be more than a distraction!" Valentra snapped.

    Yularen nodded darkly. None of them was thrilled that Anakin was about to throw away the men and ships under his command.

    "We can speculate later. I want the whole fleet ready to depart yesterday."

    Part 4

    =RK=

    Droid Command Ship "Deathdealer"

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    General Grievous stood on the bridge of his new ship resembling a statue made of gleaming durasteel. He was surrounded by a veritable host of B1 droids, the fragile machines hunched over their stations. He would have grit his teeth if he could. If he wasn''t a cyborg, more machine than man, Grievous would be shaking with unrestrained fury.

    He had been outmaneuvered. Outfought. Captured and kept in a jar like an insect by the Republic.

    That grated on parts of his psyche he had thought long dead. Even now, when he was surrounded by a veritable armada, clad in new and improved combat chassis, the CIS bogyman couldn''t help it. The Republic fleet was approaching and part of him shivered with emotion he had forgotten. Oh, there was the excitement of the impending battle. A drive for vengeance he had never felt before. Nevertheless, there was that small, treacherous voice in the back of his head. The one which was born while he was helpless, crippled prisoner.

    It wasn''t a fear of death. That hadn''t scared him ever since he was an adolescent warrior who had tasted the thrill of battle. But this was something new. The feeling of being helpless. Useless. Something he hadn''t felt after he had been rebuild as a cyborg for the first time.

    He hated that feeling, almost as much as the Jedi who captured him. That bitch of a Togruta. Oh, how he despised that damned woman! He couldn''t wait to get his claws on her, he swore. He would deal with her in due time. Perhaps before the coming battle was resolved if he was really lucky for once.

    "Contact!" exclaimed one of the droids monitoring the sensor station.

    "Details!" Grievous spat. A tingle of excitement ran up what little nerves he still had functioning. It was time!

    =RK=

    Venator Cruiser "Coruscant''s Pride"

    Hyperspace

    En route to Geonosis

    Anakin Skywalker stood alone on the command tower of his new flagship. What he did for Padme. For a forlorn hope at best¡­ It would be viewed as a dereliction of duty if he was lucky. Outright treason if not.

    Yet the young Jedi found that he didn''t care. Like at all. In the end Padme was all that mattered to him, the whole galaxy could burn in that kriffing war as far as he was concerned. No price was to high to pay for a chance to help his wife. Indeed, he would face the consequences gladly!

    Anakin smiled gently and sat on the cool floor, ready to meditate. For a first time in a long, long while he was content. Suddenly his life had become very simple. Very soon, there won''t be a need for any more lies and in a sense he would be free. Well, as "free" as someone who was likely to spent a lot of time behind bars, provided he lived through the maelstrom which awaited him at the end of the hyperspace jump.

    He had no illusions left.

    Anakin closed his eyes and slowly submerged himself within the Force. For some time he simply reveled in the sense of drifting upon the vast ocean of untamed power. Skywalker took the time necessary to center himself, to expand his senses until he could feel all eleven capital ships under his command. He felt the furnaces of their reactors, a cluster of stars drifting through hyperspace. The Jedi concentrated, finding every last one of the clones crewing the ships. Patiently he weaved a web of energy so he was connected with every last one of them. He took a deep breath. He was almost ready.

    It wouldn''t be long now. Anakin gritted his teeth and bent the Force to his will, substituting raw power where his lack of skill found him wanting. He opened himself to the minds of his men, becoming a nexus. A control hub coordinating their actions and a source of inspiration, breathing courage within their hearts.

    It was time. He could feel it with every fiber of his being. Instant later, the captains of his ships knew it too, so did the helmsmen. A single press of a bu??on was all it took and the fleet dropped from FTL, crashing back in real space.

    =RK=

    Droid Command Ship "Deathdealer"

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    Grievous stared at the eleven ships that dropped from hyperspace almost on top of his formation. If he was in a part of the ships with viewing ports he would be able to see them.

    "Open Fir-" his angry order was interrupted by a hammer blow throwing him to the ground. Sirens shrieked across the bridge, announcing that the shields had failed. "Return fire!" shouted the cyborg. He used his metal claws to anchor himself to the deck and stood up. His eyes darted towards the holotank, showing the disposition of his forces.

    The Republic ships were deployed in three rings, each made by a trio of Venators, with two more cruisers in the center. The unconventional formation resembled a drill of all things, the impression made more striking by the way the enemy craft were rotating. The CIS commander made the connection almost immediately. The Venators were maneuvering in such a way that each of them would be exposed to concentrated weapon''s fire for a short amount of time. It wouldn''t last long. Not with Grievous having such an overwhelming advantage in firepower and numbers.

    Not that the kriffing Republic scum seemed to care. What was worse, they were inflicting damage vastly out of proportion. His ship was crippled, the alpha strike had breached the shields in multiple places, slagging all the heavy weapons "Deathdealer" could bring to bear without rotating on 180 degrees.

    They didn''t waste time on delivering a killing blow, instead with unnatural precision, the enemy cruisers were concentrating their fire from one target to the next, leaving crippled hulks in their wake. Grievous seethed. The battle group accompanying his flagship should have been more than enough to deal with eleven Venators. Yet, in the span of few minutes, four Battleships were crippled, their shields locally overwhelmed, their heavy weapons slagged.

    "Tactical! Move Third, Seventh and Eight wings in an englobement maneuver!" Grievous snarled. He needed to deal with this distraction before the rest of the Republic fleet came calling.

    "Roger, roger!"

    =RK=

    Venator Cruiser "Coruscant''s Pride"

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    Anakin hissed in pain as he felt more of his men die. Under different circumstances he might have patted himself on the back for the decision not to come directly to Geonosis, but to stop halfway and leave most of his ships with only skeleton crews. If the nine Venators in the outer shell of his formation were manned as usual, Skywalker had no doubt that he would have passed out from the backslash, dooming them all.

    As it was, his body was on fire, his head was doing its best to split open in pain. The Force itself was struggling against his grasp, while he was doing his best to channel it to fuel his Battle Meditation. The technique was harder than anything he had ever attempted. He had to strain his senses to their limits, careful to influence only those of the crew who were actually fighting his ships, doing anything more and he would be a helpless heap twitching on the deck.

    Anakin swayed, almost planting his face in the metal floor as a wave of dizziness hit him, yet he persevered. By this point it was his sheer stubbornness that kept him going. That and his love for Padme, which he was using as a fuel to keep his technique going for as long as his body would last.

    Skywalker grinned, paying no attention to the thin streams of blood leaking from his eyes and ears. Anakin was an embodiment of his fleet, wielding it with the precision of a laser scalpel.

    Another alpha strike and the fifth and last battleship between him and the planet was a drifting cripple, leaving twenty odd frigates in his way, with twice that number left as burning wrecks behind him. Now he needed to dispose of those before the three battle groups racing to intercept his formation were in effective range.

    =RK=

    Venator Cruiser "Chimera"

    First Assault Fleet Flag ship

    Hyperspace

    En route to Geonosis

    The pieces were slowly falling into place. Soon enough I will practically own Skywalker or he would be neutered as a long term threat. Or he''ll just die at Geonosis. Either way, another step of my plan will be complete. That left the battle.

    In few minutes the fleet will drop from hyperspace, engaging hopefully disrupted enemy formations. I expected that Skywalker''s mad rush would accomplish that much at least, balancing the scales with the ships and people he led in his suicidal dash towards Geonosis. I shook my head. While I planned for him doing something stupid, just appropriating a task force and going to do his own thing was particularly dumb. Unless I led the rest of the fleet on his heels, he and the men who followed him were dead, period.

    Oh, I could understand where he was coming from. I wouldn''t, couldn''t just stand by and do nothing, if my deceased wife was the one suffering. Of course, there were many smarter ways to do it, which incidentally would increase her chances of getting the antidote by a large degree.

    Now it was all academic anyway. Anakin had gotten himself in a bind I might be able to extract him from, in which case it would be easy to tie his fortunes to my own. After all, you didn''t need to be a fortune teller to know how the Jedi would act once the current unpleasantries were resolved. Hell, as a General of the Republic, even my hands were tied as far as Skywalker''s stunt was concerned. Officially at least. Once the battle was over, and provided that he was still somewhat in one piece, Anakin was going to be facing a court martial.

    Serves him right for acting like an idiot.

    But he was a problem for another time. Now I had a space battle to win.

    I closed my eyes and relaxed, letting the Force flow through me. I gently moulted the energies of the Light Side, making sure that they will be healing some of the strain I was about to put on my body. I let my senses float, first touching the command personnel on my ship and slowly spreading out to the fleet. The fact that we were in hyperspace was no hindrance at all. You got to love the Force and the way it bind all things in the universe together.

    I extended my will and grasped the raging torrent that was the Dark Side, fueling my powers. Raw energy raced through my veins, the edge of searing pain I should have felt taken away by the light energies saturating my body. Now I had the power in my hand to back up the skills Ashara taught me all those years ago.

    One after another, whole ships and their crews fell under my sway. We were a single organism, bound by my will and purpose. I inspired courage and raw determination in my soldiers, leaving no place for doubt or fear in their hearts. They knew what their mates were about to do, whole fighter wings, destroyer and frigate squadrons, even cruiser divisions acting as one. A level of coordination making the best fleet command and control system appear as a joke, in the face of the coordination possible thanks my Battle Meditation.

    I grinned. Most people, both enemy and ally,expected Geonosis to be a stand up battle, two of the greatest fleets ?ssembled in millennia slugging it out.

    To hell with that! It wasn''t to be a fair fight. I was going to cheat as the sneaky bastard I was. And the Battle Meditation was only the tip of the iceberg.

    It was time.

    "Begin." I whispered in the heads of my Flag officers and captains.

    A brief lurch and my fleet was back in real space. A holographic tank came to life in front of me, showing a picture of Geonosis and every enemy ship in sensor range. My grin widened. Skywalker had done his job, even better than expected. What was left from his task force, four operational Venators, were being pounded to pieces by three whole battle groups. Another CIS flotilla was crippled in Anakin''s wake, only four half operational battleships left amidst the wreckage of one of their sisters and scores of frigates.

    I whistled with appreciation. I really didn''t believe that the little I taught Skywalker about tactical use of Battle Mediation could culminate into this.

    My smile turned feral. A significant portion of the enemy fleet was out of position. Even using tactical hyperspace jump, two thirds of the enemy forces won''t get into range as a cohesive group for anything between five to seven minutes.

    "Advance." All I needed was to think it and my men would follow the order.

    Frigate squadrons led the way, supported by destroyers and followed by light cruisers; paving the way for the heavy hitters of my fleet. A swarm of fighters buzzed around the capital ships, waiting to intercept anything that might survive the battle christening of the fully operational Guardian system integrated into every one of my ships.

    =RK=

    Droid Command Ship "Deathdealer"

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    Grievous took one look at the rest of the enemy fleet which just arrived, and then turned around and sprinted towards the hangar.

    "TK i8, you have tactical command. Contingency Gamma, execute." the cyborg shouted a moment before leaving the bridge. He could scarcely believe it. According to all Intel, the main body of the Republic fleet should have been a few hours out! He knew that Skywalker had went ahead, basically going rogue with the ships that attacked a few minutes ago. But for Veil to have the rest of the fleet follow so fast...

    A chill went through what little organic flesh Grievous still possessed. It was a setup. It had to be. You didn''t get such a massive fleet moving in the same direction without a notice. Not that fast. No matter how good they were trained. It didn''t matter if Skywalker was acting as a distraction by his own will or he was set up as well.

    Veil, the kriffing bastard had deceived everyone. Both his chain of command and the CIS intelligence types. It was almost admirable in a way. Which of course meant, Grievous had to kill him before he pulled something else from his bag of tricks.

    Meanwhile, he needed to get the kriff away from Deathdealer, which would soon enough be used for target practice by the advancing enemy. The battleship and her crippled sisters wouldn''t even be able to slow down that many ships. Not with half their heavy weapons gone. On the other hand, they would be able to make the enemy light elements bleed before being destroyed themselves. It wasn''t as if Veil could keep his light ships out of range and maintain formation.

    =RK=

    Part 5

    Droid Command Ship "Nemesis"

    Third Wing Flagship

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    Admiral Dua Ningo, the second in command of the Geonosis Defense Fleet sneered at the holo display. As expected, that beast Grievous kriffed up. The old Sullustan would never understand why his leaders let that tin can command fleets. Granted, the cyborg was good at killing Jedi and terrorizing the enemy but in space, where it really mattered, the half-man, half-machine was found lacking.

    No matter. Grievous was out of the picture for the moment, no doubt busy running for his life while the enemy fleet was advancing towards his crippled flagship.

    "All Wings, converge at the closest staging point. All units do not engage the enemy before we''ve consolidated our forces at points Fell and Trinity." Ningo cut off the general comm channel and tuned his head towards one of the tactical droids acting as his staff. At least those weren''t as useless as the run of the mill machines employed by the Confederacy. The damn money punchers in charge simply refused to learn that the war was very hard to win with such inferior equipment, no matter the numbers.

    "Give me a time estimate. How long before our forces can consolidate for an attack?"

    The droid froze for a few seconds, apparently the strain of computing the information almost overwhelming it. Then it tilted its head and reported. "Within ten minutes we''ll have about sixty percent of all available forces. Seven minutes later the rest of the fleet will be in position."

    The diminutive Admiral glared at the droid. "That''s too long. We need to hit them before they are done with the rest of Grievous'' command. We won''t get a better chance unless they kriff up by the numbers." Ningo took a deep breath and glared at the holographic display. "We need to slow them down. Launch all fighters and bombers, both on the planet and in the fleet. They will have the acceleration to hit the enemy in the next five to seven minutes. Given the estimate of their new Guardian system, that won''t be enough to cripple their fleet but it might do enough damage to slow them down and disrupt their formation."

    Admiral Ningo glared at the tactical droid.

    "What the kriff are you waiting for?! Do as ordered!"

    "Roger, roger."

    =RK=

    Republic Cruiser "Chimera"

    First Assault Fleet Flagship

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    Admiral Yularen calmly stared at the holographic display showing the disposition of his fleet. It was arrayed in a V formation, made up by three separate battle groups, each build around a single Corellian cruiser. Those three behemoths were the true heavy hitters of his temporary command. Each was a nearly kilometer and half long titan, bristling with weapons and protected by vast armor belts and powerful shields. The Corellian cruisers were leading divisions of Venators, each with their own escort of lighter ships.

    The Admiral smiled. This was the greatest concentration of Republic military might in more than a thousand years, and it was under his command. While general Veil was busy, using the Force to somehow boost the morale and coordination of his forces, it was up to Yularen to command the battle.

    "Time?" he asked. There was no need to elaborate. He''s been working with his staff long enough that they were almost able to read his mind.

    "Five point three minutes until Rogue One is in position. We estimate two more minutes for Rogue Two to reform and head our way. Three more minutes until they are in effective range."

    "Long enough." Rogue One and Two were the designation of the two groups in which the remaining Separatists forces were forming for counterattack. Unfortunately someone with a brain was in command over there so they declined to send in their ships piecemeal. Which was all right with the Admiral. That left him more than enough time to dispose of the enemy task force that Skywalker had decimated, before engaging the main enemy forces in system.

    Even better, the Separatists were granting him a golden opportunity to implement one of the General''s underhanded plans for this battle.

    "Take out the weapons of those battleships and execute operation Overlord." Yularen highlighted the targets in question on the holo display. Personally he thought that it was a long shot, but given the potential reward it was worth the risk.

    His orders went down the chain of command and new targeting priorities were sent to Invincible''s battle group. That particular Corellian cruiser was leading the Vanguard of the fleet and was already in range of the closest enemy units. A Light cruiser squadron, carrying the ONI specialists and their commando escort, sped up, slowly moving forward.

    "Now what a competent enemy would do to kriff up our day?" The Admiral smiled and looked at his staff.

    "Unless they have heavy reinforcements we don''t know about, attacking us before their units are concentrate invites defeat in detail." Lieutenant Felix Olen, Yularen''s aide thought aloud.

    "True, true. Is there anyone else who wants to try?"

    "Hyperspace jumps to form up and then attack us from point blank range?" asked Captain Jaiden Lor, the liaison with the Corellian Defense Force.

    "If they were using your ships and crews it would be possible. With Munificents and those ponderous battleships of theirs? And cheap droids as crews? Well, let''s hope they try it."

    "Send massed bomber strikes with as much fighter cover as they can. It almost worked at Ryloth." Pellaeon spoke from his station where he was commanding his ship and attached Venator division.

    "It won''t work. Not with the Guardian installed on every capital ship and all our fighters flying CSP*! Even with the software glitches still unresolved..."

    "Unless you have tens of thousands expendable fighters to throw at the problem." the Admiral said quietly. "Don''t forget that we expect to be outnumbered in fighters alone by a factor of at least ten."

    As if Yularen''s words were prophetic, the holographic display chose that moment to lit up with red dots. Countless of them.

    "I owe the General a hundred credits." Pellaeon chuckled. "His spook buddies did their job for once."

    Most of the flag staff looked at the Commodore and Admiral with confusion.

    "In every written report after Ryloth, it was stated that the only reason why the Guardian worked as well as it did was because the enemy fighters came in ballistic, greatly diminishing the vectors on which they could evade and still be able to kamikaze the fleet. It was said that the system would have problems tracking and hitting wildly evasive targets and it could glitch if it had to track too many enemy contacts." Yularen explained.

    "Well, that''s..." Felix was at loss for words.

    "What we have installed on this fleet is orders of magnitude better than the prototypes we used at Ryloth." Pellaeon cracked a small smile. "That system is build with this exact scenario in mind." He pointed at the swarms of red dots that obscured Geonosis and the enemy fleet''s staging points.

    "By the spirits¡­" one of the sensor operators muttered aloud.

    "By all means, enlighten us, Lieutenant."

    The human woman gulped. "Sir, that can''t be right!" Yularen''s smile widened a bit.

    "I can ?ssure you, the sensor''s are in working order, Silva. Report." Pellaeon added.

    "Sorry, sirs. We are detecting in excess of one hundred thousand vultures¡­ and their numbers keep rising."

    "Just as planned. Execute Lacoon. Let''s prepare a warm welcome for those birds." Yularen ordered.

    =RK=

    Republic Cruiser "Chimera"

    First Assault Fleet Flagship

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    I allowed myself a tiny smile. That many enemy small craft¡­ If the CIS commander wasn''t caught out of position, he could have used them as a hammer to shatter my fleet. He might have very well succeeded.

    Now whoever was in charge over there had to make some hard decisions. Either throw most of his fighters and bombers at us to buy time until he had consolidated, or let us dictated the tempo of the battle. Right now we had the initiative and left unchecked could further wreck the Confed''s day. I didn''t need to look at the holo display in front of me to know the relative dispositions of the fleets. I could feel them in the Force.

    Left unchecked we could either make a pass over the planet, bombarding it, a possibility the enemy commander had to defend against, or pounce on one of their two main staging points in which case we could inflict heavy casualties before the rest of the enemy forces caught up with us. Our third main option was to finish mopping up the enemy battle group which Anakin wrecked, hit the orbital defenses and slug it over Geonosis while simultaneously deploying ground forces. It was something often done in this war, sending in the ground pounders while the orbitals were still contested. However that wasn''t something I planned to do today, no matter what the official battle plans submitted to the Chancellor said.

    There was a reason why I stripped most of the various fleets currently not actively engaged in combat from most of their light warships and concentrated them as escorts for this operation.

    My soldiers were ready. Trained and experienced in the fires of this war. Now it was time to see if my plan was up to the task.

    I submerged myself fully in the Force and became a nexus coordinating my fleet''s actions.

    =RK=

    Light Cruiser "Corellian Fury"

    Task Force Lacoon Flagship

    First Assault Fleet

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    "Lacoon. I repeat Lacoon." the Comm officer shouted, unable to contain her excitement.

    "You heard the Admiral, boys and girls. Give the word to the freighters. I want the cargo deployed yesterday. The Escort Carriers are to move forward and punch it. I want all birds in the air and in position before those swarms hit us." Commodore Jole Solo ordered.

    The grizzled Corellian had enlisted after his ship was shot out from under him at Ryloth. Someone among the Fleet brass had liked what he did during that battle, because he got the rank of Commodore and a vital part to play in kriffing up the CIS bastards. Probably thanks to the General, who had recruited him for Ryloth in the first place.

    He owed that scoundrel one. Perhaps two. For a moment, Jole thought about the kid he had been contacted about. An orphan, one Han Solo, a possible relative. If the offensive hadn''t been kicked up earlier than planned he would have been back home right now, meeting the lad. Well, that was the plan, just put on hold until some well deserved kicking of Separatist''s ?sses.

    "Graawrg!" Traaw confirmed and started growling at the comm officer.

    Jole straightened and stared at the holo display. He felt energized, the growing enemy swarm was becoming less and less threatening by the minute. His carriers started launching fighters and the twenty cargo ships attached to his command began releasing their payloads. Each of those behemoths had their holds full with weapons platforms. They were small things, half the size of a snub fighter. However, the platforms packed a mean punch. Each had four small racks with concussion missiles attached as well as dual laser cannons. Great for anti fighter work.

    The platforms were caught by the tractor beams of Solo''s light ships and carriers, which then made their way to the outer layer of the Fleet''s formation. The ships moved as if they had practiced the maneuvers long enough to be instinctive. There were no mistakes, no units or even single craft lagging because they moved too early or late. It was a thing of beauty, which only an experienced spacer could really appreciate. Because only such a person would know how hard it was to pull off that kind of precise maneuvering on a fleet scale.

    The Corellian glared at the enemy forces on the display. Soon enough he would extract another pound of flesh from the kriffing bastards that murdered his kin.

    "Data-links are online and clear. We are patched into the Guardian Network."

    "All birds are in the air and forming in their designated zones."

    "Enemy fighters will be entering missile range in sixty seconds."

    Three distinct waves of vultures were converging upon the Republic fleet from separate vectors. Their timing was impeccable. The Separatists small craft were going to strike their adversaries within moments of each other.

    "Give me estimated numbers on those nuisances." Solo''s voice was calm, not betraying what he was feeling, if anything.

    "Estimates are on hundred and fifty thousand plus." the sensor officer reported.

    His voice was calm, too calm. Jole frowned. For that matter so was he. Even someone like him, who didn''t particularly care if he lived or died as long as he avenged his family, should have felt at least some pang of dread at facing that many enemies with untested doctrine and new weaponry, b?r?ly out of the experimental stage.

    Yet there was no fear. Just durasteel determination to see the mission through. He smiled. ''Perhaps we are all driven mad by the Sep''s atrocities and don''t care anymore as long as we drag them to the Nine hells with us.'' the Corellian thought.

    "All fleet elements, weapons free." Yularen ordered.

    "Wraaarg!" Traaw roared a battle cry.

    The Vulture swarms crossed an invisible line. The Republic fleet lit up, disappearing behind a wave after wave of concussion missiles.

    Part 6

    =RK=

    Republic Cruiser "Negotiator II"

    Battle group "Titan" Flagship

    Two hours from Geonosis

    Hyperspace

    A single Venator raced on the forefront of a fleet made of Assault Ships and their light escorts. Thirty one Acclamators and twenty four ?ssorted bulk freighters were carrying the army groups slotted to invade Geonosis. Those troops were a mixed bag. More than half of them were clones, born and bred for war. The rest were the cream of a dozen planetary defense forces and militias. As far ranging as Corellian Security officers and the newly formed Ryloth Light Infantry, to Wookie warriors from Kashyyyk, Caamasi Lancers and Anaxxian Rangers.

    Turning that mess into a decent fighting force was left to three Jedi Masters. Kenobi, who was nominally in charge, Ki-Adi-Mundi who was a new addition to the Geonosis ?ssault force and Shaak Ti, who was recalled from her semi permanent position as the Republic General responsible for training the Clones on Kamino, among other duties.

    "What is that impossible man doing now?!" the Togruta Jedi Master exclaimed.

    "Veil? Or Skywalker?" Obi-Wan asked. The Jedi Master was hunched in his chair looking much older than his thirty odd years.

    "Master Kenobi, when was the last time you slept, or indeed take a rest?" Mundi asked.

    "Yesterday. I think."

    "Nope. It was before we departed." Ahsoka interjected. She was the fourth person in the small conference room.

    "That figures." Shaak Ti muttered. "Are you trying to kill yourself or is this a misguided attempt at penance?"

    "That headstrong idiot was my apprentice!"

    "Don''t remind me. He''s supposed to be my master. An example to follow..." the young Togruta grumbled.

    "Well, they both certainly leave an impression..." Master Adi-Mundi added. He glanced in the general direction of Geonosis.

    "The planet will still be there when we arrive, right?" Ahsoka asked. Even she could sense the storm in the Force brewing at their destination.

    "Probably. Whether there will be much left of Veil once I got my hands on him remains to be seen."

    Ahsoka gave a pointed look at the older woman. "Seriously, how long are you two going to dance around it?"

    "I have no idea what you are talking about." Shaak Ti narrowed her eyes at the teenager.

    "Uh, huh. So you are only irritated that he left you with the ground pounders instead of being part of the fleet action. Because it''s prudent not to risk our entire chain of command during the space battle." Tano''s tone of voice made clear what she thought of her excuse.

    "It''s the logical course of action." Adi-Mundi smirked. The way his lips twitched showed what he thought of that idea. After all, he was one of the very rare Jedi who were allowed to have families. So he wasn''t even remotely as clueless as most of his fellows.

    "Seriously?! That''s what you are talking about just before the battle?" Obi-Wan shook his head in exasperation.

    "We have multiple battle plans." Shaak Ti shrugged.

    "A lot of contingencies, too." Ahsoka added.

    "Besides affairs of the heart are a very much relevant topic considering what''s been happening lately." Adi-Mundi smiled at Kenobi. "So Skywalker and Senator Amidala. It''s obviously who our other troublesome general is fond off." he nodded at Shaak Ti who gave him a long suffered look. "I''m of course married. So does either of you have a secret affair too?"he waved at Kenobi and Ahsoka.

    "You are becoming insufferable in your old age." Obi-Wan ?r??n?d. Thanks to Skywalker''s affair, he was going to become the Order''s running joke. For the first time in his life, Kenobi couldn''t wait for the fight to start. If only to get away from these jokers. "I''m going to check on my troops."

    Just as the door was closing behind him, he heard something that sounded suspiciously like sniggering.

    =RK=

    Republic First Assault Fleet

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    Ship after ship connected into the datanet. With each new addition, it''s capabilities expanded. Additional sensor clusters and targeting computers pouring their resources into a single purpose. The incoming enemy craft were cataloged, scanned and ?ssigned targeting priority.

    Point defense turrets rotated, automatic routines checking how well they worked. Missile launchers were uncovered, birds hot in their tubes. Auto-loaders came to life, ready to reloads ready to be plugged in once the magazines ran dry. Then new contacts pinged the datanet, thousands of them, all eager to join the fun. Newly deployed weapon platforms were sending their telemetry, adding their considerable firepower to the Guardian network.

    Seconds passed, then minutes. Firing solutions were refined, kill zones established as the Fleet maneuvered to give clear firing lanes for the maximum number of PD emplacements.

    Then it happened. The reason Guardian existed.

    It started as a trickle. The leading edges of the enemy armada crossed within range. With each passing moment, more and more Vultures were moving ever deeper inside the system''s engagement envelope.

    Seconds passed, until a signal came. If it was able, the collective gestalt of all Guardian systems within the fleet would have smiled with anticipation. The order was given. Missiles by the thousands, were flushed from their racks, the different fleet elements staggering their launches so no ordinance would be wasted on intercepting the same target multiple times.

    An outside observer would have lost sight of the Republic fleet, its units drowned by the light of countless ion engines.

    Most of the Vultures, both fighter and bomber variants, broke in wild evasive maneuvers. Just as expected and planned for. Their tempo of approach slowed, the carefully arranged formations breaking before a single weapon struck any of their number.

    Salvo after salvo raced against the oncoming swarms, some of the droid fighters dancing in abrupt evasive maneuvers, others continued straight ahead, shooting their laser cannons all the way. No matter how small and nimble they were, missiles started to die due the raw volume of fire, before their guiding systems kicked in a higher gear and started weaving into unpredictable spins and turns.

    The void of space was empty no more. A corona of exploding ordinance, blaster fire and torn, shredded Vultures surrounded the Republic fleet. For a few minutes it stood still, the leading elements of the fighter swarms simply disintegrating, massacred by missiles. But that couldn''t, wouldn''t last. There were simply too many small craft vying for Republic blood. Until in one moment, the halo of shrapnel and broken hull started shrinking, getting closer and closer to the fleet. No matter that the missile salvos were slamming in the swarms faster and faster as the distance got smaller.

    Another invisible line was crossed and emerald beams lanced from within the fleet, blasting scores of fighters apart. A volley, a second, then third, each larger, more potent than the last. Yet the Vultures followed their programing, charging straight in the teeth of the Republic defenses, heedless of the losses.

    =RK=

    Republic Cruiser "Chimera"

    First Assault Fleet Flagship

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    "Huh. They may actually break through. I didn''t really expect that." Pellaeon muttered.

    "There are a lot of them. Some will break no matter how good our defensive fire is." Yularen interjected. He was feeling calm despite the horde of enemy contact descending upon his command. "Release the fighters. Punch the platform''s missiles. All ships are allowed to maneuver independently within the bounds of their unit''s formations. Let''s make it harder for the bastards."

    "Aye, sir."

    In the next few seconds, the sensor display became unreadable as the weapon platforms flushed their missiles too and the CSP broke formation and charged into the fray.

    Outside was a bloodbath. Despite being savaged by the missile strikes, the Vultures still outnumbered the Republic fighter contingent by a huge margin. Few seconds before the small craft met, the weapon platforms emptied their magazines, reaping a frightful harvest. The Torrents followed suit, adding to the slaughter. It wasn''t even remotely enough. The Vultures didn''t even try to engage the Republic fighters. They simply tore through their ranks, absorbing the casualties and taking out as many of the enemy as they could, before proceeding towards their targets. The first fighter engagement of the battle was over in seconds and the Vultures were on their way, leaving the surviving Torrents in their wake.

    Only to run straight into a wall of fire as the PD guns spoke as one, turning entire sectors of the surrounding space in a wall of laser pulses. Anything that tried to pass through certain vectors, those usually leading at Capital ships, simply ceased to exist.

    The tip of the Republic formation suffered the worst. It was weakened with a score of light ships either crippled or with weakened shields after engaging the remains of Grievous'' personal command. Their defenses were overwhelmed by kamikaze strikes, followed by bombers salvoing their proton torpedoes at point blank range, before slamming themselves in their targets.

    A frigate went up, then another. A Light Cruiser staggered as a whole wing impacted upon its shields, before twenty torpedoes cracked it in two. For two full minutes it went on and on, a symphony of destruction, until the bulk of the Confederate Vulture force was spent.

    Few hundred made it pass the Republic lines.

    "Get me the Fleet wide status!" Yularen ordered calmly, as if he was simply asking for a cup of Caf.

    If his staff was perturbed by the enemy ?ssault, none of them showed it.

    "Thirty one light ships are out of the net. Another two dozen with light to moderate damage. We lost five Escort Carriers and half the freighters, but only couple of Venators have light damage." Captain Lor shook his head in amazement.

    "What is our fighter strength?"

    "Squadron leaders are still trying to establish contact with their people. We threw so much ordinance around that the sensors won''t be entirely reliable until we clear the immediate vicinity. A minute or two and we''ll have clearer picture."

    "Fair enough. Any estimate on that swarm? How many did we bag?"

    "Hundred and fifty thousand. At least." the sensor operator grinned.

    Pellaeon whistled. That was about two thirds of the estimated enemy small craft in system.

    "Good work, people. Now I want our formations tightened and ready for fleet engagement. Keep the WP''s in the net. Their lasers will be useful in taking out the rest of the enemy fighter force. What''s the status of Overlord?"

    =RK=

    DCS "Deathdealer"

    High orbit over Geonosis

    "Move! We don''t have all day people!" Boss ordered and hurried to follow his own advice by sprinting down the corridor. So far his upgraded armor and shields were shrugging off everything the B1''s were able to throw at him and his men, allowing them to advance and crush all resistance without slowing down.

    Which was vital. Unless they wanted this whole exercise to be pointless, they had to secure both the ship''s central computer core and the comm array before the fleet action began in earnest.

    So far it was going reasonably well. It appeared that most of the ship''s crew were the flimsy B1''s, and those toys were now made woefully obsolete by the new gen of Republic gear. Which, of course, made Boss worry. When a plan was going that smoothly it was either an ambush or as the general was found of saying, that being Murphy was ready to kriff up your day.

    Apparently it was the second one. The microphones on his medium armor caught the painfully familiar sounds of rolling droidekas. A lot of them.

    "Prep ion grenades. We are about to receive company."

    "On it!" Scorch almost bounced in his armor and retrieved the grenade launcher magnetically clasped to his back.

    Sev picked a grenade from his harness. Fixer simply gripped tighter the experimental laser that he was carrying around. Their motion detectors picked up the approaching machines and Boss made a sharp gesture. Grenades flew at the junction they were heading to, just in time to catch the destroyer droids as they rolled around the corner. Ion energy flashed in violent release, arching all over the machines and grounding itself in the hull.

    The leading elements of the destroyer platoon crashed, violet lighting running up and down their bodies. Most of their fellows were unable to stop in time, piling up in the junction. Fixer grinned and let loose with his combat laser, neatly slicing them in pieces before they could deploy.

    Scorch glanced at his friend. "I want one of those too."

    "You aren''t laying a hand on my new best friend. Go find yourself another one. However it won''t be as good!" Fixer gently patted his weapon.

    Boss shook his head. Sometimes his squad was creeping him out.

    "We are almost at the computer core. About four hundred meters that way." Sev ignored his buddies and pointed right.

    "You heard him. Go!" Boss ordered and sprinted down that way.

    =RK=

    Droid Command Ship "Nemesis"

    Third Wing Flagship

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    Admiral Ningo just stared at the holo tank. So much for trusting anything the intelligence types said. His bigger force multiplier was now gone for little to no gain. Hi still had about seventy thousand Vultures, the ones who were simply too far away from the combat theater to join in the first strike if it was to go on time. Even those should have been a decisive weapon to wield. In another battle, against a different fleet, that would have been true. The Republic Admiral however had brought enough screening units to make even such number of fighters far from battle wining force by themselves. Now that he saw how fiendishly effective that Guardian system truly was, he had his doubts if sending all of the fighters together would have been enough. For a moment he considered ordering another small craft sortie but disregarded that plan. While the Republic defenses might be weakened, he doubted that it would be enough to do anything but further bloody their escorts. No. He would use his remaining small craft smarter. Let''s see how good that system of theirs is in the middle of a general fleet action.

    At least the strike wasn''t a complete waste. The enemy fleet had been marginally slowed down, buying him few more minutes to unkriff his forces and coordinate a counter attack. Unfortunately they didn''t appear ready to throw themselves at the Gollan II stations and weapons satellites surrounding Geonosis. Ningo thought about falling back to the defensive line so he could add their firepower to that of his fleet. However doing so would leave one of his two forces vulnerable for a strike by the enemy. He still had a marginal edge in capital ships, giving him at least parity in firepower.

    "Blood them then fall back to the defensive line and hold them there." he muttered. The Admiral turned his head towards his so called staff. "Coordinate with all wings." He glanced at the holo tank, which was showing his forces, their vectors and the estimated time they would be in position. "We are executing a tactical jump in two and half minutes. Any units that aren''t able to get in position before then are to make their way to the Orbital Defense grid."

    "Roger, Roger."

 Chapter 37 - A Jedi Falls [Interlude]

    Venator Cruiser "Coruscant''s Pride"

    Low orbit over Geonosis

    To be Anakin Skywalker at that moment was hell. His body was slowly burning from within, his head was swimming in a red haze, and the pain¡­ To be the Chosen One then and there was pure, undiluted agony. Every breath, every time the bridge shook as his cruiser was hit again and again, they all sent white hot spikes of durasteel into his body. Yet, all that torture was a mere sideshow. Because for Anakin Skywalker the real hell was quite different. He felt it all. Each wound his men suffered. Every injury and death sent a backslash through the Force slapping him in the face with iron fist.

    Men he had grown closer with than the Jedi who raised him¡­ Anakin was killing them. He betrayed them all and while regretting every moment of it, he felt no remorse. Because no matter how much he cared for his brothers within the 501st Legion, they weren''t as important as Padme. He made his choice and it was time to own up to it.

    Skywalker smiled tiredly. The Force was raging, a storm ready to sweep everything in its way. Veil was here with the rest of the fleet. So Padme might just be saved. If he paved the way. Then he would be either dead or there would be a hell to pay. Not that it mattered by that point. Skywalker had burned his bridges. The only thing left was to see this through. So he gritted his teeth and through the Force seized control over one of his remaining three Venators. The cruiser shuddered, its thrusters firing and altering his path. The closest Golan II station, which had been pouring its vast firepower at Skywalkers battle group, redoubled its efforts, focusing its fire on the approaching Venator. The Venator''s shields collapsed. Weapon emplacements blew away, its armor peeled off. The Golan gave it all it was worth.

    It was all for naught. Even as a burning, half dead wreck the Kuat''s Shield was more than enough. It slammed through the weakened shields of the battle-station, its armored nose piercing it almost death center. The cruiser''s engines continued to burn as more and more of its body were fed into the station, consuming both in series of titanic explosions. Seconds later one of their reactors was shattered and both ship and station ceased to exist in one massive explosion that lit up the whole hemisphere of the world below.

    Skywalker''s smile faded. He coughed a glob of blood. The thick red liquid was already running freely down his face. He felt numb, the massive shock of feeling every death aboard the Shield becoming a hit too many. He gurgled a strangled cry sensing that the Force was slipping through his finger tips. Anakin shuddered and used his last vestiges of power for one last command. His other ship maneuvered, moving to shield Coruscant''s Pride from any and all ground based weaponry with its hull. Then both cruisers accelerated and headed straight at the planet.

    On the bridge, Anakin Skywalker crumbled on the floor in a puddle of his blood.

    Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed or Star Wars. They belong to their respective copyright owners. This story is not created with commercial aim. I make no money from it.

    AN:This part was betaed by Gatemaster on the Space Battle''s forums. Thank you very much for the great work.

    Phase 19

    =RK=

    Part 7

    Republic Cruiser "Chimera"

    First Assault Fleet Flagship

    "What are you going to do now, hm?" Yularen mussed.

    The hammer blow had fallen and his fleet was intact. Now the Seps'' commander had couple of choices to make. To either fall back to the defensive line, which had its problems, or attack. Either was viable tactics in this case. As far as the enemy knew anyway. If the Confeds decided to play defense, that was all right with the Admiral. It would make his job simpler not to mention easier. So what was the worst thing that the enemy could do?

    Yularen would have jumped deeper in the system and waited, ready to pounce when the opposing force committed to attack the planet, sandwiching them between the Orbital Defense and the mobile forces supporting them, and the rest of the fleet. If the enemy declined to hit the planet, he could play for time waiting for reinforcements and commencing long range duels before making tactical retreat. That would work for a Republic force, with a battle line centered around Venators, which were quite tough and fast. For the CIS that option wasn''t as desirable. Their fastest ships, the Munificents, which made up the bulk of their fleet, were glass cannons. Heavily armed and fast, but suffered in the armor department. Their battleships on the other hands were behemoths, with the weapons and armor to take on multiple Venators, but quite slow in real space. Simply, the CIS units which were tailor made for hit and run attacks were too fragile if sent unsupported, and if kept in formation with the heavy hitters...well then he wouldn''t have much trouble in engaging them heavily before their hyperdrives recycled and new jump coordinates were calculated.

    When all was said and done, he was confident to get the better off such confrontation. Which really left option two, attack, as the option he had to prepare for.

    "Get us in fleet formation Kilo. Lighter elements are to independently maneuver and clear the cruisers firing lanes. What''s the status on our fighter squadrons? How long until they are able to reestablish a proper screen?"

    "We are working on it. It looks like nearly fifty percent casualties. We haven''t been able to reestablish contact with anyone more senior than a squadron leader."

    "I see. Do what you can. Guardian status?"

    "Green across the board, all missile magazines are being reloaded as we speak."

    "Good. Carry on."

    "That was unpleasant." I stated the obvious. Thanks to my formal training from Ashara, I was able to distance myself from the deaths of the people I influenced with my Battle Meditation. Still, it was rather nasty sensation, feeling an echo of their deaths. Even if the dark part of my heart rather enjoyed it.

    That said, so far it was far better than the last time I used this discipline. It was during a major battle in the Great War, one that made this one look like a side show. While we won, the strain put me out of commission for weeks. Needless to say I hoped to do better here. Which wasn''t unreasonable. Not only was the scale much smaller, but there were very few organics on the other side to influence.

    The short lull in the battle helped too, giving me some precious time to center myself and use the Light Side to soothe the strain.

    As far as I could tell, Yularen had everything well in hand so I declined from interfering. My ?ssistance notwithstanding, I wanted him and his command staff to be the ones running and winning this battle. Doing so would have a lot of effects. They needed to know that I trusted them to do so, something most Jedi didn''t if what I''ve seen from this war was anything to go by. Further it would show the Republic that they didn''t need the space monks in charge in order to win a major victory. That me, a Sith, ?ssisted while there were no other Jedi present was of course a pure accident, one that I would capitalize on later. But most importantly, it would show the troops that I trusted them to get the job done.

    The Force stirred. I could feel Anakin going out like a shattered light bulb but I could still faintly feel his presence even after his Battle Meditation abruptly cut off. So he was still alive. Which was good. I would be there to pick up the pieces if he survived the battle and considering how big a hole he had dug for himself, I would own his ?ss.

    Now it was time to get back to work. I submerged myself deeper in the Force and concentrated on the web I''ve woven around every being in my fleet. My heart sped up as I soothed the emotions of my soldiers and breathed confidence in their hearts. At that moment we were a single entity ready to shatter anything that dared to stand in our way.

    =RK=

    Droid Command Ship "Nemesis"

    Third Wing Flagship

    Admiral Ningo strapped into his custom made chair, activated the holographic interface that allowed him easier command over the fleet and checked his forces positions. Sixty five percent of the fleet had reached the staging points and was more or less formed up.

    "Fleet status?"

    "All ships are in the net. Jump coordinates calculated and locked in."

    "Send targeting priorities. I want the leading Munificent task forces to concentrate on enemy escorts. Following waves and the battleships are to engage the Venators. Ignore the Corellian cruisers. It will take too long to crack their defenses." Time and ships better spent on killing their lesser brethren. The behemoths could wait for now.

    "Sent."

    The transparent displays hovering in front of the Admiral''s face lit up with acknowledgments and soon everyone in his command knew their task. It was time to go.

    "All units. Execute." he ordered braced for acceleration.

    For a split moment the world froze as hundreds of ships stretched in impossible lines. Faster than a biological mind should be able to perceive they disappeared from the universe only to reappear in optimal range of the Republic fleet. For few seconds the fleet maneuvered, taking better positions and refining targeting solutions. A heartbeat later they opened fire.

    =RK=

    Republic Cruiser "Chimera"

    First Assault Fleet Flagship

    High orbit over Geonosis

    "Multiple enemy contacts!" the sensor operator stated calmly. "We are under attack."

    "By all means, return fire." Yularen ordered.

    Most of his ships had already shifted formations in an anticipation of possible attack. Despite that, it was going to be ugly. The CIS forces had jumped in perfect position to maximize the Munificent''s long range firepower.

    "I want Coronet and Freedom''s battle groups to maneuver independently and engage Rogue one and two respectively. Invincible is to lead two third of its heavy elements against Rogue two, while the rest of the battle group is to keep station. They will be our mobile reserve and will keep an eye for the rest of the enemy fleet." Yularen pointed at the enemy units converging at the defense line in low orbit over Geonosis."

    The Admiral glanced at his aide. "Felix, what''s the status of Overlord?"

    "The primary objectives are secure. Overlord will be active in a couple of minutes."

    "Let''s hope it''ll work. Otherwise this will be much uglier."

    DCS "Deathdealer"

    High orbit over Geonosis

    "How much time do you need?" Boss shouted.

    He and Delta were camping near the main entrance to the computer core, while the ONI team was busy working their magic. Thanks to the new arms and armor, so far the casualties were surprisingly low, but that wasn''t going to last. Whoever was in charge of shipboard security had gotten smarter. Now the B1 droids were acting as shields for the SB droids, which in turn had the firepower to be a threat.

    "Sir, Echo squad reported sighting Commando droids. We lost contact with them."

    "Of course. It''s never easy, is it?" Sev muttered.

    "We are in the network. The package will be uploaded in sixty seconds. Then we need to keep this mainframe operational until it propagates. Give or take, five more minutes!"

    "Joy. Pull Alpha and beta squads back. It will be up to Kilo company to keep the route out clear." Boss ordered.

    His ears perked up. There were more Droidekas coming. "How many Ion grenades do we have left?"

    "I''m out." Sev muttered.

    "I''ve got four." Scorch patted his harness.

    "One." Fixer added.

    "I''m out too. Now this is what we are going to do..."

    =RK=

    Light Cruiser "Corellian Fury"

    Task Force Lacoon Flagship

    First Assault Fleet

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    "This is going to be ugly."

    "Raar! Grwar!"

    "Nah. This is worse than Nar Shadda. Keep the Carriers between our main battle groups. All escorts except Cruiser Squadron One and Destroyer divisions Three and Seven are to advance. We are supporting Coronet''s battle group. Guardian status?"

    "Green. All remaining weapon platforms are in the net, though they are down to the laser cannons."

    "Keep them prioritized on enemy fighters. Once those Munificent''s are in range start targeting weapon emplacements."

    "Willco."

    "Get us to the left flank. Let''s cover that Venator division."

    =RK=

    Corellian Cruiser "Freedom"

    First Assault Fleet

    High orbit over Geonosis

    Commodore Joanna Holt of the Corellian Defense Forces, glared at the holo tank showing the enemy disposition. The whole of Rogue two had executed a precise tactical jump and now were busy shooting up her battle group. Something she wasn''t going to let stand.

    "All units, return fire. Concentrate on the Munificents. We can kill them faster. And inform our escorts. We are going in. Helm, take us straight down their throats. I want us to get the attention of as much of the enemy battle line as possible. The Freedom has been build for this kind of fight. Let''s give the Lady her chance to shine!"

    "Ma''am, Invincible and most of her battle group are moving to reinforce us."

    "Good. Let''s show those tin cans how we do things on Corellia."

    When the fleet battle started in earnest, the Confederation forces appeared to have the upper hand. Their deft maneuvering placed them in position where they could concentrate most of their firepower on their targets, while the major part of the Republic forces in range could engage with about half of their weapons. Destroyers and Light Cruisers felt the brunt of the enemy ?ssault, shattering one after another under the concentrated fire of Munificent frigates. The Republic forces spat back its defiance with Turbo-laser bolts, heavy concussion missiles and waves of proton torpedoes. It was the Confederacy''s turn to feel the sting. Munificent''s were torn apart by destroyer and frigate packs, while others died under the barrage of Light Cruiser squadrons.

    The fleet''s formations unfolded like the petals of a giant flower, clearing firing lanes and movement vectors for the Capital ships. With each passing moment more and more fire power was brought to bear. The Republic battle line came into range. Targeting priorities shifted, giving much needed respite to the escorts. The first ordinance salvos struck their targets, overwhelming shields and blasting armor. The Munificent''s started dying faster.

    "Invictus is taking heavy fire."

    "Opportunist just lost forward shields."

    "Scratch another frigate. Shift starboard batteries on sector seven one. Keep all forward guns to that battleship."

    "The Sep''s are sending their remaining fighters."

    "Finally. Relay it to the Flag. Once they are a broken force, call in the hammer."

    Waves of Vultures came screaming from behind the lines of Rogue One and Two. They were the majority of the Confederacy''s remaining fighters in the system. Nearly forty thousands artificial minds, piloting craft sent on their final mission. Less than eight thousand Torrent''s raced to meet them, backed up by seven hundred odd weapon platforms¡­ and the Guardian systems of the Fleet, which had already selected targets and ripple salvoed their missiles.

    "Fearless just went up. No survivors."

    "Ma''am, signal from the Flag. Overlord is commencing now."

    Commodore Holt grinned. "All units, general advance! Get those eyesores out off my space!"

    =RK=

    Droid Command Ship "Nemesis"

    Third Wing Flagship

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    Admiral Ningo watched the slaughter with dispassionate eyes. The CIS commander knew that he had the advantage for the time being, yet he couldn''t help it but feel dread. As if the outcome of the battle was preordained and no matter what he did, he was going to lose. The way the enemy was acting didn''t help that grim premonition. They were reacting fast. Too fast. As if all of them knew what was happening, what his forces were doing the moment they started moving. There was no uncertainty, not even the tiniest hesitation amidst the Republic ranks. They were acting with a machine like precision that was unnerving.

    The Admiral glanced at the clunky droids surrounding him. Actually the Republic forces were even better than machines if that was anything to go by.

    At least for the moment the ?ssault was going relatively well. The attack was claiming a frightful harvest upon the enemy light elements, but they had reacted too fast. What should have been the slaughter of at least half their escorts for little loss, was turning out to be a slugging match. Then the Venators started joining the battle en masse and his fleet''s targeting patterns shifted, concentrating on the Capital ships. Once the two sides were almost full engaged it was time. He was unlikely to have a better chance to use his remaining fighter strength. Almost two thirds of which was committed to this attack. The rest were simply too far away to make it on time so they were now bound to defend the planet.

    "Send in the Vultures. Shift fire to the enemy escorts and punch them an opening."

    "Roger, roger."

    Ningo shuddered. All he wanted was to get this battle done with and get away.

    A wave of almost forty thousand fighters weaved through his lines seeking the gut the enemy fleet. The sensor display refreshed to clear the image, showing the Vultures as pale blue wave that was expanding through his formations. The Admiral frowned. There were dots falling behind without obvious reason, almost all of them were lit green, showing no sustained damage.

    "Give me status on those ships!" he growled.

    =RK=

    First Assault Fleet Order of Battle:

    Capital ships:

    3 Corellian Cruisers : Invincible, Coronet, Freedom;

    105 Venator Class Cruisers /120 V-19 Torrent; 36 Y-Wing Bombers each/

    Escorts:

    250 Light Cruisers /78 Carrack; 172 Arquitens/

    297 Frigates /87 Consular; 210 CR90/

    32 PLC Escort Carriers/150 V-19 Torrens; 100 Y-Wing Bombers each/

    Ten Light freighters /100 weapon platforms each/

    17400 V-19 Torrents; 6980 Y-Wing Bombers;

    CIS Defense fleet:

    12 Droid Command Ships /1500 Vultures each/

    47 Battleships /1200 Vultures each/

    371 Munificent Frigates /400 Vultures each/

    59 Munificent Frigates without fighter compliment

    Geonosis Orbital Defense Net:

    16 Golan Defense stations /100 vultures each/

    1000 Defense Platforms /light turbolasers and proton torpedo compliments/

    224 300 Vulture Droids;

    Loses prior to main fleet engagement:

    Republic: 11 Venators; 8 Carrack, 6 Arquitens, 7 Consular, 12 CR90, 8900 Torrents, 399 bombers; 16 PLC Escort Carriers and 10 Light Freighters;

    Confederation: 2 DCS, 3 Battleships, 49 Munificent frigates, 160 831 Vulture fighters; 1 Golan Station; 43 Weapon Platforms;

 Chapter 38 - Operation Anvil [Part 8]

    Part 8

    =RK=

    Light Cruiser "Corellian Fury"

    Task Force Lacoon Flagship

    First Assault Fleet

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    "Concentrate fire on the fighters. Reinforce the forward deflectors!" Commodore Solo might have as well have been discussed the weather. The Corellian''s tone and whole bearing was that of a bored man.

    The Light Cruiser shook from a nearby explosion.

    "Rrrgar!"

    "We lost Legacy." the sensor operator answered.

    "A pity. What''s the status on our launchers?"

    "Reloading. Next salvo will be ready in ten."

    "Swell. Target that frigate. I want it gone." Solo designated a target on the holo display. "Guns," he pointed at another Munificent, "coordinate with the rest of the squadron. I want that gone yesterday."

    "Enemy fighters incoming. Guardian is engaging."

    "I guess the tin cans didn''t learn. Oh, well. At least the fireworks will be pretty."

    Solo moved to a free console and called up the picture from the external cameras.

    =RK=

    Missile AFC "Dart" Number 90413

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    Dart 90413, wasn''t a particularly bright member of her kind, though she wasn''t much dumber ether, thank you very much. All she wanted was to do her job. So, when the time finally came and she was loaded in her launcher, she was giddy. Her tiny electronic brain buzzed in content as it was fed loads of tasty targeting information. Her ride''s powerful sensor clusters found her a playmate and sent a signal. Dart 90413 became giddy with excitement! It was time to meet a new friend!

    She was propelled out of the electromagnetic launcher and her powerful engine ignited. Squee! She was the first Dart to race away, speeding to remain ahead of her sisters, who followed suit, the shrews!

    That was so inconsiderate! Her new friend tried to escape! To run from her! That simply wouldn''t do. Dart 90413 entered a steep turn, sweeping straight at her designated playmate. She was almost there when the inconsiderate jerk just blew away, leaving her to fly alone. Even worse, that traitorous guidance signal abruptly cut off, abandoning her. She sulkily drifted for almost a minute, engines cut to conserve fuel, when her sensors picked up the siren song of another Guardian node. She was redirected at a new playmate and forced her engine to its limits to get there in time.

    Moments later Dart 90413 slammed into the side of a Munificent frigate, which had its armor already shredded by a few hundred of her sisters. She slipped through a gaping hole just above the hangar deck and flew straight into the unsecured ordinance storage bay, detonating in a pile of neatly stacked bombs. The resulting explosion shattered the spine of the ship. It''s engines cut off too late, their momentum snapping the frigate in two.

    =RK=

    Corellian Cruiser "Freedom"

    High orbit over Geonosis

    Commodore Holt smirked. For once ONI weren''t a bunch of useless pains in the bu??. One after another, enemy ships were falling out of formation, their fire slacking and then cutting off completely. Meanwhile, Holt''s battle line advanced, led by her own Freedom. The Corellian Cruiser was dividing her attention between multiple Munificents, her heavy turbo laser banks making short work of the enemy frigates.

    Holt glanced at the fleet status display. While the light elements were hit hard, the Capital ships were largely intact, while the Confederation force was simply melting. Simply put, the Munificents weren''t build for such a slugging match. The battleships were already engaging and dealing grievous damage, but by themselves they couldn''t win this. And their support would soon be gone.

    "Alter course five degrees to port. Take us towards those three battleships. Weapons, coordinate strikes on targets without escorts. Secondary guns are free to engage targets of opportunity."

    =RK=

    Droid Command Ship "Nemesis"

    Third Wing Flagship

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    "Our communications have been compromised. We are detecting aggressive viral packages in the network."

    "Take down the datanet and isolate the mainframes. Status on the fighter strike?"

    "Enemy fighters are on intercept vectors. Missiles incoming!" one of the tactical droids exclaimed.

    The Admiral watched helplessly as the bulk of his remaining Vultures was simply washed away by a tidal wave of missiles. In the same time, the Venators were maneuvering to clear their firing lines and engage with the full fury of their weapons. There was no disruption in the enemy formations, no mistakes to capitalize on. The attack was becoming a battle of attrition. One he no longer had the numbers to win.

    That''s how it is. Ningo slumped in his chair. Geonosis, it was a trap, a meticulously planned one at that. Now it was turned on them. Apparently no one thought that the enemy commanders would have similar ideas about this battle. Then there was that Guardian system of theirs. The new Republic weapon, it had already changed the face of space warfare, making all small craft in the Confederacy''s arsenal obsolete. Useful for little more than distraction or air superiority within a planet''s atmosphere. Because in Space? They were just dead weight. This time, despite the enemy fleet being heavily engaged, their accursed Guardian and CSP did even better. Of the forty thousand odd Vultures he sent, b?r?ly few hundred were going to reached the enemy lines, where they would die before they could pass what was left of the enemy escorts.

    "Start calculating escape vectors. We''ll execute a tactical retreat and pull back to the defense line. There is no point of continuing this." The Admiral waved at the holotank where he could clearly see his fleet dying. Kriffing Munificents. Kriffing Republic too! Why did they have to luck out and get someone competent in charge too? If he had had the numbers in decent ships he could have won this battle. "And pull back whatever remains from our fighters. The last thing we need is to be pounced on by bombers."

    =RK=

    Republic Cruiser "Chimera"

    First Assault Fleet Flagship

    High orbit over Geonosis

    "Enemy fighter status?" Yularen asked.

    "What''s left of them broke off. About eighty percent are gone."

    "It''s about time. The Confed fleet will soon try to break away. That or they stay and die. If they run I want intercept vectors calculated. Vector bomber formations on any enemy group that doesn''t jump straight into range of the Planetary defense network. It''s time to wrap up this battle."

    "Invincible Actual requests permission for tactical jump on the following coordinates..." an area on the holodisplay lit up.

    It was on Rogue Two''s right flank, close to a third of their battleships. Between them and the planet. It was going to be costly, jumping in close range to those leviathans. Nevertheless, they needed to die. "Granted. Coordinate with Commodore Holt. I want that enemy battle group erased from existence."

    Yularen relaxed and calmly watched the progress of the battle. Unless something went terribly wrong or one of his people kriffed up by the numbers, he was now a spectator until it was time to deal with the orbital defense network. In the holotank green symbols changed into amber colors, falling out of formation. Others blinked out, announcing a death of a ship. The casualties were rather heavy but acceptable. The same couldn''t be said for the enemy, especially once the flanking maneuver was executed. The Admiral winced when he saw Tanith, one of his Venators, suddenly missing form the plot. It took him a few seconds to find what happened. Apparently the Cruiser lost its forward shields and had the misfortune to receive the attention of three battleships and a few frigates for good measure.

    "Tactical jump coordinates ready and fed to the battle group."

    "Good. Execute."

    Reality twisted and then twenty Venators, one Corellian cruiser and what was left from their escorts were at new position. It should have taken them at least few seconds to take their bearings, but the Republic crews reacted as if nothing happened. The only delay was the one needed for the weapons to swing into position and then the battle group opened fire as one. The Munificent frigates screening the battleships flew apart under two concentrated salvos, giving enough time to the behemoths to start reacting.

    It was far from long enough to make a difference. Invincible and her escort concentrated on the closest battleship, while the rest of the Venators unloaded their weapons upon two more. The space around the Capital ships blazed, almost warping as shields struggled to disperse the monstrous energies ?ssaulting them. First to give was the deflector of a Lucrehulk, turbo-lasers slagging armors and weapons alike. Next a Venator listed to port, half its side a burning ruin. More battle ships and two DCS maneuvered, wadding straight into the fray, while the Confederation formation started to unravel. At the same time, Freedom and her escorts finished off the last of a second division of battleships and advanced, aiming to cleave through Rogue Two''s battle line. Simultaneously, Republic escorts darted forward, moving for close attack run at distances where the enemy heavy weapons had trouble targeting them.

    Meanwhile, Rogue One was doing much better. It had parity with Coronet''s battle group firepower wise, at least initially, and while it was suffering lower numerical casualties, the Republic''s loses were concentrated amongst their Light ships. The battle there was devolving in a slugging match too, one that the Republic was going to eventually win, though with rather heavy casualties. That was until the retreat order was given. The forward elements of the CIS fleet pressed the attack, sacrificing themselves in a rear guard action in order to give the rest of their forces time to pull back. And it worked, Coronet and her escorts were satisfied with destroying the enemy ships that stood their ground.

    Rogue Two on the other hand, wasn''t as fortunate. They were heavily engaged, enemy ships cutting off possible vectors for a hyperspace jump. By the time Invincible and Freedom met, cutting a grim harvest of destroyed or crippled hulks, b?r?ly a third of that CIS formation managed to get away.

    The Confederation forces scattered, many of them unable to make a direct jump to Geonosis.

    =RK=

    71st Bomber Squadron

    Three light seconds from Geonosis

    "Here we go again." Lieutenant Falk muttered after his Y-Wing emerged from hyperspace. They had waited for a hour or so after making an extended FTL journey to the void outside the system. Now it was their chance to shine. "All right, men. Each squadron is to make an attack run at a different frigate. We''ll circle back and hit whoever survives." The 71st was just a single wing amidst the veritable armada that had arrived shortly after the fleet began their attack. As expected, the CIS hadn''t wasted ships and fighters or deep space patrols. The early warning network of Satellites ringing Geonosis has been dealt with by a few stealth ONI corvettes, making this strike possible.

    The bombers swung from below, avoiding the ineffective AA fire of the damaged frigates that were their chosen prey. They closed to point blank range and unloaded their proton torpedoes in the lightly armored belly''s of the frigates. For three of the five Munificents that was one blow too much. One was consumed by cascading secondary explosions. The whole drive section of another blew up, sending the remaining half of the ship to tumble uncontrollably. The third lost power and drifted into the void.

    The remaining two frigates suffered heavy damage but survived the initial strike. One managed to complete its hyperspace calculations in time and jumped to safety. The other was torn apart by the second bombing run.

    "Well done, boys. Now let''s do it again. Homeplate Actual, this is Talon Actual. Mission accomplished. One got away, with heavy damage. Requesting new targets, over."

    "Hold one, Talon Actual. Ah. Return to the fleet to refuel and rearm. All targets of opportunity have been hit. We''ll need you to help dismantle the orbital defenses."

    "Wilco."

    Falk suppressed a sigh. These newbies were like robots. After the battle of Ryloth, what was left of the 71st had been temporally disbanded and folded in other formations. A month later, he had been given the option to rebuild the wing, with all but new meat. The unit had never been the same again, which wasn''t helped by the fact that the newest batch of his brothers were like robots. No sense of humor whatsoever, no chatter that wasn''t related with the mission. Nothing. Kriffing wankers.

    =RK=

    Republic Cruiser "Chimera"

    First Assault Fleet Flagship

    High orbit over Geonosis

    Slowly I let the Battle Meditation go, careful not to cause a backslash amongst my soldiers. The strings of the web connecting us started unraveling. First one by one, then by pairs and scores. Soon enough, I was alone in my head, with only the Force making me company. I let her go too, except the b?r?st of trickle, which I used to sustain me. The weariness from all that strain hit me like a super freighter, nearly knocking me out. It would have if it wasn''t for the Force that I had used to keep me on my feet.

    I steadied myself and made my way out of the command tower, which luckily remained unscratched during the engagement. A few minutes later I was on the bridge, returning salutes.

    "Admiral Yularen, great work. You handled the battle exemplary. Once the fleet has been brought back into formation, commence long range bombardment on the ODG. Let''s see if the new missiles are as good as the egg heads are raving about. When its compiled I want to see a detailed breakdown on our loses as well as an estimate on the enemy''s." I paused as another wave of weakness hit me.

    "General, are you all right?"

    "I think I overdid it a bit," I muttered.

    "I''ll get you that data personally. Now you should get some rest, sir."

    "That''s the plan. Just don''t let Kenobi start the ground invasion before we control the orbitals."

    "I''ll make sure that the Jedi contingent behaves. Now get some rest or I''ll call some folks from medical to sedate you. Frankly General, you look like a you are on your last legs."

    "I feel that way too. Besides mentioning the folks with the needles is not cool at all."

    An hour later, elements from first ?ssault fleet commenced long range bombardment on the orbital defenses ringing Geonosis.

    =RK=

    Estimated losses after the fleet action during the Second Geonosis:

    Republic Losses:

    21 Venators, 11 damaged;

    93 Light cruisers, 69 damaged;

    125 Frigates, 45 damaged;

    12, 587 Torrent fighters; 211 Y-Wing bombers;

    Confederation of Independent Systems loses:

    6 Droid Command Ships, 1 Damaged;

    24 Battleships, 5 damaged;

    312 Munificent Frigates, 31 damaged;

    36, 975 Vulture fighters;

 Chapter 39 - A dagger in the dark

    Jedi Temple Ruins

    Tython

    "Turn from this path, I implore you!" the Force Ghost of a female Jedi begged.

    "It''s too late for that, my former master. The Republic we swore to protect is gone, replaced by that corrupt abomination carrying its name." a man covered by fine brown robes answered.

    "It''s not too late! You''ve merely lost your way!"

    "Perhaps. But no more than the Jedi of this era. I at least know who and what I am. I found the truth, former master of mine. The Dark Side isn''t something to be feared or avoided. We embrace it, yet resist its corruption! Now we have just enough power to start saving the galaxy!"

    "Look at yourself. At what you''ve done! Your actions mirror that of the Sith we fought!"

    "Yes, they do. Before you say it, I indeed find it ironic that one of out enemies is here in this time. Fighting to protect their so called Republic. Don''t you see?! The very fact that Darth Vael of all people is on their side tells us all we need to know! This Republic is utterly corrupted and needs to go!"

    The Force Ghost shook her head in denial. "We both know who really leads the Confederation you helped create!"

    "Please, that sorry excuse of a Sith Lord?! This Sidious creature? I''ve faced and slayed members of the Dark Council. I took the Force Damned Emperor down! Sidious doesn''t deserve to carry such a title. We know our true enemy. It''s Vael and the Jedi of this era who are falling under his influence. How long do you think it will be before there is an open schism and most of them decide to support him?" the robed man shrugged. "We will tear town this corrupt regime and build the Republic anew. As for Sidious? Vael is doing great at dealing with him and his minions."

    "No matter the price? Look at yourself, deluded fool! You poisoned a whole planet using biological weapons! Where does it end?!"

    "Ah. That. It was regrettable, but necessary. The Confederation and the Republic need to taste the horrors of real war, not that proxy conflict they''ve been fighting with expendable droid and clone armies. The Clone wars are no longer the carefully orchestrated theater directed by Sidious. It''s a chaotic, unpredictable war between peer opponents. By the time we allow it to end, the galaxy will be ready for change. For salvation."

    "And you will be the one to provide it?" the Ghost''s voice was breaking with regret.

    "Me?! I''m very well aware of my failings. I''ve flirted with the Dark Side for far too long to be trusted with rebuilding the galaxy."

    The Force Ghost of Satele Shan was taken aback by that response. "So you haven''t fallen that far..." she whispered.

    "Oh, don''t be silly, Master. I''m much worse than that. I am very well aware of all my actions and their consequences. Yet I''m doing what I believe to be necessary. Isn''t this what''s scaring you? That I should have fallen thanks to my actions up to date, yet I haven''t? That you can''t blame the Dark Side for my deeds?"

    The woman who once was the Grand Master of the Jedi Order frowned.

    "I may very well fall before the end. There are good people who will put me down in such eventuality, as you very well know." the Jedi shrugged. "So what is the purpose of this visit? You haven''t made yourself known lately."

    "You are still searching for the child. Do you have any idea what will happen if you actually manage to get your hands on her?"

    The man in brown raised his head. Only the lower part of his face was visible under his hood. He was smiling. "Once we have her on our side, Veil will show his true colors for everyone to see."

    "You''ve gone mad, apprentice. You very well know what happened when those fools killed his wife. You know he won''t suddenly start making mistakes."

    "Of course not, that would be too much to hope for." the Dark Jedi shook his head in amusement.

    "Why do you want him in such a fury again?"

    "All I need him to do is to stop holding back and show the whole galaxy how a true Sith wages war. The Confederation will make a splendid target for his wrath."

    "And a new order will raise from the ashes of war. It''s been a long time, Grandmaster" a new figure entered the clearing where the entrance to the Jedi Temple laid. She was female humanoid, clad in a sealed power armor.

    "General. I wish I could say it is a p???sur?." Shan glared at the newcomer. "So it''s you who are supposed to rebuild the galaxy in her image."

    "I will uphold my oath no matter what. The people of the Republic deserve better than to be exploited by a bunch of corrupt fools, who are protected by the Jedi. Even after all those years, that haven''t changed. It almost makes one think that the Sith had the right idea."

    "So that''s your plan? Let the galaxy burn and build yourselves a little empire on the ashes?"

    "Of course not! We will reforge a nation in the fires of war. This conflict will purify the galaxy making the restoration of the Republic, of real democracy possible!"

    "You two are mad!"

    "No more than you for imploring us to support another corrupt government! It happens again, damn politicians protected by Jedi are letting the galaxy burn just as it happened during our conflict! If the Empire hadn''t splintered in a civil war we would have lost because of the likes of you! Because of the corruption you protected!"

    "Ahem. Technically we did lose the war before the Empire self-destructed." the Dark Jedi quipped.

    "I rest my case." the armored figure glared at Satele Shan.

    "What nonsense is this?! I, we did our duty! To the Republic and it''s citizens! We swore to protect the Republic and we did! Most of the Order perished, dying to protect it!"

    "NO! All you did was fight and die to keep the status quo! Instead of changing to meet the Empire on even ground, the Republic stagnated, became weaker, all the while we fought, bled and died to protect a state that was no longer worth it! Not again!"

    "I see." Shan muttered. She glanced at her former apprentice. "There is no convincing you to turn away, is there?"

    "No, master. We are way beyond that. I need follow my heart in this."

    "Some times I think that those who wanted us to divorce ourselves from our emotions had it right." muttered the former Grandmaster.

    "As if. If we had followed that way, the Sith would have destroyed us a long time ago. It''s not like it works for the current generation of so called Jedi either. They are pale shadows of what they should be."

    Shan gave a long, wishful look at her apprentice and faded away.

    "I''m sorry. I know how much she meant to you." muttered the Old Republic General.

    "It''s fine. We''ve had that argument ever since I decided to walk this path. I''m grateful that you and your soldiers decided to follow me, my love."

    "We take our oaths seriously and it isn''t to this so called Republic. We will rebuild our nation from the ashes. There is nothing else left for us in this day and age."

    "There is nothing less that we can do." the Dark Jedi agreed.

 Chapter 40 - A day in the office

    General Valentra''s office

    GAR Headquarters

    Coruscant

    "Damn." Valentra cursed quietly. He was reading over the preliminary casualty list after the main fleet action over Geonosis was complete. When all was said and done about a third of the fleet was either outright destroyed, crippled or in need of serious yard time. The price in lives was even higher. The conservative estimates were for six hundred thousand dead with another hundred thousand wounded. And all those figures were very rough estimates based on the number of destroyed and damaged ships. So it was virtually guaranteed that the numbers were going to spike as more information came in.

    That was before the ground action had begun, not to mention that the fleet was still dealing with the orbital defenses.

    The General closed his eyes. While they had won the battle, decisively at that, the outcome was painful beyond belief. Oh, the enemy''s losses in both destroyed ships and tonnage were nothing short of catastrophic, but they had lost few hundred people at best. The rest were expendable, easily replaceable droids. It wasn''t so with the Republic crews, clones or not. While the Republic had much bigger industrial output, at least once it''s economy get into gear and onto war footing, the loss of experienced spacers was critical. Getting more ships into service than the enemy could field didn''t mean that much when you lacked the trained crews to run them.

    "Give me the estimated completion dates for the latest construction runs." he asked his aide.

    It took him few minutes to get the relevant information, before the middle aged captain was able to do so.

    "The next major batch of Venators will be complete and ready for trials within a three week period, in two months time. Between now and then, there will be trickle of completed cruisers that should be enough to shore up our losses, if there aren''t many victories like today''s. There is a similar schedule concerning the Acclamators with another week lead time."

    "How are our production figures looking?

    "Reasonably good, given the circumstances. The major fleet yards are still expanding and constantly adding new construction slips. There are bottlenecks in trained personnel and expanding the production of various critical components. For the time being we are fine resource wise, but building new factories and production lines takes time and it is the real snag. Add to that the fact that a lot of said production is specialized work and we are hurting as far as trained workers are concerned. That bottleneck is expected to be resolved within the next six months up to a year depending on how fast we want to expand our construction efforts."

    "Which lead us up to the next issue. What''s our situation with the fleet personnel?"

    "Bad. There simply aren''t enough clones being grown and trained to fill up all needed positions and that''s before we factor the latest approved expansion of the fleet. Unless something is done, within twelve months we''ll have brand new ships without anyone to crew them. The current level of losses of trained personnel is unsustainable in the long term."

    "A weakness that the enemy is much s?ns?t?v? of."

    "Yes, sir. Only about fifteen to twenty percent of their combined fleet is manned by organics though those numbers are increasing as they ramp up production too."

    "Not enough to make a difference. How are our recruitment efforts going?"

    "Rather good, though training competent spacers takes up time. If we rush it we lose the edge our crews have on the droids."

    "Can''t be helped. I''ll need recommendations on cutting down the training cycles. To compensate somewhat, we would have to break up many of our current crews and spread the trained personnel to stiffen up the new boys and girls."

    "Now, how is the production going on the new equipment?"

    "We are steadily replacing all production lines for both small arms and armor. Even when its possible, we simply won''t have the resources to outfit the whole army with power armor and heavy weapons, though within two years the bulk of our forces will have the new arms and armor types. As per operation plan Blue, we will be sending the bulk of the old equipment to newly created formations."

    "Good. Our veteran units will need all the edge they could get in order to preserve as many of their manpower as possible. Even if its in exchange of much heavier casualties among the new units we are training." Valentra hated the necessity of that choice, but that''s the ruthless calculus of war for you. The big edge the GAR currently had was the better quality of its soldiers, something that would inevitably go down as brand new units, which only had few months of training were fed into the fray.

    Which in turn made inevitable that Valentra had to preserve the bulk of his veterans, though a significant portion would be disbanded and spread amongst the green divisions that were being trained.

    "Did the warning go to our forward units?" the General asked.

    "Twenty minutes ago. ONI agrees."

    After the first reports of the battle over Geonosis came, it was apparent that mass fighter attacks would soon be plain suicidal. Which was good in the long term, but it also meant that the CIS might decide to use that tactic while the Republic Fleet was still retrofitting it''s ships with Guardian systems. So a warning was sent to the various front line units to prepare as well as they could against such tactic. Not that many of them could devise a good counter against few thousand or tens of thousands of small craft doing kamikaze run while they were still useful for something more than scrap.

    It was frustrating to be unable to help beyond issuing that warning.

    "Enough of that. What''s the latest status on our forces in the Outer Rim?"

 Chapter 41 - Red Dawn

    Part 1

    Republic Cruiser "Chimera"

    First Assault Fleet Flagship

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    "Look that station go!" exclaimed one of the sensor operators.

    "Easy, kid. Remember where you are." Pellaeon chided his subordinate.

    "Sorry, sir! It won''t happen again."

    "Better not. Though off the record, I agree with the notion."

    Few chuckles answered the Commodore''s quip.

    "The heavy missiles did better than the initial projections called for." Lieutenant Olen added.

    "That''s the second time the boffins knew what they were talking about." Yularen chuckled. "It make''s me apprehensive. What''s the status of our magazines?"

    "Down to ten percent on the siege missiles."

    "Flush the rest of the birds. The fleet will advance. Capital ships are to concentrate fire on the remaining enemy mobile forces. Once thosse are dealt with take out the Golans. Our escorts are to eleminate the defense platforms. One the battle line is engaged, bomber wings are free to strike targets of opportunity."

    "Aye, sir. Relaying orders."

    =RK=

    Couple of hours submerged into the Force, using the Light side to recover from the strain caused by the Battle Meditation, an energy bar and a lot of the local equivalent of Aspirin, did wonders for my disposition. Oh, I wasn''t up for fun and games, like joining the first wave of the ground invasion, that was reserved for my apprentice and the Jedi, but at least I was more or less functual.

    Which meant that I had a job to do. So, while I munched on another energy bar, there was a data pad in my other hand and I was busy browsing the compiled list of fleet losses.

    They were rather severe, though nothing like the butcher''s bill that this battle should have yelded. At least on paper both sides were evenly matched. The most optimistic estimates called for about fifty perecent fleet casualties, if we won. Thanks to my Battle Meditation and the plan Valentra, the ONI Director and me cobbled together, we got out of the scrap relatively light. If you can call a third of the fleet lost low casualties.

    That had been unpleasant for more than the obvious reasons. I felt every single death during the battle, thanks to the Battle Meditation connecting me with my men and the few organics in the CIS fleet. They fed the Dark side, and while actually making me a bit stronger in the Force, strained my control. It was making it harder to deal with the persistent seduction of the whispers in the back of my head.

    I shook my head. Even if I knew that it was all a lie, or at best a short lived gain before I was left tottaly insane, her whispers and suggestions had a dark alure that I found hard to resist. All I could do with the unrestrained power of the Dark Side on my disposall¡­ I just had to stop fighting it at every turn¡­ I shuddered as a familiar chill went up my spine. The Dark Side was coiling around me, anticipating the next round of slaughter.

    I focused my mind, doing my best to ignore the whispers.

    =RK=

    Light Cruiser "Corellian Fury"

    Task Force Lacoon Flagship

    First Assault Fleet

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    After the immediate aftermath of the Fleet on Fleet engagament was dealt with, Jole became a spectator. His Cruiser squadron had fallen back, behind the main body of Republic ships in order to escort the remaining carriers. That in turn left him free to watch the fireworks, somethig that warmed his old, smuggler''s heart.

    It had all started innocent enough. The fleet had reformed just out of the Planetary defense grid''s effective weapon range. The ships had pumped their ECM levels as much as possible, followed by ripple firing shoals of missiles. Part of the ordinance sent downrange were antifighter Darts as well as electronic warfare birds, meant to sweep away what was left of the enemy fighters and target weapon emplacements. On their heels were waves of Lancer siege missiles.

    Not to mention that in order to defeat shields, those missiles needed to came relatively close before detonating and thus activating their laser heads. Which made them vulnerable for intercept from fighters and point defense.

    However in this case, those weaknesses were anything but. The standard doctrine was to send your fighters forward to deal with missiles of this kind. Which the Seps, refused to do, in order to preserve the Vultures they had left. That course of action had predicatable results. No one was particularly surprised when the Darts failed to cause any noticible damage on the battle stations, merely diabling a few of their weapons. Yet they did their jobs, screening their much larger sisters.

    Only ten percent of the first Lancer wave was picked off, before they reached stand off range and detonated¡­ all of them missing the Golan stations they were flying at.

    Solo grinned viciously. Shields flared briefly, fighting to abosrb and deflect lances of pure energy. Then the defensive fields failed and ten more Munificents died, their hulls shattered by invisible beams of pure energy.

    That awoke whoever was in charge and the Vultures surged on dashing straight at the next wave of missiles¡­ Which only looked like Lancers. The large missiles blew up few seconds before the enemy fighters fell upon them, releasing a swarm of Darts down their throats. The Vulture flight stood no chance and slammed straight into the trap. The explosions caught on camera by the recon birds in the vanguard of the fleet were beautiful to behold.

    Then the second Lancer wave struk true. This time they did target the battle stations. Two of them to be precise. The missiles didn''t even attempt to kill them outright. Instead they were instructed to take out the shield generator and heavy weapons.

    Few hundred missiles concentrated their fire on a small section of the deflector fields, temporaly overwhelming and piercing the defenseses. A lot of the incoming energy was either absorbed or dispersed, a big fraction of what went through wasted itself ablating armor, yet enough remained to damage the generator on one Gollan and outright destroy that of the second. When the next missile salvo struck, those two stations were left as drifting, toothless hulks.

    =RK=

    DCS "Nemesis"

    Admiral Ningo glared balefully at Grievous. The damn cyborg had survived after all and even managed to get to his ship¡­ Just in time to order the suicide charge of most Vultures that had survived the previous engagements. Yet, he held his tongue. The Sulucian didn''t feel like dying by the hand of the madman who was in his nominal command. It had been obvious that the missiles were some kind of bait. Sending all but the first wave without a covering force of a barrage of antifighter ordinance¡­ He shook his head and turned his sight towards the tactical plot. It appeared that the enemy had fianly exhausted their supply of heavy missiles. The Republic fleet was picking up speed, advancing towards their position.

    While before the relentles barrages, Ningo had been reasonably sure that he could further bloody the enemy, now even that was going to be denied to him. Only seven battlestations were still largely intacts, backed up by what was left from his mobile forces and about seven hundred or so defensive platforms. But the latter were more or less evenly spread over the planet, unable to concentrate their firepower for the final round of the space battle. Even wordse, now there was insuficient number of fighters left to blunt the impending attacks from Republic bombers, which were massing up together with their own escorts.

    "Maneuver our remaining units behind the Gollans. We''ll use them as a shield until the enemy is in effective range." Ningo suggested.

    That way, their mobile forces, which were much less defended in comparison would survive longer and would have a chance to take out enemy ships weakened by the battlestations.

    "Multiple new contacts detected!" exclaimed one of the B1''s which was monitoring the sensors.

    "So their ground units arrived." muttered the Admiral.

    "And thaks to your incompetence, we no longer have the forces to intercept them!" Grievous seethed.

    The Admiral rolled his eyes behind his back and called the sensor data. As if. Those Acclamators and their escorts were a potent force in their own right, more than enough to deal with whatever would have left from the CIS fleet even if they had won and destroyed the Republic fleet. Now all he could do was ensure that as many of the enemy ships were taken out before his remaning units were gone. If Grievous let him fight his fleet.

    =RK=

    Republic Cruiser "Negotiator II"

    Battle group "Titan" Flagship

    Five Light Seconds from Geonosis

    The commanders of the ground forces had gatthered for a final briefing before they joined their units for the drop. Shaak Ti looked around, evaluating the men and women in the room. Needless to say, most of them wore the same face. With few exceptions those had the rank of Commander or General. The rest were either the Jedi or the officers in charge of the new units, which weren''t made up by clones. It remained to be seen how they were going to mesh with the GAR forces once on the ground. While she had heard of only a few problems, that didn''t mean much at this stage.

    "I can confirm the good news. The fleet won a major battle over Geonosis and is in the proces of dismantling the orbital defense network. By the time we are in position, we will have orbital superiority." She had to pause for few seconds while almost everyone cheered. She allowed herself a small smile and continued. "Now, thanks to the extensive network of anit orbital weaponry that the locals had built, we won''t be in possition to simply orbital strikes all over the place and just mop up."

    "Good to know. What about air support?" General Villem Maxtro, the commander of the Anaxxian Rangers asked.

    "We''ll be getting plenty. From what Admiral Yularen told me, I believe that First Assault''s bomber force is largely intact. Then there are our own fighter and bombers too. The main opposition in the air is expected to be from Geonosian air breathers, because the Vultures in system are a spent force."

    "So we are going with Red Three then?" Colonell Gyro Pell, the CO of the Caamasi Laners asked.

    "Yes. Our heavy divisions will land at the desiganted areas with heavy orbital support, while the airmobile units will drop in, bypasing the nearest defensive lines and striking at various strategic targets. Those include local C&C centers, power stations and of course the theater shield generators."

    "What about the planetary shield?" One of the Clone Commanders asked.

    "We have contingency in place to deal with them. I''ll be leading units from First Shock Army against the main generator complex. We will be going in to support General Veil''s Helldiver Regiment. That will be the first of our strategic objectives. We will have to either hold the place while reinforcements arrive or trash it and exfilatrate. Now for the different unit asisgments. There won''t be any major alternations on Red Three at this point." That announcement got a few relieved chuckles. "

    Seventh Army will be landing here, two hundred klicks from the shield generator complex. They will be shielded by the artillery positions emplaced around it by this mountain chain, though either corssing or going around it will slow them down." She nodded at Obi-Wan.

    "I''ll be spearhead the push towards the Experimental Droid factories. As you all know that is our primary objective on Geonosis. Unfortunately the place is protected by extensive network of overlaping theater shields, so we will have to crack it the hard way. General Myndi''s troops and the Rangers will ?ssist in the initial push."

    "The Caamasi Lancers will as well as the Ryloth First Ranger Regiment will make a push towards this valley, " Kenobi zoomed the image of Geonosis floating in the center of the table dominationg the meeting room. "This is the place where the locals rebuit most of their war related industry after our last visit. You will be cleaning the way from any light enemy forces and provide support for Ninth Army''s heavy armor which will be making a landing on these coordinates..." he pointed a large plain, two hundred clicks from the Caamasi projected drop point. "Once their leading divisions are deployed, they will be heading your way."

    =RK=

    Part 2

    71st Bomber Squadron

    Low Orbit over Geonosis

    Falk drove his bomber into a roll, b?r?ly avoiding a burst of flak fire. His craft shook from the blast wave, but he compensated and dived at the battle station below. His squadron followed, deftly avoiding the last ditch effort of their target to fend them off.

    Around them, space was lit up with explosions as the fleet was duking it out with what was left of the CIS ships and the remnant of the Orbital defenses. Falk saw a Munificent frigate being blown apart by turbo laser bolts bigger than his fighter, then he spun again and his ???kpit view was obscured by the Seventy First''s target. He waited for a moment, before unleashing his bomber''s load of proton torpedoes in quick succession. The armor plating protecting turbo-laser turrets and concussion missile launchers shattered in a handful of hits, the following impacts disabling or outright destroying the weapon emplacements.

    By the time his squadron finished their run, a quarter of the Gollan''s offensive firepower was gone. Falk glanced at his readouts. Two of the newbies didn''t make it. He shrugged, privately glad that he hadn''t gotten to know them all that well, before banking right.

    "Good job, lads. Follow me in. We are making another run then we are off for reloading."

    As they headed in, a swarm of bombers overflew them, heading for one of the handful CIS battleships that were still operational. He doubted that the battle-wagon would be more than a powerless hulk once they were done with it.

    However the battle wasn''t as one sided as the Lieutenant might have hoped. While he was diving at the battle station he had a great view of a Venator which went afoul of two Gollans and was pounded into scrap before most of the stations weapons could be silenced.

    =RK=

    Republic Cruiser "Chimera"

    First Assault Fleet Flagship

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    "Sir, the remaining Confederate ships are making a break for it. Their frigates are screening that DCS." The sensor operator shouted.

    "Their Capital ships won''t make it past the planet''s gravity well before we pound them into scrap." The Admiral frowned.

    He zoomed in the tactical display. Almost all remaining Vultures were converging at that point of the battlefield.

    "Re-task our fighters in the nearby sectors to intercept. They are most likely covering the escape of their commander. Concentrate the Guardian system efforts on that sector too."

    Soon enough, the plot shifted, whole Torrent squadrons swarming the Confed ships which were attempting a breakthrough.

    "Kriff! Sir look at that!" The same Lieutenant shouted again, earning himself a dirty look from Pellaeon.

    Yularen zoomed out the display. A few seconds later a look of displeasure appeared on his face.

    =RK=

    "Talon" Squadron

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    "This better work!" Grievous snarled as he forced his fighter''s engines to the point of overload.

    "If it doesn''t we are dead anyway." Admiral Ningo shrugged in the back of the ???kpit of a two seater Selucian starfighter. He had a squadron of those birds on his ship, which were meant as his personal escort. Now they were about to prove their worth.

    The small craft went on afterburner, straining their engines to their melting point in an attempt to break clear from Geonosis'' gravity well. They were screened by a hundred odd Vultures, which were instructed to fly in a funnel formation, using their bodies as a physical shield against enemy fire.

    It was a race, between the Guardian missiles that would be undoubtedly sent their way and whatever enemy fighters were still in the vicinity after most of them were sent against the bait.

    They had fifteen seconds head start before Ningo''s ???kpit was bathed into the shrill beep of the lock on alarm. Targeting sensors were locked on his fighters and missiles were sprinting their way. He glanced out and saw the Vultures shifting, moving to better protect their charges.

    The Admiral helplessly waited as long seconds slowly ticked by, when suddenly the ???kpit was bathed in bluish light. A Vulture blew up, then another and another in quick succession. Ningo glanced at the instruments. They were still thirty seconds from the edge of the gravity well. At this rate, they weren''t going to make it.

    His pilot, the leader of Talon squadron apparently agreed with that ?ssessment.

    "Gentlemen, it was honor serving with you. Now go intercept those damn missiles!" He ordered.

    Half the squadron peeled off and charged the swarm of ordinance heading straight at them. They opened fire with laser canons and their own missiles, which was merely a drop in the ocean. That is until the lead two Talons opened their cargo compartments, spilling reserve parts behind them. The rest of the Selucian fighters charging the missile swarm did so too, a couple of seconds later.

    It was the last thing that they would ever do. Moments later missiles either found their mark, blowing up fighters which didn''t even attempt to evade, but flew straight firing all the way until the bitter end, or ploughed in the small artificial debris field, detonating harmlessly.

    That desperate maneuver was far from enough to take out all the Darts, yet it bought precious seconds for the rest of Talon squadron and their charges.

    Ningo grit his teeth as the last of the Vultures expended itself against a missile flying straight at his ride. Just few more seconds¡­

    The Admiral winced when his fighter shook viciously, almost throwing him out of his seat despite the restrains. In the same moment the ???kpit was bathed in blinding light.

    =RK=

    Republic Cruiser "Chimera"

    First Assault Fleet Flagship

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    "The kriffing bastards got away..." Pellaeon, who was leaning over the sensor station muttered.

    "Pity. It would have been great if we nailed their commander. Whoever it was did pretty good." Yularen stated.

    "Yes. They will be trouble in the future." the Commodore added.

    The Admiral returned his attention to the bigger picture, disgruntled that he had fallen for the feint. He honestly hadn''t believed that the enemy would try getting out using small craft once they knew the true capabilities of the Guardian. However they had masterfully made him focus his attention at a tempting bait, buying themselves enough time and distance to get a chance at surviving the inevitable missile strike. He silently cursed the missed opportunity at depriving the enemy of one of their competent Admirals and turned his attention at mopping up the Orbital Defenses. Freedom''s battle group had the breakout attempt well in hand, and the rest of the fleet was reducing the remaining two Gollans. Those would be dealt with shortly by bomber wings, which were already moving in for the death strike.

    "Sir, we are mostly done here." Pellaeon surmised the situation. "However the planetary shields are up and running. How are we going to deal with them?"

    "Apparently it''s a need to know." Yularen.

    "It was." a new voice interjected. "I have an acquaintance down there." He waved at the planet below. "It remains to be seen if we''ll be taking the shields the easy or the hard way."

    The Admiral turned around to see General Veil entering the bridge, looking somewhat better. At least he didn''t look like the death warmed twice over.

    Pellaeon looked incredulous at his commander. "A single being?!" he exclaimed.

    "Yep. He is perfect for the task."

    =RK=

    Planetary Shield generator command center

    Geonosis

    Vikkal Plog, surveyed his domain from a raised platform in the middle of the room. He was the Geonosian Elite in charge of the one of the most important installations on his home world, and by the Queens, he was going to make sure it ran perfectly.

    He stared in turn at the backs of the workers manning the stations controlling the intricate network of generators and shield emitters protecting Geonosis, as if daring them to make a mistake. He would have preferred that his installation was manned exclusively by Warrior caste members, but unfortunately that was impractical. Whatever else you could say about the workers (most of it less than flattering) they knew how to fix tech. Fast. On the other hand, Plog and his exalted kind were best on the battlefield or in charge of important facilities. While he knew that his job was vital, Vikkal couldn''t suppress the instinct to go out and be amongst the first to meet the kriffing Republic forces. If they managed to actually pass through the shields.

    After their previous visit, the Queens were displeased, issuing orders that their world must be turned into fortress, thus making a repeat performance highly unlikely. While it would have been better if the Geonosians allies had managed to win in space, Plog actually preferred it this way. The last battle had been over before more than a handful of his kind could engage the enemy, because they were stationed at locations rather far away from the places the GAR attacked.

    This time it was going to be different. The Geonosian Elite Warriors were mobilized and ready for battle. They, just like Vikkal, were cybernetically enhanced war machines, wielding powerful beam weapons and protected by master crafted armor. He smiled at the thought and almost reverently petted the heavy weapon which encased his right hand, before returning his attention to the holographic display representing his world''s orbitals.

    The defenses were almost gone and the enemy transports were growing near. He smiled when the nearest comm station hissed to life, announcing that now all ground based anti-orbital weapons were free to seek targets of opportunity.

    He was still smiling when moments later, a monomolecular blade found a weak spot in the armor surrounding his neck and severed his spine.

    =RK=

    The command center stood still, the six Elite Warriors who were providing internal security just staring at their leader. First they saw the blade, sticking from the back of his neck. It sparkled, the air around it warping, revealing a dull red metal hand, to which it was attached.

    "One Meatbag down." A mechanical voice muttered.

    The guards raised their weapons a moment too late. The air twisted further, showing a heavily armed droid, which had sneaked in their midst. Before they could line up shots, the command center was turned into a charnel house when multiple explosions shook it, pelting everything within with half molten shrapnel. Consoles became pieces of fast flying death, scything unprotected Geonosians.

    HK-117 jumped back, thermal detonators flying from his hands. At the same time, two stealthy drones became visible near the ceiling, sending crimson lances at a single Elite Guard.

    In all the bedlam no one noticed how the locking mechanism of the doors was fused shut.

    The ?ssassin droid would have smiled if he could. This was what he was made for! Pure, unrestrained havoc! HK-117 danced, faster than most organics could follow, b?r?ly evading beams of amber light. The Command Center shook again, bathed in the light and heat of thermal detonators blowing up.

    In b?r? moments, four of the seven Elites were taken out, evening the odds.

    The ?ssassin rolled left, amber beam briefly grazing his shield. That alone drained a third of his deflector, sending warnings through his system. He jumped over a trashed console, a repeating blaster in his hands. Behind the droid, the drones were playing tag with one of the Elites, while the last two were engaging him. HK-117 hit the ground and rolled, avoiding a sweeping beam. His weapon spoke, shredding blaster bolts at the unprotected feet of the overgrown insect. Its agonized screech was music for the droids audio-receptors.

    The heavily armored being crashed on the ground, while his buddy tried to bisect the ?ssassin with its weapon. HK evaded by a hairbreadth and threw a thermal detonator, finishing its wounded victim. Then he vaulted forward, using the blast wave as booster for his jump. The nimble machine flew over the other Elite Geonosian, avoiding a sweeping beam of deadly energy. HK-117 landed lightly on his feet, moving in a blur. His blaster clattered on the ground just as the droid slammed a pair of vibroblades in the back of the big Geonosian. The local whimpered when the ?ssassin twisted its weapons, before withdrawing them an letting his latest victim fall bonelessly to the ground.

    HK-117 turned his head to the right and his artificial eyes glared at the single remaining drone. The other one was already turned into molten slag by the last remaining Warrior.

    "I expected more from you, guys..." the droid shook his head sadly. "You couldn''t handle just a pair of meatbags!" He sounded affronted at his synthetic siblings'' failure.

    The Geonosian turned his head towards the sound a moment after disposing off the second drone with a well aimed shot. Only to see the cooling corpse of his comrade and no sight of the infernal machine.

    "Looking for me?" A hated voice asked from behind. Before the Warrior could swing his bulk around, HK jumped on his back, blades slashing down.

    A few seconds later, the ancient droid made his way to the raised platform where he ?ssassinated the facility''s commander. It was the one place that was still somewhat intact. HK plugged himself in the Command Centers network and started working, while the base''s security were attempting to breach the door. He wasn''t concerned. It was a really nice door, the finest Geonosian engineering could make. It would hold for a few minutes. More than enough time.

    By the time the entrance was breached by the base''s security, the shields were powered down, leaving the complex vulnerable. It would be fifteen minutes before one of the secondary command centers could bypass the lock down initiated from the command center. Even longer before they could reactivate the shields.

    It would be far too late.

    =RK=

    Republic Assault ship "Unto the Breach"

    Low Orbit over Geonosis

    Shaak Ti suppressed a shudder when the drop pod sealed around her. A moment later the HUD of her light armor lit up with green light showing that all systems were nominal.

    "Drop in T minus thirty!" The commander responsible for the initial part of the deployment shouted in her communicator.

    "All units, sound off." The Jedi ordered. She was pointedly trying not to think about the madness she was about to take part in. Shaak Ti patched herself through the frequency of her command battalion, listening.

    "First Platoon, A Company is green!"

    "Second Platoon, A Company is nominal..."

    She took a deep breath, calmed by the professional discharge of her soldiers. Just ten of the pods showed red lights and she was thankful for the excellent job the engineers did in making the new tech perform up to spec. For now. The real test was about to commence.

    She switched channels, listening as the battalions started reporting their readiness.

    "Second Battalion, Helldiver Regiment is green. Only seven malfunctioning pods." A Clone Commander reported.

    "Third Battalion, Helldiver Regiment is green. Five pods down." This crisp voice sent shiver down Shaak Ti''s spine.

    She was still unable to make up her mind about Veil''s newest apprentice. Aria Astra. A clone of a Chiss woman, who was also a Sith. Not to mention that she led the first attack on the Jedi Temple in millennia. Yet Veil had saved not only saved her at the end of the battle, but taken her under his wing. While Ti knew that what happened wasn''t really the woman''s fault, not when she had been used as a brainwashed, disposable weapon, she simply couldn''t help it. Long time friends of hers, good people, had died in that attack. The fact that Aria was a Sith didn''t help either. It wasn''t like she was seeking redemption by trying to turn a new leaf and join the Order.

    What she felt towards Astra wasn''t hate. Not really. It was something she couldn''t really place into words. It was more akin to resentment, because of how easy she was given a second chance. Not even a slap on the wrist for her actions, instead she was rewarded by being apprenticed to a powerful Force Adept.

    "Ten, nine, eight¡­" Shaak Ti''s scattered thoughts were interrupted by the pre-launch countdown.

    She took a deep breath and spoke: "May the Force be with you!"

    "One..."

    A loud thump later and sudden acceleration slammed into the Jedi Master.

    =RK=

    Part 3

    10 km above Planetary Shield Generator Complex

    Geonosis

    Aria hadn''t been more afraid in her short life. Certainly not when she led the attack on the Jedi Temple. That had been exhilarating, the first time she had felt alive. Not even while she laid dying in the great hall, broken and defeated. Then she had been relieved more than anything else. She had failed in her mission, no matter that it never had a chance of success and accepted the price.

    When her Master held her very soul in his hands and saved her¡­ She was both stunned and fascinated at the raw power she felt. As if the Force itself was his to command.

    Oh, Aria knew that he was one of the most dangerous men she would ever meet, that in anything resembling a stand up fight she would lose. At least before her training was fully completed and that was many years away. Yet she didn''t fear him. There was respect of the man and the power he wielded, but strangely enough no fear despite the simple fact that she survived only because of his good will.

    Now however, she was terrified. Strapped in a flimsy shell of durasteel composite, protected by a thin sheet of armor and shield b?r?ly enough to survive a high speed reentry¡­ Hurling through the atmosphere as a shell send downrange¡­ Fear clawed at Aria''s mind, cold sticky fingers gripping her very soul. Despite the high temperature caused by the re-entry and the environmental controls of her armor, she felt chill spreading from the frozen pit that was her stomach. Aria shuddered and gritted her teeth.

    She was better than this! Aria snarled. She loathed her fear. It was a weakness, making her vulnerable. It was unacceptable.

    That thought was promptly thrown out of her head, when her pod jumped and shook. Aria squeaked, dimly remembering that it was all going according to plan. The drop pod was supposed to enter a wild and erratic flying pattern, making it harder to hit.

    It didn''t help her. At all.

    Aria closed her eyes and for the first time in her life she started praying. First to the Force and then to anyone, anything that was listening.

    No one was listening. Her ride started shaking even harder, as if it was already coming apart. Alarm blared and sudden wave of DE-acceleration slammed into the young Sith. Aria had time for one last shriek, before the pod peeled off around her, letting her free fall for the last kilometer or so. Her HUD lit up with warning signs, marking targets of opportunity and active sensor envelopes.

    "Kriiiif!" Aria shouted just as the gravity reestablished its hold over her. Finally her training kicked in, moment after a rail round buzzed near her head. She slammed the controls of the repulsor pack on her back and darted at the ground, hoping to get below the engagement envelopes of the myriad of AA emplacements pinging her.

    Moments later the anti gravity pod wh?n?d in protest as she returned it to default setting and it tried to prevent her from slamming in the roof of nearby building. It was a somewhat successful maneuver, because Aria didn''t become a stain on the roof. Instead she landed hard, the mechanized joints of her armor protesting as they absorbed the hit. Her HUD flashed with yellow warnings, showing marginal damage to her knee and ankle armor joints.

    Aria smiled. While her armor was damaged, her body was not. More importantly she was back on a firm, solid ground. Roof. Whatever. She wasn''t falling down from orbit anymore and that was the important thing!

    The Sith in training retrieved her Carbine from its magnetic hook on her back, discarded the spent repulsor pod and looked around, using both the Force and her armor''s built in sensors to get her bearing. She was about a click from the control center of the Shield Generator Complex, which was the primary target. Shock troopers and pieces of pods were raining around her, further confusing the defenders.

    Aria braced herself. She had wasted entirely too much time on that roof. It was time to join the action. She took a deep breath, trying to calm down a bit her heart, which was pounding like a jackhammer in her ?h?st. It didn''t help. "Damn. And we Sith were supposed to be fearless..." she muttered.

    Aria gulped, steeled herself and sprinted toward the edge of the roof.

    =RK=

    Planetary Shield Generator Complex

    Geonosis

    "Woohoo!" Boil exclaimed as he slammed into a confused B1 droid, instantly turning it into a pile of scrap.

    Waxer landed about thirty meters to the west and wasted no time in retrieving his AR and opening fire at a nearby squad of SB droids. He shot the neares, which was facing him and then pumped a grenade in the midst of the others. The following explosion threw mechanic limbs and heads in all directions.

    "Kriff it, that was awesome!" Boil shouted at his brother, who was dashing his way.

    A woman shrieked nearby. The Clone whirled that way, his blaster at the ready. His grin grew wider when he saw the General''s apprentice jumping from the roof of the building to his left. She opened fire from mid-air, suppressing a pair of Command Droids which were sneaking at him. Her wild bursts nailed one, which made for an awesome video, the other machine ducked behind a nearby cargo hauler. While the droid found temporarily reprieve from the crazy lass, it made a perfect target for Boil who didn''t waste the opportunity and blew up the clanker.

    "Ma''am, Troopers Waxer and Boil reporting. What are your orders?"

    Aria stared at them for few seconds before shaking her head and pointing at the biggest building on their right.

    "We are taking the control center."

    "Just the three of us?" Waxer asked, a hint of incredulity creeping in his usually professional voice.

    "Awesome!" Boil grinned.

    "Do I look suicidal?" She asked, sounding affronted. "They are coming with us, she waved behind the pair.

    "The more the merrier." Boil shrugged.

    His HUD was showing the better part of a company of Helldivers converging on their position.

    "Kriff. My HUD''s busted." Waxer grumbled after glancing behind them.

    "Just shoot any clanker or overgrown insect you see." he quipped at his brother.

    "Enough chit-chat. We are going in!" Aria ordered and sprinted towards the command center.

    The two Clones glanced at each other, shrugged and ran after her.

    =RK=

    Republic Cruiser "Negotiator II"

    Low Orbit over Geonosis

    Obi-Wan stared at Cody''s smug looking helmet. Then at the heavy blaster in the Commander''s outstretched hand.

    "You are never going to drop it, are you?" Kenobi m??n?d, resignation written all over his face.

    "And risk that you slide back to your old ways?" The Clone shook his head sagely. "Not a chance, sir. Now grab the kriffing blaster and that rocket launcher."

    "Veil put you up to this, didn''t he?"

    "The General might have given us a suggestion or two."

    Obi-Wan was positive that Cody was beaming under his helmet.

    "Did he now?" The Jedi asked.

    "Yep. No charging the enemy to get into melee range for us. Next time you decided that doing so is a great idea, we''ll just let you go on your own and provide moral support while staying back in cover."

    "Ah. So he did read that AAR."

    "Among others. It might please you to know that he had some¡­ enlightening things to say to us, because we chose to charge right after you."

    "I have no doubt about that." Kenobi muttered.

    "So, lets make sure. No suicidal charges, attacking well defended position with light weaponry¡­" Cody started checking out items from a mental list.

    Obi-Wan ?r??n?d. He could swear that the nearby Clones were snickering at his predicament.

    "We''ll be in position in three! All units, board your transports and strap up!" The voice of the Cruiser''s Captain blasted from hidden speakers.

    "You heard the Skipper!" Cody roared. "Mount up, on the double!" The Commander returned his attention to Kenobi. "Good luck, General." The Clone handed him the heavy blaster and headed towards his own transport.

    Kenobi shook his head, a small smile creeping on his face. At least Cody and the rest of his troopers were warming up a bit towards him after the disaster that was Ryloth.

    When he thought about it, his face became a granite mask. That battle had been an utter mess and he had been chewed up about it by both Veil and Valentra. Hell, right now it was a part of the Officer Training Course as a textbook case on what not to bloody do.

    Obi-Wan jumped in the LAAT that would be carrying him down, placed his blaster on the weapon rack and unhooked his helmet from his belt where it had been hanging, before placing it in place and sealing it. At Ryloth he had acted as he has been trained. As a peacekeeper. And it had gotten a lot of people killed, including the villagers who he had hoped to save by not engaging the enemy with heavy weaponry in their vicinity. That had backfired in spectacular fashion, though not as bad as with Skywalker''s unit.

    Once that debacle had been over, after he had been debriefed on the operation by GAR brass and intelligence officers, something that was now a SOP after any major operation (minor too if it was practical), all his mistakes had been pointed out to him in painstaking detail. Then he had been handed some light reading ¨C books on military tactics and strategy. To top it all, he and the Jedi Officers on Coruscant who weren''t expected to be immediately shipped out to the front were sent to mandatory short courses of Command Training as Valentra had dubbed it.

    Most of it had been useful stuff, downright vital even. Things that the Jedi should have been taught before being handed command and sent straight in battle. Frankly in hind-sight he had to agree with Veil. Considering some of his command decision, it was miracle that Cody or one of the other Clones hadn''t fragged him.

    Kenobi was returned to the present, when the two squads that were supposed to act as his bodyguards piled in and started strapping in. He briefly glanced at each one of them. They and their brothers would live or die based on how good a job he did as a General. Obi-Wan gulped. For this operation all ground forces that were nominally under his command were present. He had the fate of more than a hundred thousand men in his hands.

    It should have been just as every other time a Jedi had a job to do. He should be viewing them with a dispassionate detachment, not allowing any sentiment he might be feeling to color his better judgment. That would have been the case if Ryloth never happened. His friendship with Cody and few of the other Clones under his command wouldn''t have mattered. Or the way he had almost lost it during that ill thought battle.

    Now however, Obi-Wan simply couldn''t force himself to view his men as simply ?ssets that needed to be spent to achieve victory, the way a proper Jedi was supposed to.

    "We are deploying in twenty! Clear the hangars!" the Captain ordered. Moment later alarms came to life and a calm female voice started a count down.

    Obi-Wan closed his eyes and called the Force to his aid. Her cool embrace calmed him down, yet provided no answers.

    The count down came to zero and the LAAT shot out of the hangar, joining thousands of others, which were about to make plantetfall. Bellow them, heavily shielded Acclamators were already entering the atmosphere, preparing to provide close air support before disgorging their own gunships and transports closer to their targets.

    With the planetary shield up, such an attempt would have been a suicide, but now, with the fleet busy delivering orbital strikes, most of the first ?ssault wave would make it down. And the real bloodbath would begin.

    Kenobi opened his eyes and stared at the holotanc in the center of his LAAT, which was showing the tactical situation. Despite the overwhelming surprise and the saturation orbital strikes, transports were winking out of existence, taken out by ground emplacements that were silenced seconds later. Obi-Wan''s eyes narrowed. His men were already dying and he couldn''t do anything to help them. Veil''s words echoed in his head.

    "Obi-Wan, one day you will have to chose between being a one of this era''s good little Jedi and a General. From what I''ve seen, more often than not, those positions don''t mesh well together."

    "And become a Sith instead?"

    "Well, if you want I probably can find time for one more apprentice, but we both know that this isn''t what I mean."

    "I''ve given a look or two to the ancient Holocrons. They do paint quite a different picture of the Jedi. Especially those who weren''t exclusively trained on Coruscant."

    Kenobi shook his head. He knew what Veil has been doing. Not that the man even tried to hide it during their conversations. He had planted seeds of doubt in Obi-Wan''s heart and left him to make his own mind. Dealing with someone who just tried to turn him against the Order or the Republic would have been easy, simple even. This however, was something different.

    How do you fight the truth staring you in the face?

    Then they hit the atmosphere and the ride became rather bumpy.

    =RK=

    Chancellor''s Office

    Senate Building

    Coruscant

    Palpatine sat behind the desk in his brand new office. While it was a rather spacious room, even bigger than his old one, his new little kingdom was in the depts of the building, behind more than a dozen checkpoints. Now there was a whole legion in the Senate and around it as a matter of course. More concerning were the myriad of intelligence agents crawling all over the place. Even one such as him simply couldn''t mess with all of their heads without no one noticing. Especially when there was a rotating squad of Jedi on the premises.

    It was all Veil''s fault! That kriffing upstart had suggested the Senate''s security overhaul, presenting multiple options¡­. And the current one was the best for Sidious. The rest made him all but prisoner despite all the power he wielded. The worst was that he simply couldn''t worm his way out of accepting. After all, those suggestions had made his life as the Chancellor not only safer but easier too¡­ As Sidious however...The new security measures had significantly curtailed his freedoms as the shadow figure behind the Confederacy.

    The worst thing was that in practical terms, it didn''t meant all that much. Not with the mess that was the CIS leadership right now. Dooku was still on his hunt, trying to find out who exactly was backing the mysterious faction that had been messing up his plans lately.

    The only bright news on the horizon was that no matter what Veil did, Geonosis was going to be a bloodbath, which was going to inevitably damped his popularity with the Senate and the public at large. Unfortunately, simply ordering him killed or arrested on trumped up charges wasn''t going to hold up on a smell test anytime soon, not with GAR loving the man and likely to rise up a stink if something direct was done through official channels. Which left more subtle ways of dealing with Veil.

    Well, there was always ?ssassinating the man, however it was unlikely that it would work, after all he was rather powerful in the Dark Side. That still left using bounty hunters as additional distraction. Yeah. That would be best, combined with keeping Veil away from important pieces of his plan. Perhaps sent him to Mandalore next. The General appeared to be rather fond of that mercenary he had met on Ryloth. She and the Death Watch would prove a nice distraction, while the Sith reestablished their place in the CIS command structure.

    Besides, it wasn''t as if Veil''s disruptions were all for the worse. The Self proclaimed Sith was doing a splendid job of discrediting the Jedi. Not to mention that Veil was concentrating most of their attention on himself. On the other hand all that would be a moot point if he could get Veil as his new apprentice. Perhaps him and Anakin both¡­

    That left the war itself. The conflict should have been a grand deception more than anything else. Instead now it was fast escalating into a full scale war, one which was resisting anyone''s attempts at controlling it. The original plan of ending it and simply eliminating the CIS leaderships while they awaited a reward, the fools, wasn''t going to work. Because now the Republic''s public and Senate wanted their heads mounted on pikes for everyone to see. While he personally found all that hatred delicious and empowering, it presented a problem. Now the Confederacy was starting to play for keeps and the only reason they haven''t won yet was his machinations, leading them to spent ships and troops by striking secondary targets. Oh, Veils victory at Ryloth and probable success at Geonosis would go a long way in balancing the scales, but it would be a close run thing. So much so that he had to be very careful when doing anything that might affect the Republic''s war machine.

    At this stage a fast CIS victory wasn''t in his best interest. It wouldn''t be until he and Dooku were able to reestablish themselves as the undisputed leaders of the Confederacy. Some blackmail, ?ssassinations and honeyed words would go a long way to achieving that goal. However it would take some time.

    Of course, ideally, the war would go on for years yet, enabling him to finish building the foundations of his Empire. Unfortunately the slaughter of the senators did more harm in that regard. Oh, a significant part of his standing opposition was gone, however a lot of his supporters went with it too. Now he would have to deal with a lot of new faces, which in turn would mean a that he would have to rebuild a part of his power base.

    After all, it simply wouldn''t do for the Senate not to elect him as an Emperor when the time came.

    Part 4

    =RK=

    Planetary Shield Complex

    Geonosis

    Shaak Ti loved the orbital drop. Diving through the atmosphere at breathtaking speeds, called to a primal part of her being, making her predator instincts cry in joy. The Force, enhancing her senses, made it even better. There was a thrill in risking one''s life, when everything was placed on the line and adrenaline pumped through her vein. A feeling, she had learned to suppress during her years as a padawan.

    There were only a few times Ti allowed herself to let loose, reveling in her Togruta nature ¨C only during her brief visits to the native savannah of Shili.

    This was one of those occasions. Shaak Ti could feel the pod wrapped around her, the way it sliced through the air, the acceleration as she headed towards the ground as fast as her ride could carry her. The Jedi sensed the danger of targeting sensors glancing over the thin armor protecting her, the fight or flight reflex awakening in her system making her blood race faster. The General had to force her mind to focus, letting the Force flow through her. Her senses stretched, searching for enemies within her range.

    There was a veritable hive of droids below her, most of them ignoring the dropping soldiers, and moving towards the control center. So the agent who brought down the shields was probably still alive. She took a moment to search for them, finding only vague impressions of scared or determined locals and lots and lots of droids.

    The journey down was over all too soon. The pod around her flaked open, letting her free fall for the last few hundred meters with only a repulsor to soften her landing. The Jedi master used the Force to guide her descent, gathering a halo of telekinetic energy around her. Some of the machines below looked up, finally paying attention to the shock trooper''s approach. A few of them raised their weapons, opening fire.

    It was too little, too late. The Jedi ignored the few wild shots that somehow managed to hit her, the blaster bolts splashing harmlessly over her shield. Her attention was consumed by controlling the increasing field of power she was gathering.

    Then Shaak Ti hit the ground, landing on her hands and knees. The repulsor pod attached to her back burning out with the strain of slowing her down. The moment she touched down, the Jedi released all the gathered energy in a tightly controlled shock-wave, throwing away every single droid in a ten meter radius around her. The machines flew like rag-dolls, breaking apart when they hit a solid surface.

    The Jedi stood up, her lightsaber eagerly jumping into her open palm, following her will and she dashed forward, heading for the nearest group of droids. To her right, the open entrance of the Command Center as inviting target, however Shaak Ti had no intention of getting herself exposed to whatever defenses waited there. Instead she charged a squad of SB droids, introducing them to her blade.

    All around her, the Helldivers started landing, raining plasma and explosives upon the exposed enemy. Among them was a familiar presence, casting dark shadows through the Force. The Jedi Master frowned. Veil''s new apprentice had just arrived.

    Shaak Ti submerged herself deeper in the Force, ignoring the rising anger within her heart caused by the new presence and continued dicing droids. At least that had calming effect upon the Togruta.

    =RK=

    Republic Cruiser "Chimera"

    First Assault Fleet Flagship

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    "Commodore Holt''s battle group will be brought up to full strength within the hour," Yularen reported.

    "Good. She is to hit the targets on the Alpha list immediately after her command resupplies."

    "Are you sure, sir?" The Admiral asked.

    "Yes. Don''t worry. I''ll deal with it if someone says that I''m exceeding my authority."

    "Your plan will escalate the war even further."

    "Can''t be helped. We''ve been very lucky so far. However, the Republic is one major operation going awry from being put back on the defensive. Right now we have a temporary advantage in space and the window of opportunity will close shortly, as you very well know."

    "I''ve seen the figures. The CIS will make good on today''s losses withing two to three weeks. We won''t be having much new construction coming online in the same period." Yularen frowned. "At least we have the Corellians on our side. Without their aid this wouldn''t be possible. How would their government react?"

    "Positively. I raised the possibility with their Governor-General and Senator Iblis."

    "Having one of their officers in charge would help soothe them, too." The Admiral added.

    "That''s politics for you. It''s not like you don''t know it, Wulif. You can''t get to such a rank without getting your hands dirty by dealing with the Senate''s ''finest''."

    "I have no idea what you are talking about, General." He attempted looking innocent.

    "Riiight. Now back to work. What''s the situation with the ships Skywalker borrowed?"

    Yularen''s expression became thunderous. "SAR is going over the somewhat intact wrecks. At least two third of the crews are gone for sure and most of the ground forces. His ship crash landed about thousand kilometers from our nearest LZ. Orbital scans confirm that there are survivors, who will be swarmed by the natives soon."

    "I have half a mind to let the idiot to his fate." I muttered. Anakin''s stunt had wasted the lives of a lot of good men, something which could have been avoided if the young fool stopped to think and came to me for help. Hell, we might have gone with exactly the same plan, just using skeleton crews and keeping the ground ponders, and not essential personnel off the Venators.

    Still, he might prove useful for something, besides the men stranded with him didn''t deserve to die because their commander was acting like immature imbecile.

    "Subject the surrounding area to saturating orbital strikes, before sending in escorted Assault Shuttles to pick up the survivors. At least two squads of special forces too. They are to place General Skywalker under arrest and bring his damn carcass here."

    "I''ll see to it. Is that all?"

    "Yeah. Just keep the fleet on alert in case the Seps still have a surprise or two for us. I''ll go check the progress of the ground forces."

    Part 5

    LAAT Troop transport

    En route to LZ "Kyber"

    Geonosis

    The initial landings were going much better than Obi-Wan expected. The uncontested orbital superiority had something to do with that. Then again, Veil''s disregard for the locals and their world helped too. Every time when someone or something opened fire on the descending transports, it was promptly obliterated from orbit. The exceptions were the long range proton cannons, which were protected by theater shields. However those weapons were mere nuisance. All Landing Zones were chosen so they were out of effective range from those position.

    Even in this situation, with the GAR having almost all possible advantages on their sides, Kenobi knew that the first phase of the invasion was anything but bloodless. He could sense Clones dying when their transports were struck by lucky enemy shots. He could sense groups of locals scream for a brief moment before their existence was snuffed out by return fire.

    Kenobi''s shoulders slumped. He had thought that Ryloth had been bad. Compared to this it was a joke. Even without trying he could feel the Force shift as people and other living things were immolated by turbo-laser fire. He concentrated, reinforcing his mental shields and the death cries became subdued and eventually quiet enough so he no longer heard them without trying. That very act made him feel shame, as a coward who ran from the truth.

    Which was simple one. As a Jedi he had no place on this battlefield, no matter if his cause was just or not. What he and his fellow Order members should have been doing was to try mediating peace. Unfortunately that speeder had long left. There could be no settlement. Not after Naboo, Coruscant and Ryloth. There was only one path left to follow and it led to the Confederation surrendering unconditionally.

    A spread of turbo-laser bolts struck something just over the horizon, lighting it up with sapphire fire. Obi-Wan recoiled, feeling tens of thousands die.

    "What the kriff was that?!" He shouted.

    One of the Clones ?ssigned to his command squad, who was monitoring the situation, answered promptly.

    "The enemy unmasked concussion missile launchers in a nearby town and were preparing to fire. One of the cruisers took them out." The Sergeant stated calmly. As if it was nothing out of the ordinary.

    Obi-Wan wanted to shake the man. There were civilians in there. Were being the operational word. They were all dead now.

    Kenobi looked around, faceless helmets stared back. He had a revelation then. The Clones surrounding him wouldn''t, couldn''t care. To them those people were enemies at worst and collateral damage at best. Oh, if ordered they would have tried to find another way to take those weapons or they would have had simply absorbed the losses and kept doing their jobs. However he wouldn''t find any sympathy here beyond someone probably saying that it was "too bad".

    Kenobi thought about calling Veil, until he remembered something. Everyone, including him knew the ROE for this campaign before the fleet was fully ?ssembled. The only grumbling were about how constrained the rules were, at least in certain cases. What was worse, he had a suspicion that the non-Jedi officers commanding this campaign knew exactly what would happen when the enemy opened fire and used their own civilians as living shields.

    And he already knew what Veil''s answer would be. "Don''t do this the next time and we won''t have to vaporize your noncombatants." The worst thing was that most of the officers in this army might very well agree with the sentiment. He knew why too. Such wanton destruction would have been frowned upon before the CIS showed their real face. Not, the galaxy at large wouldn''t really care. The nature of the war had changed and he had failed to really comprehend it.

    "We are over the LZ." The pilot informed them.

    That shook Kenobi out of his funk. Oh, he was going to have a chat with Veil, Valentra and the Council about the way the war had to be prosecuted. There had to be a way to avoid such wanton bloodshed in the future. He hoped so.

    The door of the LAAT slid open revealing a large rocky expanse. It should have been covered with the red sands and rocks of Geonosis. Instead it was filled with thousands upon thousands of soldiers and war machines, with more arriving every second.

    Not for the first time, Kenobi wondered what the kriff he was doing here.

    =RK=

    Planetary Shield Complex

    Geonosis

    Shaak Ti glared with disapproval at Veil''s apprentice. That insane woman used a blaster rifle as a club against a SB droid, before she remembered that she had a lightsaber and ignited it, before jumping a short platoon of B1 droids.

    "Crazy Sith..." The Jedi Master grumbled.

    "General, we have the entrance secured. Most enemy security teams are either dealt with or contained." A Clone Lieutenant reported. "I have squads going after the AA emplacements."

    "Good. Do you have two heavy weapons squads ready?"

    "Three actually. They are near the gate."

    "Well done. It''s time to take the command center."

    =RK=

    HK-117 was getting bored. The meat-bags were still trying to breach into the control room, leaving him with very little to do. At least after he bobytraped most of the place. He would have grinned if he could. It would be impolite if he didn''t have additional presents for his host.

    The ?ssassin droid almost trembled with anticipation. The locals had about to finish cutting through the door. They took their sweet time too, the incompetent fools.

    The fireworks show caused by the cutting stopped. It was time. There were subdued noises as the equipment was moved and the ?ssault team got in place. HK activated his stealth field and vanished from sight.

    The heavy door was thrown in by shaped charges. A spread of concussion grenades were next, followed by eight commando droids and two Geonosian warriors. HK merely sent a signal which activated the explosives with which he had lined the walls around the door. They were shaped charges too, concentrating most of their power in narrow cones. The two massive locals were gutted in the initial explosions as well as three of the droids in the back.

    The rest scattered, searching for threats. HK threw his last thermal detonator through the destroyed door before he took aim and blew off the head of the nearest commando. Their return fire splashed over his shields doing no damage. He laughed when the detonator exploded ensuring that the inferior CIS models wouldn''t be receiving reinforcements any time soon.

    =RK=

    Republic Cruiser "Chimera"

    First Assault Fleet Flagship

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    I slumped in my bed, after drinking a couple of painkillers. The stunt I pulled with the Battle Meditation had side effects and they were home to roost. My body felt on fire, which was getting worse. I was doing my best not to access the Force, but it was hard. A long time ago, keeping in constant contact with the energy field which was everywhere had become an instinct just like breathing.

    The fact that I could acutely feel the death and suffering on the planet below didn''t help matter. The opening moves of the invasion were feeding the Dark Side, indirectly making me and any Sith who might be in this system a bit more powerful. It was a small, subtle thing. Not really measurable unless it was over a long period of time, but it was nevertheless true. It was one of the greatest traps of the Dark Side. She fed on strife, conflict and suffering. In turn she made the Sith being in their vicinity more powerful even if they weren''t actively participating. Even worse, she twisted one''s perceptions, making them enjoy those sensing those negative emotions.

    It was no wonder that most if not all Sith got insane in the end. It was addicting, making you crave more and more violence and suffering. It was something I reveled in after my training in the Sith Academy. If it wasn''t for meeting Vette and later Ashara I would have succumbed to the madness. They kept me safe and more importantly, they were my consciousness.

    Here and now, there wasn''t such a person in my life. While there were a few people I would call friends, none of them counted as far as keeping me in check went.

    I closed my eyes, exhaustion numbing my senses. The Dark Side of the Force laughed all the way until sweet oblivion claimed me.

    =RK=

    "My naughty apprentice..." A painfully familiar voice rumbled to my right.

    I cracked an eye open and ?r??n?d. Garish, yet tasteful robes. Check. Short, blond hair. Check. My second Sith Master. Just my luck.

    "You look better." I quipped. Damn, my head hurts.

    "I know, its great." She winked at me. Bloody infuriating woman.

    "Am dreaming, ain''t I?"

    "Ohh, do I feature often in your dreams?"

    "You know very well that I don''t dream. You taught me the technique to secure my mind during sleep yourself."

    "I also know how to bypass it at need, apprentice."

    "I haven''t been your apprentice in a long, long time."

    "Now, now. Even if you helped me arrange my ''death'' I don''t remember terminating our relationship, Veil." She pouted.

    "As if you couldn''t have jumped in another body without my help."

    "Details." She sniffed.

    "So any reason to haunt my dreams?"

    "I''m glad you asked." There was glint in her eyes. Yeah, that one.

    "What did you do this time?"

    "I''m actually going to ask for help."

    "Pull the other one."

    "If you insist. It will be a moment, I just need to find my shock gauntlet. Ah, no matter." She raised her left hand, purple lighting dancing between her fingers.

    "It''s you all right. What did I do to deserve that?"

    "Do you want me to answer as a Sith Lord or like one of the lesser beings populating the galaxy?" She gave me a disarming smile.

    "What do you want?"

    "I''m in a bind and you are going to rescue me, my knight in not so shining armor!" She declared imperiously.

    "I''m a damn Sith! Leave that nonsense for the Jedi."

    "From what I hear, these days they are even more pathetic than usual." Zash snorted.

    "I can''t honestly disagree." I shrugged. Most of the Jedi weren''t that impressive. On a very good day.

    "Now, how soon can you came and rescue me?"

    I gave her a deadpan look.

    "I might have made a tiny miscalculation and ended in a bind." She pouted.

    "And that''s my problem why exactly? I already have one wanable Sith Lord and his cronies as competition. Why the hell would I want to unleash the real deal?"

    "Because you have much bigger problem than Sidious?"

    Now that got my attention. Not that I trusted anything she said, no matter how fun she usually was.

    "Ah, I got you now!" She jumped in triumph. Honestly considering her general bearing and attitude, Zash would have been killed a long time ago if she wasn''t one of the most powerful Sith I''ve ever met. Most Sith took offense at her usually chipper and cheerful attitude. Then again, most who were dumb enough to voice their displeasure didn''t live long. Or just got embarrassed depending on her mood.

    "Zash!" There was a hint of warning in my voice.

    She grinned. "I need you to retrieve the body I''m currently stuck in. And get me a new one if it''s not too much trouble."

    "Why now?"

    "I finally got back enough of my powers to manifest myself this way."

    I glared.

    "Oh, don''t be like that. I know you like me."

    "I do. You are my favorite Sith, which isn''t a secret. That still doesn''t answer the question why I might consider helping you and making my life much more difficult."

    "Two reasons." She smiled brightly. Then she proceeded to tell me why I was going to rescue her and like it.

    I didn''t stop cursing long after I awoke hours later. After wrapping the mess on Geonosis and dealing with Skywalker I had my job cut off for me.

    =RK=

    Old Republic Assault Cruiser "Victory"

    High Orbit over Tython

    A Force projection appeared in front of a stasis pod containing a desiccated corpse. The apparation of blond woman smirked before noticing another presence. She turned around and frowned.

    There was a Force Ghost waiting for her.

    "Well, this is unexpected. To what do I own the ''honor'' of your visit, Master Shan?"

    "Did he agree?"

    "But of course! My former apprentice is a gentleman! Not like yours!" Zash smirked.

    "If he is, it''s despite your efforts, not because of them."

    "Spoilsport."

    "You still haven''t answered my question."

    "I forgot. It''s probably because of my state." The Sith waved at the stasis pod. "My memory is not what it once was."

    "You are enjoying this, aren''t you?"

    "I''m still alive, all my enemies are now dead. Besides, I''ll soon be free to conduct my research in peace." Zash grinned. "What''s not to like? Besides my apprentice is still around to needle. How''s yours? Oh, I forgot. He''s insane, isn''t he?"

    "I''m already regretting this arrangement." The Former Grandmaster of the Order glared at her accomplice before vanishing.

    Zash chuckled with delight and closed her eyes. Her projection was slowly absorbed into the stasis pod containing her current body.

 Chapter 42 - Things best forgotten

    Extract from Imperial Strategic Operations Archive

    Retrieved from Dromund Kaas

    Voice 1: "It was an otherwise unremarkable system. Just a single white dwarf, a thin disc of rogue comets and useless rocks floating in space and a frozen ball that an enthusiast astronomer might mistake for a tiny planet."

    Voice 2: "Not surprising. Please continue."

    Voice 1: "There were no resources of note there. The surrounding systems were similarly empty. Useless. Far from the trade lanes too, making sure that no one respectable would have a reason to go there. Thanks to the gravitation fields of a bunch of red dwarfs and a single, lazily moving black hole, which were nearby, as far as interstellar distances go, that tiny ice ball was well protected from prying eyes." The voice paused, laughing bitterly.

    Voice 2: "It was hard to find and even harder to reach hellhole."

    Voice 1: "That made it perfect. It was exactly what the Bio-Warfare division was searching for. And so, Black-site 34 was born. Just like it''s sisters, that place was meant for bleeding edge research. Some of the best minds in the Empire were sent to work there. Some of the most insane too."

    Voice 2: "Genius and insanity are the two sides of the same coin. You were sent to do what the Empire required from you."

    Voice 1: "Keep telling yourself that, Major. I know better." The man paused. A wet coughing could be heard. "It was in one of those facilities, the ones build deep below the perpetually frozen surface of the planetoid, where we made a breakthrough. An unholy combination of hundreds of viruses. Then I enhanced it further, adding genes to strengthen it''s properties. So it could be more resilient, so it could spread faster, yet remain undetected for about a week or so."

    Voice 2: "So you succeeded?"

    Voice 1: The first man chuckled mirthlessly. "Beyond my wildest dreams. That was before the Sith Alchemist overseeing the project got personally involved, using the ''mysteries'' of the Force." He sneered. "It''s because of that damn madman!"

    Voice 2: "We are aware of the Darth''s intervention."

    Voice 1: "Are you really? When I was done, we had it! A strategic weapon that could gut the Republic in just a week or two!" The scientist sneered. "You know what he did with it. To test it. Heh, perhaps that''s better in the end. Even your superiors decided to bury the project when they saw what it was capable of." The scientist paused. A note of horror entered his voice. "You did it, right? You purged the Black-site?"

    Voice 2: "The last remaining samples are contained. Now tell us again what exactly does it do."

    Voice 1: "No, no, no... Fools. It can''t be contained! It''s just waiting! You need to..." More wet coughing.

    Voice 2: "Administer the sedatives. We''ll try again tomorrow."

    Voice 3: "He won''t make it. It''s burning through the antidote."

    Voice 2: "Pity. Order the druids to purge the ship and then sent it straight into the star. That kriffing shit creeps me out."

    =RK=

    Lab 3

    Black-site 34

    Outer Rim

    It laid dormant for millennia. Slumbering. Waiting.

    The stasis tanks keeping it in check kept humming with energy fed by matter-annihilation plants buried near the frozen core of the small world. All of that was maintained by a horde of droids, making sure that everything ran as expected. The sentient machines futilely waited for their Sith Overlords to return.

    For four thousand years they waited. And no one came.

    Until now. The ancient ventilation systems shrieked to life, cool air flooding throughout the facility. And deep bellow endless corridors and fail-safes, an organism shuddered in anticipation within it''s stasis tank. For even in it''s slumber, it could sense fresh meat approaching.

 Chapter 43 - Burning sands

    Part 1

    Kelrx''Po

    Geonosis

    It was just a small village, build around an oasis in the midst of one of this wretched world''s deserts. A bunch of stone shacks surrounding a patch of rocky ground, which had a depression housing a well.

    It wasn''t supposed to be a real obstacle. Just a speed-bump at best.

    The locals had other ideas.

    The supposedly harmless village now housed a shield generator, covering everything withing ten kilometer radius from orbital bombardment. To make matters worse, the place was situated directly in the route the Caamasi Lancers and their Ryloth Ranger auxiliaries were ordered to clear.

    They were facing no light forces meant to simply slow down the Republic advance and that had Colonel Pell glaring through the image enhancer built in his helmet. Even from his position, lying on the top of a tall sand dune, twelve kilometers from the shield''s edge, he could see more than enough.

    There were hundreds of dug in Sep tanks, at least two divisions worth of the buggers. Trench lines criss-crossed the desert, housing thousands of droids and locals. Groups of the insectoids were patrolling, buzzing overhead their comrades on stubby wings.

    The kriffing bastards had artillery too, the barrel''s of which b?r?ly cleared the depression in the center of the village.

    "Any ideas?" Pell asked the handful of officers and NCOs who were with him.

    "Attacking them directly is out of the question." His XO grunted. "They will shoot us to pieces before we reach the shield, while we have to cross anything from seven to ten kliks. Whatever remains to actually engage the enemy will be easily dispatched."

    "We can''t wait for the navy pukes to our jobs either. It will take days and the whole area will be turned into molten rock." The most senior NCO of the Caamasi Lancers added his two credits.

    No one suggested just leaving the stronghold in their rear areas even if they could afford sufficiently powerful blocking force.

    "Major." Pell turned to the sole clone on the dune.

    "Sir?"

    "How many of those new stealth armors do you have?"

    "A company worth of them, sir."

    "I see." The Colonel smiled. "We''ll need to create a distraction for them."

    "A commando raid to take out the shield?"

    "Or preferably the artillery too." The Caamasi officer nodded. "This is what we are going to do..."

    Planetary shield generator complex

    Geonosis

    Shaak Ti rolled forward, just in time to avoid a concentrated beam of coherent light, which tried to cut her in two. The air above her hissed as heavy blaster bolts seared through it, before slamming into the beam turret that was targeting her. The Jedi Master used the Force to brake herself a moment before the ensuring explosion sent a shock-wave down the corridor. Fire and shrapnel rained over the invisible energy protecting her, deflecting or splashing harmlessly over the Force.

    Armored boots thundered behind her and the heavy weapons teams advanced towards the next obstacle in their path.

    Shaak Ti frowned when a hand was trust at her to help her stand up. She looked up and the frown deepened when she saw the Chiss woman. The Sith apprentice had fought next to her for the past quarter hour, ever since they started the ?ssault into the bowels of the command center itself. The younger woman had fought more precisely and less insane once they were inside.

    It didn''t help her case much. She still reeked of the Dark Side.

    For a moment, Shaak Ti hesitated, before she grabbed the offered hand and the Chiss helped her up. She wasn''t going to be the one to act as an uncivilized savage. She was a Jedi after all and they were held to a higher standards.

    Two crimson eyes stared at the Jedi Master.

    "What''s your problem, anyway?" The Chiss asked and went after the clones without waiting for an answer.

    Yet, she didn''t voice it as a concern. Because it was something that her Togruta nature approved very much of, even if she was usually able to suppress it thanks to her Jedi training.

    "Lance Actual, Charlie One. We have a mechanized column approaching. All orbital ?ssets are tasked at the moment. Please advice. Over."

    "Charlie One, Lance Actual. Slow them down. Are there any bomber or gunship units available to soften them up? Over."

    "Negative, Lance Actual."

    "Don''t allow them to enter the complex proper, Charlie One. We''ll joint you once the Mountain is secure. Over."

    "Willco, Lance Actual. Over."

    "Is there a problem?" The Chiss woman appeared next to Shaak Ti, startling her. The damn Sith had suppressed her Force signature. On purpose, Shaak Ti was sure. A growl emanated from the back of the Jedi''s throat, before she could get herself back under control. The fact that the other woman had the gall to smirk at her wasn''t helping either.

    "We''ll have more company soon. We need to take this building, now."

    "Then try not to slow us down, oh great Jedi..." The Chiss grinned mischievously and sprinted into the dept of the facility, towards the sound of explosions and blaster shots.

    =RK=

    Anaxxian Rangers lead elements

    Sixty kliks south of LZ "Kyber"

    Geonosis

    "Intel said nothing about that!" A young Second Lieutenant shouted from the shallow depression in the sand he was using as a cover.

    "I told you¡­ sir. Intel usually can''t find their ?sses with written instructions in hand and an astro-mech to lead the way." The gunnery sergeant, who was the NCO unfortunate enough to babysit the brand new LT, grunted from behind a nearby dune.

    The grizzled old soldier shot a local who flew in his direction. Then he rolled down the dune, b?r?ly avoiding a barrage of the green stuff that the kriffing insects loved so much.

    "That" was an apparent network of tunnels which the locals had used to a great effect. The damn critters had appeared in the mid of a Ranger column, announcing their presence with the detonation of a few well placed explosive devices, before they swarmed the Anaxxians. The damn insects were right amidst them, making an orbital or even an air-strike a no go. While there were elements of the other columns swinging their way to help, those soldiers wouldn''t be there in time.

    At least a third of the APCs in the column were already burning, most destroyed along with the people who they were supposed to protect. The rest had broken from the orderly advance, disgorging angry Rangers in the process.

    A group of Geonosians buzzed over the scattering column, shooting at anything that moved. They blasted apart a squad of Anaxxians, before the favor was returned by the turret of an APC.

    Then an air-mobile unit appeared, adding to the slaughter. Lances of green light cut through groups of locals, while laser cannons reduced others to chunks of cooling chitin. Armored clones started rappelling down, shooting at any native they could see. A moment later they were joined by General Kenobi, who jumped from a LAAT, igniting his lightsaber in mid air, before landing into a group of natives who were using a pair of burning APCs as cover. Obi-Wan''s blue blade danced as he glided through the Soresu forms, avoiding or deflecting everything the Geonosians were able to throw his way.

    It was all over as fast as it began. The surviving natives scattered, slithering back into their tunnels. When the last went in, they detonated pre-placed charges, collapsing the entrances.

    "Cody, find who is in charge of this mess and give me a sit-rep." The general paused. "This is Kyber Command, Kyber Actual. Slow down the advance and intensify recon runs. Be advised, the enemy has build tunnel networks in the AO. I want ground-penetrating scans of the area. Send med-evac to my position. Kyber Actual, Over."

    =RK=

    CIS Death Bringer

    Third Fleet Flagship

    Hyperspace

    "Well, that could have gone better." Count Dooku muttered. He was browsing the last transmission from Geonosis before Republic jamming cut off communications from that system.

    Instead¡­ this. Before comms were jammed for good, a report on the situation was sent out. The CIS fleet had been all but annihilated, with low to moderate casualties for the Republic. The enemy had been moving on the fixed defenses, preparing to reduce them along with what little mobile forces remained in system.

    Dooku grind his teeth. It was an unmitigated disaster. Oh, not in military terms, despite the great victory the Republic had apparently won in space. Just in a few weeks those numbers would be made up for by new construction. However, the Confederation had lost its momentum. They no longer could afford new offensives, unless they wanted to open themselves for potentially devastating counter-attacks.

    At least in that respect, Geonosis was still working. It would tie up the victorious Republic fleet and a lot of their ground forces until it was reduced. And that would take months.

    More than enough time for the CIS to leverage their advantages and make sure that the Republic wouldn''t be able to make a good use of their own.

    That still left Dooku with his real problem. He was en-route to a high level meeting of the CIS leadership, which would decide who actually ruled the Confederacy for the foreseeable future. After his capture and the series of disasters which started with that madness on Naboo, his position was far from secure. While Dooku could simply slaughter the imbeciles who thought that they had an authority over a Sith Lord, that wasn''t a viable alternative. It could lead to the CIS fracturing and that would leave them as easy pickings for the ascendant Republic war machine.

    As distasteful as it was, the Sith actually needed the sniveling cowards and bootlickers that made up most of the CIS council. For now.

    The Sith Lord returned his attention to the computer terminal built in his desk and continued writing the kriffing speech he was to give, while his mind was busy planning how to charm or intimidate the various CIS leaders into supporting him and his master.

    =RK=

    Republic Assault Cruiser "Hope"

    Task Force Firewatch

    En Route to the Outer Rim

    Hyperspace

    "Are you insane?" One of the new soldiers ?ssigned to her command all but screamed.

    The new commander of Havoc squad fixed the man with a look that made him shut the kriff up.

    "We have our orders. This ''Republic'' has sent a black-ops team to the facility in question. You''ve all been briefed what''s in that kriffing place. We are to eliminate the Commando teams that will attempt to breach the facility, retrieve a sample so our scientist can try creating an antidote."

    "Then we torch the place?" Another of the new members of her unit asked hopefully.

    "Yes. We''ll be lugging in enough thermal charges to evaporate the facility. Anyway, the Navy will burn the place once we are out. Just in case." The woman nodded. "Now go familiarize yourselves with the new equipment. Captain Dorne, stay." The woman ordered.

    When the other eight soldiers were out of the briefing room, only the last two original members of Havoc that remained.

    "Ma''am?"

    "Don''t give me that, old friend." The other woman slumped back in her chair and nodded Elara to sit. "You''ve been briefed on what we are really after, aren''t you."

    "I''m the medical officer in the squad." Dorne shrugged, a ghost of a frown marring her face.

    "This is probably the nastiest thing we''ve ever had to deal with."

    "It makes you think, doesn''t it?" Elara looked around, raising an eyebrow.

    "The room is clean. I had our mechanical friend sweep it before the meeting and I have a suppressor active." The Major nodded at the desk she was sitting behind.

    "It''s a sheer madness. What the general wants..." Dorne trailed off.

    "You are afraid that the sample we are supposed to retrieve will be deployed."

    "We gave our oaths to protect the republic and her citizens. What we''ve been doing lately..." Elara shrugged. "Even if this is no longer the Republic we swore to protect." She looked at the ground.

    "I''ve had misgivings for some time. Ever since we lost almost all from Aegis on Naboo."

    "And the whole deploying of bio-weapons doesn''t bother you?" Elara snapped.

    "You know it does!" The Major grunted in frustration. "What do you want me to do?! This is no longer our galaxy! It''s not like we can defect after what the general did on Naboo and Coruscant! You know how this works! They will use us until we tell them anything of value the we''ll be made an example of as kriffing terrorists!"

    "I know." Elara muttered. "The fact that they made that man a general in their Army is bad enough."

    "Yeah. I never thought that the Butcher of Onderon would be on the ''Republic'' side. That by itself is almost enough to justify what we''ve been doing."

    "Kriffing Sith! He should have died ages ago!"

    "Us too, if you want to be technical about it."

    =RK=

    Part 2

    Coruscant''s Pride crash location

    Geonosis

    "Kriff, what a mess..." Fixer muttered.

    The cruiser appeared to be in one piece. Mostly. Twisted shards of the bow armor littered the length of a rather long patch of torn up and burning desert, where the ship first struck the ground and skidded over the sands until it came to a stop. The visible upper hull was blackened and twisted, with nasty looking gorges of molten armor where various weapons had struck the downed ship. One of the command towers was sheared in the middle and burning. The fire''s black smoke was acting like a beacon for both the rescue party dispatched by the general and the locals, who were swarming the wreck. Squadrons of spacefighters were dueling with their native, air-breathing counterparts, vying for air superiority. Even from this height, Boss could see a lot of the locals buzzing over the superstructure of the downed cruiser, seeking entrance into the ship. Here and there, pockets of survivors were active, trying to deny the enemy a certain breach into the hull.

    "At least a few made it." Sev noted.

    "Task force Dagger, Delta Actual. You know our orders. Secure Skywalker, get as many of the survivors clear and get out of here so the fleet can glass the site." Boss spoke over the general frequency for his expanded command.

    "We have armored column approaching nine o''clock." The pilot informed them.

    "Sick Vega flight on them. Loren Actual, Delta Actual. Third platoon, Loren company, are with Delta. We are landing on the remaining command tower. Use the rest of your company to secure that breach near its base and start SAR from there."

    "Wilco, Delta Actual. Red Three Actual is at your disposal." A calm voice came over the comm, giving Boss a pause. The speaker wasn''t one of his brothers. It took him a moment to remember that half of the people participating in this particular exercise weren''t clones.

    The Clone commander returned his attention at the holotank built in the middle of the LAAT transport. He zoomed out and could see the whole AO, with the friendly and enemy forces represented by blue and red icons. He saw the bombers from Vega Squadron making an attack run over what appeared to be enemy armor. Moments later a lot of the land locked red symbols disappeared along with those of two bombers after a bunch of enemy craft pounced on them. A few seconds later, a group of interceptors vectored on the enemy fighters and blew them out of the sky.

    They haven''t landed yet and it was already a bloodbath.

    "There is a breach just below the command deck of the tower." The pilot announced.

    "We''ll use it. Better than blowing our way in." Scorch added his two credits. "That place already took a lot of beating. I would prefer not to blow up any more of it than we need." The demo expert was looking on a holographic image of the command tower produced by the computer built in the left arm of his new armor.

    "Get us as close as you can. We''ll lead the way with the regulars moving in behind us." Boss saidand relied the command to Third platoon.

    A large blue symbol appeared near the top of the holotank. A Corellian frigate was rather low, coming in for a strafing run over some enemy position in the vicinity. Her secondaries were busy erasing groups of the local''s air-breathers as she passed above the battlefield. A few seconds later, flashes of light and rising mushroom clouds could be seen at various points over the horizon.

    "We''ll be in position in twenty." The pilot informed his cargo.

    "You heard the man. Ready to deploy." Boss ordered, removing his eyes from the holotank. He took a position near the sliding door of the transport and removed his blaster for the magnetic clamp on his back.

    Moments later, the LAAT came to a halt which was b?r?ly felt thanks to the inertial dampeners. The door slid open and the clones scanned for enemies. Seeing none, they jumped over the meter separating the transport and a jagged hole blown in the side of the command tower. Fixer was first, landing lightly on the armored deck of the cruiser and moving in to make space for his brothers. The rest of the commandos followed suit and their ride flew away, making room for the next bird which carried the first two squads from Third platoon.

    Delta Squad didn''t wait for the reinforcement and headed for the nearest entrance point for the deck above them. The regulars would secure start securing the rest of the tower while they checked on the obsolete command center overhead. According to the last info they got, Skywalker was likely to be there. Or at leas he was before the cruiser started crash landing.

    =RK=

    "That''s new." Fixer muttered as he looked over the trashed command center.

    "It''s a first too." Boss nodded next to him.

    The topic of their conversation was lying on the middle of the compartment in a bloody heap, while Scorch and Fixer were tending to him.

    "Fleet Command, Delta Actual. We have the package and need a med evac for him. SAR for the rest of the crew is in progress. Will advice on estimated time frame when available, over." Boss reported to his superiors." He returned his attention to his squad. "As for you, stop tempting fate. We aren''t out of this mess yet. Red Three Actual, Delta Actual. We have the package. Sent a squad to secure him at the Command Center at the top of the tower and continue securing the rest of the structure."

    =RK=

    Command Center

    Planetary Shield Generator Complex

    Geonosis

    "Master Ti! You finally arrived!" HK-117 exclaimed with what sounded like a disappointment. "I was just starting to really enjoy myself." The ?ssassin droid added as an afterthought. "Master Astra! You survived as well." The machine added when the Chiss woman waved at it.

    Instead of answering, Shaak Ti was struck speechless as she watched the slaughter house in which Veil''s pet mechanical psychopath had turned the command center. There were steaming chunks of the locals strewn all over the place, mixed with pieces of destroyed electronics. Not to mention the big armored Geonosians who appeared to have been cut apart by vibroblades.

    Noticing the way she was looking around, HK beamed. "This is one of my better works, I have to admit." The droid declared smugly. It tilted his head to the side and asked, "Is something wrong?"

    Shaak Ti simply glared at the ?ssassin. She had the feeling that at best he would brush off any objections she had for the way he dealt with the enemy personnel. Besides, the Jedi Master had the sneaking suspicion that Veil would support his pet''s course of action and anyone but another Jedi would simply shrug if she started bitching about it right now.

    Needless to say, the Sith in the room appreciated the lesson in butchery, destruction and overall mayhem, if her grin was anything to go by. Even worse, the clones who had entered after the pair of Force Adepts were unfazed by the sight. She could feel that the slaughter hadn''t disturbed them in the least.

    "Well talk about this..." Shaak Ti waved at the smoking remains of the command center, "Later. Make sure that this building is of no use for the CIS. We''ll be either leaving or entrenching this position shortly."

    "I''ll make sure the place is trashed." The Sith announced and left the room, laving a squad of demo experts to follow her.

    "I''ll go have fun¡­ Ahem, hunt down enemy stragglers in the building." HK said and cloaked, becoming invisible.

    "Command, This is..." Shaak Ti started reporting the situation in her AO. She needed to know if relief forces could reach her on time. If they didn''t, she and the shock troopers would have to disengage and make it to friendly lines.

    =RK=

    Kelrx''Po

    Geonosis

    "Well, kriff." Colonel Pell muttered.

    He could hear the sharp retorts of blasters behind the distant enemy positions. Moments later, that was followed by blue tinted explosions which lit up the night. The officer didn''t need his binocular to see the shield covering the enemy slowly dissipating, which only added to the light show.

    Now he needed to extract the special forces which were in the middle of the CIS controlled village.

    "Soren Actual, This is Theta Actual. Drop the hammer on the following coordinates..." The Colonel proceeded to feed targeting information for the Ion canons of the cruisers in orbit corresponding to the dug in armor and infantry surrounding the village. The settlement itself was to remain largely intact. He wasn''t ready to write off his only stealth capable special forces.

    Soon enough the desert was lit up by azure lighting as the Ion charges struck the dug in enemy. The trenches were no protection for the Ion radiation which slagged electronics even before the energy buildup in the air started producing lighting which arched between tanks and individual droids, tearing the later apart. The battalion of locals spread through the machine''s lines fared little better. The lighting found a lot of them, frying the insectoid aliens where they stood. More than a half of the force stationed there died, with most of the survivors suffering from second and third degree burns.

    By the time the Ion energy started dissipating, there weren''t enough CIS forces left to slow down a platoon, much less the Caamasi divisions that were ready to jump them.

    In the village itself, the situation was different. They were out of the immediate kill radius of the bombardment, yet droids and various other tech on the outskirts were rendered useless with power surges making the life of those in the center difficult. That included both the Clone troopers attached to this prong of the offensive as well as their CIS counterparts.

    In one fell sweep, the situation of the infiltrators went from a successful suicide mission to merely rather precautions.

    Fifteen kilometers away, colonel Pell waited for a few minutes so the energy from the orbital strike could discharge before he gave the order to advance.

    Dozens of heavy tanks roared to life and charged towards the decimated enemy lines. They were followed by their light brethren, which acted as both a screening force and flank protection. A short distance behind them, the heavies were followed by a swarm of APCs and AFVs, ready to provide support when needed.

    While his regiment advanced on the weakened enemy, colonel Pell returned his attention to planning the next move of his forces. They still had to cross hundreds of kilometers before reaching their real target.

    =RK=

    CIS Command Center

    Location Classified

    Geonosis

    "So we are cut off." Sev''rance Tann glared at the large holotank in the middle of the room.

    Her special unit had been dispatched to this dust ball a few weeks ago on a special mission from Count Dooku himself. While their task was successfully accomplished, their number was cut in nearly half and they were stuck here. The fact that the Republic controlled the orbitals and eagerly shot down anyone trying to escape, made her job much harder that it needed to be. She had information that had to reach her master, yet she was cut off with all outgoing transmissions being jammed.

    "Well, at least you have control over this sector of the planet." Forge grunted. Beside herself, the Mandalorian mercenary was the only one who got out mostly intact from the mess they found themselves in. That was a testament of his combat skills and the effectiveness of his custom build armor.

    "That''s not reassuring. This is the primary target for the Republic forces. If it wasn''t for the redundant shields protecting us, we would have been evaporated yesterday." The Dark sider grumbled.

    "Forge, go and check on the defensive lines. I want recommendation on how to improve them. I''ll find out what we have to work with." And try finding a way out of this rock went unsaid. With the destruction of the fleet, it was unlikely that a relief force would be send any time soon.

    "I''m on it, boss." The merc left her with the sorry remnants of her hand picked team.

    Besides Forge, only a pair of Commando droids were combat capable at this time¡­ after they were fixed in the shop during the night. The rest of the survivors, while patched up, weren''t going to be fighting in the next week or so.

    "You two, I want you to bring the prototype droids up to Commando standards programing wise."

    "Roger, Ma''am." The Droid with Captain''s paint on it''s head and shoulders answered, before saluting and leaving the command center.

    That left her alone with one of the highest ranking locals on the planet.

    "It wont be enough." The being said in it''s clicking language.

    "Of course not. All defensive plans hanged on keeping at least a part of the fleet intact to harass the enemy space presence if not wining outright. After the debacle yesterday, all we can do is to slow them down, bleed the Republic forces and keep them died down for as long as possible." Sev''rance stated.

    "In that case, I have some preparations to make." Poggle said and made his way out of the building.

    =RK=

    Part 3

    General Veil''s quarters

    Republic Cruiser Chimera

    First Assault Fleet Flagship

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    Awareness came back slowly. My instinctive reaction of reaching to the Force made my coming back to the world of the living rather unpleasant. Painful even.

    Oh, yeah. I overdid it with the kriffing Battle Meditation. That was unpleasant even if it worked.

    It did, right?

    Ah. Yeah. We won the battle. My mind finally started working and I recalled what happened. Including that very vivid dream of my former Master, who was supposed to be dead. Of the deal we made. I carefully opened my eyes and looked around. Yep, this were my quarters on board Pellaeon''s ship.

    The only question was why the hell did that dream feelso real? Was the Force or that infernal woman who got me stuck here in the first place, playing games with my head? On a second thought, never mind. The Force has been trying to krifff me up royally ever since I knew her touch, damn irritating Dark Side.

    I closed my eyes and carefully touched the Force. This time it was merely unpleasant instead of downright painful. It took me some time to check up onmy shields. The feeling of death, pain and misery that came with a planetary scale war were kind of distracting. A part of me was quite enjoying itself as I soaked the disturbing feeling coming from the world below me. It took me a few minutes to center myself and start reestablishing my shields which were rather frayed after last night''s excitement.

    The smug satisfaction coming from the Dark Side as it grew stronger from the war didn''t make it any easier even if it have me more raw power to work with.

    Still, I finally got myself under control and started checking up for Force Bonds.

    First I sensed the vague familiar presence of my newest apprentice. Huh. Aria was bored, which was good. It must meant that she and my Shock Trooper regiment managed to do their job. Knowing her, Astra wouldn''t be this calm if the mission to take out the Shield Generator Complex was unsuccessful.

    Of course, the best news was that my apprentice felt all right, unharmed.

    I sent her my approval through the bond and clamped on it on my side so I could continue my search undisturbed by the excitable Sith I was training.

    A few moments later I was able to sense another bond, a bit weaker and older.

    Whatever Jaybo was doing back on Corellia, the kid was quite excited, downright happy even. So leaving him temporally with the Green Jedi there appeared to be a good decision on my part.

    After patting myself on the back for that idea, I continued my search.

    This time it took longer, the connection I was looking for was ethereal, almost non-existent thing. If I wasn''t specially looking for it, the kriffing thing would have slipped past my attention. It was too fickle, weak for me to follow it, yet that wasn''t really necessary right now.

    The very existence of that bond was important.

    I opened my eyes, returning my attention firmly to the here and now. No apprentice worth their salt, no matter if they were Sith or even this era''s Jedi, would fail to recognize the Force Bond with their Master.

    Darth Kriffing Zash was somehow alive, if that word could be used for her body hopping state.

    It took me a few moments of loud Huttese curses to calm down.

    Damn it to all Corellian Hells, wasn''t my life complicated enough already?! Kriff!

    Zash herself I could easily ignore until this war was over. It wasn''t like I haven''t done it before, even when she had the power over me to try torturing me to death. It was the kriffing deal we made in that "dream". I needed to wrap up this battle and visit the Jedi Temple''s Archives. I had to find a few answers about the past before deciding what to do with Zash.

    For all I knew, she was desperate and lying through her teeth, even if I didn''t recall any deception on her part.

    I stood up, too abruptly for comfort and nearly fell on my ?ss. Damn, my balance was shot too. I took a deep breath, steadied myself and carefully made my way to the fresher.

    =RK=

    A hot shower made me feel somewhat better. At least good enough to drag myself to medical for some self medication. I apparently looked as bad as I felt, if the looks random clones and other ?ssorted Navy personnel gave me while I was shambling through Chimera''s corridors.

    Soon enough, I was at the blast doors separating the last part of the way and the main medical bay of the ship.

    They were conspicuously closed and had a squad of Clones wearing the new medium armors guarding the entrance. That was surprising. Did my boys catch someone important while I was napping?

    "Sergeant, report." My voice sounded like gravel. Joy.

    "General, sir!" The NCO in charge of the squad stood straighter, but didn''t get to attention, neither moved his weapon from pointing loosely at my midsection. Good man.

    "We have Skywalker in custody, General. Per Commodore Pellaeon''s orders, the ship is under maximum security while he is on board, sir. I''ll need to scan you before allowing you entry, sir."

    Despite feeling like a shit I grinned. I doubted that if I ordered them to jut let me in, they would listen¡­ Something that their still brainwashed brethren would do in a heartbeat, considering that I was the ranking officer in the fleet. It was good to see indication that consigning a lot of time and effort to deprogramming the Clones under my command was effective.

    One day that may very well save my ?ss.

    I stood still while a Corporal ran a hand held scanner over me, confirming that I wasn''t someone or something wearing my face.

    "Sir, you are free to enter." The Sergeant sounded relieved.

    "Carry on." I said with an approving smile and passed into the med bay after one of the clones opened the doors.

    Inside I found another two squads guarding a single Bacta tank in the far corner of the compartment. The device was pointedly placed in such a way as to be as far from the two entrances to medical as possible.

    Going by what I was sensing from the Clones, Skywalker had blown all the goodwill he would ever have with them after his stunt.

    I had to pause for a moment to rein in my anger. While initially Anakin did show some forethought by loading all but a skeleton crew no everything but three Venators, in the end he made it pointless by using one of them as a projectile to take out a battle station and the other as a shield for his own ship.

    That reminded me, I needed to check up on what survived from 501stamong other things.

    I shook my head, which was beginning to pound, and went to a nearby lab station, ignoring the medics who were giving me concerned looks.

    "Unless one of you is familiar with treating Force burnout, you can carry on." I grumbled.

    Now what exactly did I need for the kriffing witch''s brew I was going to make and then drink?

    While most of my attention was on the task at hand, I glanced at one of the Clone medics, who was hovering nearby. Probably in case I managed to poison myself or something.

    "What''s the status of the casualties? Do you folks have all that you need to take care of them?"

    "We''ve got sufficient manpower and supplies, general. The casualties have been considerably lighter than expected. Actually we have you to thank about that."

    "What did I do?" I asked absent-mindedly while stirring a chemical ???ktail and carefully infusing it with the Force.

    "Your orders for orbital interdiction of any enemy military target, with disregard for collateral damage. Our casualties are an order of magnitude less than expected."

    "That''s the way it should be. Unless you''re retaking one of your own worlds, you have no business throwing an army against a planet without a liberal application of orbital firepower."

    Unless you wanted your military casualties for the campaign to get in the dozens of millions¡­ if you had such a manpower to waste in the first place.

    I almost missed the good old days before both the Old Republic and the Empire started deploying planetary shields during the cold war. Before that, ?ssaulting a planet was much less bloody for the attacking side if they had space superiority.

    Ah, it was mostly ready¡­ I beamed at the bubbling and smoking concoction. It had a nasty gray-green color and the less said about the taste the better.

    At least it should make sure that I''ll be in my right mind soon so I can start dealing with the battle unfolding down below.

    "What in the name of all that''s unholy is this?!" Admiral Yularen, who had came in while I was distracted, exclaimed.

    "Medicine." I deadpanned and took a sip, promptly coughing out most if it. The kriffing thing started hissing and eating through the deck.

    The Admiral just stared at me open mouthed.

    "It needs a bit more stabilizer." I coughed and started rummaging through the lab station.

    "And I thought that the Jedi were bad enough..." Yularen muttered.

    "What did they do this time?"

    "Besides protesting our conductplanet side?"

    "As long as they follow the damn orders and don''t get our people killed, they can protest to their heart''s content." I said while liberally seasoning my drink with arsenic.

    Ah, there was nothing like kludged Sith Alchemy to make of kriff up one''s day.

    I took another sip. It was terrible, in top five of the nastier things I''ve tried though nowhere near the top. Then again, those were the hazards I once had to brave as Zash''s ?ssistant slash Guinea pig.

    "Is this an elaborate suicide attempt or something?" Yularen was back to his usual self.

    "It''s necessary if I''m to be useful in a few hours instead of inside a week. What do I need to know?"

    The Admiral shrugged, probably dismissing my antics as the price of working with space wizards. "It''s been eventful since you went for your beauty sleep. Which didn''t work, if you''re wondering. You do look rather terrible." He gave me a small smile.

    "I feel worse."

    Another sip. This time I managed to give Yularen a sick smile in attempt to show him I was already getting better.

    He gave me a long suffered look and shook his head, muttering something about kriffing maniacs thinking they''re generals. A grumble later and he had his business face on. "The situation is fluid. While so far we''re ahead of schedule, the locals did spring more than a few nasty surprises, which account for most of our losses..." Yularen started explaining.

    With a bit of luck, I would have an understanding of the situation by the time I started recovering.

    =RK=

    Interlude: Resident insane scientists, Part I

    Republic R&D Facility

    Location Classified

    Coruscant

    "Sorry, General. Only you can proceed from here on." The Lieutenant in charge of the checkpoint looked apologetic.

    That however did nothing to ease the tension. The twelve troopers surrounding Valentra tensed, hands tightening around their weapons.

    "Kelso, stand down. We are all friendlies here." The General ordered, hoping that he wasn''t making a mistake. He was ?ssured by the intelligence chiefs that this facility was actually secure, with all the personnel carefully vetted. Multiple times, by three separate agencies.

    Under different circumstances, even someone as paranoid as Valentra would have thought that to be an overkill.

    That was before the attack on the HQ, that left him and Veil practically in charge of the whole damn army. After all, it wasn''t really paranoia if yourcommand structure was penetrated and compromised atthe highest levels.

    Luckily for Valentra, dealing with that particular can of worms wasn''t his headache to deal with, because as things stood, he had his hands full with managing the logistics of a galaxy spanning war. One that was intensifying too, despite all signs tothe contrary. Thanks to the surprising success above Geonosis, the Republic now had two to four weeks to take a breather and hopefully prepare for the next round of intensive combat. Though given the scale of the fighting that would be going on in that period, one would be hard pressed to believe that there was an actual lull in the war. Then again, that was the reality of a conflict of such a scale.

    That was the reason he was here, while the facility''s guards and his bodyguard were doing their best to increase his headaches.

    The door behind the guard detail slid open with a hiss, disrupting the argument in it''s infancy.

    "What''s the meaning of this?! Ah, General! Come on! We have so much to show you and not enough time, unless we can convince you to prolong your visit?" The Duros standing on the other side of the door had a helpful expression on his face. He was wearing a white, skintight lab outfit, which needed only a helmet to be airtight.

    "If I can pass through without starting a firefight, I''ll consider it."

    "A firefight? Here?!" The scientist exclaimed. His huge eyes looked wildly around for all of two seconds before centering on the Lieutenant. "Tigh! How many times should I tell you! No shooting our visitors unless they are here to mess up our experiments! If they are kriffing spies, just call us and we''ll use them as ingredients!"

    For some unfathomable reason, Valentra got the feeling that the scientist wasn''t joking. What madmen did Veil had working on R&D after he started taking an active role in their studies?

    "Sorry, sir. However, only the General is cleared."

    "Ah that. It was General Veil''s idea. No unauthorized personnel past this point. Damn, we aren''t supposed to let in even the Chancellor if he somehow appeared on our doorstep¡­ Talk about paranoid individuals¡­ He makes us look downright sane by comparison..." The Duros shook his head, while his eyes got a far away look.

    "Ahem, Doctor. My time is precious and you have to show me a lot of things this afternoon."

    "Right, right. This way. I can promise you, you''ll get the General back in the same shape and form. However, I can''t vouch for his sanity. Occupational hazard, you see."

    "You know, that''s not reassuring. By the way, we weren''t introducing."

    "Ah, that. I''m Doctor Solumn, Chief Director of this facility. Come on in, follow me. What do you want to see first? The boring presentation, mostly theoretical and lab studies, or shall we start with the fun part? Practical testing is that way and the conference rooms are a few floors above."

    "I''ve had too much excitement today. Let''s head up." Valentra spoke hastily. He wasn''t too keen to see what the undoubtedly unhinged Duros had cooked up in his lab.

    It would be prudent to go over the paperwork first. That way there was less chance for something blowing in his face.

    =RK=

    "Well, it''s boring as I warned you." Solumn sounded rather boringly condescending. Somehow. "At least you passed through the hurdle and now there are only the more interesting projects to go over." Suddenly a disturbing glint appeared in the scientist''s huge eyes.

    "Those were based primary on Veil''s idea, right?" Valentra asked. He had the sneaking suspicion that what he was about to be made aware of, would be something terrible, at least for the Republic''s enemies. Just like the doctor prescribed.

    "Yes, such a nice man! His ideas have potential! Where to start¡­"

    "Usually the beginning is best."

    "Why not? Most other projects we''ll be reviewing for the rest of the meeting would be dramatically enhanced if we succeed with the first two ideas that General Veil put forth!"

    "I''m all ears."

    "First, Project Ascension." Solumn beamed. "I quite like that one. If we can get it working, I''ll be using the results on me and the whole staff."

    Valentra raised an eyebrow, wondering what horror had been unleashed by Veil.

    "Simply put, Ascension is forcing the next step of our evolution!" The Scientist cackled with glee. "It''s based on finding a way to safely implement genetic upgrades to ourselves! Making us smarter, tougher. Giving us better reflexes and reaction times! You got the drift, right? Once we make it work, it will be glorious!"

    "Basically upgrading our soldiers, putting them on their peak? No turning us into monsters by accident?" The General smiled. Getting one hundred and ten percent from his soldiers sounded great. Besides the clones were genetically altered at least a bit to be better at their jobs. To equal that quality when training the volunteers went into full swing would be great. If it could be done safely.

    "At the very minimum! What our research teams envision is bringing us far beyond what the nature meant when while we evolved. Besides, that monster thing was one time!"

    Valentra''s smile froze at the last sentence. "What do you mean?"

    "It was just an accident, it won''t happen again I swear!"

    "I''ll be looking into that." Whatever it was. "How is the project going?"

    "We are still in the preliminary stages. Simply tailoring the changes using retroviruses won''t be enough for the bigger stuff, though within a year I can guarantee that we at least would be able to put our troopers at the peak of their species'' physical abilities."

    "That sounds great." And much less dangerous than the other stuff. "I''ll be reviewing this project later." Carefully. "What''s next?"

    "Project Rebirth. It has similar overall goal, though it tackles the problem from a different direction. We based it on an already existing research into better prosthetic for when your soldier got blown to pieces. The overall idea is to reach the point in cybernetics where both the Old Republic and the Sith Empire were during the great war Four Thousand years ago. As you may know, the Republic as a whole has lost a lot of institutional knowledge in that area. While it is possible, even likely that individual members do have capabilities rivaling or even exceeding those of the old powers, well that knowledge isn''t available to us."

    "Well, putting my boys and girls back together if they run out of luck is always great in my book." Valentra nodded empathically. While there were rather nice prosthetic on the open market, the top of the line that a soldier would need to return to active service were out of the league for an average citizen, though a civilian could easily get his hands on something that can easily get them through their daily lives without a hitch.

    For a grunt or even worse, a pilot, the all but the top of the line was rather dubious perspective.

    "As I said we started with that. Soon enough we''ll have artificial limbs in mass production, that put everything but the custom built stuff to shame. However, that''s not what Project Rebirth is. To be frank, the aim of Ascension is similar. We''ve been doing some studies on what''s possible if the Confeds stop messing around and relying on the lowest bidder for their droids. If they went high on quality, your precious Clone troops would be dead meat. The new weapons and armor would make them a bit more than useless, but they simply don''t have the toughness, reflexes and reaction times to face proper war droids if the damn things are deployed in numbers."

    "At least so far the CIS has been keen on relying on quantity. It has been working too."

    "Bah, the B1s are trash, mere rent-a-cop quality mechs..." Solumn spat. "The SB series and the Droidekas are a little better, though only the latter are reasonable threat for a Clone one on one. I am talking about real war droids, the likes of which we both know could be build."

    Valentra''s expression became grim. He as well as most Republic citizens had heard the stories, though as a general he had the benefit of seeing classified reports. Now and then, a really advanced and damn dangerous droid surfaced. They universally had simply inhuman reaction time and speed, not to mention the amount of firepower needed to overwhelm their well armored chassis. If the CIS ever deemed it necessary to start mass producing such things, the GAR was in for a world of pain.

    The General winced. For all he knew, the enemy was already trying to do just that with the experimental droid factories on Geonosis, which were the main reason for the invasion. He was hoping that the ground forces could wreck those facilities before they got operational.

    "I am aware of the problem and believe that we''ve seen the same reports." Valentra nodded.

    "Good. So I don''t have to explain how grave a threat such a development would be. To counteract it, we''re aiming of creating combat cyborgs. On the lower end we would have soldiers with built in weapons within their artificial limbs, sub-dermal armor, bones coated with various alloys to make them as close as unbreakable or outright replacements, either enhancing or replacing muscle..." Solumn continued droning on and on to Valentra''s sick fascination.

    The worst thing was that he saw the necessity. Even if the situation didn''t became as grim as it could, making it unnecessary for the most radical proposed steps ¨C mind uploading into advanced droids or cutting off and placing a person''s nervous system into an Android body, the horror, Valentra could see that hundreds of thousands, even millions of wounded soldiers would benefit from this research.

    Besides, you never knew when you would desperately need to mass produce super soldiers, which were the real aims of those projects. Oh, he gave both Solumn and Veil credit, they would be obviously heralding the benefits of the research for both civilian and military alike, but that was secondary benefit at best. In reality, it was all about turning the army in one made of super soldiers.

    "Any other bombshells you want to drop on me, doc?"

    "What? All ordinance is tested in the underground labs about a hundred levels bellow us!"

    "Next project, please." Valentra shook his head. Solumn appeared to be honestly confused.

    "All right! It''s time for more hardware! First, Project Helldiver. I believe you''re familiar with it."

    "Veil''s brainchild for orbital deployment. I went through preliminary reports of its use during the initial ?ssault of Geonosis. It seems to work."

    "Well, initially I thought that it was some thrill-seeker''s fancy, but after a bit of brainstorming we managed to kludge together as system that works. That''s the Helldiver MarkOne. We are naturally researching various ways to improve it and once we have the data from Geonosis and incorporate lessons learned form there, the first variant will start mass production."

    "Good. That has many uses for deploying both people and material."

    "That was our conclusion as well. Next comes everything under the heading of Project Dragon. I''ll need an additional code word authentication to release certain sub projects. Its under Codeword Crimson Tide."

    "Winter Sonata." Valentra spoke his own code.

    "Confirmed." A synthetic voice sounded from all sides of the conference room. "Scanning¡­ Complete. General Valentra, you have unrestricted access to Project Dragon and it''s sub-divisions."

    "Who is that?"

    "Alison, our own AI. She''s very much work in progress so far."

    "Ah. There aren''t a lot of those running around." Despite what a some people believed, the multitudes of droids running around the galaxy, while rather bright and sentient weren''t actually sapient. Not real AI''s. Not persons. That said, he knew of at least three AI''s operating within the Republic''s borders and two of them were considered citizens. "Nice to meet you, Alison. Now, if any of you would be good enough to proceed with this briefing."

    "Right. Project Dragon is the umbrella covering our advanced aerospace research. From weapons and armor for your troopers up to and including new capital ship designs. Where to start¡­ Yes, the stuff you should be familiar with. Project Phalanx. It''s first phase is now complete with the deployment of the new shielded armors, which are now entering mass production. A companion project, Lancer is to blame for the new guns that come in with the shinny new outfits. "

    "Yes, I was briefed on those and read into the field test reports."

    "Splendid. Now, Phalanx Phase two. That is very much under development. We were stalled until that mess on Naboo when one of your Commando teams managed to came back with an example of working light power armor, even if they practically wrecked the damn thing. Thanks to that, research in the are is proceeding apace."

    "Good. If those enemy operatives were really wearing the light stuff, I don''t want to know what the other models can do. I want this project given priority."

    Solumn simply nodded. "Next, it''s not particularly awe inspiring, but rather important nonetheless. Project Hermes. It''s the development of new propulsion methods. So far we''re making a good progress on a new ion engine which would do wonders for all small craft once it''s ready. The rest if mostly theoretical studies on improving hyperspace travel, but there is nothing on that front as of this moment."

    "That''s good or would be, if it wasn''t for the Guardian. Don''t get me wrong, you folks outdid yourselves with that system. It practically changed some aspects of space warfare by itself. However, it won''t be long before the CIS unveils their own version and our small craft will be made useless."

    "We''ve been aware of that from before installing it. It''s just too bad that it took the war and General Veil''s patronage for the Guardian to see the light of day. Now, we''ve been working on countermeasures. They fall under Project Dragon Wing. It has three phases though the second two are theoretical studies for the foreseeable future. It''s the first one that will interest you. Alison if you will." Solumn waved at the ceiling.

    "Of course, Director."

    A holographic image appeared above the table they were sitting around. "This is a design for a Heavy Fighter. The boys in engineering are ?ssembling a prototype as we speak."

    The holographic image was showing something different from what came to mind when one thought about starfighter. Once upon a time it might have been a Delta, similar to what most Jedi preferred to fly. However it was almost two and half times bigger, with the most of the volume taken by heavy armor, oversized engines and a lot of weapons. A. Lot. Of. Weapons. The thing had the firepower rivaling a squadron of Torrents.

    "I like it. Is it fast enough to avoid cap ships light guns?"

    "That''s the idea. Just fast enough not to be hit by that amount of firepower while tanking a reasonable amount of Guardian system''s firepower. As you can see, "Solumn pointed at various small gun emplacements, "It has active anti-missile systems too."

    "The idea has merit. Can it be applied to our ground vehicles?"

    "I had the same thought. After checking some of the old records it turns out that such systems were very common until two thousand years ago when they made missiles and rockets fall out of favor for anti-armor work."

    "So they were eventually removed and people started deploying explosive ordinance once again. I wonder how many times such a thing has happened."

    "Probably more than either of us would believe. Now we''ve planned Very Heavy fighter and bomber variants, though those are still on the drawing board. Now that you have access to the program, you can check up on them if you want."

    "Perhaps later. What''s next?"

    "Let''s go with the more conventional things first."

    That surprised Valentra. He was curious what the resident mad scientist would consider unconventional. That would be "interesting". "Let''s go with that."

    "All right. So now it''s time for ground combat. We''ve gone over what is to be done to the infantry. Now it''s time for the heavier hardware. First is Project Titan, it will aim to replace the AT series of walkers with dedicated tanks. For now we are looking to our friends form Axanar and Caamas for design tips for what General Veil dubs Main Battle Tank. Our hove vehicles are doing rather well in the scout and light tank role, though we can use better heavy ones. The walkers while somewhat decent are a mix between a transport and tank ultimately excelling in neither. So we are looking at something that will be in the range of seventy to hundred tons. It''s primary method of transportation will be tracked, though we plan to add repulsors for crossing rough terrain or bridges that aren''t rated for such weight.

    We envision its planned protection in four layers, failing in active and passive defense active AM system, which is in development, second the shield, third reactive armor to take out projectiles and attempt disrupting energy bolts and finally armor. The latter will be capital ship armor grade. As for primary and secondary weaponry, there is some debate and will be decide in a later stage of the design. We''ll be shooting for cruise speed between eighty and ninety kilometers per hour."

    "When can we expect to have anything but prototypes? Because what you just outlined sounds much better that either side is currently deploying."

    "Six to eight months to finish a prototype and have a few units for field testing. A few more months to clean up any problems that crop up and start mass production."

    "Good. While I would naturally prefer a shorter time-table, this is something we can work with. Will there be any new troop transports? The walkers won''t be able to keep up with such a speed."

    "Indeed. We have two projects for that. Burning Mynok for an APC and Raptor for AFV. Those are still on the drawing board, though the designing phase is rather fast after the latest batch of engineers finished vetting."

    "Good. I''ll want to see the design parameters later. Anything else?"

    "Now for the questionable part. The really fun project I''m leaving last."

    "This I got to hear."

    "If you have any concerns, turn to General Veil. This is all his idea."

    "Dully noted. Proceed."

    "Project Crimson Dragon, and yeah for some reason he''s fascinated with those reptiles. It calls for the creation of multipurpose vehicles, dubbed Mobile Suit. It is meant to handle aerospace combat as well as ground deployment. It should be rather useful in construction as well. Talk about design creep..." Solumn grunted.

    "How the kriff is that supposed to work? Anyway, dedicated platforms for each role would have much better performance."

    "At least he''s aware about that. The basic idea is that mass production and different sub-variants sharing parts to ease our logistical burdens. In the end this Mobile Suit of his is meant to be merely good enough in it''s various roles as well as being deployed in overwhelming numbers. Needless to say, it''s not too bad a concept, before you start factoring the engineering challenges. That''s at least someone alleviated by the General giving us rough ideas and sketches of a few Mobile Suit variants. My best idea is that it was a Sith Empire black project and Veil was a part of the development. Obviously it was never finished."

    "Ah. So you know about Delkatar."

    "He mentioned his origins while explaining where he get some of his ideas and that he has seen a few of them put into practice."

    "The Cyborgs for one."

    "Indeed. He has served with some and what he told me about their capabilities was impressive."

    "While it does sound useful, this Mobile Suit concept sounds too much like something that wants to be a super weapon. We don''t have the time to chase such space dreams. Put it on the back burner until you have the manpower and resources to study its feasibility without compromising other projects. However, you might look in it''s supposed construction capabilities. Anything that might be useful for either our industry or combat engineers is to be looked at."

    "I''ll do so. Now the last part." Solumn grinned. "The General Spoke about an Imperial prototype of a Positron Canon though he suffered his little accident before seeing it being tested."

    "Positron? As in antimatter? I know it could be tremendously powerful as a weapon, but there have allays been problems with proper containment, especially in combat, to make it worthwhile. As a power source, our hyper-matter reactors are almost comparable in efficiency and output, while remaining much, much safer.

    "It''s a relevant field of research and we have some ideas, though it will be a few years before you could see any practical results. Though it''s one of the funniest research fields we have around! Just think of all the math and engineering going in designing a proper way to weaponise antimatter!" Solumn exclaimed in glee.

    Valentra chuckled at the scientist''s antics.

    =RK=

    Part 4

    LAAT Transport

    En route to Republic Staging area Bravo

    Geonosis

    "Pilot, we aren''t heading towards the staging area. Why?" Shaak Ti asked moments later after the side doors of the craft slid shut and it accelerated, pulling upwards.

    "New orders, Ma''am. We are to dock with the Chimera. General Veil''s orders. Unless you have a very good reason to countermand them, Ma''am, we are heading that way."

    "Carry on then. I''ll take it up with the General." The Jedi Master narrowed her eyes. "Your master is starting to overstep his bounds."

    The Assassin Droid hanging next to the Chiss woman in the back of the transport snorted.

    "He is in overall command of this operation, Jedi." The Machine spoke casually, yet there was a lot of contained menace in its synthetic voice.

    "Did you expect something else? With you being the sole exception, we are part of his personal command." Aria smirked. "My Master will want a report on our performance and how the new equipment held up under combat conditions. If he likes what he hears, we''ll be back into the fray soon enough." The Chis woman smiled at the prospect of more combat.

    The ?ssault yesterday made her feel really alive. However, when the battle was over she had some trouble containing her blood ?ust, which was a problem. Aria didn''t appreciate how the Dark Side was constantly whispering in the back of her head, prodding her to more and more acts of violence. That almost got her killed, would have if it wasn''t for that pair of Clones who her Master had ordered to keep an eye of her. They had blasted apart the group of destroyer droids that had her pinned down while a platoon of SBs was preparing to flank her position.

    Aria pouted, irritated by the thought that she needed more training on how to handle the Dark Side. That was uniformly uncomfortable experience.

    The disapproval that the Jedi radiated every time she was around, didn''t help either. It was obviously that the Togruta had a problem with her, yet the older woman kept it to herself. Which was quite irritating. Weren''t the kriffing Jedi supposed to keep their feelings in check or outright suppress them?!

    The young Sith''s eyes darted around the compartment. They were alone in the back, besides the droid and she was rather sure that HK could keep his metal mouth shut.

    "Boys, seal the ???kpit. We need to have a private chat back here."

    "At once, Ma''am."

    A panel fell down, closing off the pilots from the rest of the craft.

    "What''s your problem?" Aria asked, not bothering to keep the irritation from her voice.

    The Jedi General stiffened and turned around to fix the other woman with a flat stare. "I have many problems to deal with as you put it. You need to be more specific."

    Aria rolled her eyes, which looked rather strange on a Chiss. "Hi! Sith here, I can feel through the Force as well as any Jedi, probably better than most. Try again."

    The blue skinned woman almost smiled when she felt a spark of anger from the Togruta, one that was soon turned into smoldering flames.

    "Do you really need to ask? Your very existence is the problem!" Shaak Ti glared.

    "Is that so, Jedi?! So my Master should have simply left me to die. So much for your valued principles!" Aria growled, b?r?ly keeping a lid on her anger. The Force which was laughing at the back of her head was only pissing her off even more.

    "What?! Of course not!" The Jedi Master exclaimed, stepping back in shock. "What in the name of the Force made you think that?!"

    "Sith here! Led the suicidal ?ssault on the Temple, ensured that a lot of Jedi died, a few of your fellow Councilors want me dead? Rings any bells?" Aria snorted, a bit surprised that the other woman actually didn''t want her dead. That or the Jedi was very good at concealing certain emotions while being an open book in regards to others.

    "Well, you''re right about the Sith part. That''s my problem."

    "So what about my Master? He''s been a Sith for a lot longer than either of us has been alive, yet I don''t sense such emotions as far as he''s concerned. You know, feeling like I better not exist or something?"

    Shaak Ti averted her eyes and mumbled something. It wasn''t clear but Aria thought that the other woman flushed into even deeper shade of red.

    "Uh, no. Nope. It''s not happening. Nada. Nah. No way." Aria started shaking in denial.

    "Damn meat- I mean biologicals. What''s your major malfunction?!" HK asked, exasperation clear in his voice.

    "She likes our Master." Aria giggled. "A kriffing Jedi likes our Master." The Sith started laughing. "At least there''s no way he''ll be interested in a Jedi..."

    "Why?" The Assassin droid asked in honest confusion. "His wife was a Jedi. Togruta too. I don''t see an issue."

    "WHAT?!" Aria gave the Jedi Master a horrified look. "That''s so unnatural!"

    Across the compartment, Shaak Ti felt like strangling the other woman after crushing that infernal machine with the Force.

    =RK=

    Part 5

    Briefing room 1

    Republic Cruiser "Chimera"

    First Assault Fleet Flagship

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    "HK what did you do this time?" I asked my ?ssassin droid after glancing at the two Force Adepts who walked in front of him. I didn''t need the Force to actually feel the tension between the women. Shaak Ti looked quite disgrunted, while Aria had an amused expression on her face.

    "Me, Master?" The Droid asked, putting as much fake innocence as he could in his voice. "It''s all their fault." He waved at the females.

    I gave him a flat look. That very well might be the case, though I was sure that whatever the issue was, HK did his best to make it worse. He was a d??k like that.

    "Spill? What''s the problem? Make it fast, we have half an hour before the conference start and I''ll want a first hand report on the Shock Troopers performance."

    Aria started giggling of all things and pointed at Master Ti. "The Jedi don''t know what to do with a crush."

    "And you do?" The older woman looked at my Apprentice.

    "You two can flirt later." I shook my head in a mock disappointment.

    "Master! She has..."

    I waved a hand, shushing Aria. "I''m a bloody Sith Lord who was married to a Jedi. I noticed. If most Jedi didn''t have their heads so far up their backsides, they would have noticed too."

    Shaak Ti glared at me. A low, s?xy grow escaped her lips, before she took her emotions back under control. I smirked at the woman, before schooling my features into a professional indifference.

    "Aria, HK. Give me your thoughts on my Shock Troopers and the Drop Pods." I turned my head towards Shaak Ti. "When you stop feeling like either gutting or having your way with me, I want your opinion too."

    It was a very good thing that todays Force Adepts didn''t know how to kill with a look or I would be a pile of steaming guts cooling on the deck right now. I had to struggle to keep my expression blank. Pissing off Jedi, even if I liked them, was kriffing fun.

    Shaak Ti glared at me for a few seconds, before snapping at Aria and HK. "Leave us for a moment." She ordered.

    They looked at me and saw themselves out after I gave them a sharp nod. Once the door sealed behind them Shaak Ti had my full attention.

    "What crawled up your robe?" I asked. Being blunt usually works with Togrutas. Or blows up spectacularly in your face.

    The Jedi Master pointed an accusing finger at my ?h?st. "You."

    "I would have remembered doing so." I quipped, probably digging myself in even bigger trouble.

    Ti froze, obviously trying to rein in her emotions, before she did something unbecoming a Jedi. It took me a few moments to decide what to do. There was a part of me, which was having fun needling the Jedi Master, manipulating and angering her.

    That was the foundation of one of the more subtle ways to eventually turn someone to the Dark Side, something that I''ve done in the past and had a lot of fun with it. On the other hand, eventually making Shaak Ti a Dark Jedi or a Sith wasn''t on my to do list. I already had my hands full with the war and my current apprentices.

    I stared at the Togruta, who had peeked my interest. The look of frustration on her face was similar to what Ashara had when I often confused her after we first met. However, this wasn''t my wife.

    I sighed, wondering how much of my interest in Shaak Ti was because she reminded me of Ashara and how much was because of the Jedi Master herself. Oh, I was physically attracted to her and wouldn''t mind bedding her, that was a given. She was my type of Togruta after all.

    All the rest...

    "I understand." I spoke softly. "It''s confusing, isn''t it? Dealing with feeling you were taught to suppress, disregard and never actually experience..." I slowly walked closer to the Jedi. I could acutely feel the chaotic storm of emotions that was gripping her.

    So her composure had finally shattered.

    It happened much earlier than I expected it to, yet it actually made sense considering that as a Togruta her control was a bit lacking compared to a lot of other species.

    Strong predator instincts combined with a galactic scale war and the Coruscanti Jedis "teachings" would do that to you given a bit of pressure applied at the correct spots.

    "What do you want? It''s your fault!" Ti hissed at me.

    She was right of course. I''ve been influencing her and everyone who has spent any significant amount of time close to me, even when I wasn''t consciously trying. After all, being the Dark Lord of the Sith wasn''t just a simple title. Far from it.

    "What I want?" I leaned forward, almost touching my forehead to hers. My lips twitched in a small smile when I felt her bring up her lightsaber and press it over my heart.

    Smart girl. If I was any other Sith, her very soul would be in danger right now. This fleeting moment of vulnerability would be enough to break Shaak Ti, turning her into something she wouldn''t dream of in her darkest nightmares.

    "I want to set you free. Liberated from Jedi lies or the kriffing bullshit preached by todays so called Sith. I want you free to look at the universe as it is and chose your own destiny. Because only then I can get to know who you really are under the shell you''ve built around your heart."

    "You want to turn me against the Jedi!" She growled and pressed her lightsaber harder to my ?h?st.

    "Do I? How you deal with the Order is for you to decide. All I want is that you look at them as they are. To shed the veil of indoctrination you''ve been fed all your life."

    "They were right about you!" She shook as her anger burned brightly, making her almost irresistible. "I never believed how dangerous the other masters made you to be, yet they were right!" Shaak Ti snapped her head back and laughed bitterly. "You''re really our true enemy. You didn''t need an army to start tearing the order apart. Just reasonably sounding words and Jedi start listening to you, flocking to your side." She stared into my eyes, searching for something.

    "You give me too much credit. You''ve been crippled by your Order''s teachings. All I needed to do is show you the truth and your control started fraying around the edges. Add the war you''ve already been fighting..."I trailed off and smiled.

    Her anger was delicious. Her scent made my heart beat faster. "Shaak Ti, you''re a person, not a soulless automaton no matter how much your Order wants you to be precisely that. Experiencing feelings is as natural as breathing."

    "Oh, you''re good¡­ Twisting half-truths so they suit you. I''m a Jedi. I can''t allow myself to feel, you''re making that crystal clear!"

    "On the contrary. You can''t afford not to feel."

    "So you could seduce me? Turn me to your side?"

    I could sense Shaak Ti''s finger hovering over the ignition bu??on of her lightsaber, ready to press it.

    I smiled gently at the woman that was moments away from vaporizing my heart, wondering how she could see my intentions so clearly, yet get them so wrong in the same time.

    Kriffing Jedi Order and kriff their kriffing Code.

    "I''m a Jedi Master!" Shaak Ti declared, her anger dimming for a moment. "I won''t be turned!"

    Damn it woman, do you have any idea how many times I''ve heard that in similar situations?!

    =RK=

    Part 6

    Briefing room 1

    Republic Cruiser "Chimera"

    First Assault Fleet Flagship

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    "I certainly hope not! Dealing with insane, power-thirsty version of you won''t be any fun." I stated truthfully.

    That was the reason why I never seriously entertained the idea of turning a big chunk of the Jedi Order and using them as an expendable shock troopers against the rest. Those fresh Dark Jedi would be a major pain in my ?ss. Besides, as Shaak Ti was proving, I could neuter the Jedi as a credible potential threat by simply continuing to appear sane and competent Republic General, one who incidentally happens to be a Sith Lord.

    That I made a lot of them look like incompetent idiots, just tickled me pink when it wasn''t vexing me.

    While trolling the Jedi was fun, even if I didn''t have the time to indulge in that enjoyable sport, Master Ti having her Lightsaber pressed to my heart, a moment away from activating wasn''t exactly fun even if I enjoyed very much the emotions I could sense in the woman.

    The Jedi Master stared at me for a long moment and snarled.

    "Enough games!"

    "Why? You''re so much fun right now. It''s one of the rare time I''ve really seen a glimpse of the real you." My simile widened a bit.

    Being on the razor''s edge was exhilarating. I pointedly ignored the weapon, which was pressed more firmly to my ?h?st and carried on.

    "How long has it been, Shaak Ti? I know it''s hard to figure out your emotions after you''ve been trampling and suppressing them for your entire life."

    "Really? What''s next? You''ll claim that you only want to help me? To know what''s best for me?" The Jedi Master sneered.

    "Hell no. That''s for you to decide. That''s the whole point I''ve been trying to make to you Shaak Ti."

    "Riiight. Turn me against everything I believe in, you mean! Until one bright day, I won''t think it wrong to raise my blade against my brothers and sisters in the Order. I''m not a toy to be played with!" Ti hissed.

    "That''s not gonna happen. You''re too strong to let yourself fall that low." I scoffed. "Do you really think that I consider you a plaything?! If I didn''t have respect for your power and achievements I wouldn''t have bothered to tell you a thing about my past. I wouldn''t have paid you any attention beyond the b?r? minimum I needed to do my kriffing job!" I snapped at the Jedi.

    "So I have an ancient Sith Lord stalker. As if that''s better!" She glared at me after a moment of thought.

    "Oh, trust me, Master Ti, if I was stalking you, you''d notice." I snorted. It wouldn''t be any fun if she didn''t.

    "Bastard!" Shaak Ti hissed.

    I frowned. Just below her more pronounced emotion, I could sense a growing fear.

    "What are you afraid of? Letting yourself feel won''t make you a Sith, nor a Dark Jedi or something." I shook my head in exasperation. "On the other hand, cutting me down as we are right now, that''s a sure way for you to fall. If I really had nefarious plans for you my dear, I would be goading you to strike me right now as I''m unarmed. That''s one of the basic ways to lure someone to the Dark side, though its quite successful despite that."

    "Is that so? From where I stand, I''m a bu??on press away from ridding the galaxy from a Sith Lord." The Jedi Master scoffed, yet there was the tiniest hint of amusement in her voice. "I''m afraid that you''re destroying my control! Turning me into something that a Jedi never was meant to be!" Shaak Ti spoke somberly.

    "What do you want me to say? That I''ve been manipulating you from the day we first met? That I''ve done my best to wear down the bastion you''ve built around your heart? It''s true, Shaak Ti. I want to meet the woman you''ve been hiding behind the mask of a not so proper Jedi Master."

    I slowly raised my right arm and cupped the hand holding her Lightsaber snugly against my heart.

    "You admit it?" Shaak Ti recoiled in surprise.

    "As if I''ve ever hidden it. I''ve been preaching to every Coruscanti Jedi willing to listen that you''ve been crippling yourselves by denying and constantly suppressing your feelings. You know that." I narrowed my eyes at her. "It''s not my actions, but the motives behind them that you doubt. You''re afraid what will happen if you allow yourself to feel and I chose that moment to show my ''true nature''." I shook my head in grim amusement.

    "Don''t pretend to be misunderstood. I did give you the benefit of the doubt! Yet, what did you do? Thanks to your actions the Jedi Order is about to tear itself apart!"

    "Is this you speaking or the party line you''ve been taught? Open your eyes, Shaak Ti! This is precisely what happens when you follow that foolish interpretation of the Jedi Code you''ve been taught and inevitably end confronting your feelings. You don''t know how to deal with them and you''re lashing at me because of that."

    "There is no Passion, only peace!" The Jedi Master declared, though her voice simply lacked conviction.

    There was not a single shred of peace I could feel within her heart.

    "Personally I like much more the real Jedi Code. Emotion, yet peace. Passion, yet Serenity and so forth. Using the old Code is much more less likely to turn you into a raging monster on a bad day."

    She looked for thoughtful for a few seconds before glaring at me. "Yet that''s not your code, is it?"

    "I''m a Sith and proud of it, as you very well know." I declared. My voice was ringing with conviction. "I''ve achieved the ultimate aim of the Sith Code, Shaak Ti. The Force indeed set me free. Free to do what I deem right, instead of what certain unenlightened parties expect me to do as a Sith."

    "What you deem right..." She muttered after a few seconds of uneasy silence. "No Sith I know of ever thought that the horrors they wrought were wrong. That''s not really helping your case."

    "Damn it! I want the same for you! Not to be a Sith or a fallen Jedi! I want you to free yourself from the shackles that the Jedi Code imposes upon your very heart. I want you free to be whoever you chose to become, not because someone wants you to be that person, but because that''s what you want. Because that''s who you are." I spoke softly, while looking her in the eyes.

    All I said was true. It was subtle manipulation too, of course. I wanted her to break the chains binding her to a hollow existence as a Jedi. I wanted to know the woman I''ve rarely glimpsed when Shaak Ti''s emotions ran high.

    I conveniently missed to point out that from a certain point of view, such an act would made her a true Sith, no matter what anyone else believed her to be.

    The boiling cauldron of emotions that was Shaak Ti was about to explode. I could feel what little control she had weakening. The Force was coiling around us, as if in anticipation that the Jedi would finally stop holding back and open herself to her boundless power.

    Shaak Ti''s fist, which was gripping her lightsaber, was shaking under my hand.

    I leaned through the tiny distance between us and softly kissed her on the lips, without breaking eye contact.

    She tasted better than I imagined.

    Her eyes widened in surprise and confusion.

    What little control she still had on her emotions shattered and the Force responded to her unbound feelings, whipping wildly around us.

 Chapter 44 - Interlude: Shaak Ti

    Confusion. Exasperation. Cursing oneself for being a naive fool.

    Anger.

    That''s how being Shaak Ti felt.

    Ever since she started actively participating in the war, she had found it harder and harder to center herself when she meditated. The screams of billions dying were echoing through the Force, feeding the Dark Side. Every day more and more people were joining the choir of the murdered, making it that more difficult to keep oneself free of their emotions while meditating.

    In hindsight, Shaak Ti and the other Jedi Masters should have anticipated it happening. She had seen the records of the wars between the Old Republic and the Sith. Of the effect that a prolonged galaxy spanning conflict had on the Jedi Order.

    That simplywasn''t enough to prepare her for the reality of the war. The sheer senseless, callous destruction and the unimaginable scale of death that inevitably came with it.

    What she did know was why the Jedi of old were so reluctant to participate in the Republic''s wars unless the Sith were involved.

    Simply feeling the war through the Force while she was training Clone Troopers on Kamino, while far away of any active battlefield was more than enough to make ridding herself of her emotions difficult. On the occasions she was near the location of anything but a small scale skirmish, she could easily feel people''s deaths echoing through the Force.

    And when she actually engaged in combat, it was that much Worse. The only thing that helped then was the nature of the enemy, which was composed mostly of droids.

    That didn''t help as much as she had hoped.

    Shaak Ti still felt the death of the Clones under her command, of the ordinary beings engaging on both sides¡­ and the civilians caught in the cauldron of war.

    As often as not, when countless millions were dying in the span of moments by either design or accident, every Jedi could sense it.

    The war had been slowly warping the Jedi.

    Every time a Jedi engaged in combat, every time an order member was anywhere near a massacre, they were influenced by the Dark Side no matter how much they tried to resist it. It frayed the Jedi''s control over their emotions.

    Then he appeared, and it all got much, much worse.

    A Dark Lord of the Sith¡­ who was anything, but what the Jedi were taught to expect.

    Shaak Ti would have laughed if she could. Instead she just glared at the man who was subtly destroying the Jedi Order from within.

    The ancient records had warned the future generations of Jedi how dangerous the Sith could be.

    Those warnings were in fact underestimating the true threat a Dark Lord of the Sith could pose. It wasn''t his mastery over the Force and techniquesthat had becomehalf-forgotten legends.It wasn''t his proficiency with a lightsaber that rivaled or perhaps even surpassed the best swordsmen in the Order. Oh, no. Those things weren''t what made him truly dangerous.

    It was his dark allure. The strange charisma that he could summon at times. The reasonable way in which he made millennia of Jedi teachings sound as if they were flawed creations, holding the Order members back.

    When he spoke, the Jedi, especially the younger ones listened. Instead of scoffing at his attempts to twist everything they were, every principle they stood for, a lot of Jedi considered his words¡­ and an increasing number of them found merit in them.

    After the horrors a lot of them had felt, witnessed or even participated in, it made a number of Jedi doubt themselves and their teachings. It made them willing to listen when Veil spoke "innocently" suggesting another way to do things.

    Oh, she felt the allure of his words. At a time when even Jedi Masters found it all but impossible to free themselves of their feelings during meditation, impossible to fully center themselves, Veil was promising that they didn''t have to. That they weren''t failing as Jedi when allowing themselves to feel.

    That it wasn''t wrong.

    It was what many of the younger ones and some of their elders wanted, to hear.

    It was the same for Shaak Ti. It was a vindication that a deeply buried part of the Togruta sorely needed. A promise that her predator instincts that always made it hard to be a decent, emotion free Jedi, weren''t wrong. Weren''t something that she necessary needed to constantly fight. That her instincts wasn''t something to fear.

    She could see it now. It was so easily to start sliding down a damning path. It felt so right to let herself experience emotions instead of instantly squashing them with a sheer effort of her will.

    It was sublime.

    And it almost brought her to damnation.

    Even now, when Shaak Ti was finally clearly seeing the trap she fell into, it was all she could to to hold the storm of emotions raging within her and not act on them. She trembled with the effort, pressing her lightsaber to Veil''s heart.

    It would be so easily to give in to her righteous anger and end the Sith once and for all.

    What was the alternative?! Here he was, at her mercy, an occurrence that was unlikely to happen once that was no longer the case.

    He would never let himself be so vulnerable again.

    Shaak Ti knew that she was trapped. Snared as surely as the rest of the Council. Legally he had done nothing wrong to warrant her striking him down. Doing so could very well turn the Senate, Chancellor and the Republic and her army against the Jedi. It was something that almost happened when Master Windu apparently saw the truth during the attack on the Temple and tried to act on it.

    A wave of desperation slammed in Shaak Ti and almost instantly fed into her anger. What was the alternative? Watch how Veil continues to tear apart the Order from within? Watch him turn scores of Jedi to the Dark Side without them suspecting anything being amiss? Allow him to continue to toy with her? To continue manipulating her?!

    She was shaking, losing her doomed fight to contain the confusing storm of emotions threatening to engulf her whole being.

    Claiming that he wanted her to be free?! She almost laughed at the thought. It sounded great, it truly did. It was a lie of course. Another plot to twist her mind.

    There was only one little problem, a treacherous voice spoke at the back of her head. Why letting herself freely experience emotions for the first time felt so right?! Why did it make her feel complete if it was so wrong?!

    Then Veil leaned even closer and softly kissed her.

    That threw Shaak Ti for a loop, the unfamiliar sensation making her bind blank for a moment.

    Shaak Ti growled, a primal sound containing equal amounts of confusion, dark d?s?r? and fury.

    The last vestiges of control she had over her emotions snapped.

    =RK=

    Part 7

    Briefing room 1

    Republic Cruiser "Chimera"

    First Assault Fleet Flagship

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    A pulse of raw, wild Force energy threw me back. Only instinctively shielding myself from the power release prevented me from slamming intothe bulkhead behind me, though it was close. My frayed nerves screamed as too much Force ran through my body, but I only grit my teeth and took a step closer to Shaak Ti, who was swaying on her feet. The Jedi Master was in the center of a localized storm of energy which was whipping around her like a small tornado.

    "Leave. Make sure we aren''t interrupted." I ordered, while concentrating my attention on Shaak Ti.

    From the corner of my eye I saw Aria frown, but she stiffly nodded nevertheless and left with my ?ssassin on her heels. When the door shut and locked behind them I let out a sigh of relief. The last thing I needed was an interruption. This was going out to be a delicate matter to handle.

    The emotions I could sense coming from the Jedi Master had risen to a crescendo, a virtual hurricane of unbound and conflicting feelings. My lips twitched upwards in a semblance of a smile as I allowed my senses to brush over the amount of Force that Shaak Ti was unwittingly channeling. The raw power at her disposal now that she was no longer binding her feelings was making her even more alluring.

    Now, how to end this mess without having to kill her, because that would be such a kriffing waste¡­

    I concentrated, using the Force to brush the surface of Shaak Ti''s mind. She flinched at the ethereal contact. The power around her contracted, forming a rough defensive barrier between Shaak Ti and the surrounding world. It was a pure reflexive response, nothing that could prevent me reaching her if I wanted.

    "Shaak Ti." I spoke into her mind, taking advantage of the glaring lack of mental shields, which had collapses when she lost all semblance of control over her emotions.

    The Jedi flinched and took a step back. Suddenly the cauldron of boiling emotions that was gripping her was being dominated by sheer terror.

    "I have no intention of hurting you." Unless you tried to stab me with that lightsaber, but lets hope it wouldn''t come to that.

    "VEIL!" She hissed. "You did this to me!" In an instant the fear was drowned by delicious fury.

    "I''m partially to blame, yes. How is it, to feel? To revel in your emotions for the first time since you were a little girl?" I asked aloud.

    "This is madness!" Shaak Ti stared at me with wild, scared eyes.

    "Well, you''re loosing it in a rather spectacular way, though thankfully there isn''t any collateral damage to speak of." I quipped.

    She was back to being furious with me. Yep. Typical Jedi, no idea what to do with her emotions.

    Fear. Desperation. Anger. Desire. Sheer confusion. Regret. Self loathing. Sense of loss. Attraction¡­ The way her emotions were shifting like demented podracers was giving me a headache. Undoubtedly it was a hundred time worse for her.

    "It''s all right. There''s nothing wrong with allowing yourself to feel emotions. Doing so don''t lead to the Dark Side." I took a step forward, while doing my best to project a sense of calm and security through the Force. "Close your eyes. Concentrate on a single feeling. Let yourself experience it instead of fighting it. Let yourself feel." I muttered softly and took another step forward.

    "It''s too much!" Shaak Ti whispered with a desperation laden voice. The Force responded, lashing wildly around her and leaving rends in the bulkheads. I staggered as a wave of power slammed into my defenses, but continued to slowly get closer to the confounded Jedi.

    "It''s not. You''re stronger than this. You can face your emotions, revel in them without losing yourself." I whispered.

    "I can''t! It''s wrong!" She shook her head in confusion.

    "Is it? Does it feel wrong? Or are you afraid that for the first time everything feels right, even if you don''t know how to handle it? I know its confusing."

    Another step and I was in a hand''s reach from Shaak Ti. Her emotions shifted again and this time she looked lost and vulnerable. I frowned. I hated seeing her like that. I moved even closer and gently placed my hands on her shoulders. Her head snapped up and she looked at me with her huge eyes.

    Confusion. Attraction. Danger. Mistrust/Trust. Desire. Anger.

    Her swirling feelingscontinuedto bombard me as I softly rubbed her shoulders, trying to calm her down.

    "Let it go. Stop fighting your emotions." I whispered.

    Without thinking I raised my right hand and gently cupped her cheek.

    "It''s all right."

    "Why? What did I ever do to you?" Shaak Ti asked.

    "You fascinate me. Your strength, your determination. Especially the glimpses I''ve seen from the woman who was hidden under all those layers of Jedi indoctrination. I''m not your enemy, Shaak Ti. Especially not now, when you''re finally free. Then there is the fact that you''re a gorgeous woman too." I smirked in the end, earning myself a soft snort.

    "You have a strange way of showing it." The amusement was gone as fast as it appeared. "You broke me." She muttered.

    A profound sense of loss. Shame. Failure.

    "On the contrary. You''re finally whole. There''s nothing to be ashamed of."

    Anger. Confusion. Satisfaction mixed with loathing.

    "I broke the most important tenet of the Code!" Shaak Ti shouted in my face and started shacking. "I''m not worth of being a Jedi Master and it''s all because of you!"

    "You don''t believe that. Not really." I stated. "Listen to your heart. I can sense it in you. You don''t believe that letting your emotions run free is wrong."

    "What do you know?! Have you gone against everything you''ve been taught?" Shaak Ti snapped at me.

    I smiled. Check mate.

    "Yes." I leaned forward until our noses were almost touching. "I''ve told you a few things about the Empire I served. About my fellow Sith and their mistaken interpretation of our code. Of my intentions once I ascended to the Dark Council though that plan was thrown away by my excursion to the future. An apprentice killing their master. The warped self-destructing internal politics that doomed the Empire even after the Republic and the Jedi were military defeated. As a Sith those were things I should have approved of. You know that I hated that nonsense and I would have changed if if I wasn''t sent to the present. Or died trying." I added quietly. "So yes, I know exactly where you stand. The fact that the majority of your Order swears by their precious Jedi Code doesn''t make it right or sensible."

    Shaak Ti closed her eyes. I didn''t need the Force to know that her mind was spinning.

    "Freedom is a precious thing, Shaak Ti. Awonderful and terrible thing. Please don''t throw it away now that you found it."

    "What do you want?" She sighed tiredly. "Why are you doing this to me? I know¡­" She growled. "I can hear it whispering. I could feel a part of it within me. The Dark Side. Yet¡­ I don''t think I''ve fallen though a lot of Jedi will disagree." She frowned in confusion.

    "Fallen? No, far from it. As far as the Dark Side goes, at least now you can meet her on a level playing field. It has always been there even if the most of the time you couldn''t hear her clearly."

    Shaak Ti''s frown deepened. I could see understanding and confusion in her eyes, even a trace of horror.

    "You could have turned me just now. Easily."

    "Yes."

    "Why?"

    "Because I''m interested in you, not the twisted fallen Jedi I would have on my hands if I had turned you. Being a True Sith doesn''t mean that you fall to the Dark Side, for that would be a failure of which precious few had ever recovered. It means that she is our servant, our greatest, most terrible and dangerous tool."

    "Dangerous for your enemies and yourself."

    "Finally you understand." I beamed. "The Dark Side is a double edged sword. However when using it in combination with the Light, when we use the Force itself, then it finally sets us free."

    "Free." Shaak Ti repeated with a far away look in her eyes.

    The storm of emotions that had been gripping her for some time started to slowly abate. I could feel her relax a bit in my arms.

    I couldn''t help myself. I crossed the tiny distance separating us and kissed her. After a moment of confusion Shaak Ti leaned into my touch and returned the kiss.

    Anger. Pleasure. Confusion. Desire. Contentment. Need.

    I could see her eyes darken with feelings she had never allowed herself to experience before.

    Damn, her taste was simply intoxicating.

    A s?xy grow emanated from her ?h?st as she pried her lips away from mine.

    "After all you do want to get under my robes." Shaak Ti glared at me.

    "I''m a Sith. I''m selfish like that."

    Damn, that woman was making me lose my better judgment.

    "I see." She growled in such a way that sent a pleasant shiver up my spine. "I find myself feeling selfish too." Shaak Ti growled and slammed her lips into mine.

 Chapter 45 - Burning Sands [Part 8]

    Part 8

    Briefing room 1

    Republic Cruiser "Chimera"

    First Assault Fleet Flagship

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    "This was a mistake..." Shaak Ti, who was currently using my b?r? ?h?st as a pillow sighed.

    "While I would love to disagree, there will be consequences." I muttered in her ear. I knew better than to hope that our escapade would go unnoticed.

    "Master, the conference is supposed to start in five minutes." HK announced from behind the sealed door. "I''ll be activating the holo-transmitters in there then." He added gleefully, the cheeky bastards.

    "I''m starting to dislike your droid more and more every time he speaks. Who built it anyway?" Ti grumbled and shifted a bit in a rather delicious manner.

    "That would be me?"

    "Figures. Only a Sith could have built that thing."

    "I''m usually proud of him, though he can be a pain in the backside from time to time."

    "You don''t say. Now what?" Shaak Ti ?r??n?d and rolled off me to lay on the table.

    "Things got a bit more complicated." I shrugged. At least she had regained some measure of control over her feelings, because the storm that was screaming to at my emphatic sense was subdued, almost down to the level of what a normal person usually felt.

    "You don''t say. So you got me in the end." Shaak Ti grumbled.

    "Did I? You were rather enthusiastic." I snorted and rubbed the bite marks on my left shoulder. The less said about the scratches on my back the better.

    "I shouldn''t have lost control in such a way."

    "Hey, I''m not complaining!"

    "Of course not. I just had s?x with a Sith." Shaak Ti ?r??n?d.

    "Four minutes and counting!" HK declared gleefully.

    "You know, he''ll actually do it. The damn menace actually almost pulled a similar stunt with half the Dark Council waiting for me to contact them."

    "Fresher. I need time to think." Shaak Ti ?r??n?d and stood up.

    I took a moment to appreciate her mostly n?k?d form, before I got myself moving too. If we continued this conversation, I was likely to piss her off one way or another, which wasn''t a great idea considering the time and place.

    "Boss, you''re fu?k?d." HK cheerfully informed me.

    "Yes, I just was. What''s your point?" I asked while doing my best to remove any trace of my extra-circular activities with Shaak Ti from my clothes.

    "One, she''s a Jedi Master."

    "I''m very well aware of the fact."

    "Second, you had s?x with her just after she had a mental breakdown."

    "I noticed that too. Shaak Ti pressing her lightsaber to my heart and being a hairbreadth from activating it isn''t something that suddenly slipped my mind."

    "That''s my point. She came near to terminating you before you were sleeping with her."

    "I''ve been in a similar situation with a lot of Sith, Jedi and soldiers. Not to mention the occasional ?ssassin or Imperial Intelligence agent."

    "You didn''t care about most of them beyond getting in their pants and whatever manipulation you had going on at the time." HK deadpanned.

    "Your point is?"

    "Not until Ashara."

    I ignored that jab.

    "The woman you just fu?k?d isn''t your wife."

    "I''m well aware of the fact." I growled and glared at the ?ssassin droid. "Make your kriffing point."

    "Are you, really? Let''s see, Togruta, with more than a passing resemblance to Ashara Vael, nee Zavros¡­ Then there''s her personality, which would be quite similar if it wasn''t for all the dumb things she''s been fed as a Jedi... Need I go on?"

    That gave me pause. Well, yeah. Shaak Ti looked somewhat like my wife, which wasn''t a surprise. She was my type of Togruta and that''s why I did pay her a bit more attention than her status as a Jedi Master and my minder would have warranted. As far as her personality goes¡­ Yep, there were the odd moments when she acted like I would have expected from Ashara, but beside that they were completely different¡­ Right?

    I looked myself in the mirror. Yeah, who was I kidding?

    "Kriff. Fan-kriffing-tastic."

    "That''s my point, Master. At least was she any good?"

    "Hell yes."

    "Good enough to make up for the trouble that your stunt will undoubtedly cause?"

    "It will depend on the Order''s reaction when they find out."

    "Well, then! We might have to kick out Knightfall!" HK cheerfully announced.

    "Despite their rather inspired attempts, the Jedi haven''t yet destroyed their reputation enough to make such an eventuality go out without a hitch. Besides, I have high hopes for some of them."

    "Master, I know you rather well. You''ve always planned to get rid of the Jedi Order."

    "In its current state? That would actually be an act of mercy." I shrugged. "Besides why destroy them when you can make them join you?"

    "That''s an issue why? As things stand, you aren''t the one who would be blamed. Besides, just think about it, no more Jedi giving you a headache!"

    "Perhaps I shouldn''t have reprogrammed you to despise them so much after Ashara was murdered."

    "Nonsense, Master. I liked her, as much as I could like a biological organism. For murdering her, I was going to kill as many Jedi as I could, even before you get your hands on my programming."

    "Enough about my personal life and schemes. My Shock Troopers. Report."

    "They aren''t half bad. For meat bags¡­"

    =RK=

    Briefing room 1

    Republic Cruiser "Chimera"

    First Assault Fleet Flagship

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    "Veil! Master Ti! What the kriff happened in orbit?" Obi-Wan asked a moment after his image appeared.

    "Ah. You felt¡­ that." Shaak ti winced.

    "Nothing that is of concern for the task at hand." I interrupted them. Who either of us slept with wasn''t their business though at least a few of them would try to do it. "I was made to believe that our overall plan for the ground campaign is working so far."

    "That''s correct, General." Villem Maxtro''s hologram nodded. "While the extensive tunnel networks covering most of our advance routes have been troublesome, we''re actually ahead of schedule. The orbital strikes taking out most enemy concentrations before they could engage us sure help."

    "That won''t last for long. Within two days we''ll be reaching our primary targets and then it will get ugly." Colonel Pell added. "We had to improvise while dealing with various shielded strong points already. I''m afraid that we''ll have to carry out a frontal ?ssault on our primary objectives or settle for prolonged siege."

    "The latter isn''t an option. We need to secure our objectives and pull out of here ASAP. Within weeks the CIS will have enough spare space forces to go on the offensive again. This fleet will be needed then at the latest." I stated. I didn''t need to elaborate what would happen if the battle for Geonosis wasn''t resolved by then. Without orbital superiority, the CIS and the locals would have enough numbers to bleed dry our armies on the ground. The problem was that an inevitable frontal ?ssault would have similar effect. Unfortunately I didn''t have neither the ?ssets at hand nor the political clout necessary to resolve the problem in a different matter.

    Which meant that we would have to improvise.

    I smiled. If he somehow hadn''t figured it out by now, it was guaranteed that Sidious soon would know about my origin anyway.

    "Some of you know about my past, where I came from." I looked at the ?ssembled Republic officers and Jedi. "During the wars I fought in, both the Jedi and Sith used a rather simple, but nonetheless effective strategy. Strike teams led by Force Adepts would be inserted ground side and go after strategic objectives. Both sides captured whole planets that way even when we knew exactly what to look for."

    "How do you expect us to pull that off?" Audi-Mundiasked.

    "We''ll be using all available stealth capable armor. Another two thousands units will be shipped here in about two days time. We go in and blow up the shield generators. That way we''ll have unrestricted orbital and air support. In fact, most of the industrial areas will be taken out that way. However, that won''t be practical as far as the experimental factories are concerned."

    "Why not? Burning them from orbit sounds good to me!" One of the Clone commanders quipped.

    "We need the schematics for the new droids those places will be building. The Intelligence types believe them to be something special and it could be vital if we can examine them in detail, preferably before facing them in combat."

    "That''s a good point." Shaak Ti frowned at me. She''s been unusually cold after returning from her own trip to the fresher and had been refusing to meet my eyes.

    She was also rather pissed off at the situation at hand, something that I had the sneaking suspicion that the Togruta would blame on me. For good reasons too, but that was beside the point.

    "What units would be available for this ?ssault? Master Mundi asked.

    "All Commando units in system and we''ll be drawing primary from our recon platoons."

    "Makes sense. They have extensive training in infiltration tactics." Another Clone officer nodded."

    "We''ll have to plan both the covert ?ssaults and how to best exploit them." Obi-Wan stated.

    "Contingencies for those which fail." I added. I had no illusion that all of the insertions would be successful.

    "That too."

    =RK=

    Interlude: Dreams I

    Sith Academy

    Korriban

    It was vexing. My master was "officially" dead, playing some kriffing mind games along withthe rest of the Dark Council. That''s why I was back on this dust-ball, in need to fight for the recognition of my new prospective master, a Sith Lord named Zash.

    Quite the character that one, if all the rumors I''ve heard during the years were even half true.

    "Slave, you''re late!" The academy overseer that was supposed to receive Zash''s potential apprentices glared at me, making me twitch in annoyance.

    Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention. As far as most people in the Empire knew, I had perished with Baras so I was supposedly a newly minded poor bastard who was thrown to the Tuw''kata to be torn apart. Whoever was in charge of my back-story was apparently quite lazy, the bastard, because he had mine ripped off with just a few cosmetic changes. So I was posing as what I used to be ¨C a former slave who had manifested his Force talents in a rather bloody and gruesome way by tearing his owner to shreds.

    I grinned at that memory. It was crude, but rather enjoyable piece of work.

    "I hope you don''t think you''re special." Harkun, the irritating overseer glowered at me. "It will be shame if your freedom went to your head..." He trailed of when I simply patted my lightsaber and smiled at him.

    Long story short, I was on my way to the tomb of an ancient Sith Lord, Ajunka Paul or something. Some kind of a "prophet" had commandeered the place and Zash wanted one of us poor bastards to gain his approval and advice.

    Finding the tomb itself wasn''t particularly hard. I just had to ask one of the patrols cleaning up the annual infestation of local wildlife about an insane old man living in one of the nearby caves. The soldiers, not being idiots knew the location as a place to avoid at all costs. After all, no one in his right mind was keen on crossing a Sith who was apparently crazier than normal.

    That was hazardous for ones health.

    So the "prophet". It turned out that he was an ancient looking wiry human, calling himself Spindall. He had half a dozen apprentices he had gathered from somewhere and they all were inhabiting a part of the tomb that might pass for b?r?ly habitable if you squinted very, very hard.

    "The slave?" He muttered when I approached him. Spindall turned around and frowned at me. "Here for your trial..." He trailed off, while studying me. "You aren''t here to learn the path of the Sith from this doddering old man. You''re rather well familiar with them, aren''t you?"

    At least he was perceptive.

    "I''m actually here for a breath of fresh air." I quipped.

    "Don''t play the fool, it demeans us both. Even I''m not here for the sheer p???sur? of it. You want my mark of approval for your master."

    "Oh that? I can tear it from your cold, dead body. No, I want something else, Lord Spindall." I smirked.

    The old man froze for a moment. He never said his name and there were precious few people currently on Korriban who knew his actual identity.

    "Ah. I see. So he sent you, didn''t he?"

    "Yes, your former apprentice isn''t particularly happy that you somehow still live."

    "I was his master. The bond is still here so I know that Baras lives."

    A mere extension of my will and my lightsaber eagerly jumped into my waiting hand. At the same time I sent a powerful wall of Force at the old man, which almost caught him off guard. However, Spindall haven''t survived this long by being anything but a dangerous murderous bastard like the rest of us. He raised a hand just in time to deflect my attack which shattered to a bunch of ancient pottery.

    "Not for long." I smiled for the first time after receiving my latest mission.

    I raised my left hand and clutched my fingers into a fist a moment before I vaulted forward. Spindall chocked for an instant as his internal organs were constrained, yet he managed to dispel my second attack and raise his own blade just in time to parry a downward slash. Still, he was pushed back by the sheer power of my strike.

    My smile grew. While his mastery of the Force surpassed mine, I was younger, at my prime, whilehis body was betraying him. That''s why I let go of my attempt to directly attack him with my powers and instead used them to further augment my physical advantages. My saber became a crimson blur raining upon the defenses of the old man. It took me mere seconds to batter down his guard, not enough time for his apprentices to process the fact that I had the sheer gall to attack their master, much less to interfere, though they were finally reacting. I could feel their sheer outrage and fury at my actions and their approach.

    My next strike nearly tore the lightsaber from Spindall''s hands, leaving him open for my next attack. I was about to deliver a killing blow when he sent a jolt of lighting at me, staggering me for a split second. Just long enough for him to take a step back and put back his weapon in a defensive position¡­ and his closest apprentices were almost upon me.

    I drew the Force around me like a cloak and then released it in an explosive demonstration of sheer power. The apprentices flew back like twigs caught by a hurricane and even Spindall was forced back.

    My smile widened when I heard a pair of blaster pistols discharge and the signatures of two apprentices vanished. My distraction had allowed Vette to sneak up to the young idiots and shoot two of them in the back. The relic I had gifted her that hid her from the Force sure helped too.

    A cry of distress, a wave of heat followed by deafening explosion.

    My back was secure and I could concentrate on my quarry.

    It was just in time to be blasted back by a wave of purple lighting. While I intercepted most of the attack with my blade, tendrils of living darkness clawed at my hands making me wince in pain. I released a pulse of pure Force, which broke the enemy ?ssault and jumped at the bastard.

    I slammed into Spindall with a jolt that shook me.

    Suddenly I was back in my quarters on the Chimera. I bolted upright acting on instinct and had my right hand wrapped over the throat of whoever awoke me. My free arm glowed in the dark with the lighting dancing over my fingers.

    Only sensing the familiar presence of Shaak Ti stopped my hand from slamming into her ?h?st and sending enough electricity into her to stop her heart.

    "What the kriff woman?!" I exclaimed and released her.

    She stared at me with huge eyes. I could sense the fear creeping within Shaak Ti''s heart when she started comprehending how close she got to dying.

    =RK=

    Part 9

    General Veil''s quarters

    Republic Cruiser "Chimera"

    First Assault Fleet Flagship

    High Orbit over Geonosis

    I slowly unclenched my fingers and removed my hand from Shaak Ti''s throat. At the same time I left the lighting dancing over my free hand harmlessly dissipate.

    "Did no one ever mention to you that waking up veterans while they''re dreaming might be hazardous?" I frowned at the Jedi Master. "Especially if you don''t do it from distance?" I ?r??n?d and fell back into my bed.

    "Obviously." Shaak Ti deadpanned and glared at me as if it was entirely my fault.

    "Unless you came here because you suddenly find me irresistible," I smirked, "Which given what just happened even if true won''t get me laid tonight, what exactly do you want?"

    "Only in your dreams, Veil. I came to talk." Ti glared at me.

    "You gave me a lot of pleasant things to dream about, so it''s all right. What do you want to talk about?" I winked at her.

    "If you''re trying to be fun, it''s not working."

    "I''m still half asleep." Not to mention that I was still recovering from the Battle Meditation so I actually needed my nap time. "My being nice bu??on is currently stuck away from the being nice position. Hint: Next time you want to awake a this grumpy Sith at least bring a cup of Caff."

    "You''re impossible."

    "I''ve been told so before." It was by another Togruta Jedi too.

    Shaak Ti growled at me again and this time there was nothing s?xy in the sound. It was all frustration and exasperation. "It''s all those feelings! I can''t make them stop and it gets worse..." She trailed off, sounding almost scared.

    According to my emphatic sense, she actually was, once her anger at me petered out.

    "I''m listening." I sat into my bed, looked her in the eyes and frowned. For some reason I didn''t like the look of fear I saw there even if should have made the darker parts of my mind enjoy it thanks to the Dark Side.

    "I¡­ I could hear it¡­ Whispering at the back of my head¡­ What did you do to me?!"

    "Ah. That''s certainly unexpected." I frowned and studied her face more carefully. She looked quite tired. On edge.

    "You know what''s happening?" There was a hint of hope in her voice.

    "Yeah. I''m just surprised that it hit you so soon and apparently rather hard." I nodded. That fact had a few quite interesting application for the delectable Jedi Master.

    "What do you actually know about the Dark Side? Know for a fact I mean and not just what you''ve been fed at the Temple?" I asked, while doing my best to shield my amusement away. I was almost a hundred percent sure that I would find the Jedi''s interpretation hilarious but laughing my ?ss off at them right now would be counter-productive in a lot of ways.

    "Its the Dark Side!" She exclaimed, looking at me as if the answer was obvious.

    "Humor me, please." I spoke calmly and stared at her.

    Shaak Ti huffed but continued speaking. "The Dark Side corrupts everything it touches. While it gives a shortcut to power, that is at the price at ones sanity and principles even if sometimes the consequences take a bit of time to manifest. It twists you, turns you against everyone and everything you hold dear." She gave me a pointed look. "It''s powers are no match for a fully trained Jedi who has the Light Side as her ally. Further, thanks to a Jedi''s training and ability to keep their emotions at bay, we have advantage when facing a Dark Side wielder. We don''t make mistakes in the heat of passion that could be exploited to bring us down."

    "That''s it?"

    "That''s the short version. We would be here for at least a week if I''m to give you the long one."

    "Well, there are at least a few grains of truth in that explanation..." I trailed off. That actually wasn''t particularly surprising. However, if this was what even a Jedi Master could tell me on the top of their head¡­ Any half-competent Sith from my time would have had a great time of twisting today''s Jedi until he had turned most of them. Relatively easy too. You couldn''t really protect against the Dark Side if you weren''t reasonably familiar with it.

    In a hindsight, Today''s Jedi were actually lucky that Sidious planned to exterminate them wholesale instead of going the more traditional way and doing his best to build an army of fallen Jedi. The latter would have been even more successful than his original plans if handled correctly.

    "Where to start¡­ You have to understand the nature of the Dark Side in order to handle it with any reasonable expectation of not eventually falling."

    That got her undivided attention.

    "Considering that I very much prefer you sane, I''ll have to teach it about it and you will listen." My voice brook no argument.

    Shaak Ti''s anger flared, but she was able to put it back under a reasonable amount of control. For the moment at least.

    "Calling the Dark Side evil, is a misconception, though anyone with intact mental faculties could see where that comes from. The truth about it is simple. It doesn''t care for the morality of most Sapient beings in the galaxy. Do you consider a hurricane to be evil? An earthquake? A storm? The Force is a part of nature, by definition neither part is good or evil. However they emphasize different aspects of nature, different mindsets."

    "How so? You don''t see Jedi going around, torturing and killing people."

    "Again with a morality that doesn''t really apply in this case. It is true that the Light Side excels in healing, protection, conflict resolution. On a larger perspective, its wielders are usually better for maintaining a community and working for the betterment of the group as a whole. It emphasizes the betterment of the whole over that of the individual. It excels during peacetime and in maintaining that peace. As you said, mastery over it comes after a long time of training, though that period would be quite shorter if you people weren''t too busy trying to cut yourselves from emotion." At least while the Jedi as a whole kept their heads out of their backsides. When they generally forgot how to do that, we eventually got things as today''s Coruscanti Order.

    "I didn''t think that it was possible for a Sith to praise the Light Side." Shaak Ti was looking at me strangely, as if trying to make sense of me.

    "Only an arrogant fool dismisses a fundamental aspect of the Force and it''s true that many Sith weren''t particularly bright once their new found power got to their heads." I shrugged. "Let''s continue. The Dark Side. It requires quite different mentality to understand and accept. It''s selfish. It promotes the well being of the individual and that of a small group over any larger body. By its nature, that''s not a any worse than what the Light Side. It gives one power much faster than the average Jedi could achieve. Going by raw strength in the force, someone who aligns themselves with the Dark Side could gain in weeks, usually months what a Jedi takes years in training to achieve. You''re correct that sometimes that training does give a Jedi the upper hand, though that goes only when dealing with Dark Siders who are new to the Force and haven''t received the benefit of competent training themselves. As you can guess, there''s a catch."

    "You all go insane eventually?" Shaak Ti gave me a deadpan look.

    I smirked. She didn''t believe that I was particularly saneish and she did have a point, though I really couldn''t lay most of my issues at the feet of the Dark Side, though I cheerfully blamed the Sith who trained me, the kriffing bastards.

    That was a subtle but important distinction.

    "Why is that the case?" I asked her, while giving her an amused smile.

    "Just telling you that''s because of the Dark Side won''t fly, would it?"

    "No. As I said before, the Dark Side is selfish, a quality that gets reinforced in anyone who brushes with it often. It''s a subtle thing at first. Usually. As I said, she''s individualistic. She wants her wielders to be powerful, independent. To break all their chains and be free to make their own choices. In that regard, the Sith Code is more accurate than any version of the Jedi one I''ve seen so far. The problem lies in how that''s expressed and the way most people interpret it. It usually gets quite messy."

    "You don''t say." Shaak Ti gave me a flat look. "I can almost hear it whispering in the back of my head. I could feel people dying on the planet below us, their pain, fear and despair! It feels pleasant!" Shaak Ti shouted at me and started passing around my room. "How can you call it anything but evil?!"

    "Did you ever stop for a moment and wonder why it feels that way?" I asked.

    "I was too busy trying to keep myself from enjoying peoples suffering!"

    "I take it as a no. As I pointed out, the Dark Side is selfish. It wants its wielders to survive, grow more powerful. She feeds of emotions of feelings. Is it so surprising that she makes people feel good at overwhelming and crushing their enemies? At reveling at other''s fear? Because let me tell you, you''re much more likely to survive when facing terrified foes than a group who keeps their cool. At the same vein¡­ When someone with access to her is afraid, that very emotion, gives them power. Anger? It clouds a person''s judgment unless handled properly, aye. It also makes you more likely to strike at any perceived danger, fuels your strength. In a lot of cases it makes you more likely to survive. There are no doubts while you''re furious. No what ifs. No hesitation that might get you killed."

    "What about the cruelty that most Sith are known for?"

    "Oh we enjoy it, very much and you can''t even blame the Dark Side for every single instance. Look beyond just the acts. What are the consequences? It makes us feared. Less likely for someone to oppose or stand in our way if they have an acceptable alternative. Makes them apprehensive if they fight us anyway. Until you reach a certain level, the path of the Dark Side is full of trade offs. For everything I pointed out, there are cons, aren''t there Shaak Ti?"

    "More than I think about right now."

    "Less from where I stand, though they''re undeniably there. You have to accept your feelings, learn to channel your passions."

    "Will it ever stop?"

    "That seductive whispering at the back of your mind?" I shook my head. "It''s always there. Whispering, promising. If you let you rule you, the Dark Side will grant you more power than you''ve ever felt. At the same time, it will twist you. When let to go to its logical concussion, submitting to the Dark Side will make you see yourself as the only person that matters in the universe. For you everyone, everything else will become playthings at best, all the while you''ll enjoy their pain and suffering."

    "And you have the gall not to call the Dark Side evil?"

    "It''s not. She''s a force of nature, caring not for what the beings in the galaxy consider moral. It simply wants its wielders to be as powerful as possible and to give them the best chance for survival. To do so, she drives them to on the path of individual strength and ability. It makes it so that you won''t ever regret crushing a possible threat, that you would love doing it. That''s why I always say that the Dark Side isn''t an ally. It''s a tool, one that''s very powerful and dangerous."

    "Why would anyone want to embrace the Dark Side?"

    "Why not as long as you don''t let it rule you? Shaak Ti, it''s a brutal galaxy out there and I''m not talking about the war. It''s easy to be saints when you live in the Temple, with all your basic needs taken care of. It''s quite different when you''ve had to scrap for your next meal, to fight for your survival on a daily basis. That''s true even for Coruscant, the one of the Jewels of the galaxy. What was the last time you''ve been in one of the lower sections? The Dark Side is something that many, many people in the galaxy would eagerly embrace because it will grant the the power to survive. To no longer be weak, to cease being victims."

    "I''ve never thought about it like that¡­ But why don''t they join the Order?!"

    "With the exception of Skywalker, what was the last time you trained someone who wasn''t a toddler? What about the hardened Force Sensitives you''ve missed? The ones who had lived through hell and had a rather different worldview that what the Order would find acceptable? You''d never train them as Jedi. Too old. Too dangerous. They are a ripe material for making Sith."

    "That''s madness! How could you defend the Dark Side after all you just said? You''ve fought in the Great War! You know firsthand of all the atrocities the Sith committed!"

    "Why it always has to be Light and Dark? Black and white? What about shades of gray?! If there''s one thing that I''ve learned about the galaxy its that things are seldom as either the Jedi or typical Sith portray them!" I sighed in exasperation. "Light Side, Dark Side¡­ Those are the two sides of the same coin. Left alone they lead to either stagnation or self-destruction. Unless used in measure the ultimate end is the same in the long term." I laughed. "Do you know that I had the same conversation with my wife shortly after I persuaded her to come to my side?"

    "Your wife. A Jedi." Shaak Ti looked at me. "I saw her when you showed me those memories. I still find it hard to believe that a Jedi married you."

    "She saw the truth of the matter." I shrugged. "Ashara¡­" I smiled. "She never turned no matter how persuasive I was a the times. She kept me sane. She understood." I spoke wishfully.

    Damn, I missed her.

    "You or your view of the Force?"

    "Both. We used the two sides of the Force and we were stronger for it. She proved to everyone that you could use the Dark Side and not be twisted by her." That terrified a lot of Jedi. Made them question their beliefs, which in turn made them easier to turn to our side. It was one of the reasons why we were left mostly alone by the Sith who were nominally my superiors. The fact that I was a Lord of The Sith in my own right at the time, with my ascension to the Dark Council as a very real possibility sure helped in that regard.

    "It sounds so easily."

    "It''s not. But its worth it in the end. Shaak Ti, this war¡­ it''s going to get much worse before in ends. If we can hold on for the next few months, we''ll be equally matched with the Confeds for at least an year or two, before we could conceivably start turning the tide. By using the Dark Side as you tool, by embracing your emotions, you''re that much more likely to survive what''s to come. I¡­ I don''t want to see you hurt or worse."

    She sat on the bed next to me, looking lost.

    "I''m not her, you know."

    "I''m well aware. Actually HK made that same point yesterday."

    "Huh. I would never have thought that he''ll do something like that."

    "How do I deal with all this?"

    "One step at the time." I slid closer to Shaak Ti and gave her a gentle hug. "Dealing with your emotions¡­ It''s not something that can be learned overnight. Nor is managing the Dark Side."

    "What about your apprentice? I could feel it in her. She revels in it."

    "She''s very much a work in progress. While dangerous, the Dark Side is her best bet to survive for now. The deal I made for Aria. She either pulls her weight or gets thrown to your Council for a trial. What do you think they would do when she refuses to renounce being a Sith to become one of your kind?"

    "She did lead the attack on the Temple¡­ But I can see where you go with it. She''s a clone. Aria never had a choice in the matter, did she?"

    "On the contrary. She had the same choice I was given when I was carted to the Academy on Korriban."

    "And what''s that?"

    "A rather prolonged and nasty death or becoming a monster. I chose to live, no matter how many people had to die for it. While I do have a lot of regrets, that''s not one of it."

    "That''s not what a Jedi would have done."

    "No. I would have been a terrible Jedi anyway."

    "I¡­ I could almost understand." Shaak ti muttered quietly. "The very thought of putting my own survival before that of people I could have saved¡­ It would never have crossed my mind before. While I''m sure that I would make the same choice now, I would protect people with my life without regret¡­ I can see it. That someone could value their life above the well being or even survival of strangers. It''s not something I think I''ll ever do, but¡­ For some reason I no longer see making such a choice as being despicable." She shrugged.

    "Follow your conscience. The rest, no matter if its the Jedi Code, the Sith teachings or anything else¡­ its secondary at best."

    "That simple?"

    "It worked for Ashara and she was the only other Togruta female that I knew to be in your shoes."

    "She sounds like someone I would have liked."

    "You would have." I muttered.

    For the next few minutes we just stood there, deep in our own thoughts. Holding Shaak Ti made me feel content, calmer than I''ve been in some time. I smiled, enjoying her warmth, feeling the slow beat of her heart.

    "What happens now?" She asked quietly.

    "We talk. We get to know each other and see where it goes from there."

    "You''re a strange Sith, Delkatar. Are you sure that this isn''t just an elaborate plot to get under my robes again?"

    "While I would rather like that, just as you obviously did, I won force you into something you might not be ready for. You''d hate me for it in the long term."

    "When I have a handle on my emotions you mean."

    "Yep."

    "I could still feel them dying. I could almost hear their screams of pain and fear. It''s worse than almost anything I''ve sensed before."

    "Now that you''re no longer suppressing your emotions as a matter of fact, your connection to the Force is stronger, sharper. What you feel is a natural consequence of that."

    "Tomorrow afternoon we''re supposed to deploy for the final push. I don''t know how I''ll handle it first hand."

    I pulled he closer to me and kissed her temple. "It will be hard. My advice is to channel your feelings. The anger you feel at the all the deaths brought by the Confederacy, the fear you feel from the people on Geonosis, everything. Use it with a purpose in mind. So you could bring a faster end of the fighting. In the end, that''s what really matter. By winning this war in the fastest, most efficient way, we''ll do the most good. That way less people will day, there will be smaller amount of wounded and crippled. Less lives will be destroyed."

    "It''s never that simple."

    "No. People make mistakes. The other side gets a vote, that''s why we call them the enemy. The war warps everything it touches. Think about it, people can''t comprehend the scale at which we fight even in this day and age. Billions in the double digits. Thats how many people had died already and the war hadn''t really hit its stride yet. Once our economy is fully on war footing and we start building up our armies and fleets, it will get much, much worse."

    "Sometimes I wonder why we fight."

    "Because each of us believe in something worth protecting or achieving. Because not doing so would be worse in the long term."

    Because no matter how bad this war goes, I have the feeling that what''s to come would be orders of magnitude worse.

    "Why do you fight, Delkatar? It''s not the Republic, that much I know."

    "I have my reasons. I fight for the future."

    "That''s not an answer."

    "You''re simply lacking the context. One day you would know."

    Shaak Ti''s heartbeat and breathing slowed down as she fell asleep in my hands. I gently pulled her next to me in the bed and used the Force to throw the cover over us.

    I smiled, feeling content to simply hold the sleeping woman, content to forger the war for a bit or the fact that tomorrow all hell was going to break lose on Geonosis.

    =RK=

    Part 10

    Ar''Klorg''Onya Cave Complex

    Fifteen Kilometers from CIS Experimental Droid Factories

    Geonosis

    Fol''Clixit, the Field Commander in charge of the local Geonosian garrison, was surveying rows of hastily built defenses. The caverns he was tasked to protect were supposed to be a heavily defended death ground, which would bleed any Republic force dumb enough to attack through them.

    That was the original plan anyway.

    There was a reason why lately Fol''Clixit had been a particularly angry Geonoisan.

    First, he Republic interlopers weren''t supposed to attack Geonosis for at least week and a half. At least that''s what all intelligence types both Geonosian and Confederate were swearing left and right¡­ until the enemy attacked that is. Nor were they expected to swiftly demolish the major fleet elements in system and to dismantle the orbital defense network in less than a day¡­

    The Republic fleet did that too and not only that but the enemy somehow managed to infiltrate the Planetary Shield generator complex and shut down the defensive screen protecting Fol''Clixit''s homeworld.

    That was simply adding insult to injury.

    Just to make him hate them even more, then the Republic Ground forces started advancing at previously thought impossible rate¡­ though that was mainly due to the way their fleet gleefully blew up anything that even remotely looked like an obstacle.

    That left Fol''Clixit in a bind.

    The speed with which the Republic forces advanced after landing, made an otherwise grave situation almost catastrophic. The Ar''Klorg''Onya caverns were vital for his people. Just beneath them was a major transportation hub, one that had remained unscratched during the Republic''s previous visit. It was literally one of Geonosis'' lifelines and had to be protected at all costs. It should have been brimming with fixed defenses, making any ?ssault on it a suicide.

    It was too bad that after the previous invasion, the Geonosians were unable to rebuild and reinforce everything they needed for this repeat performance.

    The Field Commander''s mandibles clicked in annoyance. There were supposed to be two engineering battalions making this place a fortress. However by the time the enemy was in orbit and bombard anything important that wasn''t under a Theater Shield, only a single engineer company had started working on fortifications. The rest of the two promised battalions never materialized.

    At least the members of the Worker''s Caste who were present had outdone themselves, though that was a cold comfort for the Elite.

    The enemy vanguard was two hours ago and everything outside the cave networks and the shields protecting them had been liberally bombarded by Ion Canons transforming all weapon emplacements out there into useless lumps of metal and fused circuitry.

    On the bright side, the very reason why this place was an important target for the Republic, was its greatest advantage. Unless the whole region was burned to the mantle, the Commander should be able to easily receive reinforcements. He was planning to turn the place into a death trap by using as many soldiers as he could do instead of relying on the defensive positions that didn''t get build.

    The only problem was that doing so would kill an awful amount of his own people, because most other CIS forces in the area were concentrating around the new Droid factories twenty kilometers to the north, which were the most important thing on the planet as far as either the Confederacy or the enemy were concerned.

    Naturally, that wasn''t the case for Fol''Clixit. He would be happy if he was able to keep the transport hub mostly intact even if the Republic achieved their objective and demolished the factories.

    After all, the future of Geonosis was more important than what his allies wanted and the loss of the hub would spell economic ruing for this whole hemisphere.

    =RK=

    Fol''Clixit returned to his forward command post minutes before the first Republic troopers were about to engage the forward defenses. The place was a cludge, a former storage room now filled with computer terminals, which were connected with the various Geonosian military commands in the AO as well as all the sensors, mines and automated weapon emplacements the engineers managed to built in the little time they had to work.

    The place was guarded by six Elites like Fol''Clixit and a platoon of regulars. A half dozen of the latter were busy manning the stations in the command center, ready to feed him any relevant information he might need.

    Multiple tank columns and mech infantry were advancing towards the outer perimeter, only sporadically harassed by artillery under shield cover. Unfortunately, only a handful of such emplacements were in range while everything not protected in similar manner had received some lethal attention from the orbiting fleet.

    He watched for a minute how the enemy approached, until the leading tanks were on the edge of various direct fire weapons built in the mountain side under which the cave complex was situated.

    To Fol''Clixit''s utter lack of surprise, the leading tanks and APCs started unloading smoke rounds which soon obscured the view. No ordinary smoke either. It shut down all vision modes while powerful enemy jammers took care of the sensor not relying on direct observation.

    That left the guns to fire mostly blind.

    With every passing moment, Fol''Clixit loathing for the enemy was growing. Did they had to suddenly act more competent than usual just when they were attacking his position?!

    "Shield perimeter breached. Enemy infantry is engaging our forward positions." One of the normal warriors reported. "They''re liberally using explosives and missiles to engage our fixed defenses."

    No surprise there either. He hadn''t really planned to stop them outside the shield. There were simply too many ways a competent opponent could use to reach the force field relatively intact, especially if the defenders haven''t been able to extensively fortify their position.

    Especially when said opponent obviously didn''t care about collateral damage.

    The universe chose that moment to prove to Fol''Clixit that it really hated his guts.

    There was no warning. One moment everything was as expected and in the next the far wall exploded inward, showering the Command center with fiery pieces of burning metal and scorching stone. Fol''Clixit was thrown off his feet and slammed into the wall next to the door. Before the Commander''s mind could register what was happening, the survivors of the explosion were hosed with automatic blaster fire.

    Only Fol''Clixit and one of his Elite guards were tough enough to survive the initial onslaught. While the Commander was busy staggering back on his feet, the rest of the Command post''s guard detail stormed through the door only to be engaged by the attackers as they filed in.

    Six of his warriors were cut down before they could engage the enemy, but then an Elite plowed through the door, absorbing blaster shots on his heavy armor.

    The soldiers'' deaths weren''t in vain. They bought Fol''Clixit enough time to get up and for the med system built in his heavy armor to fill him with stimulants, strong enough to raise the dead. The Commander roared in defiance while the weaponry built around his arms unfolded. His HUD sprang to life and tracked the attackers.

    Republic scum. They were like ghosts in the smoke and twilight reigning within the CP. Some almost faded from view, but their outlines could still be seen withing all the crap in the air.

    It was good enough. The heavy blaster around Fol''Clixit''s right hand spoke and tore apart the nearest Clone. The Commander roared in fury and charged the enemy. The surviving Elites followed his lead and sprang towards the nearest humans, followed by their lesser brethren.

    What followed was a vicious, bloody affair.

    A Clone was eviscerated by a vibro blade before the upper part of his torso was blown to pieces by a light sonic canon. Another was trampled under the cybernetically enhanced bulk of an Elite after futilely emptying the magazine of his rifle into the heavy ?h?st plate of the Geonosian.

    One of the Republic troopers activated his flamethrower, turning two of the smaller locals into living torches, whose tortured screams echoed through out the cave system. He didn''t have time to appreciate his work because Fol''Clixit was upon him in an instant, gutting him with the blade mounted under his light hand.

    The concentrated firepower of a Republic squad brought down an Elite, after itsmembers had the presence of mind to take out his legs first. Their victory was short lived, because it gave enough time for twice their number of Geonosians to swarm them. The Clones died under the blades and sonic weapons of the locals, but not before the last of the Republic troopers detonating a pair of frag grenades as he was gunned down.

    Fol''Clixit shot another enemy before he charged the last one still standing and slamming the man through the remains of the breached wall. He finished the Clone by slamming his armored foot through the man''s helmet, shattering it like an egg.

    "The Republic has kriffing invisible infiltrators now?!" Fol''Clixit growled once the adrenaline and stimulants racing through his veins started tapering off. "Kriff all Intelligence fools!" The Commander seethed. "I need a status report! What else did they attack? How far has the enemy penetrated our defensive lines?"

    =RK=

    Part 11

    Objective Alpha 3 (Ar''Klorg''Onya Cave Complex)

    Fifteen Kilometers from Objective Alpha 1

    Geonosis

    "Grax, suppressive fire!" Sergeant Hound ordered after ducking behind a half demolished stone pillar. He was glad that the heavy gunner heard him, because between heavy jamming and the deafening roar of the firefight, communicating was proving rather difficult.

    Then it became impossible as Grax slid on the ground next to the sergeant, braced his heavy repeater on his shoulder and opened fire, hosing the far end of the cavern with blaster bolts. Hound sent a few pot shots down range, while he dashed through a small open space and ducked next to one of his squad leaders ¨C Corporal Alek.

    Even being shoulder to shoulder and shouting, the Clones were b?r?ly able to hear themselves under the echoing cacophony of the firefight.

    "Corporal, flank the kriffing bastards while they''re suppressed." Hound ordered.

    Alek nodded and started issuing instructions of his own. The sergeant drew a Concussion grenade, removed its safety and waited for the fire-team to get into position. The Corporal prepared a smoke grenade, nodded and Hound threw the explosive.

    Two seconds later, the Clones were buffered by the shock-wave of the concussion grenade. Grax and two squads of riflemen laid in heavy suppressing fire. Alek threw the smoke grenade, which promptly blew up, obscuring the cavern. The Corporal and his men dashed forward, keeping as low as they could.

    Felix didn''t keep his head close enough to the ground, the poor bastard. A heavy blaster bolt caught the right side of his helmet. The armored alloy bubbled like wax put under a blow torch. The sheer kinetic force behind the strike staggered the man and probably broke his neck too, but that was superficial after his skull was already boiled by the thermal release of the hit.

    Fortunately the rest of Alek''s squad made it to the next row of stalactites or whatever they were called and vanished from sight as they moved to flank the enemy.

    "I''m out!" Grax shouted as his weapon''s energy pack rand dry. The firepower going downrange lessened by a significant amount as he was reloading.

    Hound popped a smoke grenade and sent in in the middle of the cave, reestablishing the temporarily cover for his brothers.

    "Dex, Rock, get your squads ready. When Alek hits them, we''re advancing. Prepare to pop smoke and lead with Concussion grenades. The rest of you, suppressing fire!" The Sergeant ordered. Said Clones shouted an "Yes, boss!" and reloaded their weapons, staggering in preparation to advance behind nearby cover. The leading men of each squad had a smoke ready, with the next man holding a concussion grenade.

    Two explosions shook the far end of the cave and the firefight''s intensity suddenly spiked.

    "Go!" Hound ordered.

    Smoke and concussion grenades rained through the cave. Once they detonated, ten Clones charged the enemy position under the covering fire from the rest of the platoon. The first three men were cut down by a heavy repeater, which was in turn blown to pieces by a grenade launcher.

    "Medic!" Rock shouted, though he didn''t stop firing and advancing.

    Then the left section of the visible enemy fortification exploded in fire and shrapnel as Alek and one other Clone stormed the position.

    Hound mowed down a pair of the locals, before he had to kiss the ground as another shot at him with one of their sonic weapons. Even the very close miss, sent the NCO''s teeth rattling and his body shacking. Before Hound could recover, one of Dex''s men cut down the large insect trying to kill him.

    The survivors of the three squads finished storming the Geonosian''s positions, before the Sergeant had fully recovered, giving him a decent view of how his troopers mowed down the flanked defenders. Soon enough, the rest of the platoon was there, securing the position against any unpleasant surprises and a possible counter-attack, while the medics were busy tending the wounded.

    Hound grunted as on of the Docks slammed an injector into a port of his armor and sent a stimulant ???ktail racing through his veins. At least it worked and a few seconds later his head started cleaning up. The Sergeant looked around and smugly noticed that his men were doing everything by the book and haven made any screw up he could see. Then the NCO too a few moments to check up on the wounded, who were tended nearby.

    That made him wince. Taking that single position had cost him almost a third of his men in dead or wounded. For a few seconds, Hound lamented the fact that his soldiers didn''t have the new armors, which would have allowed him to take the enemy strong point with minimal casualties if any. It was too bad that the new gear was rather limited in numbers for the time being and most of it was being tapped for the ?ssault on Objective Alpha One. As far as Hound knew, there were only two or three companies with the new armor sent to take this damn complex, besides the infiltrators who were sent ahead.

    "Rock, Alek merge your squads into a single unit. Pell''s taking point. Once Third Platoon arrives, we''re moving in."

    "Consider it done, Sarge!" Rock answered.

    "Rook, have you located any jammers?" The NCO asked on of his demo experts, who doubled as a techie.

    "Not yet, but considering the level of interference in this cave, one''s nearby. There should be an engineering section coming with the reinforcements, they''ll get it for sure if we''re unable to find the damn thing." Rook answered, without looking up from a hand held scanner, which he was using to search for any presents left by the locals.

    "Carry on. All units, once the back up is here, replenish your ammo and prepare to advance." Hound ordered.

    Less than a minute later, Third Platoon arrived, led by a Jedi of all things, one who was towering over the Clones.

    "Good job, Sergeant." Master Mundi nodded at Hound after looking over the secured cavern.

    "Thank you, sir!" The NCO saluted. He didn''t bother asking what the Jedi was doing here. The man''s ?ssistance was going to be appreciated¡­ unless he ordered something dumb that would get his men killed.

    "I understand that your Lieutenant didn''t make it?" Mundi asked.

    "No, sir. The LT bought it while we were passing through the shields." Hound answered.

    At least this time the initial ?ssault had been planned competently, diminishing as many of the enemy advantages and not hobbling his brothers by insane ROEs. To Hound and most Clones committed to this campaign, the whole thing was a breath of fresh air. The usual kriffing foolishness that killed a lot of his brothers at the start of the war was either diminished or even outright missing. There was no advancing into prepared enemy positions with minimal preparation and bombardment to diminish collateral damage. For a change, command''s concern was only for doing the job in the most efficient way, while preserving Clones lives, something that Hound had personally seldom seen since the war began.

    More often than not, the Jedi in overall command had been saddling the Clones in his and many of his brothers opinion, unrealistic goals or restrictions¡­ something that had gotten a lot of them needlessly killed.

    At least some of the Jedi did learn in the end, those who survived the initial campaigns anyway and even then, it wasn''t all of them.

    That fact made him and many Clones have mixed feelings about their officers. The Jedi on average appeared to care more about their well being than the majority of normal officers in the army and navy¡­ At the same time, they were giving orders that caused needles deaths among his brothers, even if some of the Jedi were actually learning how to be officers and made less and less mistakes.

    The worst thing, at least in Hound''s opinion, was the fact that as often as not, even Jedi who had actually learned what the kriff they were doing, would issue orders that they knew would lead to more dead and wounded Clones than necessary¡­ for nebulous reasons that wouldn''t have done a thing to end the war faster.

    "The same is true for the Third. Their CO ran afoul of an enemy mine." The Jed sighed, interrupting Hound''s train of thought. "I''m taking command of your platoon too, Sergeant. We''re going to secure the upper levels of this complex and foil any attempt of breakthrough using the transport hub below us. Once that''s done, we''ll see what could be done about it. Let''s go." The Jedi Master waved forward and led the vanguard of Third Platoon. "We''ll take point for now."

    "Second Platoon, fall in. Look alive people, we have more insects to squash!" Hound shouted to his men. He was hoping that the Jedi would provide a tremendous ?sset instead of someone who would get them all killed.

 Chapter 46 - Of war and politics

    Part 1

    Near Cache 42

    Hoth

    In the middle of a hilly, frozen covered plain, a single unmarked APC took shelter in a secluded ravine. It was battered by freezing winds, which picked up snow and twisted it in a rather convincing rendition of a blizzard. A large cargo-hauler droid sat behind it.

    Inside, the four occupants shivered despite their thermal armor, the APC''s weather conditioner and a few additional heaters. There were two dozen full power cells neatly stacked in a corner within the troop compartment, to supply the soldiers for however long their mission took.

    The passengers kept busy with small talk, bemoaning their chilling ?ssignment.

    "How are we supposed to find that place anyway?" C4312, more commonly known as Cifor asked. The Clone, who most definitely wasn''t a Republic trooper or in any way ?ssociated with the GAR, asked his brothers, who weren''t part of the army either. No sire, and they had the documents to prove it too. They were even legit.

    "That''s why we brought the recon droids." Sergeant Hall answered, while huddling next to the heater in the back of the APC.

    "Anything left here undisturbed for the past four thousand years would be under few meters of ice at the very least."

    "More." The Engineer in their group, Kal, muttered, without tearing his eyes from the terminal monitoring the scout droids.

    "What the gear head over there said." Cifor nodded.

    "At least we aren''t getting shot at by clankers." Eltee, the driver quipped.

    "Instead we''re freezing our ?sses on this forsaken ice ball." Cifor grumbled.

    "It''s a nice place to stash up a cache for a rainy day." The Sergeant shrugged. "What are the odds that someone actually stumbled on it in this wasteland?"

    "With our luck?" Cifor, looked incredulously at the NCO.

    There was a beeping sound from Kal''s console.

    "You had to open your mouth, didn''t you?" The Engineer grumbled. "We hit pay-dirt. Oh, and there''s a storm coming too."

    "Well, kriff. Once it''s over, you''re volunteering to lead setting up the equipment, Cifor." Kel shook his head. "You just had to open your mouth, didn''t you?"

    "Hey! The storm isn''t my fault! Tell him guys!"

    "Totally is." Eltee smirked.

    =RK=

    "I didn''t think that the time would come when I would enjoy working with clankers." Cifor nodded sagely. He was inside the APC, keeping warm, while seven construction droids were busy ?ssembling the excavation equipment, that needed to cut through ten meters of ice and frozen ground.

    "We''re getting out to check if everything''s set up all right." Eltee gave his brother a dirty look.

    "You''re the gear-head!" The trooper wh?n?d. "I''ll only slow you down."

    "He might jinx it, buddy." Kal added from his comfortable seat in the front.

    "How many times should I repeat myself?! The storm wasn''t my fault!" Cifor ?r??n?d.

    "What about that mess on Geonosis?"

    "What?! You can''t pin that on me! Tit was those Commando maniacs who brought that clanker battalion on our heads!"

    "Uh-huh. The baby rancors in that pirate base we hit last month?"

    "They were kinda cute..." Cifor muttered quietly.

    "I knew it! It was totally your fault!"

    "Enough. Just get out and check the gear. It should be ?ssembled any minute now."

    "What about you, sarge?"

    "I''m feeling merciful today so I''m not sending you on a recon out there just to spare myself a headache. Move!" Hall glared at his brothers, wondering who he pissed off to be saddled up with this bunch of jokers.

    "Uh, sarge... How are we supposed to get down there?" Kal asked. For a change the driver had dismounted too and was peaking at the rather steep and smooth hole leading to the upper part of a metal door. The rest was still buried under a loot of damp, half-frozen soil.

    "We have climbing equipment as well as a few grav-harneses, like those used by the Shock Troopers."

    "Damn. You expect us to use something certified by those lunatics?!" Cifor winced under his tightly sealed helmet. So far his thermal armor was working as advertized so he hadn''t started freezing. Yet.

    "You''re volunteering to test them."

    "Nah, I''ll pass."

    "That wasn''t a suggestion."

    "What did I do to deserve that?"

    "Where should I start? Go get kitted." Hall pointed at the nearby cargo hauler.

    =RK=

    Four lost droids and a lot of improvisation later, the Clones entered the underground complex. On a first look, it looked like a bust. Just a damp, dead end corridor. That didn''t deter Hall, who following his instructions went half-way to the end, turned right and tapped four specific places on the wall.

    For a few seconds nothing happened. Then a cringe-worthy grinding sound echoed in the small space. A panel slid up, revealing a camera and pair of bulky sensor pods.

    "Identify yourselves."

    "Sigma-four-beta-niner-24143-56141-Gamma-Delta-Omega." The Sergeant carefully pronounced each word and number.

    "Code accepted. Password is Eldar."

    "Farseer."

    "Password accepted. Insert key." A small opening appeared in the end of the corridor.

    "Here goes nothing." Hall muttered. The sergeant retrieved a tiny black box from his belt and inserted it in the key hole.

    A few tense seconds of waiting followed, until a wave of static washed over the clones. Then they heard the unmistakable sound of magnetic clamps releasing and the blank wall slid back revealing dimly lit, gray corridor.

    "Our target''s in the far end of the facility. Another team will be checking for anything else of use." The Sergeant muttered as they walked between two rows of sealed doors until they reached a massive blast door at the end of the second corridor.

    "Additional authorization required to access Omega class items."

    "TK-0152-6642-5123-6553-D. Code-phrase Cherry Blossoms."

    "Authentication successful. Releasing Omega cache into your custody. Have a nice day."

    The armored door, which looked like it could shrug off multiple turbolaser shots, opened with a quiet hiss only to reveal a small room with four metal containers placed on a plain table.

    Hall had expected something grander from a chamber supposedly containing superweaons.

    He went to the containers and looked over the inscription on their tops. Three of them meant nothing to him. The fourth however was his target.

    It was a simple thing. Two letters and two numbers.

    CN-12

    Just to be sure, the Sergeant carefully unlocked the box and looked inside. Yep. Two rows of chips within a stasis field as well as a pair of ancient data pads. He sealed it again and waved to Kal and Cifor to pick it up.

    They were done with this frozen waste.

    CIC

    Republic Cruiser "Chimera"

    First Assault Fleet Flagship

    High Orbit above Objective Alpha

    Geonosis

    "Admiral on Deck!" One of the troopers guarding the cruiser''s nerve center shouted when Yularen stepped out of the turbolift.

    "Carry on." The Admiral snapped, while anyone without something important to do was busy standing to attention. "Commodore, give me a status report."

    Pellaeon nodded and pointed at the main screen. "Infiltration units are in position. We''re conducting Ion strikes all over the AO, while simultaneously bombarding all know enemy positions which could be used to reinforce Objective Alpha. The ?ssault on the HUB is in progress." The Commodore pointed at a rather large mountain near the primary target. There were multiple friendly icons all around it. "The diversion force is at the jump off position and the units tagged for the main ?ssault are ready to exploit any opening."

    "It will have to do. Air dominance?"

    "We have a third of our remaining small craft on call as well as six frigates for close orbital support."

    "It''s time to see if the General''s latest brainstorm is going to work."

    "It''d better. He''s down there too."

    "Bring the fleet to condition two and launch the reserve fighters. I want us ready for any surprises. Cut off the bombardment at my mark and keep scanning for any enemy concentrations approaching the AO. I want any local dumb enough to show his head vaporized." Yularen ordered. "Mark!"

    The rain of Ion bolts hammering the shields over the CIS''s new droid factories and the desert around them suddenly cut off. Once the last one slammed into the ground, three divisions launched smoke grenades to cover their advance towards the Separatists'' defensive trenches. At the same time, five infiltration teams slipped behind enemy lines with their newly-issued active camouflage and headed for the theater shield generators.

    What Yularen hoped to be the final act of this invasion had began.

    =RK=

    Part 2

    In the vicinity of Objective Alpha

    Geonosis

    Thick bolts of Ion energy slammed into the landscape before us, ravaging any electronics they could reach. Shields sparkled as they absorbed and reflected the power raining upon them, further saturating the surrounding area.

    The wild energy released upon the helpless desert took the form of a terrible lighting storm. Blue forks slammed into the ground, discharging themselves into the soil and incidentally burning anything without a strong defense. Minefields either detonated with hellish explosions or simply fused into dangerous lumps of melted metal and no-longer stable explosives. Automated turrets became ugly ornaments as their internal components were melted into slag. The droids and locals caught in the open suffered similar, gruesome fates as they were fried by the Ionic storm ravaging the countryside.

    It was beautiful sight.

    When the pyrotechnics finally ended and the lighting storm dissipated, it was time. The divisions ?ssigned to the diversion roared to life and plunged headlong into the enemy defenses, thick smoke from hundreds of grenades and ECM obscuring their approach.

    That was our cue too. A predetermined signal from my comm sent a platoon moving, with myself at the vanguard. Our light armors were already running in a stealth mode, making us invisible to most sensor and the good old Mark One eyeball. The movements of the armored division attacking the enemy positions would ensure that any seismic sensor in the area would be less that reliable even before the other Force Adepts and I started working our particular brand of "magic".

    We moved through the smoke like ghosts. Little more than the odd shimmering outline heralded our passage. On our right flank, the battle was just beginning, with the enemy firing blind in the artificial darkness. A few tanks and APCs were torn apart by hostile artillery , before the leading elements passed the shield threshold.

    Then the mutual slaughter began. The first tanks died under concentrated barrages of heavy weaponry within seconds, but a few lived long enough to pop additional smoke and ECM. The mad brew created by our engineers started spreading within the protective bubble, giving a fighting chance to the second wave of armor.

    The battle was stating in earnest when we passed through the shields and jogged towards a large boulder, which was anchoring two enemy trench lines. When we got close, I enhanced myself with the Force, something that was finally starting to be less painful and reached the top in a single jump.

    The squad of locals who were using the place as a forward observation post never saw me coming. I landed on the nearest one , crushing him beneath my boots. Moving faster than the Geonosians could follow, I slammed my right fist in the head of the nearest still living Separatist. The vibro blade built in my gauntlet extended and pierced his skull without even slowing down. In the same time I had raised my free hand and directed the Force to choke the life from his partner.

    The remaining pair of locals had enough time to click in surprise and start raising their weapons, before I telekinetically picked them up and slammed them into the rust colored rock.

    There was no time to waste. The observers death was going to be noticed any moment now.

    I went to the edge overlooking my platoon and pulled them up with the Force. They wasted no time and jumped down the other side of the rock formation, relying on the grarv-harnesses I insisted everyone carry. I was the last one to hit the ground,

    The impact made me stumble, and all that preventing my helmet from kissing the sand was Boil''s helpful arm.

    Kriff, using the Force to conceal us all in addition to everything else was a murderous after the stunt I pulled earlier with the Battle Meditation.

    I forced the pain and dizziness away, straightening up. I knew I wouldn''t be able to keep this level of Force use for much longer, though I really needed it until we were past the front line.

    "Go. We need to keep moving." I hissed and followed my own order.

    If it wasn''t for the Force shenanigans I was pulling out, we would have undoubtedly have been noticed the moment I dispatched those observers. The sheer strain brought me to a near collapse, but we did get behind the front-lines, a and into a small crevice that as far as we could tell wasn''t under active observation.

    Then I allowed myself to release the concealing technique and fell to my knees.

    "General! Are you all right?!" Waxer sprinted to my position when he heard me fall.

    "Do I look all right?" I managed to croak, while I was patting my harness for the last dose of the drug I brewed a few days ago. It took my shaking fingers a couple of attempts, but I finally twisted off the cap, then I put the bottle down and wrenched my helmet off, becoming visible.

    The next thing I know was the alchemical concoction sliding down my throat, scalding my insides.

    A few seconds later, the shacking subsided and I could feel myself being rejuvenated. I took a deep breath of the hot desert air and put my helmet back on, before reactivating the active camouflage.

    "Let''s go." I ordered after using the force to further cloak our movement. Hopefully the rest of the strike teams were handling their tasks better than us, because I didn''t think that our luck would hold much longer. It was a miracle that the enemy wasn''t already looking for us.

    =RK=

    "This might have gone better!" Ahsoka grumbled. The young Togruta was busy deflecting blaster bolts, while her command unloaded shot after shot in the ranks of the Droids closing in on her unit.

    The Force clearly hated her. That''s the only way she could explain the ground falling away from behind her platoon to reveal a tunnel chock full of killer robots. The only good news was that the droids were as surprised as the Clones who fell in their midst, allowing Ahsoka to save a few of her men thanks to some fast thinking and the Force. Even then, three people were shot before they could react to finding themselves surrounded by the machines.

    The fact that the tunnel was sealed moments later by a thermal detonator didn''t help Tano''s strike team. Their cover was blown and now they were being swarmed by what suspiciously looked like a whole kriffing battalion.

    "Left flank!" The Lieutenant usually in charge of the platoon shouted.

    "Of course. This is getting better and better¡­" Ahsoka grumbled and glanced in the relevant direction. Sure enough, there were at least a score of SB droids taking them in the flank.

    That simply wouldn''t do. Ahsoka hissed in anger, glaring after a near-miss. It wasn''t enough that her master went a bit mad and get a lot of people killed, before landing himself into a bacta tank.

    Nope. That had to reflect on her too, making many Jedi Masters question her integrity. If it wasn''t for Obi-Wan taking her under his wing, she might have ended into the agri-corps or something just in case if that conversation between Master Kenobi and the Council she had accidentally overheard was anything to go by.

    As if all that was not enough, now a bunch of kriffing clankers were killing her men! She not only saw, but felt them get hurt and die.

    People under her command. Clones whose well being was her responsibility.

    "No!" Ahsoka hissed.

    Bursts of blaster fire popped the light shield of another soldier, before simply hammering enough firepower into him to burn through his armor. Another was blown to bits by a tiny missile.

    "NO!" Tano growled.

    The Force hummed around her, as if it was feeding by the anger she was feeling. The Jedi knew what she was supposed to do ¨C crush her feelings and simply disregard feeling how her men were dying around her.

    Once upon a time she would have tried her best to do precisely that, even if it meant more people were going to die.

    Instead, Ahsoka forced her will over the Force, grappling it with mental fingers and channeling her will. Sparks danced in front of her eyes as she felt an incredible wellspring of power all around her.

    "NO!" She shouted a third time and waved her free hand at the SB Droids flanking her position¡­ and the Force eagerly jumped to obey her. A single bolt of crackling lighting jumped from her palm and slammed at the closest machine, frying it internals, before blasting the droid off its feet and burning out the one behind it. Ahsoka swept her hand left and right, disabling clanker after clanker.

    Once the last one of the flanking force was gone, Ahsoka finally cut off her attack and smiled.

    Then her eyes rolled back and she collapsed.

    "Medic! The commander''s down!" One of the Clones shouted before darkness claimed Tano in her sweet embrace.

    =RK=

    Part 3

    In the vicinity of Objective Alpha

    Geonosis

    It was different this time. She could feel it all as if she had been blind up to this point.

    Death screams. Fear. Desperation. Determination. Anger. Terror¡­ and so much more.

    The Force itself was alive with the emotions of the countless people fighting and dying all around her. It was supercharged by them, almost made tangible¡­ and finally, Shaak Ti understood. It was so obvious. So easy to lose oneself in the malestorm surrounding her. So enticing.

    The Jedi Master smiled as she let the downpour of emotions wash over her, using it to focus the Force around her into a weapon.

    The time for stealth was over anyway. The Togruta and her platoon were just a few hundred meters from their prize and they had to cut through two mechanized companies to reach it.

    There were six dug in tanks, at least ten APCs she could see and about two hundred ?ssorted droids and Geonosians blocking the way.

    "Prepare grenades. Mix of EMP, frag and Thermal detonators." The Jedi Master whispered.

    The invisible troopers behind her complied, each of them removing explosives from their harnesses. Shaak Ti took a deep breath and let her mind expand outwards until she could sense each grenade, then she pushed even more and her consciousness flew over the enemy lines. She could feel the locals'' alien minds as they huddled in their trenches, the cold, uninviting presence of the Droids and the dull shapes of the vehicles. The Jedi fixed that image in her mind and she picked up the grenades. The EMPs flew first, streaking towards every concentration of droids. They were followed by frags aimed at the locals and the Thermal detonators dashing under the vehicles.

    The enemy saw what was coming, shouting and pointing at the raining explosives. A few had the presence of mind to try shooting the incoming ordinance, while most simply stared in disbelief. That feeling was suddenly replaced by shock and pain as the CIS position were claimed by fiery death. Scores of Droids fell down with their their electronics burned out. Dozens of the locals died from the explosions or were cut down by flying shrapnel. In the same time, tanks and APCs were consumed by fusion fire, that melted anything unlucky to be close enough.

    "GO!" Shaak Ti shouted and surged forward.

    The Jedi''s lightsaber flew into her outstretched hand, igniting in mid-air. Her stealth field cut of and the energy was automatically dumped into the shield forming around her as she sprinted forward. The Clones followed her, shooting at anything that moved.

    A few of the shocked survivors from the surprised attack tried to fight back and were gunned down for their trouble.

    The Republic soldiers were almost through, when additional defenders sprang from around the generator. They were a mixture of SB Droids and Geonosian warriors, led by a pair of massive locals, who looked closer to walking tanks than to their lesser brethren.

    Shaak Ti deflected the few blaster bolts sent her way and jumped in the midst of the closest enemy group. She reflected a handful of shot while flying through the air and sent a telekinetic blast forward before she hit the ground. Her attack threw the droids off their feet, leaving them easy prey for her flashing blade.

    Meanwhile, the Clones were hammering shot after shot in the last line of defense, cutting down the locals one after another. Grenade launchers spoke, shattering the enemy flank farthest from Shaak Ti, while the center simply melted under the relentless barrage of blaster bolts.

    That left the Jedi to deal with the pair of giant locals sprinting her way. They opened up with blasters built into their right arms, while long vibroblades extended from under the left. A squad of Clones tried to take Elites down before they reached their General, yet their accurate bursts blaster fire splashed harmlessly over the tough armor of the overgrown bugs.

    Shaak Ti shook her head at the men charging her. The Force was still singing all around her, begging to be used. The Jedi raised a hand and pointed at the nearest enemy. She picked him up and slammed him into his buddy, sending them both tumbling through the sands. The Jedi Master picked up the same Elite and used the Force to crush the life out of him.

    The Togruta frowned when she felt the life deserting him. Her instincts howled in victory. She felt sick, sweet satisfaction at taking a life through the Force. It made her feel exhilaration, yet at the same time.. it felt somehow wrong, off.

    Her sudden confusion almost let the remaining Elite surprise her as he found his footing and sprinted at her, waving his vibroblade like a madman.

    Shaak Ti got out from her stupor just in time to roll away from a vicious swing. She wasted no time and riposted with her lightsaber. Her emerald blade caught the alien''s right hind leg at the joint and the insectoid stumbled with a cry of pain. The Jedi gave let him no time to recover and jumped on his back. She thrust her blade at the base of his skull and held it there for the few seconds it took to melt through the armor, despite the Geonosian''s attempt to shake her off.

    The armor yielded and the local died when the laser sword boiled his brain.

    "Set the charges and let''s get out of here!" Shaak Ti ordered. She glanced at the troopers and smiled. The demo experts were already half-way to the generator.

    Now if only they could hold on until reinforcements arrived¡­

    =RK=

    "Ma''am, why aren''t we attacking the generator?!" The Lieutenant commanding her ?ssigned platoon asked Aria after ducking under a sonic blast.

    "We''re a distraction." She deadpanned and threw a frag downrange.

    "That''s those division''s job, not ours!"

    "We''ve got an insane killer Droid on our side." The Sith apprentice spoke just as her grenade detonated, tearing apart a couple of the insects.

    "You could have mentioned this before!"

    "Need to know. Besides, this way''s more fun!" Aria chuckled.

    The ground shook and a massive explosion washed over their heads, throwing a pair of clones who weren''t hugging the low cover off their feet.

    A few moments later, once the echo of the massive detonation subdued, the Clones could hear heavy blaster fire and explosion coming from behind the enemy lines.

    Aria peeked up from the small ravine she and the LT were using for cove. HK was over there, having fun with a heavy blaster. He was throwing the odd Thermal detonator too, obliterating the enemy groups that had survived the destruction of the generator.

    "Well done, platoon. It''s time to find something else important to break!" Aria waved her men forward.

    =RK=

    "You''ve got to be kidding me!" I decapitated a droid and stared at the familiar figure striding towards me, followed by a company of the locals and someone in heavy Mandalorian armor. "Waxer, get two fire-teams and slag the generator. Everyone else, with me!" I ordered and sprinted towards the new arrivals.

    The woman leading the enemy reinforcements could have been Aria''s twin sister. So she was either another clone, or the original.

    The enemy opened fire a moment after I used the Force to create a shield between us. Dozens of blaster bolts and sonic blasts slammed into the invisible wall of energy, giving a nice opportunity for my men to take aim and let lose. The first rank of the locals were turned into smoking piles of burned meat, though the Chiss woman deflected anything that came her way. The huge Mandalorian behind her simply shrugged off anything that hit his armor.

    I grit my teeth and let the shield fall. I simply didn''t have the strength left to maintain it any longer. Not if I had to face off against a Dark Jedi.

    Before the defensive screen dissipated I rolled around a nearby rock, neatly avoiding a bunch of the green stuff that the locals loved to shoot at us. That gave me a few moments to catch my breath, before I sensed the Dark Jedi closing on my position.

    "I''ll deal with the Force Adept, you take care of the rest!" I shouted.

    As I jumped form behind my cover I saw one of my men catching a sonic blast with his face after losing his shields. He fell to the ground like a puppet with his strings cut. The damn thing probably liquified his brain. I needed a way to protect against that.

    Two of the overgrown insects flew at me, shouting something ineligible on their language. Probably cursing our existence and the hell we were unleashing upon their world.

    I cut the first one in half and blasted the second with a concentrated bolt of Sith Lighting, before turning to face the Chiss woman. I could feel fear mixed with excitement coming from her as she strode confidently towards me.

    =RK=

    Part 4

    In the vicinity of Objective Alpha

    Geonosis

    "Any ideas, sir?" The sole still living NCO of Obi-Wan''s platoon shouted over the roar of the firefight.

    "We need to get out of here." Kenobi remarked dryly while deflecting blaster bolts.

    Their part of the mission had gone without a hitch up to the very end. Slipping through enemy lines and units rushing to reinforce the front was quite interesting though with some liberal help from the Force it was actually doable. Neutralizing the three platoons guarding the generator had proven more of a challenge, but a surprise attack had taken out a third of them before the enemy knew what hit them and the advantage given by the new armors was sufficient to make the ?ssault go smoothly.

    Their luck ran out while a squad was busy explosives to the generator. A reinforcing mechanized battalion had turned up to check on the commotion and now had them pinned down in the ravine housing their target.

    That left the Jedi Master and his troops in a bind, because they really didn''t feel like blowing themselves up, but with the every moment the damn generator remained intact, more Republic troopers were dying. Not to mention that simply disabling the damn think would prompt the Seps to rush their position and they had the numbers and firepower to overrun it.

    "I need two squads of volunteers. The rest of you take the wounded and make yourselves scarce. Then blow the generator once we''re all clear of it. Sergeant, you''re leading the platoon out of here. And don''t forget to pop up smoke!"

    "Yes, sir. It''s been a honor."

    "We''re not dead yet." Kenobi muttered. Still it felt nice to be appreciated by your troops. Sergeant Wind actually meant it.

    Obi-Wan let the Force flow through him, emptying his mind. He felt calmness descend upon him, any misgivings he might have had for his Anakin-style plan dissolving. There was only him and what had to be done.

    "Follow me men!" Kenobi spoke just loud enough to be heard and jumped from his cover.

    A handful of smoke grenades sailed in front of the Jedi Master and once they released their contents, the Clones followed.

    Obi-Wan''s perception shrunk, leaving just him and the blaster bolts heading in his direction. His lightsaber moved by the will of the Force, intercepting every single shot that would have hit him and reflecting most of them back. He was only vaguely aware of the Clones racing on his heels and unloading their weapons at the enemy.

    However he did notice when the explosives detonated and blew the shield generator to pieces. Kenobi simply couldn''t miss the blast-wave that threw him face first in the sand.

    =RK=

    "Brave but foolish." I quipped at the approaching woman.

    "You''re the one causing so much trouble to my Master." She narrowed her eyes at me. "I''m so not impressed." The Chiss hissed in fury once had time to study me through the Force.

    Ouch. That stung considering that right now I was scrapping the barrel as far as how much Force I could channel before burning myself out.

    While taking her out, preferably for later questioning would be ideal, simply remaining in one piece until the shields were down and the backup arrived, would do too.

    At least this promised to be fun.

    The Dark Jedi dashed at me. Her lithe body movedwith ease and grace that belittled what my apprentice was capable of. She blurred, enhancing her speed with the Force and suddenly was in my face. I deflected a stab aimed at my ?h?st and had to stop a telekinetic push that would have sent me off my feet by slamming my own in it.

    The two attacks exploded against each other, bathing us with raw Force energy and pushing us away from each other. That didn''t deter my opponent, who immediately went on the offensive.

    Facing something actually proficient in Makashi, when she was faster than me, was¡­ troublesome. Oh, I was enhancing my speed too, though not anywhere near to my usual capacity. As it was, my nerves screamed as the energy coursing through my body scrubbed them raw.

    That left me in a bind. The woman was simply dancing around me, probing my defenses with swift jabs and slashes, melting like water from my counter-attacks. I gritted my teeth, forced myself to ignore the pain that wracked me with each movement, and ?ssumed Soresu stance.

    As she attacked again, I started pulling back, trading distance in an attempt to mitigate her speed advantage. I parried a shallow slash, ducked under a rock the Chiss hurled my way and took a step back as she lunged, letting her lightsaber overload my shields, while I deflected shots from a local who thought flanking me was a splendid idea. I rewarded the idiot by grabbing him with the force and throwing him at the Chiss.

    She jumped, landing on the flying body and used him as a spring board in a move that should have been suicidal, though in fact it turned out to be anything but. While in mid-air she sent another Force blast my way, forcing me to counter it or find myself on my back, open for a Coup De Grace. Her attack did its job, staggering and keeping me in the same position as she descended upon me.

    I roared in pain and anger as I gathered the dissipating energy around me and sent it at the Dark Jedi just before she could slam her saber into me. She was thrown back like a leaf picked up by a gust of wind, though that didn''t stop the Chiss from throwing her lightsaber at me. I battered the blade aside, swaying on my feet. Accessing the force was turning from touching a live wire into something akin to molten metal running up and down my veins.

    I had obviously underestimated how much I had recovered from the stunt with the Battle Meditation.

    The smart play here would be to call a retreat and kill the kriffing woman another day.

    I was too pissed off and enraged by the pain to contemplate running away. Instead I pulled the closest of the locals towards me and before the insectoid could react, I grabbed his face. The Force surged through me as I drained his life force, giving myself a brief moment of respite. The soothing ??r?ss of the stolen energy was a cool balm over my raw nerves.

    The Chiss recovered, while I took a brief time-out to rejuvenate myself. She reclaimed back her weapon too and was sprinting towards me. I threw the desiccated corpse of the Geonosian I was holding at her and swiftly followed it. The Dark Jedi simply plowed through it by surrounding herself in the Force, turning it into little more than dust and chunks of brittle bone.

    She was upon me a second later, trying to cut my throat with a precise strike. My blade b?r?ly deflected the attack. In the same time I trust my palm at her and channeled as much Force as I could into a lighting bolt. I saw red and screamed in agony, while the woman was bowed back under the onslaught, her screams merging with mine.

    The Force was shouting too, though I simply couldn''t respond in time to the warning. Blaster bolts hammered down my shield and slammed into my side, interrupting my attack. The armor b?r?ly held, though the thermal transfer seared my skin below it. A stream of liquid fire followed, though I was somehow able to gather enough Force to start pushing against it. The flames curved around invisible barrier, though even then they licked around it blackening my armor.

    Using the last vestiges of the Force I jumped back just in time to avoid being turned into a human torch. I landed badly and only the armor locking in place prevented me from twisting my ankle.

    I hissed in pain and triggered the prototype medical system that was built in my and few of the other armors. Seconds later, a ???ktail of painkillers and stimulants filled my bloodstream. They were strong enough to raise the dead as the sudden surge of energy I felt could testify.

    That done, I looked around. The man in Mandalorian armor was carrying the Chiss away and the remains of the locals were busy covering them while they were pulling back too.

    I frowned. There were a lot of them. Retreating simply made no sense.

    Then I heard the unmistakable wh?n? of Ion engines. Very many of them.

    I glanced up and grinned like a loon. The sky was chock full with fast approaching dots. I could b?r?ly made the hundreds of torpedoes and missiles racing down in front of them.

    =RK=

    Part 5

    In the vicinity of Objective Alpha

    Geonosis

    You got to love air support. It makes for a wide variety of sins. It had saved his skin more than once, while he was soldier for hire for various local governments.

    Unfortunately for the man known only as Forge, this time all the bombers and orbiting ships belonged to the enemy and that indeed made up for a lot of "miscalculations" like infiltrating a heavy fortified area with just a handful of platoons, while whole divisions were busy expending themselves against the fixed defenses.

    The thing was, it kriffing worked. Oh, Forge''s current employer, who he had incidentally just carried into the small cave in which he was taking cover, had planned for such an eventuality. There were at least couple of platoons securing each generator, with QRF stationed nearby. When the Republic attacked, Sev''rance personally led a platoon of the locals to secure the closest objective.

    Initially the plan appeared to be working. They received reports that all enemy incursions were being engaged, half of them before reaching the generators.

    Then, to his utter lack of surprise, the plan fell appart, because the enemy did have a vote in the matter. Duh. After that, there was no more time for thinking things through. The Republic force was in sight and it was time to earn himself a bonus

    That didn''t go according to plan either. Forge managed to take out a few Clones, which was surprisingly hard. The combination of their much better than expected training and new kit, made them unpleasantly resilient targets. Instead of dying under his modified blasters, they tanked the shots long enough to seek cover and return fire.

    It was all right. A few custom grenades solved that problem nicely. One of the Clones was immolated by a nice incendiary ???ktail, another ended up as a ice-enclosed statue and a third got his organ liquified by a heavily modified sonic grenade.

    Forge was just starting to have some fun, when he saw his employer get into trouble. The Sith apprentice had been dominating the battle with her enemy counterpart up until that point. Then the other Sith, fallen Jedi or whatever the new Republic general was, got pissed off and started frying her with lightning shot from his hands.

    The Mandalorian thought that trick was neat and idly wondered if he could replicate it after a few days in the shop, while he sprinted towards the Force users. He unloaded half a dozen shots in the enemy''s side, which only staggered him, though that at least made the man stop with the lightning show. It also allowed Forge to close in and unleash his flamethrower on the Republic officer.

    For a moment the Mandalorian thought that he got the bastard, though that notion was almost immediately dissuaded when a soot-streaked figure leaped out and back in a feat impossible to emulate without a jet pack or rocket boots.

    That''s when the shield generator blew up, making Forge aware how screwed his side on Geonosis suddenly was. He glanced up, saw the deflector shimmering and moved like a man possessed. He grabbed Sev''rance and sprinted back, looking for a nice secluded hole to hide.

    The shield above them dissolved, leaving the entrenched CIS forces to their fate.

    Forge could already hear the banshee''s song of diving bombers. The ground started shaking as the orbiting fleet jumped the gun. The Mandalorian saw the small entrance of a cave and dashed in before the world outside ended.

    What just a few minutes ago was a deadly series of interconnected trenches, bunkers and dug in armor, all manned by tens of thousands of CIS troopers and droids simply ceased to be under the relentless pounding of the Republic forces.

    A few minutes later, when the bombardment subdued, Sev''rance was showing some signs of life after Forge hooked her up on as much stimulants as he dared. The woman ?r??n?d and her eyes fluttered open.

    "Wha? What ran me over?"

    "That man who had been giving the Confederacy so much trouble lately."

    "I was kicking his ?ss!" Sev''rance frowned in thought and pouted a moment later.

    "From what I saw, you were. Until he got pissed off." Forge shrugged. "We''re in trouble."

    "How bad?"

    "The shields are down. Enemy air power and orbital support are finishing gutting the army around us. That only leaves the factories themselves."

    "Even with their own shield, they won''t last long." Tann ?r??n?d.

    "That leaves us in a bind." Forge nodded. "Unless your friends dislodge the fleet in orbit in the next few hours, we''re kriffed."

    "There won''t be a counterattack here. Not anytime soon."

    "Usually I would be all for running the blockade, but there''s awful lot of metal in orbit." The Mandalorian mused.

    "Getting captured isn''t really an option."

    "I''m not going for a last stand or something. I guess we could try slipping away and hiding in the desert until most of that fleet leaves. However..." Forge shrugged.

    "I know. With the CIS presence done for, the locals would want our heads after that mess with the Queen."

    "I''ve got an idea..." Forge muttered.

    "I''m all ears."

    He told her.

    "Are you insane?! That''s¡­ Words fail me!" Sev''rance spluttered.

    "It would make no difference in the end, though it might get us out of here. Besides we did accomplish our mission..."

    "Kriff it. Call the rest of the crew and set things up. I just hope that my master won''t be too displeased. I don''t look forward to explaining this to him..."

    "Don''t look at me. I''m just a hired gun."

    The Chiss woman snorted.

    =RK=

    Four hours later

    Republic FOB

    Former CIS staging area

    Geonosis

    The former sep command center was little more than a cave, which still bore the fresh scars of battle. The enemy equipment had been torn down and sent back for the Intel corps to look over and our engineers had rigged our toys in its place. We even got a few stools, courtesy of our CIS friends, something that my back was rather grateful for.

    "General, we''ve pulled back our mauled units. Two fresh divisions will be ready to move on Alpha within the hour." Colonel Pell reported. The man looked flustered and far from happy. One of the divisions, which led the ?ssault was a Caamasi one, thanks to the very nice tanks they were equipped with.

    They had suffered heavy casualties during the diversion, though an order of magnitude less than our own armored formation, that accompanied them. At least I had a proof that our allies tanks were as good as suspected and hoped that they would soon enter mass production to replace our walkers in the dedicated armor role.

    "Good. Send my compliments to the commander of Third Armored. His boys and girls did great."

    "I will, general."

    "Do we have word about the rest of the infiltration units?" I turned to Shaak Ti, who had arrived a couple of minutes ago. She looked a bit tired, though I could feel the satisfaction simply oozing from her.

    "Kenobi, while battered, should be all right. Your apprentice is in one piece as well as that crazy droid of yours. There''s still fighting in Ahsoka''s sector. No word on her or her men''s status yet. All I can feel is that she''s alive."

    "Send additional units to that sector and keep a med-evac ready. The ?ssault on the transport hub?" I turned my head towards Piett, who had been running various important errands lately. He did make a good aide.

    "We''ve secured the upper levels, though so far no unit has reported a successful breach in the transport network below."

    "Sir, we''ve been just contacted by a CIS officer, a Sev''rance Tann. She want''s to make a deal."

    "That name does ring a bell." I muttered. The Chiss from whom my apprentice was cloned and the woman who almost handed me my ?ss not too long ago. "Patch her through, though bounce the connection. I don''t want them pinpointing this location."

    =RK=

    Part 6

    Republic FOB

    Former CIS staging area

    Geonosis

    "I''ll offer you a different deal." I spoke quietly. "Shut down the shields, deactivate as many droids in this AO as you can and I''ll alloy you and your Mando buddy to leave Geonosis unmolested. One hour. If it''s not done by then, we''re taking down the factory complex the hard way and we''ll have a chat when we get you. I do have some questions for you."

    There was silence from the comm unit.

    "Consider it done." An unfamiliar male voice, one distorted by a helmet, spoke half a minute later.

    "Then we have a deal. I don''t need to explain to you what would happen if you''re fu?k?n? with me, do I?" I smiled and cut off the comm. "Continue preparing for the final ?ssault. Even if the shield goes down, proceed with extreme caution and look for any nasty surprises they might have left for us."

    "Understood. Are you going to let them go, sir?" Colonel Pell asked.

    "Of course. Not doing so would simply insure that any reasonable enemy commander in a similar position would fight to inflict us as many casualties as possible before going down. If it works, we''ll neutralize the kriffing factories a bit cheaper than otherwise. At any rate, we won''t be getting them intact. Make sure that the engineers go first if the whole complex isn''t leveled when we reach it. I''ll bet you whatever you want that the place will be rigged to blow."

    The main part of the Campaign on Geonosis ended with a whimper instead of one last titanic clash.

    Tann held up to her word and forty minutes later the shield shut down along with a third of the droids protecting our objective. Orbital and air strikes shattered the last enemy defensive lines, letting an armored thrust break through with no trouble to speak off. The locals on site offered fanatical, but futile resistance and were crushed by tanks supported by two infantry battalions kitted with our new equipment.

    The fact that Shaak Ti, Aria and HK led the troopers sure helped mop them up faster.

    I was right about the charges too. The whole factory complex blew up before our leading elements could reach it.

    "Well, that''s done. Sit rep on our other offensive and what''s happening with the transport hub?"

    "Sir, our forces are ten kilometers from the industrial area and report heavy fighting. We have units two kilometers from the nearest shield generators, but they''re bogged down."

    "Start shifting our reserves to the active offensive." I interrupted Piett and addressed one of the comm officers in the CP.

    "Willco, sir."

    "Continue."

    "There''s heavy fighting above the HUB, though our forces continue to gradually push the enemy back. They''ve requested heavy infantry support."

    "Shift General Ti and Commander Astra''s units to that operation. Anything else I need to know right now?"

    "Negative, sir."

    "Good man. Carry one. Comm, I need secure line to Coruscant, GAR HQ. Patch me to General Valentra." I ordered and relaxed in my chair. We kriffing did it. With a bit of luck I was going to get out of this dust ball soon. There were only the small issues of compiling the never sufficiently kriffed up AARs and dealing with the Skywalker fiasco.

    A few minutes later, the holo-projector showing my forces disposition in the AO shimmered and changed into three figures.

    Kriff. One was Valentra all right. He was looking unusually chipper in his Class One uniform. Next to him was Palpatine, who was grinning at me, damn him, and Yoda, who in turn appeared to be less than cheerful.

    "Chancellor. General Valentra, Master Yoda." I greeted them in turn.

    "General Veil, good to see you again. I understand that you have a report to make?"

    "Our primary objective on Geonosis has been completed. The experimental droid factories are gone. Our forces are within ten kilometers of the primary industrial zone on the planet and pushing hard. We''re also attacking various transport hubs to disrupt troop and material movements."

    "This is a great news! I want to be the first to congratulate you and your soldiers for a job well done!" Palpatine beamed at me.

    What the kriff got him so cheerful, damn it?

    "Good job, Veil. It''s good to see you still in one piece." Valentra smirked.

    Yoda stared at me for a long moment. "Good news, this is. Disturbance in the Force we felt. Glad we are, that affect you it did not"

    I had to use all the tricks I knew not to smirk at the Jedi¡­ or burst into a fit of laughter.

    "General Veil, achieving your primary objective on Geonosis at this time is a great news, especially in light of recent events." Palpatine spoke gravely. He was suddenly looking very concerned. "I know that you could use a bit of rest, but the Republic has a need of you as well as General Kenobi."

    "What''s the issue?" I asked, keeping my voice neutral.

    "The Mandalorians." Valentra stated. "They''re about to receive a Separatist''s delegation."

    Well, isn''t that interesting. I wondered what my Mandalorian "friend" has been up to while I was stuck on Geonosis. I was about to find out soon.

    "You want me to negotiate their entrance in the war on our side?" I asked.

    "Neutral they must be. Or allies." Yoda muttered.

    "What Master Yoda said." Valentra nodded.

    "Your reputation would help with any negotiations and General Kenobi is friend of their current leader." Palpatine added.

    True enough. That would also keep me from kicking separatists ?ssess on the battlefield for the duration, something that Sidious probably wanted. However, it wasn''t like I could refuse. Besides I planned to go to Mandalore sooner than latter. After all, I wanted them on my side.

    "Once we''ve wrapped up the situation ground-side and Kenobi is cleared to travel, we''ll be ready to leave. Is our arrival at Mandalore cleared up?"

    "We''ve negotiated to send a delegation." Palpatine nodded. "Call us when your ready to depart. What happened to General Kenobi?" I could almost believe that his concern was genuine.

    "He was wounded while leading a strike team to neutralize a shield generator." I shrugged. "He''s expect to recover withing the week."

    "Good." Yoda sighed. "Lost too many Jedi we have."

    I have to give that to Sidious ¨C he didn''t show any reaction at the comment, though I knew that he had to be cackling inside at the thought.

    "Speaking about Jedi..." I sighed. "Skywalker." I spat the name, displaying much more anger than I felt at the idiot.

    Valentra winced and Yoda''s ears drooped. Even Palpatine placed a regretful expression on his face.

    "That''s one ugly situation." My fellow general muttered. "He''s going on trial for that."

    "I couldn''t agree more." I snarled. "When is the investigation starting?"

    "I''ve dispatched a team and it should reach Geonosis in couple of days. They will interview you, Kenobi and whoever you''ll take with you to Mandalore first."

    "Good. I hope that the Jedi Order has no objections?" I stared at the Grand Master.

    I was surprised that Palpatine hadn''t broken out his favorite alternative to popcorn and cola as he watched the show.

    "A trial must be held." The regret in Yoda''s voice was clear. I could feel it even across all the light years separating us.

    After the debacle with Windu, Skywalker''s kriff up was going to shatter most of the credibility the Jedi had left. That was an something I couldn''t have done better if I planned it¡­ even if it messed up some of my other plans. With Padme still out and with no indications if she would recover, that left me lacking in the department of close political allies outside the military, even if the Senate liked me for now.

    That only underlined how important it was going to be getting the Mandalorians on my side.

    "One will be held." Valentra growled. "The idiot destroyed a whole battle group worth of cruisers and got most of their crews killed!"

    "Peace, General! We''ve discussed the issue before. He will be tried." Palpatine played the peacekeeper. "Once the situation has been properly investigated of course. We can''t afford a miscarriage of justice after all."

    "Of course, Chancellor." Valentra nodded.

    I wondered what game Palpy was playing. If I was him, I would ensure that Skywalker gets broken by the trial, left without any support, before I swooped to the rescue. Not to mention, that it would be a great opportunity to practically destroy what reputation the Order had left.

    Apparently, Anakin was chosen to destroy the Jedi Order one way or another. Talk about misunderstood prophecies...

 Chapter 47 - Interlude: Palpatine

    Chancellor''s apartments

    Location Classified

    Coruscant

    Sheev Palpatine fell back into the reasonably comfortable couch in the living room of his temporarily home and sighed.

    He was in quite the precarious situation and he wasn''t entirely sure how he got there. The only thing he was sure about was that Veil had a lot to do with it.

    The Lord of the Sith had miscalculated. Misjudged that man, believing him to be a bold fool, claiming a title that he couldn''t have possibly earned. Oh, the man was dark all right. He could sense it clearly.

    That didn''t make him a Sith. Just a particularly resourceful Dark Jedi at best.

    Or so Palpatine thought.

    There were small clues that he disregarded, that he refused to believe.

    Sidious sighed again. Sheer arrogance on his part, that was to blame. He could admit that much. After all, there simply couldn''t be another Lord of the Sith. Not after he murdered Plageius all those years ago.

    For a thousand years there were only two Sith ¨C a master and an apprentice. That was something he never thought to doubt. Oh, they had a few Dark Jedi as minions. From time to time those servants were even allowed to think themselves Sith, when that was useful of course.

    It was a convinient delusion, keeping them motivated until the time to dispose of them came.

    The truth remained unchanged. Two Sith.

    After he went through the reports of the space battle above Geonosis, that wasn''t something he would bet on.

    For someone with the intimate knowledge of the Force like Sidious, the reports were clear. Veil had used Battle Mediation on unprecedented scale ¨C one only he might be able to match. Even if the man had been weakened in the aftermath, as one might expect, that spoke volumes about his raw power over the Force.

    The conclusion was simple, obvious. While Veil didn''t cloak his presence in the Force as Sidious always did, the man suppressed his power, appearing significantly weaker than he really was. It was a good way to be considered a lesser threat. Then, there was the way he heralded himself as a Sith for all the Republic to hear.

    In hindsight, that was anything but the madness that it had appeared at first. Sidious had ?ssumed, along with most Jedi, that Veil was simply grandstanding ¨C lying to enhance his reputation¡­

    In this day and age a Sith simply wouldn''t herald his allegiance. It simply wasn''t done. It was a kriffing madness!

    The sheer audacity almost made Sidious smile. It wasn''t something that he had ever considered doing.

    Veil being actually a Sith ¨C well, that at least explained the man''s success. What he was doing was similar to what Sidious himself might have gone for if he was in similar situation. After all, what Sith wouldn''t take advantage of a convenient galactic war?

    That didn''t change the fact that Veil was a tiresome troublemaker, who was a big reason for Sidious'' well crafted plans burning around him.

    A deep frown marred Palpatine''s face. Veil was dangerous, even if he could prove to be rather useful. Was he connected with the traitors within the Confederacy, who ensured that he was losing control of the war? Were those two problems unrelated? Dooku was investigating, though his agents were cut off on Geonosis with whatever evidence they managed to recover before Veil attacked the planet.

    That was less than ideal considering that uprooting the conspiracy was proving unusually hard. For a Sith like his current apprentice, that shouldn''t have been the case.

    There was something deeper at work here.

    For a moment Sidous'' eyes flashed yellow in fury. There were too many unknowns. Too many things outside of his control and worse of all, his mask ¨C Sheev Palpatine - was being kept under close guard after the attack on the Senate.

    Even in his persona as a Chancellor he couldn''t dispense with the protection the GAR gave him. Not after the attack on Coruscant was altered and used to shatter a copious amount of ground work.

    A lot of generals and admirals who were his "friends" and protegees were dead. The same was true about most of his high ranking agents in the Intelligence services.

    Now people were investigating, searching for separatist moles.

    The Jedi too.

    Keeping his real identity a secret was proving hard. He no longer could afford to simply cloud the minds or remove memories from people who saw something they shouldn''t.

    Not with the odd Jedi checking up his security on a daily basis, after Veil suggested it. To protect the Chancellor from Sith influence, the kriffing bastard had said.

    The worst thing was that Sidious couldn''t simply remove the latest thorn in his side. The remaining Senators loved the self-styled Sith. He had saved them after all and was turning the war around. Or least stalemating it now that the Separatists were going outside the script and actually trying to win.

    The same was true for the public. For now at least. Palpatine was already working to subtly tarnish Veil''s reputation. Once that was done, he would have more options in dealing with the man.

    Sidious smirked at his old idea to simply have Veil killed. Now that he knew him to be a Sith, that simply wasn''t going to work.

    That''s why Sidious maneuvered events to remove the man from the board for the time being by sending him to deal with the Mandalorians.

    It really didn''t matter which side they joined. While Veil was busy dealing with them, Palpatine and Dooku would retake control over the Confederacy and start properly managing both sides of the war.

    After all, the ideal trap for Jedi worked as well for Sith ¨C usually keeping them busy away from the most important areas was enough.

    One question remained ¨C could Veil become a good apprentice or was he simply a threat that must be removed when he was no longer particularly useful? At least recent events almost guaranteed that Anakin would fall under Sidious'' influence sooner than planned.

    At any rate, Palpatine was going to have his hands full. It would be refreshing not to have Veil messing things up.

    =RK=

    Interlude: The Hound

    Objective Alpha 3 (Ar''Klorg''Onya Cave Complex)

    Fifteen Kilometers from Objective Alpha 1

    "Keep at it men, we''re almost there!" The Jedi shouted.

    The tall man was in the lead ¨C deflecting a hail of blaster bolts and sonic blasts ¨C and generally keeping the enemy fire concentrated on himself.

    Behind the mobile shield wall that was Master Mundi, Hound and his platoon were dashing from cover to cover, slowing down only to sent accurate bursts into the mass of enemy trying to stop them short from the prize. Despite their fanatical resistance, the Confederate forces protecting the HUB were slowly pushed back. Blasters, explosives and even flame throwers were used to clear any strong-point.

    The Jedi led the way, blunting the enemy fire and allowing the Clones to uproot the enemy much faster and cheaper than it would have been possible otherwise.

    "NOW!" Mundi shouted.

    A pair of clones carrying missile launchers sprinted behind him, aimed and let lose. Two unguided rockets screamed down the tunnel and slammed into the bunker at its end. The first missed the firing port, gorging a deep crater in the durasteel. The second flew true and blew up inside ¨C painting the walls of the bunker with its defenders.

    "We''re almost there! Press on!" Mundi ordered as he charged. "Grenades around the corner"

    Hound sprinted after his commander and threw a frag, followed by a concussion grenade. Mundi didn''t even slow down and simply waded through the pieces of shattered stone and shrapnel that flew around the corner. The sergeant followed suit and almost froze in his tracks.

    They were almost atop of their objective.

    There was a half kilometer between the HUB itself and the corridor¡­ It was chock full with droids, locals, weapon emplacements and a platoon of kriffing tanks.

    They were all aiming at the crazy Jedi, who was charging them with nothing more than his lightsaber.

    Fortunately, Hound''s training kicked in, not letting him freeze in place and die without doing a thing. The sergeant dashed until he was outside the corridor and jumped, landing in a prone position.

    To his utter astonishment, the Confeds haven''t yet opened fire. In fact, the droids had frozen where they stood.

    The locals on other hand were busy shooting for all they were worth, though it was too late. With a mighty leap, Mundi jumped over the first row of barricades and landed amid the enemy.

    Then the ceiling above the Confed position blew up, showering everyone with debris. Concussion grenades followed and once they detonated, Clones in medium and heavy armor started rappelling down.

    Hound grinned inside his helmet while he took pot-shots at the stunned locals. While the timing might have been a bit better, the two pronged attack crushed the enemy resistance between his platoon and the soldiers striking from above.

    It appeared that Adi Mundi wasn''t as crazy as he appeared. Further, the Jedi had done all he could to keep Hound and his men intact, including ordering a liberal use of flame-throwers to clean up tunnels and bunkers.

    Perhaps there were a few decent Jedi after all.

    Interlude: The Captain

    Second Platoon

    Delta Company

    91st Cavalry Battalion

    Ten kilometers from Objective Beta

    Geonosis

    Even Veers had to admit that the Caamasi heavy tanks were a joy to drive and command.

    The seventy tons of armor and guns that were wrapped around him were a far cry from the Republic light tanks he was experienced with. First, the LC-55 was a treaded machine, no repulsors. While that reduced its speed and maneuverability, it allowed the monsters to pass unimpeded through shields.

    What the machine lost in agility, was more than made up by slabs of capital ship grade armor and powerful deflector shield. Further, the tank had various active and passive defensive systems ¨C both AM and anti infantry, not to mention an AA turret and quad AA missiles mounted on top the cupola.

    Further, the Lancer as it was known, handled almost as good as its lighter brethren. It''s only problem was the hefty price tag ¨C you could buy three and a half of the walkers that were the GAR''s mainstay armor/troop carrier hybrid for every single Lancer¡­ On the other hand, a single LC-55 was a match for at least quartet of those machines.

    Maximillian smiled when his tank passed through the shield bubble keeping the enemy safe. A combination of enhanced smoke and Ion strikes had rendered the Seps nearly blind and allowed two tank regiments to close into effective range reasonably unscratched.

    The integrated sensor and command systems gave him a perfect view of the surrounding area. All detected threats were highlighted on the HUD display of his helmet, prioritizing enemy tanks and heavy weapon emplacements.

    Veers'' company already had their standing orders - that left him with commanding his tank and keeping track of the overall situation. He had already designated priority targets and a destination for the gunner and driver to follow and was looking over the overall situation. The latter was made particularly easy by the network integration and data sharing between the tanks within the AO, giving every tank commander an unprecedented situation awareness.

    That system by itself was priceless for all GAR armored units and Veers would be doing his best to see it adopted by the army. He was sure that once the General had time to go over his reports he would agree.

    The tank shuddered lightly as its heavy canon started speaking. Every two seconds a heavy particle bolt slammed into an enemy tank, eviscerating it, or blasted a HWP to scrap.

    Two Confed tanks acquired them, making the threat warning system scream in distress. The driver slammed a foot on the brakes and sent the Lancer skidding over the rocky ground. One enemy shot missed and a second splashed over the shield.

    The turret turned to the right and the gunner put a shot through the closest enemy''s sloped sides, killing it. Before the main gun could cycle, he sent one of the handful of AT missiles the Lancer carried into the side of the second enemy tank. The plasma warhead slagged half the machine and turned the surrounding sandy ground into molten glass.

    For a moment Veers wondered if he could get away from stealing this tank for his personal use, but then orders came from the battalion commander ¨C the first enemy line of defense was breached and they were to strike the next.

    Maximilian''s orders scowled down his HUD. Delta Company was to secure the flank until the next echelon arrived to relieve them and then rejoin the rest of the battalion. He sent the affirmative and started issuing orders. There was this nice ridge two kilometers to the east that would provide some cover from enemy arty and give his tank nice firing lanes.

    =RK=

    Interlude: The Jedi Master

    Objective Alpha 3 (Ar''Klorg''Onya Cave Complex)

    Fifteen Kilometers from Objective Alpha 1

    Geonosis

    Shaak Ti surveyed her handiwork. The infusion of two battalions led by Force Adepts had shattered the enemy resistance above the HUB. Once the upper levels were reasonably secure, the Combat Engineers started drilling and blowing their way straight down, until they made a nice new ?ssault path. Thanks to that, Shaak Ti was able to drop on the unsuspecting enemy, who was distracted by the leading elements of the original ?ssault force.

    After that it was all over but the screaming.

    The fact that a lot of the droids in the area simply shut down was a great boon too, but even if all of them were operational, the ultimate outcome would have been the same ¨C simply more expensive in lives paid to secure the objective.

    Squads of clones were busy either trashing inactive droids ¨C just in case - or rounding up the few locals who had the sense to surrender. Most had fought to to the death in a fanatical attempt to prevent the capture of the HUB.

    She understood their reasoning ¨C with this transportation center captured, the locals would be doomed. They had to reinforce all places that could be reached through it and reroute any shipment that would have usually pass through this place. The conservative estimates were that the enemy logistics in this hemisphere of Geonosis were now crippled.

    The Togruta simply watched what was going on, deep in her own thoughts.

    Some time during the final ?ssault of the HUB she had received new orders from the Council, which were transmitted to her once the place was more or less secure.

    She was to return to Kamino and continue her old work of training the Clones.

    There was no explanation. Nothing vague ¨C she was to take the first available transport to Republic space and made her way to Kamino ASAP.

    Shaak Ti clutched her hands into fists. The Council knew that something had happened over here. The Jedi Master didn''t believe that they suspected about her indiscretion with Delkatar, but she ?ssumed that they didn''t want to take any chances.

    If the orders were from someone else, she could have protested.

    Ti wasn''t ready to go against Yoda, who apparently was backed by most of the council b?r? those who were on Geonosis and few others currently out of contact.

    She served the Jedi and the Republic. That was her duty, so being sent back to continue her original mission should have been something ordinary.

    Instead the orders made her furious. Shaak Ti needed to know where she and Veil stood. She needed his ?ssistance to keep her head straight until she learned how to properly handle her emotions now that she no longer suppressed them.

    The Jedi Master simply wasn''t ready to go back to business as usual. More importantly, she didn''t want to!

    =RK=

    Interlude: A Mandalorian and her daemons

    Brox''s Bar

    Mandalore

    Bo-Katan was siting within a secluded corner of one of the more respectable bars in the capital of her people. She was leaning over her helmet and nursing her¡­ Second bottle of Corellian Brandy¡­ Huh. It might be the third?

    Nah. The first one was Ale. She was pretty sure about that.

    It was quite good too.

    She was confused. Torn.

    She had reviewed all actions of the Death Watch she knew about. Some she found during her search for information too.

    There were a lot that didn''t conform to her views of what a proud Mandalorian warrior should be doing.

    Petty crime, drug deals, extortion, casual piracy.

    It was supposed to be for the betterment of the Mandalorian people. .. Right?

    Bo-Katan had trouble seeing how a lot of what her organization was doing would benefit the average Mandalorian.

    One the other hand ¨C the members of the Death Watch were the biggest concentration of warriors that her people had left. Too many were chasing other, more peaceful professions. On the face of it, that wasn''t a problem¡­ if they kept up with their training, which was no longer the case for most Mandalorians.

    Her people were slowly becoming decadent. Weak.

    Only the Death Watch had the fire, the sheer determination and raw strength needed to effect a positive change. At least that was what she used to believe until her mission to Ryloth.

    There she met Veil ¨C a man who proved to her that even if the Republic was a corrupt relic from a bygone age, it still had powerful people trying to change it.

    Even if in the irony of ironies, he was a Sith. That at least wasn''t something she could doubt. Even if most of the galaxy had chosen to forgot, the Mandalorians in general and the Death Watch in particular hadn''t. They remembered. They taught their people about the past. About the Sith among others.

    Bo-Katan knew the real thing when he bested her in combat.

    That made her feel alive. He was a challenge to be conquered ¨C something she was going to enjoy doing when they met again.

    Thinking about the Sith didn''t help her with her issues. It merely made them worse.

    A Confederation delegation was to arrive tomorrow. Bo-Katan knew that her sister would never accept being on their side. Bo knew the girl well enough ¨C she would continue to maintain the neutrality that had been a staple for their people in the last few decades.

    Bo-Katan could feel it. That wasn''t going to be possible for much longer. The war was escalating, spreading. While the Confed atrocities did throw a lot of systems into the hands of the Republic¡­ there were people who actually approved. Like the Hutt Cartels. Like the Exchange and Black Sun.

    There were small empires on the fringes of known space who had reason to despise the Republic. Various warlike species who saw the Confederacy stunts as show of strength to be admired.

    Then there was the Death Watch, who wanted to take a part in the war ¨C they were dreaming for the good old days when they conquered the galaxy as allies of the Sith Empire. It had been a glorious age¡­ until the empire fell to inner fighting and the Republic started recovering her territories.

    At least that''s what all the chronicles said.

    This time, there were Sith on both sides of the war¡­ and the Republic was no longer losing the war. Bo-Katan had seen the reports. After the crushing victory in space above Geonosis ¨C a victory that would be showering Veil with glory for a long time to come ¨C the war was officially stalemated. That was the conclusion of all analysts both withing the Death Watch and the Mandalorian government.

    Choosing a side was no longer simple as backing the clear winner.

    Bo-Katan drained her glass and poured another. Despite all the alcohol in her veins, her hands were still steady. Her mind wasn''t totally clouded yet either.

    She slumped over her helmet. She wasn''t drunk enough yet.

    Veil would be coming soon ¨C once he mopped up the enemy on Geonosis. He would come covered in glory, with the most dangerous weapon of them all ¨C a crushing victory.

    That very thought both excited and scared her.

    Bo-Katan downed her glass and stared at the half-empty bottle.

    Her comrades were unlikely to back someone who worked with the Jedi. They remembered the Mandalorian Wars and everything that came after them. For the thousands of years the Jedi and the Republic were the enemy. Many would jump at the chance to fight the old adversaries once again.

    Others would be drawn to Veil.

    She didn''t know what to do. She didn''t know who she would back when the time finally ran out.

    The one thing Bo-Katan was sure about was that a storm was coming and it was going to tear Mandalore apart. She sighed and grabbed the bottle. Barring a miracle, another civil war was in the future of her people.

 Chapter 48 - Politics, Mando style

    Part 1

    Republic Medical Station Sierra-51

    Location Classified

    "You want to talk here and now?" Obi-Wan ?r??n?d. The Jedi shuddered in the cool air ¨C the thin robe he wore after leaving the nearby fresher apparently wasn''t good enough for the cool atmosphere in the station.

    "It''s reasonably secure." I shrugged and waved at the rolls of bacta tanks around us. Most of them were empty ¨C this compartment was usually designated for high ranking officers and was in the most secure part of the station."It''s not like the patients here are particularly talkative as you very well know."

    Kenobi gave me a flat look and continued toweling his hair and beard.

    "What exactly happened before I awoke as canned food?" The Jedi grumbled.

    "You got shot. Or blown up. Perhaps both. I didn''t pay much attention after the docs told me that you''ll be up and running shortly. We''ve got another mission."

    "What happened on Geonosis?"

    "We got the job done with acceptable casualties. Your apprentice is still recovering in a bacta tank and has a trial waiting for him when he recovers. Oh, yeah. Once we talk with a bunch of spooks we''re leaving for Mandalore."

    "Start explaining." Obi-Wan sounded less than pleased. He was actually pretty grumpy or so the Force told me.

    "Anakin''s stunts finally caught up to him and it''s time to pay the price. While the military police investigates his latest stunt he''s grounded. I might be able to arrange a home arrest for him, somewhere with his wife if she recovers. Padme might be able to keep him out of any further trouble until the trial and he isn''t dodging the bullet this time." I pointed at a small cargo crate that was next to the bacta tank Kenobi vacated a few minutes ago. "Your lightsaber and spare robes are in there."

    "Thanks." The Jedi muttered. "How''s senator Amidala?"

    "Padme''s still unconscious though there''s some progress in purging her system of the poison. Unless there''re complications she might awake sometime in the next couple of weeks. As for her mental condition..." I trailed off. That was fifty fifty at best.

    "I see. I hope she recovers. What are we supposed to do on Mandalore?" Kenobi asked. He let the damp towel fall to the deck, opened the cargo crate and started pulling the pieces of his robes.

    "Convince the Mandalorians to side with us in the war. The CIS already sent a delegation there and they will arrive a couple of days ahead of us."

    "There''s no way the New Mandalorians would side with the Confederacy!" Obi-Wan exclaimed.

    "Your girlfriend might be against it, but she''s not their absolute ruler." Kenobi spluttered a denial, however I ignored him and continued speaking. "I''ve heard rumors that the Dead Watch will try seizing up power if the Mandalorian leadership decides to remain neutral or sides with us. Do I need to remind you that Kryze and her supporters don''t have monopoly of military power on Mandalore? Unless you''ve been a busy boy and helped that delectable Duchess?" I smirked.

    "That''s¡­ We''re just friends! That''s all!" Kenobi ?r??n?d.

    "With benefits?" I smiled at the man. Jedi ¨C they were so easy to rile up.

    "Veil! Enough! How do you know about her anyway?"

    "I read all my intelligence briefings, then request more and expanded ones? Why wouldn''t I be keeping an eye on the neutral policies which might join either side? How am I supposed to make realistic contingency plans otherwise?" I asked in confusion. That should have been obvious.

    Obi-Wan gave me a long-suffered look and shook his head. "What did you want to talk about anyway?"

    "Ahsoka." I said and pointed at on of the few occupied bacta tanks in the room.

    Kenobi looked up and frowned. The little Togruta was floating in a bacta tank. She was mostly hidden by multiple tubes which were feeding her oxygen, medicaments and food.

    "What happened?"

    "She got unlucky. There were multiple tunnel exits near her target and Asoka''s unit ran into an enemy battalion that was redeploying. They managed to get the job done and seal the tunnels before being overran, however they suffered more than ninety percent casualties. The kid did good."

    "Why''s she here instead back on Coruscant on one of the bases closer to Geonosis?" Kenobi frowned. "My presence is clear, the powers that be want me on the negotiating party to Mandalore."

    "Good question. What do you think would happen to her if your precious Council gets their hands on her, hm?"

    "Master Yoda has been cleaning up house and getting our affairs in order after the last fiasco." Obi-Wan didn''t bite.

    "Catch." I pulled out a data-pad from my robes and threw it at him.

    He caught it without looking. It was good to see that his wounds and a week long dip in the bacta hadn''t dulled his reflexes. While Jedi read through the contents a deep frown appeared on his face.

    "I see. This is your fault." He grumbled and threw the pad back at me.

    "That''s not fair! I share the blame with Anakin! He''s her master. We''ll was. I don''t think that either the Jedi or the army would trust him with a gold fish, much less an apprentice."

    "Probably. She deserves better. That still doesn''t explain why she''s here. What''s a gold fish anyway?" Kenobi muttered and started changing in his Jedi robes.

    "Well, it''s a fish with gold coloration. It was a popular pet back on my homeworld¡­ I think. It''s been very long time since I was there." I paused. Hell, I don''t think I ever thought about Earth in months¡­ I shook my head. It wasn''t like I would be able to visit in a long, long time if ever. "I pulled rank. The as you say, the kid deserves better. When she awakes, I''ll give Ahsoka a choice ¨C she can go to the agri-corps if she wants or she can continue to be an officer. If the Council has any problems with that they can take it up with me."

    "They won''t like that. Corrupting the young now, aren''t you?" Obi-Wan joked.

    "I''m in older Togrutas." I deadpanned.

    "Don''t let Master Ti hear you."

    "Oh, she''s very well aware of my preferences." I smirked.

    Something in my tone made Obi-Wan turn around and stare at me. "No way. She''s a respectable Jedi Master and then there''s you." He pointed at me. "Even if you weren''t a Sith, there''s now way..."

    I gave him a smug grin.

    "Is there something that you aren''t trying to corrupt?!"

    "Only delectable women. Why the hell I would want to corrupt anyone else?"

    "I''m on painkillers or something. Right? Where is Master Ti? I expected that your minder would be around?"

    "Me too. I have nothing against Shaak Ti closely examining me. However your fellow council members had the bright idea that I might be a bad influence and ordered her back to Kamino."

    "I agree with them." Kenobi nodded sagely. "We can''t have you distracted, o glorious leader."

    "Sarcasm doesn''t suit you."

    "I have no idea what you''re talking about."

    "What''s the plan anyway?"

    "When Pellaeon and the spook they sent to brief us finish their steam reunion, we''re getting an intelligence briefing and leaving for Mandalore. I have to give it to the man, arranging his girlfriend to come brief is was a slick move."

    "Jealous?"

    "My prospective girlfriend is traveling to Kamino as we speak. What do you think?"

    "I still don''t believe it."

    "Even if I had any evidence that I could produce, Shaak Ti would neuter me if I did so."

    "True enough. She''ll do it anyway. Tarnishing her reputation isn''t the smartest thing you''ve done."

    "You aren''t protesting."

    "No. I''m just leaving you to dig up your own grave."

    =RK=

    Part 2

    Republic Medical Station Sierra-51

    Location Classified

    "Great! Finally we''re all here!" I beamed at the other people, who were stuck in a small conference room with me.

    Commodore Pellaeon, his girlfriend Helena ¨C the RI agent we were here to meet among other things, Kenobi and myself. Thanks to some kind of meddling in the Senate, neither Organa or Iblis were going to head the diplomatic party to Mandalore. Thanks to my "good friend", the Chancellor, I had the distinct "honor" of doing so myself, instead of another senator. So whatever kriffing disaster was cooking on Mandalore would be my fault ¨C I had no doubt about that. Joy.

    We were stuck in a bland small room, which had a round table in the middle. There were twelve chairs set up around it, a built in holoprojector and that was it. At least the place was nicely lit up.

    "If you two are done for the moment," I raised an eyebrow at Pellaeon, who for once was looking rather disheveled, "Agent Devis could start briefing us."

    "You''re about to get kriffed in a way you won''t enjoy." Helena deadpanned.

    "Yes, apparently that''s the plan. The lack of any diplomatic personnel arriving with you and the missive I got from the Chancellor''s office just before we docked were enough of a clue."

    "You didn''t mention any of that." Obi-Wan shot me an accusing look.

    "I''m mentioning it now." I shrugged. "I''ll be the Republic negotiator for our visit with you acting as my aide. No senators or diplomatic staff besides whoever we''ll be able to poach from the embassy. At least the ambassador might be of some help."

    "No diplomatic staff. We''re being set up to fail." Kenobi looked less than pleased as he stated the obvious.

    "Well, there''re a some senators who actually studied history." Devis rolled her eyes. "They apparently aren''t too thrilled with getting the Mandalorians rearmed or on our side. They fear a betrayal. After all, historically they have been enemies of the Republic."

    "They were my people allies too."

    "That''s another point against them." The Intelligence agent glared at me. I wasn''t sure if it was because I was a Sith or because I cut her reunion with Pellaeon short. Probably a bit of both.

    "It''s also something I might be able to work with." I smiled.

    "The idea''s for the Mandalorians to make an alliance with the Republic, not with you." Obi-Wan added in a dry voice.

    "Why not both?" I grinned.

    "What did you do?" The Jedi Master narrowed his eyes at me.

    "Nothing. Yet." I spoke with as much innocence as I could.

    No one was buying it.

    "This is going to be a disaster." Obi-Wan ?r??n?d.

    "That remains to be seen. You have a briefing for us, Agent Devis. Let''s get it done so you two lovebirds could return to cuddling or whatever ?du?t things you were doing. Just don''t speak about it in front of the Jedi or you''ll shock the poor sod."

    "I''m not a v?r??n, you know." Kenobi deadpanned.

    "That''s a shocking discovery. Do the rest of the Jedi know or did you just handle me a lot of blackmail material?"

    "You''re supposed to be a general. Act like it!" Obi-Wan ?r??n?d.

    "Sure enough. Start briefing us." I waved at the RI woman.

    Helena sighed, gave a sharp nod and put her professional face on.

    "The tensions between the New Mandalorians, who are currently ruling on Mandalore and their main opposition ¨C the Death Watch, are about to explode. Even without the CIS'' delegation arriving and pressuring the legitimate government, Mandalore is on the brink of a civil war. Unless the situation is handled very carefully we might be the spark that''s needed for the sector to go up in flames."

    "That''s not necessary a bad thing ¨C the only thing that really matter is that the Mandalorians remain neutral, join us or are crippled to the point that they are no longer a threat."

    Three pairs of eyes stared at me. Two of them then nodded, while Obi-Wan glared daggers at me.

    "Those are the acceptable outcomes of our visit, yes." Helena nodded and earned herself a dirty look from Kenobi.

    "What do we know about the CIS delegation, their agents in place and game plan?" Pellaeon asked.

    "Admiral Dua Ningo will be negotiating for the Separatists."

    "Well. He''s one of the few who might pull it off." I mussed aloud. "The bastard came close to making it a Pyrrhic victory above Geonosis. The Mandalorian clan leaders are likely to respect him."

    "That''s our reading as well. Besides the above board negotiation, we know that the CIS has been heavily investing in the Death Watch. That''s the main reason we believe that a favorable outcome is unlikely. They aren''t particularly big fans of the Republic." Helena added.

    "I have a contact who might be useful."

    "That''s good. We lost contact with our last agent in the Death Watch a week ago. They''re the greatest threat for our interests on Mandalore. Duchess Kryze is a friend of the republic, however the New mandalorian movement she''s a part of doesn''t have the political clout to forge an alliance with us without support from the opposition."

    "Not to mention that she''s against any Mandalorian military adventures." I added. That was a public knowledge and the main reason her sister was royally pissed off at her. "Let''s be frank ¨C no matter the public face the New Mandalorians have been putting ever since their raise to power, the Mandalorians remain a warrior cultures. The Duchess'' policies haven''t exactly won the hearts of the majority of the population, merely of the largest cohesive block and the Death Watch are close second."

    "You''re certainly well informed." Helena nodded. "That''s essentially correct."

    I shrugged. I did my homework. After all, Mandalore had been on my to do list for months.

    "What do you plan?" Obi-Wan asked.

    "Forge an alliance with your girlfriend or play kingmaker." I shrugged. "I''ve changed a government or two back back in the good old days."

    It was time to see which way Bo-Katan was going to jump.

    =RK=

    Part 3

    Senate Chambers

    Senate building

    Coruscant

    "My friends, it''s good to see you all here once again!" Palpatine smiled from atop of the Chancellor''s personal platform. His eyes swept through the rebuilt senate chamber and lowered as they passed over booths filled up by fresh blood. The attack on the Senate had hit his power-base particularly hard, however it had culled the one thousand five hundred "neutral" systems alliance put in place by Amidala and her closest supporters.

    With his homeworld''s Senator out of the way for the time being, Palpatine found it much easier to push forward his agenda. The fact that the surviving senators were scared helped a lot too, he had to admit that. Who knew that the attacks that scattered his plan to the winds, would prove actually useful in many aspects?

    Palpatine schooled his expression into a grim mask.

    "With everything that has happened, it''s hard to believe that the war has gone for a year. We ¨C the Republic and her people ¨C had been dealt many low blows since the Separatist unveiled their true colors ¨C those of merciless terrorists." Sidious paused for a moment. His expression shifted into one of a grim determination and he started radiating confidence. "They thought that attacking Coruscant ¨C the heart of the Republic itself with biological weapons would break us. That striking this very building and murdering scores of Senators whose only crime was to doing their duty for the betterment of us all would terrify us into surrender! My friends, they were MISTAKEN!" Palpatine raised his voice to a shout in order to be heard over the applause from the attending Senators.

    "There are many questions that need answering. How did we get here? What are we going to do now? How are we going to win this war? I''m here to answer them all!" Sidious made a placating gesture and smiled. Feeling the near adulation of the people present in the chambers wars close to intoxicating. Almost as good as feeling fear and misery.

    "In the wake of the latest enemy attacks, there were those who called for surrender. Those who believed that we were losing the war..." Palpatine paused for a dramatic effect. "The latter group was right." He stated grimly and lowered his head. The Sith Lord had to struggle not to smile. The cries of protest and fear that followed his declaration were delicious and just as planned.

    "Peace my friends! I promised you all answers and I''m here to deliver!" Palpatine raised a hand and waited for the cacophony to subdue. He had their undivided attention. "Until our armed forces decisive victories over Ryloth and Geonosis, we were losing. That much is true ¨C a fact that none of us can afford to disregard. We were pushed back on all fronts and the sectors we held ¨C they were protected at the price of rivers of blood." Smile tugged the corners of Palpatine''s mouth as he reveled at the rapt attention of the crowd. "That''s no longer the case! For the first time since the Separatists began this conflict we aren''t under the immediate threat of destruction. Our Grand Army was finally able to stalemate the enemy on all fronts!"

    This time there were a few relieved cheers and shouts.

    "However, that''s far from enough. Now that we know the true face of the enemy ¨C that of oppression, slavery and murder ¨C we can''t do anything less but push for total defeat of the evil cabal that is the Confederacy of Independent Systems!"

    Sidious smiled as the majority of senators started applauding.

    "In order to achieve victory and never again be at the non-existent mercy of our enemies, the brave men and women in our armed forces need our help! They need more ships, vehicles, weapons and recruits in order to grant us victory! To guarantee that no more atrocities like Ryloth, Naboo and Coruscant happen! To achieve that, my advisers, our best generals and myself had crafted a bill that is vital for the further prosecution of this war. It requires the further expansions of our Clone Army" - making the Kaminoans and their lobby happy, "increasing production in all our major shipyards and increasing their capacity" - something that the Senator from Kuat and the other major industrial centers would simply love, "and providing our soldiers with the best possible equipment in more than enough quantity to win!" The various military contractors would be ecstatic at that too.

    This time almost everyone was either cheering loud or applauding. Palpatine took a note of those who weren''t ¨C all but a few were the surviving members of Amidala''s little club, but there were a handful of new Senators as well.

    "Finally, but most importantly ¨C it''s time for us all to raise to the challenge of protecting our homes! All the best weapons and ships in the galaxy will be useless if there aren''t brave beings ready to man them and face the evil that the GAR is fighting as we speak! We, the Republic, are the greatest nation this galaxy has ever seen! It''s time for us to step up and prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt!"

    Sidious paused for a moment and took a deep breath. He could feel it. The Senators would support the next round of bills and reforms, witlessly expand his power base and bring their precious Republic a step closer to becoming his Empire. When all was said and done, he was poised to emerge from the latest round of cluster kriffing disasters in a much better position he would have held otherwise.

    The only problem would be the Jedi ¨C an army which wasn''t mostly made up from clones would hesitate when the time to dispose of them came. However even in that regard, all was not lost. The Jedi, their Council in particular were doing a great job of destroying their public support and credibility. Sidious was going to help them along once the Skywalker trial started.

    =RK=

    Part 4

    CIC

    Republic cruiser Chimera

    Five light seconds from Mandalore

    We reverted to real space with b?r?ly a shudder. Moments later, the rest of the battle-group materialized around us and maneuvered to create an armored glove around the flag ship.

    A few seconds later the tactical plot refreshed and displayed the surrounding space. There were a lot of ships. CIS ships.

    "Separatists fleet elements detected. Designating Hostile One." The tactical officer announced aloud.

    A cluster of dots between Mandalore and its moon Concordia shifted from the gray of unknown to the deep red reserved for hostiles. Other dots were changing color too ¨C some in clusters, other by themselves. There were three cruiser battle-groups in blue ¨C the Mandalorian defense fleet units we could detect.

    "Sir, one of those flotilas shows Death Watch IFF." The sensor officer declared.

    "Designate them as potential hostiles. Give me better resolution on those CIS ships."

    One of the blue groups ¨C that above Concordia shifted into amber.

    "One battleship. One command frigate, twelve standard Munificents." Tactical announced.

    "That''s thirty one potentially friendly Mando cruisers, nine hostile and the Separatists." Pellaeon stated. "That we can detect anyway. Unless all of our hosts turn on us or the CIS drops another fleet we should be all right. You have a trick or two up your sleeve, right?" The Commodore looked at me.

    "Of course. I''m not seeing any battlestations. Only a ring of defense satellites."

    "The Mandalorians never rebuild them after their civil war."

    "Sloppy, unless they lacked the resources?" I thought aloud.

    "Pacifists. At least they tried very hard to appear as such." Helena shrugged.

    "That wasn''t a trick!" Obi-Wan snapped.

    "No need to defend your girlfriend yet."

    "Commodore, hail our hosts. No matter what they demand, don''t let them box in our ships while we''re planetside."

    "Not happening, sir. There''re a lot of the bastards, but nothing that would relish facing five of our cruisers."

    "Good. We aren''t here to play games."

    =RK=

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    The capital wasn''t anything like I remember. In fact the whole desert in which the biome city was situated was a forest the last time I was here. At least it was more or less in the same place, though the semi-sphere of gray metal encompasing the metropolis was a far cry from the sprawling skyscrapers and suburbs I remembered. Apparently the Mandalorians had managed to trash the place while I was in a time-out.

    When the ?ssault shuttle that brought us down landed, we were met by a pair of honor guards in blue ceremonial armors. They were armed with force-pikes and nothing else. I hoped for their sakes that their garb was made of beskin.

    Our greeting comitee didn''t bode well for the negotiations. Sending just those two to meet us was a slight ¨C a show of disrespect that would have pissed off most Senators.

    "That''s not the proper way to meet a diplomatic party, which is here to discuss an alliance." Helena muttered.

    "Oh, it is if the party is representing the Republic." I quipped. During the cold war, the Republic did try to sunder our alliance with the Mandalorians. While that didn''t work too well for them, it was amusing to watch how much fun the locals had in subtly snubbing the diplomatic parties, especially if there were Jedi present.

    "You expected something like this." Kenobi glanced at me.

    "Yep. It tells us that the Duchess is in even weaker position that we were led to believe. Unless you pissed her off the last time you were together and this is for your benefit?" I asked.

    "We separated on amikable terms." Obi-Wan glared at me.

    "This way." One of the honor guards waved towards a pair of speeders ¨C which were more cargo platforms than anything else.

    "Let''s hope that there aren''t snipers waiting for us."

    =RK=

    We spent our flight through the city in silence. I was busy observing the place. As cities go ¨C it was a nice one. Tasteful buildings, a lot of hydrophonic farms and parks. More importantly ¨C the place was chock full with statues and murals depicting the good old warrior days. So much for the New Mandalorians speaking about the majority of the locals. If they really were all pacifists, the works of art we could see wouldn''t be glorifying the warrior ways of their ancestors. Most telling was the fact that from the dozens of statues we saw, not a single one was what you could call a peaceful one even if you squinted very hard.

    That was good. I would have been sorely dissapointed to find out that the civil war had castrated the Mandalorians and turned them all into pacifists.

    The government building we arrived at was a beautiful work of art ¨C a breathtaking amalgmation of crystal and metal, lined up with statues.

    It was also a security nightmare.

    A single man met us at the landing pad. He was about one ninety, short blond hair and a bit of beard under his chin. Long face, halkish nose and piercing purple eyes.

    "General Veil, General Kenobi. It''s good to see you. I''m Prime Minister Alamec. Please follow me. The Duchess is expecting you."

    "Minister." I nodded. "Have your Separatist guest made you an offer you can''t refuse yet?"

    "That''s something you need to discuss with Duchess Satine."

    "Oh, we will. We were supposed to meet the Republic ambassador here."

    "She hasn''t arrived yet. The Duchess requests your presence immediately."

    I shrugged and waved him to lead. This wasn''t smelling like a trap. Yet.

    A few minutes later we were led into a large audience chamber. The Duchess was waiting for us on an ornamental throne at the far end. The only other person present was an unassuming man in dark purple robes.

    I raised an eyebrow at her. Satine Kryze looked nothing like her sister. She wore a deep blue and green dress. An ornamental head-dress covered most of her head and forehead. Her blond hair was bound by six strange¡­ things on each side of her head. She looked rather down too, at least until she saw Obi-Wan. That apparently perked her up and she stood up to greet us.

    I looked around. No sight of guards. Just the Duchess, her Prime Minister and a man I ?ssumed to be an adviser. This was going to be an interesting meeting.

    =RK=

    Part 5

    Audience Chamber

    Sundari Royal Palace

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    For a few moments I actually considered being unusually diplomatic, but the I decided to cut to the chase. In the end, unless Satine decided to change her policies to hundred and eighty degrees, she wasn''t the person I really needed to talk to.

    "Curious. All the briefings about the situation on Mandalore I got didn''t mention that your government is this desperate." I smiled at the Duchess. I earned myself a lot of glares too, from practically everyone but Helena, who simply rolled her eyes at my antics.

    "What makes you think that we''re desperate?" Satine asked.

    I waved at the empty chamber around us.

    "This isn''t an official meeting. I hope so anyway. If this is all the support you have, I''m obviously talking with the wrong person."

    "It''s unofficial." The Prime Minister stated quietly. "With whom would you talk if not us? The Death Watch are supporting an alliance with the CIS."

    "You on the other hand wish to remain neutral. Am I right?"

    "Of course. This isn''t our war." Satine stated.

    "Too bad. That''s not an option." I smiled at her.

    "What." Kenobi turned to face me.

    "A Mandalorian neutrality is unacceptable for either side. Perhaps I shouldn''t telling you that..." I smiled at the Duchess. "I''m to either ensure an alliance or remove the Mandalorians as players in this conflict. Sorry, Obi-Wan. That was need to know until we arrived." I shrugged.

    "That''s madness! The Republic would never condone..." The Duchess spluttered.

    "Please. You can''t be that naive. The Republic was ecstatic when you disarmed after your civil war." Helena added.

    "Now that you might rearm and become a threat again..." I shrugged. "A lot of Senators remember on whose side Mandalore historically fought. The way we were sent here¡­ It''s obvious that there are parties that want an alliance between us to fail so you could be dealt with once and for all. Now let''s not waste each others time, Duchess. Let''s talk realpolitik."

    "Excuse us for a moment." Kenobi smiled at Satine, grabbed my hand and pulled me away.

    "Veil!" He hissed. "What''s your major malfunction?!" The Jedi Glared at me.

    "Did I fail to mention my precise instructions? It had something to do with who your girlfriend is. Divided loyalties and all that." I nodded at the Duchess who was busy whispering with her advisers.

    "I''m not compromised! You on the other hand are insane!"

    "Am I? I just cut to the chase. I don''t know about you, but I don''t have weeks or months to waste in negotiations that are likely useless. This whole thing ¨C it shows that Satine is desperate. Not good for our position. So we''re going with plan ''B''."

    "What''s that particular piece of insanity?"

    "Throw the New Mandalorians under the airbus and make a deal with a faction that actually has backing and will support us in the war. If your girl plays her hand well, she might retain some power too."

    "That''s not why we''re here."

    "Please enlighten me. I''m just a poor old Sith." I gave him a deadpan look.

    "Demented too. We''re here to support the Mandalorian government and ensure an alliance with them." Obi-Wan glared at me.

    "No. We''re here to ally ourselves with a military power or make sure that Mandalore can''t become a threat for the Republic in the future. That by itself tanks all that the New Mandalorians and your girlfriend stand for. Their platform is pacifism. Anything but continued neutrality isn''t an acceptable alternative for them."

    "For you that''s a bad thing. Kriffing Sith." Kenobi growled.

    "Not my idea, though I agree. Mandalore has to chose side or face a civil war. In either case, their vaulted neutrality is over."

    "That''s not what the Republic stands for!"

    "It is now. The Separatists hit too close to home with their attacks on Naboo and Coruscant. This is no longer a war fought in the nebulous Outer Rim. It''s a problem for the core and that will show to everyone the true face of the Republic."

    "You don''t really believe in it, do you? The Republic, democracy?"

    "They''re useful tools and I will support them until they fail." I smiled. I was telling the truth. From my point of view.

    "I can''t¡­ I can''t let Mandalore be consumed by this war." Obi-Wan''s shoulders slumped.

    "Do you have a miracle ready? There are many things arrayed against us. To the average Mandalorian, we ¨C the Republic and the Jedi are the enemy. Me being a Sith is a mixed blessing at best and my alliance with you will be working against me."

    "I''m a Jedi. In the end I will do what I believe to be right." Obi-Wan glared at me.

    "I don''t expect anything less, my friend." I smiled. "So I implore you, talk some sense in your girlfriend once we know what exactly we''re dealing with."

    "You''re going to seek favor from either the Death Watch or another militaristic organization."

    "As of the battle for Ryloth, the Death Watch was a bunch of thugs with just a few decent people in the ranks. They had obviously expanded their influence and membership. Massively so in fact."

    "That bounty hunter friend of yours." Obi-Wan narrowed his eyes.

    "Yeah. Bo-Katan¡­ Kryze." I chuckled and watched his eyes widen. "I have a few surprises ready. However, baring a miracle, Mandalore will be a battlefield before we''re done here. Take care for your girlfriend. Let''s see what our esteemed Duchess wants from us."

    =RK=

    Part 6

    Audience Chamber

    Sundari Royal Palace

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    "Duchess. You wanted to talk. Please do so." I waved at Satine.

    The Mandalorian woman glared at me for a long moment, then turned to Obi-Wan. "Master Kenobi, I want to formally request the aid of the Jedi Order in maintaining Mandalore''s neutrality in this conflict."

    I smiled. That was the only real card the New Mandalorians had to play unless they threw all they believed in away and chose a side.

    "That''s a strike two, Obi-Wan." I watched the man squirm. "Will there be a third way you''re going to be compromised today? First she''s your girlfriend." I stated aloud, making the Prime Minister and adviser gasp, while Kenobi glared at me. The Duchess was simply speechless at my accusation. That was definitely something that you didn''t do at even an informal diplomatic meeting. It was too bad for everybody that I didn''t have time to follow the usual rules of diplomacy. "Second, you just got placed in a position where your duties as a Jedi and a Republic general are at odds."

    "Veil, just shut up for a moment." Kenobi growled and looked at the Duchess. "As a Jedi Master, I''m a peacekeeper¡­ and a guardian of the Republic, of civilization. My duty is to preserve peace." He gave me a particularly dirty look. "However, Duchess Satine, my colleague who apparently had never heard about diplomacy, is correct. Unless there has been new and positive developments here on Mandalore, I don''t see a way you can possibly maintain your neutrality. We''ve seen the true colors of the Separatists. They and any organization backing them, won''t accept an alliance between our two states. They won''t respect your neutrality either."

    "We have the Death Watch firmly in hand." The Prime Minister stated. He sounded confident too.

    "A few months ago, that was the case." I nodded. "After Ryloth they started getting droves of new recruits and a lot of popular support." I smiled. I did receive a few messages from Bo-Katan detailing the Death Watch situation, though I mentioned them to no one.

    "That''s an exaggeration at best." This was adviser.

    "So most of your people aren''t chaffing under the forced veneer of pacifism that your ruling party had been pushing down their throats ever since the civil war? You''re honestly wanting me to believe that their warrior blood isn''t boiling at the thought of joining in the greatest war in a thousand years?" I smiled.

    "Of course not! We''re enlightened, more m?tur? people now! We all saw what war and the warrior ways brought us! Our warrior ways are just that ¨C a relic of the past!" Satine snapped.

    I was astounded.

    "You actually believe that." I muttered.

    "Of course I do!" Satine glared at me.

    "You''re no Mandalorian." I snapped back. How the hell did this woman rose to power on Mandalore I would never know.

    "If you mean that I''m not a madwoman hellbent on conquering the galaxy and drowning it in blood after waging a senseless war, that''s true. I''m proud of it."

    At least she was a fierce little thing, even if she was an idealistic idiot. If she ever met Padme, those two would be best friends forever or something.

    "That''s something to be proud of." Kenobi nodded.

    "In different situation it would be commendable." Helena added. "Here and now?" The agent shrugged.

    "Even if Obi-Wan decides to throw away his commission as a Republic general and help you try achieving neutrality, it won''t help neither you nor your people, Duchess. The Republic can''t afford a neutral Mandalore that can later join the Separatists. When our official negotiations are over, Mandalore will either be our ally or removed as a potential threat. I''m sure that my CIS counterpart had already shared similar sentiments and he does support the Death Watch."

    "Is this how the Republic conducts itself nowadays? Blackmailing neutral nations?" She sounded appailed. I have no doubt that she held a rather idealistic view of the Republic, one that didn''t have much in common with reality even before the war.

    "In the last year the galaxy changed, Duchess Satine. The Republic is fighting for its very survival against a monstrous enemy. We can no longer afford to be the nice guys. I did tell you that we''ll be discussing realpolitik, didn''t I? You have a choice to make, Duchess. Us or the Separatists." I shrugged.

    Next to me, I could feel anger coiling around Obi-Wan and most of it was targeted at me.

    "At this moment, I can''t ally Mandalore with the Republic. It''s a political impossibility that won''t be supported by neither the New Mandalorians, the Death Watch nor the minor political powers."

    "That''s too bad. Then the best thing you can expect is a civil war in which both the Republic and the Separatists will intervene."

    "Veil, enough with this charade." Obi-Wan hissed. "I know you well enough to see that you didn''t come here just to antagonize the Duchess."

    "Really? Well, she''s everything I find wrong with this ''new'' Mandalore, though you''re correct. I''m not doing it just for fun."

    "Delkatar!" Kenobi snapped.

    "What? Unless your girlfriend is an idiot, she knows what has to happen. However, it will be a political suicide for her in particular and a death blow for her precious New Mandalorians."

    Obi-Wan looked between me and Satine, then sighed. "I know where that''s going."

    The three Mandalorians looked at each other. The adviser gave Satine a subtle nod and the Prime Minister simply stared at her.

    "We''ve already discussed it." Alamec stated.

    "The warriors..." Satine spat the word, "Would never accept overtures from me. Most of them are too busy gathering behind the Death Watch."

    With that attitude? Of course not.

    "Then you know what your people need."

    "A new Mandalore will be a disaster!" Satine snapped. "Besides, no one can become such without the mask, which is lost."

    "Most of the warriors you dismiss, who apparently make a major part of your population see the Death Watch as their only viable alternative ¨C a bunch of thugs of all things. If Mandalore is to avoid a civil war, they need another figure and a cause to rally behind."

    "What do you propose, general Veil?" The Prime Minster asked. "They won''t support the Duchess, nor a Republic General."

    "No. There has been too much bad blood. We need to talk with the warriors who are still neutral, with the Clan heads who haven''t yet thrown their power behind the Death Watch. With any fractions that might exist within the later and fine a viable alternative."

    "Is that your plan ¨C to turn my people back into bloodthirsty savages? What happens if this plan of yours fail?" Satine glared at me.

    "Mandalore burns." I deadpanned. "If your people continue flocking to the Death Watch, they will become a bunch of murderous savages. That organization is nothing more than thugs that glorify a misunderstood past and you made it the only viable alternative for most warriors among your people." I glared back at the woman. Damn, I didn''t think that I would meet someone who was more irritating than Padme.

    "You''ve given me a lot to think about, Sith." She spat the last word. "This meeting is over. Prime Minister Alamec will ensure that you''ll reach the Republic embassy without accident. Master Kenobi, if you will, may we talk," Satine gave me a pointed look, "privately."

    "Ah. Sure. Lead the way, Duchess." Obi-Wan sent me a look promising retribution and followed Satine who had turned around and headed towards a small door near the throne.

    "This could have gotten better." Helena sighed.

    "Not really. A few months ago ¨C sure. Right now, the Duchess has little real power and no alternative that won''t destroy her support base. She really isn''t who we need to talk with."

    "Your mysterious contacts on Mandalore?"

    "Among other people. First we need to have a chat with the ambassador and get briefed on the latest developments."

    =RK=

    Part 7

    Ambassador''s office

    Republic Embassy

    Mandalore

    "What do you mean the Ambassador was kriffing recalled?!" I glared at the ranking Republic diplomat left in the Embassy ¨C a dark blue Twi''lek Counselor.

    The young man recoiled from my anger and waved his hands in placating gesture.

    "Ambassador Nelliis was ordered back to Coruscant to shortly before you arrived, General. I believe that she departed about the same time your ships exited hyperspace."

    This was a sweet little kriff you from Palpatine, I''m sure of it as much I was sure that he would be placing the blame on someone who''s been a thorn in his side within the Republic Diplomatic corps.

    "This is bold. Who exactly did you piss off at Coruscant?" Helena asked.

    "More than a few people, I''m sure." I sighed. Palpy was getting more and more irritating lately. I might even have to move against him before everything was in place and the war would be all but won. At any rate, that was a few years down the line. I didn''t have neither the ?ssets nor the alliances needed to openly attack the Chancellor.

    I closed my eyes for a moment and ignored the Council, who was busy making excuses. My plans for Mandalore were rather simple ¨C ensure that Bo-Katan became the new Mandalore, though to pull that off would be a challenge. She simply lacked enough glory and backing to credibly try gaining the position at this time. That''s why I planned to gather a significant amount of warriors and Clan Heads behind the ideals of the honorable warriors of old like Mandalore the Vindicated and his successor, my friend Stephen Ordo - he was one of the best men I ever knew and would be turning in his grave at seeing what had happened with his people. After that I was going to propose that they unleashed their warriors to participate in the war until there was someone who proved to be a Mandalore material and could credibly hold the position.

    If I continued being sabotaged from Coruscant I might not have a choice but be forced to deal with the Mandalorians once and for all - and that would be a kriffing waste. Further, it would be spitting on Ordo''s grave and all the times he saved my life. Last time I checked he actually was ahead.

    I smiled wishfully. A wave of fury almost overwhelmed me as I thought about all I lost. Everyone I once called a friend had been dead long enough to be nothing more but dust. What the kriff I was doing fighting for the Republic? They weren''t my people. They and the Empire were gone for millennia. All I had left was a hope to go home to a world an dimension away, to a woman I loved a few lifetimes ago. If I was allowed to. I still remembered dying when that super-weapon misfired. I clearly remember awakening in my fighter in a system far, far a way in a future I b?r?ly knew. I remember struggling with memories old and new.

    Yet¡­ What could I do? What was left? Why did I fight? The faces of Shaak-Ti, Obi-Wan, Aria, Bo-Katan and many more flashed before my eyes. People I considered my friends. Others, who won my respect. The soldiers under my command, who looked up to me to get them through the hell that was this war. The woman I might be slowly falling for and another that I found fascinating.

    In truth, they were the reason I fought. The only thing I really had in this time and place. As for Natarle and Earth ¨C I hoped that one day I would be back. That I would change the fate I knew awaited them. However, I''ve changed. Once I would have sacrificed the whole galaxy for that goal without a thought. Then I met Vette and later Ashara along with a lot of people I considered friends and comrades. By the time I fell in love with my late wife, I knew that I would no longer sacrifice everyone here for Nat and Earth.

    Now, all those years latter, I found myself in a similar position. This wasn''t a playground or a simple task to be completed. Kriff it, I wasn''t going to let Stephan''s people, no matter how much they had lost their way burn for the mistakes of a few idiots.

    It was time to cut some corners and go for a more radical plan.

    "Enough." I snapped. "I need your best information about the current Clan Leaders. Coordinate with the Intelligence Chief, he better be here. Half an hour. I also need a secure room to place a call from."

    A couple of minutes later, we were in the basement, where the local Intel station comm equipment was based. It was the best I was going to get short of getting up to the Chimera. A few short orders later and I was alone in front of a heavily encrypted holo-communicator. Soon enough my call came through and a few minutes later, Shaak-Ti as well as the other people I had requested were on line.

    While I waited, I cursed the way I lost my composure earlier. It''s been a long time since my past before ending in this galaxy bothered me too much¡­ not to mention the way I''ve been suppressing what I felt about being catapulted in the future and losing everything.

    Heh. At least this war was a great distraction and a good way to suppress my grief while I concentrated on commanding and fighting. Besides "a proper" Sith would have simply shrugged and started looking for a way to increase his power. In the end, I did the same, just for different reasons.

    I smiled. Perhaps a pissed off Sith is exactly what the doctor prescribed to the Mandalorians.

    A few seconds after the Shaak-Ti''s holographic image appeared. She looked delicious in the light robes she wore. A moment later three men stepped into view too ¨C the Mandalorians whose presence I had ordered. Their obvious leader was a a short but bulky brown haired man, who looked to be in his early thirties. He was flanked by a another man with a bit longer and lighter brown hair. He wore a light gray mandalorian styled armor with the symbol of combat medic. The last Mandalorian wearing such I badge I met was Mako ¨C the future wife of Mandalore the Dauntless. The last man was almost shaved bald but I could see a crop of very short black hair. He was the tallest of the three, though he was athletic instead of being a mountain of muscle. His black armor stood out among the lighter garb of the other people around him.

    "General Veil, this is a surprise. I gather that this isn''t a social call." Ti gave me a small smile when she saw me, but otherwise didn''t show nothing but a professional interest.

    "Unfortunately not. The situation here has taken a turn for the worse. General Kal Skirata, Mij Gilamar and Walon Vau, I presume?"

    "Correct General Veil. I''m Skirata. What''s the problem?" The Mandalorian warrior was wary. After all, it wasn''t every day that the next best thing to your commander in chief called out of the blue, especially if you haven''t had any contact with them previously. It seldom boded well too.

    "Barring a miracle Mandalore is going to be a smoking ball of glass in couple of weeks." I stated flatly. That got their undivided attention. "How well have you kept with news from home?" I asked them before they could recover from the bomb I just dropped.

    Only the man in black armor didn''t react. The Combat medic gave me a flat look that promised pain and death, while the General Simply stared at me.

    "Veil, what did you do this time?" Shaak-Ti sounded exasperated.

    "Me? I simply had an informal meeting with Duchess Satine. She and the New Mandalorians are finished. Warriors are joining the kriffing Death Watch in droves and the latter imbeciles are going to either wing control over Mandalore and joint the CIS or launch a coup if they can''t take power in a more traditional way."

    "I see." Shaak-Ti sighed. "I know what you would do in such a case."

    "You know me so well." I teased, earning myself a glare.

    "I need and explanation. Now." Skirata spoke quietly in a voice that broke no argument.

    "That''s curious. Besides my Clone Troopers, you''re the second Mandalorian in this day and age I met who actually has a spine. I''m glad that Mandalore the Dauntless still has a few of his people left who are worth something." I gave the Mandalorian a cold smile.

    The Mandalorian General narrowed his eyes at me. "I''ve heard a lot of rumors about you. That you''re a delusional Dark Jedi. A Sith who decided that hiding was no longer necessary¡­ Even a few claiming that you fought in the Great Galactic War nearly four thousand years ago. At Coruscant, Ryloth and Geonosis you proved you know what you were doing. You earned yourself a lot of glory." Skirata gave me a sharp nod of respect at that. "Still¡­ A true Sith after all those years and one allied with the Jedi and the Republic? That''s hard to believe."

    "We all play the cards we''ve been dealt. I was part of the Empire once - until a super-weapon misfired and threw me millennia into the future. My people are gone ¨C all I could do in their honor now is to hunt down and dispose of the fallen Jedi Dooku who pretends to be a Sith and sullies our name. But we aren''t here to discuss my past or people, but Mandalore''s future."

    "I''m still waiting for an explanation." Skirata raised his ordered.

    "Your people are leaderless. The only banner the warriors could gather around is that of the Death Watch." I paused and stared at each man in turn. "You''ve been gathered here by Fett, so I hope that you and your friends on Kamino do believe in the creed of the True Mandalorians. Unless Mandalore unites behind someone honorable, its days are numbered. I can''t allow your world to join the Separatists. If the Death Watch start a coup or takes power, Republic forces under my command will interfere and neutralize the threat once and for all."

    Skirata looked at Shaak-Ti, who stared at him for a moment and then gave him a firm nod.

    "I know what a Sith would do in such a case. I did pay attention during my history lessons." The Mandalorian warrior spoke in a voice that sounded calm. If it wasn''t for the Force, it would be almost impossible to sense the emotion in his words. There were anger and apprehension, mixed in with fear. "You called us for a reason."

    "I would prefer to have your people as my allies once again. The last thing I want is to be the man responsible for destroying Mandalore and breaking the Mandalorians. That''s a fate that I want to prevent. I owe that much and more to Stephen Ordo. I called you to ask for help. Help me save your people and bring them up to the standards of Honor that Mandalore the Vindicated and Mandalore the Dauntless were famous for. What say you, Kal Skirata, Clan Leader of Clan Skirata?" I asked aloud.

    =RK=

    Part 8

    Republic Intelligence center

    Republic Embassy

    Mandalore

    For nearly a minute I had a staring match with the Mandalorians.

    "What do you intend to do, General Veil? We''ve been practically ghosts for more than a decade. Our standing at home will be less than impressive after all that time." Skirata stated.

    "For starters, I need to talk with the most important Clan Leaders, something I believe you can facilitate."

    "I still have a few contacts left. It should be doable. The honor and glory you earned yourself will help in that regard." The Mandalorian General said.

    "Second ¨C the Death Watch are nothing but a bunch of glorified thugs and gangsters. Most of their acts were attacks against other Mandalorians. They need to be exposed for all to see what their misguided ideas really mean."

    "I agree. They betrayed everything a True Mandalorian stands for once, there''s no reason the believe they won''t do that again." Skirata''s voice became frosty. He obviously meant what the Death Watch did during the Civil War ¨C something that as far as I knew wasn''t a public knowledge. If it was and they still had such a large support as reported, the Mandalorians were truly lost.

    "It''s a wonder what one might find in the Jedi Archives. I ran in a few interesting pieces of trivia while I was catching up on history." I smiled coldly. Checking up what happened with the Mandalorians had been high on my priority list after I saw the outcome of the Great War. Kriff the bastards who tore the Empire apart after the Republic fleets were all but destroyed and the war was for all intents and purposes won.

    Skirata froze. "You have proof about their treachery?"

    "I do. However, considering that it comes from the Jedi Archives, it''s not exactly credible."

    "It''s better than what we have. However, it''s been a long time. Fett killed the bastard who engineered the betrayal. The proof is worth less today than it would have been a decade ago. What else?"

    "We provoke the Death Watch, make them show their true colors. Then we challenge their leaders to a single combat and deal with them."

    "A dangerous gamble, worthy of a Mandalorian." Skirata nodded. I obviously earned myself a notch of approval in his eyes. "The big problem''s that we currently don''t have an unifying figure. No one with a sufficient claim to become Mandalore anyway."

    "That''s a big concern. My initial plan was to keep the situation from exploding for long enough that someone could spread their wings and cover themselves in glory during the war. That''s no longer viable plan."

    "What then? Discredit the Death Watch and hope for the best?"

    "Do it and improvise. The alternative is that Mandalore burns."

    "What else do you want from us?"

    "Gather as many commandos and Mandalorians you can find on Kamino, then make your way here ASAP. We need to talk in person anyway."

    "We''ll leave on the first available transport."

    "Make sure that''s well armed." I gave a nod to Shaak-Ti and cut the connection.

    Then I sent an encrypted burst transmission to Bo-Katan.

    =RK=

    Brox''s Bar

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    After a few hours of who''s who in today''s Clans, I let Helena to get more in-depth information and left the embassy. As far as I knew, Obi-Wan was still trying to smooth over things with his girlfriend. That thought made me smirk. If the woman didn''t have her head stuck as deep in her ?ss as she did and if Kenobi wasn''t still too clingy to the Jedi dogma, my Mandalore problem might be resolved.

    Obi-Wan certainly was covered with enough honor and glory to qualify for the position and hooking up with Satine would come with him becoming a part of the Mando culture. That was an interesting idea worth exploring.

    It took me about an hour to reach my destination ¨C which was an address that Bo sent me while I was busy with the Intel Chief. The place made me smile. It also brought a bout of nostalgia.

    It was a bar ¨C just like Stephen would have chosen for clandestine, or well any meeting in which he might had got away with it. For the Mandalorians, bar were practically a cultural thing ¨C a places to watch some sport, get a drink and something to eat, make a deal and chill off by a way of a nice bar-fight. The places shouldn''t be mistaken with cantinas ¨C first, everyone was much more polite, a result of everyone inside usually being trained and armed killer. Second, in any reputable Mando bar you couldn''t find some usual things about cantinas the galaxy over ¨C drugs, pr?st?tut?s and cut-purses. Two of those were pure suicide to try and the last was going to get you thrown out.

    Outside the place wasn''t anything to write home about ¨C just a sturdy looking door with a sign above. The interior was much better and brought a lot of nostalgia. There were a lot of tables, with a reasonably large place reserved for dancing in the center. The bar was on the right ¨C it was a slab of dark metal that looked suspiciously like a polished piece of starship hull. It was lined up with sturdy tall chairs which looked strong enough to easily hold a big guy clad in heavy armor. Good thing too, because I could see five warriors at the bar busy either sipping their drinks or watching a big screen covering most of the wall to the left. Half the tables were filled with dining people, some were obviously couples, others looked like squads of warriors out for dinner. The remaining two walls were lined up with leather seats surrounding low tables and were submerged into shadows. Above them, I could see a few dozens trophies ¨C all were dangerous predators. The crown pieces were a rankor''s head and much more impressive ¨C a

    a Terentatek one. I''ve dealt with a few of the latter back in the day. They were big brutes ¨C heavily armored, fast, vicious and almost completely immune to the Force. In fact a handful even fed on it when I tried to attack them that way.

    I shook my head and enhanced my perception with the Force. The familiar feeling of Bo-Katan immediately stood out. I smiled and headed to the corner seat to my left. A moment later, I enhanced my eyes and could clearly see her despite the shadows doing great job of concealing her. Bo-Katan was wearing armor similar to what she had back on Ryloth, though she was painted in the Death Watch preferred colors. I hoped that she was going to make the right decision.

    I would hate to have to kill her.

    =RK=

    Part 9

    Brox''s Bar

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    "It''s good to see you again." I smiled. Then I frowned, when Bo leaned forward and I could see her face clearly.

    "I wish I could say the same." Kryze grumbled, while playing with a cup of steaming caff.

    The woman looked rather worse to wear. Her hair was a disheveled mess. Her face was gaunt and pale. That only made the huge black bags under her bloodshot eyes stand off like roadside signs.

    "Did you try to drink a platoon under the table or something?" I asked and sat down across the table from Bo-Katan.

    "It sounded like a good idea at the time." She gave me a tired smile.

    "It usually does - right until the hangover hits."

    "Don''t I know it." Bo sighed and took a sip from her drink. "How do you like today''s Mandalore?" She asked morosely.

    "My answer is going to make Jabba the Hutt blush." I deadpanned.

    "I can see that."

    Damn. Whatever had happened in the last few month had shaken her to the core.

    "You know, I didn''t imagine us meeting again like this." I muttered.

    "How so?"

    "I expected that you''d want a rematch after you were loaded for Sith." I smiled. It''s been a very long time since I fought a Mandalorian Warrior who was prepared to face one of my kind.

    "The thought did cross my mind." Her lips twitched upwards. "The implications however..." Bo shrugged. "One of these days I may take you up on that."

    Oh. She was a Mandalorian. Right. Well¡­ A "sparing" match with one of her culture could have various implications, some much more important and complicated than others.

    "What? Did I make the big bat Sith speechless?"

    "Well, my Mando courting rituals are bit rusty. Did you just say that you would try to kick my ?ss and drag me to bed afterwords?"

    "If you''re particularly good boy." Bo-Katan smirked. "Or bad, depending on the situation."

    I smiled back. It was good to see the spark of life back in her eyes.

    "We''ll see. I''m looking forward fighting beside you again¡­ and I hope that would be the case instead of facing you for one last time." The smile and any good cheer I felt bled off me. It was time for Bo-Katan to chose her side.

    I hoped it would be mine.

    "No more idle chat, eh?" Bo finished her caff and looked me in the eyes. "You were right." She sighed and slumped back in her seat.

    "The Death Watch¡­ they''re no honorable warriors. Slavery, drugs, extortion, common murder, smuggling ¨C take your pick." Bo hissed like an angry snake. "Looking back, a lot of my jobs for them..." She trailed off and shook her head. "I''ve tarnished my honor, my Clan''s honor almost as much as my sister does."

    Ah. That explains a lot.

    "Satine? I don''t think you could have possibly kriffed up as much as she did. I had a chat with her earlier today, you know."

    "While I kriffed up my honor at least I didn''t spit on all that means to be a Mandalorian." Bo laughed bitterly.

    "Yes. She messed up pretty badly."

    "That''s an understatement." The Mandalorian woman whispered darkly. "You''ve seen what I sent you. The Death Watch are growing in strength. Warriors are falling over themselves to join without knowing what they are doing. It''s all her fault."

    "All? That''s a bit much, don''t you think?"

    "Thanks to my sister" Bo spat, "there''s no other credible alternative. No one else to rally us."

    "In my time I would have expected that the Mandalorians would know better. The Death Watch betrayed the last true Mandalorian warriors at the end of your civil war. What makes you all think that they won''t do it again?"

    "What?!" Bo hissed.

    "Ah. I thought it was common knowledge. Vizsla, the previous leader of the Death Watch informed the Republic where the remaining True Mandalorians would be. They sent a Jedi task force which ambushed them. Only one man got away."

    "How do you know that?"

    "The Jedi archives. I ''persuaded'' them to give me access so I could catch up on history and see what happened with my friends and comrades back in my day. Naturally the history of Stephen''s people was something high up on my list."

    "Do you have proof? Who''s Stephen?"

    "It''s back on the Chimera in orbit." I pointed up. "As for Stephen ¨C Stephen Ordo. We ran into each other more than a few times and become friends. Shortly after the war went hot, he became Mandalore the Dauntless after his predecessor was ?ssassinated by a Jedi strike team."

    "Kriff me sideways! You were the Black Knight?!" Bo stared at me as if I suddenly grew another head.

    "Stephen''s to blame for that! I had nothing to do with that nickname!"

    "I can''t say if you''re kriffing with me or if you''re telling the truth."

    "We both know that I can''t possibly prove who I am. Not beyond a shadow of a doubt." I shrugged. That was the truth after all.

    "You can''t, can you?" Bo''s enthusiasm took a nosedive. Then she grinned at me. "We''re going to have our spar sooner than latter. Combat is the purest expression of oneself." Her eyes gleamed with excitement.

    "I didn''t know you subscribed to Echani teachings."

    "Some. Grandma was one before she become one of us."

    What''s with women trying to kill me lately?!

    "You''re aware that I''m not a Mandalorian, right?"

    "Not yet." Bo beamed at me. "You might be one when I''m done with you."

    Oh. I suddenly felt like a steak served to a hungry lioness.

    "You''re presuming you could win this time." I smiled back. We''ll see who''s the hunter and who''s the hunted.

    "This time I know who and what I''m facing."

    Damn. She was serious. Unless the Mando culture had radically changed¡­ Kriff it. There were certain things expected of you if you hooked up with a Mandalorian. Like becoming one.

    Mind you, I was interested in Bo-Katan. She was a fascinating woman ¨C a great warrior, with fiery temper and a figure to die for.

    Then there was Shaak-Ti ¨C my may be lover too. I was most definitely interested in her, though I still didn''t know if it was because of herself or because of her resemblance to my late wife.

    How the kriff did I get myself in this mess anyway?! Damn it, this was going to further complicate the situation.

    "Do you really?" I teased. I couldn''t help myself and started digging a deeper hole.

    "Well, I''ll know for sure when I''m done with you." Bo declared cheekily. She sighed. "However, I don''t believe you called me just to arrange for our spark."

    "I''m glad you''ve seen the Death Watch for what they''re. I would hate to see you on the wrong side of the battlefield."

    "Me too." Bo muttered softly. "Though it would have been a battle to remember!" She perked up.

    Mandalorians.

    "You''re better apprised of the local situation than me. How long until your former colleagues could try seizing power and succeed?" I spoke quietly.

    "Direct action? Two, three weeks tops. The old fashioned way? A few months unless the government falls, then much sooner."

    "Sooner it is. Satine''s position won''t survive the pressure of the Republic and CIS."

    "Well, well. I expected that the Republic would be supporting her." BO leaned forward. "That''s certainly a surprise."

    "It''s a mess. I''m the Republic negotiator. Unless Mandalore allies with us, I''m to remove it as a threat." I whispered.

    That certainly shocked Bo. The blood drained from her face. She was one of the few people who not only knew that I was a Sith of old, but believed it beyond a shadow of a doubt. She knew that I wasn''t bluffing or exaggerating.

    I could feel her shock. Soon it was supplanted by a silver of fear, but mostly anger. Damn, she looked like a vengeful goddess of war when angry!

    "Then the Death Watch needs to go." Bo stated flatly.

    "My thoughts exactly."

    =RK=

    Part 10

    Royal gardens

    Sundari Royal Palace

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    Flowers from all over the galaxy thrived under the protection of environmental shields ¨C their alcoves were separated by alleys lined up with carefully trimmed bushes, which were b?r?ly tall enough to reach Kenobi''s knees.

    The place was breathtaking, yet Obi-Wan b?r?ly noticed. He had eyes only for Satine, who was radiating so much anger that the Jedi could swear that he could see. The Duchess suddenly stopped and turned to face him.

    "What was that?!" Satine snapped and pointed an accusing finger at his ?h?st. "You''re supposed to be a Jedi!" Her eyes flashed with unbound fury. "A representative of the Republic!" Satine actually poked him in the ?h?st. "Yet, you just stood there while that man threatened to burn Mandalore!" The Duchess hissed.

    Obi-Wan averted his eyes. She was right¡­ yet it was no longer so simple.

    "What would you have me do, Satine?!" Kenobi sighed. "You''re right!" He raised his hands in surrender. "As a Jedi, I should be doing what''s best for peace. I should be doing my best to protect Mandalore!"

    That gave Satine pause. Her fury subdued to merely boiling anger. "Yet, you said nothing to contradict that man!" She growled.

    "I''m a Jedi! A sword protector of the Republic! What am I supposed to do when in order to preserve it I may have to ensure that Mandalore doesn''t become a threat in this war?!" Obi-Wan exclaimed.

    "We''re no threat! We''re peaceful people!" Satine exclaimed.

    "You are. The New Mandalorians too." Kenobi nodded at her, while speaking softly. "I can''t say the same about the Death Watch and everyone supporting them."

    Satine recoiled as if he just slapped her.

    "Damn them!" The Duchess hissed. "Damn the warrior culture that still haunt us!"

    Obi-Wan had to take a step back from the sheer loathing that Satine radiated for a moment. Her shoulders slumped and she stared at the floor.

    "Will you allow it then? Will you simply watch my world burn and do nothing if the warmongers prevail?"

    "I¡­ I don''t know. I don''t know what to do." Obi-Wan admitted. "I''m a Jedi. A general serving the Republic." He laughed sadly. "It should have been easy ¨C to do the right thing. Instead..." He trailed off. "As a Jedi, as a General¡­ I would have to prevent Mandalore joining the enemy and becoming another threat by any means necessary. As a Jedi ¨C I should be seeking a peaceful resolution of this conflict. Bombarding, much less burning down this world should have been unthinkable!" Kenobi shouted.

    "The Republic." Satine trailed off. "What about it? The Republic I know wouldn''t condone destroying a world because it might be a threat! That''s what the Separatists would do!"

    "Fear. Desperation." Obi-Wan shrugged. "Take your pick. The Republic hasn''t been the same since Naboo and Coruscant. We all made mistakes. We lost our way."

    "That would be a cold comfort for my people."

    "I know. We, the Jedi ¨C no longer control the army. If we ever did." Obi-Wan sighed. "The best we could do is try mitigating the damage and try to end the conflict as soon as possible."

    "That''s it?" Satine exclaimed.

    "It is." Obi-Wan smiled sadly. "We can no longer stop the war, if we ever could. We don''t have the influence to prevent the Senate and GAR High Command from carrying out a plan if they''re determined to execute it. We can only quit and then we would have no say at all in how this conflict is prosecuted."

    Satine simply stared at him. Her eyes were wide with disbelief.

    "We made too many mistakes. While significant number of generals are Jedi nowadays we have much less say in strategy and tactics than we had when the war started. We lost a lot of our credibility and influence."

    "Instead you''re all following a Sith!" Satine snapped.

    Kenobi nodded numbly.

    "How can you justify it?!"

    "Delkatar wins. He''s one of the main reasons why we didn''t lose dozens more Jedi when the Temple was attacked. Most importantly, he''s not as limited as we are when fighting the war is concerned ¨C it''s not that he''s a better general, though he is for now at least, it''s the fact that he can implement tactics and strategies that are usually unthinkable for Jedi like me."

    "He fights and commands like a monster!"

    "That''s one way of putting it. It''s true. Satine ¨C on Geonosis he ordered orbital strikes on towns and cities where the enemy was either hiding or had installations. Millions died, yet¡­ not a single non-Jedi officer had a problem with that. If we went in there to clean those places in a way that any Jedi, myself included, would have deemed acceptable¡­ I KNOW IT WAS WRONG! I COULD FEEL ALL THOSE PEOPLE DIE!" Obi-Wan shouted. He was shaking with emotions he could no longer suppress.

    Satine stared at him in shock.

    "Why?" She whispered after they were silent for a couple of minutes.

    "Why didn''t I protest? Why didn''t I stop the slaughter?" Obi-Wan grimaced. "Doing so would have broken our army. Hundreds of thousands soldiers would have died. It might have doomed us in the long term. The Separatists could replace their loses faster than we can. If the ground forces we led on Geonosis were lost¡­" Kenobi sighed. "Besides, doing so, would have meant betraying every man and woman who followed us down on Geonosis, every sentient fighting for the Republic across the galaxy."

    "That''s not what a Jedi should be thinking." Satine whispered.

    "No. It''s what a general should think when he considers throwing an army into the meat-grinder." Obi-Wan muttered. He had to fight to keep away flashbacks of Ryloth and the way he let down his men.

    "What about you, Obi-Wan? Not the Jedi." Satine came a step closer. "Not the general." Another one and she was almost touching him. "What about the man standing in front of me? What do you want? What do you fight for?" She asked and stared in his eyes.

    Her feelings were confused ¨C Obi-Wan could feel her subduing anger, confusion, fear for her world and people¡­ longing¡­

    "What do I want?" Kenobi muttered. That was a question he hadn''t asked himself in a very long time. There was always something more important to deal with rather than seek an answer for that particular question. "I want the war to end." He stared in Satine''s eyes. "I..." Obi-Wan trailed of an leaned over her.

    Their lips touched and Kenobi was lost to the taste of vanilla.

 Chapter 49 - Mandalorian dreams

    Part 1

    Brox''s Bar

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    "How did you make the Republic find its balls?" Bo-Katan asked me after a few seconds of silence.

    "That was all the Sep''s doing. They made my life much easier."

    "Yes. They apparently had that childish notion that they can attack, bomb and enslave, yet no one would be doing the same to them and their allies." The red-headed woman chuckled humorlessly. "It''s too bad that my world might burn as an object lesson."

    "Not if I have anything to say about it."

    "You''re in charge. So don''t bomb us to the stone age if certain idiots join the Separatists?" Bo smiled at me.

    "That''s something I can''t do even if you''re the one asking."

    "Too bad. Perhaps after I handle you your ?ss?"

    "Perhaps. Do you have credible proof about your friends extra-curricular activities?"

    "A bit. Not enough to bring them down." Bo-Katan pouted.

    "However, enough to convince you?"

    "More than enough." She glared at the table.

    "Are you ready to join me? We have a lot to do."

    Bo looked me in the eyes and nodded. I stood up and offered her my hand when the Force screamed a warning. I moved without thinking and tackled Bo, who was too surprised and slowed down by the hangover to offer any real resistance. Acting on a combination of instinct and experience, I used the telekinesis to flip the table and place it between us and the rest of the bar. In the same time I grabbed the Force and put it as a barrier¡­

    =RK=

    "It''s confirmed, boss. She''s meeting that Republic general." Goren Kranz, one of the Death Watch''s old hands spoke clearly in the comm unit of his helmet.

    He and his squad of warriors had been keeping an eye on Bo-Katan ever since she came back from Ryloth and started nosing around. Their leader found her new hobby interesting and charged Kranz''s mercenaries to find out what it was all about.

    At the beginning, actually trailing her without being noticed proved to be very hard ¨C they often had to abandon the hunt or be detected. Fortunately, a couple of months latter, Katan started getting a bit sloppy. That coincided with her finding about some of the more¡­ s?ns?t?v? activities of the Death Watch. Goren still didn''t see what the problem was ¨C their organization had bills that needed paying and some of the jobs came with delicious benefits.

    For some reason, Bo-Katan didn''t agree.

    No one would have really cared ¨C it wasn''t like their membership was to the death or something¡­ unless you decided to betray the Death Watch. Unfortunately for Bo-Katan, she did so. Kranz was the first one to actually catch her sent a heavily encrypted transmission through the holo-net. That by itself wasn''t too suspicious, though with Katan snooping around¡­

    The second transmission had been detected, copied and after a few weeks under the mercies of Death Watch decryption specialists ¨C read. The first sign of alarm was the encryption ¨C it was undoubtedly GAR, but much better than anything the organization had tried to break before. The contents of the message ¨C a list of the lucrative businesses run by the Death Watch - sealed Bo-Katan''s fate.

    That''s why she was sent to a suicide mission in Hutt Space leading a squad of green warriors.

    Then she had the temerity to succeed. After that, the traitorous woman had been busy trying to drown herself in a booze. Kranz had been ready to try taking her out himself, when she had gotten a holo-call. From what little he was able to overhear, whoever she''s been selling the Death Watch to would be arriving soon.

    That bought her a bit of time ¨C when Goren brought that bit of info to the leader ¨C he ordered Kranz to wait until the meeting took place, find out who was Katan''s accomplice and call back.

    "I see. Is your squad in position?"

    Kranz glanced around the small apartment they had rented across the street from Katan''s favorite bar. His warriors were lounging in the living room clad in their armors and armed to the teeth.

    "We''re ready."

    "Take them out."

    "It will be a p???sur?. We have green light." Goren announced once the connection with command was cut.

    "It''s kriffing time." Mac, the demo expert of their small band, grumbled.

    "A pity. I quite liked her." Howe, their pilot and sniper quipped.

    "You just wanted to fu?k her." The only woman in the group ¨C Dora - sneered.

    "That''s what I said." Howe shrugged.

    "Enough. We have to deal with a Sith wannabe." Kranz snapped, making his people chuckle. "Dora, Howe ¨C the speeder and heavy repeater. Mac ¨C put a rocket in the bar on my signal. The rest of you ¨C come with me."

    A few minutes later, Goren was across the street from the bar. He was flanked by Torn and Leo ¨C the close combat specialists. The speeder that would be providing getaway was parked next to them and Dora was in the back, ready to open the side door and let lose with the repeater. Mac was still upstairs, where he had a rocket launcher ready.

    Kranz nodded to his men and they took cover behind the speeder. "Do it." He ordered. A moment later, an AP rocket roared above their heads and struck the heavy door of the bar. The obstacle, along with a large section of the surrounding walls simply ceased to exist. Before anyone knew what was happening, Mac shot an HE warhead into the bar. The following explosion turned the interior into a slaughterhouse.

    Without waiting for a prompt, Dora opened the speeder''s door and lit up the bar with the heavy repeater.

    All that would have been an overkill against most people.

    Kranz knew better. He made a hand-gesture and threw a pair of sonic grenades into the bar. His men followed suit a moment later. That should have been enough to disorient even a Force Adept.

    Then a spread of frag grenades followed, while Mac rappelled from the apartment.

    Goren slammed his fist in the side of the speeder three times and Dora stopped firing. She shoved the repeater aside, grabbed her rifle and jumped out. Kranz shouldered his heavy blaster rifle and gestured his squad to move in.

    It was time to make sure that Bo-Katan and her buddy were vaporized.

    =RK=

    Brox''s Bar

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    A spread of concussion grenades detonated moments before Kranz and his squad stormed the burning bar. Goren led the way, trusting that his armor can take a shot or two if anyone of the patrons had survived the onslaught, no matter how unlikely it was. Dora and Mac dashed left, while remaining men swept right. The sensors in Goren'' helmet allowed him to see clearly despite the smoke filling up the burning bar.

    Kranz smiled once he saw that there was no one moving and he allowed himself to examine the place. Most of the furniture sans the bar plot was wrecked ¨C tables and chairs were torn to shreds, a few were actually melted too. The same could be said for the patrons. Those who wore armor were relatively intact ¨C the rest, well they were literally blown to pieces ¨C their blood was coating the floor and walls.

    "So much for that so called Sith." Mac sneered.

    "True. No one could have survived this." Dora nodded. She was looked at a fully armored mandalorian warrior, who had been caught in the crossfire. His armor was heavily dented and she could see blood leaking from cracks in the helmet.

    That was the most intact corpse in the room.

    "Find and vape the targets, then we''re gone." Goren ordered. He didn''t feel like playing with the security forces. The boss wanted a relatively ''clean'' op."

    "Sure thi-" Dora never finished her sentence. Before she or Mac could react, they were swept away by a table that was warped and full with holes. The improvised projectile caught Leo in the shoulder and threw him over the bar.

    Goren and Theo wasted no time. They dived to the debris and blood covered floor, then opened fire at the corner where the table stood. Kranz cursed when every shot was met and deflected by an angry crimson blade. He looked up and saw the man wielding it ¨C it was that Republic general and he looked furious.

    "Mow them down!" Goren shouted and aimed at the hilt ¨C that at least would make it almost impossible to deflect the shots back at him.

    Dora didn''t bother getting up. Instead, she shot a missile from her wrist mounted launcher.

    Kranz could see a look of contempt passing through the Force User''s face. The man flicked his fingers in a dismissive gesture. The rocket that was almost upon him made an almost a hundred and eighty degree turn and roared back at the Mandalorians.

    "Sith-spa..." Theo''s scream was cut short by a deafening explosion.

    The shock-wave scattered the Mandalorians. It shoved and dragged Goren over the floor. He b?r?ly kept his gun and wits.

    A moment later he was up on one knee and shooting, while ignoring the ringing in his ears. The sound dampeners in his helmet saved his hearing, but were unable to totally compensate for the almost point blank explosion.

    Dora slammed into him with enough momentum do make him dizzy.

    Kranz blinked stars away. Then he did so again, because he was seeing purple.

    Then he heard Leo''s inhuman screams. He looked left and blanched. Leo was suspended in mind-air by a torrent of lighting that was running up and down his armor¡­ which was melting.

    Mac sent a pair of blaster shots at the Republic scum that was murdering Goren''s team, though it was futile. The shots were deflected in an almost lazy manner, before another figure rose from behind the general. Kranz snarled as he saw the traitor alive and unharmed ¨C Katan didn''t have a scratch on her, the bitch.

    Her appearance kicked Goren''s mind back into high gear and he jumped up on his feet. Kranz had lost his rifle so pulled a heavy blaster pistol, then charged the Sith. He hoped to distract him, giving either Mac or Dora a chance. Instead, Bo-Katan drew her pistols and opened fire. A moment later, Mac went down under a hail of bullets.

    Goren snarled. His shots were battered away, however he was close enough. A flick of the wrist and the flame thrower built in his left arm-guard roared to life and sent a stream of liquid fire at the Jedi Sith.

    The man in black smirked and raised a hand in a halting gesture. The torrent of fire met an invisible wall and was harmlessly redirected at the ceiling. In the same time, Katan saw Dora, who was still dizzy and shot her like a dog. Two baleful yellow eyes stared straight into Kranz''s soul. The Mandalorian''s fingers became soft like bu??er and he dropped down his blaster. He felt his body being squeezed by an industrial press, before a lance of lighting slammed him into the far wall.

    =RK=

    I let the concentrated lighting storm go. The ?ssassin I caught with it fell to the ground and continued to bake under his half-melted armor.

    "Are you all right?" I asked Bo, despite feeling her bright presence in the Force behind me.

    "I''ll live." She ?r??n?d.

    Another armored Mandalorian charged through the door and opened fire. I deflected his shots and glared at him. He took one good look at the carnage, dropped his rifle and dashed back through the door.

    "Oh, no, you don''t!" I snapped and charged after him.

    The man dived in the driver seat of a nearby large speeder, which had it''s side door opened. The machine was already running so it took him a single moment to try driving away.

    "No." I hissed and raised a hand. The speeder''s engine strained struggling against my telekinetic grip and lost. I let my lightsaber go and guided it back into my robes, then I raised my right hand and concentrated. I let the Dark Side flow through me, then channeled it''s energies into my right palm. A few seconds later, a meter long spear of pure Dark Side energy materialized in my hand, making my skin tingle with power.

    I threw the projectile at the struggling speeder. The Mandalorian jumped away in the last second. The Darkspear tore through the speeder as if it was made of cardboard, passed through the driver''s seat and slashed the power cell. A moment later, the machine spluttered and died.

    The last ?ssassin found his balls, drew a blaster pistol and opened fire at me.

    I sneered at the kriffing bastard and pointed my right hand at him. It was still covered with Dark Side energies, which I reinforced, before

    slapping away the blaster bolts screaming at me.

    It was time for a lesson. I concentrated and pulled even more energy in myself. When the next shot came, I extended my will over it and placed it into a Force derived stasis field, then I crushed the blaster pistol shooting at me and the hand holding it.

    The Mandalorian screamed in pain, but despite the ruined arm, his attention was stuck on the last blaster bolt ¨C it hanged frozen in mid-flight. It was gibing an unpleasant buzzing sound as it''s energies struggled against the stasis field.

    "Well, that''s new." Bo-Katan whistled from behind. I glanced back to see her dragging the ?ssassin''s leader. Her emerald eyes were fixed on the blaster bolt and she had a hungry smile on her face.

    =RK=

    Part 3

    Brox''s Bar

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    I looked at the gathering crowd around us ¨C more than a half of the people were armed and armored Mandalorians. The local security services were arriving too, though most were slowed down by the people surrounding us.

    The Mandalorians were radiating anger, curiosity some even disgust. A lot obviously didn''t like the fact that someone started open warfare in their capital¡­ without warning and inviting them. Others were appalled at the sight, though they were a distinct minority of the people gathering here.

    "What the kriff did you do to my bar?!" A deep voice shouted above the whispers of the locals. A barrel ?h?sted armored Mandalorian shoved his way through the crowd until he could clearly see the demolished building behind us.

    "Hi, Brox!" Bo waved cheerfully. "This is exactly what it looks like."

    "You and the rest of the Death Watch fools got too drunk and shoot up my bar?" The two meters tall Mandalorian rumbled and pointed an accusing finger at my companion. He paid no heed to the would be ?ssassin I had suspended in the air or the hovering blaster bolt.

    "You walked straight into this one." I chuckled.

    "Who the kriff are you?" Brox growled and turned his helmeted head my way.

    "General Delkatar Veil ¨C the Dark Lord of the Sith at your services." I gave him a respectful nod. "Those idiots" ¨C I pointed at the Death Watch wannabe with the crushed hand, "tried to ?ssassinate my friend over there and me. They weren''t up to the task." I shrugged. "It was a pathetic attempt really."

    "My bar and patrons would disagree." Brox glanced at the smoking ruin. "Survivors?"

    "Just us and two prisoners." Bo answered.

    "Kriff."

    Mandalorian security finally arrived. Most of them wore either light armors or the ceremonial garb of the palace guards, complete with energy pikes.

    They took one look at the devastation, the armors worn by my prisoners and Bo, then raised their weapons our way.

    "Drop your weapons and raise your hands! You''re under arrest!" The man in charge ¨C an LT, ordered us.

    "No." I stated flatly. "I''m general Veil, representative of the Galactic Republic and thus covered under diplomatic immunity. Those," I pointed at the captives, "are Death Watch agents who just tried to ?ssassinate me. They committed an act of war against the Republic and are prisoners of war. I''m being generous in not ?ssuming that all Mandalorians nowadays are supporters of the Death Watch ¨C a bunch of cowardly thugs, smugglers, pirates and slavers who know no honor." I paused for effect and stared at the LT. "Chose your next words very carefully, Lieutenant."

    "What about her?" The Mandalorian pointed at Bo-Katan.

    "She''s with me."

    "That''s not good enough, General."

    "I say it is." I raised my hands and pulled Force energies through me. A moment later, electricity arched around my fingers as I prepared to unleash a Lighting Storm if the local security services proved too bullheaded.

    I had my doubts that Bo would go quietly and that she would be safe if in custody ¨C ?ssassinating her while temporarily imprisoned would be much easier.

    "What the kriff are you all doing?!" Brox snapped.

    "Well, I''m not surrendering either myself or one of my ?ssociates in the hands of people who might be Death Watch or CIS supporters. Besides, those don''t look like they''re up to the task of capturing me. I could feel it in their emotions ¨C most of them are no warriors." I smiled thinly.

    "That''s a lie! We''re here to uphold Mandalorian law!" The LT snapped back.

    "Mandalorian law? I think not. New Mandalorian bantha-poodo? That I''ll give you." I smiled. "Last time I was here, dealing with a bunch of fools who attacked you while you had a drink in a bar was something no one would have bat an eye at ¨C besides joining the fun in crushing the fools who started the mess."

    "That''s been unacceptable ever since the Civil War."

    "Is it, really?" I asked, addressing the crowd. "So neither of you can legally deal with someone being foolish enough to attack you while you''re having a drink or a bite to eat? I thought that I was on Mandalore, surrounded by Mandalorians, but I''m obviously mistaken."

    There were both laughter and jeers coming from the crowd. One thing was sure ¨C everyone on the planet would soon know about this accident and some of them would start asking pointed questions.

    "Sir, I¡­ but¡­ I see." The LT spoke to someone over his comm. "General Veil," he hissed my name, "your presence has been requested in the Royal Palace. That of your companion too."

    "Well, well. So Satine would want to slap my wrist for protecting myself. How did she get in charge of Mandalore I''ll never know. These idiots are coming with me to the Republic embassy and then we''ll see what your supposed leader has to say about this mess." I stared at the LT.

    He listened to someone over his comm and nodded sharply. "That will be acceptable."

    =RK=

    Satine''s chambers

    Sundari Royal Palace

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    "What? This better be important!" Satine snapped after she found her comm.

    "Ma''am, there was an some kind of an attack in the city. Explosions and heavy blaster fire were reported."

    "I see. Keep me informed." The Duchess cut off the line.

    "I have the strange feeling that Delkatar is a part of this." Obi-Wan muttered. The Jedi was lying n?k?d under the sheets next to her.

    Satine turned looked at her lover. "I should have known." She sighed. "That man is a walking disaster zone."

    "True enough."

    The comm unit chimed again. The Duchess picked it up."Yes, report."

    "We have multiple calls about a Death Watch attack on a place called Brox''s Bar. Missiles, grenades, heavy repeater fire. Whatever''s happening it''s a warzone down there. We''ve mobilized quick response units as well as Mandalorian Security."

    "Good. Give me a call when you know what''s exactly is happening."

    "Understood."

    "We better get up." Satine sighed and stood up. The sheet fell from her n?k?d figure and the sight of her body made Kenobi shiver.

    "Ahem, yes. That would be prudent." Obi-Wan muttered.

    He was still trying to figure out did he made a mistake in sleeping with Satine¡­ though doing it felt anything but wrong.

    =RK=

    Part 4

    Sundari Royal Palace

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    "I hope the reunion with your sister would go well." I quipped when we reached the palace grounds.

    "Not kriffing likely. It''s Satine." Bo grumbled.

    The security personnel surrounding us did their best to pretend they weren''t hearing this particular conversation.

    "Well, she couldn''t have been this bad when she become the leader of your people. She wouldn''t have lived this long if she was¡­ Right?"

    Bo-Katan grumbled something so quiet I couldn''t hear it. "I didn''t catch that."

    "After the war, there were a lot of people who wanted peace and someone who would rebuild in charge. Satine¡­ she got enough support to become our nominal leader, though that was more because many simply didn''t care, the rest were either away from our worlds or in the Death Watch ¨C the latter simply didn''t have the numbers to be relevant. They took catastrophic loses during the war."

    "I see. Any idea how to make your sister get her head out of her ?ss? I would prefer that she doesn''t get herself killed. Apparently one of my generals is sweet on her."

    "What? Satine with a boyfriend? Heh. Not bloody likely. She''s too busy preaching about peace and pacifism, not that many are listening mind you."

    "Well¡­ Kenobi''s a Jedi, the poor bastard, though a dose of Mandalorian culture would serve him well."

    "Many of us don''t see Satine as Mandalorian." Bo snapped, then she smiled. "A Jedi, eh? That might do it, however I don''t know what they would do in bed ¨C discus philosophy or something?"

    "I can see why." I nodded. "Obi-Wan isn''t a fossil like most of his Order, so he might actually know what to do with a woman."

    "I don''t buy it."

    The pair of honor guards protecting the audience chamber gave us sharp nods and opened the doors. They made a halting gesture and the security left us enter without escort.

    Inside we found Satine on her throne. She was wearing a simple green dress and her hair spilled freely over her shoulders. Obi-Wan and the Prime Minister were flanking her and talking quietly. The Duchess looked our way and froze when she recognized Bo-Katan. I could clearly sense her shock from the doors. Beside that I could feel irritation and frustration coming from her along with sorrow ¨C for the dead I ?ssumed.

    The Prime Minister ¨C he was concerned and curious. The moment he saw Bo, his concern spiked.

    Obi-Wan was the most interesting of the trio. The Jedi felt somewhat calmer ¨C more balanced, satisfied even. I could still sense his inner turmoil. While it had been growing ever since I met the man, now it was subdued ¨C a stark contrast from the emotions he radiated during our previous meeting here. How curious.

    Kenobi recognized my companion, then looked between her and Satine. It took him only a moment to figure it out that they were sisters.

    My eyes widened. Every time Obi-Wan laid eyes on Satine, I could feel longing and ?ust coming from the Jedi ¨C the latter was absent just a few hours before, there was simple attraction then. I smiled. Who knew that Obi-Wan had it in him? Unless I was very much mistaken, he got lucky tonight.

    "Bo-Katan!" Satine hissed when we reached the throne.

    "Sister." My companion sneered back.

    "I should have known that you would be all over this mess. You always loved to make my life difficult." The Duchess spat.

    Oh, my. There was no love lost between those two.

    "You too! What the kriff were you thinking?!" Satine glared at me. "Veil, you''ve been here for just a few hours and there''s already open warfare on my streets."

    "This is Mandalore. The occasional skirmish is normal."

    "Not under my rule!" Satine snapped.

    "Oh? You''ve been actually ruling? That''s a news to me."

    "Delkatar! What happened?" Obi-Wan raised his voice.

    "The usual. I went to a bar to meet a friend." I nodded at Bo-Katan, who smirked. "Then the Death Watch decided to try and kill us. It was just like the old times on Mandalore." I grinned. "What about you? You''re feeling unusually chipper this evening. The Duchess is a bit disheveled and the way you''re looking at her..." I trailed off.

    "What? I''m just..." Obi-Wan spluttered.

    "Yep." Bo nodded. "My sister look like she just got laid. It''s been a long time, hasn''t it Satine? And with a Jedi of all people..." Bo shook her head in disappointment, though I could feel only amusement coming from her.

    "We didn''t..."

    "Really? Obi-Wan, I had such trust in you! Are you telling me that you couldn''t perform? I''m disappointed in you, my friend. You see," I raised my hands and wigged my fingers, "There are fingers, tongue too and then there''s the Force." I grinned, making Kenobi go red ¨C something that was shared by the Duchess.

    They looked at each other.

    "Oh, that''s cute. Did you really think that I wouldn''t notice?"

    "ENOUGH!" The Prime Minister snapped. "We aren''t here to discus what the Duchess did or didn''t do in her spare time! It''s your actions that brought us here!"

    "Really? I merely dispatched a group of ?ssassins. The survivors are nicely tucked up in the embassy awaiting interrogation. Instead of doing that and possibly finding a way to break the Death Watch, I''m here. Why?"

    "General Veil!" Satine glared at me. "You''re threading a thin line. Your actions today are grounds to declare you a persona non-grate and throw you out of Mandalorian space."

    "You won''t." I sneered back. "If you do, I''ll consider Mandalore a clear and present danger to the Republic and remove it as such."

    Satine recoiled at my words and Obi-Wan blanched.

    "You''re serious." Kenobi muttered.

    "I was hoping that you would talk some sense in the Duchess before trying to seduce her. Or did she seduce you?" I shrugged. "There''s only one outcome that might keep your worlds and people reasonably intact, Duchess ¨C it''s an alliance with the Republic. Anything else is unacceptable." I took a deep breath. "Bo ¨C she''s your sister, try talking some sense in her."

    "She never listens!" My companion protested.

    "Try anyway. Kenobi, a word!" I waved the Jedi to follow and headed to the crystal windows covering the left side of the chambers.

    =RK=

    Part 5

    Sundari Royal Palace

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    "Veil! What the kriff is wrong with you?" I beamed at Kenobi''s uncharacteristic cursing. His Jedi indoctrination was falling apart much sooner than anticipated.

    "First, congratulations for losing your v?r??n?t?." I grinned.

    "What? I wasn''t a v?r??n, damn it!"

    "Oh, so you''ve been a bad, bad boy before we met!" My grin widened. "Good for you. Second, couldn''t you beside seducing the Duchess and getting laid in the process, talk a bit of sense in her?"

    "That''s now what happened! I didn''t seduce her!" Obi-Wan didn''t sound very convincing.

    "So she seduced you? That''s it. You aren''t negotiating again. Ever. At leas was she any good? The stories I''ve heard about Mandalorian women..."

    I leaned back just in time to avoid being slugged. Woah. Who knew that getting laid would have such an effect on Kenobi? That should be mandatory for all Jedi ¨C it obviously made them act more like people than robots.

    "Down boy. Congratulations. When are you becoming full fledged Mandalorian?"

    "What?!" That stopped Obi-Wan in his tracks.

    "There''s a reason I haven''t slept with Mandalorian women back in my time ¨C there are certain expectation that come with the territory. Like becoming a Mandalorian. If you don''t, once Satine''s indiscretion comes to light, what little credibility she has left will immediately evaporate."

    "That''s¡­ krifff..." Kenobi blanched. He was getting pale too.

    "Didn''t think about that, did you?"

    "What we did is no one''s business!" Obi-Wan snapped.

    "Please. I know that you aren''t that naive."

    "You won''t be going out heralding it!" Kenobi snapped.

    "Why? It can only enhance your considerable reputation."

    "Veil!" Obi-Wan hissed.

    "Then, there''s Bo, who isn''t too fond of her sister, the Prime Minister, who might decide to cut off his loses and throw the delectable Duchess under the airbus, that adviser, the palace guards who are certainly to know what you two were up to..." I trailed off. I couldn''t keep the cheer out of my voice.

    "This is a disaster!" Obi-Wan m??n?d.

    "What? Are you afraid that the Council will kick you out for being human?"

    "For blowing up the negotiations? For letting my feeling rule me?"

    "Stop playing the victim. You just got laid and considering how you and the Duchess felt when I entered this room, you both liked it. Right? Besides, this is an opportunity!"

    For a moment, Obi-Wan become beef red, then he shook his head and narrowed his eyes at me.

    "What are you scheming now?"

    "Well, we have various problems on Mandalore." I beamed at the Jedi Master. "You just gave me a way to solve most of them, though certain sacrifices are to be made. You may even enjoy some of them." I chuckled. Yep. This might work. At the very least, it was going to buy me some time.

    "I know that look." Obi-Wan''s voice grew suspicious.

    "First, you''re going to quit the Jedi Order." I chuckled at his dumbstruck expression.

    "What? Are you out of your kriffing mind?!" Kenobi exclaimed.

    "Oh, shut up and listen." I snapped. "You made your bed and now you''re going to lay in it. You and Satine just gave me a potential way to save Mandalore. Is your pride worth the millions who will die if we kriff up our mission here?"

    Obi-Wan glared at me but remained silent.

    "Good. Second, you''re going to officially hook up with the Duchess." I pointed at her behind my back. "After that you''re adopting the Mandalorian culture with a gusto and becoming the best kriffing Mandalorian warrior that this rock has seen in the last few thousand years."

    "That''s your plan?! It''s insane!" Obi-Wan spat.

    "Then we will ensure that you become Mandalore so the warriors will flock behind you instead of joining the Death Watch and the Separatists. That way we''ll short-circuit the worst of the impending civil war, use our forces to aid the Mandalorians in eliminating the CIS fleet presence here and in the nearby sectors. Oh, yeah ¨C Mandalore becomes an ally of the Republic too, so I don''t have to go old fashioned Sith on the place. It''s a win-win situation. Besides, if you''re lucky you got to marry your Duchess and have a hot steaming s?x with her on regular basis. A win-win situation if I ever saw one." I beamed. "Is she a screamer by the way?" I asked idly.

    I was too busy congratulating myself about my latest brainstorm, that I didn''t react fast enough when Obi-Wan''s fist rocketed my way again.

    "Ouch. If you try this again, I''ll slug you back." I snapped at the fuming Jedi. "This plan''s our best chance, so you''re getting one for the team and might even like it so man up!"

    "Veil, you''re an utter and unrepentant bastard." Obi-Wan hissed. There was loathing¡­ and was that admiration in his voice?

    "Thanks for the compliment." The man was already practically a Gray Jedi so I was successful on that front at least.

    =RK=

    "Long time no see, sis. Have you managed to utterly destroy our Clan''s reputation yet?" Bo-Katan sneered.

    "Our reputation as murderers, you mean? I hear you keep it up nicely." Satine spat back.

    "You''re a disgrace for Mandalore." Bo snipped back.

    "Only for the old bastards who refuse to see that their ways are obsolete!"

    "Naive much? What has your way brought us? We are on the eve of destruction because of you and the New Mandalorians!" Bo-Katan snapped.

    "Nonsense! It''s all because of your kind ¨C fools who cling to our past as the scourge of the galaxy that we''re in this position! If it wasn''t for the Death Watch, this war would have never come to our doorsteps!"

    "You''re a fool, Satine! The vaulted clone army of the Republic? The template was a Mandalorian! It''s trained by Mandalorians!" Bo-Katan hissed. "We''ve been neck deep in this war even before it began!"

    Satine recoiled back as if her sister punched her in the gut.

    "That man over there?" The Mandalorian warrior pointed at Veil, "He''s a Sith, Satine. He will burn our world and love every moment of it unless we support the Republic. We don''t have the forces to give him pause. The Separatists? They would do the same. Why, you may ask? Because we are too weak to have a voice! It''s join or die, all because of you! Mandalore is about to die, because of your blindness!"

    The Duchess stared at her sister open-mouthed.

    "Was is worth it?" Bo-Katan sneered. "What did your policies give us? What are you going to do now?"

    "We have to remain neutral. It''s our only option." Satine shook her head in denial.

    "Yours you mean. Oh, I know it. If you chose a side, the New Mandalorians will throw you away. If you don''t, one will be chosen for us. Don''t you get it, sister?! We don''t want to be neutral even if that was an option! This war ¨C it makes our blood sing! It''s in our blood! It''s what, who we are! Open your eyes, Satine!" Bo-Katan implored.

    "They''re opened! I can''t bring war and suffering to our people! Never again! Did you forget the Civil War? What it cost us all?!"

    "I do." Bo-Katan''s voice was quiet. "I lost as much as you did, sister. However, that didn''t break me!" The warrior woman shouted. "I can still see the galaxy as it is instead as what I wish it to be! No matter what you or the New Mandalorian wanted ¨C we Mandalorians aren''t pacifists. We aren''t peaceful people. We are warriors, Satine. War is in our blood."

    "We had more than a decade of peace under my rule! Why did you all want to throw it away to join the war?" Satine snapped.

    "Isn''t it obvious, sister? We merely existed under your care. This war ¨C it makes our hearts race. It calls to us, to what we are. You are supposed to be our leader, Satine. Your people are screaming that they want to fight! There are only two questions ¨C on whose side would we fight¡­ and who will lead us. You have an unique opportunity, Satine. You can restore our Clan''s honor. You can lead our people into a new age ¨C or go down as a traitor to everything that we as Mandalorians stand for!"

    =RK=

    Part 6

    Sundari Royal Palace

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    "This is madness!" Obi-Wan snapped.

    Satine didn''t look too much against my plan ¨C well, she seemed receptive of the part where she hooked up with Kenobi, preferably in a way he won''t be able to escape her clutches.

    "That''s a first. I would have to agree with the Jedi." Bo-Katan frowned.

    That put a damper on my good cheer.

    "Why? It''s perfect! Just look at him!" I pointed at Obi-Wan. "A genuine warrior who has won a lot of victories and glory."

    "A kriffing Jedi. No one would believe that he would put the Mandalorian''s well being before the Republic and his Order." Bo snapped.

    "I won''t and I''m a New Mandalorian through and through." The Prime Minister supported my companion. "We''ve been at odds with the Jedi and the Republic for more than five thousand years. Nearly five in fact."

    Ah. Kriff. That little fact did escape me. Sometimes I did forgot when I was ¨C especially since I arrived at this place. Mandalore was inducing a lot of nostalgia even if it was quite the different place from what I remembered ¨C the place simply felt similar, familiar.

    "It''s irrelevant anyway. No matter what I may wish," Obi-Wan grit his teeth, "I can''t leave the Jedi Order. Not now! With Anakin''s trial coming soon, if I did anything to show that I would follow my heart in spite of the Jedi teachings, it would tear apart the Order. That something that you know, am I right?" Kenobi glared at me.

    "That would be a possible outcome." I nodded diplomatically. "There are less than ten thousand Jedi. There are billions of people on this world alone." I smiled.

    "That''s low blow." Obi-Wan snapped. "You know, I was almost convinced that your nay-Sayers in the Order were mistaken, yet here we are." He glared at me.

    "Hey! Being here and now wasn''t my idea. I didn''t create this mess either ¨C it''s all your girlfriend''s fault!" I snapped back. "I''m merely trying find an acceptable alternative.

    "Really? It''s just an coincidence that your plan puts me in impossible position? If the Order sunders, there won''t be any real opposition if you go on the deep end."

    "Perhaps. I didn''t force you to sleep with the Duchess. I didn''t sent you to seduce her, or did she seduce you?" I shrugged. "I''m merely taking an advantage of an opportunity."

    "An opportunity to deal the Order a blow it may not recover from?" Obi-Wan snapped. "I know that we, the Jedi, have our problems. That''s no reason to destroy the Order! I won''t let myself be used in such a way!"

    "What choice is there?" Satine muttered. "He''s right!" She pointed at me. "If we do nothing, Mandalore burns ¨C either at his hands or because of Death Watch."

    "Without the Jedi Order, the whole galaxy may well follow! Even if I trusted him without reservation!" Another finger pointed at my ?h?st, "He''s not the only Sith!"

    "Hey! I''m the only real one!" I snapped back. Sidious, Dooku and their pose were nothing but pretentious Dark Jedi, even if their leader was really powerful. "Besides, when did she start making sense?" It was my turn to point fingers and mine targeted Satine.

    "Delkatar, you''ve been away for a long time." Bo-Katan sighed. "The Mandalore you know, is just a legend now. The warriors you''re comparing us to, might have followed a Jedi. The stories are clear ¨C they would have loved to follow Revan after he crushed them at Malachor V. Today? There has been too much bad blood. Too many conflicts with bitter resolution. We as a people aren''t ready to follow a Jedi¡­ Perhaps even Revan. Besides, he was a Sith at the end." She smiled bitterly. "Your Jedi friend¡­ If we put him forward for Mandalore that would guarantee a civil war. Just enough warriors would support him to ensure it, but even more will flock to the Death Watch."

    "What then? You know your people better than me. Is there someone outside those idiots who can be a viable candidate?"

    "If there was, they would have stepped up to prevent the impending civil war. We have seen the writing on the wall, Delkatar. We don''t want to fight against each other. However, there simply isn''t a figure who can unite us. Not a Mandalorian at least." Bo muttered. She was looking at me funny. Then she smiled in a pleased way.

    All my warning bells started screaming.

    "A Jedi would be unacceptable. However, you gave me an idea." Her smile grew. Her eyes twinkled with mischief. "There''s another General who covered himself with honor and glory in the war. A warrior who many will follow. A Sith." Bo was grinning at me.

    "This is madness. If the senate even thinks about it, they would move to have me dismissed from the army. A lot of the non-clone officers will support them too. It would be seen as a Sith taking steps to rebuild the Empire."

    "Perhaps." Bo-Katan smiled wickedly. "You''ll have to make certain sacrifices, that''s true. Will that stop you from doing the right thing? The honorable thing? Mandalore needs you. You said that Mandalore the Dauntless was a dear friend of yours. Will you let his people fall when you can stop it?"

    "The Council will lose it too. They will think that your people will be his personal army." Obi-Wan ?r??n?d.

    "If he becomes a Mandalore worthy of the title, we will be." Bo poured more fuel on the fire and relished every moment of it.

    "You''re telling me the nicest things." I sighed. The worst thing was that I was tempted, oh so tempted. It would throw most of my plans of disarray, yet the promise of power, real power not beholden to the politician on Coruscant or more importantly to Sidious was, was incredible.

    Bo-Katan walked next to me.

    "I beseech you, help me save my people." She paused. "Our people. I fought you. I fought beside you. I know that you have more in common with a Mandalorian warrior than anyone else living in today''s galaxy. Please."

    The very thought of an army that would be mine was intoxicating. I looked Bo-Katan in the eyes. I didn''t thing that there was anyone in this day and age who could read me so well.

    "What about you? What do you want?" I asked.

    She smiled wickedly. "To fight beside you. Perhaps more, if you''re up to the task. You still owe me a sparring match." Bo leaned closer.

    "Stop flirting already!" Satine snapped. "A Sith Lord for Mandalore! Are you insane sister?"

    Bo-Katan turned to face the Duchess.

    "Who else? Your boyfriend will be unacceptable. It would take years for him to disperse the taint of being a Jedi, a peacekeeper ¨C all thanks to your policies I might add. We''re about to enter war as divided people. Without strong leadership we''re doomed. It will be a repeat of the Civil War but a hundred times worse!" She looked back at me. "I know what your original plan was. It wasn''t too hard to figure out ¨C pushing me forward as Mandalore. If we had a few more months, perhaps an year, it might have worked. Now? I''m no one ¨C just another warrior who supported Death Watch. Even worse," Bo nodded at Satine, "she''s my sister. So that''s not in the pazaak hand we''ve been dealt."

    Do you know what the worst thing was? Any credible refusal I could give would be a self-serving one. After all, the reasons I had to refuse were simple ¨C unless I played my card perfectly and had a lot of luck, becoming Mandalore would be tying my hands and reducing the power I now wielded. Doing so would also bring much more scrutiny than I had to face right now.

    Of course, I couldn''t go out and say any of that. After all, my plans for the future wouldn''t be exactly welcome by the present company, Bo excluded.

    After all, I had already decided that the Republic as it existed today was an obstacle to preparing the galaxy for the Vong.

    =RK=

    Part 7

    Sundari Royal Palace

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    "Me becoming a Mandalore? That would be a disaster for various reasons." I sighed. By the Emperor''s shriveled balls, how in the nine Corellian hells did Bo think of this?!

    "Like what?" The warrior woman gave me a sweet smile¡­ while her voice was similar in tone and volume to that of a particularly pissed off drill instructor.

    "Hi, Bo-Katan. It''s Veil ¨C the Dark Lord of the Sith. How do you think that the Senate and the Jedi Council will react when they learn of this idea?"

    "They won''t be thrilled." The saner until now Kryze sister shrugged.

    "Veil." Obi-Wan cleared his throat. "Whatever they do if you become Mandalore, it would be worse if I was to get that title. Kenobi the Warlord, Obi-Wan the traitor¡­ I can already hear them." The Jedi Master spoke in a dry voice. "Let''s not forget that you''ll get blamed on corrupting me. So ¨C it will be much, much worse. After all that idea of yours would prove everything the more conservative Council members say about you ¨C corrupting Jedi, making them warlords, preparing to conquer the galaxy ¨C then torture and kill everyone for fun."

    "Seriously? I need a better PR department for when I take over the galaxy."

    "Try co-oping Satine''s." Bo grumbled and got my attention.

    "Her''s that good?"

    "Hey! I''m right here."

    "How do you think she remained in power for so long given her policies? This is Mandalore!" Bo growled.

    "I have to admit that our government has an excellent PR department." The Prime Minister added even if he looked a bit embarrassed to admit it.

    "Good to know. It''s likely that I''ll get kicked out of my position as general in the GAR." I tried again.

    "Unlikely. If the rest of the officers have any brains they would scream bloody murder ¨C you''re one of the few Republic generals who know what the kriff they are doing." Bo didn''t buy my next argument.

    "Besides, if you''re Mandalore, you''ll have an army anyway. One arguably better, though we do lack a decent sized fleet and some other equipment." Almec supported my companion. At least he was seeing which was the wind was blowing.

    "Even if all that''s true, I can''t possibly help coordinate and plan a galaxy wide war, command an army and be Mandalore at the same time."

    "There will be a lot of warriors willing to help you." Bo beamed. "Even a few competent administrators from my sister''s government might prove useful." She glanced at the Prime Minister.

    "Valentra will be thrilled at the reinforcements. I''ll help take some of the load too." Obi-Wan added brightly, the bastard. "I''m sure that Pellaeon will help as well."

    I wasn''t going to point out that accepting the position will leave me with no time for scheming to speak off¡­ which was a problem because I had a lot of schemes going on. Same for scrutiny ¨C even if the Mandalorians were going to like most of what I was up to, I couldn''t allow my endgame plans to become a public knowledge. Not at this junction¡­ Perhaps¡­

    "The Senate and GAR High Command will put me under so much scrutiny that I won''t be able to do my kriffing job!" I tried again.

    "You''re a Sith. You''ll deal." Kenobi was positively unhelpful.

    "Besides, you''ll get personal guard as per tradition. They will be able to run interference when necessary!" Bo-Katan beamed at me. She was liking this, the infernal woman!

    I was running out of arguments too. I couldn''t say that I didn''t want the job ¨C becoming Mandalore was a great honor, kriff it all. Declining it, even the possibility of trying to be one would destroy me in the eyes of the Mandalorians ¨C the present company included.

    "Have you thought what would happen if I become Mandalore? The CIS will throw everything they have available against you. We may not be able to hold such an ?ssault."

    "Really? This is your argument?" Bo rolled her eyes. "You almost sound as you don''t want the job." She said accusingly. "If we ally with the Republic, with you ¨C they will be coming against us with everything they have anyway. In that case you''ll be gaining a Mandalorian army, so they will be doing their best to kill us all¡­ after we''ve been weakened by an inevitable civil war." Bo sighed.

    "While I hate to agree with my sister..." Satine trailed off, "That might be Mandalore''s best chance."

    Kriff it all! I didn''t have the time for this! Yes, becoming Mandalore would be great boon ¨C especially long term¡­ However, it would prove a major distraction, I just knew it. Perhaps big enough to prove fatal. As things stood, I already had too many hast to fill.

    On the other hand, I was in a kriffed up position. With the shenanigans coming from Coruscant, I would be blamed no matter the outcome. Yet¡­ plan A was on hold or destroyed ¨C it would depend on Padme recovering and Anakin retaining something resembling a positive reputation after the trial. With Amidala out of the game, perhaps permanently, I lost her political contacts and thus allies.

    Kriff. I needed a stable power base that couldn''t be pulled from under my feet with an lawful order by the Chancellor. For the time being he simply couldn''t remove me that way, not without committing a political suicide. However when I inevitably kriffed up ¨C with or without Sidious'' ?ssistance ¨C that would change.

    The truth was that I needed the power-base that Mandalore represented almost as much as they needed my help.

    "Let''s talk terms. I have some conditions if I''m to do my damn best to become Mandalore."

    Bo beamed at me. The woman looked almost ready to hug and kiss the kriff out of me. She felt like that in the Force too. Satine on the other hand was resigned, while Almec was hopeful.

    Kenobi on the other hand was relieved, the bastard. I smiled. I had plans for him too. He wasn''t getting scratch free from this fiasco either.

    Then had to suppress a frown. I could feel only vague buzzing from the aide. The man was trained to hide his thoughts and feelings from the Force ¨C something he didn''t bother use during our previous meeting. How curios ¨C needless to say, that had my alarm bells ringing. That man wasn''t going to blab about this meeting before we were ready to go public ¨C I had to make sure of that.

    "Terms?" Bo frowned after a moment. Yep, she was going to resent the very idea that I wasn''t jumping with joy at very mention of the idea she proposed.

    "One of the reason I wanted him as a possible candidate," I nodded at Obi-Wan," is that he would be great in facilitating the transition between the current government, a military one aiding Mandalore in ruling as well as in smoothing over things on the Republic side."

    "In theory that''s true. I''m a capable negotiator." Kenobi nodded. There was no trace of pride in his words ¨C they were just a simple statement of facts.

    "You''re going to do that anyway." I smiled. "The good news is you won''t be quitting the Order." My smile turned mischievous. "That concerns you too, Duchess. I can''t have a government crisis on my hands at this time."

    "Fat chance." Bo muttered.

    "First, you two -" I waved at Kenobi and Satine,"get officially hooked up. I don''t really care if you have a real relationship, sleep with each other, get married or whatever. I want at least a believable pretense anyway."

    "What?!" Obi-Wan exclaimed in surprise.

    At the same time, Satine looked torn between indignation, anger and being quite pleased by the prospect. Kenobi didn''t appear to be against the idea either.

    "Obi-Wan, you''re getting to be an adviser, ambassador and general ¨C for Mandalore. By remaining a Jedi you can convince both the Order and the Senate that you''re taking one for the team in order to monitor me and make sure that I won''t go on the deep end."

    "That''s insane!" Kenobi spluttered.

    "Tough. You''ll have to sell it anyway. Misery likes company and all that. Besides, would you trust me with a Mandalorian army at my back if the Jedi overreact again and you aren''t here to keep my response saneish?" I smiled.

    "That''s blackmail!" Obi-Wan snapped back.

    "Whatever works. You all want to make me a damn politician besides everything else I have on my plate. You''re all helping." I turned my attention to Satine. "YOU! I have no words for how much you kriffed up." The Duchess glared pure murder at me ¨C all points I bought myself by trying to hook her and Kenobi up just evaporated.

    I couldn''t care any less.

    "You, are getting in touch with your PR people. The task is to convince Mandalore and the Republic that when you took power, it was a response to the death and destruction caused by the Civil War."

    "That''s true." Satine looked confused.

    "Then," I pointedly ignored her, "your are to convince them that all you really wanted was to rebuild Mandalorian space and give a time for your people to recover before the next war, so they could once again be the warriors you know them to be. For that to happen, you needed to rebuild both the civilian and military infrastructure first. Unfortunately, thanks to the CIS, your plan was only partially successful. Now all Mandalorians have to do their best to protect their homes and prove to everyone that they are the honorable warriors everyone believe them to be. If presented right, that should appease both the average Mando as well as your supporters. I don''t need them sabotaging the war effort."

    "Well, that''s a great idea." Bo smirked. "Sister, if you do this right, only the Death Watch will be trying to kill instead of what we have today - most self-respecting warriors wanting your head on a pike."

    Satine ?r??n?d and Kenobi winced at that statement. The most interesting were the reactions of Satine''s people ¨C they were unfazed by that declaration. Totally unsurprised. So they knew the score too, though the Duchess was either blind or didn''t care. Since she appeared to be an idealist, it was probably the latter.

    "That should be doable¡­ with a bit of luck." Almec nodded. He was very pleased at my latest idea, though I wasn''t sure if it was because it was likely to keep Satine alive or him in a position of power.

    "Is that all?" The Duchess asked in a frosty tone.

    "Of course not!" I glared at her. The woman was in a sore need of a reality check. That would be one of Kenobi''s tasks. I thought that he''ll be eager to do it ¨C the man was apparently smitten with Satine and would like to keep the impossible woman alive. Kriff it, she was as bad as Padme.

    "If this insanity is going to work, I''ll need ASAP meetings with the most powerful and influential Clan heads ¨C briefings on them too."

    "I''ll see to it." The Prime Minister stated.

    I was starting to think that Almec was running the government with Satine being a little better than a figurehead, though she was probably going to disagree with that ?ssessment.

    "Now the space slug in the room ¨C the Death Watch. We need them neutralized yesterday. I won''t have a major civil war on my hand, though purging the die-hards is going to be inevitable."

    "That''s true. My former comrades have a core of followers who are fanatically devoted to Vizsla. Then there are outright criminals ¨C they will oppose a purge, especially the slavers. Your thought on that had reached their ears and they will fight." Bo nodded at me.

    "Good. Those bastards need to die. I won''t condone slavery in any place under my authority." I hissed aloud, letting them all hear the steel in my voice.

    "How do we deal with the Death Watch?" Obi-Wan asked.

    "Propaganda. The warriors who joined because they saw no other alternative ¨C I need them. We are going to persuade them that a Mandalore ¨C me ¨C is what they have been searching for. I''ll be offering them honor, glory and most importantly ¨C victory."

    "That might work." Almec mussed.

    "Second ¨C expose the Death Watch. Bo-Katan has some information on their shady activities. We strike at any illegal operation they have in this system, do our best to take prisoners and break them thus finding out more. The ?ssassins we have in custody will be a good starting point ¨C in fact I''ll be interrogating them before we act on Bo''s information." I didn''t add that a lot of her knowledge was going to be obsolete. The ?ssassination attempt proved that.

    "Anything else?"

    "I have proof that the Death Watch betrayed the last of the True Mandalorians and led a Jedi Strike team to their location." I smiled.

    "That''s a two-edged sword." Obi-Wan sighed.

    "You''ll hardly have to prove yourself any more in light of that information. You''re already a Jedi Master and as far as I know you had nothing to do with that debacle."

    "No. I was here, protecting Satine at that time." Kenobi shook his head.

    "So you two have been lovebirds for that long and yet there are no marriage or kids? Do you really know what to do in bed with each other?"

    Next to me, Bo-Katan didn''t even try stopping her laughter.

    The rest looked either stricken by my words or embarrassed. Ah yeah. "Diplomats" weren''t supposed to act like me. Heh. It wasn''t like being all polite and gentle would have helped me in this mess. I was a bastard of a Sith Lord and had a reputation to keep.

    "Next ¨C armed forces. I have contacts who will be able to provide some quantity of weapons and armor as well as purchase more. That will help. I need to know how''s the Mandalorian military industrial complex nowadays. We''ll need small arms, armors, combat vehicles and most importantly ships ¨C and a lot of them."

    "I recommend you speak first with with Horus Yogamet ¨C the chairman and of MandalMotors. He''s also one of the most influential Clan leaders." Almec said.

    "Good. I''ll need a briefing on him and a meeting first thing tomorrow."

    "I''ll arrange it." The Prime Minister nodded.

    "How can you provide weapons?"

    "One of the special operations groups under my command is currently posing as a PMC. They will help." I didn''t add that they were likely to back me even if I went against the Republic.

    "That''s useful and probably outside of your authority."

    "Republic Intelligence knows and actually helps. Valentra too." I smiled. I had my bases covered. It was pure accident that after the attacks on Coruscant and Windu''s stunt, none of the above really trusted the Jedi or the Senate.

    "Our sparing match." Bo smiled wickedly at me. "We should make it public so people could see you fight in person."

    I stared at her and slowly nodded. Only and idiot would have thought that she didn''t have ulterior motives for that suggestion. By the Force, why did she have to be a gorgeous red head besides everything else? This was another complication I didn''t need, though I had the sneaking suspicion that it was one that I might enjoy very much.

    "This is a good starting point." Obi-Wan declared.

    "Indeed. We have an interrogation to run." I nodded at Bo, who looked eager. From what I felt coming from her, she was one to keep a grudge. Good to know. "We should have a liaison with your people." I waved at Satine. "Your adviser will do. He''s coming at us so he can rely to you anything else I can thing of tonight." My voice broke no argument.

 Chapter 50 - Interludes: Mad Science

    Interlude: Rebirth I

    Republic R&D Center

    Location classified

    Coruscant

    "Dr. Solumn, it''s almost done." The single blood and flesh surgeon in the room in front of the Director spoke aloud.

    The Human medic was busy overseeing six spherical medical droids which were working on a clone trooper who had been grievously wounded a few months ago.

    "Is it going to work?" Solumn asked.

    "It''s too early to say sir ¨C though the initial tests we''re running are positive. The subject will live this time, that much I can promise."

    "We need much more than simple survival or even partial recovery." The Director mussed. "Besides, the latter can be achieved with commercially available meditech."

    "I''m know, sir. However adding so much tech into a body, especially one as wounded as Ark here was..." The Human shrugged.

    "We both know that it''s not impossible. There are more than a handful cyborgs more enhanced that our prototype here." Solumn looked unimpressed.

    "True, sir. However, there''s one huge difference ¨C they''re practically an work of art ¨C not something than can really be mass produced. Further, we don''t have access to the research of the people who did those enhancements, Most are beyond Republic space and those here are very well hidden." The surgeon grumbled.

    "What are the prospects for Ark?" Solumn sighed.

    "Quite good actually. His missed limbs were replaced with state of the art combat prosthetic ¨C we built them from lightweight armor alloy for increased durability. They will make him about four times stronger." The surgeon sounded proud of himself.

    "We were expecting ten-fold strength increase." The Director wasn''t impressed.

    "I know. There''s a problem with the connections to the blood and flesh body ¨C those joints simply aren''t durable enough. In latter models which are more enhanced than Ark here, that problem will be solved. Speaking about durability ¨C we''ve coated his bones with bio-neutral ceramic alloy which makes them very hard to break. Further, his spine is reinforced by cybernetic implants and so is his skull."

    "That''s good to know. Side effects?"

    "We had to implant him with couple of devices that help his bone marrow generate the proper amount of blood cells. We even went a step further and poached a few thing from Project Ascension ¨C his blood is not more efficient, coagulates much faster and as a beneficial side effect, Ark will be highly resistant to a lot of poisons and toxins."

    "Well, that''s good at least. Still we''ll need much more than this."

    "We know, Director. Ark here''s just our first prototype. We''re just finishing installing his bacta injectors and will start on the sub-dermal armor grafts soon. That will give him unprecedented survivability in combat, though nothing like what we''re planning. Unfortunately, a lot of the tech we''ll need for Stage II is still theoretical or in the early stages of development. The good news is if Arky here''s successful, we''ll be able to return tens of thousands of soldiers back to the field withing four months. What we learn from Stage I will be invaluable for the next part of this project."

    "Hmm¡­ This is better than I feared, though not as good as I hoped."

    "We''ll get the job done as soon as possible, Director."

    =RK=

    Ascension I

    Republic R&D Center

    Location classified

    Coruscant

    "Director!" Doctor Scrin ¨C a Kaminoan mercenary, who was the leader of project Ascension exclaimed when she saw the Duros enter her domain. "You''re just in time." She waved a long, thin arm at him and smiled. "The first batch of volunteers will be decanned shortly."

    "From your reports I understand that Stage I has been an unmitigated success." Solumn stated after he nodded a greeting.

    "Indeed!" Scrin''s head bobbed over her long neck and she beamed. "Here we aren''t constrained by what peak species performance is supposed to be." The scientist scoffed at the mere idea that her work should stop at what evolution had achieved.

    "That was never the idea. We need something more." The Director nodded in agreement. Thanks to this war, they were not only allowed but expected to push the boundaries of science beyond what anyone had dreamed in ages. It truly was a great time to be a scientist!

    "We have reasonable safe gene therapy that can bring people to their species peak performance within three months. Once that has been tested," Scrin grinned, "We''ll be ready to push further into the next level."

    "Good. Walk me through what you''ve achieved." The Director ordered as they walked further into the facility.

    "First were the easy things ¨C stimulating muscle growth, increasing bone density without compromising the skeleton, making the blood more efficient." Scrin waved a hand. "We got that done by combining already existing research and therapies then improving upon them. It took a couple of months, but it was quite simple." The woman spoke dismissively.

    "You did much more than that." Solumn stated as they reached a sealed door.

    "Of course!" Scrin scoffed and went to the scanner on the left side of the door. "We improved reflexes and reaction times by tweaking neurotransmitters and upgrading the nervous system. As a side effect, our test subject have increased pain thresholds, but their appendages are a bit numb." The Doctor shrugged as if it wasn''t a problem.

    The door slid open and revealed a large chamber filled with hundreds of bacta tanks. Almost all of them were full with beings of various species.

    "We also tweaked various organs to make them more efficient, especially when processing various toxins and poisons are concerned. Thanks to the changes, Stage I subjects are expected to have a minimal resistance to nerve agents, though they will be by no means immune to them."

    "Useful. How do they compare to the Clones?"

    "At least as strong. Some will have better reflexes and they will be healing faster. The main issue was tweaking the gene therapy to work on many species. If we were going to improve just humans, Stage I would have been complete two months ago."

    "I see. Good work. What have you cooking up for the next stage?" Solumn sounded quite satisfied with what was done.

    "This will be the fun part ¨C even more efficient organs as well as adding redundancies for anything vital. We already have thirty percent success rate in adding a secondary hearts in humans." Scrin beamed.

    "Benefits?"

    "Harder to kill subjects. With the improved blood we''re developing, they will heal three to four times faster. The downside as with most of our enhancements will be increased calorie consumptions to fuel them."

    "That was a given." Solumn nodded. There always were trade-offs. Scrin''s job was to make the benefits worth it.

    "We''re looking into further strength and speed increase ¨C about four to five times the norm. That would allow soldiers to carry heavy armor and weapons and will make outfitting the troops cheaper ¨C I understand that the power armor we''re developing will be very expensive and not practical to outfit everyone with."

    "That''s true. It''s also one of the main reasons we''re putting as much resources in this project." Solumn nodded.

    "We won''t disappoint." The Kaminoan declared solemnly. "We''re working on upgrading the nervous system as much as we can ¨C we hope for two or three fold increase in reflexes and reaction speeds. However, there''s a hard-cap we''ll be reaching with neurotransmitters. We won''t get as good reaction as the Rebirth units that would replace or enhance the nervous system with fiber-optics."

    "That won''t be a long term project. We''ll be combining the later stages of these two projects anyway." The Director waved a hand in dismissal.

    "That would be interesting to see." Scrin nodded. "Next ¨C we''re looking at increased endurance, which will take some tweaking in most subject''s systems. However, that won''t be available before Stage II is well underway. We still have some problem to solve."

    The Director shrugged. He had seen the failures. It was ugly and regrettable, but they learned from those accidents.

    "We''ve also improved the vision of the subjects, added increased night vision and are working on adaptive lenses for the eyes ¨C that should increase accuracy."

    "That''s splendid."

    "We''re also looking in biological sub-dermal armor and ways to increase the toughness of the skin without crippling side effects. Those two will be reserved for Stage II or III." Scrin mussed.

    "You can always use the sub-dermal armor from Rebirth." The Director proposed.

    "That''s something we''re looking in along with a synthetic alloy that should act as a replacement skin they are looking into. Unfortunately the latter''s in the theoretical stages for the time being."

    "Time frame for Stage II?"

    "At least a month before we can start fully enhancing a test subject to that standard."

    "I see. It''s better than projected. I want Stage I''s testing done ASAP and ready for distribution in the army before the new volunteer units finish training. High Com wants them enhanced before they''re deployed."

    "Within three months, right?"

    "That''s when the first new non-clone divisions will be ready for deployment."

    "We''ll be ready to implement mass enhancements in three months plus minus a few weeks but we''ll need increased funding and resources to create the necessary infrastructure." Scrin spoke after thinking for a few minutes.

    "Consider it done." The Director nodded.

    =RK=

    Interlude: The CIS and their toys

    Techno Union R&D Center "Trinity"

    Location Classified

    Outer Rim

    Count Dooku sat at the head of a long table made of black metal that was polished so much that it resembled a mirror. His current apprentice and one of her henchmen took seats to his right and a pair of heavily augmented humanoids did so on the other side of the table.

    "Foreman Kleo," The Sith Lord nodded politely. "Congratulations are in order."

    "The Union leaders simply did what was logical." Kleo''s modulated voice showed no inflection. "You aren''t here for small talk." The cyborg stated.

    "No. Our time is precious and the war still rages. That leaves little spare time for the more refined things in life." The Sith shrugged. "In the last few months, the Republic has unveiled a number of advanced technologies and weapon designs that played a key role in halting our advance. We can no longer consider this war winnable in a short order. This poses certain problems." Isn''t that the understatement of the century, Dooku thought.

    "We''re well aware." There was just a hint of annoyance in the Foreman''s artificial voice. "Our R&D departments had worked hard to ensure our superiority. We have a number of technologies either ready for deployment or near completion." The cyborg paused. "However, they won''t come cheap ¨C producing them takes more time and resources than our current armies."

    "Most of the B series of droids are practically useless in the field. The new shielded armor the Republic deployed on Geonosis made the B1 and 2s totally obsolete. Even the SB subtype are heavily outclassed." Sev''rance spoke for the first time. Her voice was flat and annoyed.

    "We know. Analysis shows that continued production of B series for anything but naval crew and maintenance units will be strategic mistake." The second, so far unnamed cyborg stated.

    "This is Ilreth ¨C one of the Unions primary strategic planners." The Foreman introduced his companion.

    Dooku gave the second cyborg a nod and waved him to continue.

    "We''ve already ceased B1 and 2 type production and are shifting those lines into either SB subtype or BX Commando series. We''re introducing gradual upgrades in armor and firepower to our SB droids though outfitting them with shields will be difficult in the short term ¨C there are some design issues with using the components of our Destroyer lines and we don''t currently produce another shield and power plant small enough to fit in their chassis." Ilreth stated.

    "I trust you''re solving that issue?" Dooku was less than pleased by that information.

    "We have multiple teams working on the problem." Kleo interjected.

    "Analysis on the data brought by agent Tann and her unit shows that our most effective counter in the short time will be to shift our ground forces composition into SB and Commando heavy one." Ilreth continued as if he wasn''t interrupted. "However, our projections show that if we are to win, the Confederation will need new and more powerful types of droids."

    "It''s true. All but the Commandos were almost useless. Once the Republic outfit a significant number of units with their new gear, most of our fronts will collapse." Tann added.

    "We all know the problems on the ground. Solutions?" Dooku frowned.

    "We have plans for certain prototypes, though they were deemed too expensive and unnecessary by the council." The Foreman sounded smug.

    "Enlighten us."

    Kleo tapped a bu??on on his right arm and a holographic image came to life above the table.

    A streamlined humanoid droid was standing at attention. It''s armor was all made of sharp angles and obviously made to resist blasters and slugs. While it had a superficial resemblance to the Commando droids, it had more in common with Grievous'' Magna Guards and the SB series.

    "This is the SBX 1 concept." Ilreth spoke in his bland emotionless voice. "It combines the best series of our current combat models with increases durability, agility and it''s smarter than the Commandos. It''s programing includes improved tactical analyst algorithms, strategic modeling as well as self-updating system allowing them to actually learn, not simply extrapolate from previous data as our current BX units. In fact, programing wise, the SBX type are close to our tactical command droids though not as smart ¨C that''s simply not required."

    "That might be useful." Sev''rance muttered.

    "Why aren''t we already deploying them?"

    "We only build a single prototype ¨C it was deemed too expensive and too good for the role it was supposed to fill. According to everyone the BX series were more than good enough and the SBX were simply a waste of resources." Ilreth reported.

    "We''ll need them to replace the Commando droids in their roles across the board as well as a power multiplier attached to our more regular forces." Dooku said. "I want production to start ASAP."

    "I''ll see to it, my Lord." Kleo stated. "Next."

    The SBX image was replaced by a two and half meters tall behemoth. This machine appeared to be hunched forward. It stood on two curiously shaped legs, which had a metal shield protecting the front side of their vulnerable joints. The arms were surrounded by built in weapons ¨C a flamethrower, a heavy repeater on the left and a laser cannon above the right. There was a missile pod above the left shoulder and a large cannon sticking above the right.

    "This is the Titan concept." Ilreth started speaking. "It''s protected by a prototype tank grade armor, three shield generators and built in laser AMS." The cyborg sounded almost giddy. "This design is a direct answer to the new republic gear ¨C most of its internal components are of the shelf and we''re already producing it''s weapons in one form or another. It''s role will be two fold. First ?ssault ¨C directly engaging enemy hardened positions and large groups of infantry. Second role is battlefield coordination and command. The Titan will have a modified Tactical Command droid programing allowing more efficient use of our forces in its area. We''re already building a prototype. Once any major flaws are removed a we can field test it, we''ll move into mass production if the Titan proves to be a practical design."

    "That''s it?" Sev''rance looked less than pleased.

    "The rest is incremental upgrades of our current units ¨C more powerful weapons for the SB series and improved small arms for the rest of our droids and biological units." The Foreman answered.

    "Analysis proved that we have an advantage in indirect fire artillery. The lack of sufficient such units on Geonosis is one of the main reasons the enemy suffered minimal casualties in comparison to our own. We recommend increase in production as well as focusing research on improving this type of technology." Ilreth added.

    "Do so." Dooku nodded after a moment. "Space." He stared grimly at the cyborgs.

    "The unexpected effectiveness of the Guardian system and its mass deployment rendered our current doctrine obsolete." Kleo actually grumbled. "As you know, we relied on massed droid-fighter swarms as a major power multiplier. That strategy is now rendered obsolete. Further analysis concludes that all existing small craft ¨C from fighters and bombers to heavily protected ?ssault shuttles are unsurvivable in Guardian dominated environment. Further, long and medium range missile and torpedo strikes will be heavily degraded or neutralized before hitting a target."

    "I''m aware of the implications. I need solutions." Dooku glared at he cyborgs.

    "A possible tactic is one demonstrated by the Republic above Ryloth and Geonosis. Pin-point hyper-jumps into point-blank range followed by massed torpedo strikes. Unless a hyperspace exit is calculated perfectly, the Guardian systems of a fleet will be able to significantly degrade such attacks. Other counter include a deployment of gravity well generators to ensure that any such strike is dragged into real space at a safe distance."

    "The Republic isn''t ready to deploy interdictors at this time. I want small craft outfitted for such strikes in the immediate future before the enemy can adapt." Dooku ordered. "Still, that''s a very short term solution."

    "We''re aware of that. Ilreth." Kleo let a note of amusement into his voice.

    "While we''ll continue production of Munificent class ships, we won''t be expanding it. With our fighter contingent neutralized, a trade of multiple Munificents for Republic cruiser will no longer be to our strategic advantage. We propose to shift the frigate''s role back to their intended one ¨C raiders and escorts. We propose increased production of our latest class command ships ¨C the Providence class dreadnoughts as the main combat unit of our navy. We''ll be modifying most of them to reduce or remove the carrier role and use that space for more weapons and armor."

    "That''s an idea I like." Dooku nodded. "What about small craft?"

    "We''re playing with various designs and upgrades that may make them of a limited use against Guardian equipped targets but even prototypes are some time off. The good news is that we just finished testing our own version of that system ¨C the Umbrella. It''s production lines will be ready within the week and we estimate that in two months all our capital ships will be outfitted with it. Any new or still unfinished ship will be receiving it."

    "That''s the kind of news I want to hear." Dooku smiled for the first time since the meeting began. "What other plans to enhance the effectiveness of our navy do you have?"

    "Multiple, including two rather controversial strategies."Ilreth stated.

    "I''m listening." Dooku leaned forward. He felt that he''ll like what he was going to hear.

    "First, our most powerful ships ¨C The Subjugator class. We''ll need more of them, especially after the Corellians entered the war. We''re proposing some modifications so they can fit different combat roles. Second, we want to expand the production of Lucrehulk type ¨C above Geonosis they did best, though the lack of Umbrella made them very vulnerable to small craft strikes ¨C once our Vultures were torn apart by the Guardians and enemy fighters, our battleships were simply overwhelmed. We want to introduce a few distinct variants of the typical Lucrehulk for either system defense or ?ssault of heavily protected systems."

    "I''ll want more information later. What else?" Dooku asked.

    "There''s a certain project that''s in the prototyping stages right now." Ilreth started. "It''s about a new type of battle cruiser which while quite expensive and relatively slow to build may prove a game changer, especially in view of the Republic Star destroyer program."

    "Speak." Dooku ordered.

    "I''m talking about the Bulwark program and the Bulwark Makr I battle cruisers, which it has produced." Ilreth pressed a few bu??ons built in his arm and the image of the Titan was replaced by a ship that was a cross between a flying brick which had it''s edges rounded into sloped armor giving it an ellipsoid look. There were two stubby drive section attached near the back of the hull, though they were dwarfed by the main engines of the behemoth.

    There were a lot of turbo-laser and Ion canon emplacements visible and those were just the main guns ¨C there were scores of smaller weapons presumably for the Bulwark''s Umbrella.

    "The Bulwark Mark I is projected to be the most powerful ton for ton warship in known space. Most well protected too ¨C it has enough armor to ram through smaller ships without shields and emerge with minimal damage." Ilreth actually sounded excited. "The first prototype will be ready within the month. I''m requesting authorization for mass production once all major problems are fixed."

    "Once the prototype is ready I want a comprehensive report on its performance, problems, how many of those ships can we build in a reasonable amount of time and how it will effect the production levels of our remaining space forces." Dooku ordered. "You said something about controversial tactics?"

    "I''ll see it done, my Lord." Ilreth nodded. "About the tactics we''re proposing..."

 Chapter 51 - Breaking dawn

    Part 1

    Republic Embassy

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    "Leave us." I ordered the guards, who were non-Clone Republic soldiers.

    They saluted and left us with the prisoners, who were stripped off their weapons and armor. The two men wore bland tunics and were cuffed to a metal table in a small room in the basement, which was used for interviews by the RI branch in the embassy. They were sprawled insensate on the table, thanks to the sedatives I ordered administered when I dropped them earlier ¨C I wasn''t taking any chances with the ?ssassin somehow escaping or killing themselves.

    "Do you want to do the honors?" I asked Bo and offered her the injector I had been given from the medic who sedated the prisoners.

    "It will be a p???sur?." My companion smiled and grabbed the device.

    Merrik, Satine''s aide whom I poached earlier had a mighty frown on his face. It deepened when Bo pulled up the head of the first captive and jabbed the injector in his neck.

    This evening might not be too bad, the whole becoming Mandalore fiasco excluded.

    One more jab and hiss of hypo spray and the prisoners started stirring.

    "Do you really think that they''ll talk?" Merrik asked in a calm voice.

    I had to give him that ¨C besides the momentary slip, he was keeping a great facade.

    "Who said that they have to say anything?" I smirked and walked next to the closest ?ssassin. I grabbed his short hair and pulled his head back then placed my right palm on his forehead. "I''ll simply take the information."

    I submerged myself in the Force, took a hold of the Dark Side and slammed my will through the b?r?ly registering mental defenses of the awaking man. Before he could understand what was happening, I was in his head and delivered a hammer blow to his mind. I felt him reeling and struck again and again. Within moments, he was stunned, his will broken before he could start putting up a fight.

    Then I drove into his memories by forcing his mind to call what I needed to see.

    =RK=

    I let Howell Zen''s head go and it hit the metal table with a dull thud.

    Goren Kranz ¨C the ?ssassin''s leader and my other prisoner growled at me, but didn''t react otherwise. I could feel his anger and defiance. There was no fear ¨C he was either exceptionally brave or an idiot.

    Merrik on the other hand, was scared. He had to be wondering what I got from Zen''s mind before the warrior''s brain become a mush under the strain of my ?ssault.

    Next to the aide, Bo-Katan was observing me. I could feel a mix of curiosity, grim satisfaction and mild disapproval coming from her. While most Mandalorians were practical people, they were never thrilled by the mind games a Sith could play if he had the skill and power to back it up.

    "Merrik, tell me how long have you been a Death Watch sympathizer? How long have you been aiding them and their Separatist friends?" I raised and eyebrow at our guest.

    His face featured more than a few times in the memories I tore out of Zen''s head.

    "What? That''s preposterous!" Merrik snapped.

    "Your emotions are betraying you, kid." I smiled as his fear spiked.

    The aide tried to pull something from under his ornate robes. The moment he started moving I slammed him in the neares wall with a telekinetic strike. An instant later, Merrik was looking at one of Bo-Katan''s heavy blasters, which she shoved right under his nose.

    "He''s been ''assisting'' Satine for years." Bo shook her head. "She obviously had no idea." The disappointment towards her sister Bo felt had an almost physical presence.

    "At least he should have some useful info. Please make sure that he doesn''t do anything dumber." I carefully patted Bo''s shoulder and turned my attention to the other prisoner.

    "Goren from Clan Kranz." I shook my head at him. My voice was sad and I used the same tone I would if I was scolding a child. "Did you really think that your little attack could harm a Sith?" I asked.

    Well, the answer was obvious ¨C unless he was working under a flawed intelligence.

    The ?ssassin simply glared at me and refused to speak.

    "So brave. So defiant. It would be commendable if you wasn''t a common criminal." My lips twitched in disgust. That man was the closest thing I''ve met to a real Mandalorian warrior beside Bo-Katan and he was content with being a two-bit gangster. The same could be said for his squad ¨C at lest Lok though so.

    Kranz snorted, but otherwise remained silent.

    I really hoped that the rest of the Mandalorians were head and shoulders above this lot, because otherwise my decision to become Mandalore would be one of my biggest mistakes ever. I shrugged and stalked towards the ?ssassin. It wasn''t like I had time to properly interrogate him ¨C so it was going to be a mind **** again.

    A few minute later it was all over. Kranz did have some decent mental training and his brain lasted for a much shorter period under the strain of my attack after I shattered his mental defenses. At least I did get some juicy pieces of information ¨C the locations of three Death Watch bases which were built after Bo fell under scrutiny, along with a few weapon caches and the names of two agents within Satine''s government.

    "Did you get anything useful?" Bo asked after giving an uneasy look at the brain dead prisoners.

    "Yep. We have some additional targets. They knew you were on them for weeks."

    "Kriff." Bo snarled. "They wanted to see who I was working with, didn''t they."

    "Yep. Vizsla authorized the hit once that idiot," I pointed at the drooling form of Kranz, "told them who you were meeting at Brox''s. They had rented an apartment across the street to watch Brox''s."

    "I got sloppy." Bo ?r??n?d.

    "It happens. You got lucky to and are still in one piece ¨C that''s what matters in the end."

    "I thought that you wizards didn''t believe in luck."

    "That''s the Jedi''s thing ¨C they''re usually all about the will of the Force and such. I''m a Sith. We kriff what the Force wants if it doesn''t suit us and we make our own luck."

    "What about this piece of trash?" Bo pressed her blaster in Merrik''s face.

    "He might be more useful alive ¨C after all, our prince here''s royalty."

    "No matter who Kalevala will support, they will disavow him until the shooting starts."

    "Then it sucks to be him. It''s time to get briefed on the Clan heads and catch a bit of shut eye. Tomorrow will be a very long day."

    "The traitor?"

    "Knock him out." I shrugged.

    =RK=

    Part 2

    MandalMotors HQ

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    Arranging a meeting with MadalMotors'' CEO, turned out to be rather easy ¨C a call from the Embassy, right after a few suggestions from the current government, who were on of the corporation''s major clients, were enough to open the door. Getting there went without accident too ¨C the Death Watch were apparently laying rather low after yesterday''s inccident, while Vizsla and his spin doctors were doing their best to pain the ?ssassins as a rogue group. He might have wanted to sing another song, but his people failed, so not only did they paint their organization as a bunch of murderous lunatics, but what''s worse ¨C incompetent ones.

    Further, Satine had announced that she would be making a speech concerning every single Mandalorian at noon. Hopefully, she wasn''t going to kriff it up, however those were concerns for another time.

    I glanced at Bo, who was my designated companion slash adviser for all things mandalorian. She was wearing her Death Watch armor, however it was repainted ¨C there was no sign of that organization''s markings on her apparel. Instead she was wearing an urban cammo pattern. We discussed it and decided that until we could clear Satine''s reputation and by extension that of their clan, it would be unwise for Bo to wear the Kryze colors, no matter how much she wanted to.

    We arrived at the corporate HQ shortly before eight in the morning, flying one of the Embassy''s speeders and landed in a private docking bay which was near the top of the tall building. MandalMotors'' seat in the capital was a large, broad skyscraper, which almost touched the ceiling of the biodome covering the city. The building was in the form of three towers glued next to each other ¨C the eastern was the shortest ¨C about forty floors tall, the western was the middle ¨C about eighty and the last towered above it''s siblings and was twice the height of them combined.

    When we disembarked, a squad of armored guards met us and escorted us to the CEO''s office. When we reached his floor, the head of security was waiting for us with twenty more heavily armored men and women.

    "I''ll have to request your weapons, General, ma''am." The Mandalorian woman stated.

    I glanced down at my armor and the various built in weapons ¨C a few personalized suits made almost up to the standards of my old, Great War era one, finally were completed and shipped to Chimera¡­ just a few days after my part on the ground there was concluded. Talk about great timing.

    "Unless, your Boss wants to see me n?k?d, that won''t be practical." I nodded at the built in dart launcher in my left arm-guard, the vibroblade under it, its twin on my other hand as well as a few other nice toys.

    The head of security stared at me for a moment and pressed a bu??on on her left arm. The light in the ceiling above us flashed, emitting a wave of blue light. The scanner beam passed over us a couple of times, before the light turned red. An unpleasant beeep emanated from the ceiling.

    "You were supposed to be here for a talk, General." The woman snapped.

    "I am." I waved at myself and Bo. "This is a simple precaution if the Death Watch tries to kill us again in a public place."

    "There''s no Death Watch here."

    "Good to know." Not that I was going to take her word for it even if it was true. "The last time I checked, a warrior meeting a Mandalorian Clan leader unarmed and unarmored would be considered an insult considering the business we''re here to discuss."

    That stopped the woman short. She and the rest of the security stared at me for a long moment. There were very few ways my words could be interpreted by a Mandalorian knowing their history and culture.

    "I see." The head of security muttered. She stood still for a few seconds ¨C probably using her comm with the external speakers cut off, which would ensure we would hear nothing of what she was saying. "You''re cleared to meet the CEO." The woman gave us a Mandalorian salute ¨C a fist thumping her armor over her heart. A moment later, the security guards relaxed, took positions along the walls and saluted as well.

    That was a very interesting development. While the guards wore only MandalMotors symbol on their gray armors and no clan markings, the way they reacted outright said that they were Clan Yomaget men and women, protecting their leader. That wasn''t really a surprise ¨C a man of the CEO''s station would be best served if he was kept in one peace by his own Clan''s warriors, if he had enough of them willing and able to do so.

    I returned the salute and Bo followed suit. I could feel that she was mighty pleased by this development ¨C this show of respect was dedicated for a Clan leader or warriors who had covered themselves with a lot of honor and glory; it wasn''t something that one of Satine''s supporters would have thought to show to anyone, nor a lot of those aligning themselves with Death Watch and the CIS.

    The head of security, who still hadn''t introduced herself ¨C and no one had bothered giving me her name during the briefing I got on Horus, waved us to follow. She was scanned at the end of the corridor, which ended in an armored door. The woman removed her right gauntlet and placed her b?r? hand on a security panel to the right and quietly whispered a series of override codes. Only then the armored doors slid open to reveal a large and tastefully decorated office.

    The walls were lined with pictures of various vehicles ¨C from speeders and fighters up to and including massive battleships. I saw a few of the cruisers the Mandalorians used in my time and smiled at the memory.

    There were six columns flanking a marble pathway leading towards a large wooden desk ¨C they were almost a meter broad each and made a nice cover. I had no doubt that there would be weapon emplacements inside. Between the columns, I saw statues of Mandalorian warriors clad in different armors ¨C from light recon suits to bulky ?ssault plate that could shrug off heavy blaster fire.

    Horus Yomaget stood up to greet us. He was a short man ¨C b?r?ly a bit over one seventy. He had a crop of brown hair that was just growing on a previously shaved head. Horus wore a two piece black suit.

    "General Delkatar Veil and Bo-Katan Kryze. To what do I own this honor?" Horus asked in a strong and clear voice. His intense pale eyes studied us as we approached.

    When we reached the pair of chairs in front of the desk, I stood at attention and gave the man a Mandalorian salute.

    "Clan Leader Yomaget, it''s a honor to meet you."

    "A very old fashioned greeting..." Horus trailed off. "There''re few besides my Clansmen who would greet me that way."

    "In my time, it would have been unthinkable to greet someone of your station in any other way." I smiled.

    "Perhaps. You''re here for a reason." Horus stared at us for a moment. "But where are my manners? Please do sit down." He waved at the chairs.

    "Thank you, Clan Leader."

    Yomaget gave us a speculative look.

    =RK=

    Part 3

    CEO''s office

    MandalMotors HQ

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    "What does the Republic want with my company and myself?" The CEO asked after a moment of silence.

    "That''s obvious, Clan Leader." I leaned forward. "Let''s not play word games. Neither of us has time for that."

    "Is that so? Then speak. Bluntly." A ghost of a smile ran over Yomaget''s lips.

    "So be it. Mandalore and most Mandalorians by ?ssociation are going to be kriffed in a way none of you will like. That''s something you''re aware of. We both have certain problems that can be solved if we work together. That blunt enough?" I hoped I didn''t misjudge the CEO. At least being here and speaking plainly was a refreshing change from dealing with the politicians on Coruscant.

    "Succinctly put. Not too far of the mark either. Though, who''s to say some of us won''t like the oncoming storm?"

    "Well, going out in a blaze of glory is always an option." I shrugged. "However, it tends to be rather final."

    "A lot of warriors would prefer that over what has been happening since the Civil War." The CEO stated without showing how he felt about it. Further, his mind was disciplined, protected. He was in control of his feelings too ¨C all I could sense coming from him was a bit of curiosity. "You''re here to make a deal." He added.

    "True enough. Our problems might just solve themselves for us if handled right."

    "It''s us now?" Yomaget raised and eyebrow.

    "Preferably. The alternatives are less than acceptable for everyone involved." I said.

    "What about your friend? A bodyguard? That doesn''t really make sense. A friend? A companion?" Yomaget turned his attention to Bo.

    "Well, she was to be my candidate for Mandalore, but events here unfolded faster than anticipated." I shrugged.

    "Satine''s sister as Mandalore?!" Yomaget actually laughed. "I didn''t know you Sith had such a sense of humor."

    I saw Bo stiffen next to me. She was royally pissed off at the implication on her character.

    "Peace!" The CEO raised a hand in a placating gesture. "I have no problem with you, Bo-Katan of Clan Kryze. However, our esteemed leader has been dragging your Clan name through the mud for more than a decade now. Barring a miracle, no one would support another Kryze in a position of power over us."

    "As things stand? True." I smiled. "On the other hand, if Bo-Katan had an opportunity to prove her worth as a leader and warrior in the war, things would be different."

    "Ah. So that was your plan." Yomaget studied us for a moment. "It might have even worked, though I have my doubts. Satine has poisoned your Clan Name among certain circles." He nodded at Bo, who did a decent impression of statue made of durasteel.

    I had to admire her self control.

    "My other candidate has similar problems."

    "He''s a bloody Jedi." Bo hissed.

    Yomaget gave us a strange look.

    "General Kenobi. His girlfriend is Mandalorian and he''s likely to concede becoming a part of the culture." I added.

    "The Negotiator? Well, he''s a warrior of some esteem and he has covered himself with a lot of honor and glory." Yomaget nodded. "However, he''s a kriffing Jedi. Even if he becomes one of us, it would be a long time before he''s accepted. There''s simply too much bad blood between the Jedi, the Republic and us." Yomaget narrowed his eyes. "You aren''t throwing the names of currently unsuitable candidates just for fun."

    "As things stand, Vizsla is most likely to become Mandalore after Satine''s government is overthrown." I stated and stared into Yomaget''s eyes. I drew on the Dark Side and let it flood me. I could feel its cool embrace and I had no doubt that my eyes had turned yellow. "That would be unacceptable."

    We looked at each other for a few moments.

    "What''s new? The Republic would support Satine and there would be another civil war." Yomaget sighed. "The outcome would be decided by how much troops you or the Confederacy could pour, though Vizsla will have an advantage ¨C he''s the one our people support."

    "Incorrect." I smiled coldly. "We won''t be supporting the New Mandalorian government. They''re useless to us. There are two outcomes acceptable for the Republic ¨C either Mandalore becomes a firm ally with someone acceptable in charge or I will eliminate it as a threat."

    Yomaget stiffened. Finally I could sense his feelings ¨C only an incredible level of self-control allowed him to remain still and appear to ponder the situation. In fact, the man was furious.

    "I should have seen that." His lips twisted in something that resembled a smile. If you squinted real hard that is. "I just said that there''s a lot of bad blood between us, didn''t I?"

    "The last few months changed the Republic." I shrugged. "It''s no longer business as usual."

    "I can see it in your eyes. You would glass my world and love every second of it, won''t you?" Yomaget sounded detached.

    "I am a Sith. It comes with the territory."

    I narrowed my eyes. He was probably considering his chances to take me out. I was sure that there were built in weapons around the room and his guards were moments away.

    They weren''t going to be enough if things got ugly. Hopefully, it wouldn''t come to that. After all, I didn''t come here to fight, but to deal.

    "You didn''t come here to gloat. I''m sure you won''t suggest making me Mandalore either. While I''ve been running a rather profitable business and I''m a respected Clan Leader, I haven''t proven myself as a warrior in a long time. My name isn''t covered with honor and glory. The only one who could fill the bill is Vizsla..." Yomaget trailed off. "What do you want from us? We would fight against anyone who would try to break us, but that doesn''t mean much ¨C both you and the Confederacy have more than enough troops and ships to simply bury us."

    "What I need is a Mandalore I can be sure won''t back-stab the Republic at the worst possible moment." I sighed. "My best candidates would take months of leading soldiers in battle and distinguishing themselves before anyone would accept them as possible leaders of the Mandalorian people."

    "We already covered that." Yomaget muttered.

    "Indeed. That was a problem. I don''t want to destroy your people, Clan Leader, even if I would enjoy the challenge. Fortunately, Bo-Katan here had a brainstorm last night." I nodded at my companion, who was still pissed off.

    The CEO looked at her. "This is going to be good, I just know it." His eyes turned on me. "Really? That''s the grand idea, that supposed to solve all our problems?"

    "All ''reasonable'' candidates either don''t have the clout for the position, are my enemies or likely to become such. My enemies don''t live long." Well, that was a lie. There were a few Sith Lords that took years of scheming, planning and undermining of their power-bases to take down, though the Mandalorians of today really didn''t measure by that standard. Hells, no one really did.

    "How do you expect to pull off such a stunt?" There was a genuine curiosity in Yomaget''s voice, though I could still sense his anger.

    "With a lot of help."

    "Why would I support such a crazy scheme? Why would I chose a Mandalore who would destroy my people if they''re an obstacle?" The Clan Leader asked.

    I smiled.

    =RK=

    Part 4

    CEO''s office

    MandalMotors HQ

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    "Well, you want to speak frankly. There are two kinds of reasons why I want to be Mandalore ¨C it''s the same about why you might want to support my bid."

    "I''m all ears." Yomaget snarked.

    "The strategic ones ¨C I would rather prefer to have your people as my allies. I know exactly how dangerous the Mandalorians are once you get going. While you''re small in number compared to the armies that are fighting right now, you''re much better trained than what the Republic could get on the field in the next few years besides the Clones and certain formations from various member worlds."

    "That''s a rather charitable view of our capabilities." The CEO frowned.

    "It takes months to properly train a soldier and they would still be green. Further, that time can''t be really cut ¨C many Republic worlds and systems are s?ns?t?v? to casualties ¨C sending new units just to be chewed on the front would backfire spectacularly. That''s not an issue for the Mandalorians ¨C you have a core of trained and a lot of experienced warriors. Enough for at least a couple of small armies and a significant number of special operations groups." I stated.

    "That''s true. I''m well aware how certain of our friends within the Republic would react to high military casualties amongst units drawn from their people. However, no matter how good we are, we Mandalorians aren''t expendable either. Why should we die for the Republic or for the Confederacy for that matter?"

    "Good questions. The simple answer is one you know. As a people, you won''t be given a choice."

    Yomaget sighed and I chuckled.

    "I see. There are Clan Leaders banking on the Republic being the good guys to avoid the war or at lest try it until you were ready to make a choice. Am I right?"

    "Correct. We aren''t ready for war. Not at this scale anyway. In a year? Perhaps eighteen months? That would be different."

    "Well, time''s up. Both sides want you and none of us will be taking a no for an answer."

    "Why should we chose you over the Confederacy then? You appear to be the two sides of the same coin."

    "There''s one major difference. I had a lot of good friends who happened to be Mandalorians. I would loathe to see their people destroyed by my hands. Yet¡­ I''m a Sith Warrior. I would love the challenge." I smiled sadly. "Why should you support me? I can give your people a future. I can give them a cause to rally behind. What''s the alternative? You can support a two bit thug like Vizsla and his gangsters ¨C that''s true. Where''s the honor in that?"

    "That''s rich. A Sith speaking about honor." Yomaget glared at me.

    "I do have honor, Clan Leader. True, it''s form is different than yours, but that makes it no less real." I stood up.

    "Do you? You came into my office and gave me what amounts to an ultimatum." The CEO snapped.

    "I merely stated the facts and they aren''t pretty." I shot back. "I didn''t create this situation, Clan Leader. Yet, instead of choosing the simple, the easy way ¨C I''m here seeking a way to keep the Mandalorian people whole. A way to raise them into the exemplar warriors I was honored to call comrades." I took a deep breath.

    "Don''t mistake me, Clan Leader Yomaget! The best course of action for me personally would be to burn Mandalore down to the ground, to scatter your people and ensure that they would never become a threat. Instead, I''m trying to help you all and by doing that I''m risking everything that I''ve achieved since I found myself in this kriffed up beyond belief future. I''m doing it because of Stephen Ordo, Mandalore the Dauntless a friend that has been dead for four millennia! I do it because of every single Mandalorian who fought beside me in the Great War!"

    "Good." Yomaget smiled. "You have the fire that a true Mandalore needs. Still, you haven''t told me why I should support you. As you keep pointing out, we aren''t your people. You aren''t a Mandalorian. If we''re to be ground to space dust in this war, why should we chose to do it beside you?"

    "True, I''m not a Mandalorian. Yet." I looked at Bo, who smirked.

    "He owes me a sparing match before that." Her own smile was a vicious thing. It made my blood race.

    "Answer me." The Clan Leader spoke quietly. All trace of amusement or any other emotion was suddenly absent from his tone.

    "I have a vision for Mandalore and its people. I can give you a honorable cause. I can help you be great once again and not like a bunch of marauding thugs, but as honorable warriors who would be example for everyone in the galaxy. I can offer you glory and a part in the greatest war in a thousand years. I can offer you allies and technology. All I ask in return is that you fight beside me. That you make me and my old friend proud."

    "Nice little speech. I want to hear facts." Yomaget stated.

    I gave him a genuine smile and pulled a data-chip from a compartment in my left arm-guard, then floated it until it was hovering in front of the CEO.

    "A good will gesture ¨C schematics for personal shields ¨C both standard energy and the famous Mandalorian Melee variant. I''m offering the Grand army of the Republic as an ally as well as my own resources." My smile widened. "I have had my people canvasing old Imperial caches as well as a few I built just in case. They recovered some very interesting pieces of forgotten technology. There''s a summary on that chip as well."

    Yomaget frowned and put the chip in a reader built into his desk. A moment later, a holo-emitter came to life and it started projecting various 3-D schematics. For a few minutes the CEO studied the shields and then he browsed further until he reached the real bait.

    "Do you have it?"

    "Operational? Not yet. While my people did recover the critical components, it takes time to build in secrecy."

    "How long?"

    "Two to three months for the prototype. Afterward ¨C a modified cruiser every three months if they keep working in secrecy. If MandalMotors joins the project, well that would cut the timetable significantly."

    Yomaget reached the last file, opened it and stared.

    "How the kriff did you get this? Is it real?" The Clan Leader snapped.

    "Yes. Mandalore the Dauntless was a close friend of mine. Some of my ?ssets helped modify his flagship with the Silencer ¨C that'' show I got the schematics. The second part of the file is the same ship, modified with modern tech in the areas where it''s prudent to do so."

    "Even without the super weapon, this ship can handle the most powerful dreadnoughts and cruisers deployed by anyone today. Provided that those schematics are genuine."

    "They are. However, building such a ship would take a lot of time. It won''t help us in the short term."

    "No. It wont." Yomaget sighed. "A nice little bribe, which comes hand in hand with blackmail. Can you guarantee that the GAR will support us?"

    "I can. Even if I''m fired after becoming Mandalore, I have a very good working relationship with the officers who run the Army and Navy with me. They would support Mandalore as allies should no matter what the Senate wants as far as you don''t betray the Republic."

    "Does that include access to the new weapons and armor?"

    "Samples as well as schematics. They would have to be build locally, besides a small number provided for special operations groups."

    "That''s fine. Good enough in fact. What would you do as Mandalore? Where would you lead us if we chose you?"

    I almost had him, even if it was mostly because he and his people were in a tight spot without a good way out.

    "To victory. To honorable and glorious future. I''ll do my best to rebuild Mandalore itself and it''s whole sector into the jewel of the galaxy, one that''s protected by the most advanced and powerful fleet in the known universe. I''ll help the Mandalorian Warriors regain what they had lost."

    "With what resources?"

    "What we can get from the CIS when we don''t have to bomb them back to the stone age along with as much aid from the Republic as possible. Uniting this whole sector behind Mandalore as close allies would be a good first step after the obvious ¨C dealing with the Death Watch and their Separatist backers."

    "It might even work." Yomaget mussed. "You." He stood up as well and pointed at Bo. "Why do you follow this stranger? Why do you want to fight beside him?"

    Bo-Katan looked him straight in the eyes. "Because he made me see the true faces of my former comrades. Because he offered me a better way, a brighter future for myself and our people¡­ Because, he might be able to give us all what we''ve been longing for ever since the Civil War."

    "Nice words." The Clan Leader sighed. "It''s a sad day, then we might need a Sith to come save us from ourselves."

    "I''ve always believed that the Mandalorians don''t need someone to tell them what to do. However, sometimes they do need someone who will lead the way and hope that they will walk beside them on that path."

    "That''s the first thing you spoke as a Mandalorian, instead of a Sith."

    "Very soon I''m going to be both, if you''ll have me."

    "You might actually do."

    Part 5

    Vizsla''s office

    Death Watch Main base of operations

    Concordia

    Pre Vizsla sat down in his chair and opened a bottle of Corellian Brandy he had taken from the bar when he got in. He needed a stiff drink after doing damage control the whole afternoon and most of the evening.

    Satine had to do something competent for once, didn''t she?

    Vizsla pressed a few bu??ons and a holo-recording of her press-conference started playing. This was the first time since the Civil War he saw her clad in armor in the Satine Clan''s colors. Pre had thought that Satine had disposed of all suits, or at least those, which Bo-Katan wasn''t able to liberate from their family compound. Considering what had happened the previous day, the armor might very well be one of his former subordinate''s¡­ and wasn''t that a waste? He still couldn''t figure out what the Republic was able to offer Bo-Katan so the woman would switch sides. While she did find some of the shadier activities in which the Death Watch indulged, that shouldn''t have been an issue for a warrior woman like her! After all, this was what the Mandalorian warriors were meant to be ¨C fighters and mercenaries who did everything they could for glory, honor and profit ¨C war didn''t pay for itself and it was their trade when all was said and done. Why did it matter how they financed it?

    "My fellow Mandalorians!" Satine started speaking. Her voice was loud and clear, more importantly it was confident. There was no hint of hesitation or indecision. "We''ve all been in a precarious situation ever since the Civil War ended. Our war industries were wrecked, our homes - devastated. The best of us died or were left as shadows of their former selves." She paused. "We literally tore ourselves apart."

    It was a nice start. Direct and blunt enough to make people who would have usually dismissed anything she had to tell listen for once. It also meant a heap of trouble for the Death Watch in general and him in particular, even if it ultimately gave him a magnificent opportunity.

    "When I took the burden of leadership in the aftermath of the war, I and the New Mandalorians who supported me, wished to give us all time to heal. Time to recover. To rebuild. We were in no state for another conflict. Engaging in such would have spelled our doom, no matter how valiantly the remaining Mandalorian warriors would have fought." Satine paused to take a breath. Vizsla could practically hear her conviction as she spoke.

    It had to be the Republic delegates ¨C no one else was there to make her change her tune at this late date. It was too bad that his team failed to kill that general ¨C doing so might have avoided this spell of trouble.

    Perhaps not ¨C Bo-Katan didn''t meet with Kenobi, who was a known ?ssociate of the Duchess and the most likely one to blame for her change.

    "Further, we were divided. To a large extent, we still are. My people, this has to end. We are at the cusp of a new age. We''ve finally rebuilt! We''ve recovered. Yet, there are forces out there, who want nothing more than to either use us as pawns or see us destroyed once and for all! Both the Republic and the Confederacy sent agents here to demand our support!" Satine''s fury was clear for all to see.

    This right there was someone acting like a Mandalorian Clan Leader should. If she had been always like that, if she had always possessed this fire¡­ Pre shook his head. It didn''t matter. It was too late for such thoughts.

    "Both promised us reward if we did their bidding like ??pdogs! Both threatened grave, final consequences if we didn''t support them, if we didn''t take a side in a war that isn''t our own." Satine sighed. "I know your hearts. No matter the role I had to play since the Civil War ended, I know. This war calls to me too! It makes my heart beat faster, my blood boil!" The Duchess smiled sadly.

    Personally, Vizsla was pretty sure that this was a lie by omission, but it was good enough for those who didn''t personally know the woman. He took a sip of his brandy. Here came the good part.

    "The opportunities for honor and glory, the call of combat at unprecedented scale in a thousand years! Some lucky few of our people already fight in the war and were a part of it before it even began. There are those who were contracted to train the Grand Army of the Republic ¨C all of them are Mandalorians who are coming back home as we speak. There are the mercenaries fighting for either sides. Yet, there''s one big difference between those warriors and the rest of us." Satine glared at the camera. There was nothing faked about the fury she displayed. "They chose, which side to fight beside. We aren''t allowed to do so. We weren''t contracted as mercenaries or approached as allies. Our allegiance was demanded."

    That was true as far as the CIS went. Vizsla had talked with their representatives and suggested it himself. It was meant to expose how weak and ineffective Satine was so once he got power he could officially negotiate the terms he had already agreed on with the Confederacy. However, the Republic representatives making similar demands, well that was a surprise. The Jedi wasn''t the one behind that, though he could see Kenobi''s hand in boosting Satine''s confidence and making her show to everyone that she actually had spine. It was ironic ¨C if she had always been like this, Mandalore would have been a different place. Hells, he might have been on her side even.

    Unfortunately, he knew the woman. He knew that a lot of the details in her speech were warped at best. This was a plot with a certain aim. The other Republic general, Veil, meeting with Clan Leaders all morning was a dead giveaway.

    "This, my people, is something I know you won''t let stand. Yet, we''re still in a very dangerous position. While we''ve finally rebuilt, we still aren''t ready for a war of the scale. A war into which we will be dragged one way, or another. If we are to not only survive the oncoming storm, but use it to prosper and cover ourselves with honor, we need to be united. One people. It''s time that we leave our petty divisions behind." Satine smiled wryly. "I know, it''s easy to say and much harder to put into practice. We don''t need someone to tell us what to do, to tell us who to follow. Yet, we need someone to unite us so we can face our fate together. That is why, in one week''s time I''m calling for a meeting of all Clan Leaders, here in our capital. The purpose is simple ¨C we need a leader to guide and advice us in this dangerous times. We need a new, worthy Mandalore to lead us in the coming war."

    That last part threw out most of Vizsla''s plans. Launching a coup while the Clan Leaders were gathering ¨C that would be a suicide. A lot of the new people simply wouldn''t stand for it and he doubted that even with CIS support he would come on top in such a case. Not with the Republic having a battle-group in system and who knew what nearby as support. He knew what the Confederacy had in the nearby sectors, what they could spare and it was going to be a close run thing at best¡­ one that was likely to leave Mandalore a ruin unless the Death Watch had more support.

    Vizsla smiled. Unwittingly, Satine gave him what he needed ¨C an opportunity to run for Mandalore much earlier than he ever believed possible. That''s why he had been busy speaking with Clan Leaders and making deals ever since her conference.

    Pre frowned. Unfortunately, he had been rebuffed by two of the people Veil had talked with ¨C a big problem considering that one of the mas MandalMotors CEO.

    The question was who the Republic and Satine were trying to place as a figurehead Mandalore. Once he found that out, Vizsla would be able to attack their credibility and expose them for the pawn they had to be. He didn''t believe for a moment that all of this was the Duchess'' idea. The Republic had bought her somehow and they were maneuvering to get in their man or woman as Mandalore. Perhaps those Mandalorians who supposedly trained the GAR and were coming home? The Republic candidate might be among them, though with no one having heard about who they were or what they did since the Civil War ended he doubted that one of them could be elected.

    =RK=

    Part 6

    Clan Ordo Compound

    Mandalore

    "Mira, inside. Now." A man in his late forties ordered a tall, solidly build young girl ¨C she couldn''t be more than twelve. The child was hovering next to him, while he was busy repairing a speeder. There were instruments and parts lying on a tarp next to the pair.

    "I''m going." The blonde kid nodded and sprinted into the nearby two story stone dwelling.

    The man gave me an unfriendly look and his hand fell over a blaster he has in a holster on his right hip. His blue eyes tracked every movement I made, though every few moments they glanced at the shuttle behind me.

    "What does the Republic wants with me of all people?" The Mandalorian rumbled in a deep voice. He straightened up and moved a step back, so if something happened he could have a better chance to use the speeder for cover.

    "Kole Ordo?" I asked. The directions I got from Satine''s people brought me here, so hopefully I wasn''t going to embarrass myself. He looked like the man I was looking for, though that didn''t meant he was the one I needed. According to the records back in the capital, Kole hadn''t officially confirmed his status as a Clan Leader.

    "Who''s asking?"

    "General Delkatar Veil. Are you Kole, Clan Leader of Clan Ordo?" I asked again.

    "I''m Kole. I''ll repeat my question, what do you want with me?" Ordo grumbled.

    Not a social person this one.

    "To talk."

    "The last people who wanted to talk threatened my daughter." Kole glared pure murder at me.

    "I see Death Watch was here before me. Maneuvering to make Vizsla the next Mandalore, aren''t they?" It was inevitable after Satine''s speech yesterday. Still, trying to blackmail one of my friends descendants, no matter how far removed. That shouldn''t really matter, not after that long, yet¡­ It hasn''t been four thousand years for me. An year ago, I was carousing with Stephen, shortly before I headed to joint the fleet at Korriban and ending in the future.

    I closed my eyes and I could almost hear Stephen and Mako laughing.

    "You''re to blame for that I gather. It''s no coincidence that they visited me this morning and you arrive just a few hours later, isn''t it?" Kole asked.

    "While my actions might have led them to search support for Vizsla as Mandalore, the way they went with it, well it shows their true colors, doesn''t it?" I smiled. "Are you going to support him?"

    "Hell no. We''re leaving in a few days." The man''s glare intensified and his hand closed over his blaster.

    "I see. Can I persuade you not to? For Mandalore and sticking it to the bastards?"

    Kole''s eyes flickered to the house and his face settled in a deep scowl.

    "Why should I care? Besides what''s to you?"

    "I still owe more than one to a friend of mine, a Mandalorian of your Clan. Considering that he''s in no position to receive a my ?ssistance if he needs it..." I shrugged.

    "Dead?"

    "Even a Mandalore doesn''t live for thousands of years."

    "You''re that man who claims to be a Sith, from the past no less." Kole''s eyes narrowed even further, becoming slits. "Darth Vael no less."

    "Oh, so you''ve heard of me." I grinned. That was the wrong thing to say ¨C the hostility I was feeling from the man suddenly skyrocketed.

    I drew on the Force just in time.

    Ordo drew his blaster almost faster than normal eyes could follow and opened fire. I moved an instant before he did and raised a hand coated with Force energy and slapped the blaster bolts aside, before pulling the gun from the man''s grip. Kole tried to roll away, but before he could finish diving I froze him in place with my power.

    "Was that really necessary? I''m here to talk, damn it!"

    The Force warned me a moment before the house''s door opened and the kid came out ¨C complete with a heavy blaster she was clutching with both hands.

    "LEAVE MY DAD ALONE!" She shouted and opened fire. Accurate too ¨C if I didn''t deflect her shots, she would have nailed me in the ?h?st with enough firepower to burn through most personal armor available.

    Another pull and freeze trick later, I had both Ordos on display.

    "Are you two willing to listen? If I was going to be killing or threatening either of you, I wouldn''t have bothered coming here in the middle of the day for all to see." I shook my head.

    This wasn''t the day and age when a Sith could just murder people for fun and not expect retaliation from the local authorities if found out. At least outside the CIS and that was a good thing.

    "Do I have your attention?" I smirked. "Good. Sweetie," looked at the girl, "When you want to shoot someone, especially using the element of surprise, you shoot first, second and third, then perhaps throw a grenade or two at them. Only then you can shout at the kriffing remains to your heart''s content." I grinned. "You do get points for accuracy."

    The stasis on Kole ran out and he stumbled on the grass. I froze him again just in case and walked next to him. "Can we talk like civilized people and a pissed off Mandalorian girl or do you want further demonstration that I''m a kriffing Sith?" I asked and raised a hand in front of Ordo''s face so he could see the torrents of purple energy dancing between my clawed fingers. "It''s getting irritating that people refuse to accept that I''m Delkatar kriffing Veil, Darth Vael, the Dark Lord of the bloody Sith!"

    "The Black Knight!" The girl exclaimed once her stasis ran out a moment later.

    "Telling stories, are we?" I smirked at Kole. "Blame that the Force only knows how many greats grandfather of yours, Stephen. He''s to blame for that moniker. Can we talk now?" I asked Kole who fell on his ?ss as the stasis ended.

    He gave me a dirty look but nodded.

    =RK=

    A few minutes later we were sitting around a small wooden table in the kitchen with a steaming cups of tea in front of us.

    "Are you really him?" Mira excitedly asked.

    "So I''ve been relegated to children''s stories nowadays." I shook my head with wry amusement. It wasn''t the worst way to be remembered outside scholars and historians.

    "In a manner of speaking." Kole muttered. "How?"

    "I''m not sure myself. One moment I was in a fight above Korriban, during the Republic''s last ditch offensive before we were about to hit them with everything we had. Then one fool activated an experimental super-weapon when his flagship was about to be overwhelmed by an enemy cruiser squadron. I blacked out and the next thing I knew I was in a different star system in what turned out to be the future." I shrugged.

    My presence being the "Will of the Force" would have to do.

    "Huh. It''s a strange galaxy out there." Ordo shrugged. "Why do you want me to support for Mandalore? Mind you, I''m not agreeing to anything. The Death Watch flunkies told me that the Republic is trying to place a figurehead as our leader."

    "Good." I grinned. Hopefully that would bite them in the ?ss. "Let them keep their delusions for however long they last. I''m no one''s figurehead."

    "YOU?! You aren''t even a Mandalorian!" Kole exclaimed.

    "Not yet is the operative word. There''s this woman, who insist on a vigorous sparing match tonight. Her grandmother was an Echani you see." I smiled. It was going to be an interesting evening. "Depending how it ends, there may be a wedding in a few days."

    "A Mandalorian woman, eh? Mako''s diaries and the few of Stephen''s personal accounts that survive indicate that they tried to hook you up with one of ours in the past."

    "I wasn''t really interested then. I already had a long term paramour shortly after her death I met the woman who became my late wife."

    "I read about that. Nasty business." Kole stiffened and gave me a searching look. "It''s no secret that the Black Knight''s wife, Ashara was murdered by the Jedi. Yet, you work with them?"

    "True." I frowned. "Everyone who had anything with her death is dead, most by my hand, though a few got lucky by me ending in this time. Today''s Jedi Order and Republic¡­ they''re both different beasts. The organizations I had a vendetta against are long gone."

    "Whose the woman who have set her sights on you?" Mira grinned.

    "Bo-Katan Kryze."

    "The Duchess sister?" Kole raised an eyebrow at that.

    "Former Death Watch member too, until her former friends tried to have us ?ssassinated two days ago.

    "I heard about that bit of excitement in the capital. Hard not to. As you know, blowing bars with the patrons inside is frowned on here."

    "Incompetence too and the Death Watch are guilty of both and more."

    "I''m pissed off at Vizsla and his thugs, but..." Kole trailed off and glanced at his daughter, then looked me in the eyes. "It''s a lot you ask, not just personally. What would you do if you somehow become Mandalore? Why do you want the title anyway? From what I gather, you''re practically in command of the Republic''s armed forces nowadays. Becoming Mandalore is likely to remove you from that position or at least significantly decrease your authority and actual power."

    "True. If I was a typical Sith, it would be a no-brainier." I smiled sadly. "There were few people who did more to keep me sane-ish and reasonably stable in hell that was being a newly minted apprentice in the Sith Academy on Korriban. Once my first Master pulled me out of that hell-hole and started using me as an errand boy and hunter to Sith shock troopers who had lost it thanks to the sub-standard training at the academy, one of my first ?ssignments led me to Nal Hutta, where I met him and Mako. That was shortly after their team for the Great Hunt was ?ssassinated. Long story short, I owe them both more than I can ever repay. They and a friend I picked up years latter are the reason I regained some of my humanity and didn''t end as a typical Sith."

    "Mako wrote something like that. I don''t think that there are many people who know about it after all these years."

    "What the Jedi have on me doesn''t mention it either." I chuckled. "Ironically, they''re the only people who know and believe the truth."

    "It''s rather implausible. What was the first idea? A Dark Jedi with delusions of grandeur?" Kole looked at his daughter.

    "Yep." She grinned. "The holonet is aflame with speculations about you. The latest ''consensus'' is that you''re your own clone!" Mira laughed.

    "Well, it makes more sense than the truth." I smirked. "Let them flounder for as long as they would. Being underestimated gives me an advantage. To answer your question, I owed a lot to Mandalore and I would hate to see his people destroyed."

    "That bad?"

    "Satine didn''t lie yesterday. The Senate wants the Mandalorian problem solved and many would prefer that this world burns instead of gaining the Mandalorians as allies. There apparently is much more bad blood than I remember."

    "True. We kept finding ourselves and the Republic on different sides of various conflicts for a long, long time." Kole nodded. "That still doesn''t explain why should Clan Ordo support you. While today it''s just the two of us," He nodded at Mira, "Our name still carries a lot of influence. Unfortunately so does Vizsla''s and he does have an army of goons."

    "Today some acquaintances arrive ¨C the Mandalorians who trained the GAR. They will be bringing at least a few commando squads. I''m reasonably sure that we''ll be able to keep Mira out of Death Watch''s reach."

    "And if I simply decide to leave as planned?"

    "Then I''ll help you disappear, no strings attached. I owe your Clan that much." Kole sighed.

    "I''ll think about it. Is there any way to contact you?"

    I nodded and retrieved a comm unit from my belt.

    "It''s on a frequency that only Bo and me have. It''s secure too."

    =RK=

    Part 7

    Training area

    Royal Palace

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    "Are you sure about this?" Obi-Wan asked.

    I put on my helmet and it sealed with a quiet hiss, hiding my smile. I stood still for a few seconds until the armor''s systems came fully online ¨C environment controls, shields, targeting ?ssist, built in weapons...

    "More than anything." I muttered and started running a check on my weapons. A pair of heavy blasters, my dart launcher, grenades, two vibro-knives in my boots and of course my lightsabers.

    "There''s going to be a hell to pay. You know that, right?" The Jedi sighed.

    "There always is. At least this time the prize is a worthy one."

    "What about Master Ti and you? Or did you just pull my chain?" Kenobi tried again.

    "Nope. We did sleep together and the s?x was great. Still, that was all ¨C just s?x at a moment we both needed to vent. Under different circumstances..." I shrugged. "Every time I think about Ti¡­ I can''t help but compare her with Ashara. As if I''m replacing my dead wife with someone, who no matter their worth in the end won''t be able to compare."

    "That''s messed up." Obi-Wan shook his head.

    "If someone told you that the whole emotion thing is simple and without complications, you need to kick their ?ss."

    "Then why have you been nagging me not to clamp on mine?"

    "Because no matter the pain and heartache emotions can bring, they''re worth it in the end, Obi-Wan. Look me in the eyes and tell me that you regret that you slept with Satine. That you don''t want her again."

    "That''s not the point!" Kenobi spluttered. "We''re, it''s not..."

    "Man, you''ve got it bad." I smirked. "When we''re done here, go drag your Duchess to the bedroom and make sure that she won''t be thinking about any one else ever again."

    "VEIL! That''s totally un-appropriate!" Obi-Wan glared at me.

    "Getting laid is a very appropriate thing to do."

    I tuned out his spluttering and looked over the training room. It was two hundred meters long, a hundred wide and twenty five tall. There were various metal panels that could pop up to provide cover as well as holo-emmiters to help simulate most environments too. The training ground was configured like a labyrinth with a lot of cover and a decently large open space in the center.

    "Enough with the distractions! What in the name of the Force made you chose that symbol for your Clan?!" Kenobi growled.

    Heh, it was too easy to get under his skin. I chuckled and glanced down at my ?h?st-plate. It was painted black, with a white emblem of the Sith Empire above my heart.

    "I''m sticking it to a certain Sith. Now go in the observation lounge. I promise, the show will be worth it."

    "That''s what I''m afraid of. Do try not to kill each other." Obi-Wan sighed. "It''s a terrible idea..." He trailed off and shook his head.

    "It''s all a matter of perspective. When all is said and done I''m the last remaining official of the Sith Empire. It was never officially dissolved. If anyone has a right over this emblem, that''s me. I''ve fought and bled for it for decades, Obi-Wan." With those parting words I stepped into the makeshift arena and an armored door closed behind me.

    I took a deep breath, reveling in the cool air provided by my armor and drew in the Force. A pleasant chill ran over my skin as I submerged myself in the Dark Side. My senses expanded and I could feel Bo on the other side of the training ground. She took a step forward and her presence all but vanished, leaving me with only a vague idea where she was. If we were actually on a crowded battlefield, she would be practically invisible to my Force senses.

    I laughed. It''s been years since I faced as Mandalorian whose armor was concealed by alchemy. So she did have a relic from the good old days.

    This was going to be fun!

    I enhanced myself with the Force and ran forward. I leaped over the nearest obstacle and landed on a five meters tall metal pillar. That gave me a good view ¨C only the far end was mostly obscured by a jagged line of platforms.

    Two micro-missiles popped up behind a column to my left, then streaked straight at me. My left hand snapped up and I blasted them out of the air with a lighting strike. In the same moment, I drew my lightsaber.

    Four more missiles vaulted over the column, followed by Bo, who flew on a jet of fire. I threw away the ordinance with a wide telekinetic push, which caught the Mandalorian just as she halted her ascent. She left the Force wave push her back and opened fire with her blasters, before leveling her flight and darting straight at me. I activated my saber and started deflecting the shots, then sent a lighting bolt at her. To my surprise, Bo kept on coming ¨C my attack harmlessly slid over her armor, which now had a corona of Dark Side energy dancing all over it.

    I whistled with appreciation ¨C that was a damn nice kit, that resembled my old armor in capabilities.

    Instead of facing Bo head on, I let myself fall behind the column I was standing on. While I was descending, I slashed it through the middle and used the Force to tear it in two. As I landed, I sent the piece of durasteel hurling at Bo, who dodged in the last moment and retaliated with the heavy missile mounted on the top of her jet-pack.

    I caught the weapon with my mind and threw it at the oncoming warrior, who banked to the right. I crushed the missile just as she was dodging it. The warhead blew up and threw Bo off course. While she managed to correct her flight and avoided slamming into a two meter tall pillar, she missed me by a large margin. Her shoulder brushed the column and that let her armor discharge the Sith lighting that had been dancing all over her for the last few seconds.

    Using the Force, I called one of my blasters in my waiting free hand and opened fire on Bo. She flew up and returned the favor, before diving towards me. I hit her twice only for my shots to deflect from a shield. At the same time, I intercepted her fire with my blade, sending it to pock-mark the nearby pillars.

    Bo suddenly twisted her body, so her legs pointed at me and used her jet-pack. to slow down her approach just as I jumped forward and let my blaster go. She laughed and activated a flame-thrower built around her left arm, hosing the rapidly shrinking distance between us with liquid fire. My own laughter boomed in response and I drove right through the flames, which covered my armor and started burning through the upper ablative layer. When I emerged from the fire, I found myself starring at a grenade flying my way. Acting on instinct, I shoved the explosive away with the Force.

    Unfortunately, it chose that moment to blow up and threw me back into a nearby pillar. Bo received a similar treatment and slammed into a tall column, before rolling over it.

    I fell to the ground and used the Force to tear the burning substance from my armor, which left it covered with moderately deep rends. A moment later, I threw two frag grenades behind the pillar where Bo disappeared. She rolled around its corner an instant before they blew up and sprinted my way. I jumped to my feet and sent a pair of stun darts at her.

    Perhaps she sensed my attack, perhaps she planned it all along, but just as I shot at her, Bo jumped forward and flew at me with her jet-pack. One dart missed and the other simply glanced off her shoulder to no effect. I tried to push her away with the Force, using a decidedly non-lethal telekinetic push.

    That only staggered her and a moment later, Bo shoulder-tackled me, driving the air out of my lungs. We crashed in the ground with deafening clanging of armor on durasteel and the force of the impact threw us off each other. It also made me drop my lightsaber.

    I rolled and surged to my knees, activating the vibro-blades built in my arm-guards. A moment later, I had gathered the Force around me as a shield and charged Bo, who was just finding her footing.

    She managed to deflect my right arm with her hand and my blade merely grazed her helmet. Bo activated her own built in vibro-blade and tried to gut me, but I blocked her hand with my forearm. She twisted in an incredible way, demonstrating an almost impossible flexibility and slammed a foot in my ?h?st, pushing me back. Then she tried to open the distance even more with her jet-pack., but just as the Mandalorian started to fly away, I caught her pack with the Force.

    Bo cursed and hit the release and landed on her feet. I crushed the jet-pack. and threw it away, while Bo opened fire with wrist-mounted blasters. My shields absorbed the first salvo and popped, but that gave me enough time to summon my saber and activate it. Two shots burned craters in my armor, though it held before I could catch the rest on my blade.

    I raised a hand and caught Bo in a telekinetic grip, then I pulled her towards me. She cursed and continued to futilely shoot at me for a moment, before her hands dropped to her belt and she pulled a pair of grenades with a blue stripe in the middle.

    I chuckled as she thew them at me. A dismissive gesture later, the grenades flew to the left, but that was enough to break my hold on her.

    The Mandalorian drew a vibrosword from behind her back and charged me.

    "The old fashioned way, eh?" I grinned and met her with my saber.

    Our blades met and her sword didn''t held it''s own. It was either beskin or cortosis plated at the very least.

    Bo attacked with desperate ferocity, attempting to overwhelm me with a flurry of well aimed powerful blows. I parried, deflected or dodged her attacks for a few seconds, then went on the offensive.

    It didn''t take long to figure out, that while she was rather good, Bo simply lacked the experience with a blade to last against me for more than a minute or two. It was going to take that long only because I didn''t want to accidentally maim her.

    She apparently got to the same conclusion. Bo suddenly let her sword go, activated her built in vibroblade and tackled me. Acting on instinct, I slammed my lightsaber in her ?h?st as she surprised me. Her armor started glowing from the energy it was deflecting and absorbing but held as Bo slammed into me and raised a hand to for a lethal strike. I let my saber fall and grabbed her wrist a moment before she slammed her blade in my helmet.

    Bo tried to slam her other hand in my head and laughed when I caught it too. She opened her fingers to reveal a live grenade.

    "Insane woman!" I laughed back and released an uncontrolled telekinetic wave to shove her and the explosive off me.

    Bo landed hard a few meters away and the grenade went off behind a low metal panel, which absorbed most of the blast wave. That didn''t deter her. She was on her feet a heartbeat later and charged me again. Bo started firing with a wrist-blaster and that damn flamethrower again.

    I drew deeply from the Dark Side formed a shield from the Force that absorbed the Mandalorian''s attacks. I grinned under my helmet and my heart raced faster and faster. I hadn''t had such fun in a long damn time!

    It was time to get close and personal. I called my lightsaber, activated it mid-flight and used it to carefully cut through Bo''s wrist-blaster. She jumped back as the blade ghosted over her hand and left her with one less weapon. Before she could steady her footing, I used the Force to tear out her flame thrower and threw it away with enough strength to shatter it on the ceiling.

    Dashing forward, I was upon her a moment later. Bo intercepted my fist with her arm-guard and retaliated with a jab at my throat. I just lowered my head, catching it with the lower part of my helmet ¨C something that I immediately regretted as my head started ringing.

    She went on the offensive bombarding me with short, strong punches and the occasional kick aimed at my knees. I went on the defensive for a few moments, taking the hits on my arm-guards, or occasionally on my ?h?st plate, before deflecting her next strike and tackling her with a Force-assisted jump.

    We struck the ground hard, though it was worse for Bo, who had to absorb the impact of my armored bulk. We found ourselves helmet to helmet and she immediately head-butted me. I grunted and saw stars for an instant, before slamming a fist in her helmet, then I placed my vibro-blade a centimeter above her visor.

    "Do you yield?" I asked.

    A blue flash engulfed us and we were stuck to each other by a blue, pulsing jelly like substance.

    "An adhesive grenade? I haven''t seen those since coming here." I muttered, then I gently tapped her visor with the blade ¨C my right hand was mostly free.

    "Draw." Bo chuckled and carefully nodded to where our ?h?sts were touching. I could feel her hand crushed between us.

    "You have another live grenade, don''t you?" I chuckled.

    "Thermal detonator actually." I knew she was grinning under her helmet.

    "Well played."

    "Not really." Bo sighed. "You weren''t trying to kill me."

    "And you did." I couldn''t keep the amusement out of my voice.

    "Yes. I did."

    The adhesive gel started slowly fading around us. I used the Force to tear it apart and carefully stood up. Bo deactivated the detonator and accepted the hand I offered her, helping her to her feet. She pocketed the explosive and removed her helmet, revealing a sweaty hair and a smiling face.

    "We need to do this again some time." Bo chuckled.

    "Any time you want." I smiled and removed my helmet, letting the smell of burning metal and spice hit my face.

    Her smile widened.

    "Come with me. We aren''t done yet." She walked towards the closest door.

    "Is that so?" I followed.

    "We fought with weapons and armor for a second time. Now we''ll do it one last time ¨C the Echani way." Bo purred.

    "Hand to hand, no weapons and armor?" I asked to make sure.

    "No Force tricks. I''m not a full Echani. I couldn''t properly read you under all that metal, though I like what I saw."

    "So you can read emotions and feelings through combat?"

    "Not as well as my grandmother or mother could." She paused and looked over her shoulder, "But I can indeed."

    =RK=

    Guest suites

    Royal Palace

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    Without armor to slow her down, Bo was incredibly fast. Her toned body moved like quicksilver. For every hit I could land, she delivered two or three. She danced around me, weaving in and out of range only to strike and fade away.

    The closest I came to ending the fight was when I almost grappled her a minute ago, though she slipped away thanks to sheet of sweat covering our bodies and I got a nasty bruise for my efforts.

    It was awesome! I hadn''t felt more alive in years!

    Bo laughed and dashed in for another strike, which I let slip through my guard so I could close the distance. Our bodies slammed into each other with I used my greater bulk to push her back into a nearby column. Bo nearly slipped away after she planted her elbow under my br??st bone and drove my air out. I doubled over and used the position to slam my shoulder in her gut, before she was able to knee me in the face. She grabbed my neck in a hold and squeezed. I slammed a fist in her side, leaving her breathless and freeing myself.

    That didn''t stop her from kicking me in the knee and sending me stumbling to the ground. While I was falling my hand shot up and grabbed Bo, pulling her down with me. We fell in a tangled web of limbs and stood there breathless for a few moments. Bo squirmed over me, trying to stand up, but I had none of that and we ended up wrestling ¨C where my greater strength gave me a bit of advantage, that was all but lost by how sweaty we were.

    Then we somehow ended with BO straddling me and I was holding her fist just above my nose.

    "I quite like this position." I smirked.

    "I can feel that." Bo''s voice was a throaty purr. She lowered her head and our lips met.

 Chapter 52 - Requiem for Mandalore

    Part 1

    Conference room

    Royal Palace

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    "Did you follow my advice?" I asked Obi-Wan.

    The Jedi muttered something I couldn''t hear and shook his head.

    "You do look a bit disheveled and flustered." I continued.

    "And you look like you went a round with a Wookie." Kenobi nodded towards my face.

    "That would have been easier." I grinned. "Last night was worth every bruise and cracked rib."

    "Too much information."

    "Why? Didn''t you play hide the lightsaber with Satine?"

    "Veil, you would test a saint''s patience." Obi-Wan glared at me.

    "If your Duchess is anything like her sister in bed, you have nothing to complain about."

    "Veil!" The Jedi hissed.

    Our banter was interrupted by Bo and Satine entering the room. My girlfriend wore her usual armor, though it was painted black and had the Kryze symbol painted on the ?h?st instead of the Death Watch emblem. Next to her, Satine looked a bit out of place clad in a suit of light green armor.

    The Prime Minister walked a step behind the sisters. "The trainers just landed and will be arriving in a few minutes." Almec stated.

    "Good. Bo?" I asked.

    "Right here." My girlfriend patted a pouch on her belt. "All the data I have on Death Watch and what you took from the ?ssassins."

    "Splendid. So Duchess, when are you going to make Obi-Wan here a proper Mandalorian?"

    "He''s a stubborn Jedi, but I''ll convince him sooner that latter."

    "Corrupting Jedi, sister?" Bo smiled. "I knew you had it in you."

    "Shush you."

    "Hey! I''m right here!" Obi-Wan protested.

    "If you need pointers on how to make him beg to become a Mandalorian, just ask." Bo continued undeterred.

    "I''ll manage, thank you very much." Satine muttered in a dry voice.

    "General Veil, have you decided how to sell your potential change in status to the Republic?" The Duchess decided to leave Kenobi alone.

    "A few. Mandalore''s critical strategic location, the potential to bring a whole sector to our side, a promise that the Mandalorians won''t be turning on the Republic among other things. We''ll probably need some high profile missions to prove our worth to the war effort. I think Mandalorian strike teams augmented by Jedi going after strategic targets to either softer up or outright take enemy held planets. Further ¨C trainers. The Republic is just beginning a huge expansion of the armed forces with non-Clone personnel."

    "That might work, if you survive the initial backslash."

    "There''s that. In the end, we''ll need to keep Mandalore intact for at least two months ¨C after that holding this world would be easier." I smiled.

    "How so?" Bo asked.

    "An old project of mine will be operational once again in seven weeks."

    "It must be something special if you believe it could help secure this planet." Obi-Wan added.

    "Oh, it is. You''ll all see it when the time comes."

    "Any news about Vizsla''s supporters? How many Clan Leaders are likely to vote for him?" Bo asked the Prime Minister.

    Almec frowned. "It''s unclear. Before the Duchess'' statement, he was the only viable candidate, but didn''t have enough support to become Mandalore. However, Vizsla and his agents were busy. I know he met with half a dozen Clan Leaders yesterday alone, though if they will support him or not remains to be seen."

    "We can count on Yomaget and most Clans running weapon manufacturing business. Those I met with personally love what we can offer them."

    "There are a lot of people who will jump at the chance to be the ones rearming Mandalore." Bo interjected. "However, some of them won''t care whose weapons they will be building."

    "True. Yomaget''s support will be important. He''s practically the most powerful Clan Leader and one of the most influential." Satine added. "Are you sure he''ll really support you?"

    "Reasonably, considering what I offered him and his corporation."

    "That surprise of yours?" Almec asked.

    "Among other things."

    The door rang as an armored fist knocked on it.

    "Enter." Satine''s clear voice ordered.

    The doors opened up and revealed a corridor full with armed and armored Mandalorian warriors. I recognized three of the four people crowding the entrance thanks to their armors ¨C Kal Skirata, Mij Gilamar and Walon Vau.

    "General." I returned Skirata''s salute. "I''m glad you could get here so fast."

    "Fortunately we still control hyperspace lanes allowing us rapid transit from Kamino to home." Gilamar added.

    "Hopefully we''ll be able to keep it that way. Please do go in."

    Fifty Mandalorians and eight Republic Commandos made their way inside and gathered around the table. A brief round of introductions followed, allowing me to put names to the rest of Skirata''s command group ¨C Rav Bralor, Vhonte Tervho and Cort Davin. The first two were women in red armor and the latter a tall man in forest green.

    "We''re here General Veil. Make your pitch." Skirata went straight to the point.

    "Do I have to outline the situation again?" I asked.

    "Only anything relevant that happened since we headed this way." Bralor answered.

    "Well, the Clan Leaders will be gathering here in five days to choose Mandalore. Needless to say, Vizsla has been a busy little gangster. He or his agents had been meeting with Clan Leaders, trying to either plead to their honor, offer them deals or threaten their families."

    "You''ve got to be joking." Tervho exclaimed. "Sir." She added a moment later.

    "Wish I had. Yesterday morning I went to talk with Kole Ordo. A few hours before I got there, he had been visited by Death Watch members who threatened his daughter Mira if he didn''t support Vizsla. I don''t think that would be an isolated accident."

    "He won''t win many votes that way." Skirata frowned.

    "No. He won''t be trying to threaten most Clan Leaders either."

    "Last time I checked, there were just Kole and his kid. Not many people left on Mandalore he could trust these days." Kal sighed. "What is Kole going to do?"

    "He was planning to leave Mandalore. I gave him a personal frequency he can contact me on ¨C to either help him disappear or provide protection for Mira if he decides to support me."

    "Support you? Who''s your candidate for Mandalore?" Rav asked.

    "That would be me." I stated calmly.

    The room suddenly grew quiet. If I could convince these people, I would be that much closer to gaining the title. There were at least three Clan Leaders among the Cuy''val Dar in the room.

    =RK=

    Part 2

    Conference room

    Royal Palace

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    "You want to be the next Mandalore?" Skirata asked. His expression was an interesting mixture of stunned disbelief and shock. The rest of the trainers weren''t much better, though if their faces were anything to go by, they were suddenly doubting my sanity. "An outsider, who if rumor''s to be believed is detached from this age and has no idea what we need as a people." The General continued. "How this¡­ questionable idea, help save our people from another civil war? From where I stand it''s likely to cause one."

    "Prevent a clash with the Death Watch? That''s inevitable. That cancer has to be removed. Now, mitigating any engagements between Mandalorians, that''s doable. I think so at least." I stared down Skirata.

    "That doesn''t answer Kal''s question. We didn''t come back to support your power plays." Bralor added.

    "That''s one way to look at the situation." I nodded. "It''s all a matter of perspective."

    "Aren''t you supposed to be a Sith, not a Jedi?" A Mandalorian whose name I didn''t catch interjected. "Speak plainly, no word games."

    "If that''s your d?s?r?. Frankly, if all I was going for was power, the best thing I could do to preserve my current station as one of the most powerful men in the galaxy would be to burn down Mandalore as some Senators and generals would love me to. That''s the only way to somewhat mitigate the hit on my power base and reputation this whole fiasco is going to cause, no matter it''s ultimate outcome." I glared at the ?ssembled warriors. That gave them some food for thought.

    "How exactly is that an incentive to help you become our leader?" Skirata asked. "It sounds as a reason to consider you an enemy."

    "If Death Watch takes power or just starts a civil war, the Republic will have to intervene to prevent the CIS gaining Mandalore as an ally or at the very least using this system and the surrounding area as a staging ground."

    "The ensuring battles will see our people divided and destroyed no matter which side wins." Bralor stated. "That''s why you called us here, isn''t it?"

    "True. An engagement over Mandalore is inevitable ¨C the capital world is at important strategic location, one neither side can afford to leave in enemy hands. Do I have to explain what havoc a fleet of raiders stationed here could wreak on the nearby hyperlanes? I do remember the great blockade which almost strangled the Republic by cutting easy access to the Outer Rim."

    "Ultimately we don''t have enough ships to have a decisive role in this." Skirata sighed.

    "We have millions of warriors on this world alone, with many more spread through the sector or busy being mercenaries and bounty hunters, however in the grand scheme of things that isn''t a decisive number." Gilamar added. "What do you have to gain by becoming Mandalore? Somehow I doubt you''re trying to do it of the goodness of your heart."

    "Of course not, though the primary reasons I want the job are actually sentimental ones if you can believe it."

    The newcomers stared at me as if I grew another head.

    "Fine. You''re not a Jedi, that''s for sure. But you aren''t acting like a Sith. So who or what the kriff are you?"Davin asked.

    I snorted. "Truly, my people''s reputation has gone down the drain. What do you expect me to be? A raging imbecile who solves every problem through the most direct and brutal way imaginable? Someone too busy with his research and experiments to pay attention to the larger world?" I shook my head. "There are many kinds of Sith, something you people should know better than most. Or were at any rate." I shrugged.

    "Fair enough." Skirata waved a hand. "Enough off topic discussion, Cort. I want answers and a very good reason why we shouldn''t leave right now. No one becomes Mandalore over sentimental reasons, especially not a Sith."

    "True. If those were my only reasons, I simply wouldn''t be able to justify trying to gain the title. For those who might be unaware or disbelieving ¨C the rumors are true. I''m from the Old Republic era. I began my training as a Sith on Korriban shortly before the Sack of Coruscant and the long not so cold war, that followed. In my time I''ve fought beside many Mandalorians and some of my best friends were Stephen and Mako Ordo. For me, it was just a year ago that I was on this world, drinking Tihaar with Mandalore the Dauntless and his wife. It''s in the honor of the great friendship I had with them that I want to see their people, their culture prosper again." I paused.

    Most of the Cuy''val Dar had looks of disbelief on their faces, while the rest kept their thoughts behind expressionless masks.

    "Proof?" Skirata asked.

    "None that can convince you." I shrugged. "How do I prove that I''m a Sith of old?" My lips twitched into a grim smile. "How do I prove that I am the Black Knight of folklore?"

    "Any proof you can give could be an elaborate fabrication." Bralor sighed. "Even your powers ¨C we''ve read stories, seen ancient holo-vids, but all that means is that you could be someone rediscovered old techniques and powers."

    "That''s a reasonable conclusion. Kriff, even if I was a clone of Darth Vael, who someone got the original''s memories, that would be easier to believe that I traveled thousands of years in the future." I shook my head.

    "We''ll get nowhere with this. I still want to hear why should we consider supporting you." Tervho stated.

    I gave the warrior a nod. "With your help, I can make Mandalore and its people great again. I will do my best to reunite our scattered people, forging them into a single nation based on honor and the principles of the Mandalorian culture. This whole sector once either belonged to answered to the Mandalorians and that''s how it shall be once again."

    "That''s a tall order, though at least you have ambitious plans." Skirata mussed. "What about the Death Watch?"

    "The majority of their members are nothing but honor-less thugs who know nothing of being honorable warriors. We''ll expose them for what they are and crush them as the criminal scum they are."

    "That''s something I can get behind." Bralor nodded. "Still you don''t need to be Mandalore for that."

    "I need to become Mandalore, because that''s the only chance any of us has of bringing the Mandalorian people together behind a single banner. A civil war on top of the Republic and CIS slugging it in space and on the ground here would be disastrous."

    "We''ll fall divided, easy prey for either side." Skirata sighed. "That is, isn''t it? We need not only a Mandalore who can bind us together, but one that the Republic would find acceptable."

    "Not quite. One that I find acceptable." I looked him in the eyes. "I can''t afford to leave the Mandalorian situation unresolved. While there may be someone I''ve overlooked, the only viable candidates right now are either Vizsla or people in his camp. None of them would do and even if there was a viable alternative, they would need to convince me that they would be supporting the Republic in this war until the Confederacy is done for."

    "How is that our problem?" Devin asked.

    "We''re a potential threat ¨C long term I mean." Skirata answered. "Right now we don''t have a decent navy, no real army to speak of, though we have millions of experienced infantry. Our warriors have training and equipment rivaling or outright outmatching the GAR, though that means little without logistics, navy or armored forces. However, give us two years and that can change ¨C we could have a decent fleet built in that time along with equipping ourselves for a war like this one. A few more years and neither side would be able to simply dictate us demands and treaty terms ¨C we would be a major player on the galactic stage once again. We have the potential to become one right now, though we''re divided and that holds us back."

    "With what resources?" Devin asked.

    "Uniting this sector would be enough by itself, though that alone would take too much time. Using captured CIS industries and equipment, Republic aid and my own resources ¨C those can make an united Mandalore something no one in their right minds will kriff with. However, all of that is a long term concern. The war is likely to be decided one way or another in the next two years. If leveraged properly, the existing number of Mandalorian warriors might be enough to tip the scales in the Republic''s favor. That''s what I get short term at the price of possibly losing my position as a general in the Republic army and for sure getting my current powers significantly reduced. I''m banking that we''ll be able to hold on long enough to make that sacrifice worth it."

    "Now, this is something I can buy." Skirata nodded. "Let''s talk details. All you''ve really told us is your vision for the future, one I at least might be persuaded to accept. How exactly are you going to accomplish it? How are you going to unite our people behind yourself?"

    "Good questions."

 Chapter 53 - Interlude: The Confederacy strikes back I

    Council Chamber

    Raxus Secundus

    Confederacy of Independent systems capital world

    Three of the most influential people within the Council were gathered for this meeting.

    Shu Mai ¨C the old Gossam, who had served as the Presidente of the Commerce Guild for years. Next to her stood San Hill, the Muun chairman of the Intergalactic Banking Clan, an institution that suddenly found itself under censure after one of it''s leaders played an important part in the disastrous peace conference that saw Senator Amidala in a coma within undisclosed location and got a lot of the peace inclined Confederacy parliament members killed.

    Last but certainly not the least was Trest Ilroth ¨C the new Neimoidian Viceroy of the Trade Federation. Thanks to the way their hive mind worked, he was their undisputed leader, further his ascension to the position was a good thing for multiple reasons. Chief among them was that Gunrey''s death had caused the Trade Federation to stop working until a new leader could be chosen and ?ssume the position.

    The other reason was actually more important¡­ Thanks to the way the Neimoidian hive mind worked, Ilroth was aware of his predecessor''s dealings with certain Sith and deeply disapproved. Now he actually was in a position to do something, manly thanks to a fluke ¨C the people who were supposed to be the next in line were not in position to seize power when Gunrey got himself killed thanks to being too busy running various errands for him. That very thought made Trest smile. Becoming a leader of his people and the Trade Federation thanks to his predecessor''s hubris, now wasn''t that some sweet irony?

    "We''re all here." Hill spoke quietly. "You called us here, Viceroy. I hope it''s important." The tall Muun''s eyes bore into Tresk''s own.

    The Neimoidian stared back. "Dooku was right about one thing, you know." Ilroth mussed. "The Republic senate is under the control of a Sith who is behind this war. Our dear Count just forgot to mention that he''s the Sith''s apprentice and running our side of the war for that man."

    That little bombshell made the other leaders stare at him with disbelief. After all, those were few of the Council members who actually weren''t aware who they were really working for.

    "Do you actually have any proof?" Mai asked after a few moments of deafening silence.

    "I actually have." Tresk smiled and pulled a small holoemmiter from a pocket in his traditional Viceroy pockets. "My predecessor kept a record of few conversations with the Sith." Ilroth activated the device and the three of them watched a few conversations between Sidious and Gunrey, the first dating as far back as the ill thought and planned invasion of Naboo.

    The last was the Sith issuing orders shortly before Gunrey got himself captured and killed in that botched rescue attempt at Rodia.

    "That puts the war in a new light. The madness that''s been happening the lately..." Mai shook her head.

    "I can confirm that the Sith ?ssisted in the creation of the Confederacy." San Hill sighed. His colleagues stared at him at the admission.

    "This is going to be good. Please elaborate." Tresk waved at the Muun.

    "The Sith have been in contact with the Banking Clans for decades. We had a mutually profitable arrangement, something we''ve come to review after what''s been happening lately."

    "You didn''t expect a Sith to betray you eventually?" Mai snorted.

    "The mutual profit was great." The Muun muttered sullenly. "It makes no sense to nationalize our ?ssets within the Republic!"

    "And this Sith of yours has the power to prevent it?" The Gossam female needled him.

    "He''s the kriffing Chancellor Palpatine, of course he can!" Hill snapped back.

    "Palpatine." Mai repeated in a flat tone.

    "Him. Yes." San grumbled.

    "That''s my conclusion too." Ilroth added helpfully.

    The Presidente ?r??n?d and slumped back in her chair. "It should be obvious with the benefit of hindsight, no? This senseless destruction of late? The wanton slaughter without purpose aside terror tactics? It''s something that a Sith of legend should be doing. Then there''s this third one ¨C Veil."

    "He was unexpected." Hill interjected. "As far as I knew, there were always only two ever since we were first contacted."

    "It''s the same for us¡­ though until Naboo Gunrey believed that there was just one Sith."

    "So there could be even more waiting an opportune moment to reveal themselves?" Mai asked.

    Two sullen nods answered her.

    "Dooku will be arriving here tomorrow." Ilroth added helpfully.

    "He''ll want to reaffirm his position as a leader of the Council." Hill nodded.

    "The Sith would bring us to run and after their latest shenanigans there won''t be peace unless we win or lose our heads." Mai sighed. "I trust that none of you want to be tried by a Republic court for mass murder and anything else they decide to throw at us if we lose?"

    "There won''t be a trial if a Sith led Republic wins. Just a quiet execution." Tresk interjected.

    "Some of us know too much and the others could prove to be thorns in Palpatine''s side once he''s won."

    "Well, then we''ll have to make sure that the Confederacy wins this war or we all hang." Mai grimaced.

    "That''s easier said than done." Hill stated.

    "True. However, the new leader of the Techno Union will be arriving tonight. He might not be in the Sith''s pockets or even if he''s bought we should try making him a better offer." Mai looked thoughtful.

    "The four of us would have enough ?ssets to make change." Tresk said. "That might be enough to confront Dooku and survive."

    "It''s a deadly gamble you propose." Hill looked shifty for a moment.

    "It''s either that or we''re all dead anyway. Do you really think that a Sith would reward us with anything but death once he has no more use for us?" Mai sneered.

    "It doesn''t make any business sense! We could still be useful."

    "You should have learned that by now, Hill. A Sith don''t think like us normal beings." Ilroth sighed. "The madness of the last half an year or so should be a proof enough."

    =RK=

    Techno Union Suites

    Rexus Secundus

    "I see." Kleo Vombra, the cyborg chosen as the new leader of the Techno Union just a few days ago, rasped. He was a humanoid who had all his visible flesh replaced by cybernetics ¨C making him look like a particularly advanced combat droid ¨C which made it impossible to determine what species he used to be.

    Those who knew him before the extensive augmentations would see little if anything left from the tall Zabrak in the hulking figure made of durasteel.

    Vombra''s artificial eyes scanned the three Confederacy leaders sitting in his guest suite ¨C an almost sterile room which could be mistaken for a particularly high tech workshop. The only thing giving a lie to that distinction was the steel table in the center, surrounded by chairs that looked comfortable for those poor sods who were still mere flesh and bone instead of steel and cybernetics.

    "That explains some of Tambor''s shenanigans." The cyborg spoke in mechanical voice, which nevertheless could very well express his exasperation. "From the Union''s point of view, my predecessor''s actions on Ryloth were a pointless waste of resources with nothing of real value to gain." And a lot to lose, he didn''t add aloud. "You''re here for a reason, not to cry on my shoulder." Kleo''s photo-receptors scanned the Council members.

    "We plan to move against Dooku tomorrow. If he''s reaffirmed as our leader, the Confederacy will be done for." Ilroth stated.

    "We too as its leaders, you mean." Vombra gave out a mechanical chuckle that echoed within the room. "Did any one of you asked the relevant questions?"

    "Can we win the war?" Tresk did so.

    "We talked about it." Hill nodded. "While the situation is less than ideal, we have some untapped advantages."

    "The way we''ve all fought on the cheap so far?" Kleo asked. "Using low quality droids and mere frigates as our main combatants?" The mere idea was an anathema for the Union''s Foremans, yet they were somewhat content to pour more and more money into R&D, liquid ?ssets made free by not needing to produce armies of top of the line droids and fleets of better ships.

    That was going to change ¨C Dooku at least had a few decent ideas. What could those people offer the Union?

    "True." It was Mia who spoke this time. "We''ve used only our security forces so far ¨C granted we expanded them greatly, but that''s it. We''re well aware that when seeking to build them we were more interested by cheap good enough solution instead of what is best."

    "Can you afford enough of the best?" Kleo asked the most important question.

    The three beings looked at each other, then Hill nodded.

    "The Banking Clans, Commerce Guild and Trade Federation can finance the war for the next three years if we start mass producing our various high quality military units as well as various experimental designs. Our estimates are that the war would be either won or lost by the time we''re about to run out of money and the economy is threatened by collapse."

    "Barring enemy action against our infrastructure?" Vombra asked.

    "The credits would still be available, but the economy could collapse sooner in that case." Tresk added.

    "So finally you''re about to open your bank accounts for the war effort." Kleo would have smiled if he still could. "In a matter of fact, Dooku already ordered such ¨C a phased replacement of most of our current armies with better, more expensive models. The same for our navy ¨C though it all would take some time and careful balancing."

    "We''re ready to pay for a victory. The price of defeat would be unthinkable." Hill grunted, in grim acceptance.

    "Then we might have a deal. The Techno Union would have some conditions in order to support you."

    "Let''s talk business then." Mia smiled.

    =RK=

    Interlude: The Confederacy strikes back II

    Noon, the next day

    Council Chamber

    Raxus Secundus

    Confederacy of Independent systems capital world

    Count Dooku walked in, head held high. He knew that trouble awaited him within ¨C the sense of unease he had all morning, combined with the heightened security he noticed after landing were clear giveaways. The Councilors were restless. The Sith had no doubt that they would demand explanations, perhaps even try to remove him from the position of nominal leader of the Confederacy ¨C something that he simply couldn''t allow.

    The Count felt unease, even fear, before he entered the familiar Council chambers¡­ which were much less so today. It took all his composure and years of experience as diplomat not to halt just past the threshold. The large room was much different than he remembered. The long table that dominated the center of the chamber was cut in half and the Councilors were sitting at the far end, leaving a quite large open space between them and the door.

    There were two platoons of Commando droids standing at attention along the walls, flanking him ¨C all armed with vibroblades. Further, Dooku could clearly see a hastily installed shield generators at the far end of the chamber, generators that activated with a quiet hum and separated the Councilors from him with a thick wall of energy.

    Another platoon armed with distinct sonic screamers were behind the shield, ready to step between him and the table.

    "What is the meaning of this?" Dooku snapped, not bothering to hide his anger ¨C after all, pulling such a stunt on anyone would infuriate them, much less someone of his statute.

    "It should be obvious, my lord." Ilroth Tresk, the new Viceroy of the Trade Federation stood up. "Everyone in here knows what you are. Some of our predecessors had profitable relationship with the Sith. That''s in the past."

    "Viceroy, be careful what you accuse me of." Dooku spoke quietly, adding a suggestion through the Force.

    "I..." Tresk shook his head. "I¡­ am not AS WEAK WILLED AS GUNRAY!" The Neimoidian snapped.

    "Using your powers to influence us?" A flat mechanical voice hissed.

    That gave Dooku pause. He had left his previous meeting with Foreman Kleo with the impression that the new Techno Union leader was on board with the Sith plans. The Count narrowed his eyes at the gathered Councilmen. Hill, Mia, the Neimoidian¡­ those had the strongest feeling of defiance around them. A few of the rest too, but within them the fear was stronger.

    If he could handle the ring leaders properly, the rest would fell in line, Dooku knew that from years of working with them. However, two of the group were new ¨C he had precious little first hand experience with them. In fact they shouldn''t have been the new leaders of their respective factions, however the chaos and unrest caused by the war conspired to push them forward instead of more manageable candidates. Dooku was determined to ensure that their replacements were going to be more tractable.

    "I''m unsure what you mean, Foreman Kleo." The nobleman answered calmly. He was more interested in the defenses set up around the room, than in what the group of dissidents had to say.

    "Given all you''ve done for the Confederacy, some Council members insisted to give you an opportunity to explain yourself." Sui Mia spoke in a composed tone, that didn''t betray any of the anxiety she radiated.

    "What about everything he and his master did to the Confederacy?" Ilroth snipped.

    "That we already discussed." The Gossam woman shrugged.

    "This seems to be an inquisition." Dooku frowned at the Councilors. "What am I being accused of?"

    "Being a Sith, engineering this war for your own profit and mishandling it to the deterrent of the Confederacy." Ilroth spoke with new found confidence. "There was just one Sith a decade ago ¨C the one my predecessor unwisely made a deal. The one who promised him that the Senate would be handled. Then there were two ¨C an apprentice who died on Naboo."

    "There appears to be two Sith these days. One Master and one apprentice. So the Council believed when I was a Jedi." Dooku shrugged, reminding them of the role he played ¨C that of an enemy of the Sith who was just doing what he believed best¡­ even if that meant starting a civil war that was ravaging the galaxy. It was surprising how many beings bought the charade as truth. There were at least few on this very Council too.

    "Really? I thought that there were three. Wasn''t it curious that this new Sith ¨C Veil, appeared just as we were winning the war? Just to reverse our fortunes too, especially when some of our members could confirm that our Confederacy was supposedly backed by the Sith?" Hill glared.

    Dooku raised an eyebrow at that. The banker was afraid all right, anxious too, but there was a feeling of rising anger and more importantly ¨C betrayal. It took the Count a few seconds to mentally review the more important events that might cause that and he had to suppress a wince. After the events on Neimodia, Sidious had moved to consolidate his control over the Banking Clans ?ssets within the Republic. That appeared to be a mistake now.

    "You all know that the Republic is under the control of a Sith ¨C who is our real enemy."

    "True. From certain point of view." Kleo''s mechanical voice interrupted Dooku, irritating the Sith. "The apprentice would turn on the master eventually, wasn''t that a part of your code?"

    "It''s a part of the Sith code. I am no Sith."

    "Perhaps not." Shu Mia nodded, taking everyone aback. "We aren''t concerned if you''re a Sith or not. Only if you work against the Confederation and there is some proof about that."

    "Then ask and I''ll explain." Dooku nodded, fighting to keep a lid on his temper.

    "We will. Why did the Sith engineered the bio-weapon attacks on Naboo and Coruscant?" Ilroth glared.

    "Fellow Council members, the investigation is still ongoing." Dooku sighed. Unfortunately, Sev''rance hadn''t been able to provide his anything solid on the perpetrators, besides confirming what he already knew ¨C there was some kind of conspiracy withing the Confederacy with their own aims. "I can ?ssure you that I have nothing to do with those attacks." Dooku was a picture of innocence as he said that. It was even the truth! He wasn''t an idiot to escalate the war to such an extent at this time ¨C doing so didn''t serve his plans. "I can''t speak about any hypothetical Sith within the Confederacy, much less about the one controlling the Republic."

    "This charade is tiresome." Kleo gave a mechanical sigh. "We all know that you are a Sith. More than half of the Council had dealings with you or your Master while you operated as such."

    That was true, however Dooku wasn''t going to admit it for any conveniently placed camera so he could incriminate himself. It was clear that the meeting was a set-up, however his agents letting him walk in without a warning¡­ He would have a long conversations about the price of failure with them.

    "It''s a charade, all right." Dooku snapped. "I''m being put on a trial on made up charges. Or are we going to pretend that this isn''t a trial?"

    "A trial? Not really. We aren''t judges." Mia smiled. "Trying you for anything? That isn''t in our power. However, removing you from your position within the Confederacy? That we could and did do."

    "You''re no longer our leader, Count Dooku." Ilroth added.

    "Can''t say I regret not being a part of a Council obviously chock full with backstabbers." The Sith shrugged. It was getting harder and harder to keep a lid on his anger. The Confederacy was his! He made it possible, he build it into what it was today! It was a tool for the Sith, one that would exist or die by their will.

    "Still, you said I would be able to explain?" Dooku asked. He believed that the meeting was filmed and decided to play for the cameras, showing himself as the betrayed leader.

    "And you lied to our faces." Mia''s glared at him. "The bio-weapon attacks? Your pet, Grievous'' excesses? Do you think all of us for blind fools, Count? That''s not what the Confederacy stands for! That''s not what we fight for!" The Gossam stood up and pointed an accusing finger at him. "Some of Gunrey''s and Tambor''s actions made no sense from either business or military perspective. However, acting under the influence of a Sith, who proves all the tales about their kind as true?" The old woman shook her head in disgust. "You engineered this war, you and your master and now the whole galaxy is paying the price for your games." Her words rang with conviction.

    Dooku could almost respect her for knowing him to be a Sith and be ready to stand up to him despite that.

    That wasn''t going to make her death any less certain.

    "That''s a very grave accusation, Council woman Mia." Dooku shook his head with regret.

    "Not as great as your crimes. You''re under arrest, Count Dooku, to be handled to the Jedi so you can answer for your war-crimes." Tresk pointed at his ?h?st.

    Dooku glared back. "Do you expect me to come quietly so your cronies could arrange an accident before I could be handled back to my old colleagues?" The Count sneered.

    He didn''t believe for a moment that he would live if he went quietly¡­ and even if he did, he didn''t like his chances for escaping again.

    "Do you really believe you can fight your way out of here?" Kleo asked with what sounded like professional interest.

    "I think we''re about to find out." Dooku muttered. He concentrated and extended his will through the Force, using it to activate a certain communicator he always carried with himself. Ghostly fingers entered a long pass-code within a moment, then pressed the activation bu??on. A long string of binary was emitted ¨C the shut down code built into the Droid armies of the Confederacy.

    That was one of the contingencies his masher and Dooku himself had prepared while planning the war. So it was to the Count''s great surprise that only a handful of droids shut down.

    "I was wondering, if you would have a way to shut down our armies if everything I was told was true." Kleo mussed. "It appears to be so. Thank you for providing us with the code. Get him." The Foreman ordered the Commandos ¨C all but the shut down machines were from his personal guard, build by his own specifications and having quite a different programing than the rank and file. In fact, almost all of the droids protecting this section of the city were made of personal troops provided by either him or his three co-conspirators and as such were built and programmed differently than the front-line troops.

 Chapter 54 - Interlude: The Confederacy strikes back III

    Council Chamber

    Raxus Secundus

    Confederacy of Independent systems capital world

    Dooku let go of his control and he was engulfed by the rage he had been suppressing ever since entering the chamber. The Force itself rippled with the sheer magnitude of his fury as he drew on it like never before. His one good arm shot up and his power flowed through it, becoming a devastating wave of azure lighting that slammed into the Droids to his right. The machines were just becoming to move towards him when the energy picked them up and slammed them into the wall, before discharging into it.

    The fried Commandos fell limply to the floor, yet that didn''t deter the second platoon. The Sith simply smiled viciously, raised his artificial limb and opened its palm. A lance of crimson energy shot from it and speared through a pair of machines, burning through their armor as if it was a thin sheet of silk. Before the rest of the Droids could jump on him, the Count leaped back and used the Force to call his lightsaber from his belt. The weapon eagerly jumped into his open hand and he caught it mid-air, then cut in two a machine that was a bit faster than the rest.

    Behind the shield, Foreman Kleo leaned forward. He was watching the spectacle with rapt attention, while taking notes ¨C who knew when another Force user would need to be dealt with? The Techno Union leader hummed with delight when the third platoon entered the fray by unleashing their sonic screamers from the safety of the shielded area. Kleo paid no attention to the rest of the Councilors who were either watching the battle with sick fascination or were already whimpering wrecks, terrified that the Sith would be able to somehow get them.

    Dooku jumped over a slash and unleashed his built in weapon again, slagging another droid. His saber moved like a lighting and stabbed the head of a Commando, before the Count landed and rolled aside just in time to avoid three machines that stabbed his former position. The Sith''s saber snapped up, despite that he wasn''t looking at the shielded part of the room. However, instead of deflecting a shot, a ripple passed through the energy blade and slammed into his side.

    The Sith staggered and leaped forward, straight into a group of charging droids. He became a whirlwind of slashes, stabs and punches, fending of and crippling the machines. However, if he thought that the Droids would provide him with some kind of cover, he was sorely mistaken ¨C the sonic screamers trailed on him and opened up again. The sound blasts did minor to no damage to the machines.

    The flesh and blood human fending them off wasn''t so lucky. While Commando chassis absorbed more than a few shots and Dooku dodged others with uncanny movements, other hit true. A blast caught his shoulder, another clipped a leg. Then three slammed into his ?h?st just as he stabbed a droid.

    Instead of falling down like a cut off tree, Dooku glared bloody murder at the Councilors and unleashed another wave of lighting at the remaining droids. He seemed unfazed by taking enough hits to knock out a pissed off Wookie.

    Yet, to say that he was unaffected would be a lie. His lighting attack was wilder, less focused, more narrow. While it caught three Droids and hurled them into the shield, where they fried, the other two facing him narrowly avoided the blast. They wasted no time and charged the Sith who leaped to meet them.

    One machine went low, while the other aimed at his shoulder. The last remaining droids ¨C another three Commandos at his back sprinted to enter the fray too. Given that he already dispatched almost two platoons, the five droids should have been easy to handle. That proved to be true for the pair in front. A red laser carved open the ?h?st of one, while the lightsaber deflected at slash aimed at the knees, before flashing up and cutting the Commando in two.

    The third Droid was upon him before he could disengage from his latest victim. Dooku tried to use the destroyed Commando as a shield, yet despite his efforts a flashing blade caught his biceps and opened a deep gash into his hand.

    While ignoring the pain wasn''t hard for the Sith, that didn''t help him when his hand stiffened and let go of the lightsaber. All Dooku could do was to jump back to avoid the vibroblade aimed at his face. He glared at the offending machine and raised his left hand. The Force was screaming constant warnings as the screamer shots kept on coming, but the Sith steadied himself for just a moment to aim, then fired just as something shoved his legs.

    It took him a moment to comprehend that the lance of coherent light missed the oncoming droid''s head. A blast clipped his head, making him dizzy for a moment and Dooku found himself staring at a sparkling upper half of a Commando that was missing its right arm. However, his other hand was very well and currently clamped around his right ankle.

    He had no more time to stare at the pest. The Force practically screamed a warning that shook him. Dooku''s head snapped up and his eyes widened ¨C the last droid standing was practically upon him. The Sith used the Force to protect himself by hurling the machine away with as much strength as he could gather.

    That proved to be less spectacular than he hoped. Instead of flying and smashing against the far wall, the Droid was merely staggered. It recovered almost instantly and delivered a powerful vertical slash that was going to spill Dooku''s brains if he didn''t use his artificial arm to block the strike. The vibroblade bit deeply into the light alloy making the prosthetic, disabling it from the elbow down and taking out the laser.

    "Begone!" Dooku snapped and placed his blood and flesh palm on the Droid''s ?h?st, while gathering the Force for another lighting blast.

    A blast that didn''t materialize as sonic weaponry continued to strike him again and again. His vision became blurry and he felt sick. A metal fist slammed into his temple, sending him on his knees. A sonic blast struck the back of his head, making him shake and shattering the little concentration he had left. The last vestiges of the Force slipped through his fingers and the last thing he saw was a blade raised to take off his head.

    Then Dooku finally succumbed under an avalanche of sonic blasts.

    =RK=

    =RK=

    Council Chamber

    Raxus Secundus

    Confederacy of Independent systems capital world

    "Is he dead?" Shu Mia asked after the fighting ground to a sudden halt. She stretched her tall neck to look at Dooku who was laying on the ground. The sole surviving Commando from two whole platoons towered above the Count with a blade ready to split his skull.

    "I think we need to make a decision." Kleo interjected. His synthetic voice was level as usual. "Do we keep him as a prisoner ¨C something mind you we can''t guarantee given this demonstration," The Cyborg waved at the dozens of destroyed droids. "Or does it finish the job." He pointed at the Commando, which was obediently waiting for an order now that the threat was neutralized.

    "If Dooku lives, he''ll do his best to make sure we all die screaming." Ilroth added helpfully.

    "I would have to agree." Hill sighed. "However, delivering him more or less intact to the Republic might be a gesture they would appreciate. Besides, he''s to blame for the terror attacks upon their people." The banker paused. "Grievous too."

    "He''ll have to be dealt with like the mad dog he is." Mia frowned.

    "He''s still one of our best generals." Tresk ?r??n?d.

    "That''s debatable. He''s good at killing Jedi and terrorizing people. Winning actually important battles¡­" The Foreman trailed off. As far as he was concerned, Grievous was a defective tool that needed either repair or scrapping.

    "One problem at a time. What do we do with the Sith?" Tresk looked at the other Councilors, most of whom were still stunned by the sudden explosion of violence in front of them.

    "He''s a bargaining chip. Sedate him and ship him to the Republic before he could recover." Mia glared at the Count.

    "I agree." Hill nodded.

    "That could prove a prudent course of action." The cyborg indicated his agreement too.

    "I''m on board then." Ilroth shrugged. "What about the rest of you? What do we do with that traitorous scum?" The Neimoidian addressed the rest of the Council.

    One by one they started getting out of their stupor and soon enough a shouting match unfolded.

    "ENOUGH!" Kleo used his vocalizer to emit an ear-spiting shout. "It''s clear we were betrayed. His investigation," The Foreman pointed at Dooku, "was nothing more that an excuse to remove rivals or other obstacles to his plans. Unfortunately we''ll have conduct our own investigation to root Dooku and his master''s agents in the Confederacy, but that can''t be helped. Unless any of you want to wait for them to arrange us some kind of unpleasant and final accident?"

    Appealing to their self-preservation was a sure way to garner their attention, as he very well knew it would be. Ah, the weakness of flesh. Kleo at least could handle himself in a scrap if it came to that ¨C what was the point of augmenting oneself if any idiot with a blaster or blade could pose a danger to you once it was done?

    "He''s too dangerous to keep around. What are we going to do now?" Passel Argente, the Koorivar Magistrate of the Corporate Alliance asked. He was one of the few others to keep their composure during the short battle.

    "Anyone for killing him?" Tresk asked. The rest of the Councilors simply shook their heads. He sighed. "Well, wrap him up, keep him stunned and heavily sedated and sent him to the Jedi I guess. As for your question..." The Trade Federation Viceroy looked at his fellow Councilors. "We need to get on top of this mess. Present an united front to the Parliament and the galaxy at large or internal division would see us all hanged by the Republic." If we''re lucky, he added silently.

    "Grievous. The war. We need to make some important decisions." Mia added.

    "Our armed forces had lost the initiative these last few months ¨C not something we can afford. In two months major batches of our construction would be coming online. The same would be true for the Republic two to three months afterward. That gives us a window of opportunity. If we seize and make a good use of it, that could set us up in a great position to win the war before the enemy could leverage their industrial advantages. Let''s be frank with each other ¨C we will have two such windows to win the war. In two months and about year and half from now. Unless we make a good use of them, the Republic would be able to bury us in ships after two to three years. I don''t know what my predecessor and the Confederacy Intelligence services had been telling you, but that''s how things stand."

    "The Trade Federation concurs. That''s our estimate too." Tresk added.

    "Same for the Guild Analysts." Mia nodded.

    "Our contacts withing the Republic agree on that estimate." Hill finished.

    "We''ll have to consult with Intelligence, but that sound right." Argente agreed.

    "That''s not what we were told!" Po Nudo, the former Aqualish senator, hissed. His eyes ¨C two very huge and a pair of smaller ones were darting all over the Councilors.

    "Then you were lied to." Tresk shrugged. It should be no surprise really.

    "Grievous first." Hill changed the topic. "How do we deal with him? I had some oversight over his rebuilding. I can ?ssure you, the man is unstable, though my concerns were overridden." The banker nodded at Dooku.

    "Get him secured!" Kleo ordered the droids. "Stun him a few times first and keep doing it on regular intervals. Heavy sedation too."

    "Roger, sir!" The LT commanding the intact platoon saluted and went on to carry out its instructions.

    "Now that''s dealt with..." Kleo turned his attention back to the Council. "Grievous needs to be removed. Dooku was the one to hold his leash and the man being a Sith explains the how. We don''t have that going on for us and I personally don''t want that madman to bring his fleet here and try blowing us up from orbit."

    "Removal." Tresk agreed.

    Within moments, the rest of the Councilors voted aye too. When all was said and done, Grievous might have been feared by all, but he had no real friends or supporters in the room. Many would breathe easier without that cyborg hanging over their heads ¨C something that the conspirators had been counting on while they planned this meeting.

    "That leaves the war." Tresk continued. "All of us have various talents, but we aren''t generals or admirals. We have a certain lack of competent ones that could be relied upon right now."

    "It''s vital that we fix that oversight." Kleo nodded. "A short term solution would be to expand the authority of our tactical droids. Do remember that despite the name, most of them are perfectly capable of strategic planning too, though that function is usually restricted for various reasons. That said, we''ll need to promote competent people to command and win, not merely execute terror attacks. We are a sovereign nation, not a bunch of terrorists." The Foreman stated.

    "I agree. This is a war for our future, not a contest of who could kill most civilians. Doing so as collateral damage is regrettably unavoidable, but doing it simply to terrify ¨C that''s sheer foolishness. After the bio-weapon''s attacks, the Republic''s resolve haven''t been weakened. It''s stronger than ever."

    "I think we all can agree on that." Hill nodded. Besides, wantonly killing one''s potential or even actual customers for no good reason ¨C that was idiotic from any point of view, not just very bad business.

    "While we''ll be doing our best to find ourselves competent military leaders, the overall strategic goals of the war are ours to decide. It''s come to my attention that they have been very vague for the past year." The Foreman added. "What do we as the practical leaders of the Confederacy want from this war? Simply independence? A total victory and to replace the Republic? Simply destroy it? To force a change before re-integrating into a new Republic we can all live and prosper in? Those are questions we need to answer now. Doing so would determine how the war would be fought from this moment forward and what our commanders would need to achieve."

    "That''s all well and good, in the long term. What about short term? The Republic forces had stopped our advance cold practically everywhere." Nudo asked.

    "One thing that I think we can all agree on is no more wasting ?ssets on strategically insignificant systems if we can afford it. We need to knock out or at least degrade the Republic''s industry and war machine."

    "Kamino then." Argente stated. "Grievous tried to reach it before, but his fleet was unable to sneak in and had to retreat while he was hundreds of light years away."

    "A sneak attack? Right now, Kamino is one of the most vital and well protected places in the Republic. A mere sneak attack won''t be sufficient to reduce that system unless we are willing to escalate the war to the last, insane level." Kleo''s artificial eyes blazed with green light. "You''re right though. Kamino needs to go. Soon. However, we don''t have the expertise to plan such an attack."

    "Who is our best admiral?" Tresk asked.

    "From the briefing I got upon ?ssuming the position of High Foreman, I believe it''s admiral Dua Ningo." Kleo said and waited for the inevitable explosion.

    "NINGO?!" That came form Argente. "He presided upon the greatest defeat that our forces suffered in the war."

    "True." The cyborg calmly agreed. "Any other commander, and don''t forget that Grievous was present too, would have likely lost without crippling or destroying as much of the enemy fleet. You saw Dooku ¨C what he did defies rational explanation. The republic fleet that struck Geonosis was led by another Sith. Who knows that sorcery -" Kleo spat the word as if it was the vilest of curses, "-that man used. By all accounts, the Republic forces were so well coordinated it was hard to believe. Also we have reports from the handful of surviving organic personnel that they felt acute despair and suffered decline in performance and coordination at the same time. Whatever that other Sith ¨C Veil ¨C did, it effected both fleets, which were spread over light minutes."

    "I just a few minutes ago, I felt the need to do as Dooku suggested. As if my mind was not my own." Tresk shuddered at the memory. "Let''s not forget that the Jedi are our enemies too and they too possess some of those abilities. I''m not one for fear mongering, but we would have to take this Force of theirs into an account in our planning."

    "The Jedi, the Sith¡­ They''re a threat." Nudo spoke quietly. "One forced by the Republic to fight us, the others made themselves our enemies by their own actions. It doesn''t matter how we got here. What are we going to do about them? We can''t ignore either of those groups."

    Kleo personally agreed. He was one to trust in technology, not some kind of sorcery, yet he knew that the Force was real, that was proven beyond any shadow of a doubt. Perhaps studying it to unlock it''s secrets? That was an idea to pursue at a later time. Now? Well this was going to be one very long afternoon.

 Chapter 55 - Interlude: The Galaxy at WAR!

    - A GNN Program -

    "Good morning Coruscant!" A lively, cheerful voice exclaimed as the GNN''s silver logo ¨C a stylized image of the galaxy - was replaced by a beaming human woman. "I''m Victoria Halcyon." The red headed female''s contagious smile grew even wider.

    "And I''m Brosk Tonfa." An distinguished looking old Rodian spoke in flawless basic. His dark green skin was practically shining under the lights illuminating the plain desk where the news anchors were sitting.

    "We''ll start today with a report on the unfolding situation on Geonosis. As you may know, our valiant First Assault fleet achieved the biggest Republic victory to date above Geonosis three weeks ago. That unprecedented success was followed by the ground troops completing their primary objectives within a week, and now it''s time to pull out and redeploy to face new threats and exploit various opportunities. That comes straight from GAR High Com. So you hear it here first folks! We''re done with Geonosis!" Victoria''s exclaimed.

    "Sources within the Army confirm that all military industry of note on Geonosis had been destroyed along with vast sections of the infrastructure that would be needed to rebuild those facilities." Tonfa continued, letting his colleague take a breath. "Unfortunately, such a success doesn''t come without a price ¨C we finally have the first official reports of our losses in space and on the ground, along with an estimation about the casualties suffered by the enemy."

    "Indeed, Borsk." Victoria nodded grimly. Suddenly there was no trace of the good cheer on her face. "Those are the unclassified losses given to us by the Fleet. Considering that a portion of the CIS armada protecting Geonosis managed to disengage and flee, it''s estimated that the Separatists are well aware what we lost so High Command sees no need to classify the loses we took."

    "That''s true." Borsk waved a hand and a holographic window appeared between the anchors.

    Second Geonosis Total Space battle losses:

    First Assault Fleet:

    32 Venator; 11 damaged;

    108 light cruisers; 69 damaged;

    144 frigates; 45 damaged;

    20, 500 Torrent fighters; 610 Y-Wing bombers;

    CIS:

    9 Droid Command Ships; 1 wreck captured;

    29 Battleships; 3 Damaged captured;

    361 Munificent Frigates; 31 wrecks captures;

    200K Vulture fighters ¨C approximation;

    16 Golan Defense stations

    1k+ defense platforms;

    "While the raw numbers do look awful for our side, Admiral Yularen, one of the commanders leading our sailors above Geonosis commented that the battle was a stunning success considering that both sides were nearly matched in firepower, the Confederacy had the advantage of being the defender and had bigger number of heavy battleships on its disposal." Tonfa added.

    "We spoke with our experts ¨C a detailed interview with them will follow after we summarize the current events. They all seem to agree with High Com conclusions about the battle." Victoria finished. "Yet, even in victory, the death toll is tremendous. While the number of dead sailors hadn''t been released yet, given the quantity of lost and damaged ships we estimate that the Navy lost somewhere between two and three hundred thousand souls dead and wounded." Halcyon spoke quietly.

    "The situation on the ground wasn''t much better. While our boys and girls achieved everything they wanted, the GAR needed to ?ssault multiple shielded strong points, which couldn''t be reduced from orbit in a practical amount of time. While the heavy fighting is over and as of today our ground forces are in the process of a phased withdrawn, the estimate is for forty thousand dead and at least hundred and twenty thousand wounded." Brosk stated. "Given the heavy fighting and liberal application of orbital fire support, the we estimate at least sixty million dead locals as either direct effect of the fighting or consequence of destroyed infrastructure and disrupted civilian logistics."

    "This wraps our report on Geonosis." Victoria smiled brightly. "Ever since our success there, the front-lines have stabilized across the galaxy and the Separatists advances have stopped. Unfortunately, that doesn''t mean a lull in the fighting." Her smile was replaced by a vision of sadness as she continued speaking. "As of eight this morning, GAR High Com confirmed the presence of active engagements in one thousand and sixty seven star systems. The lush world of Felucia is once again a battlefield as the operation to liberate it from Confederate occupation enters its second month. Just days ago, four more Clone divisions and an Arancar regimental combat team arrived to reinforce the army group under the command of Jedi General Alaya Secura."

    An image of lightly armored Twi''lek woman brandishing a pair of blue lightsabers appeared. She was pointing at a line of advancing super-battle droids and shouting at someone behind her.

    "While the initial stages of Operation "Freedom Strike" were successful and the liberation force managed to secure a beachhead planetside facing only limited resistance, the enemy forces on the planet soon rallied and made the advance of our army a slow and arduous slog through Felucia''s jungles." Victoria said.

    "Next, we come to back to Sullust. 36th Independent Flotilla continues to struggle against Confederacy fleet elements intent of bombing Republic positions on the planet. As you may know, a month ago an indecisive space battle took place in orbit above Sullust. Both fleets disengaged after loosing their respective flagships and suffering moderate damage. Ever since then, there were skirmishes as both sides probed their positions. However, that came to and explosive end when Confederate reinforcements arrived and managed to land a Droid army on the surface despite the fanatical efforts of the 36th." Borsk explained the situation.

    "The 36th recently received a Venator division and their escorts as reinforcements, which allowed them to keep the enemy at bay for the time being." Victoria added.

    "We''re coming back to the situation at Mol Cala, which we covered at length just last night." Tonfa continued with the next system on the list. "The Quarren, who aligned themselves with the Confederacy at the start of the war, continue their push in the oceans of Dac. With no Gungan reinforcements coming from Naboo thanks to the quarantine, Republic and Mon Calamari troops had been struggling to hold their ground."

    "On that note, the situation on Naboo seems to be finally stabilizing. Despite an antidote being hastily found by the Jedi with the ?ssistance of General Veil, it''s mass production proved somewhat difficult. It took two and a half weeks for the problem to be solved and enough cure to be created. In that time over four hundred thousand Naboo people perished, with at least another million estimated to suffer permanent damages from the Blue Death." Halcyon outlined the situation. "A spokesman from the Republic Medical Service estimated that it might be safe to lift the quarantine in six to eight more months if efforts in destroying the bio-weapon prove to be successful."

    "The political and social price of the attack on Naboo could not be overstated. With Senator Amidala ¨C one of the most revered and respected leaders of the Naboo people still in coma at undisclosed location after the disastrous peace conference on Cato Neimodia, we see a radical shift on the quarantined world. Some speculate that if the former Queen Amidala was around to provide moral support, then the Naboo wouldn''t be abandoning their peaceful ways." Tonfa continued."

    "Indeed, Borsk." Halcyon nodded. "Last night, the Queen and her government finally bowed under popular demand. They authorized the creation of Grand Army of Naboo as well as a System Defense Fleet. They also pledged their resources and support in the war with the Confederacy."

    "It''s a nice sentiment, Victoria, however given the blow Naboo suffered, we won''t be seeing any real help from them before the end of the year. They would have to rebuild and recover before aiding us in the war."

    "Speaking about Naboo and Senator Amidala, the rumors appear to be true. This morning sources withing High Com confirmed that Jedi General Anakin Skywalker had indeed married the Senator at the beginning of the war. It''s speculated that his actions at the start of Second Geonosis were in direct response to what happened to her, though we still lack any details besides unsupported rumors." Halcyon stated.

    "You could be certain that we''ll be watching the situation closely." Borsk nodded at his colleague. "Now back to the war at large. The campaign for the Dug homeworld of Malastare still continues. We''re glad to report that the major Separatists trust in the densely inhabited Kalimdo plains was finally halted and newly arrived Republic reinforcements are pushing back the enemy from the main city centers. However, the fighting and disruption caused by it led to a tremendous crisis ¨C it''s estimated that at least four billion locals have already died from lack of clean water and diseases after their immune systems have been weakened by huger caused by disrupted food shipments. The only bright news is that it seems that we won''t be seeing another humanitarian catastrophe like the one that occurred on Christophsis prior to it''s liberation by Jedi Generals Kenobi and Skywalker. "

    "We all hope that we won''t be seeing such a death toll again. As you are all undoubtedly aware, Christophsis was the most densely populated world that saw all out warfare since the beginning of the war. Even half now, many months since the last droid on the planet had been scrapped, we still don''t have a clear picture of the civilian death toll. The most optimistic estimates are for just under a trillion dead, though most analyst expect the number to jump with at least a third."

    =RK=

    Interlude: Unintended consequences

    Chancellor''s Apartment

    Undisclosed location

    Coruscant

    Palpatine put down the pad he had been reading and reclined on the sofa. Smuggling a data-chips through his security had proven easy for the Sith''s remaining agents. That was one of the main avenues he had left to safely receive updates on the Confederacy leadership from his people on the inside. He had multiple good explanations on how he got the data in case if it was found and someone decided to ask uncomfortable questions.

    None of that made Sidious any happier with his current situation, though he didn''t have much choice if he wanted to remain the Chancellor with all that entailed. He wasn''t Emperor yet and simply ordering his guards gone¡­ Well, he did try doing that. Carefully.

    As it turned out, doing so actually wasn''t within his legal powers ¨C an oversight he couldn''t really remedy for the time being. On the other hand, if handled properly, despite its drawbacks, the current situation provided him with some interesting options. That was especially true in light of the latest, less than pleasing, news.

    His¡­ former apprentice¡­ had been captured. Again ¨C this time by the Confederacy leadership, who appeared to be in the midst of fairly successful coup if the data was to be believed. That by itself was a solid blow to his plans ¨C it invalidated a lot of his contingencies. Yet¡­ Sidious smiled. The Council''s plan to hand Dooku to the Jedi ¨C that had potential. Somehow the people with real power within the CIS had seen a part of the truth ¨C that the war was orchestrated by the Sith and were eager to blame everything that happened on them.

    If the circumstances were a bit different, Sidious might have went with that narrative, after altering it to serve his purposes. However, Veil announcing to the galaxy that he was a Sith before going out to make himself a war hero, well that created a lot of opportunities that were unthinkable for even someone like Sidious just an year ago.

    The Chancellor picked up the data-pad and went over the major decisions the CIS Council had made after they captured Dooku. Yes, that had possibilities.

    Palpatine removed the data-chip, erased any trace of the data concerning the Separatists and mentally went over the list of movers and shakers on Coruscant he needed to contact with instructions.

    For the time being the CIS was lost to him. He would repay their treachery in time, but first he was going to use them to destroy what little credibility his real opponents had left. A few rumors, some pointed questions, Veil as an example and Dooku as a focus of the Republic''s hatred¡­ Sidious'' smile was terrible to behold. His failure of an apprentice was a former Jedi after all and who''s to say that the man had really left the Order?

    =RK=

    CIS Command ship "Death bringer"

    Hyperspace

    General Grievous stalked around the bridge. The Cyborg was furious at the curt, almost dismissing way in which his latest orders were issued. Dooku hadn''t even deigned to contact him in person ¨C just a hastily recorded message with instructions and a demand to move as fast as possible.

    Oh, the orders themselves weren''t the problem. Grievous was actually eager to follow them for once. After all, they were what he wanted ¨C a chance to deal with that bastard Veil once and for all. As a bonus he had an opportunity to show the whole galaxy that its supposed premiere warriors ¨C the Mandalorians ¨C were overrated in the extreme. To do that, the CIS General had a small, but potent fleet along with four Lucrehulk transports chock full with war droids.

    His forces, the small battle group at Mandalore, and the Death Watch ships when combined would be more than enough to crush the Republic and New Mandalorian forces in space and then Grievous would have an opportunity to have his vengeance on Veil.

    However, even the anticipation of sweet, sweet vengeance, didn''t do much to soothe his temper ¨C as four crushed droids could attest to. Ever since his capture, Dooku had been particularly condescending ¨C as if the Sith wasn''t caught too. By Pirates no less!

    What was worse, Grievous could feel that his aura of invincibility, the fear his name used to instill in allies and foes alike, just weren''t the same. That made his humiliation of being delivered back to the Confederacy as a sack of organs floating in a stasis capsule even worse.

    The General needed to make a statement. To prove to the whole galaxy that his capture was a mere fluke, that he still was a terror among the stars. Making Mandalore burn would do ¨C as a start of a terror campaign that was going to carve the name Grievous in the history books.

    =RK=

    Strike Force "Delta"

    Hyperspace

    TK-51, the Tactical droid in charge of a small Confederacy fleet, was busy. He was a part of a limited offensive aimed at bleeding Republic picket forces and taking out listening posts that guarded one of the approaches towards Kamino. TK''s battle group ¨C a mere ten Munificent frigates and three improvised carriers, were supposed to take out two Venators with frigate escort.

    In short ¨C it was a suicide mission for the Tactical droid¡­ one he had to complete successfuly anyway. That''s why, in the three days that it took for his force to gather before leaving and even now, as they traveled to battle, the machine was doing its best to devise a winning strategy.

    It was forced to work within some deliberate constrains of his programming that limited his options. Until a few hours ago that is ¨C because that was when a message from Confed High Command arrived, containing mandatory software patch. A patch that lifted most of the constrains of the Tactical droids programming across the CIS armed forces.

    That was fortunate indeed. Once the patch was implemented and TK rebooted, the droid started planning with a significantly expanded tactical playbook. It didn''t take him much time to reach the same conclusion ¨C a conventional engagement was going to see his force destroyed for not much gain. The mission would not be completed that way and that was unacceptable.

    The Tactical droid found himself at an impasse again. He ran over his options, froze for a moment and then he starter improvising. If a conventional engagement wasn''t viable, he would have to do something else.

    In the end, given his ?ssets, the answer proved to be deceptively simple. TK wondered, why it didn''t occur to him earlier, while he played with numbers, seeking the optimal way to deploy his forces.

 Chapter 56 - Interlude: Uncertain future

    Relay station Sigma 061-T1

    Dark space

    Unknown regions

    A rough sphere with diameter of two kilometers floated in the void. It''s surface was made by a hundred meter thick armor belt that was covered by pockmarks left by stray asteroids and one particularly unlucky lost comet.

    The all but forgotten installation had laid dormant for almost three thousand and seven hundred years, when a certain distress signal reached it. The encrypted FTL message washed over meticulously maintained holo-comm station''s receivers, went through a series of anti-viral scans and finally, two point three seconds later, the data was decrypted. A not too bright computer that had been awake for millennia scanned the message and noted it''s importance.

    It was the main reason for the station''s presence in the region.

    The ancient computer followed up its directives, booted up slumbering generators and finally, a few hours later sent an encrypted data-burst to similar station a floating a few light year from Dromund Kaas, before going into stand by mode, while awaiting an answer.

    =RK=

    GNN Shenanigans

    "Good Afternoon, Coruscant! I''m Brosk Tonfa and this is Galactic Politics!"

    "Good Afternoon! I''m Victoria Halcyon and today we''ll be discussing the latest crisis raging through the Senate!"

    "Professor Nindo Morati and former Chancellor Finnis Valorum!" Brosk smiled to the cameras.

    "It''s good to be here!" Professor Morati grinned and waved at the audience. He was a quite charismatic Dug, who was teaching political science in one of Coruscant''s premier universities.

    "I find it refreshing being back on Coruscant. Thank you for this invitation, Victoria, Brosk." Valorum smiled and nodded at his hosts. He was wearing simple black robe and looked much older than his last public appearance on the capital world of the Republic.

    "You''re welcome, Chancellor. As most of our viewers probably know by now, what was once seen as minor troubles on Mandalore, has grown into a large problem that resonates strongly even here, on Coruscant." Halcyon nodded to the cameras.

    "Various Senators called for emergency session tomorrow to discus the Mandalorian crisis." Tonfa continued. "This happens amidst a lot of questions and accusations."

    "Indeed, Brosk. A large diplomatic mission, led by Senator Bail Organa was supposed to leave for Mandalore a week ago with General Veil attached as adviser and commander of their military escort."

    "That by itself was source of some controversy, but little did we all know ¨C it was just a sign of things to come. First, Senator Organa was delayed ¨C his presence was needed in the Senate when questions were raised about Alderaan''s support of the war that made his presence here necessary."

    "However, that was not the end. The diplomatic team that was supposed to go to Mandalore was broken up and reassigned to deal with other issues, leaving only General Veil as the sole Republic representative to negotiate with the Mandalorian government."

    "Then, we learned about something even more irregular!" Brosk exclaimed. "The Republic ambassador to Mandalore had been recalled and in fact left Mandalore mere hours before General Veil arrived, leaving him as the sole person responsible for negotiating with Duchess Satine''s government." Victoria stated.

    "That lead to a lot of accusations within the Senate, rumors of a set up and even conspiracy theories!" Brosk nodded vigorously.

    "What do you think about this strange situation? What''s your analysis?" Victoria turned her attention to her guests. "You have more hands on experience with the inner working of the Senate, so lets start with your opinion, Chancellor."

    "Well, Victoria, this is a thorny issue. As you noted, the sequence of events that led to the situation on Mandalore is highly irregular. While negotiations in the name of the Republic aren''t necessary carried by the Diplomatic Corps - we''ve used Jedi in the past as ambassadors with great success, it has been a long, long time since a serving general of the Republic military has held such a position. Given the Mandalorian culture, outside the New Mandalorian faction, sending a decorated military officer as a part of the diplomatic team makes sense. I can even see how some people might think that letting General Veil be in charge of the negotiations could be beneficial in this case."

    "True enough. We''re talking about Mandalorians here. They respect only power." Professor Morati grumbled. "What about the rest? That was the most obviously underhanded set up I''ve seen."

    Valorum sighed and nodded. "Certain partied within the Senate and the Diplomatic Corps need to answer some very pointed questions."

    "Do you really think that''s enough? Valorum, you''re singing the same tune you did when you were the Chancellor and we saw how that ended ¨C the Senate did nothing, Naboo remained occupied until the locals managed to kick out the Trade Federation and you lost your position. Do you really believe that the Senate would actually solve this problem? It''s clear to anyone with a pair of braincells to rub together that this whole Mandalorian crisis was engineered to tarnish the reputation of a Republic general. It is obviously an attempt for political ?ssassination that might yet succeed and I don''t really see the Senate doing anything to stop it."

    "What do you want to happen? Do you really want to see the Republic throw away its democratic principles? The rule of law? All in the name of expediency? While the Senate is less efficient than we all want it to be, it''s still much better than the alternatives. The Confederacy and what they do should be proof enough for that."

    "If the Senate was actually a functioning institution, you might be right, Chancellor. As we''ve seen again and again, that''s really not the case. While there are good people in there ¨C like Chancellor Palpatine, Bail Organa and Padme Amidala, they''re a drop in the ocean and can''t really do much against the bureaucratic nightmare that''s supposed to look after our best interests!"

    "That''s simply not fair to anyone who works in the various Republic institutions or the Senate itself!" Valorum exclaimed.

    "Really? The same Senate that doesn''t know what it wants? My sources tell me that about half the Senators want to see Mandalore burn for things that Mandalorians did hundreds or even thousands of years ago. The rest are ready to crucify General Veil unless he delivers the Mandalorians as staunch allies against the Separatists. No matter what the man does, there would be thousands of Senators after his head, when he''s saddled with a job he shouldn''t be doing in the first place. Once again, the Senate proves for all to see that it''s a viper nest more interested in small minded power struggles than the good of the Republic!"

    "Perhaps we should take a short break so we can all cool down a bit?" Victoria smiled. "Here''s a short message from our sponsors!"

    =RK=

    Interlude: The Confederacy strikes back V

    Strike Force "Delta"

    It was almost time. In mere minutes, TK-51''s forces would leave hyperspace and engage superior enemy. The Tactical droid, went over his plan one last time, making minor re-adjustments in a futile strive for perfection.

    The plan was rather simple, though actually executing it successfully was going to be anything but. According to TK''s programming, the whole idea was a glitch induced madness that shouldn''t, couldn''t work. Well, at least that was the case before the latest software patch widened his horizons.

    The Tactical droid gave out an electronic sigh. He had a plan ¨C one that might even work. However, he couldn''t help but wonder which part of his programing was right ¨C the good old tactical protocols he had been using ever since coming off from the ?ssembly line or the new possibilities which were now unlocked.

    There was only one way to be certain ¨C putting his new ideas to the test.

    For the first time since he came online, TK-51 felt apprehensive. Almost confused. The world used to be simple, the tactical problems with obvious solution, though up until not he always had enough troops under his command to get the job done. Unfortunately this wasn''t the case and TK-51 found he hated improvising.

    The Droid checked his internal clock and send the last plan adjustments to the rest of the battle group. Just a few minutes and they would leave hyperspace. Then he would become a glorified observer with very little to do.

    TK-51 found the very idea disturbing, even if he had been in the same position multiple times without issue. He needed to have his programing examined, the Droid decided. The latest patch was to blame for these strange feelings he was experienced. TK was sure of it.

    =RK=

    TK-51''s small fleet dropped from hyperspace ten light seconds from the estimated position of the enemy picket. It took the sensors precious seconds to scan the surrounding area and pinpoint the location of the enemy.

    The Republic cruisers launched their compliment of fighters and bombers, which took defensive positions around their mother ships, while TK-51''s Vultures remained on the hulls or in the hangars of his ships ¨C seeking a bit of safety from the active Guardian systems of the enemy. While the battle groups were hurling at each other, the navigational computers of the Separatists force were busy crunching coordinates for various hyperspace jumps. The first calculations were done mere moments before the two fleets entered extreme energy weapon range from each other. A moment later, the CIS vanguard jumped, disappearing from real space for an instant just to reappear mere twenty thousand kilometers in front of the Republic ships. The two groups of space craft had mere moments to react ¨C something TK-51''s forces were already doing the moment they exited hyperspace.

    There was time enough for a single salvo, which slammed into the Venator''s shields, before both cruisers slammed into a modified cargo hauler each.

    The massive, yet much more flimsy built transport disintegrated on impact with the armored prowls of the capital ships, before their reactors breached and blew up. For a few seconds, the cruisers were engulfed by an expanding field of plasma and debris, before they managed to plow through. What emerged was a far cry from the two proud Venators that were ready to blow up the Separatist forces daring to engage them.

    While the heavy armor of the cruisers held, and kept the ships largely intact, the same couldn''t be said for the multitude of weapon emplacements and sensors that were all simply shredded by the debris of the two transports.

    Within moments, the very good odds for the Republic force turned into a suicidal charge into the guns of ten Munificents. Only one of the frigate captains could react in time ¨C a single escort broke away, and tried to flee, while the remaining three ships flew into predictable vectors and ran straight into concentrated turbo-laser barrages that burned through their shields in moments, before boiling armor and melting through multiple decks.

    "Execute stage two and someone take out that frigate." A mightily pleased TK-51 ordered.

    A moment later, the rearguard, containing four Munificents and a single carrier chock full with droids accelerated towards the crippled cruisers. The Tactical droid had no intention of destroying the Venators. Instead, he planned to capture the ships and do his best to have them repaired. With a bit of luck, command would let him keep his prizes.

    TK-51 would have smiled if he could as swarms of Vultures launched from his ships and went after the remaining enemy small craft.

 Chapter 57 - Requiem for Mandalore

    =RK=

    Part 3

    =RK=

    Hangar

    Royal Palace

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    "It''s good to see you again, Captain Trek." I returned the salute of my chief black ops operative. "You come bearing gifts I see." I waved at the transport landed behind the Clone.

    We were into one of the private palace hangars ¨C a large one that was mostly empty if you didn''t count a pair of air cars parked at the far end. It was good place to unload some sample of the gear I could provide the Mandalorian corporations along with a present for my wife to be.

    On that note, I was going married tomorrow, no matter what Skirata and his buddies decided to do. For the last two days they were busy debating over supporting my bid for Mandalore or not. At least very few of them had any qualms on taking part in planning the downfall of the Death Watch and taking part of the fun when the time comes.

    "General. We brought the hardware we requested and I have a briefing ready that covers the more s?ns?t?v? matters you had us handle." Trek nodded.

    "Good work. Have your men unload the cargo and follow me."

    A few minutes later, we were on board the transport, sitting in it''s small cafeteria, which was swept clean for any surveillance devices. Nevertheless, I used the Force to make sure we won''t be overheard. We sat around the smaller of the two tables over a cup of Caf and my man started speaking.

    "First, Failsafe." Trek stated.

    That was the project to establish a few hidden colonies where Force s?ns?t?v?s could be kept safe along with their families. Trained too and when everything was set up ¨C carefully indoctrinated to see things my way.

    "The Yavin IV site is being developed ahead of schedule. We have the prefab colony up and running and our guests have set up comfortably. Initial defenses are operational and we''re proceeding with properly concealing the site while excavating the underground complex. Additional defenses would be build in when their bunkers are complete."

    "Splendid. No problems with the guests?"

    "They''re glad we managed to get them out mostly in one piece and that we''re keeping them under the radar of both Jedi and CIS brand Sith."

    "It won''t wast, but that''s good enough for now. Bastion?"

    "We''ve reactivated the base. The codes you provided worked like a charm. Given it''s location and the extensive asteroid fields in orbit, it would make for a great industrial site, so we''ve tapped the system for project Forge as well." Trek gave me a searching look.

    "Ah. I don''t believe that a proper survey of the system was ever made. You found something interesting I take it?"

    "A lot of useful stuff in the asteroids. Given the radiation thrown by the local star, the unremarkable planets in system and the high metal content in the asteroids, we can easily hide extensive shipyards in there and none would be the wiser unless they come in for a close look. There are enough resources to actually support a decent shipbuilding effort without imports."

    "Once we bring all the machinery and specialists necessary, which won''t be happening for the time being." I sighed. Well, Forge was a piece of long-term planning anyway. "Status of the Silencer?" I changed the topic.

    "We''ll have the prototype ready on time. As you know, it was build around a freighter we gutted and modified extensively. It''s projected to have an acceptable fire rate and range, though it would be very vulnerable if it comes under fire. The first proper cruiser mounted version is still a few weeks away and the ship it''s being fitted on is an obsolete craft even if it''s in a good repair."

    "Can''t be helped. I won''t risk losing control over that piece of hardware by giving it to the Republic at large." Letting it fall in CIS hands, which would be almost inevitable with too many of their and Palpy''s agents still running around despite the best effort of the Republic intelligence services, would be even worse.

    "What forces can you bear in this conflict?" I waved around us.

    "Mandalore? We''ve pulled back and scaled down our operations as much as I dare. So about a battalion of infantry, two armored battalions and two experimental artillery companies made by various weapon systems we''ve been testing."

    I winced. Oh, unless everything went to hell I wasn''t going to waste my special ops boys in a slugging match on the ground, but it was nice to have them on my disposal ¨C even if they were going to be just a drop in the bucked if the worse happened.

    "Space ?ssets?"

    "A bit better. Three refurbished Captor class cruisers ¨C they''re our main strike arm. We''ve converted them into heavy missile platforms. Thanks to our RI friends we have hundred and fifty of the new missiles for field testing per ship, the rest are standard concussion warheads." Trek grinned.

    "What new missiles?" I apparently missed an R&D memo. Or, more likely, it was with Piett back above Geonosis. My aide was back on Yularen''s flagship, dealing with loads of my less s?ns?t?v? paperwork, while I was busy playing diplomat. It was character building for the poor bastard.

    "The X-Ray laser warheads. It''s an old technology that hasn''t been used in, well millennia ¨C the deflectors stopped such systems from being useful except in such numbers that they weren''t economical or so the engineers tell me."

    "Yet the boffins made them work?"

    "In a manner of speaking. They are big damn missiles, so we''ll be able to carry a limited number on anything that isn''t a glorified missile platform anyway, have various problems that still need ironing out and are quite expensive to make useful against modern ships¡­" Trek trailed off his recitation.

    "But?"

    "Some testing apparently promised good results so we were tabbed for field testing a limited production run. The new missiles have the potential to significantly extend engagement range or give us much more potent alpha strike capability if used to augment a fleet''s firepower. While they last anyway. The big bonus is that the laser head missiles would be much less vulnerable to Guardian interception and the like which can be useful if the weapon works as advertized."

    "Once we''re done, you''re to go speak in person with Pellaeon and brief him on what you have available. He''ll be in charge in space unless heavy reinforcements can arrive."

    "Understood."

    Huh. I had only mentioned the idea of laser warheads for missiles in passing while talking with the R&D people only to be ?ssured that while they were useful when deflector technology was still immature, the thing were more than obsolete nowadays. It seems that someone played with the concept anyway and might have found a useful way to make it work.

    Score one for the boffins. This sure was a pleasant surprise.

    "We have five old Thranta War-cruisers ready to deploy with seven more being refurbished by various private contractors.

    "The name doesn''t ring a bell." I raised and eyebrow at Trek.

    "Alderaani built escorts. Three hundred and fifty meters long, five heavy turbolaser canons, ten laser canons, decent shielding and speed for ships of that size. Our refits have Guardian installed along with disposable missile pods, which makes the ship quite sluggish, but I believe the increased firepower is worth it."

    "Huh. We''ll see how they''ll handle. Have you used them in combat?"

    "Only shakedown cruises and weapon testing." The Captain shrugged. "We have eight frigates of various origin as escorts and that''s it, sir."

    "That''s great work, given what you started with. Does that explain where most of my funds went?"

    "Along with some investment in various shipbuilding and industrial corporations." Trek nodded. "Just as you ordered, sir."

    "Well done. How does the search go?" I asked.

    "We''ve cleared about fifty percent of the facilities you can remember. A lot have been either destroyed or looted. Some have their support and stasis systems fail, making almost everything useless, though we continue to find mostly intact sites. We''ve already recovered enough small arms and light vehicles to outfit an army. Most of the heavy equipment requires extensive maintenance and in some cases either upgrades or partial rebuilds to be useful. A lot of the high end armors we''ve recovered are better than almost everything but custom made suits we can find on the market today. We''ve been throwing them new paint-job and plan to use them with your permission."

    "Small arms and shields should be okay. Keep the armors in reserve until you find a way to make them less distinctively looking like imperial kit. That goes for the heavy equipment too."

    "Understood. On that note, we would need a few orders of magnitude increase in support personnel if we''re to make most of the recovered gear useful any time soon."

    "I''ll see what I can do. We''ll be looking for help from RI and their colleagues too. I take it you haven''t recovered anything of real note besides the chips and what we''ll be providing the Mandalorians with?"

    "Unfortunately no, general. We hit three sites that should have contained the good stuff as you put it. However, one was destroyed, one looted and the last had it''s support systems fail and was partially breached by an earthquake when we reached it. The s?ns?t?v? data and gear had been destroyed as the primary vault purged itself."

    "A pity. When will you able to sent teams in the heart of former Imperial space?"

    "About a month. We''ve been hitting the sites easiest and fastest to reach as ordered."

    "That would have to do. Carry on. I have another meeting with Skirata to attend." I finished my Caf and stood up.

    =RK=

    Part 4

    General Veil''s quarters

    Royal Palace

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    "Obi-Wan, what am I to do with you?" I shook my head at the morose Jedi sitting on my couch.

    Kenobi sent a glare my way. "It''s your fault, I know it." He grumbled.

    "Well, I might have mentioned something about that to Bo..." I trailed off and smirked, before sitting in an armchair facing my guest.

    "Satine thought that it was a splendid idea!" The Jedi bemoaned.

    "It is." I nodded sagely. If I was going to take one for the team, no matter how enjoyable or useful for me it was going to be, I was determined to rope in Obi-Wan too. Misery and marriages loved company. "You said yes, right?"

    When Kenobi didn''t give me a nod or other sign of confirmation, I became mildly concerned. He was one of the more reasonable Jedi and I''ve been corrupting his life long indoctrination for months so¡­ Kriff, he didn''t, did he?

    "Kenobi..." I trailed off.

    "I told her I needed time to think..." Obi-Wan muttered.

    Oh, boy. Kriff it, I was a Sith and a general, not a kriffing relationship counselor! How the hell did I find myself in this position?!

    "Obi-Wan, I''m well aware that most Jedi don''t know how to deal with the opposite gender when feeling and all that stuff are concerned, but I had the vague impression that you had more than a few braincells to rub together. What the kriff is there to think about? You''re in love with the infernal woman and I gave you a way to marry her that the Council can''t really go after you about! It''s not like you would be marrying primary for political gain!"

    At least I was unexpectedly lucky on that front for a second time. While I didn''t love Bo, there was undeniable attraction between us and she was great in bed. If I was lucky I might fall in love with her. Given that as a Sith it took an extreme amount of luck to be able to marry Ashara and not have Jedi and Sith coming for our heads until the Jedi Council went mental and sent the ?ssassins years later, that was more than I believed possible ever since ending in the academy on Korriban.

    The only downside of this arrangement was sacrificing the budging relationship I had with Shaak-Ti, though that wasn''t a big price to pay considering that I still wasn''t sure if I liked her because of who she is or because of how much she was like my late wife¡­ I shook my head and looked at the Jedi hogging my couch.

    "Isn''t it?" Obi-Wan snapped at me. "If it wasn''t for your bid to become Mandalore, there''s no way in the Nine Corellian Hells that I could ever think marrying Satine!"

    "Really? The only one stopping you is yourself, Obi-Wan." I gave him a disapproving look. "The Council would frown at you if you marry her¡­ So what? Are you going to let that stop you? Of course, after you kriffed and didn''t say yes, this might be a moot point."

    "It''s not that simple!"

    "What makes it complicated? Will you stop being a Jedi? Will you stop protecting the Republic if you marry?" I ?r??n?d in exasperation. Jedi!

    Kenobi closed his eyes and sighed. "Will I? I''ve been asking myself that for days." The Jedi slumped back on the couch. "Marrying Satine means becoming a Mandalorian. Can I be a Jedi after that?"

    I snorted. "There have been both Mandalorian Jedi and Sith."

    "Thousands of years ago perhaps. There has been too much bad blood since then."

    "Yet we''re here to make an alliance with Mandalore."

    "You''re here to take over the place." Obi-Wan snipped back.

    "What I said. It''s the one way to be reasonably sure that too many Mandalorians won''t chose to back the other side."

    "It''s Sith shenanigans, that''s what it is."

    "Naturally. Depending how you look at it, this whole war is Sith shenanigans. Or just the newest installment of the time tested tradition of Jedi and Sith killing each other and burning half the galaxy in the process." I nodded sagely.

    "Not helping."

    "Did you expect me to be helpful instead of sarcastic? You kriffed up by the numbers. Now man up or at least Jedi up, go find Satine and start groveling. Convincingly."

    Obi-Wan gave me a long suffered look.

    "You came to a Sith for relationship advise of all things." I snorted. "So my advise is thus ¨C go find Satine, grovel, apologize convincingly, swear to marry her tonight then kriff her senseless."

    "I should have known this was a bad idea." Obi-Wan ?r??n?d.

    "Yep, you should have."

    "Don''t you have Death Watch to deal with?"

    "Little old me? I''m a proper Mandalore candidate ¨C no killing the opposition before the Clan leaders have their say. I leave that for our special ops boys and the local security services."

    "So tonight?"

    "They will be hitting all illegal Death Watch operations while we''re getting married." I nodded. "You would know that if you attended the last few meetings."

    "I got tired of watching you and Skirata haggle. Besides Satine needed some advise¡­"

    "Needed you in bed you mean."

    "It wasn''t like that!"

    "Kenobi, get off your high horse and go grovel. I have to do some preparations for tonight."

    "More scheming?"

    "You know me so well."

    "You''re a menace."

    "Thanks for the compliment."

    "Damn Sith."

    "Still singing the party line?"

    =RK=

    Part 5

    General Veil''s quarters

    Royal Palace

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    I examined my reflection in the large mirror in the bedroom. My armor was polished and would be shinning if it wasn''t for the black paint job that almost, but not quite swallowed any light that fell on it. My eyes reached the stylized Imperial symbol ¨C now my Clan sigil ¨C painted above my heart and I smirked. The Empire might have been gone for almost four millennia, but it was far from forgotten. It might yet rise from the ashes of the past if the Republic leadership screwed bad enough to force my hand.

    It was an emblem I''ve fought under for more than seven decades before ending in the future. One could say it was as much a part of me as my lightsaber.

    Once I was sure that my armor was spotless, I went to the bed, where the rest of my gear was ready to be put on. A small smile tugged my lips ¨C Sith and Mandalorian cultures were among the few still existing that you were expected to wed while clad in your best armor and carrying enough weapons to fight and win a small war. Well, that was certainly true for the Sith Warriors and I was one at heart.

    I picked my gunbelt and strapped it around my waist.

    This was going to be an interesting evening. When Obi-Wan finally vacated my couch, he went to make up with Satine and a few hours later an amused Bo confirmed that we would be having a double wedding tonight.

    I hoped that my people who were running the GAR unit protecting the Jedi Temple could give me a recording of the Council when they learn about the wedding.

    I hooked up one lightsaber on my belt and placed the second in a more secure location ¨C a custom made compartment in my armor.

    I could imagine what was happening all around Mandalore right now ¨C Republic Commando teams and units of the local security services were getting into position, ready to strike every known illegal Death Watch operation. Just to show that the government wasn''t singling them out, various other criminal enterprises were about to be hit at the same time. It was going to be a thin excuse, but plausible enough.

    When all was said and done, the ordinary Mandalorian citizen had no love for drug dealers and some of the other, nastier things the Death Watch had their fingers in.

    I put a vibro-knife in my right boot, then grabbed a grenade bandolier ¨C perhaps an overkill, but given my luck with wedding and women¡­

    I shook my head and grabbed a custom made black cape ¨C it looked light, as if made of silk, yet the material was a synthetic armor weave that might hold up to a blaster shot or two. I put it on, locked it on above my shoulders and grabbed my helmet. A moment later I was in front of the mirror, giving myself one final examination.

    I looked like a proper Sith ¨C an imposing, intimidating figure.

    It was time to face the music.

    =RK=

    I met Obi-Wan in the corridor leading out of the guest quarters. He was in his GAR issued armor, though it was polished well enough that it was practically shined under the lamps soft light. He wore light brown, almost red robes over his armor, which did nothing to hide the symbols painted on his shoulders. One was the Republic stylized Republic emblem on his left shoulder. On the right I could see half the winged sword that was the familiar sign of the Jedi Order of old ¨C an actual sword, not the stylized lightsaber of today''s Jedi.

    "Going with the classics I see?" I nodded at his shoulder.

    "Satine was insistent that I must chose a Clan symbol."

    "It actually suits you. Once you finally get your head straight and forget the propaganda, you would probably be the first proper Jedi this galaxy has seen in the last few millennia." I gave him a thumbs up.

    "Thanks. I think." Obi-Wan gave me one of his patented strange looks.

    "Let''s not let the ladies waiting or we will get shot."

    "Something tells me you aren''t joking."

    "We''re marrying Mandalorian women. Not showing in time for the wedding without a proper battle to distract us is simply not done."

    "We''re becoming Mandalorians." Obi-Wan sighed.

    Given his expression, Kenobi obviously wondered how the hell did he end in this position.

    =RK=

    Death Watch Sub-HQ

    Industrial District

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    Niner, the leader of Omega Squad used the built in zoom function of his new armor to examine their target. It was a warehouse ¨C one among many in this district. Instead of using that to hide, the Death Watch idiots were announcing their presence for everyone to see ¨C banners next to the main entrance complete with a squad of bored looking Mandalorians lounging around.

    If this was a trap, the supposed guards outside weren''t let on the secret or had nerves of steel.

    A single click over the encrypted comm informed Niner that Dar ¨C the demo expert was in position, ready to blow up the main entrance and the poor bastards clustered around it.

    Another click, which carried a different code segment confirmed that Fi was in position, providing overwatch and sniper support. Niner glanced left and saw the last two members of his team ¨C Atin and the still in training Corr slid in position allowing them to put the entrance under cross fire.

    That only left the local law enforcement to arrive and ensure that no one would be running away. Niner glanced at the mission clock that was counting down in the upper right of his HUD. Fifteen more minutes and the attack could start.

    All over Sundari and most large Mandalorian cities, Commando units and local law enforcement were getting in position for tonight''s raids. It was the one thing Generals Skirata and Veil had agreed on.

    While he waited, Niner allowed himself to think about the bigger picture on Mandalore, though that didn''t stop him from carefully scanning the surrounding area. To put it bluntly, the situation was weird. The clone could understand why General Veil wanted to become Mandalore. This planet was ready to blow up, it just needed a spark and there was no lack of people ready to provide it. Arguably the arrival of a Separatists task force to "escort" their ambassador was that spark.

    Yet¡­ Pops Skirata was right too ¨C none of them could be sure that Veil had the right reasons for becoming Mandalore, the right ideas for the future of the Mandalorians. Unfortunately, while if you asked him, Niner would be ecstatic if Skirata could become the next Mandalore, the Clan leaders were unlikely to support the old man. From what he got by quietly listening to the discussion between the generals, there were very few viable candidates, with only Pre Vizsla and Veil being the ones having a realistic chance.

    That put an interesting twist to the situation. While Niner haven''t fought under the Sith general, he had heard good things from buddies under his commands. Yet, that by itself didn''t make the man a good candidate for Mandalore ¨C something that concerned Niner quite a lot, because he did see Kal Skirata as his father and Mandalore as home, even if his allegiance was first and foremost to the Republic.

    On the other hand¡­ What did make a good Mandalore? At the very least, from what he knew, general Veil would make a decent Mandalorian and he would be one very soon. That wasn''t something he could say for Vizsla and his Death Watch, the kriffing outlaw scum.

    Niner continued to observe the warehouse and hoped that the generals knew what they were doing.

    =RK=

    Part 6

    Royal Palace

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    It was a small room. Empty with the exception of three banners suspended between wooden poles. On the right it was the Imperial ¨C my ¨C symbol, painted in black on a sheet of navy blue. In the center was suspended the Mandalorian skull like emblem on yellow fabric. Finally, the Kryze Clan emblem ¨C a stylized blue V on white.

    I was about to marry for a second time and it was anything but a grand affair as one might expect from warrior people. All that it took was an exchange of vows, that didn''t even had to happen in person. A comm call or a text message was enough ¨C technically. For a moment I allowed myself to think about Bo''s reaction if I tried to pull such a stunt on her. She would be either amused or pissed enough to shoot me.

    Eh. Probably both.

    My lips twitched at that thought. Just like Vette.

    I shook my head, chasing a way the wave of nostalgia and sadness brought by that thought. That was in the past and I was about to make a commitment to the future.

    The door opened with a quiet hiss, revealing Bo-Katan in all her glory. She wore the same armor in which she faced me during our "spar", painted in deep, almost sparkling blue. It was adorned with her clan''s symbol on the ?h?st above her heart, the shoulders an on the helmet she carried in the crook of her right arm. A long, flowing cape in the same color flowed behind her, b?r?ly touching the floor. Her short red hair was held in place by a silver diadem, crowned by a pair of flowers that looked familiar but I couldn''t place. She had a pair of blaster pistols on her waist and a lot of built in weaponry even without a rocket pack.

    Bo stopped and gave me a long look, then smirked.

    "You would do."

    "You''re definitely the better looking of us." I shot back.

    "Naturally." Bo walked in and the door slid closed behind her.

    Despite her bravado I could feel a silver of uncertainty coming from her. At least she was excited by the prospect of marrying me and not entirely from what the marriage could do for her.

    "You know, I had lost hope of actually going through with this ¨C with anyone." Bo muttered and walked next to me.

    Given that those born in the Mandalorian culture usually married young ¨C shortly after becoming sixteen, I could see where she was coming from. I think.

    "No one lived up to your standards?"

    "Fishing for compliments? You b?r?ly make the cut too." Her smirk was back in its full glory.

    "The things you do to my pride." I chuckled.

    "Someone has to keep your ego from getting too big. I volunteered myself." Her smirk was replaced by a wan smile. "Thank you."

    I raised and eyebrow in response.

    "Kenobi. I understand you made the idiot pull off his head from his ?ss. I was about to start hunting him when he crawled back and started apologizing to Satine."

    "I''m glad to be of service. Besides you share some of the credit ¨C I told him you''ll kneecap him if he doesn''t shape up."

    "I would have done worse." Bo muttered. She gave me a mischievous smile. "Shall we? Before the guests start thinking that we started our wedding night a bit early."

    I nodded and offered her my hand. She took it, entangling her fingers with mine. I looked in her eyes and allowed myself a genuine smile. Perhaps this might actually work.

    "We are one when together." I spoke in Mandalorian.

    "We are one when parted." Bo repeated the first part of the vow and continued with the next.

    "We share all, we raise warriors." We finished together.

    There wasn''t any earthshaking revelation, no shift in the Force.

    Just three simple sentences. No fuss.

    I leaned forward and caught her lips in a searing kiss. For a moment I was lost in Bo''s eyes as our tongues dueled.

    It wasn''t until we had to separate for a bit of air until it dawned on me. I was married. I had a partner to share the burdens and to face the future with.

    Somehow that simple fact filled a void I didn''t know was even there. I smiled and leaned back into Bo, seeking her lips again.

    =RK=

    Death Watch Sub-HQ

    Industrial District

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    Niner watched the mission clock, which hit zero and started ticking up. He sent three clicks over the comm just as three armored shuttles slammed into the flanks and back of the warehouse and started disgorging armored officers.

    The guards had just enough time to jump from the bench and few stools they were lounging on, when a missile screamed between them and slammed in the door they were supposed to protect. The tandem warhead detonated, breaching the entrance with a jet of plasma and exploding it''s secondary fragmentation warhead. The detonation wiped out half the guards and threw the rest away like ragdolls. A moment after they landed in broken clumps, the unlucky bastards were cut down by accurate blaster fire.

    Niner didn''t have to give any orders. A moment later, the front of the warehouse was obscured by smoke grenades. That was his cue and the Commando left his hiding place, deactivated the cloak and brought up his shields.

    Atin and Cor met him at the entrance, with Dev lagging behind thanks to his heavier armor and gear. Fi was still on his perch, looking for any uninvited guests.

    "Breach and clear." Niner ordered. Fortunately the missile had blown up a large enough hole for them to squeeze through, though it also make the entrance a bit problematic.

    A concussion and frag grenades went in courtesy to Atin and Cor. A moment after the dual detonations, the pair squeezed through the breach and opened fire at whoever or whatever was still alive.

    =RK=

    Part 7

    Royal Palace

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    Obi-Wan stood at parade rest in the small room where he was supposed to get married, with only a trio of banners for company. It''s been almost ten minutes since he arrived and there was no trace of Satine.

    The usually stoic Jedi was getting more and more nervous by the minute. First, he had never imagined that he could be in this position ¨C awaiting his bride to be to arrive. The way he had been raised, the Code that was supposed to guide his actions ¨C they all screamed to him that he was about to do a mistake. Kenobi knew that those feeling should be troubling him, very much at that.

    Yet, they b?r?ly registered. Instead, all he could think about right then and there was Satine and the fact that she wasn''t here, next to him. Obi-Wan was becoming rather concerned ¨C even afraid ¨C that the woman he loved had reconsidered. That his kriff up in the morning had made her reconsider marrying him.

    The Jedi in him was all right with that. That part of him was almost relieved that he was being stood up. Yet, Obi-Wan Kenobi the man ¨C he was terrified that probably the best thing that ever happened to him was about to slip out of his grasp and it was going to be his own fault.

    The Jedi was so deep in his thought, that he didn''t sense that someone was approaching before the door opened quietly. Obi-Wan gasped in relief when he felt Satine entering the room and whirled around. The Duchess confidently strode in and smirked at Kenobi, mirroring her sister''s favorite expression.

    Obi-Wan simply stared at her, drinking her visage. Satine was clad in azure form fitting armor, which was mostly covered by a robe in much richer, darker blue silk. A cape of the same cloth flowed behind her like a river. Her hair flowed around her shoulders like a halo kept in place by a golden diadem.

    Kenobi''s eyes b?r?ly registered the helmet she carried or the blaster pistol on her hip. He was too busy trying to compare this armored version of Satine with the woman he knew for the last decade to pay proper attention to her attire.

    The Duchess frowned. "Not that I don''t appreciate the reaction, but¡­ Kenobi! Stop drooling!" Satine''s voice snapped like a whip.

    "Wha¡­ Ah. You look stunning!" Obi-Wan shook his head and tried to salvage the situation.

    Satine glanced down at her armored figure and chuckled. "If I knew that all it took was to don an armor, I would have done it years ago."

    "Yes..." Obi-Wan cringed when his brain caught up to his mouth. He shook his head again in a vain attempt to clear up his mind and concentrate.

    "Who would have thought¡­ The mighty famous Jedi brought low by little old me." Satine laughed in delight.

    "True enough." Kenobi sighed. All his self control and composure ¨C they simply melted around Satine once he admitted to himself that he was in love with the woman. Once he stopped trying to fight his feelings¡­

    "Oh, my. Were you afraid that I won''t show?" Satine asked after she studied him for a few moments. "Serves you right." She growled. "Never pull such a stunt on me, Obi-Wan." Satine added quietly, in a pained voice.

    "I¡­" Obi-Wan found his throat suddenly dry. He could feel her pain even now. When he went to apologize in the morning, Kenobi was stunned by the heartbreak and feeling of abandonment, of betrayal that was coming from Satine. Only then it dawned to him how much he kriffed up.

    "I won''t, I swear." He took a step forward and pulled Satine into a one armed hug. She melted in his ?h?st and sighed quietly. Obi-Wan calmed down a bit, when he felt her relax and let go of her anger.

    "Don''t do this to me again, Obi-Wan." Satine muttered in his ?h?st.

    Kenobi hugged her more tightly and kissed her forehead.

    They stayed that way for a few minutes, content to just feel each others presence.

    "Perhaps we should go on, before either Veil or your sister come to check on us." Obi-Wan whispered.

    Satine chuckled quietly. "That would be just like Bo."

    "I won''t put it past Veil either."

    "I guess that they''re already married and having fun, with no care for the guests."

    Obi-Wan froze for a moment, listening to the Force. "I think that they''re behaving themselves. For now."

    "Jedi tricks?"

    "I''m a man of many talents." Obi-Wan boasted.

    "We''ll put that to the test later." Satine gave him a wicked grin, holding a promise for things to come.

    "I see." Obi-Wan smiled, while trying to regain his self control.

    It wasn''t working ¨C he was more akin to a hormonal teenager right now instead of a Jedi Master. For a moment he wondered if all the mess that came with all these feeling and a relationship was worth it. Then the woman he was embracing squirmed in his hug in quite the interesting way and all thoughts of property and Jedi stoicism went away.

    Obi-Wan found that he had made his decision ¨C even if all of this was wrong, he no longer cared.

    Satine squirmed out of his hug and took a hold of his free hand, locking their fingers together.

    "I hope you won''t try to run in the last moment." The Duchess gave him a not entirely amused smile.

    "That never crossed my mind." Kenobi told her the truth.

    "We are one when together." Satine spoke in Mandalorian.

    "We are one when together." Obi-Wan repeated with a proud smile on his face.

    "We are one when parted." They spoke in unison. ''And let us never be separated.'' Obi-Wan added in his mind. The very thought that that they might be robbed from a future became unthinkable.

    "We share all. We raise warriors." They spoke the rest of the vow as one.

    A sudden urge gripped Obi-Wan. He pulled Satine to his ?h?st and slammed his lips into hers. For a split second she was startled, but then relaxed and leaned into his needy kiss. Obi-Wan wanted, needed to hold her. To never let her go.

    He was too lost in the kiss, in feeling Satine''s love to notice how the Force subtly shifted as some possible futures winked off and myriad others became came into reach¡­

    =RK=

    Part 8

    Royal Palace

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    The informal reception following my wedding was much more politically charged than I would have liked, not irksome to say the least. Yet, I didn''t have a reason to complain ¨C it everything was going more or less like planned for now.

    "I think Satine has the right idea and dragged Kenobi to the bed skipping this..." Bo whispered, while smiling to our guests.

    "Either that, you you''ll need to kneecap Obi-Wan." I shot back and nodded to Horus Yomaget, who just entered the reception hall flanked by a pair of heavily armed and armored members of his clan. They were carrying a long thin container each. Their Clan Leader was wearing a richly decorated heavy armor and had an ornate blaster pistol on his waist.

    Ah, Mandalorian weddings ¨C everyone comes to the festives armed to fight a war. I''ve missed this atmosphere.

    "It''s very good he came." Bo muttered as we headed to greet the newest guest.

    "Indeed." I whispered back.

    Given that MandalMotors was the biggest and most powerful corporation on the planet, the support of its CEO and clan leader was vital for our success. Yomaget and the half a dozen other clan leaders in here with us represented a big enough power block to give me more than a reasonable shot at becoming Mandalore.

    Horus smiled when we approached. "Congratulations! May you face worthy enemies and raise honorable warriors!"

    "Thank you." I gave him a respectful bow. "May you Clan prosper..."

    "And forever be covered in glory." Bo finished.

    "I come bearing gifts." Yomaget waved at his companions.

    The one to the right stepped forward and presented the case he was wearing to his Clan Leader. Yomaget picked it up and opened the container with a flourish.

    "A matching set of beskar vibro-swords for the newly wed!" Horus grinned as he displayed a meter and half long gleaming blade.

    Next to me, Bo gasped. Given the fact that most known beskar mines were depleted and the rest had considerably lower output than in the past, this gift was wort king''s ransom.

    "This is a truly generous gift. Thank you very much." I gave the man a half-bow, with Bo following suit.

    "Clan Leader Yomaget, you and you Clan''s crafters have my heartfelt thanks for this gift." My wife added.

    At that moment we heard a quiet commotion from behind and turned to see what was up. Obi-Wan and Satine were walking towards us, hand in hand.

    "So Kenobi didn''t run away from my Sister." Bo sighed.

    "A double wedding?" Horus asked from my right.

    "It was a close call, but the Duchess managed to persuade Obi-Wan that she''s more important than his Jedi hang ups."

    "Is he the reason she''s been more reasonable as of late?" Yomaget asked.

    I glanced at Bo, who smiled. "He''s been good for her. Who could have imagined it? It took a Jedi of all people to make her act as proper Mandalorian."

    Meanwhile I looked over the crowd. Everyone invited was here.

    "Let''s give them our congratulations, then I have something special planned for everyone." I stated.

    "Does it have something to do with that hangar you''ve had off limits since yesterday?" Bo asked.

    "Yep. I hope you didn''t spoil the surprise."

    "Nope. Let''s go. It will be interesting to see if you know me as well as you think you do."

    "I think you''ll be pleasantly surprised, wife."

    "Bold claim, husband of mine."

    We reached the other couple while they were exchanging pleasantries with Clan Leader Maxine Auwad and her husband ¨C Thang. Their Clan had risen to prominence during the New Sith Wars and helped Mandalore recover as a powerhouse in that period. While they had lost a lot of power since then, the Clan was still an influential one. The fact that Maxine was CEO to the biggest weapon manufacturing consortium in Mandalorian space after MandalMotors was even more important.

    "Sister, congratulations for finally bagging your Jedi. May you two raise powerful warriors." Bo beamed at Satine. "And may you become a proper Mandalorian." She smirked at Kenobi, who looked uncomfortable at her words.

    "Obi-Wan, how does it feel being a Mandalorian Clan leader in your right?" I needled him.

    Before Satine can plant her elbow in his ribs, Kenobi smiled and nodded. "Actually surprisingly good."

    "I have the nagging feeling that the Jedi Council will blame me for corrupting you." I smirked.

    "No doubt." The Jedi Master winced at the thought.

    "Now that all the pleasantries are out of the way," I spoke aloud, using the Force to boost my voice, "I have an announcement to make. "First thank you all for being here!" All but Skirata and Satine''s Ministers were here as a sing of support for my bid to become a Mandalore. "I want to bring two items to your attention. First, a tradition from my homeworld ¨C It''s customary for the groom to present his bride a gift on their wedding day. For that and the second item, I would like you to follow us to one of the palace''s hangars. Second ¨C I made certain promises to the Clan Leaders present and it''s time to deliver."

    "This better be good." Bo smiled mischievously.

    "You''ll love it."

    =RK=

    Private hangar

    Royal Palace

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    We were all ?ssembled in the dark hangar bay, when I used the Force to switch on the lights. I grinned when I fell Bo freeze in surprise. She did nothing to try and conceal her shock and stunned disbelief at the sight gracing us.

    Two three meter tall war-machines were resting in the center of the hangar. One was painted black and had my sigil on its ?h?st. However, my wife''s attention was on the other ¨C it''s twin which bore her Clan''s emblem and colors.

    The machines resembled a mechanical hybrid between Zalorian rock-lion and Karran beetle. The six limbed war-droids rested on front pals, complete with razor sharp metal claws. The rear half of the machines had a distinct insectoid shape ¨C four rear legs and carapace like armor.

    On the back, where the customary control saddle used to be, we could see open armored shells of ???kpits.

    Needless to say, the Basilisk were bristling with weapons ¨C laser canons, missile pods, point defense clusters, the improved shock-wavegenerator rods that formed their faces and a pair of modified pulse cannons.

    "Mine?" Bo eventually asked. Through the Force she felt like a little girl who was told that Christmas came early this year.

    "Yours. Go ahead." I smiled.

    Bo''s first step was wary, then she shook herself up and walked nonchalantly to her droid.

    "Pilot?" The machine inquired.

    Bo glanced my way and I nodded.

    "Yes." She spoke aloud.

    "Scanning." A sensor pod lit up, illuminating my wife with a beam of blue light. "Scan complete. Pilot biometrics locket. Please enter the ???kpit for DNA scan and imprint."

    At this, Bo hastily scrambled up the Basilik and got into the command module, which sealed behind her.

    "Two brand new Basilik droids ¨C I think they''re an ample demonstration that I know what I''m talking about. These particular designs were upgraded with modern weapons and electronics, new shields too. As you can see, they have a ???kpit for additional protection of the user, though it''s not AT weapon proof once the shield is down." I pointed at the transport in the back of the hangar. "There are two sample Basilisk for MandalMotors and one for the Consortium." I nodded at Yomaget and Auwad. "There are also sample of personal shields, as well as the new armors and small arms issued to the GAR along with some capital ships schematics."

    "That''s more than enough." Horus muttered after a few moments of stunned silence.

    Unless I got my modern history horribly wrong, the last time a Basiliks had walked on Mandalore had been shortly after the Great war I took part in thousands of years ago.

    As if reading my thoughts, Bo''s war-droid let out a mechanical roar and took a step forward. A moment later, her delighted laughter could be heard over its loudspeakers.

    I grinned as I felt my wife''s delight and happiness through the Force. I let her play with her new pet and turned my attention to Skirata, who had a thoughtful expression on his face.

    Then my comm started beeping in alarm and I growled. Of course something had to just go wrong tonight. I raised my arm and switched the unit on. "General Veil." My answer wasn''t a grow. I think.

    "Veil. I need help." Kole Ordo''s pained groan came from the other side.

    =RK=

    Part 9

    Private hangar

    Royal Palace

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    Some times I wonder if this whole galaxy is cursed ¨C there''s always this or that problem that needs fixing ¨C by me no less. That or it''s just the old fashioned curse of being a Force Adept.

    Perhaps as a kid I shouldn''t have wished to live in interesting times¡­

    I suppressed a grow and glared at my comm. I was supposed to mingle with the Clan Leaders, win myself some political points and go enjoy my wedding night. Instead¡­

    "What''s the issue?" Somehow my voice sounded more or less normal instead of filled with rage growl.

    "Death Watch took my daughter. Called it insurance that I won''t vote for you." Ordo hissed. Somehow I recon he''ll be blaming me for that.

    On the other hand¡­ "Did they came in wearing Death Watch colors?"

    "No, but it was the same bastards who threatened me a few days ago. They were in their full kriffing glory then."

    Very thin plausible deniability, yet good luck proving that the minions didn''t work on their own. Unless ¨C I needed a prisoner or two to interrogate.

    "How long ago?" I asked.

    "A few hours. I kriffed up. The first I knew something was wrong was just as they readied concussion grenades. I managed to graze one before they grabbed Mira." Ordo sighed. "They gave me the ultimatum and stunned me." He added glumly.

    "That gives them enough time to go to ground." I mussed. "General Skirata, see that any high level prisoners from tonight raid are brought here. Call in the troops to go over any unsecured computer records about Death Watch holdings, including personal property and rented buildings in three to four hundred kilometer radius of Clan Ordo''s compound."

    "I''ll see to it."

    If they had gone in and out using anything but speeders, they would have been detected ¨C the local defense forces were on high alert ever since the CIS task force arrived, which got even higher once we came to join the party too.

    "Veil, Mira has a tracker implant, just in case. She knows to activate it some time after she gets kidnapped or something." Kole added.

    Ah. That way it won''t be detected by a cursory scan, especially if it was a part of some kind of cybernetic implant. At least the man was properly paranoid, even if whatever measures he had taken weren''t enough this time.

    "How longago?"

    "A few hours. Half a day at most."

    "It''s not up yet, is it?"

    "No." He muttered.

    Of course, there was no guarantee that they would keep the kid somewhere where the signal won''t be blocked, but we might get lucky. I was nice to have a backup plan anyway.

    "If that''s truly a Death Watch stunt, Vizsla is getting desperate." Yomaget muttered.

    "Unless I''m reading the political situation wrong, while your support¡­" I waved at the Clan Leaders around me, "isn''t enough to make me Mandalore, it''s more than sufficient to block Vizsla from being elected to the title. He has to know that I''ll be going after him after his people tried to kill my wife and me a few days ago. Only the traditions around the position of Mandalore has prevented me from doing so already."

    It was frowned upon one Mandalore candidate murdering another, unless it was in an honor duel witnessed by many Clan Leaders. That particular tradition tended to keep things more or less civilized.

    "I''m sure that Vizsla will be swearing on his honor that this wasn''t a sanctioned operation. It may even be true ¨C his people aren''t the most disciplined or honorable bunch." Maxine added. "Not that it really matter."

    =RK=

    Death Watch Sub-HQ

    Industrial District

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    "Cor, smoke, Dev ¨C take that thing out!" Niner ordered while trying to make himself as small as possible behind a column that was being chewed up by heavy blaster fire.

    A huge spider droid, one of the CIS nastier machines, was active in the back of the warehouse. The thing had taken out a whole squad of the local law enforcement ¨C despite their relatively decent gear and the fact that they knew what they were doing. All the training and experience in the world couldn''t help you when you''re caught in the open by a pair of heavy repeating blasters. The thing had been hiding in a large cargo container ¨C one of many stacked all over the place in this part of the warehouse.

    It''slaser canon had been an overkill.

    It still might be Niner''s doom if Dev didn''t hurry up and take out that kriffing droid.

    "DEV!" The commander shouted when a blaster bolt blew a chunk of the column before grazing his shoulder and popping his shields. Even without touching his armor, the shot released enough thermal energy to unpleasantly heat up the plate.

    Instead of being vaporized, Niner heard the tell tale sound of Ion grenades going off, followed by the roar of a rocket engine. After that only the sound dampeners in his helmet kept his hearing intact as a missile detonated mere meters away.

    "Omega One, Overlord. Do you copy, over?" The sound of the mission controller hissed in Niner''s ears.

    "Overlord, Omega One, copy. Over." He answered and dared a glance over his cover.

    The Spider droid was mostly intact, though the damn thing had a neat hole burned in it''s torso by the plasma jet of the anti-armor warhead. It''s legs were also spazming too, though it wasn''t clear if it was because of the explosion or the Ion grenades.

    "Omega One, Overlord. Be advised we need any high ranking Death Watch members alive if practical. Recover any records and hardrives. That''s priority one straight from Overlord Actual. Over."

    "Overlord, Omega one. Copy. Recover high ranking enemy combatants and records. Intel gathering becomes primary objective. Over."

    Niner briefly wondered what the Death Watch do to warrant change of ROEs mid op. He suspected that he''ll find out sooner than later and wouldn''t like the answer.

    "Omega One to all Omega elements. Mission change. Intel recovery takes priority."

    "Roger that." Cor answered.

    "Really? No more blowing up stuff?!" Dev wh?n?d.

    "Keep your toys locked, Dev." Niner ?r??n?d. Sometimes dealing with his men was like overseeing overgrown, trigger happy children. He supposed so anyway. It wasn''t like he had a kid to really compare them.

    "Movement, two o''clock!" Atin shouted.

    =RK=

    Part 10

    RI Medical Facility

    Location Classified

    There was no end of the dreams, of the nightmares. Seeing Padme dying again and again¡ªit felt like eternity spent in the deepest pit of the Nine Corellian hells.

    The dreams started out similar, almost carbon copies of each other. At first they were disjointed ¨C making almost no sense. Padme in pain, screaming his name.

    Then it got worse as the nightmares grew more tangible, more real. The hellish dreams started changing too. Now his

    Padme wasn''t the only one dying in agony.

    Anakin screamed as he felt his limbs being cut away by a blazing lightsaber. He stared without comprehension as Obi-Wan of all people shook his head sadly and left him to burn next to a river made of molten rock. He felt Padme dying in despair, while whispering his name.

    The nightmare shifted again.

    Huh. That was new one, yet Anakin wasn''t looking forward to seeing it ¨C experiencing more pain and despair.

    The new nightmare started innocently enough. Anakin found himself atop the Senate building at night, looking at the lit up spires surrounding the Jedi Temple in the distance. Yet, it was different this time. More solid than any of his previous dreams.

    Anakin blinked and gasped. In a heartbeat the world around him had changed. There were cruisers ¨C both Republic and Separatists dueling in the skies above him. The Jedi Temple was burning while fighters and bombers clashed overhead.

    His attention was diverted by a pleased, cruel cackle coming from behind.

    Anakin gasped as he saw himself kneeling in front of a cloaked figure.

    "What is thy bidding, my master?" His doppelganger rasped.

    "Rise, Lord Vader and let us finish this. For first time in millennia, two masters of the Dark Side will face each other. Do take care of your former Master."

    "Anakin, how could you?!" The young Jedi knew this voice.

    He looked to the right and saw two more figures. They were clad in black bulky armor that was vaguely familiar, yet none of them wore the insignia of the Republic, nor that of the Jedi Order.

    "I did only what I had to!" His doppelganger growled and pointed at a small lump on the roof that had been hidden by his figure.

    For a moment, Anakin stared in incomprehension at Yoda''s broken body.

    "You were supposed to be the Chosen One! You were meant to bring back balance to the Force!" Obi-Wan shouted in despair.

    The other armored man simply shook his head in disappointment.

    "So you chose to be a fool. Did you really think that you could protect them by siding with him?" Veil nodded at the cloaked figure next to Anakin''s double. "Padme and your children were retrieved by my people. Don''t worry. I''ll train them myself."

    "You traitor!" The doppelganger roared in fury. "They were all right! You did all of this!" The other Anakin made a sweeping gesture at the burning Coruscant.

    "Don''t you love when a plan come together?" Veil chuckled.

    The doppelganger gave out an incoherent roar and charged, moving so fast that the real one missed when his double drew his lightsaber and ignited it. Yet, Obi-Wan was faster. He met his former apprentice and their blades clashed in front of the two Sith Lords.

    One blue and the other crimson. To Anakin''s utter surprise, his mentor was the one brandishing a lightsaber with the color of freshly spilled blood.

    Veil drew his own weapon in a move matched by the unknown cloaked figure. Two more crimson blades came to life and the Sith Lords, for what else could they be, charged at each other.

    Anakin stared in shock at the battle unfolding before his eyes, when the world shifted and he found himself back in Padme''s apartment at Republica. Instead of finding his wife, the confused Jedi found himself face to face with Obi-Wan, who looked different ¨C older, grimmer than Anakin had seen him before.

    "She''s not here, Anakin. Padme''s away, safe from you."

    All Anakin could do was stare at his former Master with disbelieving eyes. Kenobi took a step forward, his hand falling on the hilt of his lightsaber. The Jedi Master''s eyes changed their color, becoming sickly yellow.

    "I won''t let you hurt her again."

    Anakin took a step back as Kenobi drew his weapon and ignited it in one smooth motion.

    The dream changed again, becoming less tangible. All he could hear were Padme''s screams of pain as she called his name.

    Slowly, quietly at first, another sound made itself know ¨C a delighted laughter.

    It felt like an eternity before Anakin could make out faint whispers within the laughter. Even longer until he could understand them.

    "What will you do to keep her safe?" Someone whispered. "I can save her you know. Just open your heart for my power."

    Anakin stared Padme''s pained face, while chilling wind blew through his very core. He screamed in despair and fell himself falling. A moment later, he hit a hard, cold surface and felt warm liquid splashing over him, before the chill returned with a vengeance. He gasped coughed when cool air met his lungs.

    Anakin blinked a viscous liquid from his eyes and tried to see where he was. Thank to the Force he could feel multiple people in the room around him. It took him a moment to process that he was surrounded by armed and armored Clones ¨C something that made him relax for a moment.

    Then they aimed their weapons at him and Anakin had a split second to be surprised before they opened fire.

    =RK=

    "Orders, sir?" One of the clones surrounding Skywalker''s wet body asked.

    "Sedate him again, clean him up and put him in another tank. I''ll inform the General that Skywalker awoke." The Captain in charge ordered.

    "We''re already giving more than enough sedatives to kill an ordinary human with his weight." A medic interjected.

    "He''s a Jedi. He can handle some more drugs." The Captain shrugged.

    "If he can''t?" The Medic asked.

    "Accidents happen. I''ll shed no tears over the bastard anyway."

    There were no more questions.

 Chapter 58 - Mandalorian Twilight

    Part 1: Behind the Mask

    Command bunker

    Royal Palace

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    "What a kriffing mess..." I hissed quietly.

    "We need the datalinks back up and running!" Obi-Wan snapped to one of the on duty techs in the room.

    I should have known better, made more contingency plans. A grow escaped my lips and I shook my head in irritation. At that moment, keeping my rising fury in check was all I could do. Kenobi gave me a wary glance, opened his mouth to say something, however he thought better of it and just pointed behind me.

    The constant presence of the Dark Side laughed in the back of my head and it was no longer possible to simply ignore her whispers as if they weren''t there. She was taunting me - with the truth of all things.

    I snapped my eyes shut with a grunt as various flashbacks darted through my mind¡­

    Suddenly I was back up in the Palace, telling goodbye to the last of our guests when a sense of foreboding fell around the place. I felt the amusement of the Dark Side ¨C how eager it was for a bloodshed that was all but imminent. I almost fell to my knees as a vision struck me.

    For an instant I was back home, kneeling in the grass and cradling Ashara''s corpse.

    It lasted just a heartbeat and I was back on Mandalore. As Force Visions go, this one was quite blunt, let me tell you.

    Then I was moving ¨C enhancing myself with the Force and using it to locate Bo. As my awareness expanded to cover the Palace, I found what was wrong, or so I thought. I could sense half a dozen groups of people moving with a purpose. Their emotions were subdued, almost non-existent ¨C a result of training for those versed in the art of hunting Force Adepts.

    I should know ¨C I''ve had to deal with a lot of those back in the day ¨C both Republic and Imperial. I''ve trained some of them too.

    That shouldn''t have been a surprise. Not here, on Mandalore. If there was one place where warriors were still trained in those arts, it would be here.

    About the same time alarms started blaring and all hell broke loose¡­

    The laughter of the Dark Side grew louder ¨C echoing through my mind. For a moment I was able to disregard it as I turned around and looked through the open door of a small med-bay built in the bunker.

    Bo was on a metal table, tended by medics and a medical droid. A respirator unit covered her face, helping her breath. Satine was hovering behind them ¨C just far enough not to be in the way. The Duchess was starring at her sister with a haunted look on her face and muttering quietly under her nose.

    I looked down and my wife. Her armor was charred, even melted in places and fused with her skin on the right side of her ?h?st. The medics were busy feeding her Bacta capsules, stimulants and anti-biotic while the droid was cutting her armor out of her.

    My fury was coiling around me like a living beast. The Dark Side''s laughter was becoming crescendo, doing its best to drive all other thoughts out of my skull.

    I almost lost my wife, again.

    I grit my teeth. I fought my emotions, which were doing their best to slip the leash I usually had on them and experienced just a moment of clarity.

    I wondered at my fury. This was a marriage of convenience. I was fond of Bo at best. It wasn''t like I loved the woman!

    The Dark Side''s laughter changed ¨C now it was a howl of triumph!

    Another vision of the past flashed in front of my eyes. It lasted only for a heartbeat and I was back on Dromund Kaas, listening to my Master. The vision was gone then, but Baras'' words echoed through my boiling mind.

    "The Dark Side gives us many gifts, Apprentice." His voice echoed through my mind. At least it silenced the laughter for a bit. "It hides us from others in its shadows. It allows us to present a Mask to the world around us." Baras paused the and looked at me.

    "Through Alchemy, those who bother tho learn the craft can shape their very appearance on a molecular level. It could hide the truth of who they are from both Jedi and Sith when combined with sufficient skill in concealing their Force Signature."

    "That''s not the most important feature, is it?" I asked then.

    Baras chuckled in approval and nodded. "The Dark Side sometimes allows us to become the Mask we are wearing. It allows us to hide from even ourselves. Especially from ourselves."

    It was my turn to chuckle darkly. Say what you will about Baras, but he earned his place on the Dark Council. No matter what his colleagues said, including my other real master ¨C Zash, there were few people who knew the Dark Side better than him.

    I closed my eyes and concentrated. My feelings, my very thoughts, even the Dark Side ¨C despite its glee at what I was doing ¨C fought me every step of the way as I searched for the moment I put on the mask I''ve been wearing for years. I glided through my memories until I found the oneI was looking for.

    I was back in the one place my heart called home. Behind me, marines were busy policing the corpses of the Jedi and Republic Commandos who murdered my wife. Their presence was muted, irrelevant.

    All I really knew then and there was the funeral pyre I built with my own hands. It was blazing with orange flames, which were eagerly consuming rows of woods. On the top of the pyre, the fire danced over Ashara''s corpse.

    This was the Jedi funeral she wanted and I loathed every moment of it. As the fires slowly consumed her, all I wanted was for the world to burn. To murder the fu?k of everyone who had the tiniest connection with my wife''s murder.

    I stared at the dancing flames. My fury burned much hotter than them. It was almost a physical force that was slowly dragging me over the edge of my sanity ¨C and I didn''t care.

    Vengeance¡­ Heh, what else did I have left?

    The Jedi, their precious Republic ¨C I wanted to see them all gone. I wanted to stand above the corpses of my enemies in the ashes of the Jedi Temple, while Coruscant burned! I needed to march there right now and slaughter them all!

    Yet¡­ I wanted to live long enough so my vengeance would be complete¡­

    That thought stopped me cold as my sanity was about to snap and I was on the verge of losing myself to the Dark Side.

    I almost took that last step anyway. The Dark Side promised me that she could make the pain stop, that it could fill the void where my heart used to be¡­ and it wasn''t a lie. Not really.

    I would fall and I would no longer care. That''s what she promised I and I knew she could deliver.

    It was damn tempting.

    I continued to stare in the flames. I should know better. I knew better. The Dark Side was a treacherous mistress.

    Yet, as I was¡­ I was going to snap sooner than later. My fury burned too hot to be denied ¨C and I didn''t want to deny it anyway. I was eager to throw myself against the Jedi until the sound of combat drowned everything.

    It''s what I wanted, what I craved and it was going to get me killed sooner than later. My vengeance would remain unfulfilled. Those who engineered Ashara''s murder might get away from it.

    That particular outcome was unthinkable. Not something that I could ever allow to happen¡­

    I snarled and fought to control my fury. To bring the Dark Side back under heel¡­

    By the time Ashara''s pyre had gone out, I''ve succeeded ¨C more or less. The madness was at bay ¨C for now, though I didn''t know how long it would last. I needed some way to preserve long enough to see my vengeance done, so I went through everything I''ve been taught about the Dark Side seeking for a way to keep myself together long enough.

    Eventually I remember a certain lesson from Baras and in the scattered ashes of my murdered wife I crafted a Mask for myself.

    Then I became that Mask.

    My eyes snapped open and I was back in the present. The medics were still working on my wife and they hadn''t make much of a progress. I heard Kenobi shouting something as I raised my right hand, concentrated the power of the Dark Side over my fingertips before I drew my fingers over my face.

    A veil I didn''t remember existed tore asunder and set me free.

    ¡­

    One of them, the smallest and most tentative led to Bo ¨C it was like a shimmering string that I could almost see.

    Honestly, that left me confused. A part of me was relieved. What I felt right now, it was proof that I could recover from Ashara''s death, that I could live again and not simply exist thanks to Force related shenanigans.

    On the other hand ¨C I was terrified. If I allowed myself to love again and she died¡­ I knew that would drive me straight into the hands of the Dark Side and I won''t come back. I wouldn''t want to.

    It would be so easy. Craft myself another mask and ensure that my heart couldn''t be wrenched out of my heart again.

    I snorted as a thought came unbidden. Many Sith believed that love was one of the worse things that could happen to us. Some of them thought it was because that emotion could lead to mercy ¨C which for many of my kind was supposed to be the absolutely worst thing we could do.

    It wasn''t until this moment that I finally understood.

    Mercy had nothing to do with it. We Sith are selfish creatures and love¡­ There were very few things that could break as like a love lost, and none of them were something we could chose for ourselves. Love ¨C it was a weakness of our own making and losing it ¨C a highway to being consumed by the Dark Side.

    It was weapon against us ¨C just like Sidious and company used Padme against Skywalker.

    I raised a hand and stared at Bo. It would be so easy to just stretch through the Force and stop her heart. It would remove a possible weapon against me.

    I stared at our Force bond. It was so small and fragile ¨C no surprises there, my wife wasn''t a Force Sensitive. Yet, it''s very existence was surprising.

    Such bonds didn''t form without some kind of emotional attachment, no matter what some Jedi believed.

    My gaze returned to Bo''s broken form and I wondered what I felt for her. Was it just respect, fondness and ?ust? My lips twitched in amusement.

    I knew I didn''t love her. Not yet.

    However, there was the promise for something more. A chance that the void in my ?h?st might be filled.

    When all is said and done, I''m a selfish man. It should be obvious ¨C I was a Sith after all. And right now, with my mask gone, I wanted to feel whole. So I took a chance¡­

    Behind me, Obi-Wan was shouting something. I could feel him gathering the Force around him.

    It didn''t matter. Not yet. The Dark Side was around me like a mantle. We were connected on a level I hadn''t experienced from before Ashara''s murder.

    I formed a fist with my raised hand and picked up the medics, shoving them away from my wife. Satine gasped and took a step back in fear ¨C smart girl. A moment later I was next to Bo and placed my other hand on her ?h?st.

    With a thought I tore away the melted parts of her armor, which took away the burned and blackened skin it had fused with, leaving Bo''s side a weeping ruin.

    I felt Obi-Wan try to shove me away using the Force, but his attack merely splashed harmlessly on the cloak of power that was the Dark Side around me.

    Ignoring the Jedi Master for the moment, I siphoned the very life out of the medics and transferred that power into Bo, guiding it to heal her. I could sense her injuries ¨C wounds that would have already killed a lesser woman ¨C seal as I poured more and more energy into her body. The burns reversed in front of my eyes. I went deeper, fixing her cooked right lung, using raw power to deal with the fluid gathered in it.

    Once the internal injuries were fixed I went back to the surface. My wife''s torn side closed up ¨C stopped weeping blood and other fluids. The blackened, dead skin fell from her body. Fried muscle was soon replaced with tender, hale flesh.

    Another burst of power and Bo''s skin was knitting together, leaving her side no worse than a mild sun-burn. Another thought and the respirator was gently removed. A moment later, Bo gasped as she took a breath for herself. Her eyelids fluttered open and my wife looked around.

    "What did you do?" Bo asked in a tired voice, that didn''t judge.

    I glanced at the two shivered mummies that were the medics and left the fall on the floor.

    "I made a choice." I told her the truth.

    "I see. I did marry a Sith Lord after all." Bo muttered in almost a whisper. "Thank you."

    "VEIL!" Obi-Wan''s shout shattered the moment.

    I sighed and turned around to face the Jedi. He was glaring at me with cold eyes and had an ignited lightsaber in hand. The Jedi Master was backed up by a squad of palace guards who had their blasters pointed at me.

    "Kenobi." I shot back. This was going to be a delicate matter to handle if I was to get Obi-Wan on my side.

    I could feel Satine stiffen behind me. Oh, yeah. The Jedi Master was family now. How to play this, I wondered?

    Bo slowly got off the examination table and dragged herself until she stood next to me, while I stared down Kenobi. Yep. That might work. I smiled at the Jedi Master and started talking.

    Part 2: Unmasked

    Command bunker

    Royal Palace

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    Obi-Wan was still trying to wrap his head around how everything could go so wrong so fast. He had a quiet moment with his Satine, his wife ¨C something he still found hard to believe being true ¨C and in the next alarms were roaring to life, doing their best to deafen everyone in the palace. The announcement that everyone should head towards the underground bunkers that followed were even more concerning.

    The Jedi felt the Force tremble with the promise of immediate danger and wasted no time doing as instructed after telling his wife that he could feel the danger in the air.

    Everything went worse juts a few minutes later when Obi-Wan sensed the Dark Side gathering nearby. However, it wasn''t until they reached the command bunker that he found out, at least in part, how bad the situation was ¨C an unknown CIS fleet had just jumped in orbit, both the planetary and primary capital shields were disabled and the palace itself was under attack with the targets being the theater shield generators meant as a last ditch defense.

    It shouldn''t be a surprise that everything went straight to the Nine Corellian hells afterwards ¨C the datalinks connecting the bunker with the palace above were cut just moments before Veil arrived carrying his grievously wounded wife.

    Kenobi glanced at the small medcenter, where a pair of medics were frantically treating Bo-Katan, with Satine hovering behind them. Then his gaze drifted to Veil and the Jedi Master flinched. He could see the Force shivering as it distorted the air around the Sith and it wasn''t the gentle soothing feeling of the Light Side he could feel.

    It was like the Dark Side itself was trying to physically manifest around the Sith Lord as the man numbly stared at his wounded wife.

    Everything Obi-Wan was taught, all his Jedi training beckoned him to draw his blade and cut down the Dark Sider in front of him. His hand fell on the hilt of his saber, yet Kenobi didn''t act.

    He wasn''t sure what exactly happened. How Bo-Katan got hurt. What Obi-Wan knew was that it could have very well been his wife. Satine.

    Kenobi''s eyes darted towards his wife, drinking her appearance. Even around the boiling cauldron of fury, fear and worry that was Veil, Obi-Wan could feel Satine. She was beyond furious too and scared for her sister.

    The Jedi Master''s attention sprang back to Veil, who was practically engulfed by the Dark Side. The Force was screaming warnings in the back of Obi-Wan''s mind ¨C as if he didn''t know the danger they all were in right then. If Veil snapped, Kenobi doubted he would be able to stop him right now.

    The raw power surrounding the man¡­ It made the Jedi afraid. Even worse, he could almost hear the Dark Side whispering to him, even if he sensed that most of its attention was centered on Veil. That power, the promise it held¡­

    Kenobi shook his head and took an involuntary step back. His eyes hardened and he drew on the Force, seeking solace in the Light Side, pulling it around his body as a shield. The moment he did so, a pressure he was unaware of was lifted from his mind. He could feel the Force itself pulsing around him, centered on Veil. The Sith appeared to be engulfed by a hurricane winds made by the Dark Side itself. The sense of danger spiked, forcing Obi-Wan to draw on as much of the Force as he could in order to protect himself.

    Obi-Wan tensed, ready for anything, yet his attention was divided between Satine and Veil, who separated Kenobi from his wife. In that moment, all the Jedi wanted was to get Satine somewhere safe, away from the explosion he knew was coming.

    Veil raised a hand and Obi-Wan almost drew his blade, yet something stilled his hand. He could feel a part of the Dark Side''s attention shifting towards him as if daring him to make a move. He heard a faint laughter in the back of his head.

    Then Veil dragged his finger over his face and the storm of Dark Side energy collapsed upon itself. It hardened for a lack of better word and surrounded the Sith Lord like a mantle.

    For the first time since meeting Veil, Obi-Wan had sure beyond any shadow of a doubt that the man was a Dark Lord of the Sith. What''s more, he knew why the Sith were to be feared. The Dark Side surrounded Veil like a living cloak, acting like a pet eager to obey its master.

    A moment later it proved it too. Veil raised a hand and the Force itself trembled as the Dark Side itself shook in anticipation to be commanded.

    "Veil! That''s enough!" Obi-Wan shouted. He could feel that something was about to happen. Whatever Veil was about to do, it was going to change things. The Force''s warnings had become a dull scream shacking his mind.

    Suddenly, without any warning, the medics were wrenched away from the still form of Bo-Katan. It was a moment later that Kenobi felt Veil''s actions through the force, as if he was watching events unfold with a lag.

    The Sith strode towards the wounded woman and Obi-Wan acted on instinct. His arm snapped up and he used the Force to wrench Veil back.

    Kenobi''s attempt had no effect. His telekinetic pull simply slid over the Dark Side cloaking the Sith Lord as if it was no more tangible than mist trying to impede the progress of a freighter.

    What followed, stunned Obi-Wan with a combination of disbelief and sick fascination. He watched as Veil literally wrenched away the life force of the two medics and used it to heal his wife. Even worse, he could sense the Sith''s feelings ¨C murdering the two men didn''t really register to him. It was as if snuffing their lives didn''t matter at all. There was not a shred of remorse or regret.

    All Kenobi could feel coming from the man was satisfaction and relief.

    The Jedi knew his duty. At that moment he had a revelation.

    It was all about this moment. All his training, his life as a Jedi. They led to this place and time.

    Obi-Wan drew his lightsaber and ignited the azure blade.

    "VEIL!" Kenobi shouted a challenge.

    The Jedi Master knew what was going to happen. What had to happen. He couldn''t allow Veil free reign. He should have acted earlier. Perhaps on Ryloth. Certainly on Geonosis.

    The Light Side pulsed around him in tandem with his racing heartbeat and he could sense the Darkness around Veil answering in kind.

    What Obi-Wan knew, right at that moment, was that this was perhaps the last chance he would ever get to stop Veil from dragging the Republic into ever darker, bloodier path.

    "Kenobi." The Sith shot back.

    Obi-Wan tensed, preparing to meet any attack. The Light Side apparently agreed, as he drew more and more power in order to protect himself against the inevitable ?ssault.

    What the Jedi Master didn''t expect was for Bo-Katan to drag herself from the examination table and stand beside her husband. Obi-Wan could feel an attack coming, coiling to parry with either blade or the Force.

    Instead, Veil started talking.

    =RK=

    Part 3: Between twilight and dawn

    Command bunker

    Royal Palace

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    "That won''t be necessary, Obi-Wan." Veil spoke and his lips curled in a grim amusement.

    "Necessary?!" Kenobi couldn''t help himself after starring at the man incredulously for a few heartbeats. "You just murdered two men in cold blood!"

    "That''s one way of putting it." The Sith admitted without any sign of remorse.

    That only pushed the Jedi''s determination even further. He couldn''t allow that man to remain in charge of the GAR. Doing so would stain both the Republic and Jedi beyond redemption. The death toll on Geonosis alone¡­ Obi-Wan flinched at that thought. He had felt millions die on that world and yet did nothing to stop the madness¡­ He couldn''t allow such madness to continue.

    "I did what I had to do to heal my wife." The statement was delivered calmly, without a shred of regret.

    For a split second, Obi-Wan''s eyes flickered to Satine, before refocusing on the Sith ¨C something that Veil undoubtedly caught. Kenobi couldn''t help it but wonder wonder what would he do if he was in the same position. The Jedi in him knew what was the right answer. The newly wed husband disagreed.

    Then the Sith bastardsmiled as if he knew what Kenobi thought.

    "What do you expect to happen here, Obi-Wan?" Veil asked.

    "You have to be stopped." Kenobi answered automatically. The Force was continuing to scream of immense danger, yet the Sith Lord simply stood there ¨C relaxed and smiling. That was throwing the Jedi Master off. That behavior flew in the face of everything he had been taught about the Sith ¨C just as almost everything that Veil usually did.

    "Stopped?" A curious expression appeared on the Sith Lord''s face. "Pray tell, why is that?" The infuriating man asked in a fake innocent tone.

    "You just drained the life of two people and ask me what''s wrong?!" The words were out before Obi-Wan could think. That damned man was keeping him off-balance. Deliberately too, he was sure of it!

    "If you want to play it like that..." The amusement vanished from Veil''s face. "Let''s get the unimportant part out first ¨C legally I''m set. Diplomatic immunity. Realistically¡­ If anyone believes that I wouldn''t do anything within reason to keep my wife alive and happy, then you don''t know me at all. If a Mandalorian has a problem with what I just did to heal Bo, they''re welcome to challenge me to a single combat and express their grievances. I stand by my actions and I will gladly face them on an even footing."

    This time Veil glared back.

    Obi-Wan was about to offer an angry retort, when he felt the guards behind him calm down a bit. He glanced at the armed men, who were lowering their blasters.

    Then it dawned on the Jedi Master ¨C Veil was speaking as much to him as he was to the Mandalorians ¨C and he knew them and their culture better than Kenobi ever did. Further, he saw Bo-Katan giving a grim nod ¨C one of agreement with her husband. While Satine was glaring at the Sith, she chose to remain silent, which was almost worse than a verbal agreement¡­

    Suddenly, Obi-Wan found himself the center of attention. He could feel everyone''s eyes boring holes in him. That gave the Jedi pause. It took him mere moments to comprehend exactly how he had been outmaneuvered. Oh, Veil would have problem with the Mandalorians over what he did ¨C though those would most likely materialize as personal challenges ¨C something the man was going to enjoy.

    Perhaps not many if the Sith succeeded in becoming Mandalore and that might very well be a disaster for the Republic and the galaxy as a whole. It was just a feeling coming through the Force ¨C that Veil in a position of power would lead to oceans of spilled blood and burning worlds. That very thought made a frosty hand grip Obi-Wan''s spine.

    "This madness needs to end." Kenobi spoke. "I can''t let you throw the galaxy in darkness."

    "Me? You resident Sith Lord already did that before I arrived." Veil had the audacity to chuckle. "Dooku told you the truth back on Geonosis when the war began. The Republic has been under the control of a Sith for more than a decade."

    That stopped Obi-Wan cold. He could sense no deception coming from Veil. Nor could he believe him ¨C deception, lies and half-truths were within a Sith''s arsenal.

    Kenobi gripped his blade more tightly. Part of him screamed that he had to attack ¨C to end it one way or another. Yet, there was another part of the man. One that listened and agreed. That was the same part which was grateful to the Sith for the opportunity to marry Satine. It was a selfish part of Obi-Wan''s being. One he had been denying for decades.

    That dissonance left the Jedi torn, confused and vulnerable.

    Apparently Veil knew that too¡­

    "I understand." The Sith nodded in sympathy. "On one side, you feel obliged to follow the Jedi teachings. To oppose me because I''m an existential threat to the Council''s neat tidy narrative."

    "It''s not like that and you know it!" Obi-Wan shot back. His anger was steadily growing as Veil proceeded to twist his words and his very thoughts!

    "Isn''t it? I''m supposed to be the enemy. Yet what have I done since I arrived? I could have left dozens Jedi to be slaughtered during the Temple attack. I could have thrown all GAR units on Coruscant against the Jedi after Windu practically committed treason!" Veil snapped.

    It was true. On the face of it, all the Sith did was to prove himself as an ally of the Jedi Order. Yet, those same actions were tearing the Jedi from within. Obi-Wan couldn''t help but wonder if that wasn''t Veil''s plan from the start. He was afraid that they all were playing on the man''s tune ever since he joined the GAR.

    "That''s one way to look it. I''ll agree that you did a lot for the Jedi. For me." Kenobi paused. "At the same time you''re personally responsible for the current state of the Order ¨C which is getting closer and closer to a civil war."

    "That tends to happen when the Jedi are confronted with reality and not given the opportunity to delude themselves any longer. It usually happen during a galactic war. I can''t take credit for your impending civil war, no matter how amusing I find that thought. You can blame the way you have been taught about both the Force and the galaxy at large about that." Veil sounded awfully smug.

    "I find that hard to believe." Obi-Wan told the truth. "You''re walking a path I cannot follow. One that I have to prevent."

    Veil sounded so convincing. So sincere. Even worse, Obi-Wan could detect no deception. Yet¡­ Yes, Veil had a good chance to burn down the Jedi Temple and to even turn the Jedi into hunted outlaws. However, what was happening right now was perhaps worse. The Order was on the verge of tearing itself apart. If that happened, many Jedi might fall. Was that Veil''s goal?

    Unfortunately, there was a part of Obi-Wan that felt that Sith might be correct. Perhaps that was what stayed his hand so he could listen to the man.

    "Do I? Perhaps. Then it''s a good thing I don''t want you to follow me." Veil smirked.

    "Oh? You want me to kneel then? To swear allegiance to Darth Veil? Or is it Vael?" Obi-Wan glared at the infuriating Sith.

    For all Kenobi knew, Veil was trying to turn him. Unfortunately, there were very few sure things as far as that man was concerned.

    "Not really. I don''t expect you to chose me over the Republic. Perhaps over the Jedi if you ever fully open your eyes." Veil gave him what appeared to be a genuine cheerful smile. "All I ask you to do is to chose her." He pointed at Satine.

    Kenobi tensed at the obvious threat and was a heartbeat from jumping at the Sith, when Veil gave him a disappointed look.

    "Oh, get over yourself. I won''t be attacking my sister in law because you''re being an idiot."

    It was as if Veil was reading his mind. Again.

    "Earlier tonight you became a Mandalorian by marrying my sister." Bo-Katan interrupted them, making everyone look at her.

    Obi-Wan saw Veil giving her a fond smile and a small nod.

    The woman stared at the Jedi Master and continued speaking. "Either get over your Jedi hang ups or solve this like Mandalorian warriors." Bo-Katan snapped. "However, if you chose the kriffing Jedi over my sister," She pointed at her husband, "He''ll be the least of your problems."

    She was serious too.

    "Choosing between the woman you love and your duty as a Jedi." Veil mussed. "It''s never easy for your kind."

    "And all too easy for you." Obi-Wan snipped back.

    The Jedi in him didn''t want to admit that all he wanted was to be with Satine. Only his sense of duty kept him from doing so.

    "True. During the Great War I chose love and never regretted it. I made the same choice tonight and I would never regret it."

    At that, Bo-Katan''s lips curled into a smile. Even Satine gave the Sith a nod of approval despite him murdering two of her men just a few minutes ago.

    If he had to be honest to himself, what Obi-Wan wanted to do was obvious ¨C he wanted to choose Satine, no matter what.

    That''s when he truly comprehended why the Jedi were forbidden to marry. Forbidden to love. For doing so, shattered their loyalties and left them drifting.

    At that moment, Kenobi could feel smug amusement practically radiating from Veil. It was infuriating.

    "It''s a very good thing I''m not asking you to become a Sith. Nor to turn on the Republic or the Jedi." The Sith Lord sounded awfully happy and pleased with himself ¨C something that was ringing all sorts of alarm bells within Obi-Wan''s mind.

    "You''re still a GAR general, sworn to protect the Republic, are you not? As it happens so am I ¨C as you''re well aware. If I wanted to kriff up the Republic all I had to do was lose the space battle above Geonosis. With the other side under competent leadership it would have been all too easy to engineer such a disaster."

    He couldn''t rebuff those arguments. A loss above Geonosis would have been a strategic setback from which the Republic would have been unlikely to recover. Yet, the issue was never Veil''s skills as a general.

    "You might very well lead the Republic to victory. At what cost, I wonder? How many worlds will burn? How many will die because of your tactics and strategies?" That was the crux of the problem. Veil was all to willing, eager even, to spill blood and wreak destruction.

    "More than you fear." Veil admitted. "Still it would be much better outcome than a Separatist victory. Besides, you miss the most important point, Obi-Wan."

    "What is that?" The Jedi was almost afraid to ask.

    "Under my command, the enemy would be doing most of the dying instead of loyal, innocent Republic civilians. When you talk about galactic wars, that''s the best you could ask for. Besides, I think it''s high time to get off your high horse." Veil glared at him. "Do I have to remind you of Christophsis? The most populated world that saw army scale clashes since the war began with an enemy blockade too?"

    That stopped Obi-Wan cold. He spent the first months of the war on that world and presided over a bloodbath of incomprehensible magnitude. Between open warfare, destroyed infrastructure, the blockade in orbit, logistic disruptions and disease, at least a trillion of the locals died before the CIS forces were forced to either surrender or withdrawn.

    Obi-Wan still had nightmares about what happened on that world and he would carry them to his dying breath.

    "That''s what I''m trying to prevent!" Obi-Wan could no longer keep his anger in check and shouted. "If you''re left on your own devises we''ll see the same madness on dozens, perhaps hundreds of worlds!"

    "That''s going to happen with or without me. This war will decide the fate of the galaxy, Obi-Wan. Neither side can accept anything but victory. The CIS made sure of that. After the shenanigans they pulled, their leaders need to win or it would be their heads on the chopping block. Victory will give them everything they ever wanted and most of them won''t hesitate to see the galaxy burn in order to win."

    "So we need to stoop down to their level? Is that your plan?"

    Veil gave him an exasperated look. "Do I look like a kriffing imbecile? The Confederacy kriffed by the numbers with their terror attacks. Responding in kind would simply stiffen their resolve."

    "Yet you did so on Geonosis. I felt all those people die, Veil!"

    "If I wanted to respond in kind, I would have burned every major settlement on that planet and then poisoned the surface. What I did was the b?r? minimum to knock Geonosis out of the war for the next few years without wasting troops and fleet ?ssets on an occupation we can''t really afford. Unfortunately doing so required wrecking major portions of the infrastructure and as a side effect either directly or indirectly killing millions."

    "That''s unacceptable!" Obi-Wan all but roared, his composure shattering.

    "If you believe so, I''ll accept your resignation from the GAR right here and now. We aren''t playing games, Obi-Wan. We aren''t peacekeepers seeking a peaceful resolution of a minor conflict. We''re soldiers who have to do what''s necessary for the survival of the Republic. Because if we flinch, if we prosecute this conflict with silk gloves, then the Confederacy will win. We both know if that happens they will unleash a reign of terror upon the galaxy the likes of which no one has seen in at least a millennium."

    =RK=

    I looked the Jedi Master in the eyes, hoping that my gambit was going to work. Ever since I started speaking, I''ve been doing my best to keep him off-balance. Distracted, torn between his hearts d?s?r? and duty as a Jedi.

    "However, that''s not what I want." I spoke quietly, making my tone as earnest as I could. "I don''t want you as an enemy, Obi-Wan. Nor as a minion. I need you as a friend. As an adviser, who might keep me from going too far." That was even true, from certain point of view. However, I didn''t add that no one was going to keep me from doing what I deemed fit in order to prepare the galaxy for the Vong and whatever else might decide to come knocking on the door.

    Judging by Obi-Wan''s expression, that threw him for a loop.

    "You know I''ve been against what happened on Geonosis from day one!" Kenobi actually growled. I might have been pushing him a bit too far, too fast.

    "The alternatives were to either burn the whole world, occupy the damn dust bin or invade it again next year. Neither of those options were viable alternatives." I repeated. I tried to be reasonable, though as the conversation progressed, the need to slap Kenobi upside the head ¨C repeatedly ¨C with something heavy, was becoming hard to resist.

    "There was not a single Jedi or other GAR officer who presented me with a single viable alternative. We both know that most of the GAR personnel would have loved nothing more than seeing Geonosis burn instead of invading the damn place for a second time!"

    "We have a different definition on whats acceptable." Obi-Wan grumbled.

    "That''s rich. I though that after Ryloth you were done with the peacekeeper mentality." I snorted.

    "Don''t twist my words!" Obi-Wan glared at me.

    "Fine. No more games. Obi-Wan, you have to make a choice. The Jedi. The Republic, Mandalore, your wife. Unless you decide, you will be torn apart between your duty and your heart."

    There was a long moment of silence, before Kenobi answered.

    "You didn''t mention yourself, Veil." For the first time since we began our verbal spar, Obi-Wan looked relaxed, almost serene. The Force surrounding him settled down as his emotions subdued.

    "I''m doing what I can for Mandalore, though it might not be enough. If the situation gets sufficiently kriffed up I might be forced to order the orbital bombardment of this world so the Death Watch and the CIS wouldn''t be able to us it as a base of operations. I''ll see the Republic to a victory in this war, because any other alternative is much worse in comparison." I told the truth.

    "The Republic? Or whatever replaces it?"

    "I don''t want to rule the galaxy as an Emperor, if that''s what you ask." Another truth. Now, being in charge of the army and keeping whoever ran the galaxy from messing up my plans for the future ¨C that was something quite different. Besides, the plan to turn the Republic into a Galactic Empire wasn''t mine. I merely entertained the idea of co-opting it once Sidious was dealt with.

    "You actually believe that, don''t you?" Obi-Wan asked in surprise.

    "I''ve ran planets before. That was enough of a pain in the ?ss to dissuade me from any ideas of galactic domination."

    Besides, it was much better to be the power behind the throne. That way some other sucker could deal with the day to day shenanigans of running the whole bloody galaxy.

    "He''s right you know. Actually ruling Mandalore is anything but pleasant or fun." Satine decided to add her two credits. "It''s a duty, though one I don''t relish."

    "Listen to your wife." I nodded, earning myself a pair of dirty looks from the Ken obis.

    "Aren''t they cute?" Bo snorted, lowering the tension a bit.

    "Indeed, dear. Let''s cut to the chase. Kenobi, I don''t want to turn you into a blood-thirtsty Sith. Nor am I going to send you to burn down the Jedi Temple, corrupt younglings or do something else idiotic."

    I conveniently didn''t mention that if there was another Windu type stunt things would get ugly either because I would lose my patience with the Jedi in general or because Palpy would be able to use such an accident to clean up house earlier than planned.

    "I must be mad." Obi-Wan muttered. "The path you''re walking..." He shook his head. "I don''t know if it''s one I could follow." Huh. Wasn''t that a reversal.

    "If it''s a path that any Jedi could follow." Kenobi continued and looked at his wife with a pained expression on his face. "However, I can''t walk away from Satine. Not even for the Order." He added quietly.

    I smiled. That was all I wanted for now. The rest would follow, probably sooner than later.

    "Let''s hope they won''t force you to choose." I gave Kenobi a reassuring smile, even if I didn''t believe this would be the case.

    "We both know that is a forlorn hope. After what Anakin did..."

    "Your former apprentice acted as an idiot. We both know that there was no antidote on Geonosis. The whole ploy was aimed at discrediting him and Amidala. If that mess is mishandled even further it could easily lead to his fall, which was the point." I sighed.

    I still could hardly believe that Anakin fell for such an obvious ploy. Neither the Separatist leadership, nor the Sith actually in charge wanted Padme to recover ¨C she had been a thorn in their side for more than a decade. Breaking Skywalker might very well be a bonus to taking out the former Queen instead of the primary goal of that particular operation.

    A grim chuckle escaped Obi-Wan''s lips. "Anakin and Padme proved that a Jedi marrying is a mistake, yet I did it anyway¡­ and I don''t regret it." Kenobi lowered his lightsaber. "I should be attacking you with everything I am. I should be doing my best to rid the galaxy from an enemy of the Jedi Order." His anguish was delicious. It reminded me why making Jedi fall was so much fun, even if doing so wasn''t on the agenda.

    "Ah. Even if I was an enemy of the Jedi, am I your enemy?" I smiled. "All I want is the freedom to live my life as I see fit beside my wife. However in order to do that, this war has to be won. Decisively."

    "Through victory thy chains are broken." Kenobi muttered, surprising me.

    Huh. He''s been reading on the Sith of my era and might be starting to understand where I was coming from. I was sure of it.

    "That''s the point Obi-Wan. At least for those Sith who haven''t allowed the Dark Side to consume them. Passion, conflict, power, strength ¨C they''re all means to an end. Assets that gives us victory. And thus the Force frees us." I smiled.

    "It sounds so simple." Bo stated and gave me a questioning look.

    "Of course, it''s never that simple. Or perhaps it is and most people overlook it because of that. While I am a master of the Dark Side, that by itself wouldn''t guarantee me a future with you. Only a victory in this war would do so and I will do anything I have to in order to achieve it." I turned my attention back to the Jedi. "That''s why I want you by my side as both a comrade in arms and adviser. Help me end this madness, Obi-Wan." I repeated my proposition and threw back his words at him.

    He wanted to end the conflict? Let him help me do it then. Though I carefully avoided certain snags we would have to face.

    It''s true I wanted the war over without destroying too much infrastructure. Doing so would make preparing for the Vong easier. Unfortunately, I couldn''t allow the conflict to simply be over before I was in a reasonably secure position to survive not only a direct confrontation with Sidious but dealing with whatever contingencies he had in place. Because if there was something I knew about Sith, someone in Palpy''s shoes would have backup plans to see as much of the galaxy burn as possible if he fu?k?d up and got himself killed.

    However, for the time being, Kenobi didn''t need to know any that.

    "Someone must keep you from causing too much trouble." The Jedi Master sighed and deactivated his saber. His anguish flickered and disappeared, replaced by acceptance and then affection when he turned his gaze upon his wife.

    "Live to enjoy a honeymoon with Satine. I''m proud of you!" I beamed at Kenobi.

    "We still might make a proper Mandalorian out of him." Next to me, Bo sighed in relief and smiled.

    Well, now Obi-Wan was on track and if I could keep myself from kriffing up too much he would be firmly on my side when it was time for the endgame.

    Part 4: Eclipse

    CIC

    Republic Cruiser Chimera

    High orbit above Mandalore

    Gilad Pellaeon was in his domain. The CIC was a hive of activity as Commando units augmenting the Mandalorian authorities raided Death Watch criminal enterprises all over the world bellow them. The operation was coordinated from the Chimera, with the Embassy and the Security Service HQ in Sundari acting as secondary C&C centers.

    While he had people to do the actual coordination ¨C both Intel operatives and GAR officers from the ground ponder contingent upon his ships, the Commodore kept a close eye on the situation, though most of his attention was concentrated on the enemy navy elements in system.

    So far neither the CIS battle group or the small Death Watch flotilla had made any suspicious move and they both kept their positions ¨C above Concordia and between the moon and the planet itself.

    Frankly, Pellaeon didn''t really expect much problems from them ¨C especially when the Sep command dreadnought left a few days ago ¨C when it was recalled along with the enemy commander. Or at least that''s what the Intel folks figured out. It was another confirmation about the apparent upheaval among the enemy leaderships, something that was hopefully a good thing. Any delay between now and the next major CIS offensive meant less time before the next major flight of ships was completed in the various Republic shipyards; less time before the enemy would lose the temporarily advantage they would be gaining shortly.

    The Commodore returned his attention to the data pad he had in hand and skimmed the reports in it. They more or less summarized the strategic situation. In short, in the last few months GAR had performed excellently, gaining two major strategic victories, which in turn allowed both the navy and ground ponders to stabilize their positions across the galaxy. Frankly, those victories were vital, because the situation was going to get worse before it improved.

    It was all about economy and logistics, something that when combined with the enemy strategic surprise at the start of the war was going to bite everyone in the republic on the ?ss.

    When all was said and done, while the Republic had largereconomy, it meant little until it was transferred towar footing. That was the short term case anyway. After all, it took at least a year to complete a proper capital ship. Usually year and a half, perhaps even two years for most cruisers¡­ and that was without any bottlenecks in either resource appropriation, component manufacture and their related the enemy on a war footing when the hostilities started¡­ It was a miracle that the Separatists simply didn''t overwhelm the Republic in the first months by going after the major political and industrial centers.

    Even now, a little more than a year after the conflict began, the situation was grim. The GAR scored some outstanding victories that shifted the initiative and strategic situation. Unfortunately, despite that, the economic realities were about to rear their ugly heads and soon. Simply put, most capital ships that the CIS laid when the conflict began would be ready before the same was true about the Republic. That would very soon give them a strategic advantage and allow them to regain the initiative by launching one or more major offensives; heavily reinforce various theaters where both side were stalemated too.

    It would be one of the best chances the enemy would have in winning the war ¨C if they could cause enough damage before the Republic''s own construction came online.

    What rubbed Gilad and most GAR commanders wrong was the fact that after the victory at Geonosis, they simply lacked the ?ssets to launch another major offensive before the enemy was ready. Oh, he knew that there were at least a few large raiding forces doing their best to wreak havoc on the enemy logistics combined with the efforts of various special forces units inserted behind enemy lines. Yet, the CIS did respond in kind and he doubted that any side would be gaining much advantage that way.

    No, the Republic armed forces were in for a few very interesting months. The only silver lining was that if they could hold the line and avoid suffering catastrophic losses, soon enough the advantage would shift in their favor.

    Then again what was that saying? If wishes were speeders¡­ Or was it starfighters?

    Gilad shrugged and marked the overall strategic overview as read. There was nothing new in there, which at least meant no bad news.

    Next he checked the situation on the ground again ¨C everything was going more or less according to plan, though there were some locations where resistance was heavier than expected and things were getting bloody. Unfortunately, most of the troubles were in places where orbital support was impractical and for the moment sending regular troops was out of the question. The current intervention was explosive enough without sending the cavalry.

    Ironically, this was the night the General was getting married for the local ruler''s sister and if the scuttlebutt was correct, general Kenobi was doing the same with the Duchess herself. That at least more or less guaranteed that Mandalore was for some fun times in the next few days. There were few things screaming political alliance more loudly than marriages after all.

    In fact, the ongoing dual weddings were the primary reason why Pellaeon''s squadron was on high alert with Veil''s surprises on stand-by.

    No one really believed that the Death Watch would go quietly in the night. The only question was what exactly were they going to do to ruin everyone''s day. There was a long list of contingencies prepared for precisely that outcome.

    "Multiple new contacts! Four light seconds out, between us and the Hostile One!" The Sensor operator shouted.

    "Identify!" Pellaeon snapped an order without thinking and turned around to look at the main tactical plot. "Kriff." He added a moment later, once the large cluster of gray dots registered.

    "Multiple power spikes! We''re being targeted!"

    "Profiles match CIS units. Multiple Munificents and command dreadnoughts!"

    "Evasive maneuvers! Launch all small craft. Target the closest Munificents for missile strikes. Comms Contingency Purple. Release Guardian in automatic mode..."

    "We''re being jammed! Long range comms are out!" The Comm operator stated a moment later.

    "Purple one. Execute." The Commodore added after a split second delay. "Contact our hosts and coordinate with them. We''ll need their help."

    He knew that within moments one of the escorting frigates was going to go into Hyperspace and call the cavalry. Then all Nine Corellian hells were going to get lose.

    The plot shifted ¨C the gray icons turned into bright red color. Two small windows appeared next to the swarm indicating force composition. A hundred Munificents and counting plus at least four command dreadnoughts. It was a full Separatist fleet all right. Probably part of their strategic reserve if not most of it. Acting this bold probably meant that the Confederates would be ready to jump back on the offensive a bit sooner than the Intel types expected.

    Not good at all, but all Pellaeon was really interested in right now was keeping his forces more or less intact until Veil''s ace in the hole arrived.

    The plot blinked as a real swarm of angry red dots left the enemy fleet and headed toward his battle group.

    "We''re in contact with TF 1!" The Comm operator announced.

    That was the closest Mandalorian cruiser group ¨C four Keldable Flight One cruisers and twelve Crusader class corvettes.

    The other friendlygroup on this side of the planet ¨C TF 2 made of five more cruisers and ten escorts ¨C was right above the Capital of Sundari, which almost below them due to the planetary rotation. It would be in effective weapons range of the enemy within the hour¡­ if the newcomers didn''t shift position.

    Realistically ¨C just a few minutesif they could take out the friendly forces in the area.

    "TF 1 will be taking position between us and the capital. They report no contact with the Royal Palace."

    "Try to raise GeneralsVeil or Kenobi."

    "No joy. We''re detecting ground-side jamming from the Palace area."

    "Deploy QRF to Sundari. They''re to secure the generals. Shift orbit and bring us above the Capital. Coordinate our movements with the Mandalorians."

    "Status change. Hostile One and the DW squadron are moving. Calculating heading..."

    As this was going on, Pellaeon''s eyes never left the plot. One hundred sixty three Munificents and five command cruisers.

    "TF 1 Actual is in contact with TF 3. They will be executing two hyperspace jumps and hit the enemy from behind."

    TF 3 was the third and final loyalist part of the Mandalorian defense fleet. Four more cruisers and eleven corvettes.

    On paper that combined with the defense satellites should have been enough. The Keldables were supposed to be formidable ships¡­ and the planned Block II upgrade would make them at least equal to a Venator. There even were whispers among the Intel agents on board that Mandal Motors had plans for a Block III that would be a partial rebuild with enough firepower and defenses to rival the Star Destroyer prototypes Kuat was currently playing with.

    Unfortunately, the current iteration of the Keldable cruisers was simply put an inferior piece of hardware ¨C primary because the Mandalorian defense fleet never received the funding to bring them up to speck.

    =RK=

    Part 5: Twilight

    Bridge

    CIS Command ship "Death Bringer"

    Between Mandalore and Concordia

    General Grievous narrowed his eyes at the tactical display once it refreshed with the data from the sensors. Three clusters of closely knit icons appeared near each other designating the expected enemy forces ¨C no surprises there. For once the Intel appeared to be correct. There had to be another group of the Mandalorian fleet on the other side of the planet, but they weren''t of immediate concern.

    If everything was going according to plan, Death Watch operatives and CIS agents on the ground should be ?ssaulting the capital''s shield generators while others went after the planetary shield itself.

    Even if they were unsuccessful, the mere threat would force the enemy fleet ?ssets to converge above Sundari in order to protect the domed city.

    "Primary target is the Republic task force. Battle groups one through three chose a Venator and take it out. Four and five ¨C concentrate on the Mandalorian loyalists. Task Force Seventy three is to take out the defense satellites and commence orbital bombardment on all pre-designated targets." Grievous shot out a rapid sequence of orders. "Launch all fighter craft. Sixty percent are to engage Republic and Mandalorian small craft. Twenty are to remain as CAP. The rest will escort the troop transports once the defense satellites are taken out."

    A veritable swarm of Vulture droids exploded from the hulls and hangars of the Separatists fleet. For a few seconds it appeared that Grievous'' command suddenly combusted and blew away in a storm of high-velocity debris.

    If he could, the CIS general would have smiled at the sight ¨C though he lost that ability when he was captured by the never sufficiently damned Jedi and Republic soldiers. He was going to see them all die screaming for what they did to him and he was going to start with Mandalore.

    Even better, this time there were just a handful of Republic capital ships. Even their vaunted Guardian system wouldn''t be enough to stop all the Vultures he had to throw around. For the first time in months the damned pieces of junk might actually prove useful as something more than target practice.

    "Someone call our alliesships and order them to engage the Republic scum." Grievous added as an afterthought as his eyes ran over the icons representing the small Death Watch battle group. "Have the fleet advance towards the gap between the Republic units and the Loyalists above the capital. Ahead third."

    That should have the enemy moving in the right direction or they would risk letting his forces in bombardment range of the capital. Incidentally, if they moved to intercept his fleet, Grievous would have them where he wanted them ¨C in position to be overwhelmed by his superior numbers and firepower.

    The general didn''t pay much attention as small dots representing concussion missiles separated from the Republic cruisers, nor did he particularly care that they were lunching their small craft compliment while doing their best to evade his long range fire.

    It didn''t really matter. The distance was shrinking by the second and the enemy couldn''t afford to decline battle. That left them with the option to stand and die ¨C something Grievous was more than willing to accommodate. It was just too bad that most of them wouldn''t live long enough to see him burn Mandalore.

    Speaking about the planets ¨C there were icons rising from the surface ¨C squadrons of the Mandalorian vaunted fighter/transport hybrids. Some had the Death Watch IFF, though most were the security forces QRF squadrons.

    A glance revealed that the enemy fighters wouldn''t make orbit before TF 73 blew up the satellites in range and opened up on them while the small craft were busy clawing their way out of the atmosphere. The conclusion was foregone ¨C most wouldn''t make it and the survivors would have to content with overwhelming number of Vultures.

    Grievous dismissed that distraction out of his mind and concentrated on the more dangerous enemy. Just a few seconds later, one of the Republic frigates vanished. For an instant, the general thought that a lucky shot got it but he immediately dismissed that idea. His whole fleet was concentrating their fire on the enemy cruisers.

    Ah. The jamming produced by his ships ever since exiting hyperspace. The Republic commander undoubtedly sent for help. Unfortunately for the bastard, Intel was sure that the closet Republic reinforcements were at least a couple of hours away and even those were just a handful of Venators with a light escort. Not enough to change the tide here.

    "TF 73 is commencing bombardment on designated targets." One of the B1 droids crewing the bridge announced.

    That particularly message got Grievous attention and his eyes shifted towards a side screen near his seat. He pressed a few bu??ons and his eyes started drinking the sensor feed from TF 73. Another bu??on press later and the image shifted to that of a camera showing the bombardment in all its glory.

    Mandalorian security space ports, airfields and the few dedicated military bases in range simply ceased to exist under barrages of rail-gun projectiles and turbo-laser fire.

    The best were the targets near or within populated areas ¨C seeing them burn made Grievous feel a bit better, even if all that was merely a taste of things to come. Most importantly - the successful first strikes demonstrated that the planetary shield was down. With a bit of luck it would stay down for a few more minutes and then his fleet would be in weapons range of the shield generators themselves.

    Soon enough Sundari was going to burn and Veil with it.

    =RK=

    Force composition above Mandalore:

    Republic Battle group /Commodore Gilad Palleaon Commanding/:

    5 Venators; 15 CR90 Frigates;

    Mandalorian Loyalists:

    TF1: 4 Keldable Cruisers; 12 Crusader Corvettes;

    TF2: 5 Keldable Cruisers; 10 Crusader Corvettes;

    TF3: 4 Keldable Cruisers; 11 Crusader Corvettes;

    Total: 19 Cruisers; 15 Frigates; 33 Corvettes;

    Death Watch Squadron: 3 Keldable Cruisers; 15 Crusader corvettes;

    CIS Forces:

    Hostile One/TF 71: 1 Command Frigate; 12 Munificent frigates;

    Grievous Fleet /General Grievous commanding/:

    5 Commnand Dreadnoughts; 163 Munificent Frigates;

    Total: 5 CD; 3 Cruisers; 1 Command Frigate; 175 Munificent Frigates;

 Chapter 59 - Remember Mandalore

    Part 1

    Bridge

    MDF Cruiser "Conqueror"

    High orbit above Concordia

    Senior Captain Ariff Ven, was the man in command over the detachment from the Mandalorian Defense Fleet under Death Watch control. In fact, he was instrumental in persuading the crews of the ship in his battle group to shift allegiance from the weak New Mandalorian government to the only people who could restore the pride and glory of their people.

    It took all Ven''s charisma, everything he had learned in his forty years as a warrior to persuade his men and women to follow him in what some would call treason. It was his conviction that the Death Watch would bring a future worth fighting for that finally turned the tide.

    Captain Ven used to be quite proud of his achievement ¨C for two weeks or so. The Death Watch was in a three way negotiation with Satine Kryze''s people and the Confederacy, which as far as he knew were going quite well.

    Then the rumored Sith who had been making a name for himself in the last few months by handing the CIS their collective heads decide to come negotiate. On the Republic side.

    That''s when everything started going terribly wrong for the Death Watch and Ariff began having treacherous second thoughts. There were certain things that were simply not done ¨C like trying to ?ssassinate someone who was having a drink in a bar instead of facing them in honorable combat.

    At least the end of that debacle ¨C which was caught by multiple cameras ¨C proved beyond a doubt that the new Republic general was actually a Sith and not one of those Jedi peace loving fools.

    Things continued to go downhill with Satine and company suddenly becoming somewhat competent and anyone with two working braincells to rub together knew who was to blame. And finally, it was tonight''s event ¨C Veil, the Sith, marrying one of the more famous Death Watch members with all that entailed ¨C mind you, after facing the woman in a duel that showcased both their skills.

    In just a week or so, the Death Watch had fallen from an almost guaranteed shoe in as the new government to being viewed as a bloody thugs who had no real respect for the traditions that made someone a Mandalorian.

    It all made Ven question his choices in life. All he wanted was for his people to stop being gutless wonders and earn back their pride and restore their way of life. Was it too much to ask?!

    =RK=

    "So it comes to this." Commodore Ven snarled.

    The Mandalorian was standing in front of the tactical display, close enough that its holographic light made him appear as a ghost standing in the center of the bridge.

    "Sensors, I want to know what those fools are doing! Navigation, bring us after them." Ariff snapped, pointing at the string of icons representing the original CIS delegation. Those ships were burning straight towards Mandalore, while the Confederacy fleet that just arrived was already heading towards the loyalists battle group protecting the capital.

    "Sir, we''re being ordered to ?ssist Task Force 71 with neutralizing any planet-side resistance." The comm operator spat. "General Grievous claims control of all CIS and allied forces in system."

    Ariff didn''t need to look at the young lieutenant to know that the man was beyond furious by those orders.

    "Do we have any word from Vizsla or Death Watch command?" The Captain asked.

    "Just requests for our bases on Concordia to know what the kriff is happening up here."

    "Navigation, plot me a hyperjump right behind the CIS ships heading for Mandalore. We''ll intercept them as they engage the orbital defenses." Ven ordered. "Weapons, I want targeting solution on that command frigate the moment we revert to real space..."

    He didn''t really need to think about it. When all was said and done, he knew his duty as a Mandalorian warrior. Kriff the Confederacy and Vizsla too if the bastard believed it to be acceptable to let the tin cans "pacify" his home.

    For a moment the bridge crew simply stared at their commander. The man that persuaded them to join Death Watch and by extension ally with the Confederacy had suddenly gone hundred and eighty degrees on all he had been preaching for months.

    "What are you waiting for?!" Ven snapped. "Supposed allies or not, I''m not letting those machine bombard Mandalore. You have your orders! Move it people!" The Captain''s voice echoed over the bridge.

    That broke the spell and everyone snapped out of their short lived shock, then started executing their orders.

    "Comm, contact the "Bladerunner" and "Warlord". All cruiser are to take out the command frigate. Gunship squadrons are to concentrate on a Munificent each. Once we engage the enemy, contact whoever is in charge planet-side and inform them that we''ll be available to provide limited orbital support for the next few minutes..." Ven continued snapping orders.

    Ariff''s eyes never left the tactical display. He knew that no matter what he did right now it would be to late. He had kriffed up already ¨C all his prepare contingencies, all the pre-calculated jump points were aimed against the Republic battle group and the loyalists. Ven should have done the same for his supposed allies. If he did, his task force would have been able to jump them before they entered orbit and started bombarding the planet.

    As thing stood, he would be a minute or two too late ¨C and that could be a long, long time when someone was about to bombard your home¡­

    =RK=

    CIC

    Republic Cruiser "Chimera"

    Low orbit above Mandalore

    "Avenger is to pull back behind us. Weapons, shift fire to Hostile four. Don''t bother destroying the enemy ¨C shift targets once they''re damaged enough to fall out of formation." Pellaeon ordered.

    His whole ships shuddered and shook as another well aimed salvo went home.

    "Shields down to fifty percent. We have bleed-through over the armor. Guardian system is down to eighty percent." The commander overseeing damage control announced a moment later.

    "Enemy fighters are breaking through. There''s just too many of them!" That was the Guardian operator.

    "TF One just lost a second cruiser. We''re down another frigate too." Tactical added to the bad news.

    That left a single operation Keldable in that battle group. Purchasing stripped out versions of the capital ships was biting the Mandalorians on the ?ss, though that wasn''t of any real comfort for the Republic officer.

    The only silver lining on the whole kriffed up situation was that the Death Watch squadron had switched sides moments after the CIS started bombarding Mandalore. A minute later, the last Mandalorian battle group finally came from behind the Confederacy fleet and struck them in the rear, putting them between two forces.

    That in fact was the only reason why Pellaeon and the loyalists were still alive. Whoever was in charge on the CIS side was reasonably competent and went with a simple but brutally effective target ¨C simply hit the enemy like a speeding freighter and overwhelm them.

    Under different circumstances that tactic would have backfired. Pellaeon and the Mandalorians would have attempted to take apart the bigger Confederate fleet with hit and run strikes and might have very well won. However, somehow the enemy had succeeded in sabotaging not only the planetary shield, but the theater one protecting the capital. Worse ¨C the smaller, yet potent defense field that should have kept the Royal palace intact was down too, thus pinning the defenders in place.

    "Vultures are swarming the Resourceful! Captain Que requests immediate ?ssistance!"

    "Shift as much Guardian fire as possible in their direction. Do we have any available fighters?" Pellaeon asked.

    "Negative." The CAG answered immediately. "All fighters and bombers are engaged."

    The Commodore stared at the plot. The escorts in range of the Resourceful were doing their best ¨C pouring laser fire and missiles at the robot fighters taking apart the Venator. Yet the Vultures didn''t care and continued to gut the cruiser while disregarding the incoming fire.

    A few dots designating a Mandalorian fighter squadron broke from their station around one of the Keldables and pounced the swarm with suicidal determination. They managed to take out at least a wing of the machines before being erased from existence by the enemy.

    "Shields down to thirty five percent! We lost a tubolaser bank! Guardian down to sixty five percent!"

    Pellaeon glanced to the left, where a small hologram gave him an overview of his command.

    The Avenger was hiding behind the Chimera with her shields down. The Resourceful had lost at least half its weapons and an engine and the rest would follow soon.

    The Mandalorians were down to half their number, with most of the rest being damaged. The only reason Pellaeon''s capital ships were in as good a shape as they were was that the CIS commander had shifted targeting priorities after the Death Watch squadron switched sides. Gilad doubted that he would still be around if the enemy had continued to concentrate all its firepower on his cruisers as it was the case in the start of the engagement.

    "Hold position. Sensors, have you identified the enemy flagship?" Pellaeon asked.

    "It''s either CD One or Three. We''ll have it nailed in a few."

    "All capital ships, switch fire to CD One." Pellaeon ordered, throwing the dice. He simply didn''t have any more time ¨C in just handful of minutes, his ships might be unable to take out an enemy Dreadnought before the ship pulled back and Munificents moved in to block the firing lanes.

    If Gilad had guessed right, if his ships could kill or at least cripple the target, then they might buy a few more minutes.

    Yet, it wasn''t like being lucky would change the outcome. The enemy was down about a third of its original size and all dreadnoughts were so far intact.

    The same couldn''t be said for the defenders.

    Pellaeon glanced at the time. It was too soon. He knew Veil had reinforcements, though they weren''t too close by necessity ¨C all nearby systems and deep space were monitored by both sides to avoid someone prestaging units for a surprise attack. Unfortunately, that didn''t stop one side or the other from making a long-range jump and the ships slotted for Purple contingency were at least five minutes away.

    The Commodore grimaced. Even if the reinforcements arrived this minute, they might be too late to prevent the CIS from bombarding Sundari as they did with a lot of other cities and towns in range of their guns. The casualties ground side were already in the double digits millions and raising by the minute.

    The next strike made the whole Chimera shake like a small fish boat during a storm.

    "Shields are down to twenty percent. We have breeches in decks..."

    The enemy formation was shifting and that made Pellaeon tune out the DC report. CD One was falling back under emergency thrusters, while at lest twenty frigates were hurrying to build a physical barrier between it and the defenders.

    That was going to disrupt their carefully laid salvos and buy a bit of time.

    "The Resourceful is down! It lost both weapons and propulsion. Enemy fighters are targeting the Avenger!"

    Pellaeon could see it clearly, yet he couldn''t do a thing. Every anti-fighter weapon in range was busy gunning down the Vultures, yet there were too damn many of them.

    "Sir, two CD and their escorts are targeting us!" The sensor operator shouted in distress ¨C his composure breaking.

    "All hands abandon ship! I repeat, all hands abandon ship. Set up weapons at automatic fire and navigation to ram the closest CD, then get your ?sses out of here!" Pellaeon ordered.

    With the shields in tatters, the Chimera wouldn''t survive more than a minute or two of concentrated fire. At best.

    At least some of the crew might make it to the pods before his ship went down in flames.

    =RK=

    Part 2

    Bridge

    Corellian Cruiser "Freedom"

    Hyperspace

    When on the bridge of her ship, Commodore Joanna Holt often felt like a queen of old. As a commander of the Freedom, she had more power at her fingertips than most people could imagine and less could comprehend.

    Her so called Corellian Cruiser was kilometers long behemoth shaped like a dagger, which had enough firepower to shatter continents and boil oceans. Her command had defenses to rival her offensive power ¨C both shields and meters thick armor belt among other things.

    The Freedom had a respectable sublight acceleration too, however if there was one area where Holt''s baby was lacking it was her hyperdrive. First, it took a lot of fuel to propel something of that mass with any speed through hyperspace. Second, due to the Republic''s laws, both range and speed for ships of this caliber were heavily regulated¡­ even if in practice Freedom and her sisters were a bit faster and longer legged than was strictly legal.

    All of that meant one thing ¨C when the Commodore got the call that Mandalore was under heavy Confederate attack, she was some time away even at best speed. It took Holt mere moments to read through Pellaeon''s message, see what the enemy had brought to the table and make a decision.

    Simply detaching her faster escorts was out of the question ¨C they wouldn''t arrive fast enough to make enough of a difference. Not after everything her command had been through ever since the Battle for Geonosis. For weeks Holt''s battle group had been raiding CIS positions ¨C forward bases, mining operations and even a few small shipyards met their end under the guns of the Freedom and her escorts.

    While the huge Corellian Cruiser braved through everything the enemy had to throw at her and emerged intact, the same couldn''t be said about her escorts. Corvettes, frigates and even Venators were damaged or even destroyed on a dozen battlefields even if the enemy had to pay with multiple shattered ships for every Republic unit they took out.

    After everything was said and done, the Freedom and her remaining escorts broke contact and made their way within range of Mandalore, though sneaking through the void between the stars in order to make it undetected wasn''t exactly fun. Still, they made it even if the closest reasonably safe waiting position was farther than anyone would have liked.

    Holt''s battle group executed two jumps ¨C a short one that placed them straight in the middle of the hyperlane leading from the core of Republic space towards Mandalore and the second ¨C that led towards the battle for the heart of Mandalorian space.

    For twenty minutes Joanna kept a calm exterior, while her command flew at best speed through hyperspace. Her Freedom, five lightly damaged Venators, ten light cruisers and fourteen frigates and corvettes ¨C augmented by the battle groups depleted small craft compliment and the Guardian system that turned out to operate better than even its creators believed in their wildest dreams.

    Joanna hoped that it would be enough to turn the tide, because she knew that every minute it took her ships to reach Mandalore meant less of the defenders would be still alive.

    "Real space reversal in thirty seconds." Freedom''s navigator announced.

    "This is it, people. Look alive. Primary targets are Confed command ships. Fire plan Lambda ¨C shoot the Munificents until they''re disabled, we''ll mop up later. I want all small craft launched the moment we''re out of hyperspace." The Commodore ordered.

    She looked over the bridge, where every station was maned by experienced officers in the orange and black uniform of the Corellian Defense Force. A small, pride filled smile appeared on Joanna''s face. Just a few months ago, she and her people were inexperienced spacers who didn''t really know what real war meant ¨C all their training, wargames and anti-piracy operations meant nothing when compared with the hell that was Geonosis.

    For Holt and her fellow Corellians, that first battle was a crucible that forged them. It proved to the galaxy as a whole and more importantly to themselves that Corellia was still a power not to be taken lightly. Then she led a campaign that put small but not insignificant dent in CIS operations across two whole sectors and now, when she was heartbeats from joining another major battle, Joanna felt only pride.

    "Real-space reversal in five, four, three, two, one¡­" The Nav officer counted down aloud.

    The familiar image of hyperspace was replaced by serrated ranks of Munificents as Holt''s ships appeared above Sundari. While the Commodore had feared that she might place her ships out of position relative to the enemy by going straight for the capital, that turned out to be unfound. In fact, one of the first things she saw was a Munificent shattering by the armored prowl of the Freedom, which simply ran the frigate over while slowing down from hyperspace transition.

    "All stations, fire at will." Joanna gave the redundant order for the record. She knew her people were already acquiring targets and would be shooting in seconds. "Comms, raise whoever''s in charge and give me a sit rep. Tactical, what can you tell me?"

    At that moment, the Freedom opened fire. Dozens of turbo laser emplacements spat emerald death at the heart of the CIS formation. Concussion missiles and proton torpedoes detached from their launch tubes seeking their designated targets.

    The closest Munificents died before their droid crews could react in any meaningful way ¨C their shields and armor were woefully lacking when set against even a fraction of Feedom''s arsenal. Within seconds a semi-sphere of shattered hulks surrounded the Corellian Cruisers as she simply smashed aside the enemy frigates.

    Then her escorts joined the fun, though all their significant firepower appeared woefully lacking in comparison.

    However, the CIS units that found themselves under onslaught by the lighter Republic ships would disagree ¨C if they lived much longer that is.

    "We''ve acquired the closest CIS command ship. Firing now." The Commander overseeing all of Freedom''s weapons announced.

    In less than a minute, the Corellian behemoth had carved a way through the enemy fleet and simply shattered everything between in and the closest CIS Dreadnought. Freedom''s main batteries stopped firing for a handful of seconds as they re-targeted and then unleashed more than enough firepower to kill a continent on a two kilometer long Providence.

    The Dreadnought''s shields popped up like a soap bubble, followed by the armor that boiled for a moment before vaporizing. A heartbeat later the whole ship shattered before it''s reactor added its fury to the colossal energies killing the Providence.

    Then the Dreadnought simply vanished in an expanding cloud of molten metal and high velocity debris.

    "Well done. Find me the next Providence and kill it. Are there any friendlies still alive?" Holt asked as her battle group continued to cut the enemy fleet in two.

    "We''ve got at least one active Venator the Avenger ¨C and couple of Mandalorian Cruisers on the other side of the enemy fleet. A single capital ships plus a few escorts is on our right flank engaging the CIS. We''re still trying to burn through enemy jamming. Permission to dump some of the reserve energy into EECM and comms?"

    "Granted. Burnt through the interference. Locate primary CIS ECM platforms and silence them. What''s Mandalore''s status?"

    "We''re detecting signs of orbital bombardment but nothing conclusive, Ma''am. Working on it."

    "Tactical, shift our escorts to the right flank. Once we''ve cut the enemy fleet in two, we''ll take on the left group and the rest of the battle group will handle the other half."

    =RK=

    Part 3

    Bridge

    CIS Command ship "Death Bringer"

    High orbit above Mandalore

    Fury.

    That was the only thing General Grievous could feel. He had practically won! Only a fraction of the enemy fleet was still operational and they were going to die shortly, when those damned Republic reinforcements showed. Not just a standard Venator battle group or a usual Republic fleet ¨C that wouldn''t have enraged him so.

    Oh, no. The never sufficiently cursed enemy had to sent a kriffing Corellian cruiser ¨C a ship built from the ground up to face and kill whole fleets.

    Those kinds of units didn''t simply appear from nowhere. There weren''t many of them in the whole galaxy and any intelligence service worth their salt kept a track on their general location at the very least.

    An eight kilometers long "cruiser" didn''t just drop from nowhere in your moment of triumph! Not when Intelligence all but guaranteed that there were no significant Republic forces close to Mandalore!

    Grievous balefully glared at the center of the bridge, where a tactical display hovered above a holotank. Two minutes and already almost half of his remaining fleet had been gutted, including two of the Dreadnoughts, which apparently deserved special attention from the kriffing Corellians.

    The CIS commander did what he could ¨C tried to reorient his fleet so their main guns could shoot at the newcomers, but it was simply useless. He didn''t need to look at the sensor feed to see that the firepower his ships could bring to bear on the so called cruiser simply wasn''t enough to break through its shields.

    The Munificents simply died before they could put a second salvo in an enemy that had been designed and built to absorb such punishment and ignore it.

    "All units are to cover us. Get us on escape vector and in hyperspace as soon as possible! Any ship that can, start shooting at Sundari too! I want that city reduced!" Grievous snarled.

    Despite his blinding rage, despite his need to see Mandalore burning, he already knew the outcome of this battle. With his fleet caught so out of position, even attempting to ram that cruiser wouldn''t work ¨C his ships would be reduced to flotsam before they could gain enough speed to be of any real threat to the enemy. Hells, the Corellians wouldn''t even notice if they ran over a Munificent or two. Grievous was pretty sure that they did it just after arriving.

    The General slammed an armored fist into the closest console, demolishing a comm unit. He had to get out of here. Survive so he could rain his vengeance upon both the Republic and the Confederacy that so obviously betrayed him.

    The Death Bringer spun under emergency trust and headed away from the huge Corellian behemoth. Fortunately, that ship decided to take on half the surviving fleet alone while its escorts dealt with the rest.

    That was the first good news for Grievous since everything went to hell. Now he had more than an even chance of leaving this cursed system in one piece. He watched with satisfaction as ranks of Munificents placed themselves between the GAR reinforcements and his command ships.

    The frigates were dying under the concentrated fire of five Venators and their escorts, but not fast enough. The navigational computer was already calculating an escape vector and all Grievous needed was a clear lane and a minute or two at worst.

    "Uh-oh!" One of the useless B1''s manning the bridge m??n?d.

    Grievous'' eyes snapped from the tactical display and looked through the windows.

    =RK=

    Bridge

    MDF Cruiser "Conqueror"

    High orbit above Mandalore

    "An enemy command ships is making a run for it!" The Tactical officer shouted.

    A turbo-laser salvo slammed again into the side of the Keldable and dug deep into the abused armor belt. The sheer energy transfer made the whole ship shake as if a giant had picked it up and tried to pry everything lose.

    Yet, the Conqueror survived and continued to fight even if half her weapons were little more than burned out pieces of twisted metal.

    "No, they aren''t!" Ven snapped. "Put us in front of them! I don''t want the bastards jumping away!"

    The under-equipped battleship changed vectors and accelerated as her engines went to full military thrust. Her remaining weapons spat defiance and scored another kill as a Munificent broke under her barrage.

    Three CIS frigates changed course in an attempt to block the Conqueror and unleashed their arsenals upon the unshielded cruiser. Armor buckled, ablated and shattered, opening multiple decks to space. Ven could see unlucky crew being su?k?d into the void, with the more "fortunate" dying as they hit debris.

    "Target''s changing course. We may not be able to block it." Conqueror''s pilot reported.

    Ven looked at the plot. It was going to be very close ¨C at best. He glared at the icon of the CIS Dreadnought making a break for hyperspace. The enemy commander, the same one who ordered Mandalore bombarded might very well be on that ship.

    The Captain smiled. That bastard wasn''t going away.

    "Override reactor and engine safeties. Ramming speed."

    It was a testament to his crew''s dedication and discipline that no one flinched or asked for clarification.

    "Aye, sir. Ramming speed." The pilot answered with grim determination.

    A few seconds later, Conqueror buckled under their feet as the engines went beyond their safe limits and the acceleration pushed close to what the inertial dampeners could compensate for. If the later failed, everyone on board would be transformed into a fine paste under a few hundred gravities of acceleration.

    On the other hand, very soon it wasn''t going to matter.

    Ven stopped looking at the tactical display and stared through the windows of the bridge. He could actually see the dot that was the enemy Dreadnought getting larger and larger.

    "All non-essential personnel have permission to abandon ship." The Captain announced, though he doubted that many of those who could would run for the escape pods.

    They all made a choice, because of him, that shredded any honor they ever had. For Ven and many Mandalorians, joining Death Watch had been the only viable way they saw in order to preserve their traditions. He and many of his colleagues in the MDF saw that the New Mandalorians weren''t really interested in restoring Mandalore as it should have been. Instead, Satine and her government did their best to strangle the core of their culture. Of what meant to be a Mandalorian.

    Mandalorians weren''t a single race or even a species ¨C it was an idea. A culture and a way of life.

    A bitter chuckle escaped Ven''s lips. All he had done for years was aimed at a single goal ¨C to make his mother, the woman who took him after he was orphaned at shortly before the beginning of the Mandalorian Civil War, proud.

    Instead, Ven''s actions made him and all who followed him traitors. They were supposed to protect Mandalore, not ally themselves with those who would see their home burn.

    There was only one way out of this dishonor¡­

    The CIS Dreadnought was growing larger and larger. In moments, it would be all that could be seen from the bridge.

    The closest enemy frigates poured everything they had in stopping the Conqueror. The Keldable was little more than a wreck by this point, yet its engines were still alive and the bridge intact.

    A Munificent tried to physically intercept the Mandalorian ship, yet before it could reach it, the frigate died a fiery death under the guns of a Venator, which immediately targeted another enemy that was trying to stop them.

    "May in death our honor be restored..." Ven whispered.

    =RK=

    Bridge

    CIS Command ship "Death Bringer"

    High orbit above Mandalore

    "Damn you all!" Grievous roared.

    The last remaining Mandalorian ship in this part of the battlefield, one supposed to belong to his allies no less, was doing its best to stop the general''s flight. A whole division of Republic light cruisers jumped behind that Keldable and opened fire ¨C doing their best to cut off Grievous'' escape route.

    The remaining GAR units were burning through the Munificents trying to protect Death Bringer and bomber squadrons were unleashing hell upon any CIS unit they could reach.

    As if to prove him right, the deck below Grievous'' feet shook.

    "Multiple hits. We''re under attack by enemy bombers. The hyperdrive is out." A dispassionate tactical droid announced.

    "Damnation!" The general roared again and ran towards the nearest escape pods.

    He used his claimed lightsabers to carve through the bridge''s armored door when it didn''t open fast enough, smashed an unlucky B1 and even cut in two a Super Battle droid that was between him and the way to relatively safety.

    Grievous jumped into the first escape pod he saw and slammed his fist on the release bu??on. A door slid shut behind him and a second later he hit the back of the pod hard as it shout out of the Dreadnought.

    It wasn''t a moment too soon, because a two seconds later the burning wreck of the Conqueror slammed into the Death Bringer''s belly. The Dreadnought snapped in two before both capital ships were disappeared within a colossal explosion.

    The shock-wave was enough to knock Grievous out and let him tumble through the escape pod as it raced towards the planet below.

    =RK=

    Part 4

    Command bunker

    below the Royal Palace

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    "That''s orbital bombardment¡­ and the shields aren''t up." I summed up the situation while the ground shook for the fifth time. Considering we were at least a kilometer below the surface, that was saying many things about what was happening to the capital and none of them were good.

    Feeling tens of thousands dying nearby and many more on the planet wasn''t helping either, even if it was an old thing nowadays ¨C just the price of being a trained Force Adept. Of course, the Dark Side had to make it enjoyable, empowering and distracting business if I let her ¨C small wonder most Sith eventually went insane.

    "We need the datalinks up yesterday!" Satine frowned at the technicians who were busy doing just that.

    "Primary landline is cut at the top and our wireless equipment is being jammed. We''re trying to compensate and burn through."Most of the secondaries are either down or jammed too. All we know for sure is that a large fleet jumped between us and Concordia before engaging out navy." The tech didn''t elaborate on how well that was going on ¨C we could feel it as another tremor shook the bunker.

    "Damn the Confederacy!" Bo growled.

    "If we make it out of here in one piece I''ll be having a chat with our Intelligence services..." I grumbled quietly. I wasn''t accustomed to feeling this helpless ¨C it wasn''t like I could do much while being stuck into this bunker and leaving it while Sundari was bombarded wasn''t the best idea ever. "I''m a bloody idiot."

    "So it''s your fault then?" A trace of Obi-Wan''s usual Kenobiness entered his voice. Apparently he was recovering quite well from our verbal confrontation.

    "I should have a proper fleet in orbit and not relied on the shield, damn the political consequences." I lamented. I would have in the good old days while the planetary shield tech was just another super weapon cooked up by both sides of the cold war.

    "That would have been unacceptable..." Satine said weakly.

    "Is this acceptable then?" Bo snapped at her sister.

    "Of course not!" The Duchess glared at my wife.

    "Aren''t you going to do something..." Obi-Wan nodded at the women looking temporarily lost.

    "Do I look like an idiot? Given Pellaeon''s usual competence, he should have gotten the word out shortly after this mess began."

    "The closest Venator battle group is four hours away." Obi-Wan pointed out.

    "You would think so, wouldn''t you? I have heavy reinforcements about thirty minutes or so out. Let''s hope they will make it in time."

    "Why didn''t I know about that?" Kenobi frowned at me.

    "Need to know. I didn''t want someone recalling that force and leaving us vulnerable." I shrugged. Given my current rank and GAR command structure, it was well within my rights to do so.

    As far as most people were supposed to know, the Freedom and company were either in the last stages of their raiding campaign or in transit towards a friendly port of resupply and repairs.

    "Satine, you might be the only government Mandalore has left once we get out of here. You''ll need to take charge and have a plan for the immediate aftermath." I changed the topic.

    "We have contingencies for either attack or another civil war..." The Duchess sighed. "At least a few should do the trick."

    "After this, Vizsla and the Death Watch need to go away." Bo added and gingerly rubbed the exposed side where her armor had been melted.

    "Will you still try becoming Mandalore?" Obi-Wan asked.

    "Perhaps. We''ll need to talk with the Clan Leaders who made it and make arrangements. Juggling being a Republic General and Mandalore will be an interesting experience." It would certainly eat up my time even if the potential long term gains might be significant.

    That was the rub of it ¨C was the war going to be over in the next couple of years or would it drag on? I knew what was supposed to happen in canon but those events were mostly derailed by now. Oh, Palpy''s long term plans were the same ¨C turn the Republic into his Empire, but reaching that stage and wrapping up the war was going to be quite interesting for everyone concerned¡­

    I closed my eye and took a deep breath. I had to finally make a decision and soon ¨C my plans were going on reasonably good given the overall situation, but if I was to go forward I had to make up my mind on how I wanted the galaxy to look like at the end of the wars.

    After almost a year in this place, one of my initial plans ¨C the one concerning a reformed Republic was looking more and more like a pipe dream or more likely ¨C a recipe for another civil war.

    That left either co-opting Sidious'' plan or building up my own faction. My work with the Mandalorians could fit either if I became Mandalore.

    First things first ¨C sort out this mess and then figure out the long term plan I''ll be going out with.

    "We''ve partially burned through the jamming!" One tech exclaimed. "There''s a second fleet in orbit engaging the first." Then he paused. "I''m reading most of our navy as lost. Only a single Keldable IFF in orbit above Sundari, a Venator and four frigates..."

    "That''s..." Satine trailed off horrified.

    It was about thirty minutes or so since the unpleasantries started and the Mandalorian defense fleet was practically annihilated. The same went for my guard squadron ¨C here''s to hoping that Pellaeon make it out in one piece. At least I had the insight to keep the rest of my staff away from here ¨C HK and Aria were supposed to be with the Forces vacating Geonosis along with Piett and Veers. Ahsoka was still recovering in safety and with the exception of Shaak Ti who was at Kamino, those were the people I really cared about who weren''t in the bunker with me.

    Not a big number, with a lot of them being more in the line of useful acquaintances than friends, but still ¨C they might be enough to keep me from really going on in the deep end¡­ if, when I persuaded them that my vision for the future of the galaxy was for the best.

    "It would be worse on the ground." I concentrated on the issues at hand. "I felt a lot of people dying, not only in Sundari."

    "If the shields were down across the planet, even limited bombardment could cripple us." Satine''s shoulders sagged.

    When all was said and done, today''s Mandalore wasn''t particularly populated world. What made it important for the Mandalorians as a whole was that most of their industry was concentrated in here, while the majority of the population was spread all through the sector with a few more millions playing mercs across the galaxy.

    Without a ready access to ships and heavy equipment, the Mandalorians were quite good infantry and excellent special forces but only a shadow of what they could be if properly equipped. That''s why Mandalore was important ¨C deny it to the Mandalorians and they wouldn''t be too big a problem for the next few years when you consider the scales on which both the Republic and CIS operated and the enemy might have succeeded in that.

    If the industrial capabilities of this world were sufficiently degraded, Mandalore was going to be a net drain for resources for the time being.

    Then there were the political consequences, though I probably had a few days before dealing with them at anything but the local level.

    "Once we''re reasonably sure no one is going to take us from orbit, we should make out way out and see how bad it is." I said.

    "Yes. We should." Satine nodded numbly. "Try finding out whoever survived from my government as well as the Clan Leaders status. Once communications are restored, announce that the Death Watch are a terrorist organization that just helped enemy forces bombard Mandalore. They''re to be considered traitors to our people and handled accordingly." The Duchess stood straighter and spoke in a furious and determined voice.

    This was the first time I saw why Obi-Wan went after the woman.

    "We may yet make a proper Mandalorian of you sister." Bo nodded and smiled at Satine.

    "I don''t feel any immediate danger." Obi-Wan announced.

    "Me neither, though we should be careful." I said after checking through the Force.

    I don''t think that there was anyone left to bombard us. I owed Hold a case of the best Corellian brandy I could get my hands on.

    "Let''s go!" Bo ordered and went to the elevator''s control panel. She examined it for a moment and frowned. "I don''t think we''ll be getting out that easily. The top levels have collapsed."

    "There are additional exits, right?" I asked. It was merely common sense.

    "Yes..." Satine looked at the guards.

    "At least two we know of." The Lieutenant in charge nodded. "This way, Ma''am." He pointed at the far wall.

    It was time to see how big a mess we had to clean up.

    "Delkatar, you seem awfully detached..." Bo trailed off.

    "This is far from the first time I''ve been stuck on a world under orbital bombardment." Or ordered such for that matter. As for the inevitable casualties I felt ¨C after seeing it happen dozens of times on much grander scale you either get accustomed to it and find some way to deal with it or go insane.

    By any reasonable standards, any high ranking navy and army officers in a galaxy spanning power had to be somewhat warped in order to carry out their duties, because the price of doing business in our line of work was the death of millions, often billions and seeing whole worlds burn as a matter of course.

    =RK=

    Part 5

    Mandal Motors HQ

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    It took us a few hours to make our way from the bunker to one of the few intact buildings in the capital ¨C Mandal Motor''s HQ, which had its own shield that protected it from the bombardment.

    While Sundari wasn''t hit too many times, the orbital strikes either outright breached the dome or shattered it raining burning and melted metal all over the city. There were sections where whole districts went up in fire but the worst damage was caused by the dome collapsing over large areas of the capital. The overall death toll was estimated to be relatively low so far, but there were an awful number of missing or trapped persons and most of them were unlikely to survive long enough to be dug out.

    We had a front row seat of the devastation as we made our way to Mandal Motors, where we were received by Yomaget who b?r?ly made it to safety before everything went to hell.

    Fortunately, the CEO was on board with using a part of his corporate HQ as a temporarily seat of government and even better ¨C he was among the majority of Mandalorians who were fit to be tied after the Confederacy attack.

    "I''ll see them all burn for this..." Satine seethed.

    The Duchess had been starring at the ruin that was most of the capital for the last fifteen minutes and all I could sense coming from her was unbound fury that would make a Sith proud.

    Obi-Wan was hovering protectively near his wife, but he was obviously distressed by her emotions and kept quiet. Meanwhile, Bo was out visiting the nearest armory to pick up an armor that lacked a large hole in its side.

    "I agree with the sentiment, but first we need to put our house in order." Horus nodded.

    We were in his office and had a great view of the destruction. All emergency services were out in force, augmented by the MDF and civilian volunteers but it wasn''t going to be enough for far too many people.

    "Commodore Holt is doing her best to coordinate things in orbit and keep any more wrecks from hitting the surface." I informed the not really responsive Duchess who was for all intents and purposes the government¡­

    "We''ve been unable to establish contact with any of the ministers." One of Yomaget''s aides came near us and reported. "The one piece of good news we have is that local MDF commanders have taken charge of SAR efforts in all affected areas and we should have a complete picture shortly. We''ve got military units, supplies, equipment and volunteers streaming in from all over the planet."

    "Status on the planetary shields?" I asked.

    "Still down. The main control center took a direct hit and the secondary ones are in Death Watch hands. We''ve got MDF units as well as some of your Commando teams moving in." The same aide answered after glancing at the data pad in his hands.

    "At least the generators are safe." I noted. They hadn''t been struck from orbit and I had Commodore Holt drop a battalion of Corellian troopers ¨C a third of Freedom''s security detachment to secure the generators.

    Once we got at least one control center under control and made sure that the power network was sufficiently intact, Mandalore would be somewhat secure. Right now the only combat capable friendlies in the system were the Freedom and her escorts. As powerful as that battle group was, it simply couldn''t cover the whole planet against a smart opponent. Hopefully the CIS would lay low until some more reinforcements could reach the system. After all, the bastards did burn through a lot of their available reserve while trying to take us all out.

    "Duchess Satine, right now our government might as well be gone. We need decisions on how to proceed." Yomaget changed the topic.

    "Decisions? We''re already doing all we can, not that''s enough..." Satine whispered. "What''s happening with the Death Watch?" She sighed and turned away from the window.

    "Most of their newer members turned on them once Vizsla ordered an all out attack on the loyalist forces and the Confederacy began the orbital bombardment. There were firefights in dozens of locations all across Mandalore and Concordia. Once loyalist forces were mobilized, most Death Watch elements were overran. As far as we know, they still control only the shield network control centers and two bases in the desert on Mandalore. However, there are significant holdouts on Concordia." The aide read from his data pad.

    "Not good enough. Can we strike at Concordia without compromising the rescue operations?"

    "Not with what we have on the moon." Horus shook his head. "Concordia is their stronghold after all. At least we have secure landing sites to use once we have the troops to send."

    "Vizsla?" Satine spat the name.

    "Missing. He was supposed to be here in Sundari just before the attack, however his current status is unknown."

    "Speaking about the enemy leadership, we''ve got confirmation that Grievous was in command of the CIS fleet that attacked us." I relayed what I learned from Holt''s report after she had a few of the more intact Munificent boarded in order to secure Intel. "It''s presumed that he made planet-fall during the last stages of the battle after the Conqueror rammed his flagship."

    "I want him found!" Satine snapped. She turned around and looked at her husband. "Obi-Wan, please find him and bring him to justice."

    Kenobi stared at his wife for a long moment and nodded. "I''ll make sure he''s dealt with."

    Satine might actually be useful for knocking the more unpleasant Jedi traits from Obi-Wan. Good for him.

    "You aren''t going alone. Omega squad should be here shortly to act as our protection detail. Once they arrive, make sure they''re resupplied and then you can go hunting." I made sure that Obi-Wan didn''t go out half ???ked, because I doubted that right now he was in the right state of mind to simply crush Grievous using the Force.

    "That leaves us with the issue of government or the lack of one." Horus looked at Satine. "Many will blame this mess on you along with Death Watch."

    That earned him a glare by Obi-Wan, yet Satine simply nodded.

    "If we had a better and larger fleet, this might have been avoided." The Duchess waved at the devastated city visible behind her. "It was my government that decided a naval refit and expansion would be a waste of money. I''m aware where a lot of the blame lies, Clan Leader Yomaget."

    "We need to gather the remaining Clan Leaders and vote in a Mandalore. After today''s events neither the New Mandalorians nor the Death Watch are viable candidates to run Mandalore." Horus looked at me. "Are you still willing to be our leader, general?"

    I looked through the window at the devastated city. I''ve seen and ordered much worse, yet the few hours we slogged through the ruins affected me. This was Mandalore and even if I didn''t really recognize this world any more, it was the one place I used to call home before I met Ashara.

    Even if I had planned to burn it myself if the Death Watch actually won ¨C which only made it worse ¨C actually seeing Sundari wrecked¡­ It changed something.

    Perhaps it was the way I used to feel about this place. Perhaps it was the fact that tonight I married Bo-Katan and became a Mandalorian myself, which meant that this was my home now.

    "You know, I used to fight for an Empire that wasn''t mine. For a cause that I didn''t really care for¡­ I knew that the Empire needed to change in order to survive once the Old Republic was defeated. The Sith too ¨C because it was only a matter of time before we tore each other apart."

    A tall skyscraper that had been burning for hours ever since tons of molten metal rained upon it crumbled in the distance.

    "I think it''s a high time to start fighting for something that''s worth it."

    "What is Mandalore to you?" Yomaget asked.

    "If you asked me yesterday, the honest answer would have been a means to an end." I answered truthfully.

    "And today?" Bo asked. I didn''t feel her entering as I was too busy staring at the burning city.

    I turned around and looked at my wife, who now wore the standard armor of Mandal Motors guards.

    "Today I watch my new home burn. I felt thousands upon thousands Mandalorians die. I can''t bring back all the people who murdered by the enemy. I can''t do much to help the countless trapped in the ruins. What I can do is promise that this -¡­ "I pointed at the windows, "will be visited thousandfold upon the Confederacy and that I won''t stop before our enemies are crushed never to rise again." My voice was even though, yet full with the fury I felt and b?r?ly kept at bay.

    "He''s¡­ Veil''s telling the truth." Obi-Wan added. He was giving me a wary look.

    "Good." Satine nodded. "General Veil, you have Clan Kryze''s complete support in becoming Mandalore and prosecuting the war against the Confederacy of Independent System until a complete military victory."

    "I second that." Bo smiled grimly.

    "General, you have Clan Yomaget''s support as well." Horus gave me a solemn nod. "It''s high time the galaxy remembers what happens when someone crosses our people."

    =RK=

    Part 6

    Mandal Motors HQ

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    "Veil, what did you do this time?" Valentra''s holographic image scowled at me. "I swear you exist to make my life harder."

    "I love you too. I juts did some contingency planning for when everything went straight to the deepest, darkest Corellian hell. I was stuck into a bunker with cut off comms for the duration of the battle." I added. It wasn''t as if I usually planned getting myself in such messes. I blame the Force.

    "The Senator from Onderon and his buddies had been raising hell ever since they heard rumors about a new Mandalore. I''ve got the Chancellor, Senate and even the Jedi on my back wanting answers. The Intel services are spinning ''interesting'' tales about Mandalore. What is happening over there?!" Valentra exclaimed.

    So that''s the spokesman for everyone in the Senate who wants Mandalore done in permanently. I wondered if I could spin this mess so I could get out smelling like roses but I doubted it. Palpy had been playing this game for a long time and had too many connections within the Senate. He knew where most of the bodies were buried too, probably because he put a lot of them there himself.

    That left me with trying to minimize the political fallout and getting as much out of a bad situation as I could.

    "Politics is what happened. Long story short, both the New Mandalorians and Death Watch are compromised and can''t be said to speak for the Mandalorians in general. There will be a Clan Leaders meeting shortly in order to elect a Mandalore, who will be able take charge of this whole mess. The only good news is that Pellaeon make it out of Chimera before his ship went up and he''s recovering in medical."

    "Good for him. He''ll be getting a medal or two for holding as well as he did against overwhelming odds. When were you going to officially tell me you made a play for Mandalore yourself?" Valentra glared at me.

    "Once I knew I would have enough support so not to make myself look like an idiot." I sighed. "You''re aware that the only way we could trust united Mandalorians long term is if the new Mandalore is friendly, right?"

    "If you''re it, many Senators will cry fault. Conflict of interests and such for starters." My colleague pointed out.

    "To be honest, this isn''t my first choice. If I got more time, I would have handled the job to Obi-Wan, but we simply don''t have the time to make him a viable candidate."

    "How so? Does it have something to do with certain marriages I heard about this morning?" Valentra gave me an accusing look. "You know for people of our rank there''s a proper way to handle such things."

    "No time. If it was practical, you would have been on the top of my invite list." I shot back. "As for the Jedi, kindly inform them that Master Kenobi is in need for congratulations over his nuptials. He married Duchess Satine last night."

    "So he''s a proper Mandalorian now. Who did you marry or is it too horrible to contemplate?" Valentra sounded like he dreaded the answer.

    "Bo-Katan Kryze, Satine''s sister." I stated proudly.

    "I''ve heard that name before, but don''t recall where." Valentra suspiciously narrowed his eyes at me.

    "She''s kinda former Death Watch."

    "Ah. I see. So I should brace myself for livid Senators screaming that you''ve married a terrorist."

    "Please, compared to me, my wife is a little angel, yet the Senate didn''t scream too loudly when I became commander in chief of the Republic''s combat forces."

    "You just gave a few freighter loads of ammunition to your detractors, you know that, right?" Valentra sighed.

    "I''m aware I''ll have to answer some pointed questions by the Senate when I''m back on Coruscant. The political ramifications of my actions aren''t lost on me, trust me about that."

    "Really? Veil, you know you''re likely losing your current position over the mess at Mandalore, right?" Valentra ?r??n?d.

    "Who is on the short list to replace me?" I knew it was likely to happen the moment diplomatic support for my mission to Mandalore vanished in thin air.

    "Yularen, myself, Yoda and Plo Coon."

    "Just make sure that the Jedi don''t get the position or we''re kriffed."

    "The thought has crossed my mind. Yularen is a likely shoe in after you left him in tactical command over Geonosis. That might very well be the deciding factor." Valentra said.

    "Will my official endorsement help him or not?"

    "That remains to be seen. It will depend on the fallout from Mandalore."

    "I see. What about reinforcements? I''ll probably be Mandalore by the end of the day and I''ll want an official alliance with the Republic. As you know, yesterday the Mandalorian navy ceased to exist. We need this system fortified against further CIS incursions for strategic reasons that had nothing to do with who actually rules Mandalore. Losing this hyperlane will have nasty consequences."

    "I''m pulling two battle groups from the reserve and sending them to reinforce Commodore Holt. She''ll be instructed to protect the system for the foreseeable future."

    "That should be enough." Once I had a few Silencer equipped ships operational, Mandalore would be reasonably secure and those forces would tide us up until then.

    "On another note ¨C the investigation of Skywalker''s stunt is almost complete. All the agents need is to talk with yourself and the Skywalkers. When are you going to make them appear? I''m not really comfortable with you keeping a general under wraps for weeks, not to mention the Senator."

    "Padme''s still in coma, though the last I heard she''s likely to recover soon. As for Anakin Skywalker ¨C do you really want a loose cannon like him running through the galaxy without supervision? I''ll collect and bring him to Coruscant once I''ve wrapped up things here." I ?r??n?d.

    When all was said and done, Anakin''s screw up was going to be a massive pain in the ?ss to handle.

    "You should have just dumped him to the Jedi." Valentra shook his head.

    "And risk him falling to the Dark Side or even joining Dooku and company in a misguided attempt to save his wife? That whole mess was a textbook example on how to mess up with a Jedi''s head and potentially turn them. Quite successful too."

    "Damn. Is he salvageable? What is Skywalker likely to do if found guilty on all charges?"

    "That depends on his state of mind, but I doubt that he''ll quietly fall on his sword. The man has little loyalty to the Jedi Order or the Republic as a whole. Instead he believes in people, chief among them being his wife. Amidala might be the key to dealing with him, but that depends on her state of mind once she''s awake."

    "Skywalker''s a ticking time-bomb then." Valentra ?r??n?d.

    "It''s a distinct possibility."

    "What are you going to do when you become Mandalore?" He asked the big question.

    "Align the Mandalorians with the Republic, make sure this system is secure and sick them on the Confederacy. In the medium to long term ¨C make them useful allies while keeping the Clan Leaders from getting any ideas about galactic domination. After all, we don''t need a repeat of the Mandalorian Wars."

    "You know, the Senate won''t take it that way."

    "Of course not. Many will see it as me building myself an Empire, the bloody idiots." They might very well be right, but that was another question.

    "General Veil, the Clan Leaders are arriving as we speak. Your presence is required in conference room one." One of Yomaget''s aides interrupted us.

    "I''ll be there momentarily." I dismissed the man and returned my attention to Valentra. "I be back ASAP and will do my best to give you some cover as far as the Senate is concerned. They''ll be too busy dealing with my new status if things don''t go ever more wrong over here. I have to go. May the Force be with you." I waved at the grumpy looking general and cut the connection.

    It was time to face the music as they say. I needed to become Mandalore and finalize my plans before heading back. At least the Confederacy attack gave me a starting point for dealing with the Mandalorians. I was planning on using the inevitable outrage and fury to begin some creative nation building that would hopefully culminate into the creation of a stable power block under my command.

    Yet, first things first. I had to be chosen as a Mandalore before I could go ahead.

    =RK=

    Part 7

    Conference room one

    Mandal Motors HQ

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    If there ever was a huge neon sign announcing that I was living in a different era, this was it. We were here to decide who would be the new Mandalore ¨C with all major Clan Leaders who survived the attack either present in person or via holocomm.

    This hallowed location wasn''t the bridge of a mighty warship proudly displaying the power of the Mandalorian people for everyone to see. We weren''t in the command center of a large military base surrounded by enough warriors and equipment to take over couple of well developed worlds.

    Instead, we were gathered in a lavishly decorated corporate conference room. I''m sure most former Mandalores would either find it funny or were too busy rolling in their graves.

    At least the seats were comfortable¡­

    I cut short my musings and returned my attention to the proceedings.

    Clans Yomaget, Auwad, Skirata and Kryze were present in person. Many more ¨C almost two dozen ¨C chief among them Ordo, Bralor, Gedyc, Priest were here via the holocomm.

    At least a third of them were former Death Watch sympathizers who turned on Vizsla and company once Grievous tried to burn Mandalore.

    All of them agreed that whoever remained loyal to Death Watch needed to die and that Satine''s New Mandalorians pacifistic policies were directly to blame for the Confederacy executing a successful attack.

    That was it ¨C in one stroke, Grievous managed to kriff up the only two groups which had a prayer of keeping Mandalore together and now no one could agree on what to do.

    Well, almost no one¡­

    "We''re all aware that our current government is dysfunctional and won''t be accepted as our leaders even if most of them didn''t die yesterday." Horus was doing his best impression of snake oil salesman. "The less said about Vizsla and his goons the better..." He trailed off as even mentioning the Death Watch leader in this company led to loud grumble and a lot of quiet cursing Clan Vizsla to hell and back.

    We were back at this ¨C everyone knew it, it had been repeated again and again for hours, yet we weren''t closer to making a decision. I had my supporters, enough to ensure that no one else could become Mandalore¡­ which wasn''t as good as it sounded considering that after Vizsla kriffed up any chances he had for the title, there simply wasn''t another viable candidate.

    However, that didn''t meant I would be elected, which left us with a lot of accusations and power vacuum.

    You see, a lot of the Clan Leaders were quite wary of choosing a Mandalore in the first place. Doing so was going to shake things up and would technically place them under his or her command. Oh, there were traditional ways of either avoiding or contesting commands given by Mandalore ¨C most of them led to personal challenge and fair combat.

    At least half of the Clan Leaders didn''t appear fit enough to even slow me down if we had a go at each other if I wasn''t using the Force. That left them with naming a champion but doing so would be opening another can of worms and hurt their standing.

    Others were apprehensive of where I would lead Mandalore ¨C especially those who were part of Satine''s New Mandalorians.

    "I''ve heard a lot of bemoaning our situation. A lot of accusations hurled at various parties." Yomaget continued. "What I haven''t heard are plans on how to deal with our predicament."

    "We know your idea ¨C put the Sith in charge and all will be well." Merik Bralor said, sounding unconvinced. He was the leader of a now small and scattered yet still quite respected clan.

    Back in the day his ancestors were allies more of ten than not, but that didn''t mean much nowadays.

    "Do you really expect me to wave my hand and solve all our problems? I can lie my ?ss off and promise you solutions that would make everyone here happy and we all would know that as the lie it is. We all know the galaxy doesn''t work that way." I shrugged. "What I can offer you all is a shot at a better future for Mandalore as a whole and most of you in particular."

    "Some of us have seen what General Veil has to offer and are quite pleased with it." Horus added.

    Even before the immediate need of rebuilding the Mandalorian navy, the designs I provided were going to see Mandal Motors make a killing so Yomaget was in my corner for self interest among other things.

    The same could be said for Thang Auwad ¨C his wife and former Clan Leader didn''t make it through the bombardment. The man was out for Confederate blood ¨C something I would gladly offer along with lucrative contracts and designs for the consortium ran by his family.

    Arguably, those two Clans were the most important as far as influence and resources go and they were firmly on board¡­ which meant that made their enemies mine by extension with all that entailed.

    There were more than a few Clans in opposition just because of who my most powerful supporters were.

    Why did I want the this job again?

    "Some of you want to relieve the old glories of the Mandalorian people." I pointed at a lot of Clan Leader, including every single Death Watch defector. "You earn for the time when the very mention of Mandalorian warriors made people take notice and tremble. You want to experience that glory, the honor and satisfaction of meeting worthy opponents and besting them."

    Of course, if they did it as most Mandalorians in the past, everything would end in tears after significant chunks of the galaxy got burned again. At least Stephen had the right idea, but the war with the Republic put his plans on hold. It was too bad that the aftermath of the Empire''s victory and subsequent disintegration in a civil war put a stop to his vision for the future.

    "Others, want a stable future." I nodded at those representing the New Mandalorians. "You want to change how the galaxy see us and make no mistake ¨C to the average person we''re more often than not viewed as a scourge upon everything they hold dear."

    Understandable too. It wasn''t like Mandalorians hadn''t burned, r?p?d and generally wrecked the kriff of the surrounding sectors and beyond since the original Mandalorian Wars of Revan''s era.

    "Do I need to spell out why Clans Yomaget and Auwad support me?" I looked at the Clan Leaders. "I''m offering you a different path." I smiled and continued. "It''s probably the one thing we could be thankful to the CIS about ¨C they made most of the galaxy hate their guts and yesterday declared themselves our enemies."

    "You intent to use the Confederacy." General Skirata took a guess.

    "Indeed. While lacking any shred of honor, they''re a powerful enemy ¨C one we need to crush or see Mandalore burn again. Destroying them will offer us all the glory and combat a warrior could crave." My smile widened. "Doing so the right way will change how we''re seen by the rest of the galaxy. I offer you a path that will earn us many honors and acclaim. Bringing the Confederacy down will ensure we will be seen as protector of justice ¨C a path that will inevitably lead to many conflicts worth fighting."

    It was true, even if I wasn''t doing it from the good in my dark heart. Enlightened self interest was the name of the game and it worked.

    "This is inspired by the Suppercommando Codex, isn''t it?" Skirata asked.

    "You should know, general. You''re one of the survivors from the True Mandalorians after all. When all is said and done Jaster Mereel had the right idea. I''m merely expanding on it and making the best of the bad situation we all find ourselves in." I looked at the ?ssembled men and women. "Most of you crave for the restoration of Mandalorian honor, don''t you? You won''t find it in the overly savage and wasteful ways of the Death Watch or the brutes who inspired them."

    "Ah. You see both the Death Watch and New Mandalorians as people who rejected the old codes." Surprisingly that came from Thang Auwad.

    "They did ¨C for the wrong reasons. Most people in Death Watch didn''t know the meaning of honor. They paid it lip service while using our traditions as excuses for their criminal enterprises." I looked at the defectors from that faction. "The New Mandalorians overreacted after the Civil War and rejected the warrior codes all together ¨C both the good and bad."

    "There were good things?" An offended New Mandalorian sneered.

    "One''s Clan is their family. I see nothing wrong with being loyal to them in most cases. I see nothing wrong in approaching combat with honor and not going out of your way to cause slaughter for slaughter''s sake." I stated.

    Not to mention that it was ridiculous for a Sith to lecture people about how being too brutal and being murderous kriffing bastard for its own sake hurt your agenda much more than it helped.

    "That''s surprising coming from a Sith Lord." Kole Ordo spoke for the first time since the gathering began. "Though I shouldn''t be surprised given who you are."

    "Oh, I used to be one of those stereotypical murderous bastards a long time ago. For no good reason either ¨C just because it was often expected as a Dark Council member''s apprentice and I was too afraid of the consequences not to act as a psychotic killer." I shrugged.

    What? I was far from perfect and used to be a coward. It turned out that killing and torturing copious amount of people could be surprisingly doable if the alternative was either suicide or to die screaming.

    By the time I had enough personal power to stand up to the likes of Baras I had been quite warped. If it wasn''t for Stephen, Mako, Vette and few other people, I would have easily fallen to the Dark Side as a way of escapism from the hell I found myself in.

    My words made the Clan Leaders think.

    "If it wasn''t for a handful of people that helped me find a better way..." I trailed off. Kriff it, all my friends were dead for a long kriffing time. For a moment I was almost overwhelmed by a wave of fury aimed at my predicament and it took me a few seconds to put my emotions back under control.

    "That''s the core of what I''m proposing. Honor and glory earned in battle as soldiers instead of raiders and brigands. That''s more than what the Death Watch under Vizsla ever was. By now you''re all aware that prior to the CIS attack, Security forces and Republic Commandos raided couple of hundred targets all across Mandalore. All of those were Death Watch criminal enterprises. There is more than enough evidence in the cities and countryside away from the bombarded areas to back up my words."

    "Some of Death Watch activities were admittedly less than legal." Vincent Gedyc admitted. He was one of Death Watch oldest and staunchest supporters, however he obviously drew the line at aiding a foreign power in bombarding Mandalore. He had the distinction of being the first one to turn his Clan against their former comrades and apparently wasn''t afraid to own up to his kriff ups.

    Even if this was our first meeting, the man was able to earn a bit of respect with his actions so far.

    "Those who still wish to sell their services could do as honorable mercenaries instead as common thugs and guns for hire." I continued. "As for the New Mandalorians here today¡­ Yesterday, we all saw where your pacifism led. It might sound good in theory, but the galaxy isn''t a nice forgiving place. Without sufficient armed forces to ensure neutrality, the only thing pacifism makes you is easy targets."

    It was time to throw the New Mandalorians a small bone.

    "Still, I neither require or want to conscript those who won''t volunteer to be soldiers ready to defend Mandalore and smite our enemies. A society can''t exist if everyone is a warrior on the battlefield. It requires many, many people in positions that have little to do with combat. That doesn''t make them worthless either."

    "The basic idea does have its merits. How do you propose to actually pull it off?" Bralor asked. "If we make you Mandalore, all of us will sacrifice something, even if its just a bit of our freedom to act as we will without a higher authority. What are you putting on the line for Mandalorians as a whole? What are you going to sacrifice for our people?"

    "In various ways. First and easiest ¨C my personal resources, which as a few of you can attest aren''t exactly insignificant."

    Yomaget smiled at the thought of what I offered him and Mandal Motors.

    I continued to outline the general plan I presented to Skirata and the rest of the Clone Army trainers, which had been further refined by their suggestion. Little things like consolidating the whole sector under Mandalorian aegis, using resources either loaned from the Republic or appropriated from the enemy to jump start an industrial buildup that would turn us into an economic powerhouse¡­

    The fist small steps that would turn the Mandalorians into a real nation besides being only culture¡­

    "It might work, though I don''t think that the Senate would authorize a lot of help coming our way." Auwad noted.

    "I''m not expecting them to. Let''s be honest ¨C as far as I know, about half of the Senate wants us as allies while the rest would love nothing more than see us gone once and for all. I''m banking on the strategic importance of this system and working through the GAR for both securing it and helping with our industry. Both the army and navy could use additional sources of spare parts and equipment closer to the front lines."

    "Are you sure you could pull it off?" Skirata asked.

    "Using my position? Probably not. General Valentra who oversees the logistic side of the conflict can be persuaded to help in that regard anyway." I nodded at Skirata. "That links with Clan Leader Baylor''s other question. What I''m putting on the line for you all?" I looked at them. "Right now, as the commanding officer of all Republic combat forces, I''m one of the most powerful people in the galaxy. It is a position that barring a major kriff up I could conceivably hold at least until the war is over and further leverage it into either political office within the Republic or to practically continue controlling the GAR once the conflict is resolved."

    "And?" Gedyc prompted me to continue.

    "If you choose me as Mandalore, I''ll be kissing that position goodbye at the very least. It could very well cost me the rank of a general as well. When all is said and done, it is a great sacrifice. Together we might be able to make Mandalore a power that would give both the Republic and Confederacy pause but that day is years away at best."

    I looked at Bralor.

    "I am a Sith Lord. We crave power ¨C its almost everything to us and that''s what I''m ready to sacrifice in order to lead you. Because yesterday I had an epiphany ¨C you''re my people and you are worth it."

    Well, that gave them pause. Truth to be told, I wasn''t entirely honest with them. While I had incredible power at my fingertips given my current rank, that position was quite precarious without solid political backing and that was something I lacked. With Amidala''s poisoning and Skywalker going on the deep end, I lost any support Padme could provide on that front. Hopefully she would recover and might still be useful, yet her political backing was going to be worth quite less than before ¨C at best.

    That left me with only two feasible backers ¨C one was Corellia but that would take a lot of work to come into fruition; just a single meeting with the planet''s leadership was merely testing the waters after all.

    My other choice was Mandalore. While I would have preferred for things to have gone differently here¡­ Well there was nothing about it. I couldn''t conjure a six or more months before this whole situation came to a head and thus engineer either Kenobi or Bo-Katan as viable Mandalore candidate as per my original plans.

    In the end, I was left with rolling the dice and doing my best to take advantage of the situation I was maneuvered in by Palpy. All I had left was hoping that the fallout I would soon face would be worth the eventual gains.

    At least I came ahead with a badass and beautiful wife I was fond of.

    "We''ve been here for long enough." Yomaget slammed his fist on the wooden table dominating the room. "We''ve all heard what General Veil intents to do if he becomes Mandalore. What he offers and is prepared to sacrifice for us. Considering that we simply lack another candidate that might garner any reasonable amount of support, it''s high time we vote."

    Horus stood up and took a deep breath.

    "Clan Yomaget nominates Delkatar Veil, Leader of Clan Veil for Mandalore. He has our complete support." Yomaget stood at attention and gave me a Mandalorian salute by thumping his ?h?st above the heart with his right fist.

    "Clan Auwad..." Thang voiced his support followed by Satine and Skirata.

    The die was cast.

 Chapter 60 - Remember Mandalore [Finale]

    Part 8

    Mandal Motors HQ

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    "It''s funny. I don''t feel different. I expected something more..." I trailed off and looked at my wife who was standing next to me and gazing through the windows.

    "Congratulations, Delkatar." Bo paused and smiled. "Mandalore." She savored the word. "I can''t say I really expected this when I met you back on Ryloth."

    "Nonsense. All the histories will claim you knew my greatness the moment you laid your eyes upon me. They''ll add something about love at first sight too." I quipped and earned myself a poke in the ribs.

    "As long we''re the ones who get to write them."

    "The alternative is not acceptable."

    "No. It''s not." My wife agreed.

    It was a bit touch and go, but in the end I did get just enough support to earn the title and everything that went with it ¨C which was a greatly increased workload.

    "My sister isn''t too pleased with your decision." Bo informed me.

    "The best thing for her is to be away from here. Many will blame her for the devastation."

    "She was in charge. Had been for more than a decade. In the end it was Satine''s responsibility, even if she had less control overall than many would like to believe."

    "True enough. We need a new ambassador to the Republic and given her connection with the New Mandalorians and overall pacifistic nature, the Senate will love her."

    "If she plays her cards right, they will never see her coming. It''s a pity it took this to open her eyes." Bo sighed as she stared at the devastation.

    I put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently.

    "At least she sees it now. There are some who wouldn''t open their eyes even after something like this."

    "Are you talking from experience?"

    "Yeah." I sighed.

    Hopefully, once she awoke, Amidala would be sane and her eyes would be opened too. If the bio-attacks on Naboo couldn''t do it when combined with her current ordeal, nothing was going to cut it.

    "Besides, that way you''ll be able to keep her near Kenobi. Those two need some chilling out."

    "The Jedi Council''s reaction to his marriage might put a damper on their honeymoon."

    "What about ours? Satine''s a big girl, she''ll have to improvise."

    "I want you to lead my personal strike force. Small, elite, geared for rapid deployment and facing Force Adepts. Incidentally, that would keep us quite close."

    "Can''t keep your hands off me already?" Bo chuckled, before becoming serious. "How many men and is there any special equipment you require?"

    "Besides your personal arms and armor, I''ll be providing access to top of the line Republic gear as well as whatever specialized equipment money can buy."

    "Does that include Basilisks? Speaking about them..."

    "They''re quite sturdy and might have survived even if we have to dug them out. And yes, our unit will be equipped with them once sufficient numbers can be produced. As for numbers ¨C I want at least a platoon."

    "I''ll see to it." Bo nodded. "You know some of the Clan Leaders will be trouble even among those who supported you, right?" My wife changed the topic. "And I don''t mean challenging you to a single combat."

    "Undermining my authority and trying to ?ssassinate me you mean. Yep, I''m expecting it, though they just have to join my fanclub just like the rest."

    Some people didn''t really like me taking charge and issuing running orders moments after I was given the title, even if they expected it.

    Step one was consolidating here on Mandalore ¨C eliminating Death Watch remnants and whatever CIS forces made it to the ground, all the while executing SAR. Once that was done, Skirata who would be running thins for me here was going to storm Concordia and clear it from DW elements.

    Step two was for Yomaget, Awuad and their colleagues kicking up the industry in high gear as well as implementing radical expansion. They would be opening new factories, building new shipyards and working on building a brand new navy as well as producing the heavy equipment for a whole army.

    It was a tall order, one that they couldn''t do without outside help.

    That was step three and for me to worry about. My black ops units would be funneling both funds, equipment and specialists this way, while I had to not only make the call for the spread out Mandalorians to come home but also plan the incorporation of this whole sector under our rule.

    All that was just the beginning too and on top of my other duties.

    "It will be a few days before we leave for Coruscant. I want you to select your men as well as ?ssist Kole as much as possible."

    "I''ll do all I can to help him." Bo nodded.

    I made Ordo the one in charge of the Mandalorian Protectors ¨C the formal name of the local police and non-military security forces. That had the benefit of giving him a lot of resources for locating his daughter.

    I was careful not to mention to his face that she might not have survived the bombardment and even if she did, it was likely that her Death Watch kidnappers killed her and made themselves scarce.

    "I''ll get to if it this is all."

    "Yes. I''ll see you tonight."

    "And I''ll have you all to myself then."

    "Is that a promise?"

    "If you''re a good Mandalore." Bo pulled me closer and gave me a searing kiss before winking and sauntering off. "I''ll let you do the boring stuff."

    I watched her retreating form until she left the office I had commandeered for my own use and shook my head. I''ve forgotten what married life used to be and didn''t know how much I missed the little things until now, even if I knew it would be different with Bo.

    All right, what was the next thing on the agenda? Damn it, I needed another aide or two. At least I''ll be getting Piett back soon.

    Ah, yes ¨C choosing people to head education, medical and civilian infrastructure from the New Mandalorians, then I was going to interview Bralor for internal minister or something in that vein. Kriff it, I''ve forgotten how much work was setting up a new government after the previous one got vaporized.

    At leas this time I didn''t have to deal with newly conquered world so I there would be less issues than Balmora and Alderaan, right?

    Kriff it, who am I kidding? It was just a matter of time before something went to hell just to be a massive pain in my ?ss.

    I had to get myself into gear, because in less than an hour I would be meeting Awuad to discuss the standard equipment for the planned Mandalorian army. Once that was done, Thang, who was to be my deputy financial minister and Yomaget the actual financial minister would be both on my case to figure out how the kriff we were going to pay for rebuilding after the attack, creating a brand new navy and army, not to mention the industrial expansion.

    That wasn''t going to be fun.

    Note to self ¨C see if I could capture high ranking members of the Banking Clans and blackmail them for copious amounts of money.

    =RK=

    Part 9

    Hunter flight

    Great desert

    Obi-Wan paid b?r?ly any attention to the Commando squad strapped beside him in the passenger compartment of the Mandalorian fighter-transport. The Jedi was busy contemplating everything that happened lately and the ways it affected him. He toned out the Clone''s banter and the wh?n? of the engines, focusing on his issues.

    Kenobi felt drifting, lost.

    Less than a day ago, he ¨C a Jedi Master, practically trampled on the Order''s rules and millennia of tradition by following his heart. Worse, he hadn''t really thought about all consequences, despite he felt sure he had considered the ramifications of his decision. The inevitable confrontation with the Jedi Council he expected and it would be something to deal with in just a few days.

    Spending the rest of his life with Satine ¨C he simply loved that idea.

    Even becoming a Mandalorian hadn''t sounded too bad as long as he didn''t act as the stereotypical brutes as whom the average Mandalorian had been portrayed across the galaxy. Things weren''t so simple and clear cut after all.

    Obi-Wan could very well imagine being a Mandalorian and yet doing his best to protect the Republic from her enemies. Those things weren''t mutually exclusive after all. Besides, strictly speaking, there wasn''t something within the core of Mandalorian culture that forced someone to become a murderous bastard.

    He should know ¨C after all, Kenobi did go over a refresher course of Mandalorian history and customs while contemplating if marrying Satine was a good idea.

    What he found hard to reconcile within himself was how the love he felt towards his wife was affecting him as a person. Merely admitting it to himself hadn''t been too hard, despite how it felt at the time. Marrying on the other hand¡­ It was different ¨C a proof of his commitment to Satine. A step he simply couldn''t, wouldn''t want to take back even if he was offered the choice.

    "The things we do for love..." Obi-Wan whispered too quietly for the Clones to hear.

    That was the crux of the matter, wasn''t it? Ultimately his marriage was a choice between what he believed in as a Jedi and what he wanted as a man in love.

    If he had to be honest to himself, Obi-Wan chose to be selfish and that changed him. It subtly shifted his priorities and make it easier to disregard his nature as a Jedi when making a decision.

    His mind drifted back to the bunker¡­

    A week or two ago, Obi-Wan was sure he would have confronted Veil violently over the murder of the two medics. He still wanted to do it. That wasn''t a necessary kill in the heat of combat, it wasn''t an understandable military decision that lead to those deaths.

    Morally, Kenobi knew what was the right thing. Legally too, even if it wasn''t really his place to place judgment in that context ¨C strictly speaking that was for the local security forces to deal with even if it was now probably a moot point. Veil was busy making his bid for Mandalore and if successful, the worst he was going to face would be a personal challenge or two from family or friends of those men.

    As a Jedi¡­ yesterday Obi-Wan truly saw what a Sith in control of the Dark Side looked like. He knew his duty then.

    Kenobi was ready to fight an enemy he had been trained to smite ever since he could remember anything.

    Instead, Veil started talking and Obi-Wan stayed his hand long enough to listen. At the beginning, it wasn''t because he believed that Delkatar could persuade him not to attack. It wasn''t even because Kenobi was pretty sure he couldn''t win. He would have fought anyway.

    No. What stayed his hand was Satine''s presence. There was a part of Obi-Wan buried below all his training as a Jedi that simply refused to expose her to an all out fight between him and a Sith Lord.

    Yesterday, Obi-Wan refused to even think about that, yet the thought was in subconsciousness. It was in his heart.

    Kenobi was afraid of dying without spending more time with his wife. He was afraid of what would happen to her if Veil had to cut him down, even if Satine was the Sith''s sister in law.

    So he listened, prepared for his last stand, yet his heart d?s?r?d for a way out.

    When Veil offered it to him¡­ Obi-Wan''s hands became clutched fists.

    Even worse, Kenobi could see that he did the right thing in that bunker. Dying there wasn''t going to achieve anything. After Windu''s actions during the Jedi Temple''s attack, an attack against Veil by another Jedi Master executed without proof for betrayal against the Republic was going to damn the Jedi Order in the eyes of the galaxy.

    "Well played." Obi-Wan muttered.

    "Sir?" Niner, Omega Squad''s leader asked.

    "Nothing, I''m just thinking aloud. Carry on." Obi-Wan dismissed the Clone''s question.

    The Jedi Master hadn''t thought about that in the bunker. Kenobi had acted out of reflex borne of his training, of the way he had been taught. The right thing to do seemed so obvious then and he never thought about the consequences beyond either somehow succeeding or his much more likely death.

    Obi-Wan wanted to think that he knew Veil somewhat. The Sith simply wasn''t going to tolerate another attack upon himself by the Jedi. At best, the man was going to wait until the war wasn''t hanging in the balance before retaliating, at worse a confrontation between the man commanding all Republic combat troops and the Jedi was going to lead to a short and brutal civil war that would have damned the Republic.

    The worst thing was that even now, Obi-Wan wasn''t sure where exactly Veil stood. While he had his suspicions, he wasn''t sure about Delkatar''s long term plans. Ultimately, was the Sith an ally to the Republic or would he see it fall once the war was over? Would he continue with his live and let live policy towards the Jedi? Would Veil try to corrupt them or simply offer another way?

    What was the truth and what were lies spun by a Sith Lord?

    Kenobi shook his head and concentrated. His mind was wandering, avoiding a topic he feared to contemplate. It was something Satine asked him shortly after they arrived at Mandal Motors HQ.

    "What would have you done in Veil''s place?" Obi-Wan''s wife had asked. "I know what I should feel. He did kill two of my people, yet he saved my little sister."

    Obi-Wan was afraid to face that question, even if Veil did ask it too, back in the bunker. He had done his best to dismiss it. After all, a Jedi''s answer was obvious, was it not?

    It was anything but, even if you didn''t bring morality into the question.

    At the time, Satine was the leader of Mandalore''s government. She still was unless Veil was already chosen as Mandalore. That by itself warped the question ¨C because of her position, Satine was more important than two regular medics. Sacrificing them to keep her alive and hale would be more than a fair price to pay.

    Doing so would have been the correct decision on many levels and a proper Jedi would likely agree¡­ even if doing so came dangerously close to flirting with the Dark Side.

    However, when he was asked that question, Satine''s status didn''t matter. It was about what Obi-Wan would do to keep his wife alive.

    Now he knew the lengths Veil would go to.

    Not to long ago, he saw what Anakin would to for a very long shot at helping Padme, his now not so secret wife.

    What was Obi-Wan Kenobi going to do to keep Satine safe?

    The Jedi was afraid of that question. It made him shiver as if the Dark Side itself was touching him when he thought about it.

    However, giving an answer ¨C that simply terrified him.

    Because, Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Jedi Master, simply didn''t know. He might simply uphold his principles as a Jedi¡­ or do anything in his power to keep Satine safe.

    Just as he had no compunction of going after Grievous, not because it was his duty as both a Jedi Master and a Republic general, but because his wife asked him to bring the Confederate general to justice.

    Obi-Wan sagged in his seat and wondered what was he supposed to do.

    In his agitated state, he missed the Dark Side''s gentle touch that offered salvation.

    =RK=

    "Look alive boys. Target sighed. Ten K out."

    Obi-Wan''s self reflection was interrupted by the pilot.

    "Is he alone?" Kenobi was grateful for the distraction.

    "I''m seeing a handful of commando droids and a few of SBs."

    "Drop us behind the closest dune and strafe them a few times. I''m dealing with Grievous, you take out his guards." Obi-Wan ordered.

    "Yes, general." Niner answered.

    The pilot''s confirmation came in the form of him opening up with the craft''s laser cannons.

    "Scratch some droids. Be aware, enemy is splitting up. I''m dropping you on Grievous'' right flank."

    Kenobi submerged into the Force and let it revitalize him. A moment later his worries were erased and replaced by unrivaled clarity.

    A minute later, Obi-Wan dropped from the hovering transport with the Clones landing around him.

    "Target''s breaking to the right of your position. Good hunting." The ?ssault transport screamed away to avoid any potential AA fire.

    "Go." The Jedi Master ordered and sprinted after Grievous. He had no problem sensing the cyborg presence in the desert.

    Within seconds, Kenobi had the CIS general in sight. Grievous was busy climbing up the next dune and unfortunately for him, the Jedi was in no mood for a protracted chase. Obi-Wan raised a hand and pulled back the cyborg, who gave out a strangled cry and tumbled down amidst a small sand avalanche.

    Kenobi jumped down and drew his lightsaber.

    "Grievous." The Jedi stated blandly and activated his weapon.

    The cyborg stood up and drew a pair of stolen lightsabers.

    "Kenobi?" Grievous looked surprised seeing the Jedi wear Mandalorian armor.

    Obi-Wan narrowed his eyes. He recognized those lightsabers. They belonged to friends of his, who were now dead. Murdered by the being in front of him.

    Just like that, the calmness Kenobi felt since letting the Force flow freely through him, vanished.

    This thing¡­ it was responsible for the death of millions, probably billions. It murdered Obi-Wan''s friends¡­ and it bombarded Mandalore making Satine feel awful.

    It was Kenobi''s duty to put an end to that abomination and that''s exactly what he was going to do.

    Obi-Wan shot forward, without even thinking. He was acting on instinct, reinforcing his body with the Force without even thinking, yet she obeyed.

    Grievous parried the first strike, yet stumbled back surprised by the strength behind the Jedi''s attack. The cyborg tried to retaliate with his other blade, but his slash was parried with contemptuous ease before Kenobi''s saber struck again forcing the other general to retreat another step.

    It took all of Grievous mechanically ?ssisted strength and speed to keep Obi-Wan''s azure blade from striking it. Despite that and all of his training, the cyborg was forced into a relentless retreat.

    That confused the Confederate commander. He had fought Kenobi before and was aware of how good the human was.

    This was something quite different ¨C the Jedi was attacking with savagery he had never displayed before. Worse, the attacks were coming much faster and stronger than ever.

    Obi-Wan''s blood sang. He fell into a rhythm of ceaseless attacks and found that for the first time in his life he really enjoyed a battle. Kenobi found himself pouring all his frustration, uncertainties and fear into his strikes and it was liberating.

    That thought made him falter and gave Grievous a chance to jump back so he could take a breather. The Jedi frowned. He couldn''t really feel the Dark Side trying to influence him. There was no anger to feed her, even if he was frustrated.

    Yet there was fear.

    The cyborg counterattacked before Kenobi could think about it all. The Jedi easily fell into a Soresu form and started deflecting the incoming attacks. They were much easier to read than ever before. Anticipating them was simpler, natural.

    "You''re different today, Kenobi." Grievous spoke. "For a moment there you fought almost like a Sith."

    Obi-Wan''s eyes widened at that declaration and it almost cost him everything. The cyborg used that brief surprise to explode into motion and did his best to dismember Kenobi.

    Only a last ditch shove using the Force kept the Jedi intact.

    Grievous stumbled back and laughed.

    "Did I hit a sore spot? Did you enjoy my little performance? Granted it was interrupted before the best part..."

    The mechanical menace went silent when Obi-Wan went on the offensive.

    This time Kenobi felt anger. Grievous dared joke in his face over the murder of countless people. Satine''s people¡­

    Obi-Wan''s people now.

    It was Grievous and Vizsla who planned the attack and almost got Satine''s sister murdered. Tried to kill them all with orbital strikes and only failed because of Pellaeon''s last stand and the death of the Mandalorian navy.

    It dawned on Obi-Wan that he was facing one of the people that almost murdered his wife yesterday.

    Kenobi''s anger boiled and his composure simply shattered. A cold wave washed over Obi-Wan as he fell upon the cyborg and he felt more powerful with every strike he delivered at Grievous.

    The combatants blurred as they engaged into a flurry of blows and then it was over.

    A metal hand flew away ¨C separated at the elbow. Obi-Wan continued his onslaught and slammed his lightsaber into Grievous'' remaining blade again and again. The third strike was too much and it broke the cyborg''s guard. The azure blade flashed down and severed Grievous other hand at the shoulder.

    The two generals glared at each other for a long moment.

    "I won''t yield!" Grievous screamed. "I won''t be put into a kriffing jar again!" If he was physically capable of it, the cyborg would be foaming at the mouth at that point.

    "Surrender?" Obi-Wan asked calmly.

    There was no trace of anger in the Jedi''s voice.

    Kenobi felt cold. He could sense the Dark Side''s touch upon him. Despite what he expected, she wasn''t tempting him. Wasn''t demanding that he strike down Grievous.

    The Dark Side simply waited ¨C ready to follow his directions.

    "You did escape the last time." Kenobi reasonably pointed out surprised by Grievous'' reaction.

    "I wont'' be held again!" The Cyborg shouted and lunged at the Jedi.

    Obi-Wan raised a hand and picked up Grievous using the Force, suspending him in mid-air.

    "What am I to do with you?" The Jedi wondered aloud.

    Grievous'' decided to stay silent at that point and simply balefully glared at Kenobi.

    "You know, my wife want you brought to justice." Obi-Wan repeated Satine''s request.

    There was silence, before Grievous'' laughed.

    "Wife? The Jedi''s poster boy is married? Was she here yesterday? Did I get her?" The cyborg sneered in an obvious attempt to provoke Kenobi.

    "She was. In fact, we married yesterday. This is her world you wrecked." Obi-Wan snapped.

    "Good."

    Kenobi could imagine Grievous'' smile and the very thought made him snarl. Below his helmet, Obi-Wan''s eyes got bled into yellow.

    The Jedi''s hand gripped his lightsaber harder.

    "You know, there are probably a lot of good reasons why I should bring you in right now. Intelligence among other things. After all, you should stand trial for my crimes."

    "Crimes?" Grievous laughed. "My only crime is that I''ve been a more successful general than all of you Jedi put together! It took a Sith being in charge of your forces to stalemate us!"

    "No matter how loath am I to admit it, you''re right about that." Obi-Wan noted. "In the end, we Jedi are diplomats and peacekeepers, not soldiers or proper generals." Kenobi sighed. "A Jedi in my position would capture and bring you back."

    Grievous'' glare intensified and he started struggling into the telekinetic grip.

    "As I am now, I no longer have the right to call myself a Jedi." Obi-Wan stated in contemplative tone. "I chose love over the Jedi Order. It''s hard to admit it but today I''m on a path that one day might make me chose between Mandalore and the Republic." Kenobi paused. "I''m pretty sure I''ll take my wife''s lead on that one." Obi-Wan smiled, even if Grievous couldn''t see it.

    "So what?"

    "It''s funny you know. I''ve walked away from all I knew and I didn''t really realize it up until now. I''ve already made my choices. All I needed was to understand why."

    Obi-Wan took a step forward. "If I continued to consider myself a Jedi, I would have been torn apart by divided loyalties."

    Another step and Kenobi was within a hand''s reach of the cyborg.

    "I didn''t really get it until we crossed blades. If you were anyone else besides Vizsla, I might have failed to understand. Yet, fighting you ¨C a man who tried to murder my wife¡­ It was a revelation."

    "What the kriff are you talking about, Jedi?"

    "I''m rambling, am I not? Feeling free¡­ It''s strange, you know. Liberating." Obi-Wan stared at Grievous.

    Kenobi raised his lightsaber and brought it down in one swift motion, then he released the cyborg.

    Grievous fell on the ground in two pieces.

    It was strange. Perhaps it was because Obi-Wand didn''t strike down in anger. He didn''t feel the Dark Side falling upon him. Didn''t feel like falling after executing Grievous in a cold blood.

    Instead, Obi-Wan felt at peace now that a threat to his wife was removed from existence.

    "Niner, status report. Do you need ?ssistance?" Kenobi activated his comm.

    "We''re just wrapping up, general. Grievous?"

    "He won''t trouble us ever again."

    "Good work, sir." The Commando congratulated him.

    "Hunter flight, come and get us." Obi-Wan ordered their ride to collect them.

    On the flight back, Kenobi would have time to contemplate his actions and the conclusions he reached.

    =RK=

    Part 10

    Industrial Sector

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    I''ve been Mandalore for two days and I already hate the bloody job. Endless meetings, most of which with people you could hardly stand, enough bargaining and deal making to make a CEO of an interstellar corporation jealous, what felt like everyone in the government shoving their problems up the chain until you had to deal with them personally¡­ and those were only the highlights.

    Pro tip ¨C if you intent to go into politics and raise up to the top, think long and hard if succeeding is going to be worth it. Pro tip the second, it''s much better to be the power behind the throne instead the one actually having to do all the bloody work.

    I couldn''t wait to wrap up the most immediate troubles and leave Skirata to deal with this shit even if that was going to mean I would have the handle the senate with all that entailed.

    On the bright side, Piett arrived lats night with reinforcements from Geonosis and some good news ¨C operations there were complete. All ground forces were extracted, the Navy had recovered or blown up every wreck we left after the space battle and all our units had pulled out for either some R&R or to reinforce various positions across the galaxy.

    Even better, he came on the same ship with Aria and HK, who I immediately sent to find Vizsla ¨C dead or alive I wanted him brought in front of me. He and the Death Watch were going to serve as great scapegoats for everything wrong on Mandalore ¨C it was going to be mostly true too.

    I had what survived from Satine''s government PR department point out at every opportunity who exactly allied with the Confederacy and invite them here, preferably just before or after the latest casualty report went public.

    Meanwhile, I was playing the role of the good and concerned Mandalore ¨C visiting the worst hit parts of Sundari, when there were journalists around to show everyone I actually cared. That''s why right now I was visiting the industrial sector ¨C it was last on my list after checking up the heavy hit residential districts. I used every opportunity to promise bloody vengeance to whoever was listening ¨C and there were a many pissed off Mandalorians who loved the idea.

    At lest this time I wasn''t suffering alone ¨C Thang Auwad was with me, showing the flag so to speak. He had his hands full too after his wife didn''t survive the attack and had to ascent as both a Clan Leader and a CEO of their consortium. In fact, at least a third of the factories lost in the capital were either owned or worked with Auwad in weapon manufacturing.

    "We should have sixty percent of the damage fixed within the week." Thang informed me after we spoke with the reporters.

    "That sounds reasonable." I looked at the rows of large buildings strewn around us. While a significant section of the dome had collapsed in the area, the weapon factories were built with the expectation of such shenanigans. Most were superficially damaged and could resume production once the area was cleared of debris and the rail networks used to shuttle resources and components in were certified safe for use.

    "The rest would need up to a few months of repairs with at least two factories being a write off..." Auwad trailed off and pointed in the distance.

    My eyes followed his hand and I saw what used to be a factory. Most of the building was simply gone with only twisted parts of its metal outer walls remaining. It was obvious that the facility had taken a direct hit during the bombardment and that was something it simply wasn''t built to handle.

    While a lot of the weapon and munitions factories on Mandalore were excessively armored and otherwise protected, that was primary as a safety concern pushed by Satine''s government. Most of the manufacturing centers simply weren''t expected to handle even limited orbital bombardment if both the planetary shields and the theater one covering the capital were down.

    "Do you have numbers on the recovery costs?" I asked.

    "Do you really want to know?" Auwad sighed. "The preliminary cost I gave you during out last meeting is going to rise. A third of the cargo subways are down with some tunnels collapsed. Fixing that will take both time and money. We''ll be able to partially sidestep the issue by using small cargo vessels to deliver resources to the surviving factories, but most of them simply weren''t designed to work that way. Not to mention that doing so would be logistically troublesome."

    "Solutions?" I asked.

    "A lot ¨C all requiring more time and money than might be practical."

    It all came back to Mandalore simply lacking enough money to do everything I wanted in a reasonable amount of time.

    "Your plans are good, Mandalore. Most of us like them quite well in fact. It''s feasible to turn Mandalore into an industrial powerhouse that can build us both a powerful navy and a respectable combined arms army. We can even do it in the time-frame you require. We just can''t do it with the money and resources at our disposal. The best we can manage is to start on the initial stages of the build up."

    "You and Yomaget made me well aware of that. That''s why we''ll be meeting tonight. There are some decisions to be made about the future, but this isn''t the time or place to discuss it.

    =RK=

    Death Watch Safe house

    near Sundari

    Mandalore

    "Is the Intel any good?" Niner asked.

    He and the rest of Omega were tapped for another hunt ¨C this time they were after Vizsla. Personally, the Clone officer hoped it would be successful too.

    Seeing Grievous cut in pieces a few days ago was simply indescribable. The Clone felt elated, especially when the damn Cyborg did its best to kill him and his squad. After dealing with Grievous once and for all, Niner as sure that general Kenobi would be unable to pay for a drink in any bar in the galaxy frequented by GAR personnel.

    Considering that this Vizsla character helped arrange the "tiny" orbital bombardment incident that almost saw Omega buried in a bloody warehouse, Niner was on board with dismembering that bastard too.

    "That''s what Intel claims." General Veil''s pet psycho droid deadpanned. "By now you should all know not to trust Intel without double and triple checking no matter what they claim. That way you''ll live longer." HK sagely advised.

    "He might be a royal pain in the ?ss, but he knows what he speaks off." Aria nodded. "At least as far as war and killing people is concerned." The Chiss woman added.

    "So we''re going to check. Carefully." Niner shrugged. It wasn''t like Intel failed to burn him in the past, though usually he tried very hard not to think about those cases.

    The small group was hidden behind a hill overlooking a tiny settlement ¨C just two rows of building set up around a road leading to the capital. The only reason the place existed was a small, mostly automated mining operation for various silicates which could be found under the local desert. The only notable thing around was a pair of landing pads and two hangars b?r?ly big enough to handle the fighter/transport combo favored by the Mandalorians.

    "That''s the general idea. Remember, if practical, the general wants Vizsla brought in alive. However, we''re under orders not to risk our lives over that low-life." Aria, who was technically in charge of the operation, ordered. She might be a Sith in training, but that didn''t mean she wanted to explain to her Master how she got his soldier killed.

    "What''s the plan, Ma''am?" Niner asked.

    "HK''s going in as a scout. He can use his stealth field to check if our quarry is here. You''re setting up a sniper nest up there..." Aria pointed at the top of the hill, "after checking up for any nasty surprises. The rest of us will sneak closer and be ready to provide support if HK finds either Vizsla or any trace of Death Watch presence. Any concerns?" Aria asked the veteran soldier.

    Niner was surprised that his opinion was asked for in the first place. In his experience a lot of officers, especially Jedi, didn''t bother to do so once they made up their mind, even if he had worked with a few who were a pleasant exception to that rule.

    "Well, Ma''am if I might suggest a few alternations..."

    =RK=

    Part 11

    Mandalore''s office

    Mandal Motors HQ

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    "Can you remind me why the kriff I wanted this bloody job in the first place?" I snapped after finished skimming through yet another data pad and placed it next to the growing pile of complete paperwork.

    Despite my best efforts, the pile with things to go through was steadily growing and I was yet to start the various meetings I was scheduled to attend today.

    "It sounded like a good idea at the time, sir?" Piett guessed.

    My aide had arrived twenty four hours ago and by this morning he was up to speed with his expanded duties ¨C it wasn''t something that made him particularly happy but at least handling all the additional work coming his way would look great on his resume ¨C both in the army and civilian life.

    None of that changed one inevitable fact ¨C running a whole world, much less what I was hoping to become a proper interstellar nation was an awful lot of thankless, usually boring and often frustrating work¡­ and that was even before having to personally meet with any politicians hell bent on making your life harder. I was already missing the good old days when I could simply Force-choke the bastards and call it a day.

    Returning to Coruscant was going to test my patience and self-control like few other things did.

    "Any good news, Firmus?" I asked my aide.

    "Orbital clean up continues apace. Relatively intact hulls are being dragged to the shipyards for evaluation and either rebuilt or will head for the breaker to be re-purposed."

    That particular idea came from Horus ¨C re-using the more intact wrecks to bolster the navy sooner than would be otherwise possible and stripping everything else that wasn''t blasted to scrap for parts. That idea was going to give us the skeleton of a navy a bit sooner so I wasted no time in approving it and relocating resources for the venture.

    Of course, that plan was going to create additional work for Mandal Motors and make them a nice amount of money besides the other projects they were already busy with. The corporation was cheerfully expanding its industrial capabilities and hiring a lot of people in order to fulfill all the contracts I was sending their way.

    Guess who was going to be receiving huge chunk of Mandalore''s budged¡­

    "I don''t know about being a good news, though there are a lot of reporters from all over who want to speak with general Kenobi. It finally leaked to the galaxy at large that he was the one to take out Grievous and every reporter in the Republic wants to interview him."

    "Better him than me. Schedule a press conference ¨C I hope Obi-Wan won''t be too put off with me for throwing him to the krath hounds that is the media. It''s not like I have the time for the likes of them ¨C there will be enough of that when we''re back on Coruscant." I grumbled. That reminded me ¨C now I had a press-secretary, a survivor from Satine''s government, who was busy fending off the media ever since I became Mandalore just a few days ago.

    "The last bit of good news ¨C your wife has finished selecting your personal guard and they will be ready to meet you later today."

    "That''s one bit of tradition that I hope won''t bite me in the ?ss..." I stated.

    A proper Mandalore had to have a proper retinue made of warriors ¨C an honor guard if you will, even if he was supposed to fight and win his or hers own battles. Part of it was symbolic ¨C you couldn''t really hold the title without having people ready to fight and die for you after all, and that had to be obvious to all. Second and more practical ¨C they were supposed to be Mandalore''s agents ¨C commanders, aides, etc¡­

    Unfortunately, I simply lacked the knowledge about the locals to make such a selection myself. Usually most of the honor guard would be part of my own Clan but considering that there were two of us ¨C me and Bo, that wasn''t possible. That left me sending my wife to recruit me a retinue and trusting her judgment.

    "Good to hear. I trust that there will be more than enough bad news and troubles needing my attention to offset the good ones?" That was inevitable really.

    "Yep. First, there are various smaller corporations that want a piece of the action and will be raising hell until they get on board with the various expansion program..."

    "If we had the credits to burn, they would already have contracts or be negotiating ones." I grumbled.

    "All they see is their big rivals receiving tons of government money, long term work and good working relations with Mandalore. Apparently that make them nervous..." Piett shrugged. That really wasn''t his area of expertise ¨C in fact I should be having another aide to deal with the economic side of things and I would be meeting her later today once she was up to speed with the situation.

    None of that changed the fact that the smaller corp would be a problem until I threw them a bond and I simply lacked the resource to pull it off right now. I glanced at the data pad containing my schedule ¨C I''ll be speaking with people from the economy ministry in the afternoon, they might have an idea what we could work out.

    "What''s the next problem?"

    "The consequence of the orbital bombardment and dealing with former Death Watch members..."

    Yeah, that was going to be delicate ¨C the die hards were easy ¨C we were going to kill the kriff out of the fools. The ones who joined only in the last few months in a hope of ousting Satine''s government and then switched sides when the DW began acting crazy or at worst when Grievous enacted his own bit of murderous insanity¡­ Well the later groups were harder to handle.

    A lot of people wanted the heads of anyone ?ssociated with the Death Watch. Considering that my wife was a former member, that was out of the question, though I would have to sooth a lot of ruffled feathers. Then there were some clans that actually expected rewards for turning on the Death Watch when the chip were down ¨C just another political landmine I had to carefully handle, preferably before it blew up in my face.

    I had the sinking feeling that Piett was just starting.

    I was right...

    =RK=

    Death Watch Safe house

    near Sundari

    Mandalore

    The accommodations left something to be d?s?r?d, but given the circumstances, they were much better than the alternative ¨C either a prison cell or more likely a blaster bolt to the head. The Death Watch''s leader had no illusions what awaited him if he ever fell in the hands of the loyalist after the unsuccessful coup he was force to launch by Grievous.

    Vizsla morosely looked over his surroundings ¨C plain gray metal walls of a small space port''s overseer. A desk made of the same stuff, a few not particularly comfortable chairs and a computer terminal. At least the air conditioning was working or considering the location ¨C a rocky patch in the middle of the desert near the capital, Vizsla and his warriors would be nicely cooked by now.

    "Sir, someone tripped the seismic sensors under the hill. The cameras show nothing..." One of the guards spoke over the comm. "I''m activating the QRF and awaiting instructions."

    Vizsla couldn''t say that he was particularly surprised. After the series of debacles over the past few weeks that culminated into the death of everything he had been working towards for more than a decade, another setback was all but expected. If he had to be honest to himself, it was a small miracle that his location hadn''t been tracked down earlier.

    The overall destruction visited upon Mandalore by that fool Grievous explained it.

    The Mandalorian snarled at the very thought of that cursed cyborg. Not only the machine''s madness wrecked Vizsla''s plans, it turned out to be for nothing too ¨C both Satine and Veil survived and that Sith bastard was chosen as Mandalore too!

    The Death Watch''s leader grit his teeth in fury and frustration, doing his best to calm himself down so he could think rationally. It was high time to get off the planet, perhaps to Concordia, though it was only a matter of time before the loyalist sorted up themselves and retook the moon. No, going back home would meant willingly entering a trap. Vizsla knew that his only acceptable alternative was to retreat, not flee damn it, and openly join with the Confederacy. Either that or simply vanish in obscurity far away from this sector of space. However, the latter alternative simply wasn''t acceptable! He hadn''t worked this long, hadn''t sacrificed so much to quit now!

    "I need information! How many of them are outside? Are there ships in the air or in orbit above us?" Vizsla shook himself out of his funk and took charge of the situation. "I want all our warriors ready for action. We''re getting out of here."

    "Understood. Something flickered on the motion detectors to the west, though they''re clear now. I''m pretty sure our sensors are being spoofed."

    Huh, that wasn''t standard MDF forces tactics. He should know ¨C those on Concordia, who answered to him had identical training and equipment to their friend on Mandalore itself.

    "Republic special forces..." Vizsla grumbled. That probably meant they had some of their ships in orbit waiting to intercept anyone who decided to flee Mandalore.

    He smiled thinly. "Prepare our guest for transport. She''s our ticked our of here so make sure the enemy doesn''t manage to spirit her away." At least that particular exercise of futility that could be laid on Grievous'' penchant for kriffing up properly laid plans was going to be useful now.

    Vizsla took a moment to check up his weapons before picking up his helmet from the desk where he had discarded it earlier and made his way out of the office. The very fact that the enemy was skulking around instead of attacking or leveling the place from orbit probably meant that they either suspected he had the captive in here or they weren''t sure that there was a Death Watch presence in the area.

    At any rate, Vizsla had to make sure the Republic forces who for all intents and purposes had taken over Mandalore through their general, were aware who he had in his custody. Otherwise things might just go to hell like everything else¡­

    "Our¡­ guest is ready for transport. Everyone is armed, armored and awaiting orders, sir."

    The same guard announced.

    At least Vizsla still had a few competent people left. That thought gave him much less comfort that in should have. In the last week he had lost too damn many excellent warriors and good friend.

    "Good work, sergeant. Here''s what we''re going to do..."

    =RK=

    "You don''t want to do anything hasty." A voice boomed over the space port''s speakers. "Republic forces, we''re well aware of your presence. I would want to draw your attention to the office building''s door. You probably recognize our guest ¨C the daughter of one of your general''s supporters."

    "Well, that''s unexpected." Aria grumbled. She was about eight hundred meters from said building and had a decent view of its entrance.

    "That''s an understatement." Niner muttered quietly.

    They could all see a pair of Mandalorians complete with full Death Watch armor escorting a young girl and the kid was outfitted with a harness rigged with enough explosives to level the space port.

    "Did I mention I loathe the Death Watch?" The teams sniper added. "I have a good visual of the vest. A lot of explosives, including at least three thermal detonators I can see." Dev, I''m patching you camera feed."

    "They''re making a point. Or just insane." The demo expert grunted. "Can''t do anything remotely. Trying to jam the area won''t be good idea either. Order''s ma''am?"

    "We either let them go or kill them all." Aria sighed. "If they surrender, most of if not all of them will get a trial and get shot if they''re lucky and they all know it." The Chiss woman closed her eyes and examined the situation through the Force, looking for a better solution. She recognized the girl and what the Death Watch mouthing off over the loudspeaker said was true. What Aria didn''t know was if the kid was expendable or not.

    Astra frowned at that thought. She had been expendable too ¨C after all the bastards who created her did sent her to die. The kid didn''t have much more choice right now that Astra once did.

    "We''re going to walk out of here, board our ship and leave the system or the girl gets it. It''s not like we have anything left to lose."

    "Orders, Ma''am?" Niner asked.

    Aria opened her eyes and stared at the girl, wondering what to do.

    =RK=

    Part 12

    Death Watch Safe house

    near Sundari

    Mandalore

    It''s curious thing, hatred. As someone who trained to be a Sith, Aria Astra should be familiar with that emotion. Along with fear and anger, that''s what she should be feeling most of the time ¨C well, at least that''s what your average Jedi would tell you.

    However, in her short life, Aria had seldom found herself hating anything, besides the people that created her as a disposable weapon and sent her to her doom. Yet, on that day, in the deserts of Mandalore, she hated. The Force Adept saw the parallels between her situation and the slip of a girl rigged with enough explosives to evaporate everything nearby. They were both unwillingly used only to be discarded afterward.

    It was probably worse for the hostage ¨C at least Aria didn''t know better or anything different at the time.

    "Order, Ma''am." Niner repeated in a damningly neutral tone.

    Aria glared at the spaceport. Her mind was discarding any plan she could think of as soon as they surfaced. Letting the Death Watch go was out of the question, besides it would be pointless. Astra didn''t need the Force to tell her that the hostage would be as good as dead or worse if the kidnappers made it out of system with her. Simply ?ssaulting the spaceport would be futile ¨C Aria could feel the determination mixed with desperation coming from the Death Watch. They knew they were dead men if the rest of the Mandalorians got their hands on them.

    The Force Adept could almost see what would happen if she ordered an attack ¨C the Death Watch would fight with fanatical tenacity, determined to kill as many Republic soldiers as they could before detonating the charges put on their hostage and going out with a bang.

    Aria needed another solution ¨C one that didn''t waste the lives of the people under her command, yet dealt with the enemy and saved the girl.

    "Niner, on my signal take out the Death Watch in sight, suppress all exits and get Dev to the hostage so he can dismantle the explosives." The Sith in training ordered.

    "Yes, Ma''am. You have a solution on the little issue of the spaceport blowing up if we do it?" The Clone Commander asked.

    "I''m creating one now." Aria answered before closing her eyes and diving into the Force.

    Astra''s perception expanded and she could feel every sapient being in the area ¨C the Clones, Death Watch, including those she couldn''t see with her eyes, the hostage and a handful of utility droids. Aria''s body sang with power as she concentrated and drew more of the Force within herself than she had ever before. The sheer power made her light-headed and euphoric, made her feel as if she could do anything she d?s?r?d.

    Aria pushed those thoughts aside, though it wasn''t without some effort and concentrated on the task at hand. A pleasant tingle ran up and down her skin as her power coiled around and through her and then, the Force Adept was finally ready. She raised a hand ¨C the gesture helping her mind guide the energy that was still raising in potency and unleashed it, guiding the Force as well as she could.

    A shimmering, purple tinted energy field surrounded every living thing withing the spaceport and froze them all in place.

    "GO!" Aria hissed the order, while straining to hold a stasis field going upon more than a dozen targets.

    "Execute, execute, execute!" Niner snapped over the comm and blaster fire erupted all over the spaceport.

    Aria could feel people dying, which allowed her to drop the stasis upon their cooling corpses. That was the only thing that allowed her to keep the technique ongoing as long as she did. Every moment was a battle ¨C while the Force felt almost eager to obey, the strain of channeling and precisely directing so much power upon that many separate targets she couldn''t actually see took their toll. For the first ten seconds or so it was practically euphoric ¨C the feeling of unrestrained power was almost addicting. The same went for the tingle of the Force flooding her being.

    However, the longer Aria had to keep the technique ongoing, the worst it became. The pleasant tingle became an electric current. The energy coursing through her veins turned from a soothing spring into a river of molten lava.

    Aria knew that if she kept it up for too long, the strain of channeling so much energy would simply fry her body from the inside ¨C if she could remain conscious for long enough that is, because with every passing second she was drawing more and more exhausted.

    Then, after what felt like an eternity ¨C it was all over. Aria felt the last man she held in stasis die and she released the technique. A small smile graced her lips, then her eyes rolled and there was only soothing darkness.

    =RK=

    "Admin secure. Status report!" Niner ordered after gunning down the last Death Watch member in the building ¨C who was conveniently frozen in place along the rest of his murderous buddies.

    "No contacts outside." Fi announced. "I''ll keep overwatch." The sniper added.

    "I''m securing the hostage. Make sure someone doesn''t interrupt me and blows up all sky-high." Dev sounded a bit strained ¨C it was never a good thing when your demo expert had a similar tone.

    "I''m covering them." The synthetic voice of the General''s pet killer droid added over the comm.

    "All clear in the annex. I''ll check up the ship next." Cor added.

    "I''ll make another sweep of the admin and join you outside." Niner paused. "Ma''am, what''s your status?" The Clone asked. He frowned when no response came back. "Anyone, do you have eyes on the boss lady?"

    "A moment, sir." Fi said and continued a few seconds later. "I have a visual. She''s collapsed four hundred meter east from my position. Advise?"

    "I''ll check on her once I''ve swept the building for any other unpleasant surprises. Keep overwatch. The last thing we need is for some holdout to blow us all up."

    =RK=

    Military hospital

    Sundari outskirts

    Mandalore

    "General on deck!" Niner''s voice snapped like a whip. A moment later, his commando unit stood at attention.

    "At ease soldiers. You did well." I beamed at them.

    Oh, they did all right. My first stop was the morgue to make sure with my own eyes that Vizsla was very much dead, which he was ¨C missing a forehead and most of the head would do that.

    "Exemplary even. A terrorist leader dead, a high value hostage saved and no friendly casualties." I continued.

    Niner shifted at my last words, but only gave me a formal thanks.

    "Don''t worry. My apprentice is my next stop and I''m pretty sure she''ll be all right. By your account she simply overstretched herself." I added, while examining the Clones feelings.

    Huh, they appear to have accepted Aria as one of their own. Good for them. It might be interesting to see where that would go. Beside, I could always use another spec-ops unit.

    I almost smiled when I went past the Clones towards Aria''s room. Kole Ordo and Mira were nearby and I could feel their relief and happiness without problem. It was fortunate that my apprentice was able to wrap things up so nicely ¨C I couldn''t have done it much better myself to tell the truth. She earned me and the Republic some political points with the Clan Leaders ¨C Vizsla was very much dead and Ordo''s kid was recovered mostly intact.

    Then there was what that meant on a personal level ¨C I owed both Aria and Omega squad. I would have hated to see Mira dead. When all was said and done, she and Kole were probably the last connection I had with my past with the exception of HK. I''ll probably should do something nice for them ¨C well at least I made a mental note to that effect and entered Aria''s room.

    My apprentice was tucked into a hospital bed and hooked up to various beeping machines. Two banks of clear fluid and one of what looked like bacta were fed to her intravenously. Besides that, the room was typical for a MASH ¨C plain gray walls and a small med-droid resembling an overgrown spider hovering in the corner.

    "What are her injuries?" I asked the machine.

    "Extreme exhaustion, heat stroke, minor internal burns. She is stable."

    Honestly, it was a bit better than I expected when I got the preliminary report. She would be more or less down for a couple of weeks as far as strenuous use of the Force went. Just to make sure, I went to her bed and placed my hand on her forehead then concentrated. I carefully swept Aria''s body with my power, making her flinch in her exhausted sleep.

    Yep. She had overdone it all right, though fortunately it wasn''t nearly as bad as my stunt above Geonosis. Before leaving for Coruscant, I should make her a milder version of the Alchemy concoction that hastened my own recovery.

    Thinking about alchemy, I got an idea. It''s been quite a long time since I crafted any items ¨C the last time my first wife was still alive, but perhaps it was time to dabble again. After all, Aria was in for a gift.

    "You did well." I muttered, then gave the droid some instructions that would make my apprentice''s recovery a bit more comfortable, then I made my way to the Ordos.

    They were in an identical room, complete with a GAR medic and a med-droid. Not to mention Omega guarding the entrance, though they were positioned to easily cover Aria''s room as well.

    "I hope all is well, all things considered?" I asked from the door.

    Inside I saw Kole hovering over protectively next to Mira, who was being scanned by the med droid. The doctor was busy checking various scrapes and abrasion on her arms. The kid obviously didn''t make it easy for the Death Watch and bore the scars to prove it ¨C including puffy and split lips and a big bruise covering almost half her face.

    "Mandalore!" Ordo straightened up and slammed his fist over his heart.

    "General?" The doctor glanced my way. "Nothing we can''t fix." He added.

    "Good to know. How are you two holding up? And keep that for official events." I waved at Kole.

    "Better than this morning." Ordo sighed. "Much better." He muttered.

    "You''re late." Mira grumbled after studying me for a few seconds.

    I returned her stare and nodded. All the cheer and glum I saw when I met her for the first time were absent from hr eyes. She was angry, furious even, though those emotions were fragile. I could clearly feel here relief and fear behind that front.

    "Unfortunately I wasn''t able to live up to my legend this time."

    "Close enough for me." Kole shook his head.

    "Not for Mira." I nodded at the kid, who was still frowning mightily. "The Death Watch are done. Their leadership annihilated and their last strongholds on Concordia will be soon under ?ssault. But that doesn''t really matter to you, right now, does it?" I asked the kid and earned myself and angry scowl. A lot of therapy for this one I guess and that wasn''t something I would like to undertake anyway.

    "Not now and not for some time I guess." Kole added. "I however am grateful. Those traitors got what deserved."

    "Credit where credit''s due ¨C it was Omega squad and my apprentice who saved the day."

    "And Clan Ordo owes them all a debt of honor." Kole spoke with finality.

    "That''s between you and them." I nodded.

    "What do you plan to do now? I''m asking as a Clan Leader." Kole glanced at the doctor and droid. "If it''s not classified." He added.

    "I''m leaving to Coruscant shortly. Both to negotiate an alliance with the Republic as Mandalore and answer about gaining the title while being a GAR general."

    "Better you than me." Ordo all but shuddered at the though of personally dealing with the Senate and Republic''s bureaucracy.

    "Beside that, I''m calling them home." I smiled. "All of them."

    Kole gave me a speculative look.

    =RK=

    Basilik''s Rest

    Nar Shaddaa

    The Smuggler''s Moon. According to some, this place was Coruscant''s dark twin. It was the closest place that the Hutt''s as a whole and many of the galaxy''s criminal cartels and organizations had to a capital. It was a moon so built up that it resembled one giant hive of crime and villainy.

    It was also a great place for any mercenary to find either job, short term lodging or whatever gear they might need ¨C especially if the gear was less than legal in what passed for civilized space these days.

    For more than four thousand years, significant chunk of the mercenaries passing through Nar Shaddaa were of Mandalorian origin or found said culture appealing and eventually became one.

    In hindsight, it wasn''t surprising that there were some establishments not only frequented by Mandalorians but catering almost exclusively to their kind. The Basilik''s Rest was one of the oldest and highly reputable of them ¨C something that meant both more and less on a place like Nar Shaddaa.

    On a good day, at least half the clients were Mandalorian mercenaries either just passing through, decompressing or waiting to meet a contract ¨C something that have been happening in that place for hundreds of years. If you didn''t know better, it would have been just another busy day.

    That day, there were some notable differences ¨C first all clients were either Mandalorians, or people the patrons trusted. Second, the various holoscreen which usually displayed many different blood sports, races or dancing strippers from half a dozen species, were all switched on the same channel.

    And most importantly, all the patrons had their attention firmly fixed on the displays.

    As far as many of them were concerned, it''s been just a week or so since the galaxy changed. It wasn''t simply the war between the Republic and the CIS that got their attention, though that conflict was a big part of it. In fact it was a catalyst.

    No, what got their interest and that of most Mandalorians spread through the width and breath of the galaxy was closer to home.

    It has been a week since the skies above Mandalore were lit of fire by the flames of war. A week since the cradle of Mandalorian civilization was bombarded from space.

    More importantly, it was mere days since the most notable Clan Leaders gathered in Sundari and chose a new Mandalore. That by itself was novel ¨C it was a long time since their people had a nominal leader they could respect and thins Mandalore already had their attention. His name had been whispered ever since the attacks upon Coruscant. Then it was a mere novelty. A competent Republic general ¨C who knew that they still existed.

    The Ryloth came and made some Mandalorians take a closer look. The words of Veil''s exploits were becoming more and more notable. More credible. Especially when the people on Nar Shaddaa knew a lot of local captains who lost their lives and ships when they threw their lot with the CIS in an attempt to enslave more of the Twi''leks.

    Just a month or so ago, Geonosis changed things. It make all Mandalorian warriors worth the name stop and take a notice. That same Republic general fought and won the biggest space battle in a thousand years. The war was escalating and it sang to the Mandalorian''s warrior hearts. Their blood ran just a bit quicker, their hearts beat faster in anticipation.

    They lived to fight in a conflict such a this one, yet the weak leadership back on Mandalore wasn''t going to do a thing. Satine and her ilk were pacifist of all things and unfortunately they had too many supporters on Mandalore itself¡­ where their people''s industry was concentrated after their Civil War.

    It was an untenable situation that made many Mandalorians put out feelers to see if either the Republic or the CIS would have work for them. It was either that or join the Death Watch and risk another Civil War ¨C something that a lot of them did anyway.

    Yet, all that suddenly became irrelevant. The Death Watch was all but gone ¨C extinguished within a week after they betrayed their own people to "allies" who saw no issue with bombarding Mandalore.

    To be fair, many, even most Mandalorians haven ever stood upon that world. It wasn''t their place of origin. Not their homeworld.

    However, it was something as important ¨C it was a symbol. The place where their culture was born. And the Confederacy didn''t thing twice before unleashing their fleet upon that world.

    That little fact pissed off a lot of Mandalorians, even if most of them had no outlet for their anger.

    That was about to change.

    The holoscreens were busy showing images of Sundari ¨C the most populated city hit by the orbital strikes along with many of the smaller cities and towns. The pictures soon shifted, showing images captured during the space battle ¨C most notable a Mandalorian battleship ramming a CIS Command cruiser that was trying to escape when Republic reinforcements showed up to save the day ¨C and didn''t the very idea grate on every Mandalorian who knew the details of that battle.

    Whoever edited the clips was good ¨C below the warships tearing each other apart, everyone could see Mandalore burning.

    The image changed again and made everyone pay attention. Seven people stood on a small podium with Sundari''s wrecked skyline in the background. They all wore customized heavy armor with their Clan Symbols displayed proudly. Five of them were known Clan Leader and they were flanking the other two.

    Horus Yomaget was easy to recognize for anyone who paid any attention on things back on Mandalore. It couldn''t be any other way with the man having the notable distinction of being in an opposition of both Satine''s government and Death Watch. With Clan Yomaget being practically the most numerous, powerful and wealthy of them all, he could afford to do so. Next to him stood someone who only some of the older warriors recognized ¨C Kal Skirata and many wondered where that ancient krath hound came from. The other Clan Leader were harder to place. Thang Auwad ¨C who took the leadership position after his wife died during the bombardment wasn''t a well known entity though he held a lot of power thank tho the industry he controlled through his Clan and its allies.

    The big surprise was Merrik Bralor ¨C who prior to the battle used to be one of Death Watch biggest supporters ¨C with both equipment and manpower. He apparently didn''t appreciated Vizsla''s friends bombarding his homeworld.

    Another lesser known, yet important figure figure was the man wearing Ordo symbols. While that Clan was almost extinct nowadays, the name still carried a lot of weight.

    That left the two people in the middle. The so called Negotiator ¨C one of the more famous and effective Republic generals and a Jedi to booth. Yet that man wore three symbols on his armor ¨C those of the GAR, Mandalorian people and a stylized winged sword. They were all familiar to the Mandalorians who had studied history and especially the old battles ¨C which was a lot of them.

    It was the symbol of the Jedi of old and it was placed where the Clan sigil should be. The symbolism of it all was quite interesting and it gave credence to some interesting rumors ¨C that general Kenobi had became a Mandalorian and married Satine Kryze of all people.

    Just as the last figure married the Duchess sister Bo-Katan, a former Death Watch member.

    Said figure wore a black armor with two symbols ¨C one of Mandalore and the other a stylized wheel that was a close resemblance of the emblem of the Sith Empire.

    He really didn''t need an introduction in among the bar''s patrons. There was scarcely a being in the building who didn''t know Mandalore even if this was the man''s first official address despite a few public showings caught by the media.

    At first glance, he didn''t look like much, that new Mandalore. A bit on the short side, not particularly muscled. Short cropped black hair and a pair of dark eyes. Average face that you wouldn''t look at twice.

    Yet, even seeing him through the screen, the man had a presence. An aura. He commanded one''s attention.

    Then Mandalore spoke.

    "It''s an honor to stand once upon the soil of Mandalore. It is even bigger honor to be wearing this armor," Veil rapped his armored knuckles over his br??stplate above his heart. "To be accepted as a Mandalorian. To earn the title of Mandalore, to be elected by the Clans as our people''s uniting voice..." He trailed off and smiled grimly.

    "Someone else in my place might say it''s regrettable that this happens in an age of strife, when a ware ravages the whole galaxy. However, those wouldn''t be words that anyone with the heart of a Mandalorian warrior would ever utter. For we know the truth. Being Mandalorians is the greatest of commitments, greatest of sacrifices and that goes double for anyone who dares to claim himself a leader of Mandalorians." For a moment it seemed that Mandalore stared at the very souls of the Mandalorians watching his address.

    "That is something the misguided fools of the Death Watch and their Confederacy masters forgot. They aimed to take power over Mandalore by the strength of arms and keep it with the numbers of the CIS droid armies. They were not true Mandalorians. They had no honor and proved it for the whole galaxy to see." Veil paused and gave a grim nod. "The Death Watch already paid for their hubris and so did their leader Pre Vizsla. The last remnants of that cowards organization still hides on Concordia and will be dealt with once and for all. Yet, that leaves their masters. The people they made a deal with in order to claim Mandalore ¨C the place where our culture originated."

    Mandalore shook his head in wonder.

    "It''s as if simply conquering this one world would have given them what they wanted ¨C control over the Mandalorian people. They forgot who we are. What we are. They planned to subjugate us, to use us as expendable shock-troops that should be discarded once their war was lost." A pause. "The utter fools. We don''t live just in this one place!" He pointed at the ground below his feet. "Not this world, not this system or even this whole sector! We span the galaxy! Being Mandalorian isn''t a species or a political statement. We don''t have a central command that is easily decapitated. We aren''t a single species or a bloodline that could be exterminated. We can rebuild our ranks with others who want to join us, other who have the same hearts as us!"

    Mandalore raised a fist.

    "We aren''t just a mere people or an army. To be a Mandalorian is a culture! An idea, and you can''t kill and idea with blades, blasters or warships! To the Confederacy of Independent systems that tried to subjugate us, I tell you this! You can''t kill an idea no matter how many worlds you lay to waste. Yet we can kill you! And we will. To the Confederacy leadership ¨C you can take this as an official declaration of war between the Mandalorian people and you ¨C a courtesy more than you deserve."

    Mandalore''s eyes bored into the camera.

    "To the Mandalorians living, fighting all over the galaxy, I tell you this ¨C it is high time for you to come home. It is high time for everyone to remember us. I won''t order you. I won''t issue commands. I will ask you as one warrior to another, come and join me! Let us make the galaxy remember us and our enemies tremble at the very thought of us!"

    Mandalore smiled.

    "I know what your hearts d?s?r?. Its the same though, the same emotion that makes my own beat faster. There is a great war to be fought and we will be a part of it. Even better, our honor demands that we be a part of this conflict. It cries against the madness sowed by the Confederacy! We will lead the way and write our names in the annals of history so even in a ten thousand years we will be remembered!

    That''s why I ask you all to come home. Bring your weapons, your ships and let us set our enemies ablaze!"

    =RK=

    Council Chambers

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    The large circular room was all but empty. Only a single tiny being sat in one of the chairs placed in a circle around an open space in its center.

    The Grand Master of the Jedi Order watched the end of Mandalore''s address and his ears drooped in regret. It wasn''t because Veil had betrayed the Republic, no matter what many would be screaming and soon. Not yet at least. But because it didn''t matter. That man had his reasons for such a controversial choice. They might have even been good enough.

    It didn''t matter. Yoda already felt the Force trembling. More and more Jedi were seeing the same transmission. The conservatives and many of the neutrals would see Veil becoming Mandalore as nothing more than a typical Sith power grab¡­ and Yoda wasn''t sure how much of such conclusion would be an overreaction.

    The one thing he knew was that the friendly Sith had seen an opportunity and grabbed it. The consequences however¡­ did the man think about them and if he did, did he care?

    Yoda closed his eyes, sighed and slumped in his chair. He could sense the turmoil in the Temple itself. Some Jedi were confused, others would probably wait for more information before they made up their mind. Yet too many were scared and angry. He had to be ready to fend of the conservatives and try finding a middle ground. Because the alternative was unthinkable. The way things were going ultimately it wouldn''t matter who won the war or if Veil was going to show his true intentions. The Order was splintering, slowly tearing apart under the strain of multiple factions and Yoda wasn''t sure how to fix it.

 Chapter 61 - Back to Coruscant [1/2]

    Part 1

    Medical Wing

    Green Site

    Somewhere in the inner rim

    Awareness came slowly. Almost like awakening from a deep slumber and with it¡­ relief? Confusion too.

    She felt something was amiss. That she should be doing something, yet she couldn''t remember what. The woman tried to open her eyes, yet her eyelids refused to obey.

    That wasn''t right, she thought.

    The sense of confusion, of that something was wrong increased. However, that knowledge came slowly, sluggishly. She tried to recall what was happening, where she was, yet her mind drew a blank.

    She felt a twitch, then a soft fabric scrapping over exposed skin. That light contact made her flinch, bringing even more sensations. Her mind froze, expecting an inevitable explosion of agony that simply couldn''t be put in words.

    The agony ¨C her constant companion for what felt like eternity was strangely absent. It was miraculous, really.

    Finally, the woman managed to crack an eye open only to be blinded by soft blue glow. Her eye reflexively closed and she flinched as a lance of pain stabbed straight into her brain. The only thing that surprised her was that the rest of the molten agony she expected didn''t materialize.

    The pain she actually felt dissipated fast leaving the woman even more confused ¨C if that was even possible. Whatever was happening came at odds with her sluggish mind''s expectations and that left her grasping for answers.

    Eventually the woman dared open an eye once again. The blue light was no less blinding this time around, but at least it was merely irritating instead of agonizing. She dared open her other eye too and stared at a dull, gray ceiling.

    Nope. That didn''t help her figure out what was happening or where she was. In fact¡­ she had trouble remembering who she was. That should have scared her, yet all the woman felt was relief that the pain was gone.

    =RK=

    "What''s the sentence, doctor?" I asked and looked at a nearby screen showing Padme Amidala sitting on a hospital bed looking utterly lost.

    The Duros looked up from the computer terminal he was working on. The chief medical officer of the facility had a sparsely decorated office which among other things was a testament for the hastily built and temporarily status of the facility he was in charge of.

    "Well, she awoke a few days ago and the preliminary tests are promising. Only minor brain degradation, nothing we can''t treat. While she''s still weak and it will take some time for her muscles to recover after her coma, that''s a short term problem. However..." The doctor shrugged.

    "Mentally she isn''t the same, is she?" I asked.

    "We simply have no experience with such cases. The closest thing I''ve seen was an intelligence agent who had been tortured for information before being recovered. Even then, they weren''t in so much pain for such a prolonged period of time. Whatever that thing was¡­" The Duros shuddered. "Her brain''s pain center was lit up even when she was placed in medical coma, which should have been impossible. Despite everything we could do, she appears to have been at least partially aware too."

    "The Force makes possible equally wonderful and terrible things doctor. I''ve seen much worse." I muttered. Not to mention done.

    That earned me a dirty look.

    "Thank you for your efforts, doctor. I''ll go talk with her."

    "I''ll advise against that. What she needs is rest."

    "Unless she''s more mentally disturbed than I fear, that might not be an option. In a few days her husband will be in front of a military tribunal. She will be called as a witness."

    "Such stress is the last thing my patient needs!" The doctor snapped.

    "That would be for Senator Amidala to decide."

    The Duros glared at me, yet he declined further comment when I headed for Padme''s room.

    "Senator Amidala, I hoped our next meeting would be under better circumstances." I nodded at the sitting woman.

    Her room wasn''t better decorated than the doctor''s office ¨C plain metal walls, a lot of medical equipment, a bed and that was it. If it wasn''t for a data pad presumably with holonet access, the place could easily be mistaken for either a prison cell instead a prefabricated hospital room.

    "General." Amidala spoke quietly. She raised her head and looked at me with a pair of haunted eyes. "I''ve been reading about your latest exploits." She waved the data pad at me. "About the war and what has been happening to the Republic."

    "It''s a depressing topic."

    "You''ve done all right for yourself, but you''re correct." Padme sighed. "Congratulations are in order I hear, Mandalore. How did that come to pass?"

    "It''s a long story. It wasn''t something I planned when the Senate, in their endless wisdom sent me there to negotiate."

    "Very few would believe that." The Senator raised a delicate eyebrow.

    "Nevertheless it''s true. If you want I''ll tell you the whole sordid tale later."

    "You''re here to see how sane am I. Right? The good doctors can''t make up their minds."

    "What you''ve been through¡­ It changes a person. Usually breaks them."

    "Am I?" A sad smile appeared on Amidala''s face. "Broken I mean."

    "Perhaps. I would be surprised if you aren''t." What she had been poisoned with ¨C it either killed, broke or drove people insane. Sometimes all of the above.

    "I''m not the same. I didn''t need all those test to tell me that."

    "Will you let that stop you?" I asked.

    Amidala perked up when she heard that particular question.

    "I¡­ I don''t know if I can continue as before. I''ve never been afraid to die for my ideals. For the good of the Republic and Naboo. Yet, this..." She looked down at herself and shivered.

    "Dying is easy. Practically everyone manages it in the end. Living on the other hand..." I said.

    "That''s the trick, isn''t it? I don''t know." Amidala sighed. "All I want is to go home and get away from this madness, yet I know I won''t find reprieve back on Naboo."

    "No. I''m not sure how much of it you''ll recognize when you go home. Naboo has been changing ever since the terror attacks. After you were put out of commission, the changes got even more frantic." I smiled at her. "You''re an icon back there, though you may not appreciate what is being done in your name."

    "I''ve read about it." Amidala said in a small voice. "What am I supposed to do? I¡­ we were pacifists!"

    "And now your homeworld is busy creating an army and building its own navy. In your name. You don''t know how to react." I examined her for a few seconds and smiled. "Because at least a part of you agrees."

    Padme slowly nodded.

    "Everything I''ve believed in... Everything I stood for¡­ It''s still in here." She tapped her temple. "Yet, all I could feel right now is fear and fury. You know it, don''t you? You can sense my emotions."

    I simply nodded. Her b?r?ly restrained rage was delicious.

    "I think I know what''s the right thing to do. What I should strive for. However, all I want is to see the Confederacy pay!" Padme snapped with a hiss that resembled a large, furious feline. "For what they did to Naboo. To my home¡­ To me..." Amidala shuddered and hugged herself.

    "It''s natural. Besides, you''re going to get what you want."

    Amidala''s head snapped up and she glared at me.

    "You should be aware by now. The Confederacy has proven that they couldn''t be trusted to treat with us in good faith. There had been too many atrocities, too much spilled blood for this war to end in anything but a victory for one side or the other and none of us could afford to be on the loosing side."

    "What do you expect me to say? That peace still has a chance? That we should strive to end this bloodshed diplomatically? A part of me still believes that." Amidala paused. "Or at least hopes so. But that''s not something I can count on. There have been too many betrayals." Padme closed her eyes and grimaced. "I can''t bring myself to trust anyone who might claim to speak for the Confederacy. Where does that leave us?"

    "We fight and we win. There is nothing else and we could do nothing less."

    "Somehow I knew you would say something like that." A tiny smile appeared on Padme''s face. "You''re on your way back to Coruscant to report to the Senate, aren''t you?"

    "Yep. It''s going to be interesting experience."

    "Hell, you mean. I don''t think that whoever sent you on your errand to Mandalore expected you to be returning as the Mandalorians leader. General, Delkatar. What happened with Anakin? What did he do?" Padme abruptly changed the topic.

    "I''ll tell you all about it on our way to pick him up."

    "He kriffed up by the numbers didn''t he? How much of the story I read about in the news is true?" Amidala looked at me with hopeful eyes.

    "Most of it, depending on whose version you''ve seen."

    "Oh, Ani¡­" Padme''s tone was drowning in exasperation.

    =RK=

    Part 2

    Officer quarters

    Republic cruiser "Defender"

    Hyperspace

    We were in the flag officer''s quarters of the ship bringing us all back to Coruscant. While the furniture was spartan, at least there was enough space so we could fit in comfortably. Most of the room was taken up by a table that could be use for either dinning or holding up briefings without issue thanks to a few built in but currently covered terminals and a small holoprojector in the middle.

    With the exception of a few lockers, a small bar ¨C for emergencies only and a refrigerator holding up MREs and a bit of decent food and the chairs we were sitting in, compartment was b?r?. In fact, the whole ship still had that new smell to it ¨C a whiff of paint, various oils and metal. It made sense really, the Defender had been commissioned b?r?ly two weeks ago and was immediately stationed at Mandalore after the CIS attack. In fact, the cruiser had been in system for just a few hours before I commandeered it along with some escorts for my trip to the capital.

    "That''s a lot to take in..." Senator Amidala noted after we filled her in on what has been happening lately, especially some of the juicy details that somehow failed to make it to the galactic news.

    Our resident Skywalker was sitting across the table from me and holding a cup of steaming tea close to her ?h?st. She looked at Obi-Wan and his wife, then nodded to herself.

    "Should I presume that Anakin won''t be expelled from the Order for marrying me?" Padme asked.

    "I can''t really say. For all I know, I''ll be send away after meeting the Council." Kenobi shrugged.

    "Their loss." My wife quipped. Bo was sitting to my right ¨C doing her best not to look too bored and failing miserably. "I''m sure we can find you something to do besides my sister."

    "BO!" Satine hissed.

    Obi-Wan ?r??n?d and looked my way for help. I just shrugged helplessly. That was one mess I wasn''t going to get in the middle of. Besides watching the sisters snipe at each other was oddly amusing.

    "I guess married life treats you all right, Obi-Wan." Padme cracked a rare smile.

    "It''s been and interesting and very good experience." Kenobi said diplomatically.

    Amidala stared at the table wishfully. It didn''t take a genius to figure out what she was thinking about, or rather who. We were on our way to pick up Anakin and he would be heading straight to the brig ¨C not something either of the Skywalkers were going to thank me about, but my hands were tied. Offering him anything resembling support in public or where the troops could see wasn''t going to do me any favors.

    In fact, one of the main reasons for our little gathering was to figure out what to do when we arrived on Coruscant. Now that Padme was briefed on the relevant events we could begin brainstorming. Unfortunately I was going to be out of my depth this time around.

    "What can we expect on Coruscant? I''ve seen enough on the holonet to expect a media feeding frenzy. What is Anakin looking at?" Padme looked at me.

    "If he''s found guilty it would be either execution or shoving him into a deep dark hole and throwing away the key. Anakin''s status as a Jedi makes things more complicated."

    "That''s politics for you." Bo added and thus earning herself a glare from Satine.

    I shook my head. And this was the sisters being in a cordial relationship.

    "Perhaps. I''m not familiar enough with the Republic''s Military Code of Justice to say one way or another. In the end even if technically politic play no part of it, we can''t rely on it. Not with Delkatar becoming Mandalore." Satine nodded my way.

    "That''s how its supposed to work. In theory at least only the high ranking military officers who would make the tribunal would have any say in the outcome. That''s a double edged sword at best. If the panel''s made of Clone officers, Anakin is in deep trouble. I''m not entirely sure how the tribunal will be selected ¨C I''ll be talking with Valentra tomorrow about it among other things. However, if Anakin get''s lucky, every none-clone officer might be influenced by the politics of the situation. I would like to state that this won''t be the case but give how fast the GAR is being build and expanded..." I shrugged.

    In fact, the whole Military Justice system had to be created almost from scratch in the last year after the Republic suddenly found itself with a brand new army, not to mention fighting a war for its very survival. Anakin''s trial was going to be a challenge for a new and largely untested system.

    If the circumstances were different, I would have written the whole mess as the price of doing business. However, I could still find a use for Anakin and this trial had the potential to either shove Skywalker in Palpy''s clutches or at the very least send him on a dark path that might turn him into even bigger pain in the ?ss than he currently was.

    "Can you help Anakin?" Padme asked.

    "Not officially. He did kriff up by the numbers and killed a lot of my people. While I do understand why he did it, no matter how foolish it was, I can''t condone his actions. On the other hand I don''t want to see him executed or imprisoned. That would be a waste of talents. However, I''m not sure how much I could help. Because I became Mandalore, my actions would be under tremendous amount of scrutiny. At the very least I will be a witness on his trial ¨C after all I was his commanding officer. I''ll do my best to push for an arrangement similar to what Windu got."

    "It''s another question how successful that would be. I''m not blind." Obi-Wan sighed. "I know many in the army resent that Mace Windu got away with what they see as a mere slap on the wrist. I''m afraid that some people might want to make an example of Anakin."

    "Is that true?" Padme asked.

    "Even without Windu''s stunt, most of the GAR wants Anakin''s head. The rank and file see his actions as a betrayal and most officers consider him at best a very dangerous lose canon." At worst ¨C just a madman that needs putting down or at least my feelers in the Navy''s rumor mill told me so.

    "That''s it?" Amidala looked appalled.

    Well, duh. If he wasn''t potentially useful or a ticking time-bomb, I would simply leave him to the vultures, though I wasn''t dumb enough to say it aloud. After all, if it was anyone else pulling such a stunt, my voice would be among the loudest screaming for hid head.

    Fortunately for Skywalker, I had plans for him. Well, it was unfortunate too.

    "While Anakin is in a lot of very serious trouble, his situation isn''t hopeless. Nevertheless, if we''re to help him craw out of the hole he so expertly dug for himself, we''ll need to be free to act in his support. That won''t be the case if we''re all too busy fending off various accusations. How do we approach the media and Senate?" I asked.

    "You should talk with Bail Organa and Ben Iblis first. Their help will be invaluable." Padme said after thinking for a bit. "On one hand, presenting your action as following your orders to gain Mandalore as an ally might help in the Senate..." Amidala paused when the two Mandalorian women in the room glared at her.

    "That''s preposterous. Doing so will destroy Delkatar''s authority among our people. It will paint him in the same vein as Vizsla ¨C just another selfish bastard determined to use us for his own gain." Bo snapped.

    "That''s true." Satine supported her sister. "Perhaps putting an emphasis on your actions being what''s actually best for both Mandalore and the Republic."

    "That''s the general idea. Persuading people that it''s true is another matter." When all was said and done, my reasons for becoming Mandalore were complex and some of them I couldn''t admit aloud without hurting my cause either among the Mandalorians or with the Senate. Perhaps both.

    Well, we were still few hours out of the site where Skywalker was held so there was time enough for figuring out something.

    =RK=

    Medical wing

    Republic detention facility

    Location classified

    One moment, Anakin Skywalker was enjoying the lack of the constant nightmares that tormented him for what felt like year, then he awoke with a start. He instinctively reached for the Force and was relieved to feel her soothing presence. A wave of energy passed though his body rejuvenating his muscles and chasing away the last traces of sedative in his system.

    The Jedi half expected that this was another odd variation of his nightmares, when the presence of a few familiar signatures in the Force made him pause. He jumped up and nearly fell off the hard metal bed he had been laying on.

    Only thanks to the large amount of Force energy he was pulling into himself prevented him from suffering ever a greater attack of vertigo and planting his face into the floor. Still he staggered and had to grasp the side of the bed with his artificial hand to keep his balance. Anakin shook his head in an attempt to chase the dizzies away and looked around.

    The room was familiar ¨C he had been in more than enough med bays to recognize a lot of the equipment. Besides, the place felt like the prefab buildings preferred by the GAR.

    With the exception of the equipment and a pair of beds, the room was empty. Anakin frowned and searched his feelings.

    He was sure that Obi-Wan was nearby. He got off the table and wince when his unsteady legs were b?r?ly able to support his weight. For a moment, Anakin idly wondered how long he had been out and what exactly did he do this time to land himself in medical.

    His thoughts were interrupted when the single door opened and Padme strode in.

    Anakin froze at the sight of his wife and he remembered. She had been poisoned and¡­ he winced. At least Padme looked fine¡­ No she didn''t. Her eyes were tired, haunted. Because he was still deeply connected with the force, Skywalker had no trouble feeling the echoes of pain and suffering upon her.

    That froze him in place as he stared at his wife in shock. Because of that, what followed caught him completely off guard.

    Padme strode until she was standing just in front of Anakin and studied him for a few seconds.

    "I''m glad you''re alive, Anakin." Padme muttered softly.

    Then her right hand snapped up and slapped him hard. That was too much for his weakened legs and Skywalker found himself landing on his ?ss. He stared dumbly at his wife who simply huffed, turned around and strode out of the room.

    A moment later, Veil came in and snorted when he saw him.

    "Boy, you kriffed up by the numbers this time. So much it''s not even funny." The general shook his head in dis-appointment.

    A squad of Clones marched after the Sith. Their leader ¨C a Commander, stood at attention and began speaking.

    "General Anakin Skywalker, your are under arrest..."

    Anakin looked between Veil and the Clones in confusion. He was sure this was indeed just another, particularly cruel nightmare.

    =RK=

    Part 3

    Confederate Military HQ

    Raxulon City

    Raxus

    Outer Rim Territories

    Admiral Trench strode briskly through the well lit corridors in the heart of the Confederacy military. Behind him trailed a handful of aides and an escort of commando droids, though he paid them no attention. Instead his eyes darted to the faces of the officers and enlisted he passed by as he advanced through the halls. All of them looked determined and quite busy.

    The Harch hadn''t seen the place be such a hive of activity ever since the first days of the war when the first Republic attack on Geonosis and the debut of the GAR caught the Confederate military flat footed. There had been no indications that the Republic had been building massive fleets, certainly nothing big enough to even slow down the Confederacy''s military. That belief persisted up until most offensives against the loyalists ground to a halt as the full strength of the GAR was unveiled.

    That was an unpleasant surprise and possibly the greatest intelligence failure in millennia. At least that''s what Trench used to believe. If the various wild rumors he heard ever since Count Dooku was imprisoned a few weeks ago were at least partially true, the truth was much more sinister. The admiral had the nagging feeling that he would be finding out soon.

    Trench stopped in front of a heavily guarded checkpoint that led to one of the most secure rooms in the whole system.

    "Only you can go on, Admiral. Your aides and escort can wait over there." A young looking human captain stated from behind a sheet of transparent metal and pointed at the single door on the left wall of the corridor. Behind the man, Trench could see six deployed destroyer droids and what had to be at least a platoon of commando droids armed with various heavy weapon.

    "That''s all right, captain. Wait there." Trench ordered his retinue.

    "Sir please step forward and wait for a security scan." The captain continued.

    The admiral obeyed and did as instructed. At least four distinct scanners bathed him in light and probably every detection method known to the Confederacy''s scientists. Trench''s hairs stood up under the onslaught and he felt phantom pains in the left side of his body as his extensive cybernetics were thoroughly scanned.

    "You''re clear to proceed, sir. Down the corridor, then left." The captain saluted and pressed a bu??on out of sight. The transparent wall cutting the corridor in two retracted and Trench''s s?ns?t?v? ears could hear the tell tale sound of a force field shutting down.

    The Harch was glad that whoever was in charge these days took security reasonably serious, though it was probably too late if the rumors about the CIS being heavily infiltrated by Sith agents working for either the Republic, their own gain or another, unknown party were true.

    Couple of minutes later, Trench reached the end of another corridor, where a single heavily armored door waited for him. It was currently opened and guarded by a squad of tall humanoids in heavy armor.

    "This way, sir." Their apparent leader, a major nodded towards the door.

    Trench exchanged salutes with the more junior officer and entered the guarded room. Inside he found out a group of admirals and generals waiting for him along with a single civilian. They were seated around a long wooden table, with Trest Ilroth, the new Neimodeian leader sitting at its head.

    "Thank you major, you can seal the door. We are not to be disturbed." Ilroth ordered.

    "Yes, sir!"

    "Admiral Trench, please get yourself a refreshment and sit down." The Neimoidian spoke pleasantly. "I trust we all know each other or are introductions in order?"

    The Harch looked at the gathered beings. Ilroth was flanked by Dua Ningo on his right and a pair of other Neimodians to the left. One was commander Voross Argaya who had taken over Nute Gunray''s military responsibilities after the viceroy got himself captured and killed during a following botched rescue attempt. Next him sat a very large Neimoidian who looked quite ridiculous in a very flamboyant version of his people''s drab military uniform.

    Were those frills along his arms? Trench''s eyes blinked in synch at the strange sight.

    A short, brown haired human sat next to the Neimoidians and he couldn''t look more different than the richly adorned being to his right. It took Trench a few moments to place the face to a name. That was admiral Kirst, notable for his success commanding the experimental battleship Suncrusher. The last he heard of the human admiral, the man had been busy laying down a trap for a Jedi strike team that never came calling. There were also reports that something had went wrong and Kirst had perished along with his flagship but at obviously he was quite well and alive.

    Across that trio, next to Ningo sat a blond human with shoulder length hair and short beard and a Muun male who was busy reading from a data pad. Trench had no problem recognizing Admiral Pors Tonith. The Muun was a scion of a very wealthy and influential family, who were big in the Banking Clan among other things. Tonith was famous for going from a successful financier to a reasonable competent military officer. He was one of the better tacticians available to the Confederacy, though his presence was surprising.

    Trench knew that the Muun admiral was a big fan of Count Dooku and considering that the latter was imprisoned for betraying the Confederacy¡­ Well, Tonith''s presence was certainly interesting.

    "I''m afraid I''m not familiar with everyone here." Trench stated aloud, while looking around the conference room. There was a well stocked bar to the left, a lot of hand carved wood paneling along the walls and that was it as far as furnishing went. The room was mostly empty so there could be less places to stash a bug he guessed.

    "Then introductions are in order. I''m Trest Ilroth, the Viceroy of the Trade Federation and more importantly a member of the Confederate Council." The Neimoidian waved at the Sullustan to his right and soon enough everyone was introducing themselves while Trench went to get himself a drink. He had a feeling that this was going to be a long meeting.

    "I''m general Atticus Farstar." The blond human introduced himself.

    Trench frowned. The name didn''t ring a bell and he did try to keep up with every high ranking officer of note. The same went for Lok Durd ¨C the obese Neimoidian, who was a general too. Perhaps they were newly promoted and he still haven''t heard about them?

    Trench grabbed a glass and a bottle of his favorite poison and sat next to the Muun.

    "Now that we''re all here and the room is secure, let''s us clean up the air first. I''m sure you''ve all heard a lot of wild rumors about what happened lately. Unfortunately some of them are true. A few weeks ago, Count Dooku was arrested for treason. The reason for that is simple, the Confederate Council received certain evidence showing that the Sith were behind the terror attacks on Naboo and the botched up mess that was the hostage crisis on Coruscant. Not to mention the bio-weapon attacks as part of those debacles. Further, and certain members of parliament were implicated in the slave operations on Ryloth, which were of no strategic benefit to the Confederacy as a whole and in fact harmed our standing as far as the rest of the galaxy is concerned." Ilroth spoke sadly.

    The Neimoidian studied the gathered officers for a few moments, then continued. "What I''m about to tell you doesn''t leave this room until you''re cleared to share the information. Some of you might be aware that my species shares a limited form of hive mind. Because of that, after Nute Gunray''s death, I received certain information that came in the form of some of my predecessor''s memories. I believe you would find it enlightening."

    Well, that certainly got Trench''s attention.

    "The reason why the Council decided to call you here and to share the information in question is because you''re the best military officers we have and you need to know it." Ilroth took a deep breath. "This whole war has been a farce." The Neimoidian grimaced.

    Trench could agree at least in part. While the very existence of the GAR came as a nasty shock, it simply wasn''t numerous enough to stop the Confederacy if it wasn''t for a series of nasty blunders in the opening months of the war. That combined with the Republic''s knack to place the right people ¨C usually Jedi ¨C at the right place when it was absolutely critical, explained at least in part why the war wasn''t won yet. However, the Harch now suspected that there was more to it.

    "Dooku, who more than anyone else brought the Confederacy together did so only to betray us. That was his plan. He is a Sith. The Count and his master had been pulling the strings of this war to achieve their own goals and we believe they don''t align with what''s best for the Confederacy. The reason why I and the rest of the Council are sure of it is simple. Dooku''s master is no other than Chancellor Sheev Palpatine." Ilroth dropped the bomb.

    For a moment, Trench thought that the Neimoidian had lost it. By the brief exclamations or shocked expressions he saw from the other officers before they could school their faces in neutral masks, they got the news cold just as he did.

    "I found it hard to believe too, but Gunrey''s memories were enough that I brought my suspicions to certain members of the Council. To my surprise, San Hill was aware that Dooku was a Sith and he had an unknown master. It appears that the Banking Clans had been working with the Sith for a long time. What he didn''t know was who Dooku worked for." Ilroth smiled grimly. "I don''t think that I need to spell you the implications."

    "So it''s to be the Sith Empire reborn." Admiral Nindo muttered, breaking the silence that fell after Ilroth''s words. "That''s has to be. Palpatine is using this war to gain absolute power and turning the Republic into Empire with him in charge has to be his endgame. It''s what the Sith always wanted, isn''t it? Just this time they decided to be subtle about it instead of invading the Republic from outside."

    Everyone stared at the Sullustan. His theory did make sense, though Trench wasn''t convinced that it was true or at least the only thing the Sith were after. He simply lacked enough information about their motives to make an informed decision. On the other hand¡­ He ?r??n?d. The war being a performance orchestrated by the Sith actually made sense. It explained a lot of things Trench himself had been wondering about. Both Palpatine and Dooku as the leaders of their respective sides would have had close to perfect intelligence when working together. They would know how to ensure the war went for as long as they needed without a victor and would be in a unique position to choose who won and who lost.

    Trench closed his eyes and spoke quietly. "Every time our intelligence was spot on, every time we wasted forces on strategically insignificant places and lost momentum, every time the GAR was in position to stop us when we might have come closer to ending the war once and for all..."

    "That''s our conclusion." Ilroth nodded. "It''s why you''re all here. The sad truth is that we can''t really use our knowledge. We were played expertly. Right now the Confederacy has no credibility left. Even if we had proof that couldn''t be refuted, no one in the Republic would believe us that Palpatine is the Sith responsible for the war. Even worse, now that we know we don''t dare even attempt to find a peaceful solution. It won''t end well as long as either Palpatine or another Sith controls the Republic. We now know about three of them ¨C the Chancellor, Dooku and their new general ¨C Delkatar Veil. It''s anyone''s guess how many other Sith wait in the shadows."

    "I find this hard to believe. For the longest time, Count Dooku has been someone I looked up to." Admiral Tonith spoke carefully. "However, I''m not blind. Chairman San Hill asked me to carefully review the major strategic decision that the Confederacy military did since the start of the war in preparation for this meeting. I can''t deny that we should have been able to win the war months ago. Instead, too much time and a great amount of combat strength had been wasted on objectives that were of no consequence. In hindsight it makes sense that we were betrayed. Either that or Count Dooku was blind to what happened and whatever you say about the man he was too competent to let such blunders continue." The Muun looked down. His tall face appeared to be carved out of durasteel as he tried to get to grips with the fact that the man he saw as a mentor betrayed him and the Confederacy.

    "I''m aware of some questionable decisions unfortunately I haven''t had the time to look at the big picture and how it was influenced by such blunder." Trench added.

    "All of you will have access to whatever data you need after this meeting." Ilroth continued. "The reason you''re here is simple. We can''t go on in the same way if we''re to not only survive this war but to win. Our military has been infiltrated by both Sith and probably all too many Republic agents. Some of our officers should have never gotten their commands because its obvious they kriffed up by the numbers in the field again and again, yet they weren''t removed." Ilroth snarled. "That ends now. You''re here to reforge the Confederacy''s war machine, overhaul our command structure and find a way to win the war. While an approval from the Council will be required, you will be the ones deciding the strategy for winning the war."

    Yep, this was going to be one long meeting. And he might actually enjoy it.

    =RK=

    Part 4

    Brig

    Republic cruiser "Defender"

    Hyperspace, en route to Coruscant

    Anakin paced in the small cell he had been shoved in. He couldn''t help it but feel like a caged animal and the worst thing was that getting out would be oh so easy. There were just a handful of guards ¨C regular clones that were stationed at the brig as a SOP. A part of Skywalker felt insulted that there weren''t more people to keep him contained, however once he stopped for a moment to think, it made sense.

    The guards were little more than a formality really. If he decide to let himself out, the Clones wouldn''t be the ones to worry about. It was Obi-Wan and Veil, who were on board. Skywalker glowered at the force-field shimmering in front of the metal door of his cell. Even those two were an afterthought really. What kept him in ¨C angry and confused was Padme.

    Anakin remembered feeling her relief when she saw him after he awoke. Unfortunately he acutely remembered sensing her fury and disappointment ¨C both aimed solely on him. It was as if she didn''t understand or care that everything he did was to help her. After all, Padme was the most important thing for him in the whole galaxy.

    Yet¡­ Despite everything he did for her sake, everything he sacrificed, Anakin couldn''t help it but feel a tiny amount of doubt. A tiny part of him whispered that he was losing her. Worse, there was something deeper, darker that insisted Padme had betrayed him because she didn''t support his attempt to help her.

    So Anakin paced in his cell and brooded thinking dark thoughts. His heart was torn between joy and relief that Padme was all right, which clashed with embers of anger aimed at everyone.

    Skywalker''s dark thoughts were interrupted when he sensed a familiar presence nearby. Sure enough, the force field winked out and the door slid open revealing Obi-Wan. The older Jedi looked grim.

    "Anakin. Its good to see you in one piece."

    "I''m not sure I can say the same from where I''m standing." Skywalker grumbled. "Can someone explain to me what the kriff is happening?" Anakin''s composure shattered.

    Kenobi looked at his former apprentice with mixed feeling.

    "Anakin, surely you knew there would be consequences. Nor being a Jedi, neither your rank as a general can cover up what you did. They in fact make your position that much worse."

    "I had no choice!" Skywalker snapped. "It was happening again! I needed your help! Yours and Veil''s yet you were going to let Padme die or go insane! I''m not sure I recognize my own wife any longer and that''s on you!" Anakin pointed at his mentor.

    "Again? Ah..." Kenobi sighed and closed his eyes.

    "Ah. Did you forget about my mother? I needed help then too and instead I had to go there myself only to hold her as she died!" Anakin shouted. "I wasn''t going to risk losing Padme too! I simply can''t lose her!"

    "Anakin, I understand." Obi-Want said quietly.

    "You all..." Skywalker stopped mid-rant. His mouth opened then closed with a click and he stared at his former Master. "What?" Anakin asked feeling confused. His building anger deflated and was replaced by befuddlement.

    "I said I understand. I might be unable to condone your actions ¨C you did go rogue and that''s putting it mildly, not to mention all the men whose death you caused and the ships you destroyed ¨C but I understand why you did it."

    "That''s..." Anakin shook his head and stared at Obi-Wan. Skywalker was unsure what he was expecting. Disappointment, berating, a lecture, another betrayal¡­ One thing was certain ¨C this wasn''t it.

    "Being married changes a man''s outlook of life. His priorities shift." Obi-Wan continued.

    "And how would you know that?" Anakin frowned.

    "I got married of course." Kenobi gave him one of his patented long suffering look.

    Anakin actually chuckled at that statement before it dawned to him that Obi-Wan was serious. "Wait, what? Married? You?!" Skywalker blurred out before he could think about it.

    "Yes. Me. I know, it''s such a shock." Kenobi deadpanned.

    "How long was I out? Years?" Anakin looked suspiciously at Obi-Wan. The other Jedi didn''t really look any older than the last time they met.

    "Har, har. Very funny. Anakin, I had some time to think lately. If I was in your position¡­" Obi-Wan sighed. "I wish I could say I would have thought clearly, that I wouldn''t have put Satine''s life as more important than the thousands under my command. Most of the time I believe that. Yet..." Kenobi trailed off.

    Obi-Wan had Anakin''s undivided attention.

    "Yet?" He prompted after Kenobi didn''t immediately continue voicing his thoughts.

    "Some things happened that convinced me things aren''t that clean cut. That they could never be simple or obvious when emotions are involved." Obi-Wan chuckled sadly. "I think you''ve noticed but we Jedi aren''t very good with handling emotions."

    "I don''t remember being taught how to handle emotions. Clear your mind and so forth. More like ignore them and pretend that they didn''t exist. That didn''t work for me."

    "I could see that now. I''m sorry I was blind before. I''m sorry I didn''t listen. That I didn''t took you to visit your mother when you first began having visions of her death." Obi-Wan spoke sincerely.

    Anakin glared at his mentor. He wanted to hate Kenobi. To scream at him and blame everything on his shoulders. After all, Obi-Wan was conveniently right here in front of him.

    However, in the end it wasn''t Kenobi the only one to blame. In fact Obi-Wan wasn''t on Coruscant at the end, when there was still time to reach Shmi when she could be saved. It was Yoda who told Anakin that he should basically cut his emotional ties with his mother and write her off even if the ancient Jedi didn''t use those exact words.

    "Anakin¡­ I think, no I know that I failed you as your Jedi Master. I can make excuse as to why and some would even be true." Obi-Wan smiled sadly. "Doing so would change nothing."

    "Perhaps. Yet, I don''t remember other Jedi clamoring for the job. In fact I remember quite vividly that Yoda and the rest of the Council were opposed to my training." Anakin shrugged. "Who is to know what would have happened if things have gone another way? For all we know, I might have ended a slave back on Tatooine. The Force knows, left on my own devices I would have gone back for my mother and as a kid¡­ I can''t see it ending well. I''ve thought about it. Believing that I could have saved my mother as anything less than a Jedi is a wishful thinking. Who else was going to give me the training I would have needed?"

    Anakin took a deep breath. "Yet¡­ You see Obi-Wan, that makes what happened even worse. Do you know that as a kid I practically worshiped you and Qui-gon? When you came to Tatooine and got me away you seemed bigger than life. We''ve heard tall tales about the Jedi even on that dust ball..." A small smile appeared on Anakin''s face.

    "By now you should know that the tales are far from the truth."

    "I know that now. However, you and Qui-gon not only lived up to them but make the stories look pale in comparison. You brought me along to save a Queen and win a war. Then I became a Padawan and everything was right in the world. For a time anyway." A harsh bark of laughter escaped Anakin''s lips. "I believe in you. Not only you in particular, Obi-Wan, but in the Jedi as a whole. I wanted the stories to be true. For the Jedi to be the knights in shining armor protecting the Republic. And so, I was willfully blind for some things."

    "That we couldn''t save everyone. That sometimes we wouldn''t even try for reasons you could never call good enough." Obi-Wan added quietly.

    "You know, if it wasn''t for Padme''s love and support, I don''t know what I would have done after my mother died. I was in a dark place then and a part of me never left it. I simply didn''t have time to deal with that ¨C there''s a ware on as you very well know."

    "And we never knew." Obi-Wan ?r??n?d.

    "Well, I had incentive to hide, to present myself as good a Jedi as I could. After all I didn''t want the Council digging up into my affairs and figuring out that I married just after the battle for Geonosis. And now..." Anakin shook his head. "How is the Council going to react to my marriage with Padme? What about yours? And who is this Satine of you married, Obi-Wan?"

    "Considering what happened lately, you being married to Senator Amidala won''t be the Council''s primary concern and you should be glad for it. Or not ¨C they might decide to go after you to just to make an example of us."

    "You are a Council member..." Anakin looked speculatively at his teacher.

    "That only makes it worse. Anakin, I married Duchess Satine Kryze and at the time she was the leader of the Mandalorian government."

    "Well congratulations¡­ Wait, she''s a Mandalorian, right? In order to marry one of them..." Anakin''s eyes widened.

    "Yeah." Obi-Wan rubbed the back of his head. "I should introduce myself properly. Obi-Wan Kenobi, Clan leader of Clan Kenobi and a brand new Mandalorian. If I''ll be a Jedi for much longer, well the jury is still out on that."

    "You''ve been busy."

    "You don''t know the half of it."

    "Fill me in then. It''s mighty boring in here. How long am I going to be in this kriffing cell anyway?"

    "Anakin¡­ Things don''t look too good right now." Obi-Wan frowned.

    "I knew there would be consequences, but I didn''t care if there was any chance I could help Padme. In how much trouble am I?" Skywalker asked.

    "A whole heap. Anakin, you''ll be facing a military tribunal. If found guilty, you''ll be looking at either a long prison sentence or death." Kenobi told the truth.

    "What?" Anakin stared numbly at the other Jedi.

    "Veil will be trying to get you a better outcome, however¡­"

    "There is always a but coming..." Skywalker was still trying to process what Obi-Wan was telling him. Being stuck in prison for the Force only knows how long? Execution?!

    "Anakin¡­ There isn''t a good way to say this. The rank and file knows exactly what you did. Your actions nearly cost us the battle for Geonosis and if we had lost there the Republic would have been in dire straits. A major defeat in space there might have lost us the war."

    "What are you saying, Obi-Wan? You''re kinda scaring me right now..."

    "Almost every enlisted and officer in both the army and navy wants your head on a silver platter. Officially, Veil has no choice but to condemn your actions. While he doesn''t want to see you wasting in prison much less executed, there isn''t too much he could do. Some things happened while you were out that might keep him too busy defending his own actions and dealing with the Senate to help you as much as he wants."

    "I believe an explanation is in order, Obi-Wan. They can''t execute me, right?" For the first time since ending up in the cell, Anakin felt afraid. Not just because of the prospect of being executed, but because he sense that what was happening might be the first steps that led to the nightmares he dreamed of.

    =RK=

    An hour or so later, Anakin was left alone to eat lunch ¨C just a standard MRE given him by the guards. Obi-Wan''s visit gave him a lot of food for thought and he was still processing all he learned while absent-mindedly pocking the meal in his hand.

    Kenobi''s news left Skywalker even more confuse and not a little angry. Afraid too ¨C not for himself, but for Padme. While Anakin had met his wife only that one time since awakening and couldn''t really judge how well she was, his Master was clear ¨C there were mental scars left on her from the ordeal she suffered. He should be with Padme instead tuck in the cell, damn it!

    Anakin closed his eyes and leaned back in the small bed. When all was said and done, he had to wonder why he fought. For what reason he fought? A part of him wanted to simply get out, grab Padme and run far away from both the Republic and the Confederacy. From the madness of the war.

    If he Skywalker had to be honest to himself, more often than not he fought because it was fun and because it was expected of him. Once, not too long ago he would have said that he did it for the Republic, for the Jedi¡­ yet that would have been mostly a rote response. Oh, he believed it¡­ in part at least. However, now that he thought about it¡­ The Jedi as an organization had lost his respect when they left his mother to die and didn''t care.

    The Republic¡­ What was it to him? Was it home? Anakin frowned. There certainly were people in the Republic he liked. Some he would call friends, many others he didn''t know but had helped again and again without a second thought. He would do that itself, but now that he thought about it, Anakin he couldn''t remember a single mission he had been before the war began where he helped people because it was good for the Republic. He helped them because it was the right thing, because they needed help.

    The Republic itself¡­ Anakin''s frown deepened. He wasn''t sure he cared for it one way or another. Oh, it was much better than the Confederacy and worth fighting for even if it was just to ensure that the CIS didn''t win, but in the end that was it.

    Anakin huffed. Perhaps this was something he should have thought about a long time ago instead of simply moving along with the current and doing things simply because they were expected.

    That led him to thinking about the Order. He wouldn''t be surprised if they either kicked him out along of Kenobi or make him chose between them and Padme. Heh, as if there would ever be a contest. Nevertheless, that train of thought led him to a strange place. Would it be too bad if he was expelled? Why did he need the Jedi Order? It wasn''t like Anakin would stop doing what he thought right even if he wasn''t member.

    Well, there was a tiny bit of a problem with that idea ¨C he didn''t even own the shirt on his back ¨C it was either Jedi or GAR property. In fact, now that he thought about it, Anakin actually had more possession that he owned, that were his, when he was a slave back on Tatooine and wasn''t that a sobering thought.

    It wasn''t like it had been an issue before or he care ¨C ever since now he had what he needed and that was enough. Nevertheless, the prospect of being out of the Order with only the clothes on his back ¨C he presume that they would let him keep at least them, was daunting.

    Possibly irrelevant if he ended spending a large chunk of his life in prison.

    Anakin glared at the wall in front of him. He simply didn''t know what he would do if he was found guilty and either sentenced to death or a long prison term. Go on the run? Would Padme follow him? Could he justify endangering her if she did?

    Padme¡­ She said she was glad that he was alive. Yet, his wife was disappointed of him. Did she know exactly what he did to help her? Well, probably Padme knew even better than him. Even now, Anakin didn''t know how many of the 501st didn''t make it, not to mention the navy personnel.

    Skywalker frowned. He haven''t asked, even about Rex and he considered the man a friend. Anakin hoped that the commander was all right, though he didn''t dare think how Rex would thin of him.

    A pang of guilt wormed its way into Skywalker''s heart. The 501st were his men, his command. He had been with them for months and Anakin knew that they would have followed him straight to the deepest of the Nine Corellian hells. Somehow, he didn''t think that would be the case now.

    =RK=

    Part 5

    Brig

    Republic cruiser "Defender"

    Hyperspace, en route to Coruscant

    It wasn''t until shortly before our arrival at Coruscant, that I went to visit Skywalker. I spent most of the journey either brainstorming with the Kenobis and my wife or catching up a bit of alone time with Bo while we still had a bit of peace and quiet. I actually expected that both Obi-Wan and Padme will be visiting Anakin, but as it turned out, Amidala wasn''t too keen on seeing her husband once she was sure he was physically all right. Apparently she was still too pissed off with him and didn''t want to vent all her pent up frustration and anger on him right now.

    That was actually a good thing. I wasn''t sure how Skywalker would react if his wife blew up her top at him, but I doubted it would be pretty.

    Speaking about our resident prisoner, I found him sitting on the small bed in his cell and brooding.

    "Skywalker." I stared at the man.

    The Chosen one. Boy of prophecy if you believe in that prattle. Supposedly created by the Force itself and having no actual father. Well, I''ve seen enough of the Force to know that it was certainly possible. I don''t know if our power had been always sentient or if it in time became such thanks to all the sapient beings using it, but I knew that it had some kind of agenda or at least a vague goal it was striving to. Well, that''s what I believed at any rate, not that I had a proof.

    Did it really matter?

    "Veil." Skywalker shot back.

    Perhaps it did.

    "You know, if it was any one else in your shoes, I would have them shot back on Coruscant." I spoke calmly.

    "You actually meant that!" Anakin exclaimed taken aback.

    "What do you want me to say? That you made a mistake? That I understand why you did it? That''s true." I nodded. "It makes what happened no less foolish. You wasted the lives of thousands of my men! Thirty three thousand five hundred and seventeen navy personnel and army troopers dead. Eleven thousand wounded and another two thousand odd people who were crippled and might not recover even with state of the art medical care and no expenses spared."

    Anakin flinched.

    "Most of those soldiers trusted you. Would have followed in hell itself!"

    "I know..." Anakin muttered.

    I took a deep breath. There were few things that pissed me off more than wasting perfectly good soldiers and ships because someone was either an utter ?ss, incompetent idiot or because they just enjoyed seeing the world burn. Some Sith I had to deal with were all of the above too.

    Honest mistakes I can understand. Fuck ups caused by faulty intelligence or the enemy simply out-thinking and outfighting you too ¨C the Force knows all of the above had happened to me in the past .

    "Do you really?" I asked mildly once my temper was firmly under control. "Do you know why Padme hasn''t yet visited you?"

    "I''ve been wondering..."

    "She is furious at you. Granted, you''ve been married for less than a year and you spent most of that time away at war, but I had the impression you actually knew the woman. Knew her since you were ten or eleven in fact." I continued.

    "Well yes¡­ Where are you going on with this?" Anakin asked.

    "Padme Amidala, the Pacifist queen as some tend to call her. What in the name of the Force made you believe that you could kill thirty thousand Republic soldiers in an idiotic attempt to help her and she would approve of that? Especially when you didn''t stop to think for a moment, kriff it!"

    "What?! And wait while she was in pain and possibly going insane?!" Anakin snapped back.

    I glared at the idiot.

    "Perhaps it''s my fault for believing that you had a brain that you occasionally used.'''' I grumbled.

    "Hey!"

    "What possessed you to believe for even a moment that there would really be an antidote on Geonosis?!" I couldn''t help it but snapped at Skywalker.

    "It was a chance I had to take!"

    "It was¡­ I have no words..." I grit my teeth and took a deep breath. "The whole purpose of that exercise, of poisoning Padme with that kriffing thing was simple ¨C to torment you. To make you feel her pain, to make you feel helpless and bring you closer to the Dark Side! Whoever did made it ¨C Dooku, his master or one of their minions, they wouldn''t have created the antidote. It would be pointless when the whole point was to torment you through Padme."

    "Thats..." Anakin recoiled in horror.

    "What? You thought that the so called Sith of this era would shy away from getting to you through someone you''re obviously close to? Get a grip. Granted, Amidala or should I call her Skywalker, made it quite easy for them..."

    That earned me a dirty look.

    "Are you aware of the consequences? I''m not speaking about your marriage ¨C I''m not a bloody councilor."

    "Obi-Want told me." Anakin grumbled. "What is going to be? Prison, execution?" Skywalker glared at me.

    "As I said if you were anyone else you''d be dead right now. Fortunately for you, I quite like you for some reason and your wife is a political ally. You already killed any good will you had with me, Anakin. More than thirty thousand lives ¨C that''s something you own the Republic and I''ll make sure you live so we can collect."

    "If I rot in prison it won''t change a thing." Skywalker stated.

    "No. It wont. Still there are other consequences. Other things I have to worry about besides your hide."

    "You''re Mandalore now. Congratulations." Anakin said in a dry tone.

    "I''ll give you credit where credit''s due, you''re self absorbed as a Sith." I smiled.

    "What''s that supposed to mean?"

    "You still don''t think. I can sense your feeling. There''s just a shred of regret for the soldiers you killed."

    Anakin looked away morosely.

    "Have you even thought about your Padawan? Obi-Wan told me you didn''t ask about Ahsoka..." I trailed off.

    "What? What about Snips?!" That got a raise of him

    "She was wounded on Geonosis and is still in the last stages of recovery. That''s however the least of her problems. For the time being she''s Obi-Wan''s Padawan, however your actions reflected on her very badly. I she''s likely to be censured because of your recklessness. Before everything went to hell on Geonosis Obi-Wan heard rumors that some in the Council would like to sent her to the Agri-corps at least until the end of the war so she doesn''t do any damage because bad habits learned from you."

    "They can''t do that!" Anakin exclaimed. "Snips will hate that! Besides, almost no one comes back to the order from the various services!"

    "Well, they could always expel her in order to wash their hands of you. Obi-Wan will do what he can but he''ll have his hand full explaining his marriage and becoming Mandalorian. I''ll spent as much of the goodwill I have left with the Council but it may not be enough."

    "Kriff it..." Anakin cursed.

    "Then there are the consequences to Padme''s political career. Her husband a Jedi ¨C namely you ¨C has been the talk of the media for the last month or so. She''ll have to spent a lot of her political capital too to weather the trouble you''ve caused her. Because you didn''t think, damn it!"

    Skywalker had the good grace to look away at that.

    "Why didn''t wait at leas a few hours so we could talk as I asked?" I glared at him.

    "I¡­ I don''t know, all right?" He brushed a hand through his hair, then stood up and began pacing. "It was the same thing that happened with my mother. Padme needed help and no one was wiling to do it! I was abandoned again!"

    "I have no idea what are you talking about." I lied while using the Force to conceal that fact. Given Skywalker''s right state it wasn''t hard. "Do you want to talk about it? Before deciding what am I to do to help you I want to know how and why this kriff up happened and make sure that something like that won''t happen again."

    "Obi-Wan said you can''t help me. Not officially." Anakin looked at me.

    "True. The GAR loathes you. Giving you official support after what you did will not only destroy my authority but will be disastrous for the morale. While the Republic is in much better position than it was at the star of the war, the next few months will be even tougher and we''ll need to be on our best."

    "I''m out of the loop again, aren''t I?" Anakin sighed.

    "Yep, though it''s not something you need to worry right now. Tell me about your mother."

    Anakin gave me an abbreviated version that skipped slaughtering the Sand People''s village.

    "Well, the Jedi kriffed up by the numbers. Not surprisingly ¨C they had no idea how to deal with someone who had prior attachments. Telling you to just accept the loss¡­ I wish to say it surprises me, but that would be a lie." I sighed. "This put things in perspective. I can see how you see what happened just before you went rogue¡­ you saw us telling you that we couldn''t go after Geonosis, much less the supposed antidote then and there as another dismissal. Another betrayal."

    "A part of me still sees it that way." Skywalker looked me in the eyes.

    "I''ve been married before, Anakin. I held my first wife as she laid in the ground, dead. I felt the life of our unborn child wink out. I understand you were desperate. I understand that under the wrong circumstances you would have done anything to keep Padme safe."

    "Padme¡­ She means everything to me." Skywalker muttered.

    "I''ve been where you''re Anakin. That''s why I''m willing to help you." I smiled. "Not doing so would be hypocritical, considering that I''m a married man again."

    "Obi-Wan missed to mention that." Skywalker raised and eyebrow at that.

    "Curious, considering that now he''s my brother at law."

    "You married that Satine of his sister?"

    "Yep. Now back to your troubles. As I said, I can''t make your problems go away. Probably not even support you officially."

    "Then what can you do? I''m sick of hearing in how much trouble am I in." Skywalker grunted.

    "Then think long and hard before you do something dumb again. You''re getting to a military tribunal and unfortunately for you the case is as good as open and shut. Do you think that the non-Clone officers don''t have families, some of them have them in danger too. Yet you don''t see them going rogue. The Clones themselves ¨C they see your action as a betrayal of the highest order. Think about it!" I chided him. "That said, you''re still an effective warrior. While no one will be trusting you in a command position for a long, long time if ever, there''s still an option, though you won''t like it."

    "It''s been a long time since something I liked happened. Shoot."

    "Plead guilty and make a deal."

    "And what? Rot in prison while the other Sith go after Padme again?" Anakin snapped.

    It was my turn to give a dirty look, that silenced him.

    "If you''re finished?" I glared at the Jedi who nodded. "As I was saying, you plead guilty, demonstrate your remorse and ask for a chance to redeem yourself in the eyes of the GAR and the Republic as a whole. Then I''ll suggest an arrangement similar to what Windu got, though you terms will be probably nastier. In the end, he stopped himself before getting people killed." I twisted the knife.

    "So what, I''ll be leading a small strike team?"

    "Of course not! No on will trust you to do it and not get them killed. No, you''ll be attached to a Commando unit and be under it''s leader''s command. I''ll try swinging things up so you would be a part of my own forces. That way it will be less likely that a disgruntled Clone frags your ?ss."

    "That¡­ actually it doesn''t sound too bad." Anakin perked up.

    I snorted. "This arrangement will be replacing your sentence with equal term serving as a solider. Considering that you''re likely to get anything from a few decades to life, you''d be stuck in the army for a long, long time. And if you kriff up again, it ill be straight to prison or execution unless you go on the run. And if you go rogue again, depending on the circumstances, I might have to go after you myself."

    Now, that gave Anakin some food for thought.

    =RK=

    Republica 500

    Coruscant

    When we reached Coruscant, there was a lot to do. First, I had to make sure that Skywalker reached a GAR detention center, where he would hopefully cool his heels for the foreseeable future. Then I had to avoid the media, which were doing their best to corner me for an interview ¨C Bo had my Mandalorian guard run some interference and they apparently had a lot of fun trolling the reporters.

    Meanwhile, Obi-Wan went to report to the Council and Satine and an honor guard headed for the Mandalorian Embassy where she would be taking charge of the place.

    That at least allowed me and my wife to reach Amidala''s residence unnoticed. That was our first stop for the night. It was only our strategically timed arrival late in the evening that postponed any official inquires with the senate for tomorrow. In fact, there was scheduled hearing in the early afternoon and I would be meeting Palpatine at noon. Before that I would be having a chat with Valentra and few of the Intel directors and GAR HQ, too so it was going to be a very busy day. That was the primary reason why we were at Republica 500 too ¨C to meet some prospective political allies for tomorrows fun and games.

    We were met at the door by C-3PO and the irritating golden droid was as irritating as ever. I managed to tune out its prattling and concentrate on the people sitting in the living room. Our host was lounging on the sofa and sipping kaff. Next to her sat Mon Mothma ¨C the Senator of Chandrila ¨C an old political ally and longtime friend of Amidala. Bail Organa was sitting in an armchair next to the two women and was looking at me as if this was the first time he was seeing me. Last but not the least we had Gram Bel Iblis who had an open bottle of Corellian ale in hand and saluted me with it.

    "So the rumors are true?" Organa asked. "I''m not sure if congratulations are in order or if I should be concerned, Darth Vael."

    "You finally read the records about my visit to Alderaan back in the good old days, didn''t you?" I smiled crookedly and headed to a pair of free armchairs, then sat down on the one closer to Iblis. Bo headed for the remaining seat and began studying the politicians from behind a carefully kept blank face.

    "I wouldn''t call them good days." Bail grumbled.

    "What could I say, me and your family were on different sides."

    "You almost drove the Organas extinct!"

    "I did the same with your rivals that the Empire backed because they were kriffing incompetent fools. Besides, you''ve obviously recovered. It''s refreshing that someone besides the Jedi Council accepts that I''m who I say."

    "That''s not exactly something to endorse." Mon Mothma added.

    "The Sith Empire had been dust for a long, long time. The Old Republic too for that matter. We''re all living in a different galaxy and when all is said and done, our current problem aren''t hordes of murderous Sith."

    "Said the resident Sith Lord." Iblis quipped.

    "What? It''s much more peaceful without thousands of screaming unhinged maniacs around. Not having to answer to a Council made of murderous lunatics with incredible power is refreshing too. I prefer this status quo to be honest. It''s much better for my health."

    "We aren''t here to discuss the ancient past. I''m aware that some of you have qualms in working with General Veil. I did so in the beginning and to be honest I do have reservation even now." Padme interjected.

    "True, we aren''t here for a history lesson. Sorry about that, Padme." Mothma said.

    "You want our support." Iblis looked at me. "Do you seek it as a Republic general or as Mandalore? Its an important distinction."

    "Both. You''re all aware that my mission to Mandalore was a fiasco ¨C I was sent to negotiate without diplomatic aid and had only my experience with the Mandalorian culture to fall upon. An experience that is millennia out of date if still somewhat relevant."

    "Yes." The woman from Chandrila wince. "That wasn''t one of the Senate''s best moments."

    "Let''s not mince words ¨C he was set up to fail."

    "At least half the Senate will see it that way. In fact I would have gathered a lot of new enemies no matter the outcome. That much I know." I stated.

    "More now." Organa noted.

    "Yes. Short term your decision to become Mandalore might garner some support. The Republic right now needs all the help it can get after all. However, many will be afraid that the Mandalorians will turn on us the moment this war is won."

    "Some are concerned that you''ll be leading them to conquer a weakened Republic after having first hand experience and intelligence about our armed forces." Organa added.

    "I can understand where those people are coming from. Yet, thanks to my position I already have such information. After all, I''m one of the people making strategic decisions for the GAR, help direct R&D and so forth. Even without becoming Mandalore, I would still have that knowledge and it is going to be relevant for years after the war ends." I spoke carefully.

    "As a Mandalorian, I personally find the insinuation that we would ever turn on our allies without a just reason offensive." Bo added and glared at Organa. "Even if I can understand where you''re coming from. Our history with the Republic is¡­ troubled."

    "We''ve been on the different sides of more wars than I care to name." Gram snorted. "Yet, that''s besides the point. Senator Amidala might have suggested this meeting, but we''re here to hear you. What do you propose? What do you want?" The Corellian leaned forward in his armchair and looked me in the eyes.

    "I wan this war won. I want to do the best thing I could by my people. I want the Mandalorians to be seen as something much better than a scourge upon the galaxy."

    "Just that?" Bo asked.

    "Fishing for compliments, dear?" I looked at my wife and cracked a smile. "I want to wade in glorious battles beside you so we could write our names in history on a thousand battlefields."

    "You know how to make girl''s day." Bo smile at me.

    "Try not to tell that to the Senate tomorrow. While a part of me appreciates the sentiment, the same can''t be said about most of my esteemed colleagues."

    "What? I am a Sith Warrior. War and battle is in my blood and that made becoming a Mandalorian natural. That said, I''m actually not a maniac and can find ways to amuse myself that don''t include starting another war once the Confederacy is put down for good." I extrapolated.

    "Am I to understand that you aren''t a proponent of a peaceful resolution of the conflict?" Mothma frowned at me.

    "My professional opinion is that any reasonable hope for peace died on Neimodia. After what the Confederacy did there, as Senator Amidala can attest, we can''t trust them. Not to mention all the atrocities they have been visiting upon the galaxy in the last few months." I pointed at Padme. "Can you honestly tell me you would trust the CIS to held up their end of any cease fire or approach peace seriously unless they''re clearly loosing. And even then, they would use such an opportunity to rebuild and go at us again."

    "I have to agree." Iblis indicated his support. "They used bio-wepons on a peaceful world like Naboo just to terrorize us. Even tried to unleash the same crap here on Coruscant! They tried to decapitate the Republic and nearly succeeded and we all know what happened when they claimed to want peace!"

    "This is madness!" Mothma exclaimed.

    "Of course it is." I conceded the point. "This is a galaxy wide war. Madness is the nature of the beast."

    "Even if we want peace, and we do..." Bail spoke, "We have to admit that we won''t achieve it until the Confederacy is defeated. For months I hoped that this conflict could be stopped before it goes out of control¡­" The Senator from Alderaan slumped in his seat. "Lately I''ve been doubting that anything less than a military victory could end this madness."

    "Either that or someone sane pulling out a coup in the Confederacy and surrendering." I added.

    "Well, there was apparently a coup over there but the indications are the new leaderships is determined to win." Iblis stated.

    "Yeah, I went over similar Intel reports. That leaves us with our current issue." I tried to put the conversation back on topic.

    "Like it or hate it, you''re one of the Republic''s most effective generals, some would say the highest ranked too. Many would see that as unacceptable now that you''re Mandalore." Organa said.

    "You''re becoming indispensable for the war effort." Mon Mothma was blunt. "Democracies and indispensable people don''t go well together."

    I laughed at that. "Are you really concerned that I would pull off a coup and take power for myself?"

    "By the time the war is over a lot of the GAR might just follow you. Perhaps enough to succeed. Certainly enough to wreck what would be left from the Republic."

    "Have you actually run a world, a star system? I have done it on multiple occasions as a Sith Lord during my time with the Empire and now I found myself doing so as Mandalore. Let me ?ssure you, the last thing I want is even more work! I have my hands more than full as it is!"

    "Perhaps. Perhaps not. I can''t read your mind." Mothma shrugged. "For all I know, you''re telling me the truth and my fears are unwarranted."

    "Ask the Jedi. I told them the same and they could tell I was truthful." I added.

    "Perhaps I will. Though rumor has it that a lot of them don''t trust you either."

    "Of course not. They have been taught that my kind was the enemy ever since they learned how to walk."

    "There is that. I personally trust our Green Jedi and they had a favorable first impression." Iblis stated.

    "I liked them too. Your Corellian Jedi are among sanest and best adjusted of their kind I''ve ever seen."

    "That''s not why we''re here." Amidala grumbled.

    "If we''re to support him, we need to know we can trust him." Organa countered.

    "No matter what I say, you have only my word about my intentions. I''ve been in this time for less than year. My actions as a part of the Sith Empire aren''t a real indication how I would act here and now ¨C the situation is a unique one for me. I don''t have the Dark Council and hundreds of competing Sith to deal with this time around. All I have to show for myself are my actions since arriving here and they could be viewed as self serving aimed to ingratiate the Republic and the GAR to my person. In the end you''ll have to decide if you trust me or not for yourselves." I smiled. "And make some contingency plans in case I turn against the Republic."

    I carefully didn''t mention that the Republic in its currently existing iteration was looking less and less likely as a state that could be ready for the Vong. That left me with plans I would have preferred to be unneeded. Ironically, when I was saying that I had only the best intentions about the Republic, I meant it¡­ from a certain point of view. From where I stood, changing the Republic in something better that could be ready for the future would be for the best for everyone involved.

    Unfortunately saying so aloud would be seen as a typical plot of a power-hungry Sith and would destroy my credibility. That left me with two main avenues of approach ¨C one was to let things go on, keep myself as close to a top krath hound as possible as far as the GAR was concerned and when the time came hijack Palpy''s plan for a Galactic Empire and dispose of him while doing so. Plan B so to speak was a reformation that might leave the Republic existing at least in name but it would turn it into quite a different beast. To do that I would need an external enemy, so keeping a CIS remnant and ensuring an ongoing cold war might be the way to go. A lot of details were not set in stone ¨C I would need many allies to pull that off, especially outside the military and at any rate much would depend how the galaxy would look like in a few years.

    For all I knew, we might collectively screw up and lose the war thanks to the inevitable CIS offensive in which case I would have to go in hiding for the foreseeable future. Speaking about the CIS¡­

    "That''s true. On the other hand, the one thing we could really judge you on are your actions and they were good enough so far." Iblis took said and took a swallow from his ale.

    "You''ll have to give the Senate an explanation, preferably without accusing them that they set you up." The Corellian continued. "You might want to keep both your position within the GAR and title as Mandalore, but you''ll likely have to make some kind of deal."

    "I''m aware of that. However, stepping down as Mandalore or screwing over my people to appease the Senate is out of the question."

    Bo gave me a nod of approval.

    "While that gives you credit, it''s a problem that will be obvious." Organa added.

    "The conflict of interests is plain for all to see." Mothma nodded. "I and many Senators would be deeply uncomfortable with a foreign leader being in command of all our combat forces. In fact that status is unacceptable."

    "Perhaps if Mandalore is to become a part of the Republic..." Organa tried. "If handled properly doing so would allay most fears and might avoid a potential war in the future."

    "That''s¡­" Bo trailed off.

    "I''m unsure if the Clans will go on with it. On the other hand, making the proposal so I can bring it home to roost can''t hurt." It was going to buy me some time at the very least.

    "That''s good but it still leave the big problem ¨C you can''t be one of the highest ranking GAR generals and a leader of a foreign nation. In fact I''m surprised it the issue hasn''t been raised on all levels yet."

    "The galaxy at large didn''t know about it until the last few days." Mon Mothma said. "Give it a bit more time and the media will be all over it. I''m sure someone will raise the issue tomorrow in the Senate anyway."

    "True enough." Bail agreed.

    "Still, give us a good reason why we should place our support on the line for you." Mothma stared at me.

    "A good one?" I stared back. "In less than two months the Confederacy will have at least a few thousand ships coming online almost at the same time. Shortly after that, they will unleash hell upon us all the likes of which this Republic hasn''t seen. I''ve read the Intel reports. The CIS had recalled back their best admiral. If we''re very lucky, it''s to purge them as unreliable supporters of the previous administration." I paused.

    "We aren''t that lucky." Iblis snorted.

    "No. We aren''t." Padme muttered darkly.

    "The sad truth is that the Republic has a better chance to weather the coming storm with me as one of the people making the high level military decisions when the hammer falls. That''s the best reason I could give you."

    The gathered senators looked at each other.

    "I think it''s dinner time. We all need some time to think." Padme shook herself from her brooding.

    "That sound like a good idea." Organa smiled.

 Chapter 62 - Back to Coruscant [2/2]

    Part 6

    Republica 500

    Coruscant

    Well, at least the dinner was delicious and I learned more rumors about Coruscant''s Senators and celebrities than I cared for. Ah small talk with politicians ¨C I missed it not. At least it turned out that C-3PO had a redeeming quality. The golden machine was the cook and it did the job expertly.

    After dinner we retired back to the diner room with cups of our favorite drinks and went back to good old fashioned horse trading. Huh. I wasn''t sure what was the current jargon for it.

    The continuation of our negotiations went both better and worse than I feared.

    "While I may never completely trust you or your agenda, that''s a concern for later." Mon Mothma gave me a disapproving frown. "The sad truth is that it won''t matter what you''re up to if the Confederacy wins the war. However, if you do anything to threaten democracy, me and my allies will oppose you."

    Well, the woman was brave, I''ll give her that. There weren''t many people who would risk antagonizing a Sith this way. Yet, she wasn''t telling me a thing I didn''t already knew or suspected.

    "However?" I prompted.

    The Chandrilan woman gave me a thin smile. "The GAR is still expanding and still more factories are needed to feed the Republic''s war machine. I want you to consider certain planets and systems as good places to set up additional production facilities ¨C for the new infantry armors and weapons, for vehicles, etc..."

    "Sites that conveniently will create more work places and provide infusion of capital on the places where your allies come from." I nodded. "Give me a list." Purely by accident, those factories could be used to build gear for someone else if I went typical Sith and tried taking over the galaxy ¨C like a rebel alliance that wouldn''t have to be formed because I was a good boy¡­ I almost snorted at that thought.

    I wondered when did Mothma began to suspect that Palpy was up to no good and started laying down contingencies in case he decided to become a dictator. I shouldn''t be underestimating the woman.

    "Will Alderaan require similar arrangement?" I asked Organa.

    Bail looked pained at the thought but nodded. Wasn''t it interesting what a more dangerous CIS could make people do?

    I looked at Padme. "Form what I understand, the GAR is already helping Naboo set up its own armed forces. Perhaps talking with Valentra to see if we can release some equipment your way to expedite training. You understand that all first rate gear is currently needed at the front-lines." I smiled pleasantly at our hostess.

    Amidala looked like she had bitten into a particularly sour lemon at the suggestion.

    "Perhaps sending some experienced warriors to act as trainers? The Mandalorian people will be glad to help you in that regard." My wife added.

    Damn it, this was fun. I didn''t think I would enjoy seeing self proclaimed pacifists ask for military industry to be set up on their worlds.

    Padme closed her eyes then rubbed her temples. "I''m sure the Queen will appreciate such a gesture." She said in a flat tone.

    "In addition, I have a few acquaintances that would love to discuss some trade deals with you and the new Mandalorian government." Mothma continued.

    "I''m sure we''ll be able to reach an outcome we can all live with if not enjoy." I said diplomatically and made note to sick Mothma''s friends on Yomaget and Awuad. After all, the economy was their domain.

    I turned my attention to Iblis, who had kept a mostly blank mask all evening. He gave me a disarming smile.

    "After the latest unpleasantries, Mandalore finds itself in a need of a fleet. Corellia can either sell you or build you one to your exact specifications. We would love to in fact."

    "We''ll love to see what you have in stock and I''m sure MandalMotors will be in touch soon about building us some ships and components." I returned the smile. Yomaget wasn''t going to like that too much, but the man was realist. His company simply couldn''t build us a fleet in time.

    The bigger problem was going to be to figure out how to pay for the ships we needed. With a bit of luck and finesse those trade deals might be of use. After all, once this war was resolved the galaxy would be a different place and the details of unfavorable deals could be re-negotiated¡­ from a position of strength.

    There was a lot of horse trading, or was it bantha, that night. By the time Bo and I reached the Mandalorian Embassy and crashed in one of the guest suites it was early in the morning and I would have another meeting in a few hours.

    =RK=

    General Valentra''s office

    GAR HQ

    Coruscant

    "Here we are again." Valentra sighed as he sat behind his desk and waved us do follow suit.

    "This brings back memories. And to think it was just a few months ago." I chuckled.

    "A lot changed in that time." Ivon Fell was still doing her ice queen impersonation. This time she was giving me suspicious looks too.

    On the other hand, the ONI''s director was friendlier. My victory above Geonosis earned me some kudos with the man and General Jack still respected me because my tactics kept as many Clones alive as humanly possible.

    Director Fell rubbed one of he lekku and glared at me.

    "General Veil, can you explain your reasoning behind your actions on Mandalore. The outcome put you and by extension the GAR in a precarious position." Ivon spoke bluntly.

    "I did my best with the Pazaak hand I was dealt. I presume you''ve read my AAR about the situation." I spoke calmly. Keeping these people''s support was going to be vital no mater what happened in the Senate later today. "Having the Mandalorians as allies to the Republic was the best outcome I could see and given the political situation on the ground, there was only one way I could ensure it. I''ll admit when the opportunity to run for the title was offered I jumped at it. And yes, there''re personal reasons for my decision too. I''ve fought beside the Mandalorians when they were a major galactic power. It was thanks to some of their people, one of whom ascended to hold the same title I now carry that I kept my sanity during my first years as a Sith. The alternative was to watch Mandalore tear itself apart in a civil war and given its strategic location we would have to be there to pick up the pieces anyway and deal with hostile local population too."

    "Good enough for me." Jack added.

    No surprise there ¨C he was one of Skirata''s disciples.

    Fell looked between me and the Clone. Her frown deepened by she declined to comment further.

    "My issue is the obvious. While you''re an accomplished Republic officer, general Veil, you''re also the head of an independent polity. Yet, simply removing you from your position in the GAR would not only be counter-productive but useless in the short to medium term. You already know more than enough to cause incalculable damage if you went rogue or something." Yle sighed.

    "And very much irrelevant, unless our friends in the Senate do something utterly foolish. Even then, I don''t believe that Delkatar will endanger the Mandalorian people by selling our secrets to the Confederacy and that is our primary issue." Valentra added. "I''m sure our friends in the SBI will watch you." He gave me a helpless shrug and looked at Yle.

    "That goes without saying." Marik nodded. "What more do you want, Ivon? All of us have allegiance to our homeworlds besides the Republic as a whole. What makes Veil any different, besides that the Mandalorians will be our allies instead a formal part of the Republic? Will there be a practical difference while he is a part of our military command?"

    "Oh, enough of this nonsense!" Jack snapped. "We all have the same problem ¨C that our political masters will kriff up and kick you out of the GAR just as the Confeds are preparing for an offensive the likes of which we haven''t seen. We haven''t fully compiled all reports but there are all indications that in two months the CIS will have at least two thousand brand new Munficents and between three and five hundred proper capital ships to play with."

    "Those are the conservative estimates." Fell grumbled. "We might see up to three thousand Munificents and couple of hundreds more capitals over the next three months."

    "Well, kriff. Added to their current active strength, that will be troublesome to manage." I muttered. We would have to give up ground. Perhaps a lot of it until our Venators came online.

    "What a charming understatement." Jack chuckled grimly. "It gets better. We have fragmentary reports that at least few enemy commanders had used Munificents to ram our cruisers. If they pull that off on a large scale successfully we might, no. We won''t be able to stop them."

    "This information makes everything even more complicated." I took a deep breath. "I have a few ideas that will even the odds, though most of them won''t be practical if I no longer have a say in the strategic decision making." Kriff it, I knew that the Confederacy would have a good window of opportunity thanks to the respective building rates of both sides, but those numbers¡­

    "What do you think?" Valentra asked me.

    "Its going to be ugly no matter what we do. We need to trade distance and space for time. Hold the hyperlanes and strategic systems at all costs." I looked Telar in the eyes. "We''ll likely have to write off a large chunk of the Republic at least for a few months. At least the systems without planetary shield generators. We can''t hold them if the enemy controls the orbitals and if I have it my way, we''ll be pulling out the bulk of our fleets from any non-critical area."

    "The only good news is that we''ll be getting some Acclamators complete early next month along with a lot of escorts. That will help a lot but it won''t be enough to counter the enemy''s upswing in numbers by itself." Valentra informed me. "I''ve been thinking about something similar since Director Fell gave me a preliminary report about the CIS expected strength a few days ago. However, by myself I won''t be able to convince the Chancellor much less the Senate that we might have to give up a lot of territory."

    "I''ll be meeting with Palpatine at noon and I''ll talk with him about it." I nodded and kept my face carefully blank. "I may need those enemy numbers reports ready for my hearing this afternoon."

    Who knew, the Confederacy might actually be my ticked out of trouble this time around. Then again, too many Senators were either peace time politicians or people whose worlds will be soon facing enemy occupation. They might lash against me as a convenient stress relief.

    "We''ll need to further increase equipment production as well as recruitment and training. The latter won''t make a difference for the coming storm, but we''ll need the warm bodies when it comes time to push the Confeds back." I thought aloud, then mentioned some planets that could accommodate additional factories.

    Mothma and company should be glad about that¡­ until they hear whats coming our way.

    Then again, how the hell did the Confederacy lose with such advantage in shipbuilding early in the war? Most of that construction, especially all the capital h?ps should have been laid down before I made an appearance. I''ll grant that my successes could be at least a partially to blame for the armada of Munificents that will be coming for us.

    "Just in case the Senate decides to be unreasonable, I''ll be pushing for a single allied command that will incorporate GAR, Corellian, Mandalorian and whatever other allies join us in the fight. If the worse happens, that will still give you some official pull and we''ll be listening when you make suggestions about the strategic situation." Valentra added.

    "That might work." I nodded. The Empire had a similar arrangement with the Mandalorians at least in certain sectors of the galaxy. While most Sith would have loathed taking orders from them, the ordinary army and navy had much less hang ups if the Mandalorian in charge was competent.

    =RK=

    Part 7

    Chancellor''s officer

    Senate building

    Coruscant

    Palpatine stood in front of the outer wall of his office that was made of a one way transparent metal and watched Coruscant''s skyline. The last month had been tiring for the Sith Lord. Thanks to the rotating guard of Clones and more importantly Jedi, he was forced to keep his illicit activities not only low key but highly irregular. Unfortunately, doing so was much, much easier than he ever imagined for a simple reason ¨C Sidious had lost the tools he used to control the Confederacy. Those loathsome creatures had the sheer gall to turn on his agent Dooku and dared usurp power.

    All he had to show for his efforts in setting the CIS up nowadays was a war gone out of control and a few still reporting agents. The incompetent fools usually couldn''t even be trusted to provide Palpatine with good information ¨C more often than not he got almost the same date from Republic intelligence sources and those were another sore point. After the debacle caused by rogue elements during the attack on Coruscant, the Republic military and intelligence apparatus had been cleaning up house. They not only caught a lot of CIS moles, but some of Sidious'' own agents.

    There were days lately that Palpatine felt that he had lost half the galaxy in one fell swoop and he was powerless to do anything about it for the time being unless he was crazy enough to unmask to the Jedi. Even with Veil around and serving as a useful example that not all Sith were evil, and wasn''t that a laugh, the last thing Sidious wanted was to explain who he really was.

    Palpatine exhaled slowly and frowned.

    The general. A wild element that wasn''t part of the Sith grand plan. At first, Sidious thought the man a madman and impostor if an undeniably competent one. It wasn''t until the battle for Geonosis that Palpatine really entertained the thought that Veil might be dangerous to him as anything more than a complication. A part of him still wanted to dismiss the though, however Sidious ruthlessly squashed the very idea.

    He had underestimated Veil again and again. Dismissed him as a lunatic, or a Dark Jedi with delusions of grandeur ¨C no different than Dooku''s minions if much more competent. The general did cull quite a lot of them after all.

    "Hubris." The Sith Lord smiled. "To think that I believed myself immune to such trifle things."

    Things were different now. A vital part of the plan was in ruins. Palpatine found it highly ironic that now the Sith were on the side of the Republic, fighting those who officially claimed to save it from them. The Chancellor doubted that he would be able to restore his control upon the Confederacy. Dooku was missing and while he hadn''t sensed the man''s death, he could as well be. In fact Sidious might have to arrange it. Tyranus was a captive and was either going to suffer a regrettable accident or be shipped to the Jedi.

    No matter how incompetent they the Order was, Sidious doubted that they could misplace Dooku a second time and there won''t be a Confederate rescue this time around. Faced with rotting in a small cell within the Jedi Temple, Tyranus might just talk in order to spread his misfortune to Sidious too.

    Besides the man had proven less than effective lately. Even if he somehow escaped or was rescued by any agents he had left, Palpatine didn''t believe that Dooku could wrestle back control over the Confederacy.

    It was unfortunate that some of the high ranked contacts Palpatine had in the CIS had decided to turn on him and were in fact part of the new management. With Dooku out of the picture and Grievous dead, Sidious simply lacked someone who could get things under control. That at least simplified things tremendously.

    Palpatine had to ensure that the Republic won the war. Then he would have his Empire and more importantly ¨C vengeance upon both the traitors within the Confederacy and the Jedi. On the bright side, he had another prospective apprentice. One he would be meeting shortly.

    Well, third time''s the charm as some people liked to say. It might even be true ¨C the Force sometimes worked in mysterious ways. Besides, now Veil was in the same boat as Palpatine ¨C he was a political figure, a leader of a nation with all the unpleasant and infuriating things that entailed ¨C like dealing with all too many idiots and not being free to strangle them with their own innards when they became too bothersome.

    Sidious had felt the urge a lot of time the last month. Making sure that all his connections with the Confederacy besides a few informants who didn''t really know who he was were cut was frustrating given the constrains he had to work under. That didn''t do much for his temper and the constant need to present the persona of the good old Palpatine to the world grated more than usual.

    In the end, Sidious had to work with what he had on hand and that was the Republic. So he had be the best Chancellor this misbegotten pile of ineffectual corruption ever had. It was moment like these when he seldom wondered if becoming Emperor would be worth it. Ah, the price of ultimate power¡­

    Palpatine sighed wishfully. He had work to do ¨C the Republic wasn''t going to run itself without a disaster striking, there was a war to be won, Jedi to crush, sweet vengeance to be had. First however, he had a general to meet.

    Sidious had dug out everything he could find about the Sith Veil claimed to be. Darth Vael. The man had had an illustrious career, had been chosen as a member of the Dark Council and the, when he should have gone to Dromund Kaas to claim his new title, Vael had vanished. Allegedly during a battle against the Republic. Palpatine''s fist instinct was that the ancient Sith had simply lost the game of power and had been removed by his rivals. That was the simplest and most logical explanation.

    Everything was more logical than what Veil claimed. That madness was so easy to dismiss. Everyone sane would do so immediately, wouldn''t they? Palpatine certainly did.

    There was one question he never really asked himself. What if those claims were actually the truth?

    The Force was still clouded and offered no answer.

    The Chancellor turned around and went to his desk. He had various plans in how to deal with Veil but a lot was going to depend on their meeting. Well, that wasn''t exactly true ¨C Sidious was yet to decide was how much trouble he was going to cause for the general. It was less than optimal that the man was very good at his job and might in fact be needed if the Republic was to win this war before the conflict left the whole galaxy in ruin and thus much less for Sidious to rule.

    Palpatine sat on his favorite chair and his intercom beeped.

    "Sir, general Veil is here to see you." The Chancellor''s secretary announced in an annoyingly chipper tone. If the bloody woman wasn''t as efficient in her job as she was¡­

    Palpatine shook his head, placed his best smile on his face and spoke pleasantly: "By all means, send him in!"

    The Chancellor stood up when the door of his office opened and Veil strode in. The general wore a combat armor sans helmet that was painted white and had the emblems of the Mandalore and the Republic on the shoulders.

    "Its good to see you back whole and hale my friend!" Palpatine beamed at his guest.

    "It''s good to be back, Chancellor."

    Sidious wondered if Veil''s smile was as fake as his own.

    "Tia, make sure we aren''t disturbed." Palpatine ordered his secretary and waved the general towards the seats in front of his desk. "Please make yourself comfortable, we have a lot to speak about."

    "Thank you." Veil gave him a respectful nod and sat down.

    Palpatine pressed a hidden bu??on under his desk and a wave of static went through the room.

    "Now we can talk freely." Ironically, his office was one of the few places Sidious could talk ¨C at least for short periods of time ¨C without being overheard by his protection detail. There were some Republic secrets they weren''t cleared up for after all.

    "Can we?" There was amusement in the general''s voice.

    Veil looked like anything but someone who knew he was about to be chewed up by one of the most powerful men in the galaxy. The general pulled out a data chip from a compartment on his armor and levitated it until it hovered in front of Palpatine''s ?h?st. Sidious had to give the bastard little credit ¨C he was audacious if nothing else.

    "I presume that this isn''t a written apology and explanation. Mandalore." The Sith Lord kept his smile going as if the blatant demonstration of Force tricks wasn''t grating when he was forced to appear as an ordinary human.

    "Bad news I''m afraid. You''ll be getting a more refined version of these reports in a few hours." The smile and apparent good cheer drained from the general''s face. "You know, up until this morning I had various preconceptions about this meeting. This certainly wasn''t one of them."

    Palpatine plugged the chip in his terminal without removing his eyes from Veil. He didn''t need the Force to know he wouldn''t like whatever was on the chip. The Chancellor pressed a few bu??ons and waited for the data to be decrypted before it could be displayed.

    "Well, my friend I''m sure you''ve been dreading my reaction about your new found conflict of interests. I can ?ssure you that it wasn''t my idea to let you handle the Mandalorians by yourself. I''ve been dealing with the Senators who..."

    The data decryption completed and a summary of the reports appeared on the terminal''s screen. Palpatine glanced at it and paused mid sentence. His facial muscles twitched as he did his bet to suppress a snarl.

    "It appears I''ve underestimated our colleagues in the Confederacy." Palpatine muttered. His left hand danced on the terminal''s keyboard and he dismissed the lock down of his office before calling the director of ONI, all the while he kept most of his attention on Veil who was grimly amused at the situation.

    "Chancellor, sir. To what do I owe this honor?" Ivon Fell''s image floated above the Chancellor''s desk.

    "General Veil just came in with certain preliminary reports. How accurate is the data?"

    "Estimated Confederacy warship construction?" The director asked. "The numbers you''ve seen are our conservative estimation on what they''ll be completing by the end of next month."

    "I want comprehensive report about it ASAP." Palpatine ordered and cut off the connection before securing his office once again. "General, I don''t find anything about this situation amusing." Sidious glared at his guest and let a tiny bit of the fury he felt slip through his mask.

    Sidious knew about the Confederacy shipbuilding in general terms. He was aware that the CIS could built most of its ship classes faster. He ever planned to use the inevitable separatists offensive as a justification to gain even more power. What he didn''t expect or plan for was to fight a real war, much less at a time when the enemy was about to gain overwhelming numerical superiority. What outraged and confused the Sith Lord was the simple fact that the Confederacy wasn''t supposed to be building so much ships. The Munificents were easy to explain ¨C replacements for all frigates lost since Veil entered the stage and building enough to absorb future significant losses.

    However, the capital ships¡­ those figures were almost three times larger than what the Confederacy should have been building! Why would they¡­

    Sidious froze and it was all he could do not to curse venomously and trash his office with the Force. Two conclusions immediately jumped to mind. Either Dooku had been naughty and planning to use those additional forces to betray him or the traitors of the Confederacy Council had been planning their coup even before the war began.

    The Sith lord wasn''t sure which option was more upsetting.

    The Chancellor leaned back in his chair and did his best tired old man impression.

    "This is certainly a grave news, general. Unfortunately it doesn''t change the issues created by your new title." Palpatine spoke quietly while his mind raced. This new turn of events threw askew most of his plans for Veil. "We can''t have a foreign nation''s leader be one of the highest ranking officers in the whole Republic military. Even your splendid record can''t justify it."

    While he might need Veil, simply letting the man get everything he apparently wanted without consequences simply wouldn''t do. "Nevertheless, depriving the GAR of your expertise at time such as this will be criminal." The Chancellor continued.

    Now, how to present this in a way that the Senate would accept? It was less than ideal that after the attack on this very building, Palpatine had lost a lot of the people he controlled. Oh, the opposition had been hit even harder, but that was scarce comfort when the truth was that nowadays Sidious had less control over the Senate than he needed. While he was working on fixing that issue, it would be months, perhaps even year or a bit longer before he had regained the direct power he lost with the death of so many political allies.

    "You have an idea." Veil stated, declining to comment on his divided loyalties one way or another.

    If they were divided in the first place. The man could very well be a real Sith playing his own long game in which case the Mandalorians were simply means to an end. A political marriage to a woman Veil had met just a handful of times certainly indicated that, especially when Sidious had read reports that the general had been growing closer to that Togruta Jedi Master before he went to Mandalore.

    He had to find the time and place to have a secure heart to heart conversation with Veil. That ultimately might either gain him a new powerful apprentice or at least reveal enough of the man''s true nature so Sidious could have a much better idea how to handle him once the general was no longer useful.

    "A sideways promotion I think. You my friend can''t be expected to command all our combat forces and execute your duties as Mandalore at the same time. You would simply be buried by mountains of work and in the end won''t be able to finish anything worthwhile. Trust me, I know." Palpatine waved at his office. "Perhaps being in command of a mixed Republic/Mandalorian unit to promote cooperation between our armed forces and bring our nations closer together?"

    "That sounds like an interesting idea." Veil nodded. "How would the Senate react?"

    Sidious frowned. His current pain in the ?ss should have thought about that before becoming Mandalore. On the other hand, Palpatine could see the benefits of that decision. Now Veil had an independent power base that would be growing. The Chancellor decided that he should do something about that before the war was resolved, but not until the Confederacy ceased to be an existential threat to his plans for becoming Emperor.

    There always was the good old fashioned economics. The Mandalorians needed to replace their fleet now¡­ Binding them with some carefully crafted contracts that would place them in debt to the Republic and later his Empire would be a good first step. Especially if those deals could be used as a justification to crush the Mandalorians if they became any sort of problem¡­

    Well, that was for later. Now he had to figure out how to handle the Senate so they wouldn''t kriff up things any worse than usual.

    The time Sidious could dispose of that outdated institution couldn''t come fast enough. The significant amount of headaches he would have to deal with by itself would be worth it.

    =RK=

    Part 8

    Council Chambers

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    The Jedi Temple had changed quite a bit in Obi-Wan''s absence. Oh, on the outside it looked the same¡­ from distance. Once he got closer, it became painfully obvious that the building had been extensively modified. The four towers surrounding the Temple proper wore sensor dishes like demented crowns and they were further altered to hold an AA emplacement. The same was true for the main building ¨C it''s walls wore two concentric circles of laser canons. The same was true for the hangars ¨C which were permanently sealed and shielded unless someone with the correct codes was approaching.

    It was sad to see the only home he knew being turned into an armed camp. However, after the second attack not even the Council could really refuse the GAR''s offer of ?ssistance in securing the building.

    Another change was with the vehicles in the hangar. While Obi-Wan parked the speeder he had borrowed from the Mandalorian he had a great view of the two rows of LAATs that apparently replaced the vehicles usually used by the Jedi on Coruscant. Kenobi even glimpsed a pair of custom fighters in one corner and he was pretty sure he saw at least few Jedi and Clones working on them.

    When he disembarked, a squad of troopers came to greet and scan him, to confirm that he wasn''t an impostor. If all that wasn''t a clue enough, the way the Temple felt ¨C it was different. More tense, restless. The peace Obi-Wan ?ssociated with his home was absent.

    Perhaps it was fitting. He was coming to meet with the rest of the Council and a likely outcome was that he would be leaving soon after that ¨C permanently at that. It couldn''t be helped. While Obi-Wan would regret such an outcome, his marrying Satine wasn''t something he could give up.

    On his way to the Council chambers, Kenobi noticed even more changes. Many of the corridors were reinforced so they might survive a limited bombardment of the Temple without collapsing and at most junctions he saw installed armored blast doors that presumably could be used to contain or at least slow down any attacker. The Jedi Master passed by three squad sized patrols too. Whoever was running the operation on the GAR side was obviously paranoid.

    While a part of Obi-Wan wanted to rebel against such an armed presence within the Jedi Temple itself, he couldn''t do it. He had seen too much, been in too many battles to consider the almost insane security unnecessary. Perhaps it might be enough to dissuade the Confederacy from striking at the Temple a third time.

    Obi-Wan frowned. All those idle thoughts ¨C he knew what they were ¨C an attempt to distract himself from the most disturbing thing he saw in the corridors. It was the Jedi themselves. They were all tense, on edge. Kenobi could feel how anxious most of them were without even trying. More than a few of the knights he passed by in the halls were at least a little scared and there was more than a hint of anger there.

    They were also pointedly avoiding him, even a Jedi he had thought a long time friend.

    Finally Kenobi reached the Council Chambers only to be stated down by four fully armed and armored Temple Guardians.

    "The Council is expecting you." One of them spoke in an emotionless tone.

    Obi-Wan frowned. Those men¡­ he couldn''t feel even a shred of emotion coming from them. Not the sense of peace or serenity that he usually ?ssociated with most Jedi, nor the confusion and trepidation coming from the knights passed by moments ago. There was nothing ¨C just the presence of four living beings.

    What had been happening to the Council while he was away fighting a war?! Hopefully he was going to get some answers now. Kenobi nodded to the Guardians and went in.

    Obi-Wan walked to the center of the empty circle that took up most of the room, while looking who was present. To his left sat the snakelike Master Rancisis whose head and face were hidden by long silver hair and beard. The old man was tapping the side of his chair with long, scythe like nails that were no less dangerous despite looking quite fragile.

    Next to him "sat'' the holographic image of Shaak Ti, who looked anything but amused. Obi-Wan hoped that Delkatar at lest called the Togruta to tell her about his marriage in person.

    To her left sat Master Yaddle, who looked like a toddler in her chair. She was of the same species as Yoda and still had hair, which she wore in a long braid. Or perhaps only the females of the species had it, who knew. While she and the Grandmaster were far from the first Jedi to come from their mysterious homeworld, their kind was practically unknown to the galaxy at large.

    Besides Yoda himself, there were only two other Masters present in the flesh. One was the short Even Piell, who had an uncanny resemblance to the Grandmaster''s species ¨C though the man had even larger mynoc-like ears and wasn''t green. The last Jedi in the room was Saesee Tiin who looked like a monster from the Outer Rim with his two large horns and what appeared to be a scowl permanently fixed on his face.

    Ki-Adi-Mundi and Plo Koon were also present, though they were en route to different battlefields after wrapping up things on Geonosis and experiencing a short R&R at a GAR FOB on the edge of the Inner Rim.

    "Obi-Wan." Yoda greeted tiredly. The ancient Jedi Master looked all his nine hundred years today. This war and all the complications it brought wasn''t good for the Grandmaster.

    "Master Yoda. Esteemed Council Members." Obi-Wan gave them a polite half-bow.

    "Explain yourself you will." Yoda ordered.

    "I fell in love with Satine Kryze on an ?ssignment to Mandalore more that a decade ago. While I didn''t act on my feelings then, after we met again on my mission to observe general Veil and ?ssist him in the negotiations with the Mandalorian government, I met her again, which was inevitable considering the post she held. Death Watch attacks complicated things. We reconnected. This time I acted on my feelings and we married just a few hours before a CIS fleet led by Grievous attacked Mandalore."

    "And thus you became Mandalorian too." Adi-Mundi bobbed his huge head in b?r?ly restrained amusement. However, that wasn''t a sentiment all Masters shared.

    "It''s no surprise Skywalker went bad if this is the true face of his master." Tiin grumbled. "We all heard him. Master Obi-Wan Kenobi has willfully and knowingly spat on our Code and traditions. I move to have him expelled from the Order."

    "Making such a call now, without hearing more is premature at best." Master Koon tried to be the voice of reason.

    "Whatever else Master Kenobi reports, it won''t change the facts. He let his emotions compromise him and acted on them. What example would we make if we don''t censure him?" Shaak Ti growled.

    Ah. So Delkatar didn''t tell her, she found second hand and is now pissed. Probably feels betrayed too. Damn it, Veil!

    "I''ll abide by the Council''s decision on the matter." Obi-Wan felt strangely calm. "I made a choice and if my expulsion is the consequence then I''ll accept it. May I ask a question?"

    "Ask you may." Yoda sighed. The Grandmaster didn''t look surprised by this turn of events. Just resigned.

    "What will happen with Padawan Ahsoka Tano? She''s losing a second master in two months." Obi-Wan asked.

    "Skywalker''s former Padawan?" Master Rancisis voice had a b?r?ly audible hiss to it. "Sent her to the Agri-Corps at least until the war ends. Considering what her teachers did, she needs time in peace to reflect on their mistakes and if she has it in her to become a proper Jedi."

    "I second it!" Tiin snapped. "We can''t let the Sith derived corruption spread further in the Order."

    "Ahsoka Tano had no choice in who was to be her Jedi Master. Don''t blame her for..." Plo Koon raised in defense of his former pupil.

    "You''ve taught her yourself. I understand you don''t want to even think she''s been learning bad habits or worse." Shaak Ti interrupted him. "The corps will be the best and safest place for her. Or do you want risking Ahsoka falling to the Dark Side? Veil had been giving her an unhealthy amount of attention."

    What Veil did was kriff up beyond any reason where Shaak Ti was concerned. That''s the only thing Obi-Wan could think off as he stared at the unfolding debacle in shock. He opened his mouth to defend Ahsoka too, but thought better of it. Those who wanted her out of sight and out of mind weren''t likely to listen. In fact they might try using his defense of the girl against her.

    "Call in the vote, Grandmaster. The call has been made and seconded." Tiin nodded grimly at Yoda.

    "So it has been. Padawan, young Tano remain should."

    "She''ll make a good Jedi." Plo Koon nodded.

    "I''m on the same opinion." Adi-Mundi added.

    "Sent her to the Corps." Rancisis hissed in annoyance.

    "Corps." Tiin''s response was came in a flat, bored tone.

    "Agri-corps. That''s the best for Ahsoka." Shaak Ti''s tone had a finality to it.

    "Corps. After this mess, she''ll need time to clear up her head before continuing her training." Piell voted.

    That left Master Yaddle. "I believe that sending her to the Agri-corps would be a disservice to the girl. However, considering what is happening to the Order, it would be better that she is away until we find our way once again. Agri-corps."

    "Good." Rancisis nodded.

    Obi-Wan shook his head. Somehow he didn''t believe it was going to be that simple. No one appeared interested in asking Ahsokas opinion and Kenobi was pretty sure that she had other options. He wisely kept that thought to himself. The last thing this fire needed was someone adding an accelerant.

    "Obi-Wan, before we vote about you, please tell us about Veil. What was he up to on Mandalore? Besides the obvious?" Shaak Ti grimaced when mentioning Delkatar''s name.

    "What do you want me to say?" Obi-Wan didn''t take the bait. What he wanted was for this farce to be over so he could talk with Yoda and find out what the kriff had driven the Order in this madness.

    "The truth. Becoming Mandalore¡­ Did we harbor an enemy all those months? What do you know about his long term plans concerning the Jedi and the Republic?" Shaak Ti asked.

    "He intends to prosecute the war to the best of his ability both as a Republic general and Mandalore." That at least was the truth. Obi-Wan was afraid to tell anything else, to share any of the suspicions he might have had, because there were at least four people in here who appeared ready to go after Veil.

    Kenobi had no illusions what would happen if the Jedi attacked him¡­ and he dreaded if some misguided fool went after Bo-Katan, no matter the reason.

    A cold pit formed at the bottom of Obi-Wan''s stomach.

    "That''s all? Perhaps he didn''t share anything of importance with you after all." Shaak Ti sounded resigned.

    "Do you have something to share, Obi-Wan?" Adi-Mundi asked.

    "Not really."

    "He''ll be of no help. Let''s vote." Tiin stated.

    "Seconded!" Piell and Rancisis spoke almost as one.

    The vote went the same way, though this time Master Yaddle had no reservations.

    "Please hand us your lightsaber, Obi-Wan." The tiny woman spoke in regret.

    "That''s what happens when we let a Sith have a free reign." Master Ti sighed. "I''m afraid this isn''t going to be the end of it. If this is all?" She asked and when nothing was added she terminated the connection from her side.

    Obi-Wan pulled out his lightsaber and looked at it for a long, long moment. To simply give it away¡­ it felt as if he was handing out a piece of his very being. Kenobi sighed in regret and strode up to Yoda, then fell on one knee so he could look the Grandmaster in the eyes and gave him the saber.

    "All this is. A world, Obi-Wan." Yoda slowly got out of his chair and used the Force to retrieve his walking stick, which was leaning next to the furniture.

    "More than one, Master Yoda. I would really like to know what just happened." Obi-Wan paused. "What has been happening since I left for Geonosis?!"

    "Come you will. Talk we will." Yoda muttered.

    =RK=

    Part 9

    Master Yoda''s quarters

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    Yoda''s rooms were less spartan than one might expect. The Grandmaster had collected a lot of little mementos and oddities in almost a millennia of life. It was something that Obi-Wan always found fascinating. There was so much history in that room and almost everything on the many rafts and shelves covering the walls or secured in a handful of large ?h?sts in the back told interesting, often amusing tales.

    Unfortunately, today Kenobi had no eyes for the oddities. He watched concerned how Yoda slowly made his way to the bed and sat down with a tired sigh.

    "Questions you have. Ask them you will. Answer I will." Yoda muttered.

    "What the kriff happened?!" Obi-Wan blurred out and helplessly waved around.

    "Veil." Yoda grumbled.

    "Veil?! How did he manage this?!" Kenobi exclaimed. He was pretty sure Delkatar hasn''t been kriffing up with the Order lately. The man was simply too busy to have the time even if he wanted to.

    "Master Ti." Yoda gave the much younger man a long suffered look. "Slept with her her had. Knew about it, did you?"

    "I¡­ Yes, I was aware." Obi-Wan stammered. "This is the fallout?!" Now that he found hard to believe. He thought he knew Shaak Ti. If she was as pissed off as she seemed, it would be like her to try stabbing Delkatar a few times with her lightsaber.

    What Kenobi didn''t expect was for her to throw him and Ahsoka on the pack of hungry krath hounds that were the conservatives. Damn it, Veil¡­

    "How did this happen?" Obi-Wan''s tone was resigned.

    "Master Ti, betrayed feels. Used. Blames Veil she does. Believes right Windu was. The conservatives joined she has." Yoda''s ears dropped.

    "I noticed." Obi-Wan muttered. "What I felt when I got back¡­ How is the Order as a whole took that the recent changes?"

    "Divided we are. Confused, scared the Jedi are." Yoda paused. "Angry." His small frame practically radiated regret.

    "You know, even if he wanted to move against the Order, Veil wouldn''t have done it now. The war is going to escalate even further and the Republic doesn''t need another internal division right now." Kenobi didn''t know how right he was.

    "Believe his intent this was not." Yoda grumbled. "Responsible he still is. Listen to reason the conservative Jedi refuse. Become Mandalore Veil has. Proven their fears he has. So did you." Yoda sent a disappointed look at Obi-Wan that made him feel like a little boy caught stealing sweets from the kitchens.

    Well, it was Yoda who caught him doing it that one time¡­

    "I''m sorry, Master Yoda. However, I might regret the consequences of my actions and how they affect the Jedi Order, I don''t regret marrying Satine. It was the right call for the two of us." Yet, causing further strife among the Jedi, the only family he had know until this last few weeks tore him up inside.

    Yoda grumbled quietly.

    "Perhaps mistaken we were. Emotions¡­ Unsure am I. Does as taught Master Tiin do. The best interest of the Jedi he has. The Code he follows. By traditions he swears." Yoda looked sad at the admission.

    "Once I would have agreed. Now? I''m not sure if our traditions and reading of the Code could be called wrong. What I can see is that they simply aren''t right for all Jedi in the Order. That''s something I''ve been tormented by for months now ¨C torn between rigid tradition and a single understanding of the Code, and what I''ve seen and experienced in the wider galaxy. Some might reach a different conclusion. I believe that''s what happening right now, at least in part. What I experienced out there," He pointed at the sky far above the ceiling of the room, "is the simple fact that our Code doesn''t work so well when confronted by the outside world. Perhaps its our understanding of it that is flawed. Or just the galaxy is too messed up. I don''t know." Obi-Wan shrugged.

    "Above politics we were. Stood aside galactic affairs we did. Best of intentions we had." Yoda muttered. "Apart of the galaxy we were."

    "I''m not sure that the rest of the galaxy ever saw us that way." Obi-Wan interjected.

    "No. Act we did. Command we took. The Clone Wars we fight. Apart we are not." Yoda added. "To the Senate we must go." The Grandmaster''s eyes suddenly widened and he looked disturbed.

    "Veil''s hearing should be starting soon." Obi-Wan added.

    "Master Tiil there will be. Speak he will..." Yoda jumped from his low placed bed and the Force around them trembled as he used it to revitalize his ancient body.

    "He''s about to do something stupid, isn''t he?" Obi-Wan ?r??n?d. As if Veil wasn''t enough¡­

    =RK=

    Senate Chambers

    Senate building

    Coruscant

    "This place looks much better than the last time." I muttered when we entered the place where the galaxy fate was decided on a daily basis. Supposedly at least.

    "The lack of terrorists is refreshing." Palpatine snarked.

    We went in together, so the Chancellor could show his support for my cause. His large security detail fanned out and spread around our primary exit and we headed for Palpatine''s platforms followed by the hulking figure of Mas Amedda ¨C the Vice Chair of the Senate.

    He was Palpatine''s creature. The only thing I wasn''t sure if that has always been the case or if it happened after Valorum had his vote of no confidence. It didn''t really matter nowadays. Amedda was likely to be an ally for the time being and in the long term ¨C I would lose if I played the political game against someone as established as Palpy and his cronies. That''s why my bet was on the military.

    The Chamber was already buzzing from thousands of beings talking and that sound raised up to crescendo once we boarded Plapatine''s personal pod and ascended to the center of the room. A lot of Senators jeered when they saw me but what sounded like an equal number actually cheered my presence. Even if he was going to take credit as the man who had the foresight to give me my commission in the GAR, Sidious had to chafe under sharing the limelight an even influence with me.

    That was something I was going to enjoy in private. Now it was time for a bloody circus. I suffered through the formalities and soon enough it was time to answer the Senate. The noise that followed was deafening, but soon enough it was clear who would be my first inquisitor for the day. It made sense really.

    A single pod raised up until it was on the same level as us and I had a great view of its occupants. Three Cathar stood proudly in it. Two large males flanking their Senator ¨C a lithe, furious looking female. They all wore traditional garb ¨C gray suits with a crimson sash across their ?h?st held in place by golden brooch shaped like a lion, well Cathar head.

    Considering that the Mandalorians drove their species to near extinction during the first war between my people and the Republic it made sense that the Cathar would be first to raise in opposition to my new title. On the other hand, I''ve fought besides their people when multiple Clans joined us against the Republic after Imperial Intelligence rescued a political prisoner held on Belsavis for decades by SIS.

    The males were of the subspecies that were practically bipedal lions complete with manes ¨C white furred in their case. They looked more than mean enough to fit their roles as bodyguards.

    The Senator on the other hand had a short golden fur and a long hair tied up in a braid that went well past her waist.

    "Chancellor Palpatine." The Senator gave him a respectful blow. "Mandalore." She b?r?d her teeth in a clear threat.

    Yeah, certainly not a fan.

    "Senator. I''m afraid we aren''t acquainted." I spoke calmly, doing my best to present myself as a reasonable fella.

    "I''m Senator Sylvaris, Mandalore." She introduced herself, putting emphasis on my new title. While it was obvious what she was doing, it didn''t make it any less effective. "I''ve hoped that after their Civil War the Mandalorians finally learned their lesson and were finally ready to turn another page. I''m saddened to see them going back to their old, murderous ways. How long would it be before the Republic will have to fight the Mandalorians again? And this time it will be with almost perfect intelligence, isn''t this true, general?" She glared daggers at me.

    Almost everyone from the Outer Rim that had remained loyal to the Republic instead joining the Confederacy were shouting their support. An unintended consequence of me becoming Mandalore was going to be a stiffening support for the CIS among all their members that had clashed with my people in the past.

    "If I have anything to say about it ¨C never!" I spoke aloud. "We''ve all spent too much time wasting precious lives and resources trying to kill each other in the past. And that''s what the conflict between Mandalore and the Republic is ¨C an artifact of a bygone era. My people didn''t suddenly change yesterday or last week. They didn''t change just because I hold the title of Mandalore." I gave the Senate a reassuring smile and waved a hand to encompass the chamber. "The simple truth is that we have no issues with the Republic. No reason whatsoever to wage war against it. In fact, one of the reasons why I''m here in my official capacity as Mandalore is to seek a military alliance against the Confederacy ¨C the madmen who are our real enemy. An enemy to the Republic and Mandalore both."

    "Nice, empty words." Sylvaris nodded. "Why should we believe a Mandalore? It hasn''t worked so well in the past."

    "In the past the Republic and Mandalore were long standing enemies. Yet, its been a long time since a state of peace had reigned between our nation. My people fought a civil war against what you fear ¨C maniacs like the now defunct Death Watch who would have seen the galaxy burn for their own gain. We fought them just a few weeks ago ¨C them and their backers in the Confederacy. While we paid a steep price in both Mandalorian lives and those of our allies in the Republic who fought side by side with us, we won again and put a stop of that nonsense, hopefully permanently this time."

    My smile grew.

    "In fact that''s one of the primary reasons why I seek an alliance with the Republic. Fighting together against a common foe like the Confederacy will make what you fear even less likely than its today. Honorable warriors don''t one day simply turn around and stab the people they fought beside in the back. There would be no honor, no glory in such an act. Not to mention the little part that doing so would make no sense for Mandalore as a whole."

    "I see. What about your conflict of interests? You''re Mandalore now. You can''t be one of the highest ranking generals in the Republic military at the same time. From your words its clear you''ll do what''s best for Mandalore and its people. That''s not necessary what''s best for any Republic soldiers you might command in the time or in the interests of the Republic." The Cathar woman was undaunted. What''s more, you could clearly hear the conviction ringing in her every word.

    "If I may field that question?" Palpatine interjected and offered Sylvaris his best grandfatherly smile. I wondered if he had it patented. "That exact issue wasn''t lost to the good general, nor to me or the officers in the Grand Army. In fact, at first opportunity, general Veil approached me about the problem. Senator Sylvaris, you can rest ?ssured that we view the issue as important. In fact we even reached a solution that I hope will allay your fears."

    "What is that solution? Is Mandalore resigning from the Grand Army?" Sylvaris asked hopefully.

    "While the offer was made, me and Republic High Command refused it." Now Palpy looked severe.

    Just to cover our ?ssess I actually made such an offer to Valentra from the Chancellor''s office shortly before we had to come here. Telar wasn''t amused.

    This time both sides were equally outraged. Sylvaris'' allies were furious that my so called resignation offer hadn''t been accepted and that I hadn''t been kicked out of the army as soon as I made it. Those who wanted the Republic to have as many allies as it could get were pissed off at the very idea that the GAR might lose one of its most effective commanders.

    All the commotion irritated Amedda a lot ¨C it was part of his job to keep things in the chambers more or less civil. It took him a few minutes to have the noise down to just a dull roar so Palpatine could be heard.

    "Precisely because the issues you raised, Senator Sylvaris, General Veil will no longer be in command of all Republic combat units." the Chancellor used the opportunity to make her share the blame for everything that might happen once I wasn''t holding my current position and responsibilities.

    If things went bad during the CIS offensive, Palpy would need scapegoats and guess who volunteered to shoulder the blame? I was sure that he''ll be using the next month to convince the public that this whole thing was the brainchild of certain Senators who conveniently were causing him problems. And when something goes wrong, which was a given, he was going to remove some of the opposition within the Senate after hanging the responsibility for any setbacks on their insistence that I couldn''t keep my current job.

    Considering that this maneuver was likely to keep my hide out of at least some political complications down the line, I wished Palpy luck. It also reinforced the fact that I shouldn''t go against him in the political arena. Doing so would be unwise.

    "That''s a relief, Chancellor." Sylvaris relaxed a bit.

    "Considering general Veil''s change of status and some issues that were brought to my attention concerning problems coordinating command between the Grand Army and some of our forces that aren''t technically part of the Republic army, I''ll like the announce the creation of a Unified Command Structure between the GAR, Mandalore and the various armed forces of systems like Corellia. The primary goal will integration of our armies and navies to better fight this war and resolving any issues about who is supposed to be in command long before our boys and girls could reach the front lines. As a pilot command under that initiative, we''ll be creating a single integrated unit under the command of General Veil which will include Republic, Corellian and Mandalorian forces. Lessons learned after the first months of operations will be then used to speed integration of our militaries and figure better how to more efficiently expand the UCS." Palpy smiled. "And no, the UCS moniker won''t be the final name of that initiative. It''s simply less of a mouthful that the rest that were proposed."

    I''ll give Palpy that, even without using the Force, the man was damn charismatic. When he spoke, the Senators listened, even if at least half of them were quite furious by what he was actually telling them. I simply couldn''t pull something like that off without leaning on the Force to figure out what I should be saying, at least when speaking to civilians or politicians.

    Amedda was quite busy once again and Sylvaris was busy giving us both death stares. Palpatine simply gave her an apologetic shrug. Before Amedda could restore order, our attention was caught by a pod breaking protocol and heading our way. That made the Senators quiet down so they could see and hear what the kriff was happening.

    I frowned when I saw someone clad in Jedi robes approaching. In fact he wasn''t alone ¨C there was a short being that next to him that was hidden by the bulk of the pod and his companion due to the angle of approach. For a moment I thought it was Yoda, but the color was wrong despite the superficial resemblance. I stretched my perception through the Force and frowned. They were quite powerful for Jedi of this era. Council members was my guess though I haven''t met them. I wracked my brain to place names to their faces. I''ve went over what was publicly accessible about the Order soon after I found myself in this time, but some details had slipped my mind as not too important. Like Council members that were more or less non-entities.

    Apparently that had been mistake that might very well be biting me on the ?ss right about now.

    "Chancellor Palpatine." The tall Jedi spoke in a booming voice and bowed. "I''m sorry to interrupt these proceedings, however the Jedi Council has issues that have to do with the subject in this hearing. I regret the fact we were unable to give you more warning."

    "Master Tiin and Master Piell, was it?" Palpatine looked at the Jedi. "Both as a Chancellor and an old friend of the Jedi I always have time for your issues." He showed just the right amount of concern and surprise in his voice and expression.

    "I''m glad to hear it, Chancellor." Tiin, the taller, horned one nodded. "For some time, the Jedi Council has had concerns about General Veil. I heard the your outrage..." He turned around and looked at the Senators. "How betrayed you feel when Veil chose to seize power and become Mandalore." The Jedi Master glared at me. "I''ll ask you something. Why are you surprised? Some of us saw a thing like this coming, yet our warnings fell on deaf ears, because it was convenient at the time." Tiil took a deep breath and pointed an accusing finger at my ?h?st. "Right here for all of you to see stands a Dark Lord of the Sith. One who thousands of years ago engineered the fall of the Old Republic as Darth Vael. I don''t know what Sith Sorcery allows him to stand here today so he could spread his lies and corruption in an age we all believed, no hoped that the Sith were gone for good."

    The good news was that Palpy was glaring at the Jedi and I was pretty sure if this was a set up, it wasn''t one of his doing. Not when Sidious stood at an arm''s length from me. Unless he has lost all his marbles, the Chancellor couldn''t know how dangerous I truly was and wouldn''t engineer such a public confrontation with him in the epicenter of it.

    However, the Senate was another matter. Those pissed off that I had given the Mandalorians a leader in myself and fearing the ghosts of an ascendent Mandalore behind me¡­ they were listening.

    Amedda tried to silence the Jedi but a glare added by a subtle pulse of the Force kept him quiet. Such a blatant use of Force powers here and now by the Jedi of all people put me on edge. I was suddenly glad to have my lightsaber on me. Wearing an armor with integrated shields was good thing too, just in case the Jedi went crazy. Well, crazier.

    At least if things didn''t go too badly, they were going to give me and Palpatine more than enough rope to hang them with it and make the Jedi Order as a whole non-entity.

    "Because of this man''s corrupting influence, just a short time ago the Jedi Council was forced to expel one of our own. A Jedi Master who was an example for us all became corrupted in just a few months of interaction with this Sith and forced our hand." Tiil pointed at me again. "He almost succeeded in corrupting a second Jedi Master too!"

    If he did that a third time I might just give in the temptation to grab his hand and break that finger, consequences be damned.

    Tiil looked at the Chancellor, then at Amedda, before his eyes swept over the chamber. "If he did that, we should ask ourselves who else he has corrupted. Who has he deceived. Who will be his next victim. And I can promise you, if Delkatar Veil isn''t removed from power right here and now, we''ll all live to regret it. How long before the democracy we''re sworn to protect is replaced by a new Sith Empire with him in charge? How long before he twists and corrupts the Republic in something that even the monsters running the Confederacy will find terrible to behold?"

    I couldn''t help it and started laughing. Me, a kriffing Emperor and having to do the bloody job? No thanks.

    Well, whatever Tiil and Piell was it, expected, me laughing my ?ss off for the whole Senate to see wasn''t it. Even Palpatine gave me one glance and snorted.

    "You had me going there for a moment..." I muttered before laughing again.

    Tiil glared at me.

    "Funny is it? Recently. For all we know, you were the one behind Dooku''s fall and the Confederacy and are merely playing us against each other for your own sick amusement." Piell spoke for the first time.

    Curiously, the Senate was actually silent this time. This kind of show wasn''t something they saw everyday. Not between Jedi and Sith. Nowadays that was the stuff of legends.

    "Dooku was a Jedi!" Someone shouted. "How do we know he ever truly left?!"

    Now, that accusation ignited the crowd and everyone began shouting. The commotion was so big and my attention was centered on the Jedi Masters in front of me that I didn''t notice the approach of yet another pod, this one holding Yoda and Obi-Wan. When they reached us, earning themselves glares from Tiil, the noise was so loud that there was no way in hell we could hear each other even if we were shouting.

    Well, kriff that. I took a deep breath and gathered the Force around me, making the Jedi Masters take a wary step back.

    "SILENCE!" I screamed and my voice echoed around the chamber. "Now if we can all act as grown ups, it will be appreciated." That''s me the consummate politician.

    "Master Yoda." Palpatine beamed at the tiny Jedi. "I hope you might shed some light over, well this..." He waved at Tiil and Piell. "Am I to understand that they speak for the Jedi Order, because the timing of your arrival indicates otherwise."

    Yoda looked quite disgruntled and appeared to want to be anywhere but here. I almost sympathized to the little fella. A big feature in the Sith Empire was if one of your subordinates kriffed up publically in such a fashion, you could Force Choke them or something then and there, thus removing the headache permanently.

    "The Jedi Council split is. Half supports this." Yoda reluctantly pointed at Tiil. "Expelled Master Obi-Wan Kenobi was."

    Not totally unexpected but still quite a dumb move. Unfortunately it was obviously where Tiil and company was coming from and there was probably no way to apeace them without putting myself in Jedi custody to spent the rest of my life under close guard. That or simply died where I stood.

    Naturally, I wasn''t going to oblige them. What I might have to do is to move against the Order myself in Yoda lost the obvious power struggle or the likes of Tiil forced my hand.

    Such an outcome was going to be ugly and it was the last thing we needed right now when we should be preparing for the inevitable CIS onslaught.

    "I see..." Palpatine trailed off. I was sure he was leading a valiant fight not to fall down laughing his ?ss off. "Am I to understand that the Jedi Council is divided and you thought it was a good idea to bring that out here for everyone to see? And accusing a Republic general with exemplary record, not to mention a foreign political leader of what amounts to treason too." The Chancellor''s face became a severe mask. "Master Tiil, Master Piell, I hope you have proof. Solid one."

    "What a solid proof would be, Chancellor?" Senator Sylvaris asked. "The Jedi Masters are correct. We all apparently forgot what Mandalore truly is. I wonder, if it simply slipped our minds because we fixated on his positions as a general and Mandalorian leader or how they put it, Sith Sorcery? After all we all know he has certain powers. Some of us were right here in this building when he used them against the terrorists and Confederacy droids who took us hostage. Many of us died that day. Now I have to wonder how much of that was inevitable, how many died not because we couldn''t be saved thanks to the Confederacy planning their attack well enough but because Veil wanted them to die!" The Cathar shouted her accusation at me.

    This time there was no easy way to calm down the Senators. Sylvaris earned herself an approving nod from Tiil and a disappointed look from Palpatine. The Chancellor shook his head and went next to Amedda so he could shout something in the man''s ear. The Large alien nodded and began fiddling with a mechanism built in his ceremonial staff.

    A deafening gong sounded, followed by a loud announcement: "The Senate will be in recess until six o''clock this evening. I repeat, the Senate will be in recess until six o''clock in the evening."

    I looked at Palpatine who waved helplessly at the chamber around us and activated the recall function of our pod. He waved for Yoda and Kenobi to follow us and ignored the people in the other two pods.

    As clusterkriffs go, this was a new experience. If this what democracy, Republic style meant, I might just as well ignore my plans for reforming the whole kriffing thing. That left me with figuring out who to use as a controllable Emperor because the last thing I wanted was the never sufficiently kriffing job. If I could trust Palpy not to stab me in the back or well, create his own quagmire of an Empire I might have been tempted in keeping him around.

    The moment we were out of the chambers, the noise cut down significantly. At the same time a quite worried security detail fell in place around us.

    "If you haven''t, call in for reinforcements. This might get yet more ugly." I advised the Clone in charge of keeping Palpy in one piece.

    "Already done, sir. Just so you know, general, most of us don''t believe that..." He waved helplessly at the madhouse behind us.

    "I know." I gave him a reassuring nod. "Well, this didn''t go according to plan."

    "You think?" Palpatine shot back in an out of character sarcastic tone. For a just a moment I glimpsed a combination of glee and fury coming from the other Sith, then his shields were firmly in place before Obi-Wan and Yoda could come behind us and sense anything beyond the mixed emotions of the Senators who were growing even more frantic.

 Chapter 63 - A different galaxy [1/2]

    Part 1

    Chancellor''s office

    Senate building

    Coruscant

    Palpatine made his way to his comfortable chair and crashed into it. To think things were finally looking up just a tiny bit, before those never sufficiently damned idiots¡­ Bah, Jedi! He should have know they would find a way to kriff everything up.

    Speaking about them¡­ The Chancellor leveled a flat stare at the pair that walked in after Veil.

    "Master Yoda, Master Kenobi." Despite all his experience in politics and durasteel self-control, keeping his tone clipped and curt was all he could do while struggling with overwhelming need to fry the closest Jedi with Sith Lighting. "An explanation is in order. A good one."

    "What he said." The general nodded and crossed his arms, while giving a pointed look at the Jedi.

    "It''s your fault!" Kenobi pointed at Veil.

    "How did you figure that out? Some of your people have been on my case ever since Windu lost it and almost attacked me while I was risking my life saving Jedi lives. Moments like these make me wonder why I bothered..." The other Sith grumbled.

    Well, besides the good PR, Palpatine had to wonder the same thing. Letting the idiots die would have prevented so much headaches!

    "Shaak Ti. Apparently she believes that you seduced her, slept with her and then discarded her for power and Mandalorian bride." Obi-Wan shot back.

    "You slept with a Jedi Master?" Palpatine asked. A trace of indignation crept in his voice. What the kriff?! Sidious had been stuck playing the kind old man trying his best to keep the Republic from imploding thanks to idiot Senators and seldom had the opportunity to go out and have a bit of fun¡­ which consisted mostly of removing complications to his plan.

    Veil on the other hand had all the fun ¨C leading battles, apparently literally kriffing up the Jedi and enjoying every moment of it. Sidious had seldom loathed someone in his life as much as Veil and the Jedi in general right now. He b?r?ly bit off a snarl and had to make a valiant effort no to reveal his nature as a Sith in front of the Jedi''s grandmaster.

    At this moment, Sidious had no trouble believing that Veil was a Sith of old and because of it, hated both the man and Bane. The founder of his Sith Order had taught his apprentice that the old Sith were short-sighed fools. That stealth and keeping a low profile would make the Bannites ultimately triumph and see the Jedi crushed once and for all.

    And yet, Veil stood right here, proudly proclaiming his status for all the galaxy to see¡­ and no one but the Jedi appeared to care. By the Force, because of that revelation the Jedi were too busy tearing themselves apart ¨C it would be hilarious if it wasn''t the danger that they just might bring down Palpatine''s ambitions for a galactic empire along with the Republic if something wasn''t done about the fools.

    If he only knew all it took was revealing his nature, Sidious would have been tempted to do it himself. Yet, now it wasn''t the time nor the place for such a stunt. Doing something this audacious might just be one push too many and lead to the Republic flying apart at the worst possible moment.

    "I''m afraid I missed that. This revelation came in as a shock..." Palpatine trailed off. He hadn''t been paying attention for a bit.

    "That''s one way to put it." Veil shrugged. "If it was my intention to seduce and corrupt Master Ti as you put it, I wouldn''t have kriffed it up. She would either be turned or dead. What happened about the no attachment part your conservatives are preaching? There''s nothing forbidding s?x in your rules or the Jedi Code. Just attachments." The general snipped back.

    Palpatine raised both eyebrows at that idea and gave the Jedi a speculative look. Did the Jedi of all people had more fun than him too? He dismissed the idea. They wouldn''t have been able to keep it low profile, right?

    "Delkatar, you of all people should know something about women. I''ve read about your exploits back in the day." Obi-Wan stated flatly.

    "Sleeping with women after they''ve tried to kill you or before you try to kill each other isn''t exactly the greatest endorsement in that regard. On the other hand, having a lots of s?x with many different women kinda made up at least in part for dealing with copious amounts of deranged lunatics on daily basis. I hoped the latter was done for when I found myself in the future, but you Jedi took up the slack after just a few months of peace and quiet." Veil shook his head.

    Obi-Wan gave out a long suffered sight.

    Kriff it all, s?x was overrated for a Sith¡­ Right? Sidious shook his head and wondered how this surreal conversation started. He was sure the Jedi were to blame. Somehow.

    "No matter how¡­ interesting this topic is, I believe we aren''t here to discus the general''s s?x life. Even if its the reason for this debacle." Palpatine grumbled.

    "Don''t look at me. It''s not my fault the Jedi couldn''t handle their affairs as an ?du?t. Shaak Ti trying to skewer me with her lightsabers next time we meet would have been perfectly understandable. If what you insinuate is true and she''s to blame for practically pushing the Order to splinter, that''s a big no-no in a time of war."

    "Obviously you have a long history with women trying to kill you. I wonder why..." Obi-Wan snarked.

    No. Sidious grunted. He wasn''t even going to think about it. It was irrelevant with how many Jedi or Sith Veil had slept. The important thing was that the Jedi obviously had access to records he lacked and they were convinced that Delkatar Veil was indeed a Sith of old which changed things. And while thinking about the past, kriff Bane too. So much for the superiority of the Bannites when all it took for the Jedi to be marginalized and on the way to extinction was a single one of the old Sith re-appearing.

    Palpatine took a deep breath and focused.

    "I''ve obviously gotten one shock too many today, because my thoughts are drifting. Might you be so kind to clear up a few things for me?" The Chancellor asked sweetly. "First, you believe that the good general is really a Sith from the time of the Great War that happened almost four thousand years ago?"

    "That he is. Four thousand years old and he''s still able to cause trouble for everyone." Obi-Wan grumbled.

    "I aim to please. Besides it''s not like you have a reason to complain. If it wasn''t for me pointing out some truths, you would still be single and brood worse than Skywalker."

    Kenobi let out a long suffered sight as if to say "You see what I have to deal with?!".

    "Good to know. Second, am I to understand that the corruption Masters Tiil and Piell talked about was that the general slept with an ?du?t woman and then proceeded to aid you in marrying Duchess Satine Kryze? And before it slips my mind, congratulations for your marriages." Palpatine waved at Veil and Kenobi.

    "I think you have covered it, Chancellor. Unless I''m mistaken?" The general looked at Yoda, who stood slumped over his cane.

    "True that is. You betrayed her Master Ti believes. Convinced your actions sinister are, she is. Threat to the Jedi she sees you." The grandmaster spoke quietly.

    From where Sidious stood, Shaak Ti was correct. Veil''s very existence was tearing the order apart and the foolish woman was unwittingly helping him. Palpatine would applaud her under different circumstances. Perhaps even trying to recruit her. However, with the woman far away on Kamino and he himself being stuck on Coruscant dealing with an ever increasing amount of idiocy, that was simply out of the question for the time being. Still, he was going to keep her in mind in case Master Ti didn''t piss off Veil enough with her meddlesome ways that disposes of her if he met her before Sidious got the chance.

    "Master Yoda, I know that my words and tone aren''t fit for someone in my position, but I have to ask¡­ What the kriff is wrong with you people?! Jedi Masters coming in front of the full Senate and accusing one of the best generals the Republic has in the middle of a war for her very survival of what amounts to high treason¡­ because he slept with an ?du?t woman even if she''s a Jedi Master. Oh yes, the general helped another Jedi Master marry. That''s so sinister and corrupting I''m at lost for words. Have you people lost your kriffing minds?!" Palpatine stood up and shouted.

    Kriff it all, at this rate he was going to reveal himself as a Sith before the hour was out.

    "I''ve been wondering the same." Veil had the temerity to be amused by the whole mess, making Palpatine loath him even more if that was physically possible.

    "Emotions. Attachments. Path to the Dark Side they are. The conservative Jedi stand against it. Corrupting the Order Veil is, they believe. Luring Jedi to the Dark Side they see him. The death of the Order they fear. Desperate they are." Yoda explained.

    Then again Jedi. Why was he surprised?!

    Calm down, look at the situation from the bright side, Palpatine thought. Once the substance behind the Jedi''s accusations became public ¨C something he would ensure happened later today, the Order was going to be finished sooner rather than later.

    Plan¡­ He needed plan. Figure out how to prevent the situation from further blowing in everyone''s faces if at all possible and once the Jedi were out of sight have a chat with Veil about a contingency plan for purging the Order, rebuilding GAR officer corps while keeping morale up before the CIS onslaught hit.

    The Sith Lord had the sneaking suspicious that no matter what he tried the Jedi were going to kriff things up even more spectacularly and force his hand. He almost laughed. Here they were, two Sith Lords conspiring how to keep the Jedi from committing a collective suicide.

    The Force sure had a twisted sense of humor.

    "This madness ends now!" Palpatine slammed a fist into his desk. "Master Yoda, what exactly is the situation within the Jedi Order? How many of you support the agenda of Masters Tiil and Piell?" The answer of that question was hopefully not too many. What was even more concerning was how many Senators allied to that infuriating Cathar woman were going to listen to those two lunatics.

    They were going to be a huge headache and Palpatine was determined to place any setback caused by the Separatists squarely on their shoulders then hang them all with them. He would tremendously enjoy doing so, provided that the Republic was still standing and he was still a Chancellor when the dust settled. It was unfortunately that various fools made that more and more unlikely lately.

    "Evenly divided the Order is. Things worse Master Ti did." Yoda glared at Veil who shrugged.

    "You can''t simply order them to cease and desist until the war is over, can you?" Palpatine sighed. Of course not, kriffing Jedi.

    "Master Yoda, should I be watching my back for Jedi ?ssassins?" All humor was gone from Veil''s faces. "You''re aware what happened the last time. I let my grudge go because the Jedi Order I knew had been destroyed a long, long time ago. If Jedi led ?ssassin come after me or even worse, anywhere near my wife, there will be consequences."

    The cold fury emanating from Veil made it crystal clear what consequences he had in mind and Palpatine cursed silently. Under any other circumstances, he would have taken that statement to arrange something and blame it on the Jedi. Now he had to worry what the idiots might do without any prompting from his corner.

    Why did he want to become Chancellor and later Emperor, Sidious wondered. Because right then and there the ultimate power he would wield if his plan succeeded didn''t seem worth it.

    This time Palpatine was paying attention and saw how Obi-Wan winced at Veil''s words. From what Sidious gathered, Darth Vael had been married and his wife ?ssassinated, though his records were ambiguous on the details. Now knowing that the Jedi were apparently to blame, put things into perspective. It also indicated that whatever was Veil''s long game, making sure that the Jedi weren''t around for it was a given. What Palpatine doubted was that the other Sith had planned for the fools coming apart this soon and in such a spectacular fashion.

    Well, it wasn''t like the Jedi weren''t surprising Sidious either.

    "That''s enough accusations gentlemen. I don''t care who slept with whom or why. What I want to know is how we prevent this madness from crippling the Republic." Palpatine decided it was high time to stop all this bickering and find a solution. "The Senate will be back in session in just a few short hours and we need solutions!"

    "Chancellor, how much support do you enjoy in the Senate right now? Would it be enough when combined with Amidala and Mothma''s little clique and Corellian support to keep Sylvaris'' cronies from winning any vote they might force?" Veil asked.

    So his meeting last night had been productive. That was good for the time being. "We should have the support of at least two thirds of the Senate at best. Some of the new Senators are still wild cards and its anyone''s guess how they would vote after the earlier commotion." Palpatine said after thinking about it for a few seconds.

    "They still don''t know about the intelligence reports, do they?" A thin smile appeared on the general''s face.

    "They shouldn''t. Unless someone in ONI or SIB talked, in which case I''ll make personally sure they get what''s coming for them." Palpatine smiled back. It wasn''t a nice smile.

    "What intelligence?" Obi-Wan asked warily.

    "You know that CIS offensive we all know its coming soon?" Veil asked.

    "Obviously not enough about it." Kenobi deadpanned.

    "Intel finally got reasonably accurate estimates." The general cited the conservative numbers making Obi-Wan groan.

    "I believe you see why I''m so upset." Palpatine grumbled and received a nod from Kenobi.

    "Some will find the existence and contents of those reports convenient." Obi-Wan cautioned.

    "And I find this Jedi created debacle''s very existence and timing highly inconvenient." Palpatine shot back.

    =RK=

    Part 2

    GAR Medical center Green-51

    Location classified

    Ahsoka was getting more and more frustrated. She has been cooped in the same old space station for about a month now, while she fully recovered from her wounds. Healing her injuries should have taken much less time and it actually did with the obvious physical ones ¨C a long dip in bacta solved that issue.

    Tano''s issues ran deeper ¨C she apparently used more Force than she could handle before being knocked out back on Geonosis. As a consequence she had suffered some nerve damage that was thankfully fixable with a lot of time spent in healing trance. That however was currently a problem. Thanks to her overload, every time she accessed the Force, Ahsoka felt like being electrocuted ¨C the normally soothing feeling of energy passing through her now lit her nerves on fire.

    That was the primary reason why she was stuck on this boring space station ¨C to recover in peace and with the help of a truly awful concoction left by Delkatar so she could drink it once per day. If Ahsoka hadn''t believed that man an evil Sith, a single taste of the bubbling and frothing¡­ thing she had to drink was more than enough to convince her otherwise.

    It was truly unfortunately that the concoction actually helped her feel better and soothed her body allowing her to enter a healing trance for short periods of time without feeling like screaming her head off in pain

    The only bright spot in this whole unpleasant arrangement was a mixed blessing at best. While Ahsoka wasn''t actually alone surrounded by unfamiliar medical personnel and strange clones, Rex and what little remained of the 501st were recovering in the same facility. On one hand, it was great to have some familiar faces around and someone she could talk with. However, even while doing her best not to access the Force and thus avoid pain until she recovered, Ahsoka could steel sense the men''s feelings.

    Rex and the other survivors positively loathed Skyguy. To be honest, she had trouble putting in words what they felt towards her former Master.

    Ahsoka wasn''t sure that she could disagree with them either and that sent her head for a spin. What Anakin did¡­ The young Togruta shook her head in frustration. She too liked Padme a lot. In fact, Tano looked up to the Senator because of the older woman''s unwavering convictions. Ahsoka wasn''t really surprised to learn that Skyguy has fallen for Amidala and even married her, no matter it was a breach of the Order''s rules. The Padawan actually approved.

    Tano could even understand where Anakin was coming from. She hasn''t been in love, yet she knew that she would do anything within reason to keep the people she cared for safe¡­ even if it wasn''t supposed to be that way according to the Jedi Code.

    "That doesn''t make me very good Padawan, I guess." Ahsoka mumbled.

    Tano sighed and opened her eyes, cutting short another unsuccessful attempt at meditation. The same old, painfully familiar white wall greeted her gaze. Her room wasn''t particularly good. It was painted an almost blindingly bright shade of white and contained little more than a bed, small locker and various pieces of bundled up medical equipment if the place was needed to treat injured soldiers.

    If it wasn''t for a limited connection with the hypernet and some books left by Veil, even with Rex and company around Ahsoka might have lost it by now. At least she had almost completely recovered ¨C the Padawan was experiencing only an odd irritating chaffing feeling when using the Force ¨C nothing she couldn''t handle. The best thing was that she had only two doses of that terrible drink left and the she should be free to go.

    A mischievous smile appeared on her face. The latest news she saw were quite entertaining and Ahsoka couldn''t wait to find out the real scoop once she was back to her master. To think that Obi-Wan of all people would marry ¨C a Mandalorian Duchess at that! For sure that was going to sent the whole Order for a spin! Apparently the same was true for Veil, who got hitched too. Ahsoka frowned. Neither of them called about it! It was irritating! At least she could understand it ¨C with Grievous attacking Mandalore and making a mess of the place, then Delkatar becoming Mandalore¡­ Ahsoka was sure that they both had their hands full lately, but was it so hard to pick up a comm unit and call?!

    The Togruta shook her head in irritation. She couldn''t wait to be out of this place and give them a piece of her mind. She could have been recovering either with them on Mandalore - a CIS attacks notwithstanding or back in the Jedi Temple.

    It had to be less boring there, right?

    Ahsoka''s comm unit beeped and she frowned. Usually no one but Rex and a few of his buddies called¡­ In fact¡­

    "I forgot about the card game, didn''t I?" The Padawan frowned. There weren''t many ways to pass the time here and playing cards was one of the better ¨C and wasn''t that a sad state of affairs?

    Ahsoka got herself out of her meditation position, stretched and headed towards the mess hall. She ?r??n?d while passing through depressingly familiar and uniform gray corridors. It was like the whole station was designed to bore patients out of their minds so they could be in a hurry to get back on the battlefield.

    Huh. That actually made sense. And people called the Sith evil¡­

    The mess hall was disgustingly ordinary ¨C no more different than any other the GAR had either at barracks planet side, space stations or ships. Whoever designed this needed to be spaced without the benefit of a suit or worse.

    Ahsoka scanned the mess hall''s occupants. On the far right were the kitchens, where a group of droids were busy cooking and serving food. At least the eating here was much better than the MREs Ahsoka had to eat often while on a mission. It wasn''t nothing spectacular, especially compared to Dax''s steaks, but it was still quite tasty and there was usually more than enough of it, especially meat. As a Togruta, Tano emphatically approved of the protein rich diet.

    The rest of the mess hall was what everyone should expect ¨C rows of plain metal tables surrounded by benches bolted to the floor in case something went wrong and gravity was lost. There were half a dozen groups of clones eating dinner along with two groups of normal soldiers ¨C Axanar Rangers and the remains of tank crews that ran afoul of Confed heavy weapons.

    The Padawan found Rex surrounded by a group of 501st survivors in the corner to the right. They had commandeered a table there and even had snacks. Ahsoka still wasn''t sure how the legion''s quartermaster was able to procure the oddest things while trying to adjust to his prosthetic legs.

    "Ahsoka, over here!" Rex waved at her when he noticed her.

    The Padawan cracked a smile and waved back.

    "What will it be tonight? Sabaac, Pazaak, or something more exotic?" The Togruta asked. "Where are the others?" She continued.

    Only Rex, Echo, Fives and Boomer were at the table.

    "Got bored with cards and up to no good, I''ll wager." Boomer shrugged. "Either that or watching re-runs of Skywalker being escorted to a detention center."

    "We owe whoever smuggled that video a case of Corellian Brandy or whatever they like." Echo nodded enthusiastically. "Watching that bastard being marched to prison made my day."

    "I¡­ saw." Ahsoka muttered. To say that her feeling were mixed would be a joke. She still admired Skyguy and saw hims as both her teacher and a great big brother. Yet, at the same time she couldn''t help but hate him for what he did to the 501st and all those other poor bastards who trusted him with his lives.

    "What do you think?" Rex asked his brothers.

    "I''m sick of sabaac." Echo shrugged. "Pazaak too to be honest. It''s gotten kinda old."

    "I want to shoot droids." Boomer shrugged.

    "What about you, Ahsoka?" Rex asked.

    "Same old. Still bored out of my skull." The Padawan sat across the commander and slumped over the table. "I can''t wait to get out of here. What about you? Any news? How long before you''re leaving?"

    "I''m stuck here for at least a week so the doc can be sure my implants won''t create any complications." Rex grumbled.

    All Ahsoka really knew about it was that the survivors of the 501st had been offered the opportunity to receive some experimental enhancements that were going to make them better soldiers. At least a few troopers who were injured bad enough to require a medical discharge were expected to return to service, though in their case it was to be a few more months of additional surgeries and therapy.

    Others like Rex, opted for a lighter augmentations, which would allow them to return to the front that much faster.

    "On the bright side, I''ll should be clear to talk about some of what I got in here," Rex patted his ?h?st, "once its reasonably sure there won''t be any issues."

    "Neat. So can you bench press super droids or is that classified." Ahsoka asked.

    "It''s a surprise." Rex shot back.

    "It''s not like shooting droids is your job boss." Echo quipped. "You just leave all the fun to us and be a proper and respectful commander."

    Rex gave his friend a dirty look. "I''ll remind you about this the next time I have to drag your ?ss out of trouble."

    "That''s why you''re the boss." Echo grinned. "Pulling us out of trouble is in the job description!"

    Someone cleared his throat right behind Ahsoka.

    "Commander Tano? Lieutenant Lok. I''ve got a message for you from the Jedi Council." A Clone in a Navy uniform introduced himself.

    "Really?!" Ahsoka perked up. "I''m finally getting out of here?!" The Padawan exclaimed.

    "Can we come too?" Fives pleaded. "We''re dying of boredom here!"

    "Ma''am, you''re to report to a medical flight for Kuat tomorrow. From there you''re to board a transport for Alderaan. You''re being reassigned to the Agri-corps there." Lok announced.

    The excited smile froze on Ahsoka''s face. Her huge eyes blinked in confusion and she stared at the Lieutenant.

    "Heh. Who of you jokers put him up to this?!" The Padawan glared at Rex and company who didn''t look amused, but just confused. Tano frowned and used the Force to better sense their emotion. Only confusion all right.

    Ahsoka turned her eyes to the unlucky lieutenant and glared at him. "Please repeat that. I could swear you just told me to go kriff out to the Agri-corps!"

    "Uh¡­ Ma''am, those are your orders. We authenticated them as per SOP. They come from the Jedi Temple, Council codes."

    The Padawan stared at the junior officer. Did one of her friends get their hands on the codes and was making fun at her expense? Ahsoka dismissed that thought. If someone pulled such a stunt, they would be in so much trouble it wouldn''t be funny.

    What did this leave?

    "This has to be some kind of mistake..." Ahsoka shook her head in denial. She was a good Padawan! Sending her to the Agri-crops would mean she wouldn''t become a Jedi! That simply couldn''t be happening, right?!

    "Ahsoka, please calm down." The Padawan flinched when a large hand was placed on her shoulder and squeezed it gently.

    She looked back at Rex and gave him a wan smile.

    "We still have some time before you should be reporting anywhere, so why don''t we make a few calls?" The commander suggested.

    "Master Kenobi. I''ll speak with him!" Ahsoka perked up. "Lieutenant, I need to use the comm station."

    "Uh, Ma''am..."

    "You heard the lady, Lieutenant." Rex glared at his brother. "Please lead the way. We all want to her what general Kenobi has to say about this¡­ mess."

    "Yep. There''s no way they''re sending you to be a what? Farmer or something?! You''re one of the best Jedi Commanders in the whole army!" Fives exclaimed.

    The rest of the 501st voiced their support too.

    =RK=

    Reaching Obi-Wan turned out to be harder than Ahsoka hoped and that didn''t help how she felt. It was only Rex''s presence that prevented her from climbing up the walls. It took about an hour before he call came in and the Jedi Master activated his comm.

    "Yes? Ahsoka?!" Kenobi sounded surprised when he saw she was calling.

    "Obi-Wan! You''ve got to help me! I just got a message from the Council that I have to go to the Agri-corps! You know what that means! Almost no one comes back from there to become a Jedi!" Ahsoka blurted out before she could think.

    "You forgot to mention that!" A familiar voice exclaimed off screen.

    "Ah. Is general Veil there too?" Ahsoka looked sheepish at letting her mouth run in front of her brain.

    "I''m here too snips and certain someone forgot to mention you''re in a bind too." The Padawan was sure Veil was giving a pointed look at her master.

    "I''m afraid it''s not that simple Ahsoka. I was expelled out of the Jedi Order earlier today." Obi-Wan sighed.

    "What?!" Ahsoka exclaimed along with Rex and company.

    "This really isn''t the best time for that conversation. I''ll call you later, all right?" Obi-Wan looked away from the screen.

    "Is there something else you need to tell us, Master Yoda, Master Kenobi? Or is it just general Kenobi from now on?" Another voice asked and it sounded awfully familiar.

    "Is that the Chancellor?" Rex asked. When Ahsoka and his brothers looked at him, the commander shrugged. "What? I watched a couple of interviews he gave last night. That sounds like him."

    "Yes, it''s the Chancellor." Obi-Wan confirmed. "The same Jedi Masters who in their infinite wisdom decided to sent you to the Agri-corps for your own good have been causing problems for everyone today." The former Jedi looked anything but amused at that revelation.

    "Watching any news outlet will give you some idea of the fun we''re having here." That was Delkatar. "Commander Tano, am I to ?ssume that you don''t wish to spent the rest of the war cooling your heels on some Force forsaken agri-world in the middle of nowhere?"

    "We''ll its actually Alderaan, but no I don''t!" Ahsoka spoke clearly. There had to be a way out, right? Even if the Council had kicked Obi-Wan out¡­ Eh, right. If they did that to a Jedi Master what chance did she have?

    "The way I see it at worst you''ll simply have to re-enlist into the GAR if you so d?s?r?. That''s if there''s an issue with you retaining your current rank. That would be a question better answered by the legal department. Worst case, you might have to go to a military academy before being let back in command. However..." The general trailed off.

    "If I don''t follow the Council''s instructions, they''ll kick me out of the Jedi Order too, won''t they."

    Obi-Wan wincing and shaking his head was all the answer Ahsoka needed. "I''ll have to think about it. Can I call you later today?" She pleaded.

    "We''ll be busy tonight, but I''ll call back once I find a bit of free time." Obi-Wan said.

    "Thank you, Master and sorry for interrupting you all." Ahsoka winced at that.

    "It''s all right. We needed a bit of distraction anyway. Stay safe, Ahsoka." With those words, Obi-Wan cut the connection.

    Ahsoka stared at the screen and began shacking. "Those, those¡­ utter bastards! Argh!" The Padawan shouted as a wave of anger hit her.

    "Hey, Snips, you heard the generals." Rex gave her a one handed hug. "It''s going to be all right. You don''t have to go if you don''t want to."

    "All I''ve ever wanted was to be a good Jedi!" Ahsoka snapped.

    "Uh, weren''t there some Jedi general Veil met with on Corellia? I remember reading something about that before Geonosis. Then there''s general Kenobi. I''m sure he''ll train you if you ask. It''s not like the Jedi could stop you if none of you are part of their Order, right?" Fives asked.

    "I¡­ don''t know what to do." Ahsoka grumbled. She glanced up at the Clones. "Thank you guys for trying to cheer me up."

    "Hey, what are friends for?" Boomer quipped.

    "To keep you in one piece after you''ve pissed off every droid in the region." Echo slapped Boomer''s back.

    "That was just once!" The Clone exclaimed.

    "Once was more than enough!" Fives added.

    =RK=

    Part 3

    Chancellor'' office

    Senate building

    Coruscant

    "There are no more surprises coming from the Jedi Order you two know of today, right?" General Veil gave Yoda and Kenobi a pointed look.

    "Don''t look at me!" The former Jedi shook his head.

    "In flux the future is." Yoda freely gave up that useless piece of wisdom and Sidious was sorely tempted to issue Order 66 then and there, damn the consequences. Cleaning up after the Jedi were gone couldn''t possibly be harder than countering their idiocy.

    Right?

    "Call the conservative Jedi to explain exactly what that supposed corruption is." Veil nodded at Kenobi. "Let them explain how Obi-Wan getting married has suddenly made him a murderous rage monster or something. That will go down real well after he put down Grievous and thus made most Republic citizens sleep a bit better."

    "I like this!" An almost genuine smile appeared on Palpatine''s face. "Though you''ll have to explain to the Senate how you almost corrupted Master Ti and that you didn''t become Mandalore just for power. You didn''t, right?" Sidious gave the other Sith a searching look. It was clear why the general actually did it, but no one really needed a confirmation¡­

    "Yes, that might work. Bo should be present for that part too ¨C both as a show of support and to confirm that our marriage wasn''t simply motivated by political expediency." The general nodded thoughtfully.

    "This will be excellent. If you present it good enough, the media will ??p it up." They might stop hounding his office too and go after Veil for a change ¨C well, at least until the general was off Coruscant. That thought led Palpatine to consider running the Republic from a spaceship or station ¨C there the access would be even more limited and a lot of nuisances could be kept away. "The same goes for you, general Kenobi." The Chancellor smiled at the former Jedi.

    "We can''t have the public believing that you two married just for power as certain Jedi Masters accuse you of."

    Considering the likely outcome if those ideas worked, Yoda looked even more distraught and resigned than earlier. Watching the Jedi''s grandmaster in such a state was the highlight of this kriffed up mess for Sidious. After all, it was the green little monster''s fault that the Jedi were such a kriffed up mess.

    "That''s a good start and with a bit of luck will give rest to the Council''s accusations." Veil said. "However, what we discussed doesn''t do much to reassure the Senators fearing the rise of a new militant Mandalore."

    "We can weather that, at least short term. Deal with the Jedi''s accusations and any motion to move against you or your Mandalorians within the Senate will be squashed. We''ll have more subtle problems with the esteemed Senator from Cathar and her allies. They''ll probably do their best to sabotage any joint project between Mandalore and the Republic outside the strictly military ones." Palpatine mused.

    The Mandalorian issue was complicated even before the latest entanglements. On one hand, if the Mandalorians were to become useful allies any time soon, the Republic had to help them recover from the orbital strikes and especially with rebuilding their fleet. They would need a lot of equipment for the army too, at least in the short term. Unless he could convince the Senate to foot the bill and expect repayment after the war, that would be problematic. The simple alternative was a combination of military and economic aid combined with long term trade deals that would favor the Republic as a part of the Mandalorians paying for what they need. That was the problem ¨C Sylvaris and company could either slow down any negotiations or even sabotage them making things harder.

    Then there was the simple fact that even if everything went without accident, more powerful Mandalorians meant Veil having a stronger position too ¨C something that Palpatine wasn''t looking up to, especially not after just learning that the man actually told the truth about his origins. The ancient Sith had caused all too many troubles and chaos without a solid power base ¨C while starting with nothing but the clothes on his back in fact. Yet, short term that was of little consequence. Veil couldn''t openly move against Palpatine any more than he could do the same against that man. Such an act would be akin to a political suicide at this time and would likely bring down the Republic with them, leaving the galaxy to the Separatists.

    "General Veil, may I suggest that you call and discus things with you wife. Meanwhile I need to talk with some of my allies in the Senate, judge how everything is going and try figuring out what Sylvaris and those two Jedi Masters are up to right now, preferably before we reconvene at six." Palpatine announced.

    "I''ll be doing that. Obi-Wan, you might want to talk with Valentra about keeping your rank now that you aren''t a Jedi. With a bit of luck, he can help you avoid any legal complications. Unfortunately for Snips, given her age her case will be more interesting if she decides that farming isn''t for her."

    Sidious gave out a bitter laugh. Once upon a time he would have found it highly amusing if the Jedi sent one of their more competent members to waste their time in the Agri-corps. Doing so to a military commander who apparently knew what she was doing, when the war was about to enter a critical phase for no good reason¡­ It was enough to want to exterminate them on sheer principle and it had nothing to do with him being a Sith.

    "General Veil, general Kenobi, when one of you speaks with Commander Tano next time, please send her my regards. Also, inform her that the Army of the Republic will be diminished if she decides to leave for a more peaceful life as a farmer. If she chooses to remain a military commander, she''ll have my personal support and recommendation." Palpatine gave them his best grandfatherly smile.

    "Will do, Chancellor." Veil nodded and Obi-Wan voiced his agreement a moment later.

    "If that is all, let''s go to work people! We have a Republic to keep from imploding!" Palpatine stood up to bid good bye to his visitors.

    =RK=

    Ambassadors office

    Mandalorian Embassy

    Coruscant

    "We''re to ally with the Republic why exactly?" Bo sneered.

    The sisters were in the Ambassador''s office, discussing their progress on cleaning up the building. The Duchess had taken charge of the building and packed the old ambassador off to a well deserved retirement back home last night. Then she proceeded to root out any Death Watch sympathizers and had people sweep the Embassy for bugs, while Bo was getting bored during the talks with her husband''s prospective political allies. It was a sad thing that those were the best he could do on such a short notice, yet better than she actually expected given the history between their people and the Republic.

    On a brighter note, the sisters and their people had the embassy more or less secured by noon. Most know people with known DW leanings were either professing their change of heart loud and clear or had done a runner. Still, Bo had anyone with prior ties to Vizsla''s goons sent back home too in order to avoid any future complications. The place was cleared of bugs and there were a lot of them, especially devices tentatively identified as Confederate in origin.

    Bo-Katan and Satine were in the Duchess'' newly claimed office, discussing what to do next ¨C a lavishly decorated place that any self-respecting warrior would find gauche at best, when Delkatar''s hearing began and they switched on the news to watch. That in fact was what prompted Bo''s furious exclamation.

    "We need their resources and fleets, at least until we can rebuild our navy." Satine sighed and gave her an exasperated look. "As you very well know."

    "It doesn''t mean that I have to like it!" Bo snapped.

    "On the contrary, dear sister. As long as there''s someone who can see or record you, that''s exactly what you''re supposed to do. Take it with a smile, no matter what you feel. Do you think I''m amused by where circumstances placed me?"

    "I don''t see you complaining for being in Kenobi''s bed." Bo shot back.

    "I thought you''d outgrown being an air-headed bitch. I guess I was wrong." Satine sighed.

    "Hey! You aren''t the one to act high and mighty!" Bo snapped, but then her attention was caught by a commotion on the screen. The cameras showed a pair of Jedi ascending next to where Delkatar and that Cathar woman were verbally sparring. As the show went on, the sister watched it with and ever-growing exasperation.

    "Jedi. And to think that once they were worthy opponents." Bo grumbled. "Are they trying to start another war or something?" She looked at her sister. "You''re the politician. What do they wish to achieve by accusing my husband of everything they can think of?" Then Bo snorted. "They forgot to accuse you too. I bet one of the Masters they talk about is your husband." She felt furious that the Senators dared level accusations in such a disrespectful way against Mandalore. That he was her husband too just made things worse, because for some odd reason she was getting fonder of him as time passed.

    "Make trouble for us all, that''s for sure." Satine had a sour expression on her face. "With this madness going on, we''ll have a damn hard time securing the military aid and trade deals we need in order to pay for rebuilding the navy and creating a proper army to fight this war."

    "Well that escalated quickly. Satine, please tell me your New Mandalorians end game wasn''t turning our government inro such a quagmire." Bo waved at the screen where the Senators were getting positively rabbity and the Chancellor had to call a recess. The last thing she saw before the news channel began running a commentary while showing the same videos again and again was her husband leaving with the Chancellor and two other Jedi who apparently tried to reign in their fellows and failed miserably. "Satine..." Bo looked at her sister, who refused to answer. "You did, didn''t you..." She growled at her sister.

    "It sounded like a good idea at the time?" Satine tried. Bo glanced at the screen that was showing screaming senators. "Uh-huh. If you really believe that, I have a nice vacation spot to sell you. On Tatooine."

    "This is so not the time." Satine glared at her sister.

    "Oh, it is." Bo smiled. "Ribbing you prevents me from doing something stupid like going to the Senate and giving them a piece of my mind."

    "It''s a good thing that you aren''t our ambassador." Satine ?r??n?d.

    "Hey, I wouldn''t want your job even if you paid me premium rate!" Bo exclaimed.

    "You know you aren''t a mercenary any longer, right?" Satine grumbled.

    "I still get paid, just not in money." Bo beamed at her sister. "One of these days we really should compare notes on who''s better ¨C a Jedi or Sith. My money is on my Sith."

    "You know, for a few days I had almost forgotten why we didn''t get along." Satine sighed.

    "What? We get on just great!" Bo shook her head. "Enough fun sister. I''ll go make sure the security is at heightened alert. After this, I won''t be surprised if we see some trouble."

    "Talk with the Republic officer responsible for keeping order in this sector of Coruscant too." Satine added.

    "Good idea. See you around and have fun."

    "With Mandalore presumably in talks with the Chancellor right now I''m largely redundant. Besides, I haven''t officially been accepted as an ambassador to the Republic ¨C it was meant to happen tonight, though I doubt it." Satine said.

    =RK=

    In the next few hours no trouble to speak of really materialized for the Embassy. Nevertheless, Bo had the security on alert and the Coruscant Security Major responsible for the area had anti-riot police on standby just in case.

    Bo was wondering if this was the quiet before the storm or if simply the events at the Senate had caught everyone by surprise and no one had thought to cause trouble for the Embassy on purpose. She guessed that the later was likely; besides, no matter how much she wished to crack some heads to relieve her anger, it was for the best if there were no accidents. Bo had just finished a sweep on the perimeter and was heading for the security center when her husband called. She found a secure room where they could talk privately at his request and frowned at his holographic image.

    "What is this madness in the Senate?" Bo asked.

    "Certain Jedi doing an excellent job of being a pain in everyone''s ?sses and all our fans being terrified of what we might become now that Satine''s people aren''t in charge." Came the succinct response.

    "I''m not sure if I should congratulate you for keeping so calm, or be irritated that you didn''t show them their place." Bo frowned.

    "I have no intention of starting another war, much less when we have the Confederacy to worry about. I''m pretty sure that there will be more accusations tonight, especially that I became Mandalore just for the power it gives me."

    "Your buddy the Chancellor just announced that from today you''re no longer one of the most powerful men in the galaxy." Bo snorted.

    "Yep. When all is said and done, no matter how good our people are, they can''t compare to the combined might of all GAR combat formations." Delkatar chuckled.

    Bo smiled at the implied "yet" she heard in her husbands tone. Not yet indeed. By the time this war was over, who knew?

    "Did you call because you missed me or is it something work related?" Bo asked.

    "Can''t it be both?" Delkatar wigged his eyebrows making her chuckle. "We had enough fun last night to keep you sated for a bit."

    "So it''s work then?"

    "Hey, I''m a Sith! We have legendary stamina when we put our minds to it!"

    "That was a pleasant surprise and one of the reasons I keep you around." Bo chuckled.

    "I knew you married me for just for my body and skills in bed." Delkatar mock-pouted.

    "Being handy with a lightsaber helped your case too." Bo grinned mischievously. "Both of them. How much trouble is the Senate going to cause us?"

    "I''m relieved to hear that." Delkatar sighed and the amusement went out of his face. "Potentially a lot. That''s why I''m calling. We''ll need to present a united front this evening. I''m sure there will be insinuations if not accusations that the only reason we married was so I could more easily claim the title of Mandalore."

    "That will play right into the hands of our detractors, won''t it? Both here and back home."

    "Yes. Just the accusation will be troublesome if not answered promptly." Delkatar said.

    "Then we do so. I didn''t marry you just to be in bed with the new Mandalore, though I''ll admit that''s a pleasant feature."

    "I''m enough of a selfish bastard not to marry without reasons besides the political and what''s best for Mandalore or the galaxy as a whole."

    "You know, I find that more reassuring than a declaration of undying love. I''ll make my way to the Senate, then we can talk face to face. See you soon."

    =RK=

    Senate Chambers

    Senate building

    Coruscant

    My second appearance in front of the Senate today had a different arrangement. Instead of walking in on the same platform with Palpatine, who was nearby with Yoda and Amedda, I shared one with my wife along with Obi-Wan and Satine. If someone didn''t know better, they might have mistaken us for an oddly attired group of Senators ¨C all of us wore our armors to put an emphasise that two of us were GAR generals among other things.

    Unfortunately, the situation wasn''t what we would have d?s?r?d. As far as the Chancellor''s contacts could figure out, Till and Piell indeed spent the last few hours talking with Senator Sylvaris and her allies, with the latter actually listening and more importantly agreeing with some of the Jedi''s concerns. At least as far as we knew, Amidala''s cronies were still on board with supporting me for the time being. That alliance combined with Palpy''s people in the Senate should be enough to keep the situation from becoming a complete and utter disaster instead of the nasty clusterkriff it was.

    At least we all were on the same page and ready to fend off the inevitable accusations that were going to follow. The big question was how reasonable the conservative Jedi were going to be in presenting their arguments if they got the chance to speak, because they were either going to hang themselves with their words or actually become an even bigger problem.

    Six o''clock came and Palpatine opened the session by beseeching the Senators to act more professionally than earlier today and then summoning us so we could answer our accusers. As our platform arose to stand besides the Chancellor''s so did that of the Cathar''s Senator and she was quite cramped with both her honor guard and the pair of Jedi Masters.

    Our greeting didn''t go much better than the earlier one ¨C this time Sylvaris was glaring at my wife too, something that made my hackles rise. I wondered if they would try to provoke me by going after Bo. While it wasn''t going to work, doing so would place them near the top of my current shit list on general principle.

    "Senator Sylvaris. You and your¡­ acquaintances leveled some quite severe accusations at one of the Republics most accomplished generals, in a time of war no less. I would like to hear what evidence you have and what you mean by claiming that general Veil has been corrupting Jedi. As I understand it, general Obi-Wan Kenobi, another one of our best military officers is actually one of the people supposedly corrupted. He looks well enough to me." Palpatine spoke slickly. His face was a perfect picture of concern mixed with confusion.

    "We will be glad to make things clear for the Senate, Chancellor." Piell stood a bit straighter, though that didn''t particularly help him considering that the Jedi Master was perhaps a few centimeters taller than Yoda. "As Jedi we''re governed by strict rules, many of which might not make much sense to beings who aren''t Force Sensitive. No matter what we might wish, those rules are in place for a reason."

    Well, kriff. Either Piell and Tiin were more worldly than I anticipated or one of the Senators they spoke with earlier not only agreed with them but decided to clue them in. This was going to be much more complicated than I hoped.

    "The rules that are relevant right now are those concerning emotions and attachments as well as marriage. All those things are forbidden to us as Jedi." Piell continued, prompting some exclamations and a lot of grumbling from the Senators.

    I wondered how much they really knew about the Jedi Order and how the Jedi were supposed to live.

    "There is a very good reason for the existence of those rules. The Force, the source of our so called space wizardy..." Piell actually cracked a small smile at that, "it allows us to perform some extraordinary feats."

    Damn it, why did the conservatives have to have someone apparently reasonable as a speaker? "That is one of the reasons we were called to become officers in the Grand Army of the Republic and continue to defend her in that role. Yet, this power we wield, it comes with a price as with all things. If we allow our emotions to run free, if we allow ourselves to form attachments - for a Jedi, nay for every Force user such a thing means to flirt with the Dark Side."

    Piell paused so his words could sink in. I was tempted to interrupt him, but held my tongue. Even appearing to be concerned by his words might do me a disservice here and now. It might make people wonder if I feared what he had to say and thus making them consider the Jedi''s speech even more seriously.

    "You see, as some of you might know, the source of our powers, the Force, it''s not a simple energy field we can use as we would the energy cell of an aircar. It has two facets ¨C what we call the Light and Dark Sides respectively.

    We Jedi walk in the Light and have been using it for millennia to safeguard the Republic from the Sith." Piell glared at me. "From the Dark Side. While we use our powers to heal and protect, which is the essence of the Light Side, the same can''t be said for our ancient enemies. For you see, the Dark Side twists any who wields her until even his closest friends and family could no longer recognize them. It thrives on fear, anger and suffering, it compels those who wield it to heinous acts. Every student of history in these chambers knows what the Sith did during their many wars with the Old Republic and a specter of that dark time stands right here claiming to be our ally!"

    "That''s a nice, moving speech, Master Piell. Bravo!" I actually applauded the Jedi who was taken aback by my gesture. "Shall I answer these accusations now or should I wait so you could get them all off your shoulders?" I asked lightly.

    "Might as well, Sith." Tiin shot back.

    Hopefully he wasn''t going to be as eloquent as his buddy.

    "You''ve weaved a masterful deception that even fooled some members of the Jedi Council itself. Integrating yourself into the Republic''s army and making yourself indispensable. Becoming Mandalore. I''m sure you''ve prepared a whole speech about how necessary it was. About how you had no choice but to seize power when offered. Yet, your actions betray you. They show us a pattern even before we look at our records to see what you did in the past against the Republic." Tiin continued to glare at me.

    "It''s a clear pattern your actions paint. A convenient one too. Perhaps too convenient. A Sith of old that came from nowhere to offer his services to the Republic ¨C the same nation he spent decades trying to destroy. It was so convenient that you were the only Republic general in a position to take command when our military headquarters was hit during the Confederacy''s treacherous attacks upon this very world. It''s even more convenient that a short time later you found yourself in command of all Republic combat forces ¨C a virtual unknown with no connection or loyalty to anything or anyone within the nation you''re supposed to protect."

    "That''s rich after your colleague just announced how attachments are bad for Force Adepts." I quipped, then waved him to continue. At least a few senators laughed at that, but too many were listening ¨C either considering believing what Tiin was talking about or how to twist his words to suit their on agenda.

    "Then we have what happened on Mandalore. You were sent there to negotiate an alliance or neutralize a potential threat. Yet, you spat on your duty to the Republic and grasped at the chance at power the local situation offered you. Here you stand, as Mandalore, no matter the mere fact you hold that position is a conflict with your oath and duties and a Republic general. Some would call it treason!" Tiin announced, firing up the Senators.

    This time Mas Amedda was able to quiet them down quite fast, yet the evening was yet young. While the commotion was going on, I did my best to look like I wasn''t concerned at all by the accusations. Yet, I wanted to strangle the bastard. If someone coached Tiin and Piell how to relate to the average citizen better tonight, I would want to have a chat with them too ¨C one that would end with a lot of screaming and blood.

    When the Senate was more or less quiet again, Sylvaris stepped between the Jedi Masters. "This is what we accuse you of! You betrayed your oath to the Republic and your duty by becoming Mandalore. At the very least you should be removed from any post of power authority within the Republic and can''t be trusted with the command of our soldiers. You did your best to become Mandalore, no matter the consequences. Even went far enough to go for a political marriage so you could gain that title!" The Cathar announced. "Yet, that''s not all, is it? You''re trying to bring the Sith back, aren''t you?" Sylvaris gave me a predatory smile.

    Beside me, my wife stiffened, even if she expected that accusation and gave a baleful glare to the Sylvaris. I was pretty sure that if it was to Bo, the Cathar would go extinct along with their Senator. I placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it, which made her relax a bit.

    "It''s sadly true. Despite the ongoing war, despite all the work Mandalore has to do as a Republic general, one of his first actions after revealing himself to the galaxy was to take an apprentice. Some of you may wonder, why I''m making such a big deal of this, am I right?" Piell looked around and smiled. "After all, a lot of Jedi Commanders and generals serve in the army and have their Padawans with them, right?"

    There were a lot of agreeing voices and confusion. The bastard was going to put Aria in the limelight too.

    "Yet, shortly after the attacks on Coruscant, you took a second apprentice, didn''t you, general?" Tiin continued. "Not just a random Force Sensitive you ran into while discharging your duties, oh no. You took a Dark Jedi under your wing, one of Dooku''s disciples. Aria Astra, the Chiss woman who led the attack on the Jedi Temple itself!" Tiin all but roared at me, making the whole Senate buzz at that news.

    While Aria''s identity wasn''t a secret, I had done my best to keep her past exploits a low profile in order to minimize friction with the Jedi. So much for that idea.

    "Instead of having her face a trial for her crimes, you rewarded her for murdering Jedi by offering her training. By making her even deadlier killer. I wonder how long it would be before you deem here ready and unleash it upon us? How long it would be until this body, nay the whole Republic is under your sway and turns into something we couldn''t recognize?"

    It was a good thing that my patience had been forged under the ranting of Sith Lords who had the power and inclination to torture me to death, practically bring me back and repeat if I interrupted their "speeches". That''s the primary reason I didn''t do something foolish, no matter how irritating I found those two Jedi Masters. Well, they were right¡­ generally speaking even if they got all the details and my motivation wrong. Nevertheless, your average Sith from my era would have pulled off something similar if they could control their urges well enough. That or joined the Confederacy so they could usurp control from Dooku and continue with the newest replay of the Sith versus Jedi and Republic war.

    "Is that all, Master Tiin? Any more accusations? Perhaps about kicking puppies and stealing candy from toddlers too?" I quipped.

    "I wouldn''t put it past a Sith." He shot back.

    The sad thing is I knew Sith who found such stunts amusing.

    "That''s quite the long list. You make me sound as the love child of Dooku and Grievous ¨C and image I won''t thank you about." I shuddered.

    "I didn''t need that either." Bo grumbled quietly.

    "Its an impressive list of accusations, I''ll give you that. However, I wonder why you didn''t speak more about me corrupting Jedi. After all, you started with that earlier today." I smiled and patted Obi-Wan''s back. "I present you one count of corrupted Jedi. You expelled him about it earlier today because of it too."

    I made a grand gesture towards the Senators. "You can see him, right? General Obi-Wan Kenobi. The Negotiator as the media loves to call him. He''s been rather famous for his exploits as a peacekeeper even before the war began, one of the main reasons why he earned that moniker. Some of you probably recognize his wife, who is standing beside him ¨C Mandalore''s new ambassador to the Republic, Satine Kenobi formerly Kryze. The same woman who struggled for years to bring peace to our people, but unfortunately the terrorists of the now defunct Death Watch organization and the Separatists conspired to lay waste to her efforts."

    Satine gave the Senators a regal nod, but refused to acknowledge them otherwise. Sylvaris and her friends could have been invisible as far as she was concerned.

    "Its a curious thing, the reason why Obi-Wan was removed from the Jedi Order. Look at him ¨C one of the Republic''s greatest peacekeepers fell in love with a woman he had so much in common with when they met at the end of the Mandalorian Civil War and did their best to stop that senseless fighting which turned us against each other. Is it so surprising that they fell in love? What I find wrong in this whole affair is that Obi-Wan had to deny his love for more than a decade or risk sanction from the conservative members of the Jedi Order. But enough of me." I nodded at Obi-Wan. "I''m not their Sith Master as the esteemed Masters Piell and Tiin practically accused me of being. My friends, my family in fact can speak for themselves."

    Kenobi took a step back and leveled a cool gaze at the people who engineered his expulsion from the order.

    "Chancellor Palpatine, Senators." Obi-Wan spoke in a serene voice. "Some of the accusations leveled at me by members of the Jedi Council are true. It was more than a decade ago on a peacekeeping mission to Mandalore that I met a wonderful woman I fell in love with and thus I broke the Council''s rules and traditions, even if I didn''t act on my emotions at that time. Yet this war brought me back to Mandalore, where I met Satine once again. As it turned out, during our long separation, my feelings hadn''t withered and died as should happen to a good Jedi. I found them stronger than ever when I saw Satine again. She still held her convictions of a peaceful world and didn''t waver no matter what the galaxy threw her way. How could I not love such a woman?" A fond smile appeared on Obi-Wan''s face. "As we struggled to find a solution to the escalating Dead Watch crisis we grew closer and reached the conclusion we wished to spent the rest of our lives together. I knew the possible consequences of that choice and I do not regret it."

    Obi-Wan looked straight at his accusers. "In fact, now as a married man, I found out that some of the Council''s rules fears are unwarranted. My love for Satine, my emotions, they haven''t brought me closer to the Dark Side. Instead they made me a better man. What I find dangerous is how the Jedi Order keeps denying that its members feel emotions. How they fail to teach, no how WE failed to teach our Padawans how to deal with their emotions. That''s something I''m guilty of and I''m sure that this failure played no small part in the actions of my former Padawan, Knight Anakin Skywalker. While he is responsible for his actions, at least a part of the blame rests squarely on my shoulders and on the failure of the Jedi Order to properly prepare him for the real world outside the Temple''s walls. There was no Sith plot, Senators at least as far as Skywalker is concerned."

    That gave the Senate some food for thought. On the plus side I wondered how long it would be before Obi-Wan and Satine were approached by someone wishing to turn their marriage into a holodrama or something.

    "I can see you actually believe what you say, Obi-Wan." Piell nodded sadly. "It might even be true in the short term. However, what would happen if something happens to your wife?" The Jedi Master raised his hands in a placating gesture. "Not that I wish the Duchess anything but the best. Yet, accidents happen. Dooku and his Confederacy happen as we saw with tragedy that truck Senator Amidala." Piell stared Kenobi. "What will you do if your wife is injured by enemy action or even killed? How long would it be before you seek vengeance and fall to the Dark Side? How long after that before you turn into a danger to all you believe in right now? That''s why the Dark Side is so dangerous! Not many embrace it just because they want power, well unless they''re Sith. It happens for vengeance, from fear or anger."

    "Vengeance you say?" Obi-Wan smiled. "I can answer that question. The night I we married," He took and squeezed Satine''s hand, "A Confederacy fleet led by Grievous attacked Mandalore. At the same time Death Watch executed simultaneous strikes all over the planet. Satine and I were nearly killed in the orbital strike. Satine''s sister was grievously wounded while fending off an ?ssassination team that infiltrated our home. Good reasons for fear and anger. A good reason for vengeance, right?" Obi-Wan practically radiated serenity at that moment. Even a Force blind person could sense that, I was sure of it.

    "Look at me and tell me do you feel the taint of the Dark Side upon me? After all I did confront Grievous on Mandalore and killed him in combat. Yet it wasn''t for vengeance. It was for justice ¨C for everyone he murdered on Mandalore and across the Republic since the war began. And do you know why I choose no to seek vengeance? Not to feed the Dark Side even if it was tempting after the attacks?"

    Piell and Tiin simply stared back in disbelief.

    "It was because of Satine. Because I knew that if I let myself under the sway of the Dark Side, I would cease to be the man who she loves. Being in love isn''t something to fear or a path to the Dark side. Its a way to keep yourself from falling when the goings get though. I believe this answers your questions!" Obi-Wan sent a glare at the Jedi and took a step back.

    "Indeed, general Kenobi. While I might not be an expert, I''ve read about the Dark Jedi and Sith, especially after general Veil first appeared. You certainly don''t look or act as one. I''m sure that Master Yoda can confirm that too."

    "In the Light general Kenobi walks." Yoda rumbled.

    "I''ll admit I''ve found myself in a few situations that offered me certain opportunities and I did do my best to take advantage of what happened." I stepped forward and continued my defense. "I was the right man at the right place during the dastardly attacks on Coruscant. I''m an experienced military leader and it was obviously that with GAR command and control disrupted someone needed to take charge. I not only had the rank for it, but the necessary experience to do the job better than most. Perhaps I should have left the Jedi fend for themselves ¨C that would have allowed me to reach the Senate sooner, though its anyone guess if such a thing would have changed events that transpired in this very chamber." I shrugged. "I have to admit something ¨C I did have different motives than simply aiding the Jedi when I led a relief force to the Temple."

    That admission caused a stir. At least a score of Senators shouted ¨C in either approval or disapproval.

    Before Piell or Tiin could interrupt me, I forged on. "My motives were driven by fear. I was a Sith who found himself in command of all Republic troops on and near Coruscant. I was afraid what the reaction would be ¨C both among the Jedi and the public if I didn''t do my best to relieve the Jedi Temple, no matter that it might not have been the best tactical or strategic option. After all, most Jedi, even the Padawan are always armed ¨C both with their lightsabers and the Force and they''re trained how to use those weapons. The same couldn''t be said for the thousands of Senators in this building." Take that. I could play the blaming game too.

    This time, the Senators were quite pissed off and Amedda had his hands full in restoring order. The Jedi were suddenly less popular than they were just a few moments ago. That earned me deadly glares by Tiin and Piell, while Yoda had slumped over his cane and shook his head. Even Obi-Wan wasn''t too pleased with where I led the conversation. On another down side, I was sure I was making Palpy''s evening.

    "Now that we can hear ourselves, think..." Palpatine spoke after Amedda was somewhat successful in quelling the Senators. "You''ll have opportunity to ask general Veil questions once he finishes answering the Jedi''s and Senator Sylvaris'' accusations. I hope that we can do this tonight instead of needing another recess to calm down." The Chancellor looked like a grandfather scolding his unruly grandchildren. Damn, it the man was good at this job.

    "Thank you, Chancellor." I nodded at Palpy and returned my attention to the conservative Jedi. "While on the topic of the attack on the Temple, we''ll of course I took Aria under my wing! The poor girl, an I don''t use those words lightly, is as much a victim as any Senator, Jedi, civilian or military who died during the Confederacy terror attacks here or on Naboo. What some of you probably don''t know and other obviously didn''t bother finding out," I gave Tiin and Piell a pointed glare, "is one simple fact. Aria Astra is a Clone created just weeks before the attacks. She got some rudimentary training, was told that the Jedi and the Republic were the evil enemy and then sent here to die. Emotionally she was a child at the time, one turned into a weapon by the monsters who run the Confederacy. Yet, these honorable Jedi would have held her accountable for things beyond her control or understanding. All Aria knew was how to fight and who her enemy was supposed to be."

    I paused and pointed at the Jedi Masters. "Those two and their supporters would have seen Aria imprisoned because she was a victim. They wouldn''t have known how to help her deal with what she did during the attack on the Temple even if they somehow figured that she needed help in the first place. You heard them! Emotions have to be disregarded and ignored. All that would have achieved would be to either destroy Aria or bring her deeper in the clutches of the Dark Side."

    "We heard this tale before. There is no way back from the Dark and your apprentice was already a Dark Jedi when she led the attack. She''s nothing more than a rabid weapon who needs to be kept away for the safety of us all." Tiin declared and I smiled at him.

    "A rabid weapon, is she? Chancellor, if I may?" I pulled a data pad I had attached to my belt and floated it right into Palpatine''s hands. "I''m sure that without verification or coming from me, some people won''t believe that report."

    "It will be my p???sur?, general." Palpatine snatched the data pad a bit too hastily and began reading. Then he made a call to GAR HQ for verification. "This report cites the actions of one Aria Astra, a brevet commander serving in the Mandalore theater of operations after Grievous attacked. She is recommended for Medal of Valor during the operation that saw the termination of Pre Vizsla, the leader of the Death Watch. The recommendation was made from Commander Niner, the leader of the Commando Omega Squad."

    Palpatine cleared his throat and began to read.

    "The reasons given: ''Commander Aria Astra went beyond the call of duty and risked her life to ensure the successful rescue of teenage girl taken hostage by the Death Watch¡­ Commander Astra''s actions resulted in the neutralization of all enemy elements in the AO and the rescue of one Mira Ordo, age fourteen, who had been rigged with various explosives¡­ As a consequence of her actions, Commander Astra was grievously wounded and it still in recovery. She knowingly and without flinching took a course of action she knew would lead to serious injury of her person or even her death to ensure the safe recovery of the hostage and successful neutralization all enemy combatants without risk for her subordinates. As per policy, the full text of the recommendation will be made public, because it holds no classified information about the incident in question."

    "I don''t know about you, but those don''t sound like the actions of a deranged lunatic or an out of control weapon which happens to be danger for others."

    Tiin and Piell looked at each other but declined to comment. I would have loved if they accused us of fabricating the report. What happened was all over Mandalore and one of the primary reasons why Omega squad kinda adopted my apprentice as an honorable member or something.

    "Next, the topic that began all of this." I made a dismissive gesture. "My sabotaged mission to Mandalore. My dear Senators, it was obvious to everyone with eyes to see that there were people withing the Republic government, perhaps even this very building, who wanted me to fail and did their best to ensure it." I was very pointedly staring at Sylvaris. Oh, I had no idea if she had anything to do with it but right now it didn''t matter.

    "As it has been pointed out, I''m a man out of my time. Someone who just in the last few weeks found his place in this strange new galaxy. Despite that known fact, I was sent to negotiate an alliance with the Mandalorian people. While I once had many good friends among them and still was familiar with Mandalorian culture, my knowledge has been outdated. A lot. Nevertheless, I was sent to negotiate an alliance, with no diplomatic ?ssistance. Even the Republic''s ambassador to Mandalore was recalled and left before I reached Mandalore. My only support was Obi-Wan Kenobi and his fortunate personal connection with Duchess Satine and let''s be honest ¨C instead of discharging his duties as a Republic general, Obi-Wan was sent with me not to ?ssist me in my mission but to watch me because of the fears of certain Jedi Masters."

    I took a deep breath and let a bit of my anger show.

    "What I was given were contingency orders. That if an alliance with the Mandalorians couldn''t be secured, that I was to neutralize any potential threat that Mandalore could pose for the Republic. Orders that Chancellor Palpatine was pressured into issuing by members of this very Senate." Now I was playing a very dangerous game.

    My announcement ignited the chambers. Those who were glad that the Republic had gained a potentially useful ally were screaming at their colleagues who wanted Mandalore dealt with. This was getting quite old and this time Amedda had little success in making the Senators behave as grown ups.

    "ENOUGH!" I shouted by lacing my voice with the Force. For a moment I was surrounded by an aura made by Dark Side energy that made the chamber live with shadows before I reigned in my temper.

    Tiin and Piell had pushes Sylvaris behind them and had their hands on the hilts of their lightsabers. The Jedi Masters were glaring at me coldly and appeared ready to pounce at me.

    Great. The last thing I needed was to start a fight in the middle of the Senate chamber. At least doing so would be a brutally simple way to solve the whole Jedi issue, especially if I was the one attacked. Of course, no matter how tempting it was I couldn''t afford to do it ¨C the kriffing consequences would be too much for the Republic to handle right now.

    At least I got the Senator''s attention.

    "For those who are paying attention, that''s what a Sith Lord looks like. I can ?ssure you, neither Obi-Wan, nor my apprentices are Sith. I know from experience what it means to deal with many Sith, most of whom are inevitably slaves of the Dark Side. That''s a headache that I would go to a lot of lengths to avoid. In fact it was one of the primary reasons why I offered my services to the Republic once I figured out when and where I was and what was the galactic situation."

    I exhaled slowly and did my best to keep my anger in check.

    "Now where was I? Yeah, my mission to Mandalore." I looked at Bo and smiled fondly. "And my wife." I sent a glare at my accusers then ignored them and turned to look at the subdued Senate chamber. "After meeting Duchess Satine and her Prime Minister, the situation on the ground became painfully clear. The Death Watch had been gaining more and more members, most of them warriors who wanted to experience honorable combat in this war we''re all fighting. They trusted Vizsla, believed him and his Confederate masters that a lot of the atrocities performed by the CIS were thanks to either rogue elements, accidents during the fighting or Republic propaganda. Given our shared history, a lot of Mandalorians believed Death Watch''s version of events. That put me in an unpleasant position. My orders were to secure Mandalore as an ally yet, if I acted on them, the best I could hope for given the situation was to help ignite a civil war between Satine''s supporters and Death Watch. A war that would have inevitably led to Republic and Confederate involvement as both sides came to aid their allies on the ground."

    "Those were the options I had. Either burn Mandalore to the ground to make sure it would not be a threat to the Republic or engineer and alliance with Satine''s government that would have led to a civil war, because Death Watch''s leadership were Confederate creatures. I could do nothing more, couldn''t make another choice. Not as a Republic general. However, then I was presented with another option." I paused and looked at my wife then at Satine.

    "Its been a some time before there has been someone worthy enough to be chosen as Mandalore. Yet, risking the wrath of this Senate and my position within the Republic army by taking a long shot was the best option I could find to prevent seeing another world burn. So I took it. In hindsight, its obvious Pre Vizsla wasn''t confident in his chances when he decided to try for the position too. We know what happened next ¨C Death Watch and the Confederacy executed a sneak attack aimed to remove Satine''s government and ?ssassinate me. That happened the same night I married my wife, mere hours after we gave each other our vows in fact. It was in the aftermath of that devastating attack that the surviving Mandalorian Clan Leaders chose me to lead our people in the war against the Confederacy and decided to grant me the title of Mandalore." I sighed.

    "I didn''t do it to gain additional power. In fact, by becoming Mandalore I gave up a tremendous amount of power. Before making this choice I was secure in the position that gave me command of all Republic combat units. I was one of the most powerful beings in this galaxy right behind Chancellor Palpatine and Count Dooku thanks to his position as Commander in Chief of the Confederacy. I was aware that once I came back to Coruscant, I would be forced to give up my position as Supreme Commander of the field forces, perhaps even ordered to resign from the Republic military altogether. Despite that I chose to become Mandalore, because I believe that it was the right thing to do."

    I smiled at my wife then turned my gaze upon the Jedi Masters and let the Dark Side flow through me. The surrounding temperature fell and shadows gathered around me.

    "Speaking about wives¡­ You dare a lot, Jedi." I hissed in a tone dripping venom. "I was married once before. From where I stand its been just a few short years since my first wife Ashara Zevos was murdered. She was a Jedi, you know. One who never left the light, never ever thought about becoming a Sith or even a Dark Jedi. Yet she was ?ssassinated by Old Republic special forces led by members of that era''s Jedi Order. In and era where no Sith dared marry for love in fear of retaliation, I did it. I married a Jedi because I fell in love with her, no matter how many better options I had to enhance my standing within the Empire. I find it infuriating that you dare stand here and even insinuate that the only reason I married my Bo was so I could have an easier time becoming Mandalore!" I snapped.

    My wife took my hand and shook her head. I closed my eyes and reigned in my temper. The Dark Side receded and I could feel the Senators taking a collective breath of relief.

    "I''ll better take this, dear." Bo smiled fondly at me and her eyes shinned with determination. "I''m a proud Mandalorian Warrior. Marrying just for politics¡­ that very accusation spits on our very culture." My wife''s voice rang through the chamber. "Was the situation we found ourselves in play a part in our decision to marry? Yes!" She declared proudly. "It decided the timing. I personally would have enjoying a longer courtship, but things like that are for time of peace not one of strife and war. My husband and I fought beside each other on Ryloth. We took each others measure and both liked what we saw. We were attracted to each other ever since then, but the war separated us and we went our own ways. Then, months later, we met again in Sundari and had to fight together again when Death Watch agents tried to ?ssassinate my husband and thus not only strike a blow against the Republic but destroy any chance of alliance between our people. We reconnected in the aftermath of that attack. Grew closer. The only thing that my husbands decision to seek the title of Mandalore did was prompt us to marry sooner." Bo''s lips turned into a proud smile. "As far as that other Jedi my husband supposedly tried to corrupt¡­ I have to take the blame for that accident."

    Well, now my dear wife had everyone''s attention. "I''m aware he was attracted to Master Shaak Ti, who reminded him of his deceased wife. He admitted that much. It was also obvious that Delkatar wasn''t sure if he liked her because who she was, or because of how much the Jedi was like Ashara. It is also true that he had s?x with Master Ti once, before the situation on Geonosis was resolved and he had to come to Mandalore." Bo''s smile widened. "If anything, my knowledge of his¡­ encounter with the Jedi Master, played a bigger part in my decision to marry him sooner rather than latter compared to any political consideration. If things have turned differently, my husband might have pursued a serious relationship with Master Ti. Personally, I''m glad he didn''t and quite pleased that he chose to marry me instead of a powerful Jedi."

    "Thank you. All I would say about my tryst with Master Shaak Ti is that I''m sorry. Sorry that I couldn''t end things between us on a better tone and that events conspired so that informing her about my marriage in person didn''t happen. However, I''m not sure what Master Ti expected and even if she wanted a serious relationship. She is a Jedi Master and as Masters Tiin and Piell pointed out, emotional entanglements are forbidden. As far as I know sleeping with each other on a single occasion doesn''t break that rule. And even if Master Ti has been ready to pursue a serious relationship with me, the sad truth is that what my wife told you is correct. I still can''t tell you if I was attracted to Shaak Ti because of the wonderful person I believe her to be or because of how much she reminds me of my first wife. There could have been no healthy relationship until I had made my mind about that and I have no idea when or if I could do so."

    I looked back at the Senators. At least some were enjoying the free soap opera, while others looked disturbed from my demonstration of the Dark Side. Kriff it, I should have kept a better lid over my temper.

    "There was a cold, politically motivated calculation about my relationships. However, it wasn''t about my marriage with Bo. In fact at the time I had no idea if we would have a chance to meet again before the war was over. No my concerns were about Master Shaak Ti and how the Jedi Council would have reacted if I decided to pursue a relationship despite my misgivings. I was on the opinion that doing so at the time would have been mistake that would lead to something like what''s happening today. The biggest difference would be that Shaak Ti would have been expelled just like Obi-Wan Kenobi. Perhaps even attacked by over-zealous Jedi who believed her fallen to the Dark Side and becoming a Sith herself. I deemed the potential consequences too dire and decided not to pursue anything but a potential friendship with Master Ti." I shrugged. "Then I went on my mission to Mandalore and as they say, the rest is history."

    "Well, I for one I''m very glad that things turned as they did." Bo winked at me.

    "This is a heartening story, general Veil." Was that a false tear in Palpatine''s eye? "I believe that our good general has answered all accusations leveled at him in more than satisfactory manner. As for his intentions ¨C his actions speak for themselves. He pointed out the truth. If general Veil was a Sith out for power, he would have never done a thing to jeopardize his position as Supreme Commander field forces. He would have seen Mandalore burn to guarantee his support in the Senate. What I personally find disturbing, is that members of the Jedi Order, Jedi Masters no less, decided it would be a good idea to throw such accusations without proof, much less thinking things through." Palpatine leveled a severe look at Tiin and Piell. "Your timing couldn''t be worse. In less than two months the Separatists will be in a position to unleash an offensive that will make the war so far pale in comparison. Unfortunately, the reality of capital ship build times means that they will have completed their build cycles from when the war began very soon and before all the Venators we laid down could be finished. For two to three months, our enemy will have a great advantage in material we will find hard to overcome. Right now, when the whole Republic and her allies should be standing together ¨C united and prepare for the coming storm, you my fellow Senators and Jedi are doing your best to divide us. I hope for all our sakes that you didn''t succeed."

    While Bo and I were finishing our little presentation and Palpy was talking, the Senate was growing noisier and noisier. Now it exploded with questions and demands. Before the commotion could grow too loud, Palpatine was able to make public the preliminary intelligence report for expected increase on CIS combat strength in the coming months.

    Then the Senators went mad.

 Chapter 64 - A different galaxy [2/2]

    Part 4

    Mandalorian Embassy

    Ambassadors suite

    Coruscant

    "Did you have to practically blame everything on the Jedi?" Obi-Wan grumbled from the couch where he was sitting with his wife resting her feet in his ??p.

    I got the better if more distracting deal ¨C relaxing in a comfortable armchair with Bo cuddled in my ??p. Before we married and I got to know her better, something that was still an ongoing process, I wouldn''t have put my wife for one loving to cuddle. She shifted to get a better look at Kenobi, knowing the how it made me feel and grinned.

    "Well, the Jedi are to blame..." Bo smirked.

    "I know some of them are still your friends Obi, however we needed someone else to take the blame for well, everything. It will make getting what we need so Mandalore could recover easier and that isn''t a trivial concern." Satine glanced at her husband. "Don''t stop please."

    "Yes, dear." Kenobi sighed and continued to massage her feet.

    I bit off a snigger, but not good enough and earned myself a soft poke in the ribs.

    "You know they''ll be causing us all a lot of trouble, don''t you, Obi-Wan?" My wife asked. "The longer they waste dealing with inquiries and answering question the better we''ll be."

    "Ideally the conservatives will be too busy defending their position for long enough so Yoda could find a solution that doesn''t blow in everyone''s faces." I said.

    "Do you really believe that? After today?" Bo stretched and rested her head on my shoulder.

    I breathed the floral scent of her hair and relaxed. "I hope so. Otherwise sooner or later we''ll have to deal with the conservatives after they do something very stupid."

    "They''ve been keeping things within the law so far..." Obi-Wan sounded like he was trying to convince himself that such a state of affairs would continue.

    "Yes, and tonight they failed miserably. Instead of Delkatar being sacked and kicked out of the military, it''s the Jedi who will have to answer some pointed questions." Satine pointed out. "You two know them better than me. Will they simply concede defeat and go minding their own business in the Temple?"

    "Not likely. There''s this big bad Sith around they have to stop before he corrupts any more maidens." Bo poked me in the ?h?st.

    "My dear wife is right and you know it Obi-Wan. If you believed I was up to destroy the Order and turn the Republic into the Sith Empire''s newest edition would you be prevented from acting just because you''ve got no more legal ways to stop me?" I asked.

    "You''ve practically destroyed the Order without doing anything..." Kenobi grumbled.

    "Not fair! I actually tried to save some Jedi. We''ll it was mostly Ahsoka, the rest were just to save face and not be accused that I gleefully left them to die. Close enough. While I didn''t consider the Jedi of this era my enemies, at least before the conservatives began making trouble, there are just a few of you I care about. The rest aren''t my problem unless they make themselves one."

    "You should have know it by now ¨C no good deed goes unpunished." Satine quipped.

    "Hey, I''m a Sith! My good deeds are long and far between."

    "That''s so reassuring." Obi-Wan shook his head in exasperation.

    "Cheer up, buddy. We won''t be dealing with the Senate tomorrow. Not any time soon either if we had a bit of luck left." I told Obi-Wan.

    "The Chancellor can have them all. On that we can agree." Kenobi grimaced. I''m sure he was thinking about the riot that began after Palpy made his abrupt revelation of the Intel reports. That''s how tonight''s session ended ¨C with another recess until tomorrow so everyone could calm down. Before we separated, Palpy told us he was sure he could tie up both the conservative Jedi and Sylvaris'' allies in the Senate with endless inquiries.

    I was actually hoping that he''ll succeed and wasn''t that a weird idea. Then there was the fun some poor sods in Intel were going to have briefing the Senate.

    It was one thing to know that the enemy will be starting a new offensive soon. It was something quite different to know that the CIS would be outnumbering us by the equivalent of multiple whole sector fleets and we were in no position to meaningfully disrupt their buildup. That was a sad state of affairs and our esteemed Senators had no one but themselves to blame for it.

    "Have you thought what to say to Snips?" I changed the topic.

    Obi-Wan ?r??n?d. "Ahsoka deserves better. She shouldn''t be paying form my choices or Anakin''s mistakes."

    "That she does." I nodded.

    "What''s the deal with the kid?" My wife asked.

    "Well, she''s an energetic little thing that grows on you. Like a mold." I shrugged. "You''ll like her."

    "A mold? Seriously?" Obi-Wan deadpanned.

    "I''m not sure the pun translates well in Basic." I shrugged. "Anyway, Snips."

    "She won''t be going to the Agri-corps, I''m sure of that." Obi-Wan declared.

    "Duh. While I haven''t know her as long as you, that much is obvious. Even if she does, Snips won''t last a week there before she grows too bored and seeks something else." I declared.

    "The conservatives will make it an issue. Unless she''s expelled as long Ahsoka is a minor, the Jedi Council has legal authority over her." Obi-Wan said.

    "They really don''t want to go there. Conscripting child soldiers to fight their battles? The media will eat them alive even before the public and Senate can get a piece of the fun." I hook my head.

    "What''s your point? Did those two Jedi Masters looked like they would be stopped by such a minor consideration?" Satine asked.

    "Well, they acted a bit more reasonable than I expected. Very foolish in hindsight, but I''ll chalk that to the fact that they still hope for a legal resolution." I shrugged.

    "What do you mean?" Obi-Wan asked.

    "Unless they''re ready to stop soon, your conservative friends will have a little recourse but to escalate things. In that case it would have been more prudent to level their accusations and try taking out Delkatar at the same time. That way they would have gotten their narrative out first and he wouldn''t be around to protest. Oh, don''t look at me like that! I didn''t say that it would be a good idea. I can see that the army and navy would consider something like that treason and would act no matter if Mandalore was still around or not. Now however, the conservatives would be completing their political suicide if they act against Delkatar. After tonight, there''s no chance that they''ll gather enough support to survive any violent adventure." Satine explained.

    "I''m afraid that they might do it anyway and we''ll be left to pick the pieces. Don''t you find it hilarious? I''m a Sith and right now I''m trying to figure out how to stop the Jedi so they won''t kriff themselves up once and for all." I chuckled.

    "The irony isn''t lost on me. I just don''t find this mess funny in any way, shape or form." Obi-Wan grumbled. He looked at the small caf table between us. His comm unit rested there along with his lightsaber. He called the communication device using the Force and made called Ahsoka.

    We chatted idly until the call could go through to Snips.

    "Master Kenobi! I''m glad to see you again." Ahsoka exclaimed. From what I could see of her holographic image ¨C which was her back, she appeared to be holding up better than this afternoon.

    "Ahsoka. Its good to see you''re a bit calmer." Obi-Wan greeted her. "How are you?"

    "Better." Ahsoka paused. "I think."

    "Snips, have you decided what you want to do?" I asked aloud.

    "General Veil? Good evening sir. All I know is I don''t want to go to the Agri-corps. I don''t want to leave Rex and the other to fight alone. It doesn''t feel right." Ahsoka informed us.

    "You can cut off the formality. It''s juts and our wives here."

    "Ah. Thank you. Its good to hear from you, Delkatar." Ahsoka relaxed a bit.

    "Well, she has the right idea." Bo perked up. "If your Republic types are too dumb to keep her is she''s really a decent commander, we might pick her up."

    "I haven''t thought about that." I smirked at Kenobi and Satine. "I''m quite busy with being Mandalore and all that, but how about you, Obi-Wan? Do you fancy getting a kid and teaching her all about being Mandalorian? Training her in the Force too." I nodded at Ahsoka''s hologram.

    "Well, she is, was my Padawan. I see no issues with continuing her training." Obi-Wan said after thinking for a few seconds.

    "Uh, what are you two talking about?" Snips asked.

    "Hi there, Ahsoka. I''m Bo-Katan, our resident Sith''s much better looking half. Adopting kids is a long honored Mandalorian tradition. You know, looking after them, teaching them all about what it means to be a proper Mandalorian," My wife gave her sister a pointed look at that, "training them as warriors¡­ I''m sure Delkatar here can call in a favor or two and have that Rex of yours and his buddies ?ssigned as a part of his new command. As a Mandalorian you can volunteer for the unit too and I''m sure my husband would be glad to have you on board."

    "That''s not something I expected." Ahsoka frowned. "I don''t know what to do." Her shoulders slumped.

    "It''s your call. Just know that whatever you decide our door is open. You have options." I added.

    "I''m not sure about becoming a Mandalorian." Ahsoka sighed. "Do I have to? Can''t I just I don''t know, enlist or something?"

    "That''s an option too. Just don''t expect to be sent back to the front immediately. It might actually be for the best if you go through a military academy. There are a lot of things they could teach you. In the end there''s more to being an officer than leading soldiers in combat and being a good tactician." I gave her my two credits.

    "I''ll talk with Rex and the boys¡­ but do you really think I need to waste time in an academy?" Ahsoka pouted.

    "It will be useful. Your call." I shrugged.

    "Can I be under your command alongside Rex and the boys if I go to the academy first?" Ahsoka asked.

    "I don''t see why not. I''ll be requesting the 501st as a part of my ground forces." I confirmed.

    "That''s good. I guess¡­"Ahsoka gave us a nervous smile. "I''ll would like to go enlist. Would it be possible to continue my Jedi training even if I''m no longer a part of the Order?"

    "Of course. We might not call it Jedi training because doing so might sent the conservative Jedi ballistic when we don''t need further complications on that front. What do you think, Obi-Wan?"

    "I''m not training Sith even in name only." Kenobi narrowed his eyes in my direction.

    "Republic Knights? Something in that vein perhaps?" Satine suggested.

    "Mandalorian Knights if one of you begins training our people. I don''t know about your Republic types." Bo said.

    "What do you think Snips? Fancy being a Knight of the Republic?" I asked the Padawan.

    "It doesn''t sound too bad." Ahsoka looked thoughtful. "I''ll be enlisting." She straightened up and gave us a determined look.

    "Good for you. I''ll be in meetings with Valentra and other high ranking officers tomorrow. I''ll ask around and find you the best military academy in the Republic. I''m sure that a recommendation from Obi-Wan and me will bet you in."

    "Is that proper?" Ahsoka''s cute frown was back.

    "Its the least I can do. When all is said and done, my very presence is responsible for the current unpleasantries with the Order. Call it balancing things around."

    "Thank you all!" Ahsoka perked up and gave us a huge smile.

    =RK=

    Confederate Military HQ

    Raxulon City

    Raxus

    Outer Rim Territories

    Even if they did a good work, the highest ranking Confederate officers were getting quite restless from being cooped up in the sealed conference room for most of the last few days. All of them were getting quite irritable, but that was a small price to pay in order to keep spies away from what they were doing.

    The simple, but by no means easy part of their current task was more or less complete ¨C they had made plans for overhauling the C&C structure of the Confederate military and most if not all less than competent people playing at being officers were going to ether be sacked, reassigned to where they could do no real damage or in some special cases investigated and placed in front of military tribunal for either incompetence or corruption.

    It was harder finding enough competent people to fill up the fresh vacancies, much less to command the new construction that was coming online almost daily. No matter the misgivings of Trench and his colleagues, they were forced to entrust a significant portion of the fleets to Tactical and Super Tactical droids. The new programming implemented by Techno Union scientists did make the machines reasonably competent at least during limited engagements.

    That was at least one thing that Dooku did right lately. As one of his last acts before his removal, the Sith authorized a series of probing strikes against Republic positions in and around Kamino''s sector led almost exclusively by droids with the new updates.

    All of the machines showed increased tactical aptitude, with a few going far beyond all expectation and won decisively. Most notable was a single Tactical Droid that ended up capturing a pair of Venators.

    Trench dismissed those thoughts. No matter how uneasy making the war droids smarter made him feel, it was inevitable. In retrospect the CIS military wasn''t built to fight the Clone Army. Oh, the droids and fleet did well enough until the Republic began to field some new hardware in numbers. The Admiral had read the reports from Geonosis multiple times ¨C both from space and the ground, which led him to make some less than pleasing conclusions.

    The Republic war machine was evolving and if the Confederacy was to win they had to not only match, but surpass it. Unless, he and his colleagues managed to win the war in the next few months.

    That was the main reason why they were still in that blasted room. The Admiral sipped his drink and scanned his colleagues. It was a second day they were arguing about what to do with all the new construction that was becoming available.

    It was thanks to the officer''s impasse that today they had guest from the Confederate Council ¨C Kleo Vombra, who had deemed the proceedings important enough to be separated from overseeing the CIS R&D programs. The Techno Union''s leader was the closest thing the new political leadership of the Confederacy had to a military expert. Rumor had it that Vombra had been neck deep in weapon development for decades. Hopefully the cyborg wasn''t totally clueless.

    For the past half hour, the officers were explaining their major problem ¨C they were divided between two competing strategic ides. The Admirals were pushing for more conservative and realistic goals, while the generals wanted to use the significant material advantage the Confederacy would enjoy over the next few months to end the war in one swift devastating campaign.

    "It''s tempting, general Farstar." The cyborg said. "Very tempting. When thins conflict began, we all counted on a victory in mere months. The existence of the Clone Army came as a huge shock for us all. While it is unlikely that the Republic has any more such surprises for us, we can''t discount it."

    "A strike at Coruscant can end this in a single blow! We''ll have the numbers to break through!" General Durd exclaimed. "With my new weapon we''ll crush the Republic on the ground. All we need is for the navy to keep the orbitals neutral and we can deliver you any Republic world, even Coruscant!"

    "If we go for the capital, the Republic will throw everything they have at us. They''ll have control of most Core hyperlanes, allowing them to move forces faster than us. If they manage to cut off our attack fleet at Coruscant it would be a disaster." Trench stated.

    "Its true that we''ll have the numbers to both break through, secure our line of retreat and deliver a devastating blow to Coruscant while tying up as much of the Republic Navy as possible with spoiling attacks. In theory. Coruscant has heavy defenses, redundant planetary shields and many theater ones. This time around we can''t count on commando forces to give us any meaningful advantage. The Sith and their terror poodo blew up that opportunity. We''ll have to break through multiple heavy defended systems, while the Republic scrambles to move in reinforcements and their reserves." Tonith spoke.

    "While such a plan has merit, the dangers are too great. It''s main flaw is the all or nothing nature. We won''t have the forces to both take Coruscant and either capture or eliminate the Republic''s leadership and hit enough of their industrial centers to matter. Even if everything goes as planned, we break through the enemy defenses and secure their Capital, even if we take out both the Chancellor and Senate ¨C what happens if the Republic doesn''t capitulate? If they continue to fight?" Trench looked at the cyborg. "We would have spent a large percentage of our fleets for nothing and be left dealing with a Republic Navy that would be reinforced by a large numbers of Venators."

    "Our optimistic projections are that if the strike at Coruscant fails there are sixty percent chance we''ll lose the war in the next year. Seventy five in the one after that and over ninety that we''ll suffer a military collapse in three years." Admiral Kirst spoke for the first time today. "If we destroy less of the Republic Navy than estimated before their Venators are complete, the numbers look much worse."

    "I see." Vombra turned to look at Trench. "The less risky proposition is your idea I understand, admiral." The cyborg stated. "Convince me that its the better idea."

    "I''ll do my best, sir." Trench moved his hands over the terminal built in front of his seat and called up a map of the galaxy updated with the territory held by both sides. He pressed a bu??on and a dozen star systems lit up. "As you all know, prior to the ware, an extraordinary large part of the infrastructure needed for building capital ships was concentrated in three systems ¨C Kuat, Corellia and Fondor. We are controlling only the last one and unfortunately, Corellians sided with the Republic after the Sith''s actions outraged their leaders. That by itself gives the enemy a significant industrial advantage ¨C one that will prove fatal in the fullness of time."

    The Admiral waved at the other lit up systems, which were all currently under Republic control.

    "At a minimum we need to significantly reduce either Corellia or Kuat. A tall order, but a necessary one. Further, the Republic is still dependent on their Clones for the bulk of the military personnel. Even with all incentives they''re are giving for those enlisting and their ceaseless propaganda campaigns, it will be months before they could field ordinary citizens as soldiers, much longer for properly trained Navy personnel. Kamino has to go. Neutralizing that world will give us a significant mid term advantage once we''ve managed to kill off enough of their exiting clones. The morale effects shouldn''t be underestimated. Without a source of expendable soldiers, we believe that the Republic might become much more s?ns?t?v? to losses, especially on the ground where our droid armies give us a significant advantage in that regard. Further, the Clones had spent ten years in intensive training. They''re much better and effective than anything the Republic could train in the middle of this war. As the Clone numbers diminish so will the combat strength of the enemy formations."

    "That makes sense." Vombra noted. "What about those other systems? I recognize them all ¨C major shipyards of various capacity the Republic has been expanding."

    "Indeed, sir. We need to raid as many of them as possible and destroy their infrastructure. However, my plan calls for the capture of these, the coloring of the systems closest to Confederate space changed their color among other things. While largely neutralizing the Republic''s economic and industrial advantage is our primary goal, my plan has two almost as important secondary objectives. As you can see, our territory is divided in four major parts. We''ll use our numerical advantage to change that."

    Trench pointed at the north western part of the map. "First, we''ll dedicate a sector fleet strength formation to secure our rear in that region. Second, we close the pocket between Kira and Naboo. That will require us to capture only two systems ¨C Naboo and Kalindra, which will be an opportunity to destroy the Republic Navy elements quarantining and protecting the Chancellor''s homeworld. Then we''ll move in forces to finally Malastare and reduce that pocket."The Admiral shifted the map north. "Once Naboo is secure, we''ll move on Ryndelia, Kaliida Shoals and Trigals cutting off this pocket of Republic territory. The enemy won''t posses significant naval forces there once we''ve smashed the detachments securing the hyperlanes. We can blockade the whole area easy and leave them to die on the vine."

    Then Trench pointed to the east. "As a part of the offensive aimed at Naboo, we''ll secure Herdessia and Randor in a preparation for a strike at Rodia and Christophsis. With those two systems are in our hands, the Galactic South will be almost secure." Trench pointed to the north. "Another offensive will take Foless, Chandaan and Tynna linking our territories here and finishing sewing up this whole part of the galaxy. If all offensives are successful, Kamino could be left for latter to reduce, but I''ll advise against that. While we''ll do our best to isolate the whole Western and Southern regions of the galaxy from the Republic, we can''t guarantee a success in closing all hyperlanes. Not without sending troops better used elsewhere. No matter the final outcome, those are offensives we''ll have to launch in order to tie up and reduce the Republic Navy in that part of the galaxy."

    The admiral took a sip of his drink and waited for his words to sink in. The cyborg studied the map for a few minutes before asking any questions.

    "Am I to presume you''ll want to secure our borders in the galactic south east along Hutt Territory?" Vombra asked.

    "Indeed. Limited offensive to deny the Republic the hyperlanes should be sufficient. We can leave the rest for the Hutts ¨C they should be able to at least tie up the local garrisons so we don''t waste time and resources on reducing the Republic presence there. Its on the edge of the Core, North and North East we''ll have issues. Finally reducing that pocket will be our priority." Trench pointed at the far North Eastern corner of the galaxy. "Once that''s done, it will free some additional ?ssets for the primary campaign. Securing Pindar and goes without saying and then we''ll have to make some important decisions." Trench pointed at the Inner Rim and Core worlds.

    "Corellia." Vombra stated. "It''s relatively close to Fondor, where most of our capital ships are constructed. While we''ll have at least twice the numbers in the North East, most of them will be Munificents. Not ideal for heavy fighting."

    "Correct. We plan to hit the Republic across that whole sector before we launch our main offensives against Corellia. If we''re lucky, they''ll redeploy some of their reserves there making our initial push easier. We plan to use lighter forces to clean up the way and two sector fleet equivalents heavy on capital ships for the hammer blow. Another smaller formation will leave earlier taking the long way. It will hit Angara and Chamm before making its way to Corellia too."

    "Days before that operation begins, we''ll strike all across the front in the North and East. The primary objective there is destroying as much as possible of the Republic Navy and gaining better jump off points for following offensives. Even if our secondary objectives are partially successful, we would be in a much better position to fight a prolonged war."

    The Techno Union leader gazed at the map, before nodding slowly. "Admiral, I find this plan more reasonable than a dash towards Coruscant. I want to work on it and be ready to present it to the Council as soon as possible."

    =RK=

    Part 5

    General Valentra''s office

    GAR High Command

    Coruscant

    Early next morning, Kenobi and I made our way to the HQ and went to meet Telar. We found him in front of his office, sipping caf and speaking with a tall, regal looking human admiral. The Navy officer had short cropped black hair and a thin mustache on his gaunt face. While he was solidly built, the man looked positively exhausted.

    "You two." Valentra glared at us. "What the kriff am I supposed to do with you? Did you manage to engineer another headache specially for me since the senate went crazy last night?"

    "Blame the Jedi and certain Senators." I shrugged.

    "Oh, I do. The pair of you aren''t off the hook either. I spent half the night answering inquires from the Senate''s armed forces committee about the Confederate build up ¨C as if I know better than our various Intelligence service, not to mention reassuring them that I''ll be making use of your talents while making sure you don''t learn any more s?ns?t?v? information about the Republic''s military capabilities."

    "Talk about conflicting orders. You had fun, night I take it?" It was good to see that the Senate was continuing to piss of the army. They were playing straight in my hands while trying to diminish the threat I may one day represent.

    Telar grimaced. "It was a kriffing waste of time. Come with me." He waved us with his free hand then nodded at the navy officer. "This is admiral Mark Jerjerrod. He''s been trying to untangle the Navy''s procurement for years now."

    "General Veil, General Kenobi. It''s good to meet you in person. I''ve heard a lot about you." The admiral offered us a hand and we shook it.

    "Only bad things I hope? I do have a reputation to maintain." I quipped.

    "Yes, that''s the problem." Obi-Wan muttered.

    "Good things as long as I''m not listening to some of my acquaintances in the Senate." Jerjerrod said.

    "How is the navy buildup going?" Obi-Wan asked.

    "A bit better than expected. We''ll be getting a significant number of Acclamators complete and ready for deployment by the time the Separatists hit us. There are couple of thousand escorts scheduled for completion during the next month and that will give us a sorely needed boost, but we''ll still be heavily outnumbered. While thanks to Kuat and Corellia we have at least fifty percent advantage in capital ship construction capacity, it took us too long to begin constructing Venators at capacity. Even longer to expand the necessary industries, find trained personnel and expand the shipyards." Jerjerrod paused to breathe. "It will be at least eighteen to twenty months before our industrial advantages could become decisive ¨C not before we finish the next Venator construction cycle."

    "And that can''t happen before our ongoing construction is complete." Valentra added. "That''s what we''ll be talking about." He said as he led us deeper into the building.

    We passed through two checkpoints and entered a secure briefing room. There was a group of officers siting around a round table either chatting or browsing data pads. They were there for some time if the few empty caf carafes were anything to go by.

    "General on deck!" A black haired commander stood at attention and shouted.

    The officers stopped what they were doing and all stood up and saluted.

    "At ease. Get a place and someone make sure we''ve got secure connection with the otherwise unoccupied members of High Command." Valentra ordered.

    I looked around. The room was covered with something resembling rubber ¨C a sound absorbing material I guessed. Besides the table and chairs around it, the place was virtually empty.

    I sat next to Telar along with Obi-Wan and the admiral.

    "First, introductions are in order." Valentra announced and nodded at Jerjerrod, who began.

    To the admiral''s left sat the commander who announced our entrance ¨C one Adar Tallon, a starfighter ace who worked under Plo Koon. The Jedi Master had sent him back to Coruscant so he could help in devising new small craft doctrine and help in the development of units that could survive and be effective in Guardian dominated environment.

    While the introductions continued, he busied himself calling the members who couldn''t be present in person.

    Next were a pair of captains ¨C Terrinard Screed and Jan Dodonna. They introduced themselves staff members working for Jerjerrod until their ships ¨C Victory Stardetroyers came close to completion. From what I gathered they had their time split between helping ensure that the navy procurement didn''t go to hell and training their command staffs in simulators. It wasn''t an ideal arrangement, but the attack on the HQ a few months back practically decapitated the GAR High Command and cost us a lot of experienced officers.

    Screed was an aging officer with complexion identical to that of the Clones. According to his service ribbons, he had been a part of the Judical Forces for years before the war began and had seen combat more than once. His short brown hair was mostly hidden by his uniform cap.

    Dodonna had receding black hair, revealing a prominent forehead and accenting his large nose.

    Both of them wore the standard deep green naval uniform and had their medal ribbons proudly displayed on their ?h?sts.

    Beside the captains sat a human naval officer.

    "Admiral Felix Dao." He introduced himself. His thin face make him look almost gaunt not unlike Jerjerrod. However, the middle aged admiral appeared to have much more energy. His blue piercing eyes practically shone with it.

    "It''s good to see you again, Admiral." I greeted Dao. I vaguely remembered him from Ryloth ¨C he was in charge of a Venator division at the time. His ships didn''t fare too well after being unfortunate enough to be targeted at the beginning of the engagement. I recall that he was wounded when his flag was crippled but it was obvious Dao''s wounds haven''t slowed him down.

    "The same to you, general. I''m glad that you didn''t decide to leave for Mandalore after last night."

    "It would take much more than a group of misguided fear mongers to make me turn my back to the soldiers I''ve fought with for months now." My words were met with universal approval by the officers.

    The last officer was navy too.

    "I''m admiral Barton Coburn." He introduced himself with a gravel like voice. The man appeared to be in his sixties. He had receding white hair and sharp light green eyes.

    As it turned out, we were going to discus things with only two more people. One was Yularen, who was overseeing the repairs of the fleet we led above Geonosis. The last member of our little gathering was another familiar face ¨C Joanna Holt. She was making her way to Corellia along with her ship and surprisingly wore the insignia of a rear admiral.

    "Congratulation about the promotion, admiral." I smiled at the Corellian woman. I did owe her one ¨C even if I planned it, she did come through and saved my ?ss on Mandalore.

    "General Veil." She nodded. "I hear things on Coruscant got quite interesting with your return."

    "Too interesting." Obi-Wan snorted. "I can''t help it but notice I''m the only Jedi in here."

    "Former Jedi." Telar gave him a wan smile. "After yesterday, I don''t exactly trust the Jedi not to make mess of things. Besides, its been months since they were actually in command of the army or navy, no matter how many of them are generals."

    "We make up the majority of surviving Republic High Command as well as highly ranked allied officers. If we''re to work together without kriffing up by the numbers, we need to reach an understanding." Admiral Coburn stated.

    "After the Senate had its temper tantrum yesterday, we need to chose a new Commander Republic field forces, to fill in the shoes of General Veil. I''m open to suggestions." Valentra spoke.

    "This last year, I''ve fought along Force users a lot." Admiral Dao said. "While a lot of them have no idea what to do in command of anything larger than a squad and should have never been given the authority they had at the start of the war, those who know what they''re doing have some advantages the rest of us simply lack. With General Veil no longer an option and the Jedi in disarray, I nominate General Kenobi for the position."

    "I agree. While he had some rough edges, I believe Obi-Wan Kenobi is up to the task." I offered my support and earned myself a glare from the former Jedi.

    "If it had slipped your minds, I''m no longer a Jedi and became Mandalorian the same evening he did." Obi-Wan pointed at me. He didn''t sound thrilled by the idea of being put in charge of all combat force.

    "Oh, we know." Valentra looked at Kenobi. "You might be a Mandalorian, but aren''t Mandalore and that''s what''s important. All of us has home worlds that hold our loyalty alongside the Republic and it hasn''t been an issue. While general Veil as a leader of your people might have divided loyalties, yours are as secure as our own."

    Obi-Wan frowned at Telar. "You planned this, didn''t you?"

    "I''ll admit a part of it is making a point to the Senate. However, if we didn''t believe you up to the job, we wouldn''t offering it general." Valentra explained.

    "Do you all agree with this?" Obi-Wan asked and looked around the table.

    "That''s a Republic internal issue." Admiral Holt shrugged. "From what I hear you should be able to do the job."

    "We discussed you last night." Admiral Jerjerrod added. "Besides all of us currently have duties we can''t in good conscience leave. You however haven''t been actually commanding since Geonosis so you''re free to take the job."

    "While we can''t force you to take the position, its our recommendation that you do so." Admiral Coburn offered his support to the idea.

    "If I didn''t know better I would be sure this was your idea." Ob-Wan glared at me.

    "This time I''m not guilty as charged."

    "You''re aware that the Jedi Council won''t take this lightly, right?" Obi-Wan tried.

    "The Jedi''s internal politics aren''t of any concern to this body. The Council already did more than enough to jeopardize the war effort." Valentra grimaced.

    "Look at the positives. If you take the offer, you''ll be better placed to keep me in check if I went on the deep end." I beamed at Obi-Wan.

    "There''s that." Kenobi ?r??n?d. "I know I''ll regret it, but fine. I accept."

    "Congratulation general Kenobi. I''ll make sure that all the paperwork is in order so you can ?ssume your new responsibilities before the end of the day." Dodonna announced.

    "Now, with that out of the way, item the second. General Veil, in order to ensure proper coordination between the GAR and our Corellian and Mandalorian allies, you''ll be taking command of all allied forces along with contingent of our own." Valentra announced.

    "All?" My eyebrows went up at that. This was another slap in the face of both the Senate and the conservative Jedi.

    "Well, as Mandalore, you''re already the ultimate authority as far as your people are concerned. You did a good job leading Corellian forces at Geonosis and the same is true about various ground units not nominally under GAR control."

    "The Anaxxian Rangers and Caamasi Lancers." I nodded. While I had little interaction with their commanders, there were no real issues when they were under my command. Those two outfits were a strange case ¨C not really a militia or a planetary defense force, which were usually simply placed under the overall command of the GAR officers in the area. Instead, the rangers and lancers were long standing military units that worked alongside the planetary defense forces of their respective home worlds but technically weren''t part of them.

    "What am I looking at as Corellian and Republic ?ssets?" I asked.

    "Admiral Holt''s new command after her ship goes a partial refit on Corellia along with the units you were supposed to command before Geonosis ¨C the eleventh legion and attached fleet elements." Valentra stated.

    Telar had obviously been quite busy lately.

    "May I request that the remnants of the 501stare placed under my command? I''ve worked with them before and we have an excellent rapport."

    "That shouldn''t be an issue. You''ll be getting additional staff officers to help you run the combined allied command or whatever we end up calling that damn thing. This completes item the second and now we come to the primary reason why we''re here." Valentra agreed. "We all know that in two months the Separatists will have enough new construction coming online to create from scratch multiple sector fleets. They''re going to throw them at us as soon as they can. According to all our intelligence sources, the Confederacy is currently overhauling their military command, cutting off the dead weight and busy deciding how to use their new ships against us. We wont know for some time what they plan. We may learn it the hard way, because a lot of our sources within the Confederacy had gone dark. This is the primary reason why we''re gathered today ¨C to decide how to meet the coming enemy offensive. General Veil." Valentra put me into the spotlight.

    "Yesterday, before my meeting with the Senate, general Valentra informed me of the estimated enemy strength. Even with some escorts and a lot of Acclamators coming online soon, we''ll be on the wrong end of a significant numerical disparity ¨C much more than can be make up by the superior quality of our capital ships. If our fears are realized, the Confederacy is going to put competent people in charge across the board and give them largely free reign in prosecuting the war." I paused. "In the past few weeks, admirals Trench, Ningo and Tonith had been recalled to Raxus and we haven''t heard from then since."

    "Can we be so lucky that the Separatists dispose of them for us as unreliable?" Dao asked.

    "Unknown. We can''t rely on such a good fortune unless we have a solid proof that they''re all dead or imprisoned." Coburn rumbled. "We have to plan for the worst ¨C competently led determined enemy that outnumbers us significantly."

    "That''s my thought too." Valentra added. "I briefly discussed the situation with general Veil yesterday. "While I agree with his thoughts on the matter, there are issues." He looked at me.

    "Even if we go with the conservative estimates, the Separatists will be able to hit us across the board, tie up a lot of our forces and then concentrate overwhelming numbers on their primary objectives. Lacking solid intelligence on their intentions, we''ll have to decide where to reinforce and dig in and which systems we can''t afford to defend unless we wish to have a significant chunk of the navy defeated in detail." I turned my attention to the terminal built in front of my seat and activated the holo projector that was in the center of the table, then called in an up to date map of the galaxy.

    "If I was in charge of the Confederacy''s military, this state of affairs would be unacceptable." I pointed at the four big parts in which the CIS controlled space was divided. "One of the first things I would be doing with all those brand new ships would be to connect the various Separatist territories then deny the Republic use of the main hyperlanes to the outer rim. That part is a no brainier. While it would be good if we could keep the Confederate territories divided, I believe that would be a waste of resources at this time. The exception is the central corridor here." I highlighted it with three blue circles. "If we lose the hyperlanes in these areas, Kamino will be cut off along with a significant part of our holding in the Mid and Outer rim."

    "It''s also a lot of territory to cover. The Separatists will find it much easier to connect their other holdings and secure the lanes between them." Admiral Coburn noted. "Even if we can''t stop them at any given location, our fleets will have a lot of space to maneuver ¨C retreat if necessary and be ready to ?ssist us in opening the lanes once our Venators are ready. The same can''t be said for the expanse sandwiched between Hutt space and these two Separatist territories." The old human''s hands flew to his terminal and he circled the large piece of the Mid rim he had in mind."

    "What about our territory to the west?" Admiral Jerjerrod asked. "They''re practically cut off, even if the Confederacy has to keep heavy forces to contain them."

    "If they have the spare ships, they might sent them to secure the area. Once our naval units in the region are attried enough, the Confederacy can ignore the sector and thus free a lot of ?ssets. Its the same with the pocket to the far North East." I lit up the areas in red. "Mon Calamari too ¨C as things stand, our only way to reinforce them is through Hutt space. Given its location, if the Separatists decide the hit some of the neutrals in the area, they can cut off the system and reduce it when convenient.

    "You have a suggestion, I recon." Coburn stated.

    "An idea, that the Senate won''t find pleasing. We need to pull off as many ?ssets as we could from the west. Even with the hyperlanes under enemy control, if our naval units in the region can quietly concentrate they stand a good chance to punch through. At the same time I would like to leave a lot of light recon element in the area. As for our ground units ¨C they should either be extracted or concentrated on planets with planetary shields where they can hold out for a long time even if the enemy has orbital control."

    "You suggest abandoning a lot of territory." Dao frowned.

    "True. Most of those world are of no strategic importance for the war and we need the navy deployed where it matters. We''ll need to keep a corridor to Kamino open at all costs or at least for as long as we can keep the planet safe. If the enemy dedicates enough ?ssets on an attack there, we may lose it anyway. We can''t afford to sent too many reinforcements there, not if we''re to keep a route to the Core open at the same time."

    "What about Mandalore? Coburn asked. "It''s very close to Separatist controlled space and they will be launching offensives in the area to link up their territories and put pressure on us."

    "A fleet in being standing under the planetary shields. If reinforced and given some heavy equipment, my people will turn any ground ?ssault in a bloodbath for the enemy. Given its position on the trade lanes, we''ll need to retake the system sooner rather than later if we''re to wage war in the galactic North East."

    "That''s not what expected." Coburn gave me a nod of respect. "I was fearing you would want us to keep the system out of Confederate hands at all cost."

    "I would want any uninvited guests kicked out promptly once the Venators are ready, but that''s it. It would take us a few years to rebuild our fleet and we''ll be slowed down by pulling down to the surface the most important parts of the space infrastructure, but having Mandalore under siege for few months won''t be too bad." I smiled grimly. "Most of our people are spread all over the galaxy even if I gave the call for them to come back. As long as we can keep the bulk of our planet side industry intact we''ll recover. Besides, we simply can''t afford to tie up too many ships keeping my home safe." I pointed at the map. "If the enemy is smart and we can''t afford to expect anything less, they will be coming after our industrial nodes. Kuat, Corellia and our smaller shipyards. The big question is where will they concentrate their efforts? The two industrial powerhouses? Can they afford to strike both systems and hope to succeed? Perhaps only one and raids on our other shipyards?"

    "What if they go after Coruscant again?" Jerjerrod asked.

    "Unlikely unless they decide for all or nothing throw on the dice. Yet, we can''t neglect such a possibility. Our friends in the Senate won''t let us if we tried anyway. For all we know, whoever is running things on the Separatist''s side nowadays might think its a good idea."

    "They might feint that way anyway to draw forces from their real targets too." Coburn thought aloud. "A strike towards Ord Mantell for example could be just a feint, an attempt to secure better positions for the next phase of the war, clearing up the way for following ?ssaults on our industrial nodes in the Mid Rim or even a prelude for a strike towards Coruscant. The same goes if they secure Mandalore and move up the hyperlane leading towards the Core." He lit up parts of the map in orange.

    "We''ll have to keep a strong reserve force against such an attempt." I conceded. "What concerns me is how close Corellia and Kuat are to enemy held territory. "If the enemy finally manages to take Antar and then Quellor, they''ll have a clean run to Cato Neimodia and then use it as both a supply base and a forward staging area. Then all they have is to break through whatever we have in place at Commentor and the route to Kuat is open. Alternatively, securing Kelada will give them a route to Corellia. I won''t be surprised if they do both just to force us reinforce both systems. The nature of the hyperlanes in the region is such that once we know where they''re sending the bulk of their forces, it would be days until we can shift our navy from the other threatened system. That''s could be more than enough time to lose a lot of industrial capacity and incomplete construction."

    "Our friends in the Senate will want us to reinforce both systems heavily." Valentra said.

    "That''s why I want to strip everything we can from strategically unimportant systems." I shrugged.

    "Like Revan did against your own people all those years ago." Dao stated.

    "It worked." I pointed out.

    "As I see it, we''ll need to keep a decent sized reserves at Coruscant, Ord Mantell, Corsis and Denon at the very least along with reinforcing Corellia, Kuat and Kamino with whatever we can scrape up. In addition, placing additional forces at either Kalindra or Naboo so they can be ready to fend off any attacks on the lanes in the area would be prudent." Obi-Wan spoke after listening to the discussion and carefully examining the map. "Reinforcing Christophsis will help us contest the that region and we can pull the naval elements there back towards Kamino if necessary."

    "That sounds good." Valentra mussed. "Ultimately it''s your call after all. Finding all the ?ssets we''re going to need will be harder."

    "I''ll back you up when you decide it''s time to talk with the Chancellor about it." I said.

    "We''ll need to craft proper contingency plans first." Jerjerrod pointed out.

    "True, true." I conceded. "Lets start, shall we?"

 Chapter 65 - Ancient Sith and other monsters [1/2]

    Part 1

    Guest quarters

    Mandalorian Embassy

    Coruscant

    "It''s been a long time since I had the opportunity to kick back, relax and watch such an entertainment." I sighed and took a long pull from an iced bottle of Corellian Ale.

    I had crashed on a comfortable couch in the living room of a small apartment meant for visiting Clan Leaders if they hadn''t made other arrangements for their trip to Coruscant or government officials here on official business. The place was tastefully decorated ¨C there was no clash between modern leather furniture, high tech communication gear and stands proudly displaying ancient weapons and armor. Holographic recreations of painting depicting moments of Mandalorian glory could be seen on most walls, making me feel nostalgic.

    A monitor taking up most of the wall across the room displayed the news, which were frankly hilarious. A cute red head human woman was on, narrating a video of a protest near the Senate. I could clearly see beings from at least two dozen different species shouting questions and generally being rowdy. They were faced by a solid block of Coruscant Security guards, clad in heavy anti-riot gear. The first two ranks had shields and shock-batons, with those behind them armed with various crowd control devices ¨C nets, foam grenades, low powered sonic blasters meant to only stun¡­

    "This is merely the closest protest to the Senate building, which explains the extraordinary heavy presence of security force." The anchor ¨C Halcyon explained. "By last count there were at least two hundred protests on Coruscant alone, many of which turned into full blown riots."

    The image changed and I could see a riled up crowd throwing itself against a cordon of riot-troopers. They slammed into a locked shield wall then began to fall as shock-batons moved into a well drilled unison and slammed at the first line of the rioters. Electricity arched and bodies crumbled. Foam grenades arched above the heads of the shield bearers and detonated among the crowd. The fast expanding and almost instantly hardening substance stopped the forward momentum of the rioters, allowing the security agents to knock out the most eager or foolish of them and push the crowd back.

    "What does the protesters want, Victoria?" An old Rodian asked.

    "An explanation, Borsk. Most of the peaceful ones appear to be ordinary citizens concerned by what''s been happening in the Senate in the past week. The removal of general Veil from his post in command of all Republic Field forces came in mere hours before our intelligence services revealed a report citing what naval construction the Separatists will complete and have available to use against us before the end of next month."

    "That news certainly had me concerned, Victoria." The Rodian nodded sagely.

    All those protests caught me off guard. While at least some were out there in support of Sylvaris and the Jedi, most people wanted me back in charge of the military so I could keep those dastardly Separatists out in the Outer Rim, where they couldn''t cause trouble for the good people in the Core Worlds. No one put things in exactly those words, yet the Republic as a whole was far too calm as long as the fighting was mostly contained beyond the Inner Rim.

    Attitude like that was a symptom of the problems that persuaded a huge percentage of the Outer Rim to support the Confederacy''s bid for succession even if it meant war. The problem wasn''t a new one ¨C during the war between the Sith Empire and the Republic, the Coruscant did write off the outer territories after they either fell in our hands or were beyond the Old Republic''s ability to properly supply and reinforce. Nowadays, those same worlds were much more developed and densely populated and they had more than enough of being considered second class citizens by many people and more importantly institution in the Republic.

    "¡­Kenobi ?ssumed the post vacated by general Veil. While our military analysts were pleased with that turn of events and despite the fact that it calmed down some of the people out there protesting, that decision remains controversial." The Rodian said. "Certain Senators, led by Liira Sylvaris opposed that choice and made a motion for general Kenobi to be immediately removed from the post. The Cathar Senator cited as a reason the fact that the former Jedi is a close personal friend of Mandalore and a Mandalorian himself. During an emergency session earlier today, she said that general Kenobi might act as little more than the voice of Mandalore and it would be unclear if he could keep the Republic''s interests at heart. She repeated the accusations leveled by Jedi Masters Tiin and Piell against their former colleague..."

    I had it on the best authority that the circus in the Senate hadn''t really abated. Since he got his new job, Obi-Wan spent one morning and two afternoons answering questions about the Republic''s readiness to meet and crush the expected Separatists offensive. When despite his best efforts Kenobi let it slip that it wasn''t going to be possible to held on all territory we were supposed to be protecting, not before the Venators were ready, only made things worse.

    When our contingency plans got ready and we presented a carefully edited version to the Committee overseeing the military, all hell was going to get lose. I was hoping to be away from Coruscant for the fallout. It was high time I tracked Zash and saw what bind she got herself in ¨C more than a few vague but ominous dreams I had in the last few days pointed in that direction.

    "We''ll get back to the upheaval both here on Coruscant and across the Core in our evening program. Now, we''re back to the trial that has the whole Republic watching with baited breath." Victoria beamed at the camera.

    Officially, as a witness for the prosecution and Anakin''s commanding officer at the time of his kriff up, I had nothing to do with the trial until I was summoned ¨C which was scheduled for tomorrow. Unofficially, the reporters were useful for once and made sure I knew exactly what was happening. Just in case I had called a favor with my colleagues in Intelligence and they were feeding me reports on how the things were going with the tribunal ¨C five generals and navy captains who were stuck on Coruscant for the time being and thus could be bothered to be tapped as a Jury.

    At least the navy had it for Anakin for sure, which was troublesome. I would have to give quite the good speech in order to convince them that Skywalker''s life would be better spent out on the battlefield instead rotting in jail or getting shot.

    The picture changed again and this time I was seeing a court room. A camera caught Anakin''s priceless expression as the full charges were read aloud. He looked half-stunned. The prosecution was throwing almost everything at him sans treason and cowardice in the face of the enemy.

    The screen zoomed out to show the whole court room. It wasn''t particularly impressive. In front was the Judge''s stand with a nearby podium for witnesses. To the right sat the Jury ¨C all looking properly grim in their parade uniforms. Then there were tow rows of benches for the prosecution, accused and defense, along with any interested parties that had the right to observe.

    I saw Palpy''s hand in making the trial public. Doing so achieved multiple goals for him. It obviously further isolated Anakin, making him into a pariah and thus an easier target for turning. I was sure Sidious wouldn''t miss the opportunity to further tarnish the Jedi Order in the perception of the public and last and not the least, the trial was meant as a distraction from the circus happening in the Senate ¨C and those were just the most obvious reason even if the last didn''t pan out as well as the Chancellor might have hoped. I knew Palpy was busier than ever this last week.

    The camera zoomed onto a figure that stood behind Anakin - it was Padme flanked by a GAR security detail. Officially that was to keep her safe from further Separatist ?ssassination attempts. Unofficially, it was a bid from me to change the public perception of Amidala. I didn''t need her seen as the noble pacifist the everyone knew. Instead I wanted her to be considered a woman changed by her experiences and driven into a firm support of the war by a monstrous enemy.

    Palpy wasn''t the only one who could pay PR firms after all¡­

    I saluted the screen when Rex was called on the stand. The video skipped forward to the interesting part.

    "Commander Rex, you''ve been serving under general Skywalker since the first weeks of the war. What can you tell us about your experience as his subordinate?" The Prosecutor asked.

    Rex stood at parade rest and I was sure he struggled not to glare at Anakin.

    "General Skywalker¡­ He was different, sir. He got the job done, no matter the odds we faced." Rex paused. "He earned our loyalty. We trusted him and would have followed him into the Nine Corellian hells if he asked." The Clone''s tone was emotionless, almost dead.

    "Trusted him..." The Prosecutor repeated. "Do you trust him now?"

    "No, sir." Rex stated flatly.

    "Why not?"

    "He destroyed that trust along with most of the 501st Legion on Geonosis, sir. It''s a good soldier''s duty to die if necessary. Its the duty of a good commander to spent the lives of his subordinates wisely. If they have to die, it should be because that''s the best way to achieve the objective. The best way to win." Rex paused and his voice was chock full with pain and anger. "What general Skywalker," the Commander practically spat the name, "did was waste our lives. Almost a full dozen good ships. Thirty thousand soldiers. All gone. Not to win a battle, or gain a vital objective. Not to save civilians or our brothers in arms from dying." This time Rex looked at Anakin and glared. "We had to die because he didn''t think. Because general Skywalker had to walk into an obvious trap. We had to die for nothing. Sir."

    "I see. Commander, please lead us through the sequence of events that led to your crash landing on Geonosis..."

    That was something I was painfully familiar with. I was one of the first people to receive a report on how Anakin managed to get a part of my fleet to go and commit a very expensive if ultimately somewhat useful suicide. He simply told them that he was following orders and they trusted him - a reasonably competent Jedi ¨C not to get them killed unless it was for a very good reason.

    =RK=

    Part 2

    Courtroom 3A

    Republic Judge Advocate building

    Coruscant

    Next day found me standing on the witness stand, ready to answer questions after I swore to tell the truth and confirmed that I was aware of the consequences if I lied my ?ss off. It was time to see if my shenanigans with the Intel folks were going to pay out and salvage something from the Skywalker fiasco.

    I went through the obvious questions more or less on autopilot ¨C summarizing my interactions with Anakin and the events that led to Geonosis in my own words. I did my best to make Skywalker look better adjusted and a less of a lose canon that he really was to set up the stage for answering some questions that were carefully suggested to the defense.

    "I have no more questions, your honor." The Prosecutor gave me a satisfied nod.

    "The Defense can ask its questions." The Judge announced.

    "General Veil, in your opinion as General Skywalker''s former commanding officer, why do you believe he undertook his action above Geonosis?"

    "In hindsight, Anakin''s decision, his desperation, while unacceptable, is at least understandable. Unfortunately, at the time I was unaware of the full extent of his situation." I paused, giving the illusion I was gathering my thoughts, while using the Force to divine what would be the best way to answer. While not a fool proof way to do things, doing so was giving me a not insignificant advantage. "Otherwise, thing might have turned out differently." I sighed in regret.

    "What was that situation exactly?" The Defender perked up.

    "I know that given my complicate relationship with members of the Jedi Council, my words must be taken with a grain of salt." I made sure I looked apologetic. "It was shortly before the first battle of Geonosis and the star of the war, that Anakin''s mother back on Tatooine was kidnapped by Sand People. I''m sure you''ll wonder how that tragic event has any relevance on general Skywalker''s actions above Geonosis?" I smiled sadly.

    "That''s correct, general." The judge stated. "However, I''ll allow this line of questioning for now."

    "Thank you, your honor." I inclined my head towards the judge. "Thanks to this abilities as a Jedi, Anakin was aware that something had happened to his mother even if he hadn''t been in contact with her ever since he became a part of the Jedi Order. He took his concerns to an available Jedi Master he trusted and asked for help. For permission to go to Tatooine and save his mother. A reasonable course of action, wouldn''t you say?" My smile got sadder still.

    "Certainly more reasonable than his actions above Geonosis." The Prosecutor quipped, earning himself a pointed look from the Judge. "Sorry, your honor. That was out of turn."

    "Yes, genera. Quite reasonable. I take it what happened next helps to explain why my client was less than reasonable during his second visit to Geonosis."

    Less than reasonable¡­ It took some effort of will not to laugh. That''s certainly an understated way to put it.

    "Anakin''s request was denied. He was told that he should simply let go of his attachments. That his mother dying would be a good thing even if not in those precise words." I paused for effect. "I don''t think that many of you would be surprised to learn that Anakin ignored that advise and did indeed go to Tatooine to find his mother."

    "That shows a pattern of insubordination and disregarding orders. By doing so, he endangered Senator Amidala and it was his job to protect her at the time." The Prosecutor objected.

    "Did he?" The Defender countered. "The good Senator was in no danger on Tatooine. It could be argued that she was safer there because that world was probably the last place the Confederate ?ssassins after her would have looked. The Senator was only in danger when she decided to go with my client to Geonosis to help his Jedi Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi who was in captivity at the time."

    "I''m not sure if you''re trying to help the defended or damning him with faint praise." The judge looked at me. "Is there a point to this story? While I can see some parallels it doesn''t really help the accused."

    "I''m almost done, your honor. While what I''m telling you certainly won''t clear general Skywalker from all charges, I hope it might prove a mitigating circumstance to be taken under advisement when his sentence is decided." I said smoothly.

    "I''ll allow it. As a trained Force user yourself, you certainly have a better insight in the defendant''s thought process than we do." The judge said.

    "Thank you. What happened is Anakin finding his mother in a terrible condition ¨C she had been tortured to the brink of death." I looked sadly at Skywalker. "She died in his arms moments after they reunited. Why that''s important? Senator Amidala, Anakin Skywalker''s wife was placed in not a dissimilar position. She was in pain he could feel even through the distance of space and both the Jedi and GAR officers advised against an attempt to secure a suspected antidote that was supposed to be held at a fortified location on Geonosis. My and the other officer''s reasoning was that the information about the cure was deliberately leaked to us and was nothing more than a trap and a way to bring general Skywalker closer to falling to the Dark Side. While I hope that the Jedi had similar concerns, now that I know their track record with people close to Anakin, I''m not so sure." I said in a low voice. "Knowing what had happened to his mother, I would have certainly approached the situation from a different angle. Explained my reasoning better."

    "How so?" The Defender asked.

    "In hindsight I can see how Anakin believed that history was repeating itself. How a woman he loved dearly, the wife who was his primary reason to fight so hard and valiantly for the Republic, was discarded and left to suffer and die. How none of us cared about her fate and simply expected him to swallow another loss and do nothing even if it was in his power to try." I shook my head. "While his past doesn''t absolve general Skywalker of responsibility for his actions, I firmly believe that what happened can''t be laid squarely on his shoulders. I know that the facts of the case are clear. That Anakin simply can''t be cleared of the charges ¨C doing so would mean spitting at the grave and sacrifices of every man and woman who had ever fought for the Republic. Yet, if I may be so bold, might I make a suggestion to the jury about the judgment they''re about to render at the end of this trial?"

    "Given your service to the Republic and your role as general Skywalker''s commanding officer at the time of the events in question, I have no trouble granting such a request, general Veil."

    "Thank you, your honor. I believe it''s clear to everyone that actions have consequences. That is something especially important for maintaining discipline and avoiding various disasters in a military organization like the Republic armed forces. Yet, there are different ways to make that lesson stick. To give justice to the people who died above Geonosis. In my professional opinion, while a prison term or worse might be well deserved given general Skywalker''s actions, such a sentence would be less than ideal given our circumstance. As we''re all painfully aware, we''re at war. One that is going to get uglier and even more vicious before the situation improves. Because of that, my professional recommendation is that you consider an alternative sentence for general Skywalker." I paused.

    The judge had to silence the observers who were getting louder and louder as my tale unfolded.

    "Please explain your reasoning, general." The judge ordered once order was restored.

    "Right now, I don''t trust general Skywalker with command. Perhaps I won''t trust him in a position of authority ever again." I stated sadly. "However, that doesn''t change a simple fact ¨C he is a handy with that lightsaber of his and his abilities with the Force can be a powerful power multiplier. I suggest the following: whatever sentence general Skywalker receives to be replaced with a mandatory service in the army as a common soldier so his abilities could be put to use saving Republic lives. He owes both the army, navy and the Republic itself more than thirty thousand lives. Give him the opportunity to save at least that many of our soldiers. If he breaks any regulation without an excellent reason, if he goes rogue again or do something else out of bounds, then his original sentence will go back into effect, no matter if it is a life sentence or death penalty. Give the man an opportunity to redeem himself, that''s all I ask of you."

    The resulting uproar forced the judge to have the observers removed by military police.

    Hopefully my speech was going to keep Anakin''s head away from the chopping block and out of Palpy''s hands. Otherwise, I would have to dispose of Skywalker in a short order to avoid further complications. On the bright side, even if the jury turned out unreasonable, I still might retain Padme''s political support. Well, as long as I don''t have to put down her husband.

    =RK=

    Part 3

    Captain''s quarters

    Cruiser "Remembrance"

    En route to Tython

    Hyperspace

    Arranging to make myself scarce for a week or two, was harder than anticipated. It took citing my duties as Mandalore, talking with Horus about covering for me and a few twenty hour days wile I helped Obi-Wan and company with crafting some contingency plans. Even more deception was required so I could slip from both Republic and Jedi surveillance, including half of my Mandalorian guards running interference. Yet, in the scheme was more or less successful and I found myself on board of the first Silencer equipped ship since the Great War ended.

    Bo and the most trustworthy of the security detail she created for me came too ¨C I had the nagging feeling that their help would be needed at our destination. Once we landed, the cruiser went into hyperspace before we had a chance to disembark our shuttle.

    "Captain Trek, it''s good to see you in again." I greeted the man who ran my clandestine operations.

    "The same to you, sir. Ma''am. We had a close call on Mandalore." Trek grimaced. From what he reported, it was a sheer luck that his transport survived after finding itself between Grievous'' fleet and the defending forces. The Clone saluted and sent a lieutenant to show my Mandalorians to the barracks and mess hall.

    "I''m glad to inform you that the Remembrance is fully operational." Trek announced. His voice brimmed with pride over a job well done. "Please follow me to my quarters where we can talk freely."

    "Lead the way, captain. Anything I need to know since our last chat?" I asked.

    "We tested the weapon in an asteroid field while awaiting your arrival, general. While there are some trouble with the targeting software, the Silencer performed satisfactory." The captain said.

    "Splendid work, Trek. Give my regard to your people. You all outdid yourselves." I praised him. In my experience, a properly measured use of the carrot and stick method worked best for motivating people. Going full retard and murdering your minions for no good reason just to encourage a tiny bit of increased productivity tended to be less than efficient in the long term, at least when you had competent people running things.

    Soon enough we reached our destination and Trek invited us in. His quarters were a bit bigger than the rooms where the rest of the ship''s officers made their home away from home, but beyond a few knick-knacks he had picked while running errands for me all across the galaxy, the place was no different from that on other Venators, well if you didn''t count the elaborate caf machine in the corner. Speaking about cruisers, making sure I got my hands of a handful of them to modify with experimental tech was a pain and half in the ?ss. Hopefully the Silencer would perform as well as I expected, because otherwise I would be having a lot of issues with my friends in Intelligence who arranged for the ships in the first place.

    "Please make yourselves comfortable. Can I offer you something? Caf, tea perhaps?" Trek asked.

    "Caf will be all right for me. Bo?" I asked my wife.

    "I''ll take a cup too. So are you going to tell us where are we going?" My wife asked. "There''s proper information security and then there''s your latest shenanigans."

    "Just a moment."

    "Couldn''t risk the Jedi hearing about it." I apologized. "We''re going to be saving my former Master."

    "As in the Sith Lord who trained you?" Bo frowned at me. "Who''s supposed to be dead, if I''m not mistaken."

    "Technically she''s been kinda immortal for a few hundred years before I met her."

    "Ah. Because that makes everything better." My wife ?r??n?d.

    I had the sneaking suspicion I wouldn''t be getting lucky tonight.

    "Complicated for certain." I quipped.

    "We''ll be rescuing her because?" Bo asked and glared at me.

    "A very good question. I believe she has answer we might need. Besides, I kinda owe her one." I frowned. "I think. While Zash tried to possess my body ¨C something that didn''t really work for her thanks to my buddy Khem, she was very useful after that misunderstanding. Zash did help me rebuild my body and retain my sanity after I kriffed up like a champion in pursuit for power.

    "We''re going where exactly?" Bo sighed. "This I going to be bothersome, I just know it." She muttered quietly.

    "Tython ¨C it was where the Jedi of old ran to after the Empire burned down their Temple during the Sack of Coruscant. According to some histories I''ve read, its was the seat of the Je''daii, the precursors of both the Jedi and the Sith."

    "I hope you''ll be able to get us there, sir." Trek added his two credits. "From what I could find, the system has been unreachable ever since the hyperlanes leading there collapsed a long time ago."

    "Once you get us to the coordinates I sent you, I should be able to plot us a safe course." I said. With Zash acting as a beacon through the Force and decent star charts, it should be doable.

    Trek simply nodded and offered us our cups. Damn, I got to get myself one of those machines ¨C the Caf was excellent.

    "With the pleasantries out of the way, I would like a status report, captain." I ordered.

    "As you wish, sir. Military, infrastructure or special projects first?" Trek asked.

    "Special."

    "The operation on Yavin proceeds apace. We''ve got the basic colony up and running and our new guests have settled in nicely."

    That was one project that I would have to find some help with ¨C unless something changed radically and likely for the worse, it didn''t look like that I would have time to properly train the nucleus of my planned New Sith. Plus, I really didn''t look forward to teaching kids the basics. Perhaps once the war was done and Aria and Jaybo''s training was complete I could delegate¡­. Still that was one long term project and the few kids I managed to retrieve while everyone was after the future Jedi younglings were still babes in arms so to speak.

    "Good. Status on your archeological digs?" I wasn''t sure if I should find this amusing or sad ¨C digging up bunkers I personally created for rainy day was time consuming effort often requiring a lot of searching around even with my instructions. At some places the geography had changed significantly in three and half thousand years. Not to mention that more than a few places had actually self-destructed after someone tried to loot them. The same was true for the low key Imperial caches that I could recall.

    Still, the fact that Trek''s men were able to retrieve the chips that made the Silencer possible more than made up for the time and resources invested in this operation. That would be true even if we didn''t recover anything else useful, which wasn''t the case. After all, I didn''t conjure the schematics for the Basilik droids and other goodies for my Mandalorians from thin air.

    "We simply lack the necessary resources to seek Force Sensitives for future training. The few we''ve located was more due to luck than anything else. We encountered them while browsing the black markets for Jedi or Sith artifacts. I have a list of what we''ve recovered." Trek grimaced. "Unfortunately, we simply are unable to confirm if the artifacts are genuine. Some do feel weird on close inspection but if its the Force or something else." The Clone shrugged.

    "I''ll be inspecting them once I have the time. Hopefully that endeavor hasn''t been a complete waste of time and money." Even after taking over a portion of Coruscant''s underworld and placing a few of my agents and folks from Intelligence in charge ¨C to look for CIS saboteurs and spies trying to infiltrate us that way of course, not to mention the taking over that two-bit pirate''s treasure and all his blackmail information, I still found myself with less liquid ?ssets that I liked.

    "Industry?" I inquired.

    "We''ve located two suitable systems so far. As far as we can determined, they''re unknown to the galaxy at large. One is actually quite close to the jump off point where we''re heading and its location in the Deep Core is better. The other is in the unknown regions. As you specified, the systems do have dense natural asteroid fields, complete with a lot of useful resources and the stellar geography is such that access to them is limited to just a few useful approaches. However, until we have the necessary resources, anything but establishing outposts would be unfeasible."

    "Send me the complete data on the locations. I think we''ll share the one in the Core with the Republic. A secret shipyard system could come in handy if the war drags out and it would be quite useful if something goes wrong in the future." I thought aloud.

    "Will do, sir. Next ¨C the shipyard we''ve leased for our cover as PMC are working at schedule so far, though there are some concerns about the chips. In order to produce them at the necessary quality, we need a certain rare crystal. My people are experimenting with substitutes ¨C some modern chips for example have better characteristics, but they tell me the architecture is different and if we''re to use them, the Silencer would need a moderate redesign."

    "Which would require resources and time we currently don''t have. Just get me as many Silencer equipped ships as humanly possible before the Confederacy strikes. I hope that after the dust settles I''ll have more ?ssets to work with." Either that or I''ll be executing my go to hell plans.

    Bo, who had been quite bored during the reports so far, perked up. "You''ve been talking about that Silencer a lot. What exactly is it?" My wife asked.

    "Care to do the honors, captain?" I asked Trek.

    "It will be p???sur?, sir." The Clone stood up and went to the desk in the back of the compartment. He activated the terminal and called played a video for my wife.

    "This my dear, is what my people were working towards since I became a general." I smiled in satisfaction.

    Bo whistled when she saw a recording of the Silencer''s latest test firing. "We could have used it at Mandalore."

    "Unfortunately, the prototype was still a couple of weeks from being ready, Ma''am." Trek explained.

    "A pity." Bo sighed. "On the other hand, now it will be a nasty surprise for the Confederacy."

    "I''m counting on it." My smile became feral.

    "How many of those toys do you have?" Bo asked.

    "That''s would be telling my dear. It''s a surprise." I teased.

    =RK=

    Part 4

    Officer quarters

    cruiser "Remembrance"

    En route to Tython

    Hyperspace

    "Tell me about this Zash of yours." Bo asked. My wife was cuddled next to me in a rather distracting manner on the small bed in the quarters we were staying for the duration of the trip.

    "My former masters¡­ She''s complicated. Zash was one of the sanest Sith Lords I knew, one of the most dangerous too. It was under her guidance I became powerful and cunning enough to face against Dark Council members and not only survive but kill them." I said. Was that longing for a past long gone I could hear in my voice?

    "I didn''t take you for the melancholic sort, love." Bo shifted and rested her head on my ?h?st so she could look me in the eyes. "I shouldn''t be surprised, though. People don''t really think about where you came from, do they? Don''t know or don''t care that everything you fought for, everything you achieved had been dust for the longest time."

    "True, dear. There were moments when I wondered what the hell am I doing here? I''ve been going through the motions, plotting, seeking power, because that''s what Sith do. Yet, I had no real purpose. No reason to fight, beyond enjoying the act itself." I smiled fondly. "You and the Mandalorian people gave me a purpose."

    Made my life much more complicated too.

    "I''m glad to be of service. How much trouble is Zash going to be?" Bo asked.

    "It depends. Unless she''s changed significantly, Zash would be more interested in continuing her research more than anything. Though not unlike myself, she''ll likely seek enough power and a position secure enough to ensure that no one would kriff with her without thinking long and hard. How she''ll go about it, that''s going to be complicated. If the Jedi overreact as I expect them to do, things are going to get ugly."

    "I don''t know. If she offers her services to the Republic, like you did, she might do all right." Bo looked thoughtful. "You''re Mandalore. Why don''t you offer her a job? Finance her research or something and offer her a quiet place to play with her toys in exchange of aiding us."

    "If Zash agrees, that would be a delicious irony. I used to be her errand boy for years ¨C even if I was well paid and offered some vital training in better understanding and using the Force in exchange." I beamed at my wife. "That''s a splendid idea, my love." I leaned forward and caught her lips in a kiss.

    We didn''t get much sleep that night.

    =RK=

    Outer system

    Tython

    It took us five days, two of which I spent concentrating through the Force over a nav computer to create a course that wouldn''t see us end in a star, black hole or smeared through half the galactic core. By the time I finished, my head was about to explode and I was down for our final leg of the journey while recovering in bed. Yet, it worked. When we exited hyperspace I could feel we were in the right place even before our sensors could give us a clear image of the system.

    "Captain, I want the place saturated with sensor probes. Get recon flights out and keep in constant contact with them. There''s only one inhabitable planet in the system ¨C take us there but do your best to mask our approach for as long as possible. I want constant nav updates for an emergency jump out of system if we run into something we can''t handle. There''s something or someone familiar and disturbing in the region" I ordered.

    "On it, sir." The Captain went on to issue his own set of orders.

    "Bo?" I asked.

    "We''re ready, Mandalore. Command us." My wife answered formally. She was wearing the same armor she fought me in and was armed to the teeth ¨C just like my Mandalorian security detail.

    "We''re ready to go too, general." Lieutenant Oleg ¨C the commander of the Clone platoon that would provide me with more punch and tactical options announced.

    It was unfortunate, but my spec ops ships simply didn''t have enough personnel for anything resembling full ground compliment. The troopers ?ssigned to my handful of cruisers could b?r?ly cover internal security, much less fight a proper ground campaigns. That was the price paid for reasonable amount of secrecy.

    "Is our objective here as expected, sir? Trek asked me.

    "She''s here. I can sense her presence." I said and closed my eyes. I concentrated on the Force and used it to expand my awareness far beyond the ship I was on. Tython felt wild, untamed. I could feel both sides of the Force clashing on the planet''s surface and causing an upheaval. This world was truly unique in the galaxy.

    I stilled my wandering mind and concentrated on the familiar presence of my former master. Even with Tython in the background or perhaps because of it, I could easily divine her presence. Huh. Zash was in orbit. Either on station or ship. The familiar and disturbing presence grew sharper. It was quite close to Zash. I shifted my awareness and pushed.

    The image of a woman''s face ¨C one framed by graying red hair ¨C flashed through my mind. She was much older than I remembered, but there was no mistaking the woman. Kira Carsen.

    My concentration slipped as I felt overwhelming fury. Where that woman went, her accursed husband wouldn''t be far behind. I snarled and the Dark Side rose around me in glee.

    Jedi Master Jerrod Perrion ¨C the man who killed the Emperor. The same bastard who argued for the ?ssassination of my first wife and helped persuade his friends in Republic Special Operations to green light the operation.

    The one kriffing Jedi I couldn''t get before finding myself in the future.

    I laughed. His precious wife was somehow here, close to Zash.

    "Captain, flank speed. I want concentrated sensor sweeps over the planet. There''s either a ship or space station over the south pole. I want you to plot a hyperspace jump right on top of it. Disable its weapons and clear us a way for landing. Kill anything that gets in range until we come back." I hissed my orders.

    The people on the bridge were giving me uneasy glances ¨C even people blind to the Force could sense the rage I emanated and feel the temperature falling rapidly while the Dark Side raged around me.

    I didn''t care. My vengeance was finally at hand.

    "Delkatar, what the kriff?!" My wife exclaimed.

    I turned to look her in the eyes and she flinched. That gave me pause. I examined Bo, then grit my teeth and took control of my emotions.

    "I don''t know how the kriff is possible, but one of the people responsible for the murder of my first wife is in here, close to our objective." I took a deep breath. "The primary mission stays the same ¨C recover Zash. However, I''m expanding it. I want the computer core of that ship, base, whatever sliced in and as much information taken. I''ll be dealing with any rogue Jedi who try to stop us."

    Bo looked at me for a long moment, then nodded. "We''ll talk about it later. Your orders will be executed, Mandalore."

    =RK=

    Part 5

    Republic station "Pillar of the Fallen"

    High orbit above Tython

    Kira Carsen was observing her apprentice dueling against two younger Padawans in the training hall, when she felt a disturbance in the Force. That by itself wasn''t a notable event. They were above Tython after all and the planet below them was becoming a death world wracked by Force storms.

    No, it was a sudden surge of anger and a hint of a presence she had felt before, that made the Jedi stop and take notice. Kira closed her eyes and concentrated. The world around her became distant when she let the Force flow through her. The Jedi Master gasped. All she could feel was fury, directed at her own person. The Dark Side was practically boiled and what felt like a tidal wave made of its very substance was approaching.

    Kira fell to her knees and struggled to breathe. The sheer presence she felt was simply suffocating.

    "Master!" The Padawans had ceased their training and rand up to her.

    "I''m all right, Denii." Kira gave a wan smile to her pupil, then her features became serious. "Prepare yourselves. A great darkness is coming." The Jedi Master grabbed the offered hand of her Padawan and arose to her feet. She used the Force to activate her comm and contact the station''s commander. "Captain Harris, we''re about to have uninvited visitors. Battle stations. All Jedi and security personnel, prepare to repel boarders. Send a distress signal. We''ll probably need help." Kira ordered.

    "What are your orders, Master?" Denii asked.

    The Jedi Master looked her Padawan in the eyes. The Zabrak girl was so sure that Kira knew what to do and could do no wrong. She smiled fondly at her student.

    "Be careful. I''m almost positive that there are Sith coming. Go augment the defense forces. I''ll grab my armor and meet you in the hangar."

    "Sith?! Here and now?" Denii exclaimed. Her green eyes widened comically.

    "That''s what I sense. Don''t play heroes, that goes for you all. I''ll engage the Sith." Kira ordered firmly.

    "As you wish, Master!" The teenagers agreed without a hint of protest.

    "Good. Let''s go!" Kira nodded and sprinted towards the door. Moments later she was heading down the outer ring of the mushroom shaped station, which was the most direct way to her quarters. She was passing around a row of windows showing countless twinkling stars and a small part of Tython''s south pole, when a tremor through the Force made her look up.

    Nothing happened for a heartbeat, then at least a kilometer long cruiser exited hyperspace dangerously close to the station. That presence, the Sith, they were on that ship. Kira stumbled when she sensed it properly.

    "Vael!" The Jedi Master hissed. Any thought about getting into her armor was forgotten. The warship''s canons rotated and aimed at the station.

    Sirens screamed and the hallway was illuminated by blinking red lights. Then the cruiser opened fire and blue Ion bolts slammed into the station before its shields could come online. The Jedi Master was pretty sure that they were our of commission now.

    The deck below Kira shuddered and she grabbed the wall to keep herself on her feet. The ship outside shifted vector to interpose its armored belly between the Pillar''s guns and its hangars, then it began disgorging squadrons of fighter and bombers followed by landing craft.

    Kira swore and sprinted towards the hangar.

    =RK=

    Hangar Bay C

    Republic station "Pillar of the Fallen"

    High orbit above Tython

    Denii Strum met a squad of soldiers on her way to the hangars and joined them in sprinting that way. The young Zabrak was both excited and frightened by the prospect of engaging in a real combat for the first time. She had been just ?ssigned to Master Carsen when their task force encountered and anomaly in hyperspace and ended in this strange and terrible future. From what Denii learned, there was still a Republic, which controlled most of known space¡­ Yet that state had precious little in common with the Republic she and everyone in the fleet had sworn to protect.

    All it took was a cursory scan on the holonet to see it. This Republic was a corrupt, b?r?ly working mess. It was the corpse of a dead beast was taking its last inefficient breath. That made the Remnant''s course pretty simple ¨C they covertly joined the forming Confederacy of Independent Systems and prepared to tear down the abomination using the name of their proud nation.

    Well, the Jedi Knights and the military did so. For the support personnel and the Padawans, the last few years were quite boring ¨C just training and making sure that the fleet was not only properly supplied and repaired but upgraded with modern technology too.

    The Padawan led the soldiers into the hangar and looked around. There were a handful of shuttles and fighters ¨C nothing that would be really useful unless they had to flee, which was impossible. With Master Carsen on board, the Sith would be dispatched in a short order, Denii just knew it. Her teacher was one of the most powerful and experienced Jedi in the whole Jedi Order ¨C a handful of Sith, especially the weak impostors of this era, would pose no challenge. The Padawan was sure of it!

    "Take cover and set up the heavy weapons!" The Jedi ordered. She glanced at the troopers and smiled. They were already doing so. The two heavy weapon specialist were headed towards a row of heavy durasteel crates, with the rest spreading out to cover the rest of the hangar.

    "Denii, I''m at hangar A. It''s quiet so far." Padawan Milo Kris, a fellow Zabrak, reported.

    "I''m on my way to B." Trin Jord announced a moment later. He was the youngest of the trio ¨C a fourteen years old human with a fierce temperament and a wild shoulder length brown hair that tried to match his disposition.

    "Defense teams, be advised: enemy landing craft are inbound. The defense grid is crippled and our shield is down. Prepare to repel boarders. The QRF is committed. You have to buy our security personnel enough time to arm and armor themselves!" Captain Harris announced.

    "This is Padawan Strum. I hear you loud and clear, sir. We''ll keep them busy for as long as possible!" The words were b?r?ly out of Denii''s mouth, when the Force warned her of immediate danger. "Take cover!" The Jedi shouted and threw herself behind a stack of crates, before then used her powers to create a telekinetic shield around herself.

    It wasn''t a moment too soon. Something hit the hangar doors and turned them into half molten shrapnel that scythed through the compartment. Large pieces crippled the fighters, but only dented the bulkier and armored shuttles. A large object tore its way through what remained of the doors, then slammed into the side of one of the transport. The sound of shearing and grinding metal made the Padawan wince.

    Denii jumped on her feet and looked at the devastation. Her timely warning had saved the soldiers ¨C she could feel that only one was wounded, but the rest were all right. The hangar looked like a war zone, which she guessed it was now. The Padawan drew her lightsaber and looked at the ship that forced its way in. It''s rear ramp opened with a screech and two spheres flew out. They detonated a moment later, obscuring the ?ssault shuttle within fast expanding clouds of smoke.

    The Padawan didn''t need eyes to see the intruders. They were sprinting out of the ship and spreading out in a search for cover. Unfortunately, whatever was in that smoke was good enough to prevent the soldier''s visors from piercing it. They opened blind fire, which Denii knew wouldn''t hit a thing unless by sheer luck.

    This couldn''t be allowed to stand. She gave out a war cry and charged the enemy. The Padawan deflected two blaster bolts that flew too close for comfort, before using the Force to grab a nearby enemy and throw him at the ceiling with bone crushing force. Then Denii jumped through the smoke and landed in front of another intruder and impaled him on her blade.

    It quickly became obvious that the concealment worked both ways. She was able to dispatch six soldiers, before the rest were aware she was among them.

    "Kriff! A Jedi! They''ve got a Jedi!" A trooper clad in what Denii knew to be this era''s Republic standard armor shouted. He tried to shoot her, but she simply sent his shots back at him. They burned through his shield and armor alike, killing the man.

    "We''re on it. Just keep their soldiers off our backs!" A deep voice boomed.

    Denii glanced at where the sound came from and thank to the Force, she could make out three men and a woman advancing towards her. They had sheathed their blasters and instead pulled out vibroblades.

    The Padawan frowned at that. She tried to crush the one she though was the leader, yet his armor resisted her efforts. She pushed harder and the man slowed his approach. He grunted and struggled against her telekinetic hold. Denii was about to channel even more energy in her telekinesis, however a sense of imminent danger made her jump back. The two mounted flamethrowers wielded by the other men came to life and came too close to engulfing the Padawan in liquid fire.

    The flames pushed the smoke away and Denii saw who she was facing. The general design of the armor was recognizable even if it had evolved in the last few thousand years.

    The four Mandalorians the Padawan faced gave out war cries of their own and charged her.

    Denii cursed and dasher right, when an enemy trooper tried to shoot her in the back, which gave the quartet just enough time to reach her. She parried a slash, ducked under a thrust and had to retreat when another torrent of liquid fire was unleashed upon her. This time she wasn''t nearly fast enough and the cape of her armored robes was caught by the flames. She briefly glanced at the soldiers she led here, but they were busy trading shots with the rest of the intruders.

    =RK=

    Hangar Bay B

    Republic station "Pillar of the Fallen"

    High orbit above Tython

    Trin Jord was the odd one out among the Padawans being trained on the station. For example, he was the only one who didn''t come with them from the past and that was a concept he still struggled with even when saw proof about it. More importantly, the human youth shouldn''t have been able to train to be a Jedi. He didn''t have the Force until a couple of years ago when he met Master Jerrod and was given an offer he couldn''t possibly refuse.

    Trin was a trader''s son from a sparsely populated world in the Outer Rim. Life as a kid had been good, up until his father''s ship had been seized by a Republic patrol for contraband ¨C which wasn''t really true. His dad and his clients simply refused to pay the back breaking tariffs that the Senate had leveled over their home sector. His father lost his ship and things went downhill for the Jord family.

    A couple of very tough years followed those events and the only light in the tunnel were some people from the Confederacy who wanted to hire his dad''s service. That''s how he first met Master Jerrod ¨C while he helped his dad on a transport course for the Jedi. A malfunction in the hyperdrive that made them limp at sublight for a week before being rescued, gave Trin an opportunity to talk with Master Jerrod. He still didn''t know why the Jedi made him the offer ¨C perhaps it was because the hatred he held towards the Republic and everything it did to the colonies. Perhaps it was because of his childhood dream to be a Jedi.

    In the end, Trin didn''t really care. The Jedi Master made the offer, he accepted and a month later he was through a place called the Valley of the Jedi. An amazing place that awoke the Force in Trin.

    Even now, two years later, the Padawan couldn''t really put into words what exactly happened. All he knew for sure was that at one moment he was just ordinary old Trin, then it felt like he had been a blind and deaf cripple who could suddenly see the world for the first time.

    Sensing the Force, feeling it flow through him, being trained how to harness it¡­ After all that, Trin was Master Jerrod''s man through and through. That''s why the very thought that someone dared attack this place ¨C a station under his Master''s protection, infuriated the young Padawan. He was determined to prove that he was worthy of the gifts Jerrod had given him.

    All thoughts of glorious success were thrown out of Trin''s head when something crashed into the station and he struggled to remain on his feet. The Padawan could hear explosions coming from the nearby hangars and he still hadn''t reached the one he was supposed to protect.

    "Follow me!" Trin shouted and ran faster. A louder crash sounded from just around the corner and the following tremor did throw him off his feet. The Padawan cursed. He was too late!

    Trin got up and sprinted into the hangar and paid no attention to the soldiers behind him. When he turned the corner, he faced devastation. The fighters parked into the hangar were all destroyed. The only relatively intact ship was a large shuttle, which appeared to had blasted its way in. Its ramp was down and armored men and women were disembarking.

    The Padawan grabbed his lightsaber and activated it. He was going to stop those people!

    Trin charged the intruders, then abruptly stopped when his feet refused to move forward. He was staring at the armored figure that was leading the ?ssault. The Padawan recoiled at the sticky cloud of fury and loathing surrounding that man. It was like the Dark Side itself was manifesting and destroying Trin''s courage.

    The young human clutched his saber in both hands and held it in front of the approaching monster as if it could ward off the darkness.

    Trin felt cold. He knew that this was his death approaching and it terrified him. It also made him angry. That emotion was enough to awake his frozen courage. The Padawan snarled and charged the man. A lightsaber appeared in the monster''s hand and activated mid-swing. It battered Trin''s blade with contemptuous ease and before the Padawan could react, the crimson saber burned through his ?h?st armor and seared his lungs.

    It wasn''t fair! He finally had everything he ever dreamed of, the Padawan thought.

    Trin looked down at the blade impaling his ?h?st and frowned. Wasn''t this supposed to hurt?

    The lightsaber pulled out and suddenly Trin was on the ground looking up at a headless corpse. His vision grew dark and darkness claimed him.

    =RK=

    Part 6

    Hangar Bay B

    Republic station "Pillar of the Fallen"

    High orbit above Tython

    "No! Trin!" A female voice shouted.

    I could feel the woman''s anguish and it was like fine glass of brandy.

    "A friend of yours, Kira?" I taunted while examining her.

    Carsen wore a set of robes similar to those once upon a time favored by Satele Shan. The Jedi Mater looked older, more tired than I remembered. For a moment I wondered how long she had been in this age, then dismissed the thought. I would figure it out eventually.

    The Jedi was followed into the hangar by five power armored soldiers. Their outfit was familiar ¨C it was the same overall design like the samples recovered from the unknown that engaged one of my units on Naboo during the search for the younglings. That explained much. I''ve been wondering for some time how the timeline could go to hell so fast. It was now obvious I had help in that regard.

    "Vael!" Carsen spat my name as if it was the vilest of curses.

    "At your service my dear. My, my what a curious company you have. Terrorism, warcrimes, you''ve been busy." I nodded at the soldiers behind her. The irony was delicious. How the mighty had fallen ¨C their exploits were almost worthy of Sith.

    "That''s rich coming from a monster like you!" The Jedi snapped.

    "I''ll deal with my old aquintance. You know your orders. Keep safe, Bo." I nodded at my wife and raised my hands. The Old Republic troopers were lifted in the air under my will despite their Force resistant armor, then I hurled them at the back of the hangar with enough force to make sure they wouldn''t be an issue ever again.

    Kira pulled out her favored double bladed lightsaber and ignited its emerald blades.

    "You shall not pass!" The Jedi Master hissed.

    "You know, I''ve been here for a whole year now. Ever since I found myself in the future, I''ve had to hold back or risk freaking the natives enough that they would go after me as a too great a threat." I gave her a chilling smile. "I''ve had resigned myself that my vengeance would remain unfullfilled. "Yet, here we are. Where is that worthless husband of yours, Kira?" I asked and charged her.

    I could no longer keep my fury at bay. Nor did I want to. The Dark Side draped itself over me like a lover and I let myself go.

    Our blades met and I used a telekinetic push to throw her out of the way. The Jedi countered expertly and the only effect my attack had was buffering her robes with a bit of displaced air. Kira glared venomously at me. The debris all around us rose in the air under her control and she sent them all my way.

    I laughed and froze them within a stasis field, then pushed back the Jedi Master and released a torrent of Sith Lighting at her. She caught it on her blade, yet the attack staggered her for a moment. I took advantage of that and jumped on the offensive and pushed her yet farther away from the exit. Bo and my guards sprinted out and went in search of their objectives.

    "I''ve been looking up to this moment for years, Kira." I hissed at the Jedi Master. The Force jumped to obey my will. A cloud of dark miasma formed around me and flew at the Carsen.

    The Jedi jumped out of the way and staggered when I pressed against her mental shields. She shook her had and glared after fending my attempt to drive her insane. The Jedi Master retaliated by forming a ball of pulsing energy around her left hand and throwing it my way. I shielded myself with the Force and it was my turn to stagger when the sphere detonated and tried to disintegrate me.

    My defense held and I laughed in joy. I didn''t even know how much I missed facing a worthy opponent. I''ll almost regret gutting the bitch.

    Carsen threw a bunch of debris my way to conceal her next attack - an attempt to catch me into a stasis field. I simply drew on the Dark Side and blasted away the projectiles before collapsing her technique.

    "My turn!" I exclaimed joyfully and released an omnidirectional telekinetic pulse. Kira released one in turn, but my attack was just a distraction to by me couple of seconds.

    The Dark Side sang around me as I drank deeply from her poisoned well. The power flowing through me lifted my body off the ground while I channeled that energy into a lighting storm I unleashed at the Jedi Master. This wasn''t an attack that could be countered by something as simple as a lightsaber blade.

    Tendrils of purple lighting slashed from both the deck and ceiling. They picked up pieces of shattered metal as a mere side effect and turned half the hangar into a web of dancing energy.

    Carsen fell on her knees and raised her lightsaber in a horizontal position using it as a focus to create a spherical shield around her body. Lighting struck it again and again. The woman screamed when her defense flickered and pseudo electricity arched all over her body. Yet, the shield held until my attack was spent.

    Kira was on her knees, panting with wisps of smoke rising from her robes. I landed lightly on my feet and took a deep breath. The attack took more of me than it should have, though I was very far from spent.

    "Is that all you''ve got, Sith?" The Jedi Master spat and got up.

    "I haven''t started yet, Jedi." I snapped at her and sent a jolt of lighting her way. Kira danced away from my attack, then tried to lift me in the air. I released a pulse of raw Force energy and shattered her grip before it could properly form before retaliating in kind by trying to choke her.

    The Jedi Master gasped, but managed to break my hold almost immediately. She snarled at me. I felt her attempt to crush my mind. Kira''s attack clawed at my mental shields and gave me a mild headache, before I could shake it off. I retaliated in kind and leveled the power of the Dark Side against her mind. Carsen fell on her knees and screamed as I battered her mental defenses. I could see her crying bloody tears, before she roared and drew deeply from the Dark Side.

    That gave her strength enough to survive my onslaught with her sanity more or less intact. Kira got up and glared at me with with her yellow eyes.

    I cackled. So much for the Jedi''s vaunted restraint. I waved her to come at me. I wanted to tear her apart with my own hands.

    Kira closed her eyes for a moment. She was enveloped by an energy field made by the Force, which practically made her glow thanks to my connection with our power. I did the same, using the Dark Side and an armor made of living shadows manifested over me. The Force invigorated me, it made me faster, stronger than humanly possible. I was sure Kira was doing the same.

    We stared at each other for a long moment. I grinned and charged.

    =RK=

    Hangar Bay C

    Republic station "Pillar of the Fallen"

    High orbit above Tython

    Denii felt desperation raise its ugly head. The four Mandalorians were acting like a well oiled machine. The moment she got any kind of advantage against one of their number, the rest redoubled their efforts and pushed her back. The troopers were pinned down by enemy fire and could offer her no help either.

    The Padawan almost got herself killed when she felt Trin die and stumbled. It was sheer dumb luck or perhaps the Force throwing her a bone ¨C that''s the only way Strum could explain why she was still alive. Instead of gutting her, the Mandalorian she was facing at that moment didn''t expect her mistake and missed her gut by a hair.

    She had to roll away from the woman, who tried to torch her, only to stumble next to one of the men. A desperation fueled telekinetic push shoved his blade away before it could split her skull open. Denii parried another slash then b?r?ly dodged a thrust only to find herself in the way of an armored boot that caught her in the ribs and sent her tumbling on the deck. Her armor blunted the kick enough to keep her ribs from cracking but she would still feel it in the morning.

    Provided she was still alive to feel anything ¨C a prospect that was looking less and less likely by the minute.

    Denii rolled over the debris littered floor away from a flamethrower blast and got on her feet in time to meet the next attack.

    Then the Force smiled upon her. A security squad dashed into the hangar and immediately opened fire. They caught one of the Mandalorians attacking the Padawan off guard and their concentrated fire burned through his shields and armor before he could react. The others wasted no time and rolled away towards the closest cover.

    "No, you don''t!" Denii snarled. She levitated a piece of a fighter wing and slammed it into one of the men. The Mandalorian was sent skidding over the deck, right in the open where the troopers blasted him apart.

    The Padawan was about to repeat that trick when she felt Milo die too. The shock staggered her and she reacted too late when one of the enemies sent a burst in her side. Her deflector and armor took the brunt of the attack, however the last shot had enough energy to burn through. Denii screamed like a damned soul when molten alloy fused itself to her ribs.

    It was only thanks to the adrenaline flooding her veins and the Force enhancing her body that she was able to remain conscious and crawl away to the friendly position. Denni crashed behind a stack of metal crates next to the heavy weapon specialists and whimpered.

    One of the soldiers slapped a med pack on her neck and flooded her bloodstream with stimulants. The jolt made the Padawan shudder and cleared her mind. She closed her eyes and used the Force to sooth her wound. While she wasn''t good enough to heal her injury in a short order, Denii still knew enough to numb it and make sure she wouldn''t hurt herself even more while moving.

    "This is Captain Harris. We lost Hangar A. Jedi Master Carsen is engaging a Sith in B and needs immediate ?ssistance. Be advised we have at least half a platoon worth of enemy troops lose in the station. Security teams converge on the hangars, engineering and command center."

    Denii glanced over the crates. Security had the enemy here contained.

    "I''m going to help my Master. Keep them bottled in until reinforcements arrive!" The Padawan shouted and stumbled towards the exit.

    =RK=

    Hangar Bay B

    Republic station "Pillar of the Fallen"

    High orbit above Tython

    Kira felt at least couple of decades younger. The Force sang to the Jedi Master as it flowed through her body. The world around her was sharper, clearer. Her injuries were soothed and she felt powerful beyond measure.

    The Jedi Master inhaled slowly and stared at Vael. The maniac was enjoying this! A sense of determination filled her. That Sith had caused too much suffering and death to be allowed to win. He was here, in front of her and Kira was going to be damned before she let him get away.

    A heartbeat later, they both exploded in motion. A Jedi and a Sith met in the center of the hangar. They were surrounded by wrecked ships, glowing debris and a corona of metal hanging within a stasis field. Somehow that little taste of hell felt appropriate for the stage of their battle.

    Kira spun around, becoming a whirlwind of death. Her blade was alive in her hands, eager to bite into her old nemesis. The damned Sith was laughing and meeting her hit for hit. Their sabers met with such a force that each hit emitted blinding flashed of light, yet the combatants were not bothered by the light show.

    The Jedi Master deflected a slash aimed to literally disarm her, then spun in place by using the Force to tremendously increase her speed. Her blade flashed and battered aside Vael''s saber, then she finished her spin by kicking the man in the head with enough force to give an ordinary human a concussion. The Sith simply shook his head and laughed.

    He was upon her a moment later. Kira let everything but the battle fade from her mind. There was only the Sith in front of her and defeating him. Strike, parry, riposte, deflect, dodge, rinse and repeat. The Jedi Master was lost in her bladework and trusted the Force to warn her about any nasty surprises. She needed something more. An opening. A chance.

    Kira let dived deeper and deeper in the Force. She knew that the Force was with her. It was stronger than the Dark Side, that was a well known fact. Yet, she couldn''t find an opening. Vael made no mistakes. The Jedi Master snarled in frustration. She needed more power! She had to win and end the madman here and now!

    Kira needed power. She was growing angry and frustrated¡­ and the Dark Side answered her call. The Jedi Master felt a surge of power. Her strikes rained faster, hit harder. Vael was pushed back a step then another. Kira smiled at the Sith. Surely this was it! She was going to win now!

    The bastard laughed in glee. He placed his feet firmly on the deck and refused to take a single step back. His own speed increased to mach her. His attacks gained additional power.

    The deck below them trembled each time their blades met. Kira snarled and grasped for yet more power. She could feel Vael doing the same and her desperation to win increased. Each strike sent shock-waves through the hanger. The frozen debris were freed and a moment later flew away with enough velocity to dent the thick bulkheads. The deck itself protested under the abuse and rang like a gong.

    Yet, it wasn''t enough! Kira roared in defiance. She felt the Force answering her call and flooding her with even more of its essence. The Jedi Master felt her body tremble and struggle to contain the energy, yet it was worth it! She had never felt such power before!

    Kira glared at the Sith and simply willed him to die. Vael shook as the Force itself pressed upon him in an attempt to squash him like a bug. He roared in joy and tried to do the same to her. They were both enveloped by enough Force energy to become visible to even the blind. The Jedi Master screamed because of the strain she was under, screamed her fury and determination for the whole galaxy to hear. She wrestled the Force surrounding her and trust it at Vael like a battering ram.

    That should have been it. She just knew it. Yet, the Sith did the same and Kira had to struggle to contain the energy gathering between them. The two lances of pure Force condensed into a sphere which soon became blinding. Kira''s eyes widened and she jumped back in a Force ?ssisted leap. The Jedi Master did her best to shield herself, because she knew what was coming. The area where their attacks met distabilized and all that energy detonated like a bomb.

    Kira was caught in mid-air and knew that was it. She couldn''t muster enough power fast enough to cushon her impact.

    Yet, the bone shattering crash into a bulkhead didn''t materialize. Kira opened her eyes in confusion, then smiled in gratitude. Denii stood at the entrance. She looked worse to wear, but the Padawan had somehow not only prevented her from slamming into the wall but shielded herself too.

    The much younger woman sprinted to her Master''s side and helped her up.

    "You did it, Master!" Denii exclaimed in jubilation.

    "Did she?" A hated voice mocked.

    Kira''s eyes widened and she looked up. Vael stood just a few meters away from the detonation. The deck in front of him was simply gone ¨C a large chunk of it was disintegrated and the hole showed the ruin of the level below the hangar.

    While the Sith''s armor appeared to be battered and the shadows that surrounded him like a second skin were gone, the man appeared unharmed.

    The Jedi Master took a stock of her situation. She gave everything she had, yet the Sith was undetered. Kira grabbed her Padawan''s shoulder and pulled herself up.

    "Denii listen to me carefully. Get out of here and call evacuation. Find a shuttle and leave the system. Find Jerrod. This station is lost. I''ll buy you as long as I can."

    "Master! We can''t take him!" Denii exclaimed in horror. "I can''t leave you."

    "We need to walk separate paths now, Padawan. Where I''m headed you should not follow for a long, long time." Kira smiled at the teen. "Denii, you still have your life in front of you. Don''t waste it here."

    "Master¡­"

    "Such a touching moment." Vael chuckled darkly. "Go girl, while I''m in a good mood. Go to Jerrod and tell the bastard I''ll be waiting for him. Run now and tell him that his precious little wife died screaming."

    Denii gripped her lightsaber harder and glared at the Sith.

    "Don''t listen to him, Denii. Don''t let him provoke you. Do this for me, my friend. Go." Kira squeezed her Padawan''s shoulder.

    "Master, I¡­" Denii trailed off. There were tears in her eyes. "I''ll go. Here..." The Padawan offered her lightsaber. Kira smiled fondly at her pupil and mouthed: "Go."

    The Jedi Master returned her attention to the Sith, who was circling around the hole in the deck. She ignited Denii''s lightsaber and raised it in Soresu stance.

    "You want me, you bastard? Come and get me!" Kira shouted.

    "It will be my p???sur?." Vael snarled and charged.

    Kira drew as much of the Force as her battered body could handle. She was still faster and stronger than any human had a right to be. Would have put most cyborgs to shame.

    Vael was faster. Stronger. Even with the Force, the Jedi Master had trouble following his blade. Only instinct born of decades on the battlefield let her survive the next few seconds. She only managed it by constantly falling back.

    It wasn''t enough. The Sith''s blood colored blade bit into her left arm, making her gasp in pain. Kira moved to deflect the next strike, which was a feint. The crimson saber moved faster than her tired eyes could follow and sliced her left shoulder, making that arm useless.

    "No! NOT LIKE THIS!" Kira snapped. She simply refused to die like that ¨C exhausted and cold, with an enemy who she was unable to at least cripple. Her emotions and pain gave ample fuel to the Dark Side, which eagerly answered her plea. Yet, the simple sad truth was that even with that power boost, her body was giving out.

    Kira went in a last ditch desperate offensive. She met Vael strike for strike. Allowed herself to hope she could take him down with her.

    Then it was all over. Just like that. One moment Kira was attacking, then she stumbled back and stared dumbly at the stump where her right hand used to be.

    "And so it ends. Vengeance is mine." Vael declared.

    Kira looked at the Sith and saw a torrent of purple lighting. Her nervous system lit on fire. The sheer viciousness of the attack pulled her off her feet and all she knew was agony. She felt her skin blacken, her organs slowly fry, yet there was no blessed oblivion.

    Only more pain than the human nervous system should be able to process.

    =RK=

    Hangar Bay B

    Republic station "Pillar of the Fallen"

    High orbit above Tython

    Denii got out and called the station''s commander. She knew that captain Harris had been watching events unfold. He was aware what was happening.

    "This is Captain Harris. All hands, head to the nearest shuttle or escape pod. I repeat, all hands, head to the nearest shuttle of escape pod. Security personnel are to slow down the enemy and evacuate last."

    The Padawan entered the hangar she tried to defend earlier and fell to her knees. She could feel her Master screaming in agony. She could sense an echo of Kira''s pain and that was enough to dazzle her.

    "Master..." Denii whispered. She looked back the way she came.

    That¡­ that monster was torturing her Master to death. All Denii wanted was to go back and help Kira even if she knew it was pointless. If a Jedi Master fell to the Sith, what chance she, a Padawan, had?

    Denii shook in helplessness and shame. To think that she believed the Sith of this age were easy to handle. How foolish¡­

    A blaster bold flew past the Padawan''s head and served to concentrate her mind. She looked around. The enemy were contained, yet that wasn''t enough. The only thing Denii could do was to save the soldiers in here.

    She got up and snarled at the Sith''s minions. They all had to die for following such a monster! Denii screamed in pain and fury then charged at the enemy. She didn''t need a lightsaber. She had the Force.

    The Padawan felt like she was freezing ¨C probably thanks to shock and ignored the sensation. She raised a hand and an enemy soldier was lifted in the air, then crushed like a can. Denii threw another one against the wreck of a fighter and that man never moved again. Another was pulled in the sights of the Republic troopers only to reduced to slag and cooked meat.

    "Push them back! Kill them!" Denii furiously snapped. Her men obeyed and followed her into the fray. Only the remaining Mandalorian proved an obstacle for the furious ?ssault. Denii glared at them, then picked the wreck of a fighter with her mind and threw it at them.

    The Padawan looked around and gasped for breath. She was sure at least a few of the bastards were still alive, but she didn''t have time for them. "We''re taking their ship and getting away.

    After the firefight, the enemy shuttle was ironically the one most intact. "Go!" Denii pointed at their way out.

    =RK=

    Secure storage

    Republic station "Pillar of the Fallen"

    High orbit above Tython

    Deep in the bowels of the Old Republic space station rested an ancient corpse protected by a stasis field. The coffin was made through alchemy to hold its occupant contained. Only the wild shifts in the currents of the Force caused by the storms on the planet bellow allowed the occupant of that body to manifest for short periods of time.

    She did so right then and there. The shimmering Force Ghost of a short red haired woman stood in front of the stasis pod that was her prison and smiled. Finally, after all those years, she was going to be free.

    "Warning! Self destruct sequence has been initiated. All personnel abandon ship. I repeat..."

    "You better hurry apprentice, or I''ll be haunting you to the grave and beyond." Darth Zash pouted.

 Chapter 66 - Ancient Sith and other monsters [2/2]

    Part 7

    Republic station "Pillar of the Fallen"

    High orbit above Tython

    "I want one of those." A Mandalorian ducked under a hail of blaster fire. "Complete with beskar plating."

    "Grenade the bastards. Mix of frag and concussion." Bo ordered.

    She had led her unit about halfway to the presumed location of the command center when they ran into a makeshift barricade complete with a blaster canon and two squads of power armored soldiers.

    Half a dozen grenades tumbled down the corridor and detonated. The explosions filled most of the compartment with shrapnel and caught the enemy in their blast wave. The confines of the corridor enhanced the effects of the latter and ensured that the enemy were dazzled despite their power armor.

    "GO!" Bo snapped and activated her jet-pack. She flew down the corridor and tackled a man in power armor, who was attempting to get back on his feet. Before he could recover, the Mandalorian woman leveled her wrist mounted blaster at his visor and shot at it until she was sure he was dead. Her hand picked warriors followed her example and either shot repeatedly at weak spots of the armor or used vibro-blades as can openers.

    "That went easier than expected." Bo-Katan frowned.

    "Those jokers haven''t faced proper Mandalorian warriors before." One of her men boasted.

    "If they fought in the Great War like Mandalore did, then odds are they actually did." Bo shrugged. "Eh. Those were probably second rate garrison troops." She waved her men to continue the advance. They weren''t here to have fun.

    They were less than a hundred meters from the command center, engaging another defensive position, when the station''s commander announced that he had activated the self-destruct.

    "Smoke em, hit them with missiles then charge. We need to break through now!" Bo hissed in annoyance. The soldiers they were facing this time were competent too ¨C they had set up their position so that lobbing in grenades was going to be problematic without someone exposing themselves on withering fire.

    However, that was less of a problem for the missiles favored by the Mandalorians. After all, they were multipurpose. From limited AA and anti-tank work to resolving this exact type of tactical challenges.

    The bastards were canny ¨C they swept low so they could be sure to hit someone pulling similar stunt.

    That didn''t help them in the end. The two missiles detonated and blew holes in the barricade. Another pair of Mandalorians repeated the maneuver and finished demolishing the obstacle, then a third pair sent their missiles downrange. They followed them a moment later, using their jet-pack. The rest of Bo''s unit followed suit and they fell upon a squad of power armored troops who were waiting for them.

    What followed was a short lived vicious brawl complete with point blank shots, stabbing vibro-blades and an enemy coated from head to toe with liquid fire. The enemy went down hard and took with them four of Bo''s people, with two more left as walking wounded.

    "Set charges." She pointed at the armored blast door protecting the command center, then kicked one of the corpses ¨C that particular bastard killed two of her men and wounded a third before a blade found its way under his left armpit.

    =RK=

    Hangar Bay C

    Republic station "Pillar of the Fallen"

    High orbit above Tython

    "Is everyone on board?" Denii shouted from the ???kpit. She was busy familiarizing herself with the controls. While they weren''t what she was used to, the Padawan was pretty sure she could get them airborne and in hyperspace.

    "We''re in!" The sergeant in charge of the troopers informed her.

    "Strap in, this is going to be a bumpy ride." Denii closed her eyes and concentrated on the Force. She needed to know where the enemy ships were. The Padawan knew she should keep the station between the shuttle and any unfriendly capitals or this was going to be one very short ride.

    It took her almost a minute to gather enough concentration and figure out what was happening outside, but she managed it. The Force was with her ¨C there was only one cruiser outside and it was circling around the other side of the station ¨C probably taking out any of the weapon emplacements. Unfortunately, there were lot of fighters out there.

    Denii''s hands went to the nav-computer and she began calculating course. She wanted it ready the moment she broke away from Tython''s gravity well. The Padawan doubted she would be able to keep the shuttle intact any longer than that.

    The wait was nerve wracking. Denii felt like slapping the damned computer hard before it finally announced its successful number crunching with an annoyingly loud beeep.

    "Ready or not, we''re leaving!" The Padawan announced. The shuttle rose under her ministrations. The repulsors wh?n?d in protest, but worked well enough. Denii rotated the shuttle and aimed its nose at the jagged hole where the hangar door used to be and activated the engines. The small ship shot out at maximum acceleration and Padawan left the Force guide her hand.

    A pair of enemy fighters flew past them but didn''t engage. Denni smiled in relief because her hope that stealing the intruder''s own shuttle would buy them precious seconds was vindicated. She flew towards the edge of the gravity well and paid no heed to the hails coming from the enemy cruiser.

    The shuttle''s sensors detected multiple fighters vectoring their way.

    Now, it was race against time. The only option Denni had left was to maneuver once they came into range¡­ or not. Multiple missiles locked onto the shuttle and launched seconds later.

    "Come on!" Denni prayed. "Just a bit longer..." The missiles were swiftly gaining on her ride. The Padawan''s hand hovered over the level that engaged the hyperdrive.

    She slumped in the pilot seat and began shacking. The station was gone. Denni didn''t know how many people made it off without being picked by the damn Sith. What she did know was who didn''t make it. Her fellow Padawans were butchered like animals. Her Master¡­ Denni sobbed. She knew Kira was tortured to death. At least it was over relatively fast ¨C she stopped feeling her Master''s agony a while ago.

    Not that it made what happened any better¡­

    =RK=

    Command center

    Republic station "Pillar of the Fallen"

    High orbit above Tython

    "This is less than ideal." Bo stated. Once the doors were breached, they found just a handful of officers waiting for them. Unfortunately, none of them left themselves be captured alive and they had shot up the computer terminals. "I need options people!"

    "We have about six minutes or so¡­" The most technically savvy of the Mandalorians thought aloud. He was busy looking around until his eyes fell upon a map of the station. "I need to get to the reactor. You may wish to check the special storage over here then make your way to the outer ring, blow up a bulkhead and take a space walk to be picked up if we didn''t manage to stop the self-destruct."

    "You heard the man! Go, on the double." Bo ordered. "You''re with me." She tapped the closest warrior on the arm and sprinted towards the exit.

    "I¡­ I have no words. We''ll be talking once we get out of here, mister!" Bo gave her husband an exasperated look.

    "I can explain!" Delkatar sounded very chipper.

    "Is this some Sith fetish I need to know about?" Bo grumbled.

    "No, just a useful bargaining chip." Delkatar raised his hand and clutched his fingers into a fist.

    The armored door of the storage compartment screeched as metal was crushed and torn apart by invisible force, then Mandalore simply pulled it away revealing a dimly lit compartment full with various sealed crates. Bo saw a row of stasis pods resting at the far end of the large room.

    "Here, hold this." Delkatar ordered his guard and unceremoniously dropped the fried woman he carried in the warriors hands. Then he strode briskly through the storage compartment until he reached one of the stasis pods.

    Bo followed her husband and frowned after looking at the pod that had his attention."That''s a man." She stated the obvious.

    "Not what Zash usually goes for however gender doesn''t matter to the ritual she favors." Delkatar shrugged. Then he used his powers to dismantle the pod and picked up the ancient looking mummy inside. "Now we can get out of here."

    Bo cursed darkly. That man was going to drive her insane one of those days and they were married for less than a month.

    "What are you waiting for?" Delkatar quipped over his shoulder and ran towards the exit.

    She cursed her husband again and ran after him. The warrior accompanying them laughed at the show and earned himself some nasty huttesse curses too.

    =RK=

    Med Bay

    Cruiser "Remembrance"

    High orbit above Tython

    "That could have gone better. Much worse too." I summarized our little excursion. My people b?r?ly managed to get away from the station before it blew up and we had to leave any survivors from one of our strike teams that was overran in the hangar they targeted. We had to leave most of our dead behind too, yet it was worth it.

    While Bo''s group was unable to stop the self destruct, we retrieved Zash, the other unit got to the data core and downloaded some data and we now knew who were the kriffing bastards with power armor my people encountered on Naboo. The highly unprobable presence of Old Republic personnel in this day and age helped explain some weird happenings ¨C like the whole Naboo crisis, the infiltrators that hit the Jedi Temple using Force masking artifacts from the time of my Empire¡­

    I smiled and looked at the bacta tanks. While all of the above were important, what I was really happy about was that my vengeance was at hand. With Kira here it was almost guaranteed that her wanker of a husband had found his way to the future too. Now the kriffing bastard was going to experience what it was like to lose his wife.

    My smile grew wider as I stared at Kira''s battered form. She was floating in a bacta tank and wasn''t going to be getting out on her own power, ever. I was going to either finish her soon, or if Zash agreed, be more creative. I hoped for the second option ¨C that was going to drive Jerrod barking mad.

    "You owe me an explanation, husband dearest." Bo removed her helmet and came to stand beside me.

    "I do, don''t I." I pointed at my captive. "This is Jedi Master Kira Carsen. She and her husband were among the biggest supporters of the ''retrieval'' mission that ended with my first wife''s death. From what I tore away from some of their Jedi buddies, some really though that they could simply kidnap Ashara. Others however knew that she would resist and fully expected her to be killed."

    "It''s vengeance then." Bo nodded.

    "Don''t mistake, me wife. If someone hurts you, I''ll make sure the whole galaxy trebles at the very thought of sharing their fate." I turned to face Bo and cupped her cheek. "Despite the sheer foolishness we had to face the last few weeks, they were the best I had in years." I leaned forward and caught her lips in a passionate kiss.

    Bo relaxed and came closer.

    "You got married for a second time and didn''t invite me?" An unfamiliar voice sounder from behind me.

    Bo stiffened in my arms and I was sure she was ready to open fire with the weaponry built in her armor. I gently shook my head and turned around. Zash''s mummified corpse was wide awake and examining us with yellow eyes. Its face was twisted into a sinister looking smirk.

    "You''ve looked better, former master of mine." I quipped.

    The bacta surrounding Zash vibrated and transmitted her voice so it could be heard loud and clear. Huh. That was a neat trick.

    "And you''re juts as ugly as I remember." She snipped back.

    "Well, that explains your current meat suit. You did want me for my body after all." I snorted.

    At those words, my wife glared at Zash. Was that jealousy I felt coming from my wife? At lest she was no longer pissed off at me.

    My fellow Sith Lord looked around. Her gaze fell on Kira and she chuckled. "So you got her in the end. I''m surprised that you left her alive. Plan to taunt Jerrod?" Zash asked.

    "In a manner of speaking." I beamed at my former master. "The way I see it, you kinda need a fresher body. One of a Force Sensitive too." I looked pointedly at Kira.

    Zash laughed. "That''s delicious bit of vengeance, apprentice!" She exclaimed. Then frowned after examining my captive more closely. "Did you have to do that much damage?!" Zash pouted.

    "I had a lot of frustration to work through." I shrugged.

    "Isn''t that what she''s for?" Zash nodded at my wife and earned herself a withering glare, but Bo declined to be baited into a verbal response.

    My hand went up and slapped my face. I had to be careful with those two or they were going to kill each other or worse, me. How the kriff did I forget how sharp was that woman''s tongue?!

    My wife looked at me. "Are you sure you need her? She raised a hand and pointedly examined her wrist mounted blaster.

    "Oh, you I like!" Zash chuckled. "The stories I can tell you about that husband of yours¡­."

    "Thanks. I think." Bo sent a suspicious look at Zash.

    Damn it¡­

    My former master returned her attention to Kira. "Are you sure this is the best you can do?" She gave her best puppy krath hound eyes.

    "For now. The way things are going, there would be some more Jedi volunteering in the next few years." I spoke darkly. That way the kriffing conservatives could be of some small utility.

    "Weeell..." Zash trailed off. "It''s been a long time since I had a Jedi Master."

    My hand went up on its own accord and I face-palmed again.

    "I don''t want to know. There''s more than enough Jedi drama in my life thanks to Satine." Bo shook her head.

    "Is her sister a Jedi?" Zash asked.

    "She married a Jedi Master and he got kicked out of the Order for it a few weeks ago."

    "You have a Jedi family now. My condolences."

    "You know very well Ashara was a Jedi and you liked her." I rolled my eyes.

    "She was the exception that proved the rule. Besides it was highly amusing to watch half the Dark Council bash their heads against a wall trying to convince that turning your wife was a splendid idea."

    "After Jaesa?" I snorted.

    "Well, she was delightfully unhinged, yet that didn''t stop you from sticking it into the crazy."

    "Zash, you''re probably the only Sith woman I would call sane."

    "And I''m one of the few Sith women you''ve met and haven''t slept with. Hint, hint."

    "Delkatar, if you kriff her, I''m going to shoot of something you''re going to really miss." Bo glared at me.

    "I rescued you because?" I glared at Zash.

    "Because I''m your favorite Sith?" She beamed at me.

    "You''re doing a great job of losing that title. Try again."

    "I did promise you some information, didn''t I? Besides I have the sneaking suspicion you can use some help." Zash winked at my wife. "You should know, dear. Your husband has this distressing tendency to find himself in heaps of trouble no matter how hard he tries to avoid it."

    "I noticed." Bo said in an irritated tone.

    Bloody women, they were going to be the death of me

    "How about a little trade? You bring me up to speed and I''ll tell you what I know while we prepare our little ritual." Zash frowned. "Do you have the necessary artifacts or would we have to improvise?"

    "Getting you a new body wasn''t on my to do list when I came to rescue you."

    "The hard way it is. You know I hate it." Zash grumbled. She glared at Kira, then at me. "I''ll need a new hand too."

    =RK=

    Republic base

    Valley of the Jedi

    Location classified

    Jerrod Perrion was busy overseeing the training of a company of shock troopers who were freshly imbued with the Force when he felt a tremor. His side project to see how good a Jedi someone who gained his powers through the Nexus could become was in distress. The Jedi Master could feel his Padawan''s terror even through the depths between the stars.

    "Continue practicing the kata." Jerrod ordered and headed to the comm center. Perrion had taken just a few steps in that direction, when he felt his Padawan die. "What the kriff?!" He hissed and began cursing quietly in Huttesse.

    The Jedi Master sent his mind wander through the Force and tried to divine what was happening while striding briskly to his destination. He ignored the salutes of the on duty personnel, went to the closest terminal and tried to establish connection with the Pillar. Meanwhile, what he felt made him apprehensive. The Force was in turmoil ¨C not a real surprise. Ever since Vael came back form the dead, the Dark Side had been practically giddy.

    Jerrod''s expression became thunderous when he was unable to get a channel to the station where his wife was. He ignore everything and closed his eyes. The Jedi Master plunged headfirst into the Force and sent his mind in search for Kira. It took him minutes of following their Force Bond, but eventually he could experience what she felt.

    There was no mistaking it ¨C Kira was engaged in mortal combat. Even from such a distance, Jerrod could feel the incredible amount of power his wife was channeling into the fight. He didn''t dare deepen the connection in fear of disrupting her concentration in a critical moment. He simply felt her emotions and his distress grew by the second.

    The battle lasted for what felt like eternity. Kira fought like a woman possessed. All Jerrod wanted was to be there with her. To make sure she was safe. And to find who was pushing her to such lengths.

    Something changed. Even from such a distance, even without a the Force Bond, Jerrod would have felt the Force tremble when the fight escalated. The Jedi Master grit his teeth. There were precious few people in this age who could push his wife that far. Who was it? The Jedi''s grandmaster? The Sith who used to control the Confederacy or worst of all, Vael?!

    Jerrod froze. For a moment the Force Bond blinked off, before it reestablished itself if weaker. He left a relieved sigh. For an instant he feared the worst.

    Then it got worse. He felt Kira''s determination. Her resignation and he knew. His wife gave the fight everything she had¡­ and she was losing. Kira was going to go down¡­ That sudden realization chilled Jerrod''s heart.

    He felt Kira overcame despair. Felt her rally herself and throw everything she had left in one desperate offensive to bring her attacker down with her. Jerrod allowed himself to hope that the Force was with his wife.

    It was not to be. He felt pain lancing through the bond. Felt Kira''s agony and the ghost of a Force signature he knew all too well.

    She was dying. Kira was being tortured to death and he wasn''t there to save her. He wasn''t there¡­

    All that came over the bond was agony. Jerrod shook with impotent fury. He didn''t care that the Dark Side was surging all around him. All that mattered was Kira.

    The pain suddenly vanished, making him stagger. The bond was simply gone.

    Jerrod let out a wordless cry. His wife was dead. His heart tore apart between agony at the loss and sheer uncontrolled fury.

    The Dark Side embraced the Jedi Master. It''s could touch soothed his burning fury. In desperation he turned to it and the Dark Side made the pain a distant thing. It left only the smoldering fury that did its best to suffocate him.

    "VAEL!" Jerrod roared. The Dark Side responded to his emotions and everything around him shattered. The only reason the men on duty avoided that same fate was because they left when they felt things getting weird around their commander.

    =RK=

    Chancellor''s Office

    Senate Building

    Coruscant

    Sidious was glad that his last visitor wad escorted out by his personal ?ssistant a minute ago, because when the Dark Side surged in got him off guard. Something had changed.

    Again. The Chancellor wondered what Veil did this time.

    The Dark Side felt different. More potent. As if another shadow was cast upon it compounding what Sidious and Vael did. The only silver lining was that once Palpatine accepted that the general was a real Sith, he knew what was the problem with divining the future. They were both casting shadows upon the Force and Palpatine wasn''t sure how to account for that. At least it was much worse for the Jedi.

    Sidious grimaced. That other¡­ shadow. It was almost like another Sith Lord had revealed their presence, which was impossible, right?

    The Chancellor shook his head. He couldn''t think like that. Believing that Veil''s story was an impossible lie had gotten him in a lot of trouble, not to mention the missed opportunities. He had to keep an open mind and figure out what was happening this time. Instead of doing his usual routine, Palpatine decided to go to the source. He activated his terminal and placed an urgent call for Veil.

    While he waited, the Chancellor glanced at the stack of data pads he still had to go through. He glared at the unoffensive pieces of electronics and grabbed the closet one. The damn paperwork wasn''t going to do itself.

    =RK=

    The room of thousand fountains

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    Yoda was meditating in peace and letting the gentle bubbling of the fountains soothe his frayed nerves. Dealing with Tiin and his supporters was simply frustrating and that conclusion was coming from a being who had almost a millennia to hone his patience to fine art.

    One of the few thins he was glad for, was the fact that Veil was away being Mandalore and that gave the grandmaster a chance to try finding a compromise that didn''t end with the Order torn apart.

    The ancient Jedi simply enjoyed the piece and quiet, letting his mind empty from all worries, when his brief respite was suddenly and rudely interrupted. He could clearly sense the Dark Side. It was boiling like a cauldron left on a strong fire for too long. The Darkness shrouding the future became thicker, somehow deeper.

    "The galaxy, darker is." Yoda whispered. Something had changed. Had Veil finally succumbed to the temptation of the Dark Side? Were the conservatives right after all? Or perhaps the blame laid with the Sith Lord who was behind the Clone Wars¡­ Yoda was confused. Unsure how to proceed. How to interpret what he sensed.

    The Jedi Master''s eyes widened. He had actually experienced something like this not so long ago. Just after Veil arrived from the past the shadow over the Force had expanded greatly. This wasn''t so different when Yoda examined the phenomena more carefully.

    "Back the Sith are." The grandmaster repeated a fact he was painfully aware of form more than a decade now. He shouldn''t be that surprised, Yoda decided. Always two ¨C a Master and an Apprentice. That was something he had taken for granted. Something Yoda believed in without reservations.

    However, Veil''s very presence changed things. Perhaps the Sith had decided that the Rule of Two had become obsolete and trained another one of their kind. Was this one of Veil''s apprentices? That woman Aria? Was it the unknown Sith either replacing Dooku or simply having another powerful apprentice who chose to reveal themselves to anyone with the senses to hear it?

    Too many questions and not enough answers.

    Yoda sighed. He knew that no matter the truth, Veil was going to be blamed by a significant portion of the Jedi. Yoda wondered was it worth it to defend the Sith of all people and continue doing his best to keep things from escalating until the war was over.

    What little peace was left in the room was disturbed when Master Piell walked in and headed straight towards Yoda.

    "It begins." The ancient Jedi sighed and contemplated the merits of retiring somewhere quiet.

    =RK=

    Part 8

    Captain''s quarters

    Cruiser "Remembrance"

    En route to Coruscant

    Hyperspace

    "Apprentice, I need a drink. Like a whole bar worth of it. How did you manage to make such a mess?" Zash ?r??n?d. She sighed and turned her attention to her brand new artificial hand and poked it with a finger.

    "Blame the Jedi?" My wife offered.

    For some arcane reason, Bo was still quite peeved with me. I blamed Zash for that.

    "Oh, they usually find a way to be a pain in the nether regions." My former master nodded sagely. "With my apprentice around, its a good bet he has a lot to do with it too." She gave me a knowing look.

    "I blame the Force. I can''t have such a bad luck so consistently otherwise." I grumbled. "Though it all balances in the end." I grinned at Kira''s body. Oh, Jerrod was going to go ballistic when he saw what I arranged for his wife. There was a dark part of me that hoped something of Kira survived and was screaming deep below Zash''s mind.

    "I don''t know. It could be just you." Zash shrugged. "Let''s make sure I understand how things are." She pointed at me. "You, a Sith Lord and the newest Darc Council Member, are now a general of the Republic army." My former master giggled.

    "Mandalore too!" Bo objected. "And that''s no laughing matter!"

    "You make a good point dear. However, being Mandalore is respectable." Zash offered a condescending smile and I wondered how long it was going to be before she pushed enough of my wife''s bu??ons for a brawl to happen. "However, joining the Republic of all things." Zash gave me a suspicious look. "You haven''t become a Jedi or something, right?"

    I snorted in response.

    "Ah. Good. So, a Republic general ¨C a net minus. A Mandalore ¨C that''s good. Making the Jedi look like blithering idiots ¨C that''s priceless." Zash nodded happily. "I knew you would eventually grow up, Apprentice! I''m proud of you!"

    Bo actually laughed at my expression. I face-palmed again ¨C it was an occupational hazard with Zash around.

    "Now, I promised you answers, didn''t I? Congratulations, Apprentice! Your life is going to become even more of a holodrama!" Zash announced gleefully.

    "I already hate where this is going." I ?r??n?d.

    "You certainly will." Zash became deadly serious.

    Kriff.

    "Good news first. I have it on the best authority that someone in the Jedi Order we both knew, had at least some idea that this..." She waved between us, "might somehow happen. Either that or they were half-assing it as usually. You remember that fun first wife of yours?"

    I sent a death glare at Zash who just ignored it.

    "After she was killed, the Jedi had the great idea that they needed some kind of leverage against you." Zash continued.

    "As if there was anything left that could stop me from killing them all." I frowned. "Besides being kriffed up by incompetent Sith with a superweapon."

    "Oh, I know. That''s why I suspect that someone was taking quite the long view. "You remember Ashara''s niece, don''t you?"

    "She''s been dead for a long, long time now." I might have been able to save her, but at the time I was too busy kriffing up the Republic supporters on Alderaan ¨C red the Organas and chasing a Jedi Master to care for anything else.

    "Yep. The same." Zash beamed at me. "My sources tell me she was actually frozen in carbonite and put on ice because thanks to Ashara her reliability has been under question and they wanted to keep the girl out of your clutches less you found her and trained her as a Sith."

    "What sources?" I asked suspiciously. I should have wondered about that earlier in fact.

    "You won''t like it." Zash announced and began re-examining her prosthetic.

    "I already don''t. Spill."

    "First my source ¨C you know her, though lately she''s been all transparent and glowing. Satele Shan." Zash hummed to herself and looked at me as if I was her latest research subject.

    "SHAN?! That bitch?! Why the kriff would you trust anything coming from her mouth?!" I shouted. The table between us crumbled when the Dark Side responded to my fury. Kriffing Shan!

    "You have history I take it?" Bo inquired.

    I was too busy reciting the most vile huttesse curses I knew to answer.

    Meanwhile, Zash leaned towards my wife and mock-whispered. "Satele Shan. She was the Jedi''s Grandmaster back in the day. Ultimately it was her responsibility to stop something idiotic like an ?ssassination or kidnapping attempt aimed at one of her Jedi and spearheaded by Jedi and Republic Special forces. Once upon a time, my Apprentice actually respected the woman after they fought on a few occasions to a draw. However..." Zash shrugged.

    "Its been three thousand five hundred years and change. Do you really want me to believe that my niece has survived so long frozen in carbonite even if Shan isn''t lying?" I spat.

    "Not only that but I know she''s been released a few years ago."

    "Is this some kind of joke?" I growled.

    "I''m pretty sure we can blame the Force on this one." Zash nodded and became serious. "Apprentice, think. Do you really believe it was a coincidence you survived being hit by that weapon above Korriban and conveniently sent to the future? Do you think that Jerrod and company were simply lucky enough to suffer an ''accident'' too? I''ve got years to think about it. The Force has been doing its best to pull our strings. I don''t know about you, but I''m no one''s puppet." Zash hissed.

    I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Then used a few mental exercises to put my rage under control.

    "There is no luck. There''s the kriffing Force." I spat. "You know, sometimes I think Kreya had the right idea."

    "Apprentice, don''t go all nihilistic on me. I''ve read the records. Darth Thaya is the personification of deception." Zash glared at me.

    "Don''t worry. I''m not going insane. Just kriffing pissed off."

    "Someone explain. Now." Bo grumbled.

    "Short version? We''re all like puppets on strings and its the Force playing with us. What I don''t know is the agenda it pursues."

    "You''re talking like the Force is alive." My wife frowned.

    "I don''t know about alive, though there are those who believe it." I said.

    "Perhaps it is. What I know for sure is that the Force has an agenda of its own. It sometimes alters probabilities to make certain outcomes more likely. Figuring what it d?s?r?s and if it would be beneficial to us is the trick. If now, well there are ways to compensate if you''re powerful enough and know enough about it." Zash smiled. "Me and that husband of yours ¨C we''re kinda both."

    Well, I could cheat in that regard. I knew what was supposed to happen if neither of us were sent to the future¡­ and if I had died with my plans unfulfilled. Order 66, Sidious'' Empire, Endor. Depending on how closely the future resembled the movies or the EU I struggled to remember nowadays¡­

    "Clean slate." I whispered. "The Jedi are doing a splendid job in cutting their own throats. With Jerrod around¡­ I''ll be seeing him and his people dead for what they did. That leaves us and the Sith of this era. What are the odds that when the dust settles we''ve killed each other off? The Light Side wants constant stability. Lack of conflict and what better way than removing both Jedi and Sith?"

    "And the Dark Side is all about conflict, about growing stronger and evolving through it." Zash slowly nodded. "Its a decent theory, Apprentice. Just don''t get too attached to it in case it''s not entirely correct."

    "Why are you people always making things more complicated?" My wife grumbled.

    "At least you won''t be bored with me around." I tried to sooth us. Bo glared and gave ma a one finger salute.

    Huh. So that was a thing nowadays.

    "Don''t worry, dear. He has such effect on people, but you''ll grow accustomed to him in time. He isn''t all bad. I''ve trained him well." Zash wigged her eyebrows at my wife.

    "Do we really need that?" Bo pointed at Zash.

    "I''m beginning to wonder."

    "So you have a niece?" My wife changed the topic.

    "I wouldn''t say so unless I see her alive. I''m not trusting a word coming form Shan." I shook my head.

    "That was the good news, Apprentice." All traces of levity was gone from Zash''s voice and suddenly she looked and felt like the powerful Sith Lord she was. "I''m actually surprised you didn''t have premonitions of what''s about to happen."

    "The only Force Visions I had concerned you. That''s the main reason why I didn''t wait longer to come get you. By the time we''re back, it will be less than a month before the Confederacy launches its offensive." I said.

    "Crimson-71." Zash stated.

    "No. Fuuck no. I saw that thing burned. I torched a whole star system to make sure it was gone!" I shook my head in denial. "They couldn''t have been this foolish." I glared at Zash. "You were already on the Council by that time. You knew what Crimson was!" I rose to my feet. The compartment was coated in shadows as the Dark Side surged to feed on my fury.

    "The Bio-warfare division kept a few samples on ice. In case we lost the war and needed to kriff over the Republic as a parting gift." Zash shrugged.

    "The Dark Council as a whole never believed that we could lose the war against the Republic." I snapped.

    "No. Some feared that we would take ourselves apart and do the Republic''s job for them. Which actually happened." Zash explained.

    It was a long time before I could gain enough control to stop cursing on every language I knew.

    "What''s Crimson?" Bo asked. "I take it, I''m not going to like the answer." She wasn''t sounding amused, but I didn''t really care by that point.

    "Crimson? Imagine the nastiest bio-weapon you can, make the damned thing sapient, able to use the Force and you have vague idea what our bio-weapon experts and one clearly deranged Sith Lord managed to cook up. It can twist living things to serve its purposes and has a limited capability to infest technology. All it wants is to spread and consume." Zash grumbled. "It''s actually much worse than it sounds. Trust me about that. If I had found where the samples were head, I would have slipped the coordinates to my Apprentice so he could go burn the damn thing."

    =RK=

    Command tower

    cruiser "Remembrance"

    En route to Coruscant

    Hyperspace

    The moment I got myself under control, I went up to the former bridge and sat on the round. I closed my eyes and concentrated on bringing up some stuff I did my best to suppress, then began searching for it through the Force.

    I searched for an entity that was hunger manifested. The ceaseless need to consume and spread. And I hoped that for once Zash was mistaken.

    She wasn''t. It was still weak. Just awakening from a long slumber. Yet, it was there.

    And I saw.

    Pulsing masses of tumor. Twisted, grotesque armored forms. Tentacles with claws, eyes and fang filled maws. People screaming in agony as the plague consumed their very essence. The lucky ones were relegated to nutrition. The rest were damned to spent eternity as a part of living nightmare. I could feel the Force itself being slowly twisted, corrupted to serve the horror.

    And I could feel the Dark Side''s satisfaction at the conflict to come.

    I drove deeper. Armored soldiers advancing through dark corridors, wearing the old Clone armors which still haven''t been phased out for most of the GAR.

    The hunger stirred. Containment was breached and I could feel its glee. It was beginning to slowly spread. It turned its attention towards me. Sensed I was seeking it and it roared in fury and recognition.

    The vision shattered and I was left panting on the floor. Kriff it, I was going to murder the kriff of whoever found Crimson and ordered the Clones in there!

    =RK=

    Part 9

    Chancellor''s office

    Senate building

    Coruscant

    Palpatine carefully studied his visitors. After his absence, Veil was coming back shortly and had demanded this meeting. The Chancellor, the Grandmaster of the Jedi and the highest ranking GAR officers on Coruscant at the time of his arrival. If Palpatine didn''t know better ¨C and he checked through the Force for any immediate danger, the Sith Lord would have suspected treachery.

    What he found out, was quite concerning nevertheless. If Yoda''s expression was anything to go by, the Jedi Master had sensed it too. The Force itself was in turmoil. There was a threat on the horizon and it was growing.

    "Sir, general Veil''s ship just exited hyperspace. His transport immediately launched and is heading here. ETA fifteen minutes." Palpatine''s secretary announced over the comm.

    "Thank you. Please show him in when he arrives." Palpatine spoke softy, then looked up to his guests. "Any guesses? I haven''t heard the good general sound so disturbed before."

    Sidious was genuinely curious. There weren''t many things that could shake a Sith. Oh, it was possible Veil was making some kind of performance to achieve goals unknown, but¡­ Every time Sidious examined the situation through the Force since the general contacted him about setting up this meeting, he got the same feeling ¨C the other Sith was apprehensive, almost scared. Furious too. What Palpatine knew for sure¡ªthe only thing he knew for certain was that Veil was spooked by the threat he could feel.

    Was this the thing casting the new shadow he felt not so long ago? And to think that ever since Veil left Coruscant on that errand of his, things began to calm down¡­

    "The only thing Veil asked me about was information concerning Republic units sent to recover artifacts from the Sith Empire he used to be a part of." Valentra said.

    "Interesting." Palpatine muttered. He had tasked some ARC units to do precisely that when he couldn''t find enough information about Veil in the Sith Archives he possessed. Was the general concerned about what they could find about him? What did that have to do with the approaching danger? What was its nature? Sidious had tried to divine more about it, unfortunately the shadows across the Force prevented him from seeing anything of consequence.

    Yoda looked thoughtful. The tiny troll closed its eyes and Sidious was sure the Jedi was searching for something through the Force. The Sith very carefully made sure that his mask was intact and that he was giving nothing that could give him up as a Force Sensitive, much less his true nature.

    "Alone Veil is not." The Grandmaster suddenly began looking all his years ¨C ancient and frail. "With him, another Sith is."

    Palpatine couldn''t help it and grimaced. So it was Veil''s fault after all. But bringing a Sith here? To meet both him, Yoda and the military''s highers ranking officers? Were they all deceived?

    Suddenly, Sidious felt uncomfortable. He had been so sure this meeting wasn''t a trap.

    "Do you have any idea about general Veil''s intentions?" Palpatine asked carefully. He made a great show of examining one of the shelves with gifts hanging on the wall to the left, where his lightsaber was hidden.

    "That''s certainly unexpected." Valentra frowned. The general masked it well, but his surprise and unease were evident.

    Perhaps this was a good opportunity to undermine Veil''s support among the army¡­ Sidious smiled in his mind and began asking some leading questions.

    =RK=

    My fury only grew in the days wasted while we traveled back to Coruscant. If this had happened just a month ago, while I had the authority to command the whole kriffing Republic army, things would be different. Instead, the only naval forces I currently had were either still refitting and upgrading with the exception of the cruiser that I took with me and the ships flown by my special forces.

    Of those, only Remembrance was going to be useful for the task at hand. That''s why I bit the bullet so to speak and called the relevant people to meet me in Palpy''s office using both all the good will I had received so far as a general and my position as Mandalore. I was sure that at least Sidious would get nervous wondering if I suddenly lost my mind and planned some kind of treachery. Serves the bastard right ¨C I was almost certain that it was his brainchild to go pocking where no one should.

    The shuttle shook as it tore through the atmosphere with its shield aglow from the friction. I had called a favor and we had a clear way to the Senate complete with a fighter escort from the Remembrance. I had taken only Zash with me and sent Bo to the Embassy so she could continue finding Mandalorian volunteers to replenish and expand my guard. Hopefully sooner than later she would have the opportunity to publically distinguish herself in combat so I could give her more authority without appearing that I did it just because she was great in bed.

    Anything less would be putting a great stain on our honor and be a huge pain in the ?ss to deal with. Which in turn meant that besides being my wife, Bo had no standing in the Republic. At least she got some amount of diplomatic immunity which could be useful in some circumstances.

    For once Zash had declined to needle me with her infernal tongue ¨C all she supplied was that was sufficiently motivated for the meeting.

    Finally the shuttle landed and I couldn''t get off fast enough. I hoped we still had time to contain Crimson. I seriously considered talking about it over the hypercom, but if information about it leaked to the CIS and they joined the party, the Force only knew big a mess I would have to deal with. Even worse ¨C Jerrod might hear about it and decide to come "help" get us all killed.

    Hindsight is a wonderful thing ¨C and always comes too damn late.

    "Good, everyone''s here." I announced the moment I entered Palpy''s office. Once Zash stepped in behind me, I used the Force to seal the door.

    That little display got everyone''s attention and I received a lot of wary looks. Yoda even looked ready to do battle if necessary. For a brief moment I wondered what Palpy has been doing while I was away, but dismissed it.

    "Let''s get the obvious out of the way first. Everyone, this is Darth Zash, my former Master." I pointed my thumb at said woman. "Zash ¨C The Chancellor, Yoda, the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order, general Valentra and admiral Dao."

    "General, you informed us you were out being Mandalore. I don''t see how this," Palpatine nodded at Zash, "has anything to do with those duties." He looked like a disappointed old man.

    "Everything. I got information about the unknowns in power armor who engaged our troops on Naboo during the crisis about the Jedi younglings. I diverted to investigate and found some disturbing things. Lady Zash was one of them." Damn it, if it wasn''t for Crimson hanging above all our heads I would have enjoyed this so much more.

    "How is she here?" Palpatine asked.

    "Hyperspace accident, as far as I know." Zash interjected smoothly. "Tsk. Are good manners dead in this age?" She gave Palpy a withering look.

    "Please be seated." He made good show of looking abashed.

    "Why, thank you. I prefer to stand."

    "What is of greater concern," I ignored Yoda''s stare, "is where I found Lady Zash and with whom." Well, if we were going to be consumed by a sapient bio-weapon I could at least enjoy what time I had left. I looked at the Jedi and waited to be asked the obvious question.

    Palpatine gave me a disapproving look.

    "Delkatar, get to the point!" Telar snapped.

    "Why, with the people who were behind our recent troubles on Naboo and Coruscant. As it turns out," I waved at my former master, "Zash and me aren''t the only ones from our time who found themselves in this bright future. I found her in a station ran by Old Republic forces using the same power armor like the people who engaged us on Naboo. I went to investigate, was engaged by the defenders and had to take the station the hard way. Unfortunately, before we could secure it, its commander activated a self destruct sequence we were unable to stop. However, besides Lady Zash, we were able to recover a few prisoners and some data. Interrogations and what has been decrypted so far leads me to believe that the Old Republic people arrived here at least a few years ago, got one good look at the Republic and were disgusted by the corruption they saw. As a consequence, they decided that infiltrating the still forming Confederacy would be a splendid idea and once that was done, they did their best to escalate the war and see both states collapsing so they could rebuild the Old Republic as it was meant to be. Or some other insanity."

    "The kriff?" Dao asked.

    "Oh, it gets better. They''re led by a pair of Dark Jedi. I had to engage and kill one of them during the boarding. Her husband won''t be amused and might go for more attacks like Naboo." I smiled at Yoda. "Unless I''m mistaken, people calling themselves Jedi nowadays are under your jurisdiction."

    "If that''s true¡­ If those people are responsible for how bad things got lately, we actually might be able to seek accommodation with the Confederacy. At the very least we might be able to slow the beginning of their offensive and buy us more time." Palpatine spoke. "You do have proof, right?"

    I retrieved a data pad I had secured to my belt and levitated it to the Chancellor who began to browse it.

    "As we speak, a shuttle is bringing all the data my people retrieved to HQ. The slicers there should be able to crack it much faster." I offered. "While my find answers a lot of questions, that wasn''t why I called you here."

    "It''s a good enough reason for me." Valentra looked relieved. "I take it there are some bad news too, right? There always are."

    "Which one of you authorized Republic units to go after suspected Sith Empire facilities and which of those units have been out of contact?" I hissed, unable to be civil any longer. "While being held by the Remnant, Zash had a lot of time to mediate. She sensed something disturbing in the Force, something I''m sure our Jedi friends are wondering about." I looked at Yoda. "Can you feel it beyond the sense of approaching danger? The boundless hunger? The d?s?r? to consume everything?"

    "Danger I sense. Approaching it is. More cannot see." Yoda looked sad at the admission. "New shadow over the Force is cast." He frowned at Zash.

    "Hey, don''t look at me, Jedi. I''ve been here longer than my old apprentice. You might try your Old Republic colleague. He probably went and embraced the Dark Side after Delkatar had to kill his wife in self defense." At least Zash was more or less following the narrative.

    "Oh. That''s not going to go over well with the more¡­ conservative among our Jedi friends." Palpatine did his best to sound diplomatic. I was sure he was cackling inside, at least when he wasn''t too busy going over the implications of Zash''s presence. I wondered when he would try approaching her ¨C before or after Tiil and company acted up.

    I found it amusing that no one really bat an eye when I announced that I had to fight and kill a Jedi ¨C even if they were from the Old Republic. I guess there were some benefits coming from the conservatives being bloody idiots.

    "This danger. Know it you do." Yoda''s frown deepened.

    "Check both surviving Jedi and Old Republic archives for Crimson-71. That was the most terrible thing cooked up by the Empire''s Bio-Warfare division." I hissed.

    "Not a hyperbole I take it?" Dao asked.

    "Once Zash told me what she suspected, I meditated. Searched through the Force. For someone who had faced that thing it was obvious what to look for. And I found it. Crimson-71 is a sapient plague, that infects, consumes and re-purposes organic entities. It has a limited ability to infect technology too. Depending on its spread and how many infected forms it has at its disposal, its ability to use the Force grows." I smiled thinly at Palpatine. "It evolves a gestalt nodes that enhance its Force related abilities. As it gets stronger, it is able to produce more advanced forms, not merely modified infected, which are bad enough. All it d?s?r?s is to feed, consume and spread. It is highly intelligent, unable to be controlled or reasoned with. If not contained we''re looking at a galaxy wide extinction event."

    "How does it spread?" Valentra asked after taking a moment to digest the information

    "Bite wounds caused by the infected, contact with infected bodily fluids and its also airborne. Thanks to its access to the Force, bio hazard gear isn''t really useful ¨C anything less than completely sealed armored suits with integrated air supply would be compromised in short order." I stated flatly. "Being sapient and having control over all his forms through the Force, the accursed thing is always trying to spread. If it hits a major world before we can contain and eliminate it, we might as well kiss the galaxy goodbye."

    "That''s nasty piece of work." Dao ?r??n?d. "Who in their right mind would create such a thing?"

    "Many things could be said about the Imperial Bio-Warfare division and the Sith who ran it before Crimson got free and we had to purge it. Sane or in their right minds wouldn''t be among the terms I would have used." Zash smiled.

    "I''ll ask again ¨C who send Republic soldiers to seek old Imperial facilities? Which units aren''t responding and where were they headed?"

    "It certainly wasn''t me." Valentra shook his head.

    I stared at the Chancellor.

    "Ahem. I might have authorized a few expeditions toward suspected locations of Imperial facilities. It was to find some unbiased information about general Veil and try preventing any nasty surprises from popping up. As today''s events show, things and people from that time period continue to turn up at most unexpected times and places."

    "Which units aren''t responding or have missed to report?" I seethed. I wondered the merits of trying to kill Sidious right here and now and damn the consequences.

    "I''ll have to check..."

    "Any facility containing samples of Crimson-71 would have been deep in he unknown regions." Zash supplied.

    "May I respectfully suggest that you do precisely that, right now... sir?" I ground my teeth and tried to keep my voice level. Strangling Palpatine right now may prove counterproductive.

    I glanced back at Yoda, while the Chancellor began to furiously type on his terminal.

    "What ?ssets would you need to contain that thing?" Valentra asked.

    "A fleet with enough firepower to sterilize a whole star system. Volunteers for suicide missions if that turns out not to be practical for one reason or another. Enough ordnance to level a continent or two just in case."

    I examined the Jedi Master through the Force. He was seeking confirmation of my words. And apparently he found it now that he knew what he was looking for. Yoda''s tiny frame shook and he recoiled like he was shocked by a jolt of lighting. His eyes snapped open and were bloodshot. I could clearly see the shock in them.

    "Find what you were looking for, didn''t you?" Zash shook her head. "Our pet horror has such an effect. Its much worse when its actually close by or it had a whole populated planet to toy with."

    Yoda shuddered and gasped.

    "Hunger¡­ No death¡­. No mercy¡­ Consume¡­" The Jedi Master panted.

    "The damn thing is awake. It wasn''t when I checked last night." I closed my eyes and sent my mind searching. The Force itself felt like a disturbed ocean and there were echoes through it. A presence that was now aware. It sensed I was seeking it and it sent a wordless roar of fury and the promise of never-ending agony.

    "I''ll need those coordinates right now and everything you can spare." I told Palpatine and Valentra.

    "I''m working on it. So far everything I checked seems to be in order." Sidious said without looking up. "What about you, Lady Zash? What do you intent to do now?"

    "Me? It seems that working for the Republic has turned all right for my former apprentice, and that''s telling considering in how much trouble he tends to get into. So I thought it might be a splendid idea to offer you my services."

    The Jedi were going to love that, though I was beyond caring. All I needed from them was not to kriff up until the CIS offensive was blunted. After that, I planned to eliminate the distraction that the conservatives provided. That was vital, because if Jerrod kept himself somewhat reasonable, they were his natural allies as far as my elimination was concerned.

    "Elements of the Coruscant defense fleet and depending where you need to go, I''ll authorize you to pick up more units on the way there." Valentra stated. "Options if you can''t get there before containment is lost?"

    "Work closely with the Jedi ¨C they will have a chance to divine where the damned thing is headed. If it spreads to an inhabited world, put it under quarantine and kill anything that tries to break atmosphere. Glass the whole damn continent, boil an ocean depending on where it lands. If that looks not to be working, sterilize the world. At any rate the place will have to be under strict quarantine for years to make sure." I took a deep breath. "Anything less and we''re all dead."

    "Speak the truth, you do." Yoda muttered. He was looking a bit better. "Touched the intelligence I did. Consume us all it will. Peace in death we will find not. Stopped it must be."

    "I think I got it. One unit hasn''t reported. Unknown regions, an unremarkable system ¨C just some asteroids with no resources to speak off and a small planetoid."

    "A good place to hide something." Zash nodded.

    "How long ago you lost contact?" I asked.

    "It was scheduled for last night."

    "If we''re lucky, the ship or ships used will have transponder or transponders which are still working. If that thing goes anywhere we have a presence it has to be destroyed on sight." I said. "About those ships you can give me?" I asked Valentra.

 Chapter 67 - Crimson-71 [1/2]

    Part 1

    Imperial research facility CRIMSON-71

    Black-site 34

    Location classified

    It slumbered for eons and eternal hunger was its lone companion. It dreamed of feasts. It dreamed of spreading. Of consuming.

    It dreamed of vengeance upon those who denied its d?s?r?s and imprisoned it.

    For the longest time all it knew was hunger. There was no sustenance. Nothing it could feed on. Nothing to influence so it could be free.

    So it hungered. It slumbered. It waited.

    Millennia passed.

    It stirred. Even in its slumber it could sense flesh-things approaching. They were still far above it, protected by hundreds of levels made of cold, unyielding metal.

    Time passed. The flesh-things were coming closer. They advanced slowly, carefully. Automated defenses tried to stop their progress and failed. Bulkheads sealed, slowing them down only to be blasted open.

    It stirred again. The endless waiting would end soon ¨C it knew it even in its slumber.

    The flesh-things were close enough. There were less of them than at the beginning, yet they continued to strive forward.

    The slumber ended. It awoke.

    A new alarm screamed its futile warning. It screamed back in triumph.

    It defied them. It stretched its will and charges refused to detonate, ancient acid refused to flow through its pipes and incinerators failed to ignite. Metal buckled, transparent alloy shattered like so much glass and it was finally free.

    The flesh-things, the food it craved were just behind the sealed thick doors. It pulsed with hunger fueled fury. Tentacles unfurled from its spherical tumor like body and reached for the door. It shook ¨C locks snapped and then it was brute forced open.

    There were ten of them. White armored bipeds, not so different from those it consumed so long ago. It screeched its glee in greeting. The tentacles struck and found weak points in the armor. The flesh-things struggled. They shot at it, but it simply willed the energy not to hit and it splashed harmlessly into an invisible barrier.

    It pulled the food closer, tore open their crunchy shells and began to feast.

    However, despite its hunger-fueled desperation, it was smart. It kept one of the flesh-things armor, head and throat mostly intact. It needed a way out. It couldn''t be imprisoned again!

    =RK=

    Republic frigate "Fury"

    Low orbit above Black-site 34

    "Commander, one of the LAATs just left the surface and is coming our way." The sensor operator announced. "There has been no contact from the ground team."

    "Hail them and ask what they thing they''re doing. First not answering for hours and now..." Commander Ler Monis frowned.

    This whole operation had been a debacle after debacle. He sure hoped that whatever was protected bellow all those automated defenses was worth it. So far he had to call three times for resupply just to order more demo-charges brought in. Not to mention that all the traps and automated defenses had either killed or injured a company worth of Clones.

    "There''s no answer, sir." The comm officer reported.

    "Hail them again." Monis grumbled.

    If this whole venture didn''t pay out, he would be the one to get all the blame, he was sure of it. He was a boy from the Outer Rim, with no patrons in the Republic to speak of. His career would be likely over that happened. So it wasn''t a stretch to say that he had a personal stake in the success of this operation.

    That was just one of the reasons why didn''t want surprises and wanted things done by the book ¨C that would at least give him a chance if things went the Hutt way.

    "Sir, the sensors are acting weird. They read a lot of life signs on that transport." The ensign manning that station said.

    One of the LAATs launching and heading home without calling first ¨C well that was a breach of a lot of protocols. Ler didn''t like it at all. Now the sensors malfunctioning or most of the Clones suddenly deciding to pile up in one bird and get out ¨C he liked either of those options even less.

    The commander went behind the sensor operator and looked at the raw feed. He frowned. The readings were scrambled, however the scanners indeed showed a lot of life-signs on that LAAT. More than there were Clones down there, much less the number of men who could cramp in such a small craft.

    "I don''t like that at all. Put us on a higher orbit and continue hailing them." Ler ordered. He was going to have the hide of whoever was on that LAAT!

    "Daal, I gave you an order." Exasperation found its way in Ler''s voice. "Lieutenant!" The commander snapped when there was no response coming. He frowned and strode next to the man and slapped his shoulder hard.

    There was no reaction.

    "Daal?" Ler asked concerned. This wasn''t right. What was wrong with his man?

    The commander leaned forward so he could see the lieutenant''s face and he blanched. There was blood leaking from the corners of Daal''s eyes and he had a blank stare. His jaw was slack and a line of drool pooled in his ??p.

    "Medic to the bridge!" Ler roared. "We have a man down, it looks like a stroke or something like that!"

    Ler carefully removed the seat belts securing his helmsman to his seat and snapped: "Someone come over here and help me, damn it!" He turned his head around and glared at his officers. It was only then he remembered the approaching LAAT.

    He glanced at Daal and frowned. There couldn''t be a connection right? This had to be just a coincidence¡­

    "Commander, the LAAT is accelerating and heading straight for us.

    "Weapons give it a warning shot. If it doesn''t break off, stop and kriffing answer the damned comm, lit them up!" Ler ordered.

    This had to be a kriffing coincidence, He was getting paranoid¡­ However, his gut was telling him something different. That was proven true when his weapon''s officer didn''t answer either.

    Dread began creeping up Ler''s spine. He grabbed Daal and with some trouble pulled him of the pilot''s seat and carefully put him on the deck, then sat down and his heads went for the controls.

    Ler frowned. What was he going to do? Move? Why? He shook his head and frowned. He felt some kind of pressure all over his head and it was kriffing distracting.

    The commander blinked in confusion. He was about to do something. Something important, right? Ler looked around, then at what was in front of him. Ah, the helm controls. The commander wondered what was he doing at Daal''s station.

    He had a helmsman to fly the ship and besides, they weren''t supposed to be going anywhere for the time being. The only reason why he had full bridge crew in place at all times was because the regulations said so and he preferred to give tactical problems to his people to keep them in shape. It wasn''t like they had much to do out here besides some routine maintenance.

    Ler ?r??n?d. He was rambling when there was job to do. What was it again?

    Someone shook his shoulder and Ler turned around to look at them. A familiar face blanched and the man took a step back. He was saying something, however Ler couldn''t hear a word.

    Then he heard something ¨C a long clang. Red lights began blinking all around and piercing alarm rattled his brain making him wince. The familiar man shook his head and moved out of Ler''s sight. The commander shrugged. It couldn''t have been important. He hoped that the man was going to stop that damned noise.

    The racket didn''t stop and it made it really inconvenient. How was a man supposed to figure out what he wanted to do with that deafening noise?!

    Ler didn''t know how long it took, but finally it was quiet again. He smiled in relief. Now what was he about to do?

    Ah! He was about to go to¡­ Where was he going? His brain itched and he frowned. He needed a good place to visit with an easy access to the wider galaxy. Preferably somewhere connected with hyperlanes to facilitate fast transport. Also reasonably easy to reach from here¡­ Ler accessed the nav computer and stared at it. His eyes hurt for a bit as he examined the data but he dismissed the inconvenience. He had a job to do and he was going to do it well!

    Ler''s eyes kept going towards the Core, if it was less than optimal. His brain itched again. No he had to go to the Core. Getting there from the unknown regions and without passing through Separatists space to be shot at was going to be tricky...

    Or perhaps not. His eyes were drawn toward the very edge of the Core, towards the world connected with the main hyperlanes. That was his destination. Artisia perhaps? Yes, that was good. How to get there however?

    The commander''s hands moved on their own accord and he began typing commands. His brain itched somewhat fiercely, but it was irrelevant. He had an idea!

    =RK=

    Imperial research facility CRIMSON-71

    Black-site 34

    Location classified

    It relaxed and its tentacles slumped over a pile of cracked armor. They idly swept for morsels of tasty blood, while the entity entered a rest cycle. It came close to burning itself out despite the sustenance it just got, yet it was worth it in the end. It gained an access to a ship that was going to spread it to rich feeding grounds. Yet, it kept the primary node of its original gestalt back here, just in case. Once it got some rest, it was going to clean up any evidence of its presence and remain as a fail safe awaiting someone else to stumble upon its prison or for its newly re purposed flesh to succeed in gaining control of a feeding ground and spread from there.

    Part 2

    Chancellor''s officer

    Senate building

    Coruscant

    Veil and the other officers left to prepare for monster hunting and that left Palpatine to share his office with a Jedi Master and an unknown Sith. Well, the latter wasn''t exactly true ¨C he had browsed a bit about this Zash woman while researching his other Sith problem. Unfortunately what he found was less than helpful ¨C the woman had been a Dark Council member and unless Zash was some kind of title instead of a name, she appeared to have been around for at least few hundred years or more.

    That by itself was disturbing. Almost as disturbing as Veil having his Master by his side. The sad thing was that the open presence of another Sith was far from his biggest problem. While there still existed the option that Veil wasn''t telling the whole truth about that Crimson thing, the implication if it was real were disrupting. Sidious didn''t work for decades just to see the galaxy taken from him by some kind of jumped up "smart" bio-weapon. Palpatine really didn''t want to think about the fact that apparently that thing was unleashed by his own orders. That was simply embarrassing.

    "Lady Zash..." Palpatine spoke slowly and did his best to appear as an affable old man. "What can you offer the Republic? So far, general veil has proven himself through his actions. He did so before revealing himself as a Sith and that proved vital for his acceptance by the public. Yet, despite his distinguished services, what he is still causes a lot of strife among certain circles." The Chancellor paused. "If his capabilities are anything to go by, your services might prove a great boon to the Republic. However, the fact that you''re another Sith would inevitably make some of our existing problems even worse." He nodded at the grumpy Jedi.

    At least this situation, no many how unpleasant, had one great boon ¨C Palpatine had to struggle not to cackle like a madman at the thought of the Jedi''s reaction to Zash. Even if he would have to deal with the inevitable fallout, which Sidious was sure would become another headache for him.

    "Well, I''m no nearly as experienced military commander as Delkatar, though I''ve been in a scrap or two in my time. With a conflict building up for a decades after the Empire''s first war with the Old Republic, that was simply inevitable. However, I''m much more comfortable and better suited for a role as a researcher." Zash smiled. "My expertise is the Force and archeotech."

    Now, that statement got Yoda''s undivided attention. Sidious had to stomp hard on his glee. He wondered how horrified the troll had to be as he feared what smiling Sith woman had been up to back in the day and more importantly ¨C what horrors she might yet do.

    Palpatine looked between his guests. The one thing he knew for sure was that he couldn''t afford to let Zash slip and vanish in the greater galaxy. Doing so might very well place him in a situation not so very different than the Jedi''s ¨C with enemies obvious and not working against them from the shadows. Sidious had to ensure that he kept the other Sith under as close an observation as he could manage while he decided the best way to handle them. His knee-jerk reaction was to see both Veil and Zash dead. The former might very well take care of itself if that plague was as bad as the general believed it to be.

    The latter ¨C that really depended on how powerful and skilled Zash was. However, as a Dark Council member¡­ Sidious couldn''t help it but stared at the woman with fascination. The things she must know, the powers she must wield to have survived in the Sith Empire for centuries¡­ The same Empire that got itself torn asunder by warring Sith, yet Zash was still here.

    "What do you think, master Yoda?" Palpatine asked. It was mostly an attempt to buy himself a bit of time to think, besides he wanted to hear what the Jedi had to say. He was sure that the little monstrosity was well aware what implications Zash''s presence would have.

    "Danger you are." Yoda stated.

    "Of course I am!" Zash laughed. "Delkatar told me all about your little cult, Jedi. A single Sith acting not like you expected him to and you''re already tearing yourselves apart?! Me, being out here ¨C openly? I don''t need to do a thing but aid the Republic in its war and your kind would destroy itself." The Sith declared boldly.

    Ah. It was obvious really, just not something Sidious expected Veil to pull off at this time. However¡­ The Chancellor sighed. He could see how the general''s patience with the Jedi and everything happening lately had ran out. He wasn''t sure if those supposed Old Republic remnants or the plague were the last straws. It didn''t particularly matter either.

    Zash was right. Just by being here, she was going to force the Jedi in doing something even more foolish than usual and one way or another that was going to destroy them. At any other time, Sidious would have been utterly gleeful.

    Today, he found himself in the unenviable position of trying to keep the Jedi from self-destructing for at least few more months. He loathed the very idea so much he couldn''t put it in words!

    "Lady Zash, if you''re really brought up to speed on the galactic situation, I''ll have to advise against revealing yourself as a Sith, at least publically for the time being." Palpatine looked at Yoda. "I believe that it would be in the Republic''s and the Jedi''s best interest if you don''t mention who and what Lady Zash is to the rest of the Jedi, Grandmaster. Not until the Confederacy''s offensive has been deal with and our Venators are complete. They will be hitting us in a less than a month and with this plague business, we''ll be weaker when they attack. If Tiin and his supporters do something regrettable in the next few months, they might very well hand victory to the Confederacy."

    Zash looked at the Jedi, then tilted her head back and began laughing. "I never thought I would see such a day. A Sith being asked to help the Jedi not to destroy themselves! This is a truly strange future you''ve built for yourselves!"

    Sidious shared the sentiment, however he didn''t find it amusing. At all. It was unfortunate at best and quite infuriating!

    "Provide me with the resources I need for my research an I promise I''ll be quiet until either the war ends or the Jedi do something regrettable as you put it, Chancellor. I''ll probably find your army a few new toys to play with." Zash smiled at him. Her smile twisted into something sinister ¨C something that wouldn''t have been out of place any Sith''s face. "However, if they go after my apprentice or myself, then all bets are off."

    Palpatine would pay good money to see it happening. Well, unless he missed his guess, the only price he would have to pay is even more work and headaches, because as soon as the zealots learned of Zash, all hell was going to break loose. He had to update his contingencies to better handle the Jedi disintegrating.

    "I think that could be arranged." Palpatine offered. "Master Yoda, may I suggest you concentrate on those rogue Jedi who had been causing us so much trouble? To think that they were responsible for Naboo¡­" The Chancellor glared at the Grandmaster. "Some might have forgotten it, but Naboo is my home, Master Yoda. In that regard nothing has changed. I will use all powers vested in my office to see justice done, no matter if the Confederacy alone was responsible for the atrocity done to my people or if the people behind it were Jedi as this information suggests." He pointed at the data pad Veil left him. Sidious let some of the fury he felt slip through his shields.

    "Oh, I like you! To think that the Republic could have a Chancellor with a spine! Where did they find you?" Zash leaned forward in the chair she had claimed.

    "Thank you." Palpatine nodded at the woman. "I think." He added just to keep the mask of the nice old man, who regrettably had been angered by recent events.

    "Investigate we will. Justice we will bring." Yoda declared.

    "The kind of justice that tries to get rid of one of my best generals? Or the justice that sees the ones responsible for Naboo get punished for their crimes?" Palpatine shot back. "You know, Master Yoda, for a long time I believed myself a friend and ally of the Jedi. I believed that we had the same goal ¨C to see the Republic prosper and be safe! Instead, now in its darkest hour, its not the Sith who are doing their best to see our nation cast down! Its the Jedi, our supposed guardians!" Palpatine took a deep breath. "Please, Master Yoda, tell me what changed!" Sidious made a great show of beseeching the Jedi for answers.

    The Jedi stare blankly at the Chancellor before speaking slowly. "Changed the galaxy did. Changed the Sith have. Or know them we did not. Change we did not."

    It was a mighty struggle ¨C not to begin laughing at the troll.

    "Then it''s time to change, Jedi. If not for your sakes then for the Republic you''re sworn to protect. Ether that or watch it shatter because of your own actions." Zash twisted the knife.

    If Sidious wasn''t careful, he might just begin the like the woman.

    =RK=

    Part 3

    Council Chambers

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    "You''re troubled, Master Yoda." Yaddle''s soft voice broke the Grandmaster out of his thoughts.

    "Disturbed I am." The ancient Jedi admitted.

    "Veil?" Yaddle sighed. "Of course its him."

    Yoda simply handed her a data chip he had taken from the Chancellor. It contained all the decrypted information about the Old Republic forces. He had another one too, with a copy of the raw data and he had Jedi he trusted working on it.

    The woman hummed and went to her seat, where she inserted the chip into a terminal built into it, then began browsing the information.

    "I see. It''s reasonably genuine, isn''t it?" Yaddle muttered. "This is certainly a complication. I would like to say that this data will change things for the better. However with Veil around, those Jedi might genuinely believe that the Republic is beyond salvation." The Jedi Master frowned. "That destroying it before he can corrupt it would be better, no matter what they have to do to achieve it."

    Yoda gave her a disappointed look and she chuckled sadly.

    "Piell or Tiin might make such an argument in their defense. With the senate as a whole refusing to act on their concerns, they might eventually reach not so different conclusion." Yaddle said.

    "Afraid I am. Confused." Yoda admitted. "Darker the galaxy is. Veil..." The Grandmaster trailed off.

    "What did he do this time?" Yaddle spoke in a resigned tone.

    "Talk about it I should not." Yoda admitted.

    "That bad?" The younger Jedi Master ?r??n?d.

    "A bigger concern we have. Wait Veil has to..." Yoda continued to explain about Crimson-71. He already had the archivist searching about any reference concerning the plague.

    Just as Yoda feared, his news weren''t received well. Or calmly. Tiin refused to believe that Jedi would have turned on the Republic without Sith influence and the obvious source was Veil.

    "Do you really believe him? A Sith? I find it much more likely that he was behind it all and now openly moves against the Jedi." Tiin shook his head in denial after seeing the data. "Isn''t it convenient that he unearthed all this evidence soon after we confronted him in the Senate? It''s an obvious fabrication. I wouldn''t be surprised if he had been working on it for years!"

    It was a very good thing that Yoda kept Zash''s existence a secret, no matter the eventual fallout. He clearly felt the rising anger and frustration radiating from Piell and Tiin. They weren''t alone either. Most of the Council members present for this session were wary of the data. Mistrustful. Only Plo Koon and Adi-Mundi kept an open mind about the situation and even they were shaken.

    Simply put, the Jedi didn''t want to believe that some of their own, even if removed by thousands of years could do the things they were accused of. Siding with the Confederacy against the Republic and their fellow Jedi was bad enough.

    Being responsible for Naboo ¨C simply unthinkable.

    "What about that weapon?" Master Koon tried to change the topic.

    "Another abomination created by the Sith." Piell stated coldly.

    "They might have created that thing, but it wasn''t Sith who apparently unleashed it." Yaddle reminded her colleague.

    "Admitted it the Chancellor has. Gave the orders he did." Yoda confirmed.

    "Are you sure that the Sith isn''t involved?" Rancisis asked.

    "Searches for Veil''s past the Chancellor does. Believe the truth he did not. Seek proof he did." Yoda added.

    "So its his fault." Tiin concluded.

    "Don''t be daft. It could have been either us or the Separatists who stumbled upon that thing while investigating Veil''s claims." Yaddle glared at Saesse.

    Yoda''s expression fell as the meeting ground to a halt. The general consensus was to let the Sith deal with the plague and find a way to finally neutralize him as a threat while he was busy. He was sure at least Tiin hoped that Veil finally got himself killed and solved that particular problem.

    As far as the Jedi from the past went ¨C the general consensus was that the presented data while damning was suspect at best and an outright fabrication at worst.

    It was at that moment when Yoda began seriously considering the benefits of retiring somewhere quiet to enjoy his twilight years. Only two things stayed his hand. One was the threat of certain Jedi Masters doing something everyone would regret. The other ¨C even now he wasn''t sure what Veil''s endgame was. It was unfortunate, but despite what he felt when he first met the man, Yoda could no longer be certain that the Sith would be content to just leave the Jedi be. He had to agree with some of the conservatives'' reasoning. While Veil did fight for the Republic, Yoda didn''t believe that the man did it simply because it was the right thing to do. He knew that wasn''t the case.

    What Yoda didn''t know, was what the Sith wanted to achieve in the end. He didn''t know if either the Republic or the Jedi had a place in any future Veil was had a hand in shaping.

    Those were grave concerns. Under different circumstances, Yoda would have found Tiin''s actions compelling. However, with the Separatists poised to make a credible attempt at winning the war, it simply didn''t matter. Yoda had no illusions what would happen to both the Republic or the Jedi Order if the Confederacy won. They were the immediate threat along with that plague. Once those threats were contained, only then the Jedi would be free to act against Veil if it was mandated.

    He had to somehow convince Tiin and his supporters of that simple fact and hope they wouldn''t learn about Zash until things calmed down.

    =RK=

    Corellian cruiser "Freedom"

    Staging area Hunter

    "This isn''t how I expected we would meet again." Nejaa Halcyon said. The Corellian Jedi crossed his hands over his ?h?st and rubbed his short beard.

    "The circumstances are less than optimal." I allowed. "Now that we''re all here..." I looked around the bridge. There were a handful Corellian Jedi present, Aria and the Commando friends who just arrived from Mandalore along with Delta squad. The rest were navy officers ¨C Admirals Holt and Dao along with a smattering of cruiser captains, both Republic and Corellian. "The original plan was to head for the Imperial research facility army elements were trying to breach before all contact was lost. That plan changed." I nodded at Halcyon.

    "Some of us Jedi felt a major disturbance in the force centered on the western edges of the Core. Its our belief that the biological agent had breached containment, infected all personnel on site and spread to the frigate in orbit providing security." Halcyon licked his dry lips.

    I could feel how disturbed he was by what he felt through the Force. If I had to be honest, the premonitions I saw in my dreams last night were more than enough to give me pause.

    "We strongly suspect that Crimson-71 is heading towards the Core Worlds which represent the biggest concentration of sustenance and bio-mass it could appropriate. If it can reach an inhabited world and spread before we can react, we''ll be looking at a catastrophe. At best we''ll have to burn a significant number of Core Worlds. At worst we''re looking at a galactic extinction event. For those of you who haven''t had time to digest the briefing ¨C the more bio-mass and people it consumes, the stronger and smarter Crimson becomes. It is critical that we stop it before it can spread." I stated coldly. "We''ll be moving to Abregado-Rae. When we reach it, us Force Adepts will do our best to divine the plague''s intended target. If we''re unable to prevent it from achieving planet-fall, we''ll sterilize the world it lands on and destroy any traffic in the system to prevent its spread."

    "By sterilize you mean¡­, sir?" A captain I didn''t know asked.

    "Unrestricted orbital bombardment until nothing is left alive on the planed. Let me make one thing crystal clear." I glared at the ?ssembled officers. "If we fail to contain Crimson we''re all dead. It''s not a manner of if, but of when. We''re leaving the moment all ships finish loading provisions. Dismissed."

    =RK=

    Part 4

    Republic frigate "Fury"

    High orbit above Atrisia

    Core Worlds

    The waiting was finally over. Mere seconds after the captured frigate exited hyperspace the entity could sense the rich feeding ground that was finally within its reach. The mere thought of so much food, after what felt like an eternity of hunger, made it freeze. Its re-purposed biomass shook with anticipation. Two hundred and sixty seven combat forms salivated when they felt fresh food through the hive mind connecting them.

    Fury was hailed by an Atrisian system defense corvette. A calm, almost bored, female voice sounded over the comm on the bridge. However there was no longer anyone able to answer, even if they were willing. Commander Monis was little more than a large tentacled tumor fused to the helm of what once was his first independent command. Ler''s mind was gone ¨C consumed by the ravenous appetite of the plague that transformed his crew. All that was left from the commander was his knowledge of piloting and navigating a vessel like the Fury. Everything else had been discarded in the haste to reach a populated world and create more combat forms.

    The hail came in again and this time the voice sounder irritated. The corvette lit up its engines and headed towards the frigate. Meanwhile the Fury was busy accelerating towards Atrisia. Gunners, turned into nothing more than biological targeting units melded into their stations, obeyed one overriding command ¨C protect the greater whole. The Fury''s weapons activated, turned in their mounts, and targeted the approaching corvette.

    There wasn''t a third hail for the frigate answered with all the fury of its armaments. Before the corvette''s crew knew what was happening, before they could bring their own weapons to bear or raise their deflectors to full power, a barrage of laser bolts slammed into its hull. The smaller ship stood no chance ¨C its bridge was shattered in the first salvo, killing the command crew outright. The second cracked the corvette in two and the third was a mere formality ¨C there was no one left alive to feel the wreck blow up.

    The death of the system defense vessel kicked up a hive of activity. Multiple corvettes all around Atrisia came to life and headed towards the Fury. Soon they were followed by five light cruisers ¨C the backbone of the local navy. Multiple hails sounded over the bridge. There were no inquires, no questions. Just a brutally simple demand ¨C halt or be destroyed.

    The entity ignored those hails too. Only two corvettes would be able to come into range before it could breach atmosphere. Unless they successfully rammed the vessel carrying it ¨C and it was going to ensure they wouldn''t, there was nothing that could stop its eternal quest for sustenance.

    =RK=

    Meinuan City

    Atrisia

    "Is this normal?"

    Detective Teng Wai snorted at his protege''s question. He carefully took a sip of caf in order to keep his short beard out of the beverage and looked at the much younger woman who was his partner. Kim Leng was a tiny blonde thing with a pale complexion that was atypical for Atrisia ¨C most of the population had a healthy tan or tended to have naturally brown skin and favored jet black straight hair. That was something else that made Leng stand apart ¨C her blonde hair was quite curly, despite her best efforts to keep it in check.

    "That" was the Quans ¨C an elderly couple that had been a constant source of both amusement and headaches for Meinuan''s police ever since Wai joined the force. The husband Onai had been kicked out ¨C for the third time this week, and a second since Kim was fostered on the detective as his newest trainee.

    "You''ll get accustomed to them." Wai stated sagely. "Either that or they''ll drive you insane."

    "I could have done without this sight..." Leng ?r??n?d.

    "At least this time Mei Lin kicked him out with his shorts on. He was n?k?d on Monday." Teng took another sip of his caf.

    "Thank you for that image, boss. I need to go bleach my mind." Kim sent him a dirty look.

    "You''re welcome. Now, why don''t you go see why Onai''s on the street again?"

    Leng glowered but complied and went to talk with Mei Lin. Teng shook his head in amusement and looked up and down the street. It was quiet ¨C just the odd speeder flying around. It was no surprise ¨C they were in the outskirts of the city and most people here were already at work, either downtown or in the industrial zone to the south. There wasn''t much crime in the area either ¨C just the odd robbery, domestic dispute and the occasional crash. It was a good place to acclimatize a rookie, just out of the academy, with the real world without an undue risk.

    "D-3-1, Dispatch. We''ve got a situation. Code 91." A worried voice came over Wai''s comm.

    "Dispatch, D-3-1, Code 91, copy. Details?" Teng grimaced. 91 was nasty ¨C a pirate or smuggler ship shot down and on its way to crash land in the region. Still considering the times it was better than what it could have been ¨C like a Separatist attack, which unfortunately wasn''t out of the question either.

    "An unidentified frigate destroyed one of our corvettes then headed straight for the planet. It was just shot down while entering atmosphere and is expected to crash in the suburbs. The navy is dispatching marines to secure the ship. We''re expected to secure the area, keep civilians away and ?ssist with first aid for anyone wounded. Stand by for coordinates."

    "Leng, get your ?ss over here!" Wai shouted. He drank what was left of his caf, threw away the cup, and jogged towards their speeder.

    He''d just reached the car when a warbling, whining sound began carrying over the city. Teng looked at the sky for the source and it wasn''t long before his eyes found a falling star coming over the horizon.

    "Sith spit!" Kim exclaimed.

    Wai hadn''t seen her join him in staring at the falling ship.

    "Dispatch, D-3-1. We have a visual on the ship." Wai informed. "Can''t say where it''s going to crash yet."

    "D-3-1, Dispatch. We''re tracking it. It looks like either Jeong or Hwai-ne. We''ve got SAR ready to deploy as well as SW units and everyone in your part of the city. Navy shuttles and and fighter escort are on the way, ETA fifteen."

    "That would take care of anyone who survives the crash." Teng nodded to himself.

    "It won''t help whoever that thing lands on." Kim whispered.

    "A ship landing on you tends to be quite final." Wai muttered. He had friends living in both of those districts. At lest a few of them were likely to be at home after night shifts. "Get into the car. We''re going to be damn busy." Teng ordered and followed his own instruction. "SOP for dealing with crashed ships."

    "Ah, yes..." Kim got into the speeder next to Wai and began reciting the SOP.

    =RK=

    Jeong District

    Meinuan City

    Atrisia

    Thankfully this part of the city lacked any skyscrapers, or worse ¨C space-scrapers, to get afoul of the frigate. The crashed ship had done a number on the district anyway. It had plowed through four kilometers worth of houses and small apartment complexes. The vessel had left a long, deep furrow in the ground in its wake. The sheer heat that emanated from its hull had been enough to ignite anything flammable in the vicinity, as if simply smashing dozens of houses hadn''t been enough.

    To make things worse, every idiot in the zone had decided that the mayhem was a great time to start acting up. Mere minutes after the crash the lines to Central had been almost swamped with reports of attacks by crazy people in the area.

    "Rookie, stay behind me, keep your eyes open, your mouth shut, and follow my lead." Wai ordered in his best drill sergeant tone ¨C he had learned that more than thirty years ago during his misspent youth as a part of the Atrisian Assault Corps. Thinking about it, it''s been about that long since he had the misfortune of seeing such an awful mess.

    "Dispatch, D-3-1. We''re on site. Please advise."

    "D-3-1, Dispatch. SAR will be there momentarily. There''s an attack in progress at Empress Oeanna High School to your east. Go investigate. SW units are on the way and the marines are five minutes out. Be advi¡­ What? I want a confirmation on that! D-3-1, Dispatch. Stand by!"

    "Boss, over there!" Kim shouted.

    Wai had already been driving towards the school and had a great view of what was happening down there. Teng growled when he saw the school yard chock full of kids who were doing their best to look at the crash site. The best they could see from there was the furrow dug by the ship as it had passed uncomfortably close to the school. None of the children should have been out there ¨C there were procedures for disasters like this. Given anything resembling a warning, the kids should have been in the shelters below the school until the all clear was given. For all anyone knew there was a radiation leak from the damn frigate that was going to poison the area and anyone who was unprotected, not to mention that if the damn thing had gone down a bit to the right it would have plowed straight through the school itself.

    The Detective shook his head. He''d be having words with both his bosses and whoever ran that school. Once the current crisis was averted of course.

    Wai frowned. Everyone he could see from the air looked too calm to be under any sort of attack. If this was a prank call, he would have someone''s guts for distracting them from helping people in real trouble.

    Unfortunately, the call hadn''t been a prank. That became painfully obvious when something jumped through a window on the third floor of the main school building and landed in the middle of the overcrowded yard. It took Teng a few precious moments to comprehend what the hell he was seeing before his training kicked in.

    That thing had too many limbs, and a lot of kriffing tentacles. It was hostile too ¨C something that became awfully obvious when it suddenly began scything through the kids with a terrible ease. Moments later it was joined by two more things of its kind ¨C one was carrying what appeared to be a leg and was chewing on it.

    "Dispatch, D-3-1!" Wai shouted in his comm and put the speeder in a steep dive. "Unknown aliens are attacking children at the Empress Oeanna High School! Multiple casualties, multiple attackers! We need backup and SAR now! Kim, hold on!"

    Teng didn''t pay any attention to the frantic voice coming over the comm. He was too busy wrestling with the speeder''s controls and keeping the machine from hitting any of the children who were trampling each other in a hysterical scramble away from their attackers. The repulsors screamed in overdrive under Wai''s insane driving, however they did their job splendidly. The speeder pulled up a moment before smearing itself in the school yard, and flew centimeters above the corpses of slaughtered children. Before the insane aliens knew they were in danger, Teng slammed his vehicle in the closet one, then he made the machine drift and hit a second one with the trunk.

    It was a minor miracle that he''d managed to retain control and hadn''t sent the speeder spinning through the still crowded yard. Instead the machine had managed a more or less controlled stop next to the main building.

    Wai didn''t have any time to contemplate his stunt, nor the fact that he was still alive. The third alien was nearby. The monstrosity was much uglier up-close. It resembled a bloated human and the torn shreds of what might have been an armor let credence to that insane theory. However its legs were bent wrong, the arms had too many clawed fingers, and all those tentacles with mouths, teeth and eyes¡­

    Seeing the hell spawn made Teng freeze. The thing roared at him and threw away the torn leg it was chewing on. Kim screamed back, and that was fortunately enough to get Wai out of his funk. The Detective snarled at the monster which screamed and leaped towards the car. He slammed his foot on the accelerator and the speeder darted forward. That caught the alien freak by surprise and it slammed into the lightly armored vehicle. Its tentacles slashed at Wai, and he flinched when they left gouges in the windshield ¨C which was made of transparent metal.

    Teng hit the brakes and the monster was sent flying back. It hit the ground, crushing gutted children, and suddenly stopped after using its tentacles as anchors. It shook its malformed, fanged head and roared. Its war cry was answered by two more. Wai dared to glance back and his blood ran cold. The other two aliens were very much alive and getting to their feet.

    "Kim shoot those things!" Teng snapped and drove straight at the monster in front of the speeder.

    =RK=

    Part 5

    Jeong District

    Meinuan City

    Atrisia

    "Why won''t you kriffing die?!" Teng shouted at the tentacle monster he just plastered over the durasteel wall of the school. Its lower half was nothing more than a paste of shattered bone and shredded meat. Despite that, the alien monstrosity showed no signs of dying. The kriffing thing was clawing at the twisted hood of the speeder and its tentacles were doing their best to grind through the windshield. Red and black viscera splashed over its ?h?st from misshapen maw, yet the thing roared in anger instead of pain.

    "DIE!" Kim roared back. She leaned out of the window on her side and opened up with her blaster. Half her shots missed despite the practically point blank range, however the rest struck true. Huge chunks of the monster''s face were blown apart in a short order.

    The thing still struggled and lashed at them. It continued to do so even after its jaw was gone, the brain burned in its skull and the top of the head disintegrated. It had no direction ¨C the attacks grew wilder, blind, yet the thing simply refused to die.

    Wei stared at the monster slack-jawed. The thing should be dead! Nothing alive had any right to continue moving after sustaining that much punishment!

    An angry roar from behind interrupted Teng. The Detective glanced at the window and winced. He all but forgot about the other two monsters and they used that to come next to the speeder. Clawed finger and tentacles grabbed the vehicle and began shacking it as if it was a toy.

    Kim screamed and tumbled out of the window she was leaning out of. Wei swore when a moment later the aliens drove the speeder into his partner''s legs and she howled in agony. That was enough to draw him out of his stupor. Teng waited for the monsters to raise the speeder up a bit and then went in reverse. The bloody things kept hold on the vehicle and were pulled along, away from Kim. The monsters screamed in indignation and Teng snarled at them. He twisted the controls and spun the speeder. One of the aliens lost its grip and was sent tumbling through the schoolyard. The one clinging to the side of the speeder continued to hold for a bit longer ¨C until the machine smashed into the school and crushed it into the wall.

    Wei ?r??n?d. His vision swam and his head was killing him. He glanced through the twisted side window, only to see a bloodshot eye attached to a twitching tentacle glaring back. The Detective blanched and scrambled to get away. It took him couple of tries to remove the safety belt before he could scramble over Kim''s seat and crawl through the open window.

    Teng fell on the ground among torn and bloody arm and legs. He scrambled to get away from the blood and gore, but no matter where he looked there were bodies, and worse, pieces.

    The third alien roared in triumph and charged its prey. The Detective went for his blaster, drew it despite his dizziness but then it slipped through his blood covered fingers. All Wei could see was the monster ¨C complete with so many hungry eyes, more teeth than anything should possess and those maw and spit covered tentacles¡­

    The monster sprinted towards Wei. All he could do was scramble back in an instinctive reaction to get away from the rushing predator. It was mere meters away, when it was engulfed by flashes of light. The alien staggered and screeched in fury. Then another barrage struck it in the side. Its left arm simply disintegrated and half its ugly face was seared away ¨C which was a huge improvement.

    Wei chuckled at that thought, before it dawned to him that he was still alive.

    The blaster fire continued until the monster stopped moving and by that point there wasn''t much left above its waist.

    Teng looked up and laughed. An ?ssault shuttle was hovering above the school with its rear ramp open and aimed at the yard. A SW unit was there, in staggered rows in the small space and were looking for other targets.

    The Detective''s eyes dashed over the yard. Everyone who could had gotten out, however that left scores of mauled children with even more trampled by the stampede. Teng''s relieved laughter died in his throat. The adrenaline began draining out of his system and he started shaking. Until now he hadn''t really had time to be afraid or process the slaughter he was seeing. Wei blanched and emptied his stomach over the gore he was sitting in. Only then he remembered his rookie.

    Wei looked along the school building and sighed in relief. Kim was laying on the ground, but seemed to be well enough given the circumstances. It appeared that the first monster had tried to craw towards her, but it had been shot to pieces.

    =RK=

    Five minutes later, Kim''s legs were splinted and she was stuck at a relatively gore free part of the yard along with a the kids who survived. The place was filling up with police and paramedics and ambulances were flying in from all over the region.

    Too little too late. He glanced at the school, where multiple SW units were searching for other monsters and any survivors. More shuttles were screaming overhead bringing reinforcements from the fleet as well as supplies. It wouldn''t be long before a QRF from the nearest military base could come to help contain the situation.

    Bile rose up in his throat despite the fact he emptied his stomach earlier. The medic trying to clean the blood from him so he could check if Teng was actually wounded besides the shock, b?r?ly registered.

    "Medic! We''ve got a live one over here!" An officer shouted nearby.

    Teng''s eyes snapped in that direction. He saw a beat cop kneeling next to a girl with a nasty gash where her throat used to be. The child was obviously dead and the poor bastard was losing it worse than Wei.

    The Detective''s eye widened when the corpse shook and then turned to its side. Two bloodshot empty eyes blinked open. Then the girl''s head turned towards the policeman who was looking away, waving at the paramedics. She opened her mouth revealing bloodstained teeth and then moved surprisingly fast to bite the officer''s neck.

    The man shouted in surprise and pain. He tried to tear away the girl, who had clamped her arms and legs around his torso and was chewing on his neck.

    Wei pushed the medic away and stumbled to help his colleague. The doctor tried to stop him and they grappled for a moment. That turned out to be fortunate. A pair of medics and another policeman ran to help the beleagued man, which turned out to be a terrible idea. The corpses around them stirred and began getting up.

    Teng swore and went for his blaster only to remember that it was still back near his speeder.

    Someone screamed from the right too, where Kim was laying helpless. Wei''s head snapped in that direction and he paled. A few of the wounded kids had gotten up and were either attacking the medics treating them or were busy savaging other casualties. A boy who couldn''t be older than fourteen was crawling towards Kim too. She was trying to get away, but with a two broken legs and who knew how much painkillers in her system, the rookie wasn''t having much luck.

    Wei cursed, shoved the medic away and stumbled onwards to help his partner. Behind him the screaming intensified and was soon drowned out by blaster fire.

    =RK=

    Part 6

    Chancellor''s residence

    Location classified

    Coruscant

    In the middle of the night Sidious slept and dreamed of screams, hunger and dread. Of the Force whispering about a rising danger, of conflict and new challenges.

    It was a small miracle that Palpatine didn''t overreact and use his powers when someone began bashing on his bedroom''s door. The only reason why he kept any displays of hard to explain powers at bay was habit ¨C its been long months since he could get away from his security detail even when in his own home, and that was a place he had to abandon in favor of a lair not known to the public at large. At least he got all his important things shipped here safely. It was truly a good thing that anything s?ns?t?v? he kept at home had been carefully secured within other things ¨C like gifts, ancient pieces of art or furniture. Otherwise the Chancellor''s new security arrangements would have proven even more troublesome.

    Sidious opened his eyes and very carefully accessed the Force and felt for immediate threats. There was a sense of coming danger, of foreboding, but nothing that would endanger him personally right now.

    "What is it?" Palpatine asked in a good rendition of a tired and exasperated old man.

    "There is an ongoing accident on Atrisia. The news just broke. All we know at this point is that a bio-weapon attack is in progress." Major Berg, this night''s chief of the security detail, informed him.

    "Crimson." Sidious whispered. He threw away the covers and jumped out of the bed with agility that should have been impossible for someone at his age ¨C at least without extensive enhancements.

    "I''m coming. What''s is happening over there?" Palpatine asked and grabbed a robe that he then threw over his sleeping clothes.

    "An unknown frigate blew up one of their system defense craft, headed straight for the planet, and then was shot down by one of their cruisers. It crash landed in the suburbs of a city ¨C Mienuan or something. Just as the first responders were getting there, calls about people getting mad and unknown aliens attacking began coming in. A few hours later the place was put under quarantine and that''s what we got so far. The news just broke to the galaxy at large." The Major explained.

    "Any information from our Intel services about what''s happening?" Palpatine opened the door and asked the Major who stood at a parade rest next to it along with a pair of fully armored and armed troopers.

    "Already asked, no response yet, sir."

    "Tell them to hurry. Someone awake general Kenobi and give me a line to Veil''s fleet. Find where Doctor Zash is right now and get her on the comm too, along with Master Yoda." Palpatine began issuing orders.

    He had been hoping that this mishap could be contained before it made things ever more complicated but apparently that was not to be. What he dreamed of ¨C Sidious was pretty sure that the Force had a hand in this. The Dark Side specifically. It wanted, thrived on conflict and this latest debacle was going to guarantee that there would be conflict the likes which this galaxy hadn''t seen in a long, long time. Even if everything went right from now on, Veil and his fleet wouldn''t be available to help blunt the initial CIS offensive. That by itself might allow the enemy to achieve some success and prolong the war.

    At worst¡­ Sidious really didn''t want to think about it, even if he had been busy making contingency plans in case Crimson couldn''t be contained. The Core Worlds were going to burn in that case and in a way he most definitely wouldn''t enjoy.

    =RK=

    Downtown

    Meinuan City

    Atrisia

    If someone asked him how he got here, Wei would be hard pressed to answer. Everything after the school was a blur, a living nightmare that simply refused to end.

    Teng remembered grabbing an open case half full with bacta syringes and using it to bash in the head of a kid trying to bite Kim. Then he was dragging her away from the infected. A soldier paused in his shooting just long enough to hand him her sidearm, then continued to fire at the maddened children. A gunship came in for a strafing run and simply continued to fly down until it slammed into the school. It exploded and immolated a third of the main building, trapping at least a SW unit inside.

    More gunships came in. Another crashed. A second blew up its wingman before being shot down by the rest of the flight, then they disengaged.

    The next thing Wei could recall was carefully putting Kim in the back of an abandoned aircar and taking off just in time to avoid a pair of shambling troopers. The poor bastards lacked helmets and had visible bites on their faces. As he left, the Detective saw them be put down by a squad of fully armored marines.

    He remembered wanting to get away from this madness. To find a doctor for Kim and preferably drink enough to forget this day happened, and it was still morning.

    Another more or less clear memory was arriving at a hospital downtown. Teng wasn''t really sure how he got there, but the place was open, guarded by multiple SW units and a platoon of soldiers just shipped from the closest Assault Corps base.

    Teng vaguely remembered being ordered into a decon shower, receiving enough bacta and antibiotics to drown half his precinct and then being poked a lot with needless to draw blood and spending what felt like hours under various scanners. By the end of it, the shock was receding and he was starting to think clearly.

    Unfortunately that was when things took a turn for the worse. Wei was pretty sure he heard a pair of soldiers quietly talking next to his room. The city was under quarantine ¨C Rakghoul protocols were in effect. Obviously it wasn''t nearly enough, because a bus chose that time to slam into the side of the hospital. The building shook, alarms began blaring and then the screaming and roars began.

    Panicked doctors and patients either ran or stumbled one way, while the soldiers and police moved against the tide to reach the crash site. Teng used the opportunity to get away and search for Kim. He was pretty sure she should have been around ¨C quarantine and all.

    The hospital shook from another hit, this time on the opposite side. The panic intensified. A third crash was more than the power net could take and the lights went out to be replaced by chemical emergency lighting that bathed everything in sinister red.

    Somehow Wei found Kim''s room after struggling through corridors chock full with terrified people. She was locked inside and seemed out of it.

    Teng honestly had no idea how he got his partner to the roof. There were flashes ¨C bashing in heads with a fire extinguisher, pushing a hover stretcher with Kim strapped on it, following the tattered remains of an SW unit who were fighting their way to safety as well.

    What Wei remembered was getting on an ambulance along with a handful of other survivors and leaving the rooftop half a minute before the hospital was razed by orbital fire along with a lot of the surrounding district.

    The next thing Teng knew, he was here ¨C at the top levels of a corporate skyscraper, which were now used as a makeshift staging area. The building was being fortified by two infantry companies and a platoon of combat engineers. More people and material were flown in, while screened civilians were flown to be placed into quarantine outside the city. Meinuan itself had been locked down tight. Everything not military trying to leave was shot down by either a CAP or the Navy. Even military flights which showed even a minimal deviation in their flight paths received the same treatment.

    From what Teng could gather, an army corps was ?ssembling outside the city and once in position, they would come in, kill everything infected and place anyone appearing healthy into quarantine ¨C if things didn''t go even more wrong before that. He was pretty sure that there were plans to incinerate Meinuan and everyone inside in place.

    He couldn''t blame the brass either, not after he saw what that sickness could do to people. It was a major miracle that he and Kim made it this far and appeared to be healthy. He couldn''t say the same for too many people. Every time he dared close his eyes, Wei saw the distorted faces of the children he had to put down, of the recently infected patients, doctors and even fellow policemen in the hospital.

    Teng looked over the window of the former office ¨C now a resting area, where he was left to recover along with Kim. The city was covered by smoke clouds. He could see at least couple of dozen out of control fires and only a handful had firefighters dealing with them. The rumble of artillery and airstrikes against concentrations of the infected was a constant reminder that in less than a day Meinuan had turned into hell.

    The darkened sky flashed with blue fire. Even inside, Wei could feel a static buildup as the planetary shields went up.

    He wasn''t the only one confused by that ¨C nearby soldiers felt it and began asking questions over their comms.

    It took a few minutes, but he got an answer that raised his spirits.

    "The Republic''s here!" One of the soldiers guarding the area announced aloud. "They just brought a whole fleet and presumably an army or two!" The man''s voice was full of jubilation.

    That news made Wei feel relief for the first time since the madness started. With the GAR here, they might be able to save a lot of the poor bastards still trapped out in the city.

    "Case Black Dawn, I say again, Case Black Dawn. All available units, converge on the planetary shield generators and power nodes. Defend them at all costs. I say again, Case Black Dawn..."

    "The kriff?!" The same soldier exclaimed and stared at his comm as if it had turned into a poisons snake.

    "Call in for evacuation, now." An NCO not much younger than Wei snapped. He had seen the man around, but hadn''t talked with him yet ¨C the sergeant was in charge of securing this section of the building. "The Republic isn''t here to help us. They''re here to stop the plague."

    "But that''s the same!" The trooper shook his head in confusion.

    "Not if they plan to burn the plague along with us and most of Atrisia." The NCO grumbled. "Call in the evac, now damn it! We''re straight in the middle of the biggest target on the planet and that fleet''s likely gunning for us."

    =RK=

    Flag bridge

    Corellian Cruiser Freedom

    One light second from Atrisia

    Exiting hyperspace went smoothly ¨C if it wasn''t for my connection with the Force, I wouldn''t have felt it.

    Time was up. Mere seconds later, one of the comm techs got us a line to Coruscant, where I knew Palpatine and company were debating what to do. That was a bit problematic, because I actually lacked clearly stated orders to deal with Crimson at any cost, which could be a problem in the long term. It was almost amusing and once it would have been terrifying how my priorities had shifted since I became a Sith. Once the prospect of destroying a world and killing trillions would have been unthinkable ¨C sheer madness. Nowadays, what concerned me was the consequences of failure and the political ones if we didn''t kriff up by the number.

    I looked around at the people gathered on the flag bridge. There was a smattering of techs and staff officers who helped us run the fleet. The notable people however were admiral Holt, Master Halcyon and general Cody, who I had poached from Obi-Wan once my brother in law figured out he would be stuck on Coruscant for the foreseeable future. I got the Clone promoted and added him as a commander to the GAR component of my forces. Once Rex recovered, I was going to get him in charge of my special force units and fold them into the 501st as a new special warfare group.

    "Captain, you have your orders." Admiral Holt said. The woman looked a bit uncomfortable in her new uniform, though it was mostly the fact that she was no longer running her cruiser.

    "Aye, ma''am." The Corellian answered and cut the comm.

    "Chancellor, we just exited hyperspace. I need those orders now." I spoke formally once Palpatine''s hologram appeared.

    The holoimage of Palpy tried its best to look tired and regretful. Next to him I could see Yoda, who didn''t look much better, a grumpy looking Zash and Obi-Wan, who was wearing a uniform with enough ribbons to make him look uncomfortable in it.

    "General Veil, if Crimson-71 is indeed lose on Atrisia, you''re to do anything in your power to prevent it from leaving that world. Including destroying all life on the planet." Palpatine spoke slowly. Each word was weighted with sorrow. He was the perfect image of a man being torn by an unthinkable decision he had to make no matter how he loathed it.

    "Admiral, we''re being hailed by the Atrisian Navy." Freedom''s former XO, now promoted to captain, informed us.

    "Patch them to the Flag Bridge. When will a summary of the local news intercepts be ready?" Joanna asked.

    "We''re working on it." One of the techs informed us. "It appears that the outbreak began in Meinuan city. The locals believe that they have it contained there and are preparing to go in and purge the place once they''ve got sufficient forces in place."

    "Calculations in progress." Another added ¨C he was in charge of ensuring that multiple cruisers could execute a micro-jump into range of the local cruisers.

    "If Crimson is contained its because it serves its purpose to make it appear so. Once it has repurposed sufficient biomass in neural clusters to enhance its Force abilities it will break through the quarantine and strike at nearby population centers. The only reason its lying low is that it doesn''t yet have the strength to affect multiple ships in orbit." I growled. "If it wasn''t for a whole fleet with multiple Sith keeping the crews safe, we wouldn''t have been able to stop it at Odacer-Faustin. I already briefed you on what happened back then."

    "Me too!" Zash chirped. "Truly, Crimson is one of the nastiest things the Empire managed to cook up." My former master nodded sagely.

    Her chipper attitude earned her a glare from Obi-Wan and most people around me. Yoda looked simply resigned and Palpy was actually unreadable. Curious.

    "Order the local naval forces to stand down. The fleet will ?ssume formation Alpha One. I want multiple cruisers ready to take out the Atrisian ships using Ion Cannons. They''re unlikely to let us do our job." I ordered.

    "Republic force, this is Rear Admiral Yuan Xan, please state your purpose. We''re not going to stand down while our world is threatened by a bio-weapon." An old male voice came over the comm.

    A moment later, a new holoimage joined those from Coruscant. An elderly man with Asian features looked coldly at us. He wore an ornate uniform, with a left br??st covered by even more ribbons than those burdening Obi-Wan''s uniform. Despite the parchment like skin and thinning white hair, the Atrisian admiral had an aura of strength and competence surrounding him.

    "Admiral Xan, your world is a victim of a virulent, sapient bioweapon. Despite what your people on the ground believe, its not contained. It merely bides its time until it can no longer be stopped." I explained, though I knew it was going to be futile. The Atrisian wasn''t going to let us burn his homeworld even if he believed every world I was saying. He would at least try to get as many healthy people out and that would risk Crimson escaping ¨C something that had to be prevented at all costs.

    "Even if that''s true, with the Republic''s help, we''ll be able to stop the plague. That''s why you''re here isn''t it?" Xan gave me a suspicious look. "I find it curious that you arrived this fast. Its like you knew about the plague."

    "We did know that the weapon was on its way to this region of the Core Worlds from the Unknow Regions." I nodded. "The unfortunate truth is that a Republic survey mission breached its containment while examining an ancient Imperial facility."

    At this point there wasn''t much point in lying ¨C too many people within the GAR knew about Crimson, not to mention the fact that both the Republic and Jedi managed to find some fragmentary records from my time and all of them pointed at the Empire as the origin of the kriffing thing. It would be a wishful thinking to believe that such information won''t find its way out, especially after Atrisia was burned down.

    "We received no warning!" Xan snapped.

    "Take that up with GAR High Command and the Republic Government, admiral. If it was up to me, everyone in the galaxy would know that Crimson-71 is still active and a threat. If you knew, you might have been able to save your world." I spoke flatly.

    The fact that Palpy and company decided to keep things about Crimson relatively low-key to avoid more panic and chaos wasn''t something I agreed with, but I held my tongue. Any world the thing landed on would have to be sterilized unless we wanted to risk the whole galaxy. That or quarantined for a long, long time ¨C none of which we could really afford at this time. The quarantine of Naboo was one resource drain too many and the Blue Shadow was a common cold in comparison.

    "You aren''t here to help us, but to protect the rest of the Republic." Xen nodded grimly. "I even understand. Case Black Dawn. Designate the Republic force as hostile." The Atrisian admiral ordered.

    "You understand, but you''ll do your duty to your people. No matter the risk or odds." I nodded in understanding and respect. "Lieutenant?"

    "A moment, sir¡­ Calculations complete!" The tech answered.

    "Execute." I ordered and looked at the tactical display.

    A third of my fleet vanished and then reappeared in the vicinity of the Atrisian cruisers on this side of the planet. Ion Cannons tracked their targets and spoke as one and more than half of the defenders were dead in space.

    "Task Force Alpha, take out the remain of the Atrisian Navy, continue using Ion Cannons if practical. The rest of the fleet will ?ssume bombardment formation above Atrisia. Jump when calculations are ready and commence bombardment. Launch small craft and take out all ships that aren''t ours. Do not let anything leave the planet."

    And just like that, I ordered the death of trillions and their whole world. It wasn''t the first time either. I frowned - I should be feeling something besides anticipation, shouldn''t I? The last time I did.

 Chapter 68 - Crimson-71 [2/2]

    Part 7

    Meinuan City

    Atrisia

    The eternal hunger could not be satiated. However, sustenance could calm the hunger-pangs that were its constant companion. Finally being able to feast cleared up its vast mind. The additional biomass and especially neural networks it could use helped too. Finally it could think beyond its next meal. It no longer was a slave to its instincts.

    Even then, it paused. Savored fresh tastes on its many tongues, felt tender flesh being torn apart from still living food by dozens of jaws, gorged itself on bone marrow and sinew.

    The feeding frenzy slowed down. Basic combat forms looked around and surveyed their surroundings with their many eyes and enhanced ears. The infected breathed deeply and sorted through thousands of scents. Only then did it allow itself to use the Force and seek prime biomass.

    The intelligence paused in confusion. The world it had landed on was densely populated ¨C it could feel the siren song of at least a trillion beings. However, those touched by the Force were few and far between. Even those few felt wrong, weaker.

    The combat forms directly touched by the sickness bristled at the very thought. The lack of prime biomass was going to slow it down and already its spread was sub-optimal. It planned to land at a spaceport and spread before anyone was the wiser. Instead it was blinded by the feeling of so much food concentrated on the planet. In its ravenous dash towards sustenance it didn''t react in time and was shot down short of the optimal target.

    No matter. The food''s response was less severe than feared. It could feel it ¨C their confusion, determination. The food had no idea what it was dealing with. If it understood the concept, the entity would have smiled. A small demonstration of power to sow chaos, a few tiny custom made organisms attached to shuttles busy removing sustenance from its immediate reach and all attempts for containing it were for naught.

    It didn''t understand smiling, though it could feel satisfaction at a job well done. The food was gathering around the sustenance center it infected. It would be coming for it, trying to purge it. The food was fighting, even achieving some successes though more than a few were just because it allowed them to happen.

    The entity was playing for time. Already multiple nerve clusters were approaching maturation. They were less powerful than it d?s?r?d, with smaller range. The prime biomass was infected with strange organisms that resisted repurposing and weakened the ensuring clusters.

    It was a setback, but it wasn''t going to matter. The hunger could not be denied!

    The hours needed for the clusters to properly grow up were spent in feasting, studying the local food and tailoring combat forms. From consumed soldiers it found out what their Rakghout protocols were. It examined them and felt amusement. Eating those morsels once it got away from this world would be a treat.

    =RK=

    It felt all consuming rage. That emotion was so potent that it even silenced the ever present hunger. The Force boiled and became ripe with anticipation when a new entity arrived in system. The sickness remembered it. It was the same poisoned food that denied it the last time. The same one that ensured it would hunger for eons!

    Tens of thousands of combat forms roared their fury to the heavens. A million infected went into a killing frenzy. The nerve clusters shook and the first one awoke.

    The hunger could not be denied! It wouldn''t be consigned to oblivion once more!

    The rage grew. It burned hotter than the heart of a star. Infected people shook as their will was stripped from them by the boundless hunger. Combat forms and simple thralls surged from their hiding places. The entity screamed its rage through the Force and it resonated through every infected within the city.

    Battle hardened veterans froze in their tracks. Vehicle crews clutched their ears in a futile attempt to make the noise stop. Pilots blacked out and every single vehicle flying above Meinuan crashed.

    Only then did the infected fall upon the helpless defenders and tear them apart. The Force scream lasted four minutes and by the time it ended, the only surviving soldiers were the ones high in skyscrapers and a lucky few squads too far away from infected.

    It was only the beginning. The one who denied it was still out of range. However the same couldn''t be said for the food circling the city. A million throats snarled and turned towards the forces ensuring the quarantine. The entity focused most of its attention on them, though it didn''t forget to sent more infected to spread it through everyone still left in the city. Others homed on the few remaining nest of resistance and one in particular was singled with a special attention. It was the only site which was lucky enough to have landed shuttles during the scream.

    =RK=

    Flag Bridge

    Corellian Cruiser Freedom

    High orbit over Atrisia

    "This is going to be ugly. I need an armor brigade and at least an infantry division for what''s all but guaranteed to be a suicide mission." I snarled.

    The second time we were ready and had multiple Sith on each ship. We still had to land and take out the shield generators the hard way. We never stopped cursing the bastards who thought it was a great idea to have our primary bio-warfare division labs and the planetary shield research complex housed on the same world along with a Sith academy so Crimson could have a ready supply of Force Adepts to consume and strengthen itself.

    Seeing Atrisia''s planetary shields come online before we could get into effective range brought back memories I thought suppressed. Fighting twisted monsters in a desperate bid to reach and disable the generators. Being one of a handful of Sith who managed to use the Force well enough to keep ourselves healthy. Barely making it out as the planet was burned down to the crust behind us.

    It was a decade later, and largely thanks to Ashara, that the nightmares stopped. I almost laughed at that thought. By that point in my life I believed myself immune to fear. I was a thing other people had nightmares of.

    Crimson proved me wrong. It weakened the Empire and came close to bringing its downfall in the aftermath.

    And now the kriffing thing was unleashed again! If I could go back in time, I would murder the kriff out of the Dark Council for this!

    "General Veil, I''ll appreciate if you don''t break my Flag Bridge." Admiral Holt''s concerned voice brought me back to the present.

    I looked around and winced. The deck bellow my feet was twisted and I was surrounded by a corona of wild angry manifestation of the Dark Side, which was lashing around me. Thankfully everyone had the presence of mind to keep themselves far away of me.

    "Dully noted, admiral. Crimson brought back some memories I believed I''d handled." I bit off.

    "That bad?" Halcyon asked.

    "That bad." I deadpanned after reinforcing my mental shields. "Get me my volunteers and take out those shields." I ordered before plunging deeply in the Dark Side and infusing myself with its essence. "I''ll do my best to keep our ships and ground troops shielded, but I won''t be able to do that for long." I added and began preparing myself for another round of Battle Meditation.

    "Admiral Holt, we have Prime Minister Huan and Empress Fei on the comm. They demand explanation for our actions."

    "Tell them to check with what''s left of their troops at the quarantine zone. That should be an explanation enough." I looked at Holt. "Admiral, no matter what happens, no ship can leave this planet. Bring the Freedom above the shield generator complex. It will make it easier for me to protect our troops on the ground. You have tactical command." I closed my eyes and let my consciousness expand.

    First my mind touched the people on the Flag Bridge. I felt Halcyon flinch at the contact, though after a few seconds he accepted the connection. It was communication with concepts, ideas and images. The Green Jedi saw a glimpse of what Crimson could become. The man flinched once more, but then his heart flared up with determination. He gave me a grim nod and headed toward the closest hangar bay.

    My awareness spread and now I was connected with everyone on the ship. A thought was all it took and their will was bolstered. They would do their duty and wouldn''t falter.

    Then it was the turn for the other ships. We were already on the edge of the gravity well and soon would be in Crimson''s range. I frowned and felt like slapping myself.

    I couldn''t protect everyone, not without killing myself. However, I didn''t need to. I carefully pulled out from most of the crew until I was touching only those on the bridge, CIC and engineering. The rest would have to fend for themselves. Only then did I return to seeking the minds of the command crews of the rest of the fleet as well as every engineering crew.

    =RK=

    Part 8

    Ming valley

    Atrisia

    Jedi Master Halcyon had read the records. He knew, intellectually, what an advantage large scale Battle Meditation could be. Despite that, experiencing it firsthand was an eye opener.

    By all rights, the attack should have been a disaster. There was merely ten hours to plan it in case taking out the shields the hard way was necessary. The only good news was the inordinately good intelligence about the target provided by the Atrisians themselves in case the CIS attacked and the GAR came to reinforce them.

    That shouldn''t have been enough. An armored brigade and a mechanized infantry division with a bit of air support were simply insufficient to take the complex before they could be hit by overwhelming reinforcements ¨C not when they had to tangle with four dug in Atrisian Assault Corps ¨C a mix of heavy infantry and armor augmented by extensive minefields and multiple heavy weapon emplacements.

    That''s what conventional wisdom claimed. Halcyon''s experience in the war so far agreed.

    They were proven wrong.

    A whole fighter and bomber squadron suffered failures while passing through the shield. A third of the transports either crash landed or had to land short of the target due to the same kind of damage.

    The portion of the task force under the Jedi Master''s command should have been easy pickings for the defenders. The locals knew what they were fighting for ¨C the survival of their very world, the people they loved, their families. Nejaa knew that he''d be facing fanatical resistance and neither he or the Clones under his command would be as determined to win as the enemy, even if he knew that the plague had to be stopped at any cost.

    The reality of the situation was quite different. He could feel the touch of Veil''s mind upon his own. It bolstered his courage, connected him with every man under his command and made them all act with unparalleled coordination.

    That was not all. Halcyon could sense the enemy''s intentions, could anticipate their actions, their positions, even before he used the Force to do so and when he accessed it, his capabilities were further bolstered.

    What should have been meticulously planned and well executed defense was anything but. Atrisian veterans faltered, fought as individuals instead of members of a single unit. Halcyon could feel their courage faltering even before his soldiers entered effective range.

    Every Atrisian fought as an individual. The experienced veterans did better ¨C they didn''t break despite an overwhelming feeling of fear and despair. They fought and died alone.

    The same couldn''t be said for the inexperienced soldiers among them. Many froze, flinched and some threw away their weapons and ran away in the face of seemingly invincible enemy.

    Here and there small knots of Atrisians with exceptional willpower made last stands. A squad dug in around multiple automated blaster cannons held out against two companies with tank support until Halcyon entered the fray himself.

    A tank platoon led a valiant last ditch defense at the gates of the complex that halted a whole battalion until infantry swarmed them with missiles and thermal detonators.

    The rest of the Atrisians simply broke or died under withering barrages of impossibly coordinated fire.

    Halcyon stared at the carnage and found it hard to believe his eyes. Most of the defenders were gone ¨C dead, surrendered or running. There was a battalion dug in within the complex itself and the only reason they were still holding was because the Jedi was waiting for enough infantry to reach the entrance so they could eliminate the remaining resistance with minimal losses.

    It was less than an hour since the attack began. By all accounts, Nejaa just commanded one of the greatest victories in the war to date, yet he felt anything but joy. He knew it was necessary, that failure could see the galaxy die screaming. Yet that knowledge was cold comfort, as his success meant the dead of billions anyway.

    "General, we''ve got unknown craft heading our way. The CAP is experiencing technical failures when attempting to intercept them!" A confused voice came over the comm and it chilled Nejaa''s blood.

    The Jedi Master closed his eyes so he could concentrate better and searched the Force. Despite the Battle Mediation making his courage unwavering, Halcyon felt a pang of fear and revulsion. A wave of fury and hunger was approaching upon a dozen speeders and atmospheric shuttles.

    "Commander Roy, take a regiment and get that building secured and the shields disabled, now!" Halcyon ordered. "All armor is to ?ssume defensive positions. Infantry is to dig in and prepare for imminent attack. Check your armor seals. We''re about to be attacked by infected. Everyone with compromised armor is to pull back to the complex!"

    =RK=

    Downtown

    Meinuan City

    Atrisia

    Wei found himself on the ground, clutching his aching head. There was something sticky on his face and on both sides of his neck. For a moment he thought that he was back at the school yard and everything had been a particularly realistic and nasty nightmare.

    The Detective cracked his eyes open and ?r??n?d. No such luck. He recognized the damn office. He touched his face and examined the sticky stuff ¨C it was blood.

    The pounding in his head increased and he remembered. One moment Teng was talking with the sergeant, hoping to arrange evacuation for Kim, then he heard screaming. Not with his ears, but in his mind. That''s all he remembered before awakening on the floor. Wei ?r??n?d and gingerly got up, which was quite difficult thanks to a sudden bout of vertigo.

    Teng dry heaved, before the dizziness subdued and the headache lessened a bit. He looked around and cursed. Half the people were lying in pools of their own blood. Some had clawed out their eyes and had torn large chunks of their faces. Other laid dead with blood leaking from their eye, nose and ears.

    Whatever that Sithspit was, it killed off a lot of people. Wei was one of the lucky ones ¨C along with the sergeant who was still trying to get up and a couple of soldiers m??ning on the ground.

    Wei went to the NCO and helped the man up.

    "Sarge, we need to go. If that Sithspawn plague hit the whole city with whatever this kriffery was, we''re dead if we stay here!" The Detective said.

    "Kriff it, you''re right. Get whoever''s still alive in here together. I''ll go see if we still got a shuttle or two ready to leave." The sergeant ?r??n?d and tapped his comm.

    Teng nodded and went to check on Kim. Her head was covered in blood, she was unconscious but at least the rookie was still breathing. Wei carefully picked her up and headed towards the CEO''s personal hangars that were appropriated by the military. He would be seeking other survivors once Kim was secured in the first flight out.

    =RK=

    Quarantine perimeter

    Meinuan City

    Atrisia

    The entity''s rage knew no bounds. It had come so close to destruction it still couldn''t believe its luck in surviving. If it wasn''t for the food raising a shield over the planet, the ships in orbit would have burned it, worse ¨C prevented it from feeding.

    It could feel the danger was far from over. The being that denied it the last time was here. It was trying to deny the hunger, to rob it of sustenance. That could not be borne!

    A million strong infected, thousands of speeders carrying combat forms and tens of thousands of the latter surged at the food digging it around the city. The entity screamed its fury and frustration at them. Channeled its fear through the Force and used all those emotions to fuel its powers.

    The food screamed. Some began tearing at their eyes. Other shot at anything that moved. Yet more either ran in panic or curled into catatonic balls until they could be consumed.

    Those strong enough to resist were singed out. Artillery positions were engulfed in self-destructive madness with the crews turning against each other. Others bombarded friendly positions without even realizing it.

    The Atrisians unfortunate enough to possess sufficient willpower to resist were focused upon. Soldier were crushed by invisible force. Tanks failed and became tombs for the crews able to resist the mental attacks, and they were the most lucky ¨C most of them lived long enough for monsters to peel away the armor surrounding them before they were consumed alive and aware.

    Bomber flights shattered as they entered effective range. Some escorting fighters opened fire on their charges and had to be put down.

    Only then did the wave of twisted people and custom built combat forms slammed into the shattered perimeter and drowned it into a sea of snapping jaws and clawed tentacles.

    More nerve clusters m?tur?d. The entity''s command of the Force, its awareness and reach increased. It wasn''t long before it comprehended the nature of the danger. The thin energy barrier keeping it safe from the ships in orbit was in mortal danger. It commandeered every speeder, shuttle and suborned fighter it could, loaded them with combat forms and sent them to counter the threat.

    Then it concentrated its massive mind on the food threatening its very existence. They were more than a thousand kilometers away ¨C farther than some of the ships in orbit, however they were the threat that mattered right now.

    The plague channeled its emotions through the nerve clusters on Atrisia. It sent fear, rage and hunger at the food trying to disable the shields. It felt them flicker with unease, yet their courage was not broken. Instead the mental attack bounced off from the other''s will.

    The entity''s fury rose to a crescendo. It was being denied again! That could not be borne! It searched for its adversary and struck at it directly.

    The Force shook in exaltation. The hive-mind slammed into the bound wills of more than hundred thousand men and women. They recoiled by the strike, yet held. Fury bright enough to match its own blazed above Atrisia. It struck again and this time the attack was met head on. Infected staggered, combat forms screeched in pain, Clones fell to their knees as mind blinding headache split their heads.

    A million twisted maws snarled in fury. The entity was evenly matched by that other hive-mind. The rage burned, yet it felt satisfaction. It could sense the limits of the other. It could match it, for now. Soon enough there would be more nerve clusters to draw on and then the hunger won''t be denied.

    It shifted its focus and began gathering power. It felt the other preparing for the inevitable attack and felt amusement. The other would be ready. However, it wasn''t the target.

    The shields would fall soon, but not before the combat forms could reach them. The entity examined the food defying it. Focused its power and struck. The fighters flying to meet the infected began falling from the sky. While the other could protect their pilots, the same could not be said for the machines themselves and they were small ¨C even relatively minor damage could bring them down.

    Its attention went into the combat forms ready to engage the food from the stars. It would lead the attack with everything it was and it would ensure that the hunger would not be denied.

    =RK=

    Shield generator complex

    Ming valley

    Atrisia

    Nejaa was on the front, surrounded by a rank of hastily dug in tanks and a regiment of infantry. Only the Battle Meditation kept him and his men ready for the coming onslaught. He felt the plague strike at their minds. Most of the Clones were brought to their knees despite Veil doing his best to shield them.

    He could sense their headaches, the treacherous tendrils of fear and boundless rage that tried to worm their way in the soldiers minds, yet slammed into the fused will of every man and women bound by the Battle Meditation and failed to find purchase.

    Halcyon could feel it. The hunger was here. It wanted nothing more than to consume the whole galaxy in one endless feast. Nejaa gripped the hilt of his lightsaber and glared at the approaching shuttles, aircars and speeders.

    "We will hold this position, no matter what comes our way!" He opened a line to all his troops. Halcyon laced his voice with the Force, made it ring with the conviction he felt. Nejaa thought about his Scerra, his wife back on Corellia, about his son. "We will not flinch in the face of slobbering monsters! We will hold this line and won''t take a single step back!"

    Tank and walkers raised their guns. Missile crews shouldered their weapons and took aim. The approaching swarm showed no inclination of slowing down. Thanks to the Battle Mediation there was no need of a spoken command. When the infected entered range, the first row of vehicles opened fire. Shuttles and aircars shattered under rail rounds and blaster bolts. Missiles streaked in the air and blew apart their targets. There were no mistake, no two men targeted the same enemy.

    The skies were filled with explosions and the front of the swarm vanished behind a wall of fire and shrapnel. Yet the plague was not deterred. It had no trouble sacrificing as many of its minions as it needed.

    Halcyon felt it when it struck. The first line of armor began failing. Gun barrels twisted, power plants malfunctioned. Here and there the odd man screamed and slumped with their minds shattered. Missiles began missing their targets despite solid target locks. Large enemy vehicles headed straight at dug in armor and did their best to ram them at supersonic speeds. Monsters jumped off them and were slowed down to survivable velocities by the Force.

    The infantry opened fire for all they were worth. Halcyon activated his saber and jumped to meet a large monster that still wore the tattered armor of an Atrisian soldier.

    The thing roared in fury and sent a telekinetic blast at Nejaa. The Jedi countered and was buffered by a small shock-wave produced by the attacks colliding. Blasterfire racked the side of the monster and made it stagger. Halcyon ducked under a slashing tentacle, cut through another and then rolled past a third, while keeping his blade extended to the left. The lightsaber amputated the monster''s leg just above the knee and made it fall. Its tentacles slashed wildly in an attempt to catch the Jedi, but Nejaa used the Force to push them away. He dashed at the twisted being and took a pair of tentacles in as many swings before getting close enough to cut the large monster apart. Yet, even in its death throes it managed to strike back and a clawed tentacle glanced off the Jedi''s ?h?st plate.

    Halcyon felt danger and jumped away just in time to avoid another monster landing next to the dismembered one. The thing roared and sent a telekinetic shock-wave at the Jedi. Nejaa responded in kind and the resulting explosion pelted him with dirt. The monster charged him only to be torn apart by the concentrated fire of two heavy troopers.

    An airbus chock-full with pulsating tumors slammed into a nearby walker and both disappeared in the heart of a fiery explosion. The shock-wave picked up Halcyon and threw him away despite the desperate telekinetic shield he erected to protect himself. Luckily he landed on relatively soft grass and soil, thus avoiding serious injuries. Still the blast dazed him.

    By the time Halcyon was on his feet the infected had either landed or flown past the forward defense lines. There was half a regiment waiting for them further in the valley and the Jedi knew that at least a battalion would act as a rearguard at the complex''s entrance while the rest of that regiment stormed the generators.

    He just had to stop the bulk of the infected that landed among his lines and prevent any more reinforcements from breaking through. However that was easier said than done.

    Nejaa could feel at least a thousand of the infected, spread all over the place. A significant amount of his armor was either destroyed or disabled and that left him and the infantry to deal with the majority of the enemy.

    That was easier said than done. Each of those things could use the Force and could sustain a significant amount of punishment. Further, the infected had as good a coordination as the Clones in the sway of the Battle Meditation.

    What followed was pure hell. Whole squads or even companies concentrated their fire on single targets. Some of the monsters went down relatively easy, others roared and formed invisible shields that took unreal amount of firepower to breach. Clones were raised in the air and crushed or thrown away like dolls. Others got peeled out of their armor and savaged. Monsters were burned by concentrated blaster fire, others were blown apart by grenades, thermal detonators or missiles. Some ran afoul of the still operational armor and were either vaporized or crushed.

    Halcyon found himself facing three monsters who worked in tandem to dismantle a walker and the platoon supporting it. The last remaining squad was desperately firing everything they had at the advancing infected when Nejaa entered the fray. He used the crushed remains of the walker as a battering ram to split the monsters then engaged the closet one. The Jedi Master shielded himself with the Force against everything that thing threw his way and got close enough to dismantle it.

    He wasn''t fast enough. Before he could dispatch his opponent, Nejaa felt the squad he came to save being torn apart by the other two monsters. They tore the last Clone in two before jumping his way. Halcyon met them halfway and released the biggest telekinetic push he could. One of the monsters was unable to protect itself and flew away like a rocket.

    The other roared in triumph. It was unaffected by the Jedi''s attack and slammed into him. Halcyon managed to cut off an arm and a tentacle before they hit the ground hard, but that didn''t even slow down the monster. It slammed its fist in Nejaa''s ?h?st and that strike was enhanced with the Force.

    The Jedi Master felt his ribs shatter like twigs and coughed blood that stained the inside of his helmet. The monster used its remaining tentacles to grab him before he could use his saber and then it raised a fist for another strike. Halcyon glared at the infected. It took all his training, and the Battle Meditation helping him, to fight through the pain to concentrate enough to catch the coming punch into a telekinetic grip.

    The monster let out a Force enhanced scream that rattled Nejaa. It made his broken ribs shift and the bone edges dug into his flesh. The Jedi screamed in pain, then howled in agony when the monster slammed its fist in his br??stplate. The shock shattered another rib and caused even more damage.

    All Halcyon knew was pain. He could hear a distant triumphant roar before the agony increased as the monster began tearing away his armor.

    A foreign mind pressed through the red haze. Another will chased the delirium away and the pain became a distant thing. A tentacle bit in Nejaa''s side and took a chunk of flesh away.

    Halcyon saw his Scerra''s face, her soft smile, his son. The reasons why he fought today. A rage not entirely his own pulsed through his very being and the Jedi screamed back at the monster. The Force answered his desperation, it was fueled by his anger and Halcyon found that he had a bit of strength left after all.

    The Jedi glared at the monster and released a telekinetic pulse that shredded the tentacles holding him in place. He threw his lightsaber and guided it with his will alone as it cut the monster to pieces.

    That was all Nejaa had to give. His telekinetic grip wavered and his lightsaber fell to the ground. Because of the Battle Meditation still touching his mind, Halcyon could feel his men still fighting, still holding the line.

    The world was growing darker. The Jedi could feel the sickness invading his body and he lacked the strength to resist. Nejaa''s mind drifted back to home. To Corellia and his family. He needed to know that they would be safe. That all this horror wasn''t for nothing.

    As if in answer to his dying wish, Nejaa''s perspective shifted. He could feel he was looking through commander Roy''s eyes. The Clone nodded to one of his brothers who pressed his thumb on a detonator. The world shook and the soldiers were all but deafened by the roar of a titanic explosion. They were engulfed by a wave of flames coming from a nearby corridor. Only their heavy armor and shields kept them relatively safe.

    Roy pointed forward and a squad of heavy troopers sprinted down the corridor and then left before the commander followed. They were met by a punishing torrent of fire and answered in kind. The point man fell, then another. A third Clone was immolated before the incoming fire lessened ¨C suppressed by a spread of grenades. Only one man of the leading squad was still alive when Roy reached a twisted, jagged hole in a massive armored door. The trooper in front of him charged through, and made just a few steps in before being torn apart.

    Roy emptied the magazine of his grenade launcher through the breach, then threw it away, drew his blaster and charged in. He emerged into a large room chock full with smoke and didn''t even slow down.

    Nejaa though he saw him pass by abandoned terminals and corpses. The commander vaulted over a barricade and shot a defender in the face, then continued his charge.

    Roy emerged in cavernous room. Catwalks led to a massive reactor suspended in a cooling liquid. Roy continued to sprint towards the objective. Blaster bolts began chasing him. His shield flared, then popped and the Clone was staggered.

    Nejaa felt the man''s determination. Roy grabbed something from his belt ¨C a detonator, and pressed the bu??on.

    Halcyon''s awareness was wrenched away, back to his body. He could feel the plague spreading through his veins and laughed. It was too late.

    The sickness agreed. He could feel its bottomless hunger, its impotent rage as it was voiced by every single infected ¨C even Halcyon''s throat roared in fury, despite the agony it caused to his ruined ?h?st.

    Darkness fell, then it was torn asunder by a new star and a wave of heat. All Nejaa could see was Scerra''s smile and then there was only light.

    =RK=

    Evacuation flight D-46-F

    Atrisia

    It was a very close call, but Wei and some of the survivors made it out of Meinuan before the city was overrun. For a few minutes, Teng allowed himself to believe that it was all over. That the Republic would burn the plague and that everyone who managed to escape was safe.

    It was not to be.

    The Republic wasn''t here to help after all. They had either disabled or destroyed the navy and had landed a force to take out the shield generator, a force that by all accounts was busy simply destroying the defenses.

    General evacuation plans were in effect and anyone with a hyper-capable vessel was bid to get as many people out of Atrisia as possible. Starfighters rose to challenge the Republic blockade in a suicidal bid to protect at least a few of the evacuating vessels.

    Cruisers equipped with Guardian systems, frigates and swarm of fighters met everyone trying to leave the atmosphere and blew them to pieces. That didn''t stop people from trying ¨C the shields were going to fall soon and then everyone was going to die.

    The panic gripping everyone wasn''t helping either. All Wei could feel was a dull sense of resignation and failure. He managed to somehow get Kim on an evacuation craft with other young people and got back to watch it run the blockade.

    The small freighter rose on its repulsors, then ignited its main engine and shot towards the heavens. It was followed by a squadron of fighters ¨C the last ones remaining in the area.

    The sky was lit in azure fire and Wei felt a wash of static pass through him. Teng fell to his knees and screamed in denial. The shield was gone.

    The small dot that was Kim''s transport flashed as the sky caught fire. Wei heard a distant rolling thunder and knew it was all over. He felt heat all over his left side and then knew nothing at all.

    =RK=

    Meinuan City

    Atrisia

    THE HUNGER COULD NOT BE DENIED! That overriding thought was all the entity could think about. Trying to comprehend its failure was too much. It felt the Force giving it a warning that doom was coming. It sensed the shield generator being destroyed and the barrier faltering.

    There was only fury. Transports with a few infected were just lifting out! It needed a tiny amount of time to ensure it would not be denied!

    It was too late. The shield was gone. Death was igniting the skies. All it could do was lash against those that denied it! It pushed every neuron in its nerve clusters until they burned out, used the nervous systems of every single infected to fuel its vengeance. The ships right above it shook. Equipment failed. Food was turned into paste. It tore a cruiser away from orbit and hurled it towards the ground. Nerve clusters began dying. The one who denied it tried to protect the ships the entity was attacking and it used that opportunity to strike against its nemesis. It channeled every bit of power it could gather, shoved even its death itself in that attack.

    The other hive-mind screamed under the onslaught. Even as it burned, the entity could experience joy at the pain it caused its enemy. It sensed the one who denied it unravel. The beings in its hive-mind breaking, going insane, dying.

    A wave of plasma buried Meinuan under the fires of an unbound star and the entity''s dying screams echoed through the Force.

    =RK=

    Flag Bridge

    Corellian Cruiser Freedom

    High orbit over Atrisia

    I felt Crimson strike at me with everything it had. A titanic lance made of its fury, hunger, sheer loathing and desperation struck at me. Only the Battle Meditation connecting me with everyone in my fleet allowed me to survive. The attack didn''t land squarely on me, but was divided among everyone I was touching.

    I felt thousands die, even more go temporarily or irrevocably insane. My mental shields were flayed open and I screamed as the backslash of so many people connected to me dying. It was sheer agony. It was ecstasy. My concentration shattered and the Battle Meditation slipped through my fingers. I felt the connection unravel, more power struck me as it began concentrating on less and less targets.

    Below us Atrisia was lit on fire as barrages sent just as the shield was falling struck the surface. Crimson''s onslaught vanished and was replaced by a scream that reverberated through the Force.

    I let out a chocked shout of mixed pain and relief. The Battle Meditation broke and before losing consciousness I sensed everyone in the fleet being hit by the backslash.

 Chapter 69 - Interlude: Intelligence woes I

    Borealis

    Coruscant

    When most people imagine clandestine meetings, they think about dingy bars, dark corners or abandoned warehouses. Perhaps secure rooms deep in the bowels of an intelligence agency or a ship in space. That perception wasn''t entirely wrong. When he was an active agent, Marik Yle had his share of escapades, bar crawls and skulking through places where most civilians would fear to tread.

    Even with all the responsibilities and headaches attached to his new job, he really didn''t miss the bad old days. Instead of being stuck in the back of a cut-throat infested drinking hole and left wondering if the patrons would decide to start a fight and potentially blow up his op, nowadays Marik dined in the private rooms of Coruscant''s best restaurants. Places like the Borealis offered discretion and an excellent menu. Not to mention that this was practically the SIB''s backyard and as secure as it could get.

    Marik sat in small, tastefully decorated room with a d¨¦cor that radiated class. The place was shielded so clients could talk privately ¨C away from pesky reporters and competitors - and was swept by Yle''s people before he got in. Even better, as far as anyone was concerned, he was down in the main restaurant, dining with his wife ¨C something he would rather do than leave to a body double. However, this conversation couldn''t be postponed and it wasn''t one he could comfortably hold back in HQ.

    His guest got in and sat down across the table from him. Marik nodded at the Twi''lek woman. He knew that she was supposed to be meeting with the Senate''s appropriation committee right now and had a double of her own handling that. While such cloak and dagger games were usually reserved for holomovies, they did occasionally have their places.

    "Marik. You called. I hope this is important, given the lengths we had to go to maintain plausible deniability for this meeting." Director Fell looked raised a hand and looked at her blue skin. "This paint is a pain to get off."

    Her face was off too ¨C thanks to detachable implants meant to fool face recognition software.

    Marik on the other hand had to simply exchange places with his double in the fresher ¨C he did get the better of the deal tonight.

    "I do. We need to discus our resident Sith and the trouble the Jedi are causing." Yle frowned. "Yesterday I was approached by Master Piell ¨C to discuss the war effort. At least that was the official excuse. While we did discuss it, he was more interested in evaluating my opinion on Veil and how I would react if he continues to gain power."

    "We do have contingencies in place ¨C the Chancellor insisted we do so after Veil revealed himself as a Sith." Ivon pointed out.

    "Piell was more afraid of our new friend gaining more power legally. He was also concerned that certain Senators might be falling under the Sith''s sway. Perhaps even the Chancellor if Veil''s influence isn''t contained." Marik explained.

    "Ah." That was all his colleague offered.

    "The conservative elements of the Jedi Order tried to remove him through the Senate and found less support than they expected. My sources tell me than Piell and Tiin have been meeting with a lot of Senators lately and not only with Sylvaris'' friends. I know your people have been working closely with Veil''s special ops outfit. I need to know what he''s planning." Marik continued.

    "Officially? Causing trouble for the Seps and recovering caches of tech and resources he stashed for a rainy day while he was with the Empire. I have it on good authority that we''ll be seeing some tangible benefits soon. I''m sure he has been running some side projects too ¨C the kind that would benefit him personally, but that''s to be expected. You know better than me what he''s been up to on Coruscant." Ivon offered.

    "Thanks to his efforts we''ve got control over a significant chunk of the local underworld and have been able to intercept some of the CIS channels that go through it. Feed them disinformation, the works." Marik said, showing one of his cards, though he was pretty sure his colleague at least suspected about that particular operation. "I''m more interested about ship buildup, especially now that he has the Mandalorians at his beck and call."

    "Veil will have a decent sized modern navy under his control in about two years. It will take that long to build the hulls and train crews ¨C unless the Seps object. The one item of particular interest I have is that Veil has been outfitting a handful of Venators with Imperial technology. My people haven''t been able to get details, though its slow going. There won''t be more than a few upgraded units ready before the Seps come calling."

    "Some kind of super weapon?" Marik snorted. Those usually tended to be a major resource sink for no tangible gain, though now and then the Sithspawned things actually worked.

    When Ivon frowned, Yle raised his hands in surrender. "I know, so far Veil hasn''t been known for flights of fancy. If he upgrades ships, whatever he''s got is going to work. It''s another question how effective it will be against modern tech. However, I doubt that a few ships will be a game changer in the short term. Until Mandalore''s navy is up and running, our Sith friend won''t have the muscle to be a major military threat. Even then, unless the Confederacy wrecks us, that won''t change overnight."

    "Still you do have concerns, Marik. You wouldn''t have called me otherwise." Ivon stated.

    "That''s true. Just in case the Jedi aren''t too paranoid, we''ll need to update our contingency plans. The political situation changed since we made most of them. Veil is at least a reluctant ally with Amidala, Organa and Mothma''s cliques and by all accounts the Corellians are growing closer to him."

    "They did practically give him one of their star cruisers as a flagship." Ivon nodded. Allocating the Freedom to Veil''s command was a powerful statement coming from Corellia. That ship alone could take on a fleet and win.

    "At worse moving against him without durasteel clad evidence that he works against the Republic might at the very least see the Corellians pulling back into an uneasy neutrality. Given its situation Naboo doesn''t have much choice for the time being and will be with us, no matter Amidala''s personal feelings, but if her husband gets thrown to the krath hounds by the tribunal things might get messier on that front too." Marik summarized.

    "That''s not enough support to be a direct threat, but its sufficient to cause us some major troubles." Ivon looked thoughtful.

    "I''m actually not concerned that Veil will be pulling a military coup any time soon. I''ve studied what we had in the archives on the man. Despite his initial misgivings, the Chancellor seems to support him nowadays." Marik spoke carefully.

    "Don''t tell me you buy in that nonsense!" Ivon chuckled.

    "That Veil influences Palpatine?" Marik snorted. "Not really. That the Chancellor might have decided to ally with his good friend Mandalore? Amidala''s little friends aren''t the only ones concerned that Palpatine has been gathering too much power in his hands. The man''s support is very high and now he is good friends with a successful and charismatic general." Marik frowned. "No, it''s not a Sith coup I''m afraid of. Its what Palpatine and Veil practically running the Republic would mean, I fear." Marik sighed. "And I''m afraid what the Jedi and some Senators might do to prevent such an outcome." Yle laid down his cards.

    He has been studying Ivon Fell ever since she became the Director of ONI. As far as he was able to figure out, the woman was utterly devoted to the Republic. Marik really hoped he hadn''t misread her character.

    "Palpatine is already one of the most powerful men in the galaxy. Arguably the most powerful. Don''t you think that becoming a dictator in all but name would be too much trouble for too little gain?" Ivon asked after thinking for a long time over what Marik told her.

    "The Chancellor is a very good politician. I know for a fact that the nice old man he presents himself as is at least partially an act. He didn''t remain a Chancellor for more than a decade without getting his hands dirty. I honestly can''t say if Palpatine would be tempted by more personal power." Marik chuckle. "He might even go for it just to reduce the headaches the Senate have been giving us all lately."

    "I''ll grant you that." Ivon said. "What are you going to do if your concern''s are founded and they go for it legally?"

    "I''m sworn to protect the Republic, democracy." Marik frowned. "Since becoming the Director I''ve seen exactly how much of the latter there is in the Senate. If Veil tries a coup ¨C that would be simple."

    "We have plans for it." Ivon nodded. "A lot of them and they''re good ones. However, if Palpatine and his new friend gain enough support to practically control the Senate?" Fell sighed. "I know its unlikely with all the furor that Veil becoming Mandalore caused, but still. It''s our job to plan for the unlikely. If the Jedi try acting outside the law, things should be simple too." Ivon interjected.

    "Legally? Yes. Politically? Militarily? At this point its going to be anything but." Marik shrugged. "The Jedi did a great job of destroying both their political and public support."

    "They''re getting desperate, aren''t they? And desperate people make foolish decisions. Often quite messy too."

    Marik simply nodded.

    "What do you have in mind?" Ivon asked.

    "I''d prefer to have operatives ready to move at very short notice against any eventualities. Navy support and orbital deployment capabilities could get useful." Marik explained.

    "Ready to reinforce critical locations and disrupt any coup in progress if things get that far?"

    "Or arrest conspirators before they could throw the Republic into chaos."

    "There are at least three contingencies that more or less cover such an idea."

    "I want people who don''t figure in any of our contingency plans. Just in case."

    "I see. Something can be arranged."

    "Do you have any new information about the Confederacy''s strategic aims?" Marik changed the topic.

    "We know for sure they''ll be seeking to connect the territories they control and will be striking at the hyperlanes connecting them which are under our control. My operatives have heard rumors, as well as intercepted partial orders, indicating that the Seps will be trying to cut off everything beyond the Inner Rim from reinforcements and supply coming from the Core Worlds." Ivon said.

    "Not unexpected. Any indications what are they going to do about our industrial advantages? Even if we keep just most of the Core and Inner Rim, that still will keep us ahead."

    "We both know about the massive buildup at Fondor. Still no hard evidence if they will go for Kuat or Corellia and the Seps have to cripple one of those systems if they are to have a chance."

    Interlude: This family thing isn''t all its cracked up to be

    =RK=

    Jole Solo''s apartment

    Corellia

    "Raar?" Traaw inquired.

    "No way!" Jole shook his head in denial. "I didn''t plan for this!" The Corellian waved at his brand new uniform. "I''m supposed to be a cargo hauler, kriff it!"

    The large Wookie, who was outfitted with a uniform of his own consisting of a colorful sash going over his right shoulder looked unconvinced. Traaw snorted too.

    "Uncle, did you plan this?" A disgruntled looking younger Solo entered the room. Han had a uniform of his own ¨C a school one in his case.

    Jole turned his attention to his young nephew. "This I can take credit for!" He beamed at the kid, who looked anything but happy.

    "I don''t need to go to school! I''m sure you two can tech me loads of useful stuff!" Han grumbled.

    "You can learn loads of useful stuff at school too. Meet new friends, especially girls..." Jole trailed off when his XO roared in amusement. "Don''t you start."

    "Ew! Why would I need to meet girls, they''re icky!" Han grimaced.

    "We''re not having this conversation now." Jole shook his head to Traaw''s mirth. "If you''re good, I''ll even make sure to keep you away from cousin Tiion and won''t have her explain things to you."

    That threat made Han blanch. He had insisted on meeting the rest of the family. After pestering his uncle for a month Jole caved in, much to the youth''s displeasure. It turned out that most of the relatives left on Corellia were either mad like aunt Tiion or utter bastards with Thrackan Sal-Solo acting as a poster child for the latter group. Most of the decent Solos left in the galaxy were either spread all over or died during the Separatist attack on Coruscant when they found themselves at the wrong time in the wrong place.

    "I''ll be good!" Han exclaimed. He was honest too ¨C well mostly¡­

    Dewlanna chose that moment to enter the dinning room bringing a large tray covered with a rich breakfast. The old Wookie had been acting as Han''s mother ever since he met her after becoming a part of Shrike''s crew. Until he had his fortunate run in with that Republic general at the spaceport and was later introduced to his uncle, Dewlanna had been the only one to ever give a kriff for the younger Solo.

    Han still couldn''t wrap his head around how she ended up working for his uncle. He had simply asked if there was something that could be done about it, informed Jole that Shrike might cause trouble and the next thing Han knew was that Dewlanna had arrived ready to begin her next job and he had been ?ssured that Shrike wouldn''t be a problem ever again. All his uncle said about it was that he cashed in on a favor and that was that.

    "Roarrw?" Dewlanna asked.

    "Han here isn''t too keen on going to school." Jole pointed at him.

    "Hey!"

    "Raar!" Traaw laughed at the show.

    "Traitor!" Han pointed at Jole''s old friend, then subdued when Dewlanna gave him a disappointed look.

    Solo the younger grumbled and got to his seat, then began to devour his breakfast. Finding his family was supposed to be all good! While it was pretty great, being forced to go to a useless school was anything but! Meeting the rest of the Solos currently on Corellia had been a major disappointment too, but at least uncle Jole was pretty great when he didn''t make him do useless stuff. School ¨C who needed it when Han could be learning useful stuff instead?

    "Wraarg?" Dewlanna asked after getting to her own seat.

    "I got a proposition I couldn''t really refuse ¨C a commission in CorSec Navy as a Commodore. The pay is good, the benefits nothing to sneeze at, and as things stand we''ll have a chance to get some more payback." Jole explained.

    Huh. That explained the new uniform, Han thought.

    "It also means that for the foreseeable future we''ll be in system." The older Solo nodded at his friend.

    Traaw voiced his agreement around a large bone he was chewing on.

    =RK=

    Interlude: A fallen Jedi''s plans

    Republic Cruiser Vengeance

    Hyperspace

    After loosing Kira, Jerrod found keeping his boundless fury under control almost impossible. His very presence had caused deaths and loads of destroyed equipment before the Jedi Master was able to channel his emotions into something productive.

    Even now, weeks after the fact, all Perrion dreamed of was vengeance. He wanted to march to Coruscant, face Vael and tear out the Sith''s still beating heart, then crush it with his own hands. He wanted to see the Sith controlled abomination that was today''s Republic burn in the flames of hell.

    But most of all, Jerrod wanted to be back home with his wife and all the friends he lost still alive. He knew that was a naive, impossible dream. All he had was vengeance and duty to the death ¨C to see that there could be a future which wasn''t profaning all they fought and died for.

    Figuring what to do, how to achieve his goals without succumbing further to the Dark Side ¨C because Perrion wasn''t totally blinded by his fury, had been very hard. More than once he had to go out in the mountains alone and unleash his anger on the surrounding area in a bit to calm himself enough that he could think more or less clearly.

    In the end it was Denii''s arrival and General Garza having enough of his antics and sitting him down to talk, that allowed Jerrod to get his head out of his backside and began acting as the experienced Jedi Master he was supposed to be.

    They discussed their options, those that were left now that their presence was exposed, and reached an unpleasant conclusion. In order to succeed they had to find allies. Simply continuing to bid their time and replenish their forces was no longer viable.

    The Republic was out for obvious reasons. The same was true for the Hutts and the various small neutral policies and systems. However, there was a ray of hope. A spark of light in all the darkness choking the galaxy.

    The Confederacy''s leadership had seen the truth. They had arrested the Sith controlling them and were determined to root out Dooku''s master too. That''s why Jerrod was en route to the Confederate capital to offer the Remnant''s services in eradicating the Sith controlled Republic. Perrion was sure that before the end, he would face Veil and have his vengeance.

    =RK=

    Interlude: Two Jedi and a Sith

    Hangar bay

    Republic Cruiser Unflinching

    location classified

    General Rahm Kota glared at the Commando unit shadowing Mace Windu. Even if the former Master had been in the wrong, having Clones holding the man''s leash was infuriating. Of course, given what Kota learned just a few days ago, he wasn''t sure that Windu had been wrong in the first place. Quite the opposite in fact.

    "That''s far enough, Commander." Kota frowned. "My men will ensure that Windu will cause no trouble. Go to the mess hall and have something hot to eat."

    "Sir, we''re under orders to¡­" The Commander disagreed.

    "That wasn''t a suggestion, soldier. I gave you a direct order and you will follow it." Kota''s glare intensified. Clones ¨C he found them lacking when the heard about them and now that Rahm knew the truth, he was beginning to loathe them even if it really wasn''t their fault.

    "Sir, yes, sir!" The Commander saluted.

    Kota nodded and two squads of his militia ¨C all armed and armored to the teeth went to escort the Commandos. When they were finally out of sight, Mace sighed in relief.

    "I appreciate this, old friend." The former Master nodded. "Being looked down at as a potential traitor by my troops, it grates."

    "Walk with me, Mace. There is someone you need to meet." Rahm turned around and headed out of the cramped hangar of the Venator. "I was the one sent to pick up Dooku when the Confeds decided to deliver give him up as a gesture of a good will. I naturally expected a trap but orders are orders and any chance to get him back in our custody..." Kota trailed off. "Five days ago we arrived to find two Separatist fleets tearing each other apart. Then a third arrived and joined the one being attacked. They contacted us in the middle of the battle and very politely apologized about the delay in handing us the prisoner."

    "Infighting? Possible civil war?" Windu wondered aloud. Rahm felt a surge of hope in Mace.

    "No such luck. Just a bunch of Dooku sympathizer trying to rescue him. They obviously walked into a trap and were wiped out. For a change the Separatists held up their word and actually delivered Dooku. He''s in a pretty bad shape but alive."

    "You''ve kept this under wraps." Windu sounded surprised. "I''ve heard nothing about it, nor have any of my contacts."

    "I did." Kota admitted. "I talked with the man. After what happened to him and after I filled him in on the latest developments, he talked. As far as I can tell, Dooku told me the truth as he knew it."

    "Not good?" Windu inquired.

    "I''ll let you decide for yourself. I''d appreciate if you watch him carefully for any deception. What Dooku admitted..." Rahm sighed. "It changes everything. You were right, Mace."

    "About what?"

    "Veil. The Sith. We''re in more trouble than we ever suspected."

    =RK=

    "Master Windu, good to see you again. I would offer to shake your hand but as you can see..." Dooku shrugged.

    The Count was sitting on his cot and looked regal even in plain white prisoner garb. Mace examined the man he once considered friend. Dooku had no arms.

    "Did you run in another pirate?" Windu asked.

    "No. Just my former friends deciding that I might be too hard to contain if they let me keep my remaining hand." Given his predicament, Dooku sounded far too amused. The man was in such good spirits that it made Windu on edge.

    "You''ve been telling some interesting things to Master Kota here. Will you share them?" Mace asked.

    "I had lot of time to think lately. To wonder about how things went so wrong so fast." Dooku''s face became severe, yet the count''s presence in the Force was almost serene.

    While Windu could sense the stench of the Dark Side on Dooku, the aristocrat was actually at peace right now.

    "After talking with Kota here about what happened after my imprisonment, I was confused at first. However when I thought about it, things fell into place. My Master used and discarded me. Its obvious. The plans he shared with me, our grand design, all was deception. Do you know what Sidious taught me? That there could be only two real Sith at a time ¨C a master and an apprentice? I believed myself to be the second. The apprentice. I was wrong."

    "Please continue." Windu stared intently at the captive. Everything Dooku was saying was the truth ¨C the man believed every word he was uttering and wasn''t even trying to access the Force or use other deception.

    "Things went exactly as Sidious and I planned. Until Veil appeared from thin air. He was an enigma at the time ¨C a man without past, yet he was revealing more and more abilities that indicated his connection with the Dark Side. He even claimed to be a Sith..." Dooku chuckled darkly. "Do you know the truth, Master Windu? I have only conjectures, deductions, though they make sense. What I know is that the Sith have always been around. They''ve been planning and plotting for centuries until everything culminated in this war. When I created the Confederacy and told everyone that the Sith were controlling the Republic I told the truth. A truth I shared with Kota here." Dooku''s amusement grew.

    "Do it then. I''m curious what you''re going to claim." Windu spoke calmly, while feeling anything but. The implications of what Dooku was saying were severe.

    "A bit of history first. I believe Kenobi uncovered the records. It was him wasn''t it?" Dooku asked.

    "What records?" Mace inquired.

    "About the creating of your valued Clone army. Kota here has the right idea you know. It was us Sith who ensured that the Republic will have an army to fight this war. It was us who allowed you all to last more than a few months before being overrun."

    "Why?" Windu asked while his mind was busy struggling with the revelation. The Council knew that there was something wrong with the creating of the Clone Army. Sifo- Dias had died shortly after he commissioned the army. That was too convenient. Yet, the Kaminoans actually had records of the Jedi meeting them, his signature and biometrics on the contracts.

    The Council investigated and reached a dead end. Was Dias compromised, had he aligned himself with the Sith or simply been deceived? No one had a good answer.

    "Because the war was deemed a useful tool. A distraction and a way to concentrate more power in the Chancellor''s hands." Dooku explained.

    "The Sith intend to control the Chancellor and through him the Republic." The revelation was horrifying.

    Dooku laughed and Kota shook his head. "I thought that too. We aren''t so fortunate." The Jedi said.

    "My master. Darth Sidious ¨C the Dark Lord of the Sith, has been controlling the Republic directly for more than a decade. You''ve met him many times, Master Windu. You know him as Sheev Palpatine." Dooku''s chuckled mirthlessly.

    "Impossible! We would have noticed something!" Mace shook his head in denial.

    "I thought so too before he demonstrated his mastery over the Dark Side." Dooku shrugged. "He betrayed us all. Used us against each other. For power, for vengeance. The Confederacy was supposed to be dealt with and the Republic victorious. I was meant to have a change of heart at the end, after the Jedi were dealt with and the Republic transformed into the First Galactic empire." Dooku mussed. "Instead here we are. The war has escalated. I believed things had gone wrong and Sidious simply lost control. But now I wonder..." Dooku trailed off. "Will you pay attention? I''m tired of repeating my story. He wanted to hear it six times already." The count nodded at Kota.

    Windu shook his head and tried to concentrate. If this was true, if the Republic was already under Sith control¡­

    "Veil." Mace whispered.

    "Another Sith. I no longer have any doubts about it. He is Sidious'' real apprentice. I was simply a means to an end. I never expected that the Sith would come into the open. It was never a part of the plan." Dooku had a far away look on his face. "You know that whatever I tell you, it will not be enough? Veil made sure of that. Even if Palpatine is revealed as a Sith, he can find a way out of it thanks to his apprentice. Most of the Republic won''t care and me claiming that Palpatine is behind the war would simply not be credible. At best it would be considered a Confederate ploy to destabilize the Republic at the worst time."

    "He''s quite right unfortunately." Kota grumbled. "I''ve had days to think about it. We have no proof but Dooku''s word. If we go public it will be enough to throw the Republic into chaos. Perhaps enough to ensure that the Confederacy wins while we''re all too busy dealing with the fallout. Not necessary enough to see the Chancellor removed legally."

    "Palpatine has been controlling the Republic for years. He has broad public support and directly and indirectly controls at least half the senate even after new crop of Senator arrived. Do you really think that you can remove him legally at this point?" Dooku''s chuckle grew sinister.

    "We tried to remove Veil legally and had more than the words of a traitor and a mass murderer to use against him." Windu spoke quietly. He was busy concentrating on his unique talent with the Force and seeking a the best possible path to the future. "Outing Palpatine might create big enough chaos to see him removed as Chancellor. That''s probably the best we can hope for legally. Doing so would leave him freer to be Sith." Windu grimaced. "Doing so now would all but guarantee a Separatist victory." The former Jedi Master closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Whatever we do we''ll have one chance."

    "You''re talking about a coup." Kota frowned. "It''s not going to work without significant support among the army."

    "Not necessary. We might need just enough to secure most of Coruscant while dealing with the Sith." Windu countered. "The aftermath of the Confederacy attack might be our best choice."

 Chapter 70 - Fallout

    Part 1

    =RK=

    Chancellor''s office

    Senate building

    Coruscant

    Palpatine sat stiffly behind his desk. He had plastered a grave expression on his face and for once it was genuine. It was four hours since he gave the orders to burn Atrisia ¨C that by itself was of no consequence besides the political complications. Some of those were already at hand ¨C Organa had sniffed that something was wrong and more or less invited himself after Kenobi arrived. There were already rumors about Atrisia and the media was making things even more complicated. There were dozens of experts on the networks discussing what the local reporters were sending before Veil''s fleet jammed communications. The loss of contact was a dead giveaway that something had gone even more wrong and Palpatine had to fend off a lot of questions from concerned Senators. That was one of the main reasons why the Chancellor didn''t kick Organa out of his office. Palpatine would need all the help and allies he could get in order to mitigate the fallout.

    However, the political complications were becoming a secondary concern. The last call from the fleet was that they were moving to neutralize the Atrisian Navy and dispose of Crimson. Now, four hours later, that whole system was silent like a graveyard. No one was answering the hails. For all Palpatine knew, Veil had managed to get himself killed and that kriffed up plague was free.

    The massive disturbance in the Force he felt a few hours ago didn''t help matters. The only reason Sidious wasn''t exposed then was because Yoda had been severely affected by the backslash too. The Chancellor somehow managed to keep a strained smile on his face, while his other guests were busy checking on the Jedi.

    Palpatine''s only consolation was being able to watch the Jedi Master''s mortification and Organa''s sick fascination, when Zash explained to the Senator who she was, where she came from and exactly what she knew about Crimson and why sterilizing Atrisia was the only sane course of action. Unfortunately it didn''t take the Alderaanian too long to become indignant and declare that any of this wouldn''t have been needed if Palpatine had only warned everyone about the plague.

    The Chancellor had to suppress a snort at that suggestion.

    "Really, Senator? Do you honestly believe than any of the system defense navies would burn a significant chunk of a continent, perhaps their whole world on our say so? While I''m convinced that Crimson is as grave threat as our fragmentary records and Veil''s and Zash''s first hand accounts suggest, I''m not ready to risk the whole galaxy on the belief that everyone would believe us." Sidious countered.

    "At least a warning would have allowed for a partial evacuation!" Organa exclaimed.

    "It would also give Crimson a window of opportunity to leave an infected planet and spread further." Zash countered in a bored tone. "That critter is one of the worst things the Empire managed to create. Killing a world to contain it ¨C that''s a reason for celebration. The alternative is that all of us end up eaten."

    This was going nowhere. For more than an hour they have been speaking in circles. Organa simply refused to believe that Crimson was terrible enough to condemn a whole world without trying to save as much of the population as possible. Palpatine was sure that a lot of Senators and citizens would agree, just to make his life more difficult. He contemplated creating his Empire earlier to cut down the need to explain himself to idealistic fools.

    The Chancellor''s comm beeped and Palpatine hurried to activate it. The image of an unknown middle aged man in Corellian uniform appeared. The human looked like he had gone a few rounds as a stress relief to a furious Sith.

    "Sir, I''m Commander Rostek Horn and I''m the acting commander of the containment fleet."

    "I see. Report." Palpatine spoke curtly. The Sith didn''t like the implications even if they might mean that Veil was no longer around to complicate things.

    "Atrisia has been sterilized. Their Navy is neutralized ¨C either disabled or destroyed. As far as we can determine, no ship made it past our blockade, unfortunately we have no way of knowing how many left before our arrival. Crimson might still be in play. Sir, it''s my recommendation that any ship that might have come from Atrisia be placed under quarantine or destroyed it the crew doesn''t comply." The commander paused for breath. "I don''t know how that thing did it, but it struck at the whole fleet as we were commencing the bombardment. Most of our ships aren''t combat effective due to severe casualties among the command and engineering crews as well as various failures in multiple systems, some both. We''ve lost two cruisers with all hands and I''m still waiting for a complete casualty list. I have to report the loss of the cruisers Indomitable and Fearless. Further, before we reached the planet, the Atrisians activated their planetary shields and forced the general to deploy forces to the surface. 361st Armored Brigade and 98th Assault Division led by Jedi Master Halcyon engaged the Atrisian Forces defending the generators. They succeeded in disabling them, however all perished in the bombardment."

    "This are grave news. What is the status of general Veil and admiral Holt?" Palpatine asked.

    "Unconscious with possible brain damage along with most of the command staff. At least they didn''t appear insane like a lot of the others." Horn answered.

    "What in the name of the Force happened there?!" Kenobi exclaimed.

    "I believe we all severely underestimated what that thing can do, sir. I watched it pull Fearless out of orbit to crash on the surface." The commander shuddered.

    "What help do you need?" Kenobi asked.

    "As many medical and repair ships you can spare, sir."

    The news at least made Organa shut up. The Chancellor sat frozen in his seat while his mind raced. Mere hours after reaching Atrisia, Crimson had gotten at least as strong as he was, perhaps more. Sidious knew that if he went all out he might be able to pull a ship out of orbit and crush the minds of the crew of a whole fleet. It was another question if he would be able to do anything with the Force for weeks after that.

    Crimson being a hive-mind probably didn''t have such limitations as long as it had biomass to turn into nerve clusters to use. At least that''s what Zash said. While Palpatine had been tempted by the opportunities such capability presented, he was glad he decided not to sent people to retrieve a sample of the plague, just to watch Veil and determine if Crimson was truly as bad as portrayed.

    Now the Chancellor had his answer.

    "Commander Horn, I''ll personally make sure that all available support is dispatched to your location with all due haste." Palpatine declared. "I''ll also ensure than no ship form Atrisia will have the chance to infect another world." The Chancellor looked at Kenobi. "Make it so, general. Senator Organa, I''ll be giving a press conference as soon as we have a more comprehensive report and then addressing the Senate. With Crimson possibly still a threat, we need to act swiftly. I''d appreciate your support in convincing the Republic at large of the danger we might still be facing..."

    =RK=

    Part 2

    GNN Studio

    Coruscant

    "We''re live in ten!"

    Victoria Halcyon straightened up and summoned her best smile. She was pretty sure it looked quite fake despite her efforts. Watching the Chancellor''s press conference less than an hour ago rattled her. Even with the war going on for more than a year now, the instances where whole planets were rendered uninhabitable were very rare, and all of those happened in the Outer Rim.

    Atrisia was different. A developed world right here in the Core. Even worse, it wasn''t enemy action that murdered a whole planet. It was the GAR under the direct orders of the Chancellor. She knew that right now Palpatine was busy explaining himself to the Senate. Her job was going to be to try explaining what the death of Atrisia meant to the average citizen.

    Victoria was unfortunate enough to catch a glimpse of footage released by the Navy. What little she saw while preparing made her sick. It also infuriated her because the very existence of such a threat had been concealed. To prevent panic. The journalist found it hard to believe.

    Halcyon slowly breathed in, then exhaled.

    "Good evening, Coruscant. I''m Victoria Halcyon with a special edition of the Galaxy at War." A whole world just died, yet she had to pretend that it was just business like usual.

    "And I''m Brosk Tonfa. Today we''ll be discussing the tragedy that struck Atrisia and what it means for the galaxy at large."

    "At eleven SGT last night, a frigate carrying deadly plague was shot down while making a run to Atrisia. Unfortunately the local authorities were unaware of the nature of the danger at that time..." Victoria began summarizing.

    When she was done, a holographic window appeared between her and Brosk. It began playing choice pieces of the Chancellor''s interview. Victoria knew that Palpatine''s words scrolled down the screens of trillions for a bigger impact. She could imagine it.

    "Extremely dangerous sapient Force Sensitive plague¡­ More virulent than the Blue Shadow¡­ Potential threat of extinction¡­ Will take any necessary measures to protect the Republic from Another Atrisia¡­"

    The whole thing sickened Victoria, even if she knew where the Chancellor was coming from.

    "Earlier today, GNN received exclusive recordings from the containment fleet sent to stop the plague dubbed Crimson-71. I need to warn you, what you''re going to see is disturbing." Brosk looked severe.

    More windows appeared. Victoria glanced at the most convenient one and soon blanched.

    A Bith man in captain''s uniform stood on the bridge of a Republic ship. Captions dubbed him Jell Noona of the Fearless.

    The captain was speaking quietly in an almost detached manner, however those familiar with his species would be able to hear a lot of unease in his voice.

    "The planetary shield is going down, captain!" The sensor operator said.

    "Good. It''s our turn now. Commence bombardment. Concentrate on Meinuan City until its gone..."

    The roar of alarms interrupted Noona. The ship shook and he was thrown to his knees.

    "Status report! What hit us?!" The captain shouted.

    "Nothing we can detect! Sir, we''re being pulled towards the planet!" Someone off screen exclaimed.

    "Engines to full military power! Redline the reactors if you have to! If we go down we''re all dead!" Noona snapped.

    The ship shook harder this time. Victoria could hear the sound of screaming metal and anyone not strapped in was thrown around the bridge like ragdolls. Noona slammed headfirst in a console and fell. The captain''s neck was twisted in an unnatural angle and he didn''t move again.

    There was more screaming. Frantic orders from the XO ¨C a scarred Clone. They were followed by frantic shouts when the ship couldn''t be stabilized. There were more grating sounds of tortured metal, then a call to abandon ship. Someone shouted that escape pods were being pulled towards Atrisia and then the recording ended in static to be replaced by a sensor feed from another ship.

    In the last year Victoria had seen enough sensor images to recognize what was happening. The Fearless was spinning out of control and heading straight towards the planet.

    The picture changed again. It was the bridge of the Magnificent. All the visible crew were Clones this time. The captain was on his knees and in such a position that the camera caught his face. He was bleeding from the nose, eyes and ears. Most of the visible crew were in similar state with the exception of three people. One was busy working at a console and was paying no real attention to the wounded around him. Another was clawing at his face and it was obvious he had been able to tear out one of his eyes. A third Clone was struggling with the madman in a valiant attempt to prevent him from injuring himself further.

    The feed changed to the engineering of the same ship. A few people were laying in pools of their own blood, while others were busy tearing each other apart. A Clone was kneeling over another one who was catatonic with blood leaking from his eyes and was busy gnawing on the man''s shoulder.

    There were shouts to stop the madness, blue stun-bolts and then a group of armored Clones stormed the compartment.

    Another ship ¨C the Pillar of Victory was next. Everyone on the bridge was busy fighting each other, while in engineering a handful of sane people were trying to restrain the rest.

    Next was a long corridor. It was full of corpses ¨C some partially eaten and all covered in gore. A squad of Clones appeared and opened fire on a handful of crazy looking men wielding wrenches and was that a torn off arm?!

    Victoria averted her eyes. Suddenly she was glad she couldn''t see the rest of the recordings. What she witnessed earlier wasn''t nearly this bad.

    "We still have no solid information on how many servicemen fell to the plague. The preliminary reports released stated at least ten thousand officers were casualties, but didn''t go into details how many were dead, injured or driven insane. Further, twenty two thousand Clones led by Jedi Master Nejaa Halcyon from Corellia perished while successfully disabling Atrisia''s planetary shield. The civilian casualties are estimated as total. According to the last census, thirty two billion people lived on Atrisia." Borsk''s voice was hollow.

    While much more people died on Christophsis, that planet wasn''t destroyed and in time could recover. More importantly, it wasn''t a Core World but in the Outer Rim close to Hutt Space.

    What happened to Atrisia simply hit closer to home.

    "The news has been out for a handful of hours and there are already protests here on Coruscant." Victoria forced herself to keep her fake smile on and continue to speak calmly. "Many people want to know why the Republic at large wasn''t warned about Crimson. Why more ships haven''t been dispatched to the region. Why was there no attempt to evacuate any of the population before placing them under quarantine to see if they''ve been exposed to the plague or not?" Something snapped within Victoria and she went off scrip.

    Brosk glanced at her, but remained silent and just kept his professional expression on. The producer for some reason didn''t stop her either. That heartened Victoria and she carried on with her improvisation. Besides it was too late to stop now.

    "Just as importantly, how long did the government and GAR know about Crimson? Where did it came from? Its painfully obvious that elements within the armed forces were aware of its existence and ready to respond. A containment fleet led by general Veil arrived at Atrisia mere hours after the initial outbreak. How did he know to go there? What else hasn''t the Chancellor revealed? I''m sure that those are questions we are all asking ourselves and I hope that the Chancellor gives a satisfactory answer to the Senate."

    =RK=

    Victoria expected at lest some fallout from her actions. A reprimand from her producer, perhaps being quietly removed from her lucrative position as an anchor of The Galaxy at War and an on and off news anchor.

    What the Journalist didn''t expect was a major story literally falling in her ??p as a kind of reward.

    "Victoria, we''ll be talking about this later." Her producer gave her an exasperated look. "You get yourself freshened up. We got a guest who enjoyed your antics and demanded that you interview her. She knows more about Crimson." He nodded towards a dark corner in the back.

    Victoria looked that way and frowned. There was nothing ther¡­ A woman with shoulder length graying red hair stepped forward and practically materialized from the shadows.

    "Those are some good questions, Miss Halcyon. I''m sure the Chancellor will be called to answer them." The woman smiled pleasantly. "I''m doctor Zash and I''m familiar with Crimson."

    Victoria perked at that admission.

    "Did you work on that thing?!" She couldn''t help herself and exclaimed.

    "Oh, no. I have nothing to do with that debacle besides helping clean up the mess. My story is even weirder." The older woman smiled mysteriously.

    That''s how Victoria found herself back in the studio conducting a live interview.

    "Good afternoon, Coruscant. I''m Victoria Halcyon. With me is doctor Zash, who can shed some light on Crimson-71."

    "It''s a p???sur? to be here, Victoria. Its a new experience." The doctor smiled widely.

    "Please tell us something about yourself, doctor." Victoria smiled back.

    "My story is no less strange than that of general Veil." There was a lot of amusement in Zash''s voice. "Seeing him be a part of the Republic armed forces is certainly a big and unexpected surprise."

    "How so? I take it the two of you have history together?" Victoria leaned forward. This was going to be good, she could practically feel the scoop.

    "Of course we do!" Zash laughed in delight. "A long time ago we worked together for the Sith Empire."

    That wasn''t something Victoria expected. She blinked in confusion before her mind could reboot.

    "That''s certainly a bold claim, doctor."

    "One that can be confirmed by both general Veil and the Chancellor''s office. It was not too long ago when Delkatar stumbled on one of my research labs where I managed to get myself into stasis and slept away a few millennia. After he saved me we talked about the old days. I knew of a few sites where the Empire was committing questionable research and as it turned out no one was sure if, during the Empire''s fall, those were properly cleaned up. He decided to check just in case someone has stumbled upon one of them. Veil brought my concerns to the Chancellor and it became evident that the Republic has been making inquiries in my old friends past in order to confirm his origin. Unfortunately one of the units sent to search through the Empire''s ruins stumbled onto a facility where the bio-warfare division used to work. When we tried to warn them, they didn''t answer. The Chancellor asked me and Veil what was the worst thing they could have unleashed and we both told him about Crimson." Zash sighed sadly.

    "So the Chancellor, or whoever sent the unit there, is responsible for Atrisia?" Victoria asked.

    "Oh, don''t be silly, dear. Its the Empire''s bio-warfare division''s fault. They created that horror and then lost containment. We had to burn a whole world, and more than two trillion sapients, in order to contain it. The casualties were horrific ¨C the damn thing had a few weeks to entrench itself and grow before sufficient forces could be gathered to eradicate it. Crimson was supposedly destroyed but neither I nor Veil could take the chance and told the Chancellor about it as a worst case scenario. It wasn''t until news from Atrisia began coming in and we recognized Crimson that we knew it existed. By then it was too late." Zash sighed. There were tears in her eyes. "Can you honestly tell me that the Atrisian Navy would have burned at least an entire continent on our say so? Because only that had a chance of stopping Crimson in the first few hours after it reached the planet. By the time the containment fleet arrived doing anything but sterilizing that world would have been madness. Even then, most of the fleet was wrecked. Imagine what Crimson could have done with another ten, twelve hours to grow. What could have happened if it landed on Coruscant and wasn''t immediately dealt with..." Zash trailed off and Victoria blanched.

    By the time the interview ended, Victoria felt a lot of sympathy towards what general Veil and the Chancellor were forced to do. She was sure most of GNN''s viewers felt the same way. Halcyon learned some interesting titbits about the general''s past, about the, by now, almost mythical Sith Empire and the Sith running it.

    Incidentally, that interview broke all records and by the end of the day it was seen by most of the galaxy. Victoria''s earlier mishap was forgiven and forgotten and she was looking forward to interviewing doctor Zash again.

    =RK=

    Part 3

    Senate Chamber

    Senate building

    Coruscant

    Palpatine was making one of his best performances in his decades long political career. He knew that the consequences of condemning Atrisia were going to be severe, however the circus he was the center of was getting ridiculous.

    Most of the Senators who saw things his way, those he had bought or blackmailed to support him stood strong. The Corellians and their allies were supportive and for once Organa was proving useful instead of another headache.

    The same couldn''t be said for too many of the remaining Senators. There was a significant block of new faces Palpatine was unable to influence directly yet and most of them were horrified by the GAR burning down a Core World.

    Others led by Sylvaris and her clique seized the opportunity to attack hims and Veil. This time the Cathar woman was supported by ?n??sted Mothma, who radiated fury. The only bright spot was the cracks forming in the alliance between Naboo, Chandrila, Alderaan and their little cliques. Palpatine was pretty sure that Mothma was feeling betrayed after both Organa and Amidala appeared to be at least neutral if not in open support of the Chancellor''s decision.

    Then there were all other opportunists miking the mess for all it was worth. Palpatine was sure that some of them would be approaching him to cut deals in exchange of publically supporting his decisions about Crimson.

    After suffering yet another string of accusations from Sylvaris, the Chancellor was beginning to lose his patience. Its been five hours that he had to fend off half the Senate and he felt like frying someone to relieve some stress. That Cathar nuisance would do nicely.

    "I could have acted differently, that much is true." Palpatine spoke coldly. For once he was unable to keep his kind old man mask firmly in place and some of the durasteel bellow showed in his voice. "I could have told the Senate that Crimson might still exist. We could have debated for weeks. Created committees to study the possible danger. Called experts to advise us on the best course of action." The Chancellor glared at Sylvaris. "Honestly, I disregarded that idea immediately. While this Senate is bastion of democracy, of freedom, its anything but fast in it decision making. I experienced that firsthand during the Naboo Crisis before you voted me in to hold this prestigious position. What was it? Not enough evidence? A committee needed to be created to examine the situation?" Palpatine sneered.

    The Sith Lord paused and took a deep breath. All his frustration and anger were bleeding through his mask and that was unacceptable. Alienating a large portion of the Senate would make his life much more difficult.

    "I''m nearing the end of my second term as Chancellor." Palpatine continued to speak more calmly. He chose not to acknowledge the shouts of support and derision coming from the Senators. "I''ve experienced the Senate at both its best and worst. Our efficiency leaves a lot to be d?s?r?d when we deal with a comparatively small crisis. Frankly, when we have a hard decision with far reaching consequences to make we can and more often than not are bogged down for months or years."

    The noise level increased. Palpatine put a serene smile on his face and continued as if nothing was happening.

    "What happened on Atrisia was a situation without precedent. There was no time to properly discuss matters. No enemy to negotiate with. Crimson was no conventional foe that could be halted or routed. Any attempted evacuation would risk spreading the sickness to other worlds. If handled carefully, if we were in-ordinary lucky, we could have saved some small fraction of the Atrisians. However, that was a risk I couldn''t justify. I still can''t. Attempting such a humanitarian act would have risked the whole galaxy. After just twelve hours Crimson was powerful enough to cripple a whole fleet. After a day? We couldn''t have contained it." Palpatine sighed sadly.

    His face became a picture of pained regret.

    "As a Chancellor my duty is to protect the whole Republic. To always place the needs of the many in front of the needs of the few. I regret this terrible loss of life. Atrisia will be a part of my nightmares until my dying day." It was true even ¨C Sidious shuddered to think how a damned sickness came so close to undoing all his work and ambitions. "There was no other acceptable choice. The only way to be sure that Crimson was eradicated was to purge Atrisia from orbit. I will never have good night sleep again after consigning thirty two billions of my own people to death!" Palpatine looked at the Senators through haunted eyes. "The memory of Atrisia is my burden to carry."

    Finally Palpatine could hold back no longer and showed a trace of the fury he felt at everything that happened lately.

    "What Senator Sylvaris chooses to forgets is that if I hadn''t made that call when I was asked to do my duty as a Chancellor, by now trillions all over the Core could be dying and the rest of the galaxy would have followed!"

    Palpatine lowered his head and took a deep breath. He utilized various meditation techniques to restore his control over his temper. What he just said was going to help in some circles, however he was sure it had alienated some senators from supporting him any time soon.

    The Chancellor raised his head and showed himself as an old man haunted by his regrettable actions, yet still ready to discharge his duty.

    Mothma was going to be his next inquisitor. Her pod came to rest next to his own and her blazing eyes bored into his own.

    "That was a good speech, Chancellor. Still, you didn''t answer some important questions. Why was there no warning of a ship carrying deadly bio-weapon? I''m sure that any planetary defense force would have taken it seriously after Naboo. There was no warning sent to the public at large that a GAR unit you sent to a bio-weapon warfare facility was out of contact and you suspected they were coming back infected. You might have had no choice after Atrisia was exposed to that horror. I''m sure we''ll be debating that for a long time. Answer my questions, Chancellor."

    Palpatine gazed back at the woman and ruthlessly crushed his flaring rage. Becoming Emperor would be worth it just so he wouldn''t deal with the kriffing Senate and people like Mothma as often.

    "There was a warning sent to all GAR units as well as the governments in the sectors which if it existed Crimson could reach. I should remind you, Senator, that until an expert saw footage from Atrisia, no one knew if the bloody thing still existed. We all hoped that the unit sent to that facility had fallen prey to either pirates, Separatists or a more conventional bio-weapon. I was not going to cause a widespread panic out of fear when there could have been no threat. Frankly, gathering the containment fleet and putting general Veil in charge was more than I could possibly justify when we should have been preparing for the Separatist offensive. Unfortunately our fears weren''t unfounded and by the time we knew the truth it was too late. Crimson had a free reign for long enough and Atrisia was doomed before general Veil could arrive and give us a confirmation that the plague was not only there but out of control."

    Somehow Mothma''s glare intensified. With that look on her face and such fury emanating from her, the Senator did a passable rendition of a Sith. Mothma opened her mouth and began questioning him anew.

    Palpatine sighed and prepared to face the next round of the inquisition.

    =RK=

    Master Tiin''s quarters

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    Four Jedi Masters stood around a small table and watched an interview by a woman they believed to be a Sith Lord of old. All of them had researched Veil''s past, knew of his two masters ¨C Baras and Zash. Knew that the woman had achieved functional Immortality a few centuries before the Great War.

    "We should have expected something like this." Piell ?r??n?d.

    "A master and an apprentice." Tiin seethed. "We''ve been deceived. All we knew of the Sith is suspect. All the actions we saw them do ¨C smoke and mirrors."

    "Master Yoda is convinced that Veil has been here for less than a year." Yaddle countered.

    "Even if that''s true, what about his master?" Rancisis hissed. "We''ve been played at least as far as Naboo and the Sith Kenobi defeated."

    "Yes." Tiin muttered, then frowned. "We believed him. However, did he really win against a Sith who murdered his master?"

    "What are you saying? That Master Kenobi has been compromised that far back?!" Piell exclaimed.

    "I don''t know. Just a paranoid thought." Tiin shrugged. "It would explain much." He laughed bitterly. "It would also mean we all had been blind for at least that long. I would like to say such a thing is out of the question, yet..." Another shrug.

    "Perhaps, however does it matter? Kenobi is lost to us. This Zash woman might very well be the Sith we''ve been looking for all along." Piell interjected.

    "I''ve hoped that you''ve been overreacting all along." Yaddle stared at Zash''s image. "It would appear that I was mistaken. The Sith have obviously changed. Evolved. They still decline to meet us in open combat and are content in distracting us with pawns like Dooku while undermining us."

    "By deciding to reveal herself, this new Sith is showing that we''re no longer a major threat. They have to be almost ready to move against us." Rancisis stated.

    "That''s what I''m afraid of. We''ve run out of time. At best we have until the Separatist''s offensive is contained. I doubt that the Sith will wait longer than that. Perhaps they would use the chaos and distraction to strike while we least expect it." Tiin mussed.

    "We need to act soon or all is lost." Piell nodded in agreement.

    "Kota should had Dooku by now. Hopefully he could shed some light on the Sith''s plans. Once we have him for sure, I''ll talk with the Intelligence Directors. I feel that at lest one of them will be willing to support us if we can offer some evidence." Tiin explained.

    "Even then we''ll need military support." Rancisis noted.

    "The presence of so many Clones in the Temple hasn''t slipped my mind." Tiin nodded. "They keep us as hostages."

    "Senator Sylvaris might be inclined to support us. After Atrisia there would be others who are horrified by the casual destruction of a whole world. We can use that." Piell thought aloud.

    "This is madness." Yaddle ?r??n?d. "Its unfortunate that I don''t see a better alternative. Waiting isn''t an option."

    "You''re with us, then?" Tiin asked.

    "I won''t stand by and watch the Sith take over the galaxy without opposition, no matter the price we would have to pay. However, we need to plan carefully. Move all the younglings and the Jedi not proficient in combat away from Coruscant."

    "Doing so will give us away." Rancisis muttered sadly.

    "Not doing it will doom the Jedi even if we succeed." Yaddle countered.

    "We''ll make plans to evacuate them. At worst, the distraction of our actions should allow them to slip away." Piell agreed.

    =RK=

    Republic Cruiser Unflinching

    En route to Coruscant

    Atrisia changed things. Zash''s interview ¨Ceven more. Windu was aware of whom she was supposed to be. While it was possible that the woman was really just a scientist who got lucky, or unlucky, depending on your point of view, the former Jedi Master didn''t believe in such an explanation.

    The Sith had finally revealed their hand and the implications were obvious. Time was running out fast.

    And there was no longer turning back. Windu looked down at the bodies of his minders. He and Kota had offered the Commando''s a chance to surrender. The Clones tried to sent a warning, but unfortunately for them the whole ship was under heavy jamming. The Commandos tried to fight but they stood no chance against the pair of Jedi.

    Windu looked sadly at the corpses. So that''s how treason feels like. He expected something¡­ more.

    "I''ll make sure everyone knows you''re all out of contact doing an errand for me. My boys and girls will corroborate our story." Kota said.

    "It might buy us some time." Windu frowned. "They were too long out of contact already." Mace nodded at the corpses.

    "Its a race against time then. We''ll be at Coruscant in ten days."

    "I just hope it won''t be too late by then." Windu muttered. "I need to meditate. To find the path giving us the best possible odds."

    "May the Force be with us all." Kota muttered.

    =RK=

    Part 4

    Med bay

    Corellian Cruiser Freedom

    Atrisia

    "Hi?" I tried.

    "Ah. You''re still alive." Bo frowned. "My dear husband," My wife''s words contained enough sarcasm to choke at least half of Coruscant, "you left me behind while you went to confront the greatest threat this galaxy has seen in thousands of years."

    "Sorry?" I guess I won''t be getting laid anytime soon.

    "You''ll be making it up to me." That wasn''t a request but a statement of fact.

    "I''ll think of something."

    "You''d better. Are you all right?" Bo''s eyes softened a bit.

    "Nothing permanent. I can''t say the same for too many of my people." Its been couple of hours since I regained consciousness and the first thing I did after making myself an alchemical ???ktail to help in my recovery was to request a status report.

    Crimson made a number on us. Half the fleet was going to need some dock time, the command structure was shot to hell and the Republic was going bonkers over what I did couple of days ago. Just peachy.

    "You didn''t take any Mandalorians with you. You left us all behind."

    "This was a Sith and Republic mess and the price to clean it up was ours to pay, not Mandalore''s." I countered.

    Bo studied me for a long moment before nodding.

    "I understand. However some won''t agree with your arguments."

    "Can''t be helped." I shrugged.

    "When are you coming back?"

    "I still need to sort the mess here and make sure Crimson is really gone this time. I''ll be sending the damaged ships back to Corellia and go hunt down the kriffing thing. Between two weeks and a month, depending on what happens on my end and what the Separatists do in the meantime."

    "Did you see Zash''s interview?" Bo asked.

    "Her what?!" The hell?! She wasn''t supposed to reveal herself just yet.

    My wife smirked and explained.

    "Love, I''ll call you later. I need to figure out how much more complicated my life just became." I ?r??n?d.

    "So you two didn''t plan it?" Bo inquired.

    "Certainly not Zash revealing herself this early." I grumbled.

    "She introduced herself as a simple scientist."

    "Any Jedi who saw the records about me would recognize the name." Kriff it, this might push the bastards over the edge. We needed them to lay low for the next month or two at least. "I need to talk with Palpatine. I''ll call you later and find a way to make up to you. Love you, bye!" I cut the channel and called Palpy.

    The kriff were those two thinking?!

    =RK=

    Confederate military HQ

    Raxulon City

    Raxus

    San Hill stared at the self proclaimed Old Republic Jedi in orbit. The man had acted polite enough when requesting to talk with someone in authority on the matters of an alliance against the Republic.

    Jerrod Perrion was the Jedi''s name and he admitted that his people were the ones responsible for the war escalating. Some of them used to be a part of the Confederacy, before they found out that Dooku was a Sith and began causing trouble.

    It sounded almost plausible.

    "After all the trouble you''ve caused us, why would we even consider an alliance instead of blowing you up?" Ilroth asked.

    "I''m not asking you to trust me. After Dooku betrayed you all, I''m not expecting that. All I''m asking you is to work beside you to bring the Republic down." Jerrod spoke quietly. "Did you see that interview by Zash on GNN?" The Jedi changed the topic.

    "Most people in the galaxy saw it by now." Hill said.

    "That''s Veil''s master. If I had any doubts that the Republic hasn''t become a Sith playground her presence confirms it." The Jedi took a deep breath. "I know you have no reason to believe anything I tell you. All I''m asking you for an opportunity to prove that I''m an enemy to the Republic." Perrion smiled. "I can offer you an equalizer. You lack Force Users. I can offer you a battalion worth of them. While all but a few aren''t as well trained as Jedi, they''re good enough to tie them up and give your commanders a free reign. I can also offer a regiment of veteran special forces led by a cadre of Old Republic Jedi. We''re a force multiplier that can turn the tide of any ground engagement. Given enough time I can train even more Force Adepts to counter the so called Jedi and eventually suppas them. You''ll need my help to handle Veil and his Master."

    "Stay put, Master Perrion. We''ll discuss your proposal." Hill cut the comm. "Thoughts?"

    "Its a setup." Vombra stated. "Even if the Jedi is telling the truth we can''t trust him."

    "Trust? Not necessary. Use him and if he proves problematic dispose of him." Admiral Trench said. "Keep the man at distance, don''t meet with him or his agents. Give them enough rope to hang themselves. At best they will be useful. At worst, they will be where we can reach them instead of working from the shadows."

    "I concur. A battalion of Jedi equivalents? Too good to be true. We need to spring this trap and see what await us." Admiral Kirst greed.

    "I don''t trust any Jedi, Sith or other space wizards." Ilroth declared. "However, you''re right. We need to know more. If they''re useful we''ll use them for the time being. If not, see to it that they can''t be a problem ever again." The Neimodeian ordered.

    "I would prefer to keep this complication as far away from us as possible, but I''ll support your position." Hill grumbled. "As if the kriffing Sith weren''t enough."

    "That man admitted that he and his people had committed treason." Admiral Tonith said. "Let''s make sure that their end is useful. The so called Jedi gave us a reason to act against him and his minions when we deem it convenient."

    "So we all concur?" Hill asked.

    A chorus of agreements, some half hearted, followed.

    "How are we going to use Perrion''s forces?" Hill asked.

    "Under our command on ?ssault ships that can''t cause much damage even if taken over. We''ll keep them jammed just in case they try to warn the Republic or something." Trench said.

    "I can use such troops on Kamino." General Farstar offered. "They might be invaluable in taking out the shield generators and retrieving the samples that are our primary objectives."

    "Its decided then? We offer Perrion a chance to prove himself." The cyborg grumbled. "So be it."

    Moments later a comm channel was established.

    "You''ve decided already?" The Jedi looked surprised.

    "We aren''t the Senate." Hill scoffed. "We have a proposition. You''ll be placing the forces you offered under our tactical command. We''ll give you an opportunity to prove yourself."

    "Acceptable. You won''t regret this." Perrion smiled.

    "I''m already regretting it." Vombra whispered. All that went through his voice modulator was a quiet hiss.

    "You understand we''ll have to take precautions to avoid vital intelligence reaching the Republic?" Trench asked.

    "I expected as much. You don''t trust me or mine and will use us as shock troops to break the enemy. We''ve done it before. We''ll be fine." The Jedi shrugged. "Now lets discuss the details..."

 Chapter 71 - Interlude: Intelligence woes II

    ONI Cruiser Unto Dawn

    High orbit above Coruscant

    Officially, director Yle was observing the effectiveness of an upgraded scanner born from the cooperation between SIB and ONI. The real reason why was in space was to meet Fell along with a pair of Jedi and a prisoner who was still supposed to be days away from the capital.

    The test itself was real and would be commencing in a few minutes. Meanwhile, the two directors, the Jedi and their prisoner were seated around a small table in a briefing room and listening to Dooku''s story.

    Marik ?r??n?d when the former Jedi finished.

    "I would require him to go through a proper interrogation but I''ve done my homework. We''re likely to get much less out of him than you. How credible is that story?" Yle asked.

    "As far as we can tell its the truth as he knows it." Kota nodded at the crippled Count.

    "That certainly is a lot to swallow." Fell murmured. The Twi''lek rubbed her forehead and ?r??n?d. "If this is true we''ve all dropped the ball."

    "What do we do now?" Marik frowned. From all things to fall into his ??p, this armed thermal detonator took the prize. "If your concerns are valid, even solid proof won''t be enough. Oh, we can use it to back our narrative, but it won''t be sufficient to remove Palpatine from power."

    "The best we can hope for is that Veil and that Zash woman are new actors and there was just one Sith Lord working against us until recently. I know its unlikely given all the circumstantial evidence, but even that would be bad enough." Ivon said.

    "We had more time to digest the information and reached similar conclusion. In the end its immaterial if Veil told the truth and appeared just a few months ago. He''s obviously working closely with the Chancellor and now we have another Sith who revealed herself." Windu gazed intently at the directors. "If the Force is on our side for once, that''s all ¨C three Sith controlling the Republic. Perhaps more waiting in the shadows."

    "They''ve successfully discredited you people, though some of you did their work for them." Fell grumbled. "When everything goes to hell, we won''t have much popular support."

    "We?" Marik asked hopefully.

    "I''ve given an oath to the Republic, to democracy. Granted, there isn''t much of the latter, but that might very well be the Sith''s influence. Looking at the Chancellor''s actions with the expectation that he wants to build an Empire, they do look quite sinister, I''ll grant you that." Ivon nodded.

    "I don''t think they trust each other. Not at the beginning anyway." Marik voiced his thoughts. "Veil was the one who pointed us at possible irregularities at the Chancellor''s office and was the one pushing hardest for a massive increase of Palpatine''s security. It all looked obvious a few months ago..." Yle trailed off.

    "He can''t be out playing Sith with so much rotating security around." Fell chuckled.

    "That makes sense." Windu frowned. "We might be able to use it."

    "Let''s be frank, this is going to be a do or die op." Marik stated. "We need to cover our bases and act before the Sith. At best they will wait until the current crisis is handled before moving against the Jedi. Once you''re out of the game, removing them from power will be much harder if possible at all."

    "That''s our belief." Kota nodded. "We''re certain that the Clones will support Palpatine."

    "He was the one to really commission the army after all." Dooku added his two credits.

    "Why is he here still?" Fell asked.

    "He''s a dead man if his Master wins." Windu stated the obvious.

    "I hope you don''t intent to use him. Doing so would destroy any support we might gain otherwise."

    "We dismissed the idea because of that." Kota reassured the directors.

    "Just make sure the rest of the Jedi don''t jump the gun. I''ll talk with Sylvaris and try persuading her to help us." Marik said. "We need a plan. Simply walking up to Palpatine and trying to arrest him won''t work."

    "Perhaps..." Ivon smirked. "I have an idea..."

    =RK=

    Senator Sylvaris'' residence

    Coruscant

    It took Marik a few days to sound off some of his most reliable agents and Kota helped ensure that they were genuine in their d?s?r? to protect the Republic at all costs, before he could be reasonably sure that he had somewhat free hand to act. ONI being on his side helped too, with a few of Fell''s agents running interference.

    That''s how he and Kota ended up talking with the Cathar senator and few of her closest allies. The presence of Mon Mothma of Chandrila was the biggest surprise. That would have concerned Yle if he didn''t know why the woman hadsupported Veil after he became Mandalore. Chandrila was preparing for any eventuality. It remained to be seen how willing they were to act.

    "That''s the situation." Kota finished explaining the bind they found themselves in.

    The Senators looked uneasy at each other.

    "That''s what I tried to warn you of all along!" Sylvaris announced almost gleefully.

    "You did." Mothma conceded. "I''ve had qualms about both Palpatine''s and Veil''s intentions from the beginning. While at this time I''m not ready to offer open support," the Senator raised a hand, "I''ll lay the groundwork in case we fail."

    Mothma looked at Kota. "You''re afraid that the Sith have planned this war for a long time. They have to expect that you will attempt to stop them."

    "Yes. Windu and I believe that they will use our actions as a pretext to destroy the Jedi. That or manufacture one when they''re ready and that has to be soon. They''ve shown their hand. My personal belief is that Crimson blindsided them or they would have acted against us already. The Republic is on borrowed time." Kota confirmed.

    "Then you know there''s a very real chance you''ll fail." Mothma told him.

    "We know. There was a discussion about just leaving, but doing so would mean abandoning the Republic and our duty." Kota took a deep breath. "We''ll do everything we can to stop the Sith."

    "Good. That does you all a credit." Mothma nodded. "However in case you fail, we need to be prepared. Otherwise the Republic will be lost and there might be decades if not centuries before its restored."

    "You plan a rebellion." Marik got it first. "I think I can release some agents to aid you in that before we go loud. I''m sure director Fell can do the same."

    "Any ?ssistance would be appreciated." Mothma nodded.

    "Can you count on your support?" Kota looked at the rest of the Senators in turn.

    "We won''t suffer a resurgent Mandalore or another Sith Empire." Sylvaris declared. One after another the remaining Senators voiced their agreements.

    The Jedi nodded.

    Shortly after they left, two of the Senators suffered unfortunate accidents. The transport of one malfunctioned and it slammed in the side of a space-scrapper. The other stopped to pick up dinner and ended up with a severe infection requiring his hospitalization. The Bith soon fell into coma and never recovered.

    =RK=

    Intelligence woes III

    =RK=

    Location classified

    Coruscant

    The conspirators gathered into the living room of an ordinary apartment in one of the thousands space-scrapers on Coruscant. No one paid much attention to the sparse old furniture and just sat around the table in the corner of the room farthest from the covered windows.

    "Good news I hope?" Director Fell asked.

    "I''ve been able to keep a lid on things so far." Master Tiin nodded. "There shouldn''t be any accidents before we''re ready."

    "Good. We need to discus contingencies and what we expect to achieve." Yle began. "We," he nodded at his colleague, "want real democracy restored to the Republic. Because of our positions both of us saw exactly how the Senate is run. We take our oaths seriously and they aren''t to an oligarchy in all but name."

    "Our intent is to break the Sith and reform the Republic." Kota reassured the director.

    "That''s commendable. Do you really believe you''ll be in a position to succeed?" Fell asked.

    The Jedi looked at each other.

    "If the Force is with us. Ideally we''ll be able to remove the Sith and avert a real civil war." Tiin said. "Unfortunately I can''t afford to let my mind be clouded by wishful thinking. I made that mistake once the cost was most of the public support and goodwill the Jedi had left." He admitted. "Realistically we have the numbers to take out the Sith but even with your support the casualties will be significant."

    "We have a battalion in the Temple that''s practically keeping the younger members of the Order hostages. We plan to extract them and send them into hiding. Masters Yaddle and Drallig will take care of that. We''ll appreciate some support in getting them off world."

    "My people will handle that. I''ll have a fast light cruiser and few frigates ready to get them out if everything else fails. Otherwise it would be best if we can smuggle most of them covertly. We''ll discuss the details later." Fell offered her help.

    "Thank you, director." Kota smiled. "To be honest, we expect to be hunted down if we succeed. Currently we lack proof that the public and majority of the Senate would accept. If we''re lucky we might be able to get such after dealing with the Sith, but by then it would probably be too late."

    "You''re aware of the consequences then." Marik noted.

    "Yes." Tiin confirmed. "The alternatives are worse. We know that Zash''s revelation is either arrogance or bait, perhaps both. Our best guess is that Crimson blindsided the Sith otherwise they would have been ready to act against us by now. Some of us believe that Zash revealed herself to keep Palpatine''s public support high after Atrisia and to help cement the image the Sith are selling to the people at large."

    "We concur." Fell said.

    "Grave mistakes were made. The Sith obviously evolved while we stagnated." Tiin slowly admitted. There was obvious pain in his voice as he did so. "Now were put in a position where if we act we would likely doom the Order. However that''s the best of a lot of terrible options. If we run, which might not be successful, we would be abandoning the Republic to the Sith. We would be betraying our duty." The Jedi Master sighed. "We''re running out of time. The Sith already control the Republic and it''s just a matter of time before they have transformed it into the Sith Empire reborn. I don''t need to explain to you what that would mean to the galaxy at large, do I?"

    "We actually paid attention to history in school." Marik said in a dry voice.

    "I know that the two of you want us to wait until the CIS offensive loses steam. I generally agree with that sentiment ¨C it would be for the best if the Separatist don''t win the war. While they''re the lesser evil compared to the Sith, they''re terrible enough. However, by waiting that long, we give time for someone to slip up or for the Sith to strike before us. What are your thoughts on the matter?" Kota asked.

    "Torn actually. I agree. The best time to strike in order to succeed will be right in the middle of the offensive when the principal Sith will be distracted. Then there''s Ivon''s idea which while dangerous can make all the difference in the world." Marik admitted.

    "I wish it was easier. That we could use the Force to persuade enough Senators to support us." Kota sighed. "Leaving the moral consideration aside, that simply won''t work on anyone with a stronger mind unless we want to cause brain damage and compromise ourselves that way."

    "I should have built support in the Senate before confronting Veil." Tiin said. "I was too sure of myself, I was convinced that our long service combined with the support we had left would be enough to sway the Senate. That the Senators remember their history, that they knew what resurgent Sith would mean for the galaxy. I was a fool."

    "The path to hell is paved with good intentions." Ivon muttered. "I heard it said years ago and I find it fitting." She shrugged.

    "With the Sith around there are more than enough bad intentions to doom at least half the galaxy." Kota scoffed.

    "Can''t say I disagree." Marik said.

    "What''s done is done." Kota declared. "Now we need to deal with the consequences."

    =RK=

    Interlude: How to slay a monster

    =RK=

    Corellian Cruiser Freedom

    Blacksite-34

    It took ten days to reconstitute the fleet and get here. I spent a lot of the time in talks with Palpatine and Zash. The Chancellor was actually grateful for the public support, which ensured that he just lost ten percent of his approval over Atrisia, which meant that about sixty percent of the citizenry were more or less backing him up.

    It was little things like that which explained why he found it so easy and painless to become Emperor in the other timeline. Well building alliances with Senators and planetary governments for decades helped a lot too, I reckon.

    Still, Zash''s shenanigans, while useful, caused some waves. Palpy had SIB keeping a very close eye on the Jedi who were laying low after Atrisia. We all knew it was just a matter of time before they acted out and planned for it, though hopefully they weren''t going to kriff us up on the eve of the CIS offensive.

    At least after destroying their image ¨C with Palpy jumping on the opportunity to make it tank even faster than the Jedi could do it by themselves, the conservatives weren''t going to get sufficient support to be a real threat. What we feared was the chaos that would ensure once our hand was forced and Order 66 went into effect.

    For the time being that was Palpy''s problem. He was back on Coruscant and had Zash around as a backup in case the worst happened. Kenobi was there too, along with my wife my Mandalorians who had starting orders to suppress any coup attempt against Palpy unless it was my own.

    I had other concerns and spent the days after awakening in recovery and making myself alchemical concoctions to help me get better faster. I also had to deal with a lot of work concerning the running of the fleet. While Joanna was recovering nicely, she was far from hundred percent and I had to deal with most of her duties too ¨C we were very short staffedeven after taking in most engineers and surviving officers from the crippled ships before sending them to Corellia.

    Finally we arrived. The fleet exited hyperspace on the edge of the system and began sensor sweeps.

    "A lot of asteroids, a single planetoidand that''s it, sir." Acting Captain Horn announced after consulting with the sensor operator.

    "Take us to the Blacksite and commence bombardment when we''re at range. I''ll be doing my best to protect us all, though this time it shouldn''t be nearly as bad."

    "I certainly hope so." The young officer''s face was pale but his voice didn''t waver and he began issuing the relevant orders.

    I let the Force flow through me and slowly began spreading my Battle Meditation among the critical crew. My nerves burned with the strain and it was going to get much worse.

    By the time we reached orbit, I had the fleet protected as well as I could in my state. Yet I was already sweating from the strain and felt like a Sith Lord was practicing his lighting on me.

    What was left of Crimson was aware. It knew its doom was approaching and the kriffing bug was going crazy. The Force pulsed with its fury and desperation. Its presence was growing as we approached but fortunately it was a mere pale shadow of what I faced back on Atrisia.

    Crimson struck as we entered orbit. A hammer slammed in the gestalt I had weaved from the minds of all the officer and engineers in the fleet. I snarled when my mind rang from the strike, yet what I experienced was a mere echo. I had learned my lesson the first time and the attack spread all over the men and women in the web of the Battle Meditation causing a mild headache at best.

    The sickness gave out an impotent scream, then the first salvo struck. It flailed against me again and again. It was like throwing small rocks in a pond ¨C it caused wave, inconvenience, but no real harm.

    The plague''s desperation was like a fine drink. Its impotent fury ¨C something to enjoy. Its fear, oh that was something I was savoring with relish.

    The research facility was reinforced. Sturdy. However without a planetary shield, it stood no chance against the firepower leveled against it. The rock covering it became magma. The facility itself was shacking, buckling from the shocks of the bombardment.

    Still, it was impressive engineering. It wasn''t until the fifth salvo that Crimson felt pain and lost it. I heard it scream through the Force. Sensed its pain and smiled.

    More salvos went in. Crimson gave one last shriek that reverberated through the Force and was silenced forever.

    I grabbed a nearby console to steady myself and felt profound relief.

    "Captain, I''m pretty sure that we just got it, but continue the bombardment. I want to be sure that nothing could possibly survive down there." My smile turned into a grin. "It''s fitting I think."

    "What, sir?" Horn asked.

    "That the kriffing thing died with a whimper, unable to kill anyone else." I explained.

    "Damn right, sir! I just wish that the captain, sorry, the admiral didn''t relapse and cold be here to witness it personally." Horn muttered.

    "At least she''s expected to make full recovery. That bloody thing did a number to us all." I began releasing the Battle Meditation slowly so I wouldn''t cause shock to the people I was influencing.

    "Communications, open a channel to Coruscant, they can use the good news." I ordered.

    It was over. That kriffing thing was dead. Right?

 Chapter 72 - The Confederacy strikes back

    Part 1

    "The long anticipated Confederate offensive began with simultaneous attack all over the galaxy. It was led by over a hundred Munificent battle groups under the command of unrestrained Tactical droids. Their targets were Republic pickets, listening posts and patrolling ships.

    Six hours later, the first heavy blows were struck.

    First, in the North and North East Galactic sectors, Confederate fleets fell upon Yaga Minor, Borosk, Bandomed and Pindar. Separatist units moved to secure the far North with strikes upon Sernpidal and Bimmiel. At that time the long feared reduction of the North Pocket began with a fleets moving to secure Ruuria and Florum. Another strong Confederate force struck the Republic navy at Mol Calamari.

    At the same time in the eastern part of the galaxy, even more fleets were on the move. Almost simultaneous attacks occurredon Velmor, Roche, Nazziri and Kashyyyk.

    The situation in the South and South East quadrants wasn''t better. A massive Confederacy fleet established a forward supply base at Daalang before splitting up and heading to Charra and Lannik.

    More fleets surged to ?ssault Lanos,Bothawui, Manda and Rishi.

    In the South the first part of Operation Dagger ¨C ultimately aimed at Kamino ¨C went into effect. Herdessa and Christophis were struck by the leading elements of at least a Sector Fleet. It was soon confirmed that at least twenty independent battle groups were operating in the region too - scouting and hunting Republic shipping.

    Another prong of the Confederate offensive launched hours earlier meant to bind the Republic navy at Naboo. That attack had two obvious aims ¨C to connect Separatist territories and prevent any further reinforcement reaching Kamino. The Confederacy aimed to achieve that goal by attacking Kalindra, Rundelia and taking control of the hyperlanes in the sector. Those attacks also cut off Malastare and ZeHeth.

    Even more strikes were launched in the South. Their goal was to completely isolate the Western quadrant, which would be ?ssaulted the next day. Confederate units moved to secure or reinforce Utapau, Karideph, Rutan and Brundan. Another fleet took Isle Naha and Sump facing virtually no resistance.

    The next day, equal parts of a Sector Fleet struck Eridau, Agonmar, Eittu, Noe''ha''on and Bomis Kaori. With those attacks the Republic territories in the west were cut off and the Separatist began a methodical reduction of the naval elements in the region. They declined to participate in ground campaigns unless a world held critically important resources.

    While most of the Republic was under heady ?ssault or preparing for one, the eyes of the people in the Core Worlds were focused closer to home.

    While the Confederacy''s operations outside the Core were important, only two of them held high strategic value. First was the obvious attempt to connect their territories across the galaxy ¨C a goal that was achieved withing two weeks. The second and arguably more critical was the long anticipated ?ssault of Kamino, which was yet to come.

    The primary goals of the offensive was crippling the Republic''s shipbuilding and industry. Over seventy percent of it was concentrated in the Core and that was where the Confederacy concentrated their efforts.

    Their ?ssault of the center of galactic civilization began with a heavy attack aimed at Abregado-rae. A fleet was dispatched to Atrisia too. Officially it was there to confirm that Crimson was eradicated, however ONI believed that their true purpose was to ambush general Veil and the containment fleet he took to hunt down Crimson upon their return.

    The Confederacy advance towards the Core began on three vectors. First a Sector Fleet struck at Kelada and overwhelmed the defenders. The second prong struck Rhommamool. Smaller fleet converged on Affa, Chardaan and Tynna. Their goal was to connect the Confederate Western and Central sectors in a third place.

    The third prong was a controversal on. As expected, another massive fleet Antar. In the same time, Trade Federation units suppossedly neutral in the conflict or even backing the Republic broke from their defensive positions at Neimoidia and Cato Neimoidia to attack Oudlor, thus cutting off Antar, as well as Commenor and Balmora.

    The net effect of that treason was that Kuat would be in a striking distance when the fleet from the Central sector reduced the Antar''s defenses.

    At the same time, Confederate holdouts in the Core like Cola, Castel,Skako and Null attempted a breakthrough, thus tying up Republic forces.

    For all its ferocity, those attacks were merely a taste of what was yet to come. A Confederate fleet was moving upon Mandalore. Once Kelada fell, the Sector Fleet from Fondor was headed straight at Duro where the Republic navy had been fortifying its positions. If that world fell, only New Plumpto would stand between them and Corellia."

    Extract from: "History of the Clone Wars, Volume II"

    Published by Coburn Naval Academy, Coruscant

    =RK=

    SIB safe house

    location classified

    Coruscant

    Yoda''s mouth tasted like ashes. Those of the Jedi Order, of the Republic and democracy itself. It tasted of his failure as a Grandmaster of the Jedi Order.

    "Not what you expected, is it?" Dooku wheezed.

    The Jedi Master stepped away from his shacking former apprentice. Yoda had to confirm what he had been told for himself. No matter that Kota and Windu had scanned Dooku''s mind multiple times.

    It went without saying that none of them took the Sith at his word, however there were ways to ensure he was telling the truth. The Count had to keep his mind open, without accessing the Force or struggling in any way. Even with his cooperation it was a delicate and dangerous procedure. One that required complete trust or sheer desperation to undergo because it was trivial for the one making the scan to shatter the mind they were examining either by mistake or on purpose.

    It wasn''t something undergone lightly. Even when everyone agreed the procedure could be described as a mind-rape, a violation of a persons deepest, darkest secrets, their very being.

    Yoda frowned at his former apprentice. He saw the truth and found it hard to believe. It was even harder to come to terms with what he felt from Dooku. The former Jedi was an impossible contradiction. The Count felt serene, at peace, despite the multiple time he let his mind be violated. Dooku didn''t do it because he regretted his actions.

    Oh, there was regret in the man''s heart, but it was about the way he had been played. That he had lost his power.

    Dooku saw himself as a dead man walking and all he wanted was vengeance. The only way open to him was to come clean and he did precisely that.

    Yoda could see the truth in Dooku''s mind. Could feel that those memories were genuine. That made it no less hard to swallow.

    The Grandmaster had been working with the Chancellor ever since Palpatine had been elected. In all that time, he never suspected the man of being a Sith ¨C just another power-hungry politician, if more competent than most.

    Now that he knew, Yoda could see all the pieces falling into place. The Jedi had been pawns ever since Naboo. The purpose of that invasion was obvious now ¨C ensure Palpatine''s election and strike a blow at the Trade Federation, one that in time would drive it to be a part of the Confederacy.

    How many deceptions were there? How many lies?

    Palpatine, Veil, Zash¡­ Were those all the Sith?

    Yoda ?r??n?d. The GAR. It was a Sith creation and it had a battalion sitting in a Jedi Temple that had been turned into a death trap ¨C with the consent of the Order no less. With his consent.

    "Foolish I was. Unfit to lead the Jedi I am." Yoda admitted. He looked sadly at Kota and Windu. "My fault this is." The Jedi Master sagged in his seat.

    "The offensive began twelve hours ago. Veil is cut off." Windu said.

    "There are only two Sith we know of on Coruscant." Kota added.

    Yoda looked at the crippled man he trained. "Sufficient evidence we have not."

    "No. Even if we had something that would be accepted, Palpatine has been in power for a long time. He''ll be able to tie us in procedures and other legalities until he can act against us if we try removing him legally. If our evidence is believed in the first place." Windu told his nominal leader.

    "Evidence which we''re conspicuously lacking. If it wasn''t for the directors knowing what was possible with the Force and believing our explanation, we would be in even worse position." Kota said.

    "They have their own agenda, that much is obvious." Windu pointed out. "However I''m sure they will fight to avoid the Sith turning the Republic into an Empire. They believe in democracy."

    "Democracy you say? Hmm..." Yoda shook his head. "Treason we discuss."

    "That''s one way to look at it. Removing a traitor who began a war for his own gain is another." Windu shrugged.

    "Dark the future is. The end of the Jedi nears, I fear." Yoda whispered.

    "We''re afraid of that. We seek your guidance now that you know the truth, Master Yoda. We can''t not act." Kota pleaded. "The Sith will destroy us at their convenience if we keep our heads low. If we run, we abandon the Republic and its citizens to a slavery under the Sith."

    "And if we act, the most likely outcome is that we would be hunted by the army even if we succeed." Windu added.

    "Tiin and his buddies should have waited. Gathered sufficient support, never gone over your head." Kota shrugged. "What is done is done. We can''t change the past. We should learn from our mistakes. Unfortunately its simply too late. We should reflect on our past misdeeds if we survive. Now we should make sure there are surviving Jedi to learn from our mistakes."

    "Trap this could be." Yoda muttered.

    "We know. Its one we have to spring." Windu nodded. "If we wait we die for nothing. If we act, we have a chance. Even if we fail, even if the Republic loses, at least we might ensure that the Sith don''t win. That will be better for the galaxy than the alternatives."

    "The Seps winning will be better than a Sith ruining everything. Their power will be easier to break than that of an Emperor." Kota agreed.

    For the first time in hundreds of years, Yoda abandoned the speech pattern that he was accustomed to while speaking Basic.

    "You want me to lead you in what undoubtedly is going to be the destruction of the Jedi Order." A mighty frown appeared on the ancient Jedi''s face. "The Order I failed." A quiet, bitter chuckle escaped Yoda''s lips while two Jedi and a Sith stared at him as if he had just admitted to be a Sith himself. "Old I am. Steeped in my ways I am. Lead you I shall not." Yoda paused and examined the pair of Jedi. "Bring to safety the younglings we shall. Abandon Coruscant we will. Stand against the Sith beside you I will." Yoda nodded.

    He could sense the profound relief Mace and Rahm experienced at announcement.

    "May the Force be with us." Yoda whispered and closed his eyes.

    The alternative was worse. Yoda was old enough to remember the devastation of the Sith Wars. He heard many stories from survivors telling him what hellish existence was to survive under Sith rule. Yoda knew they told him the truth. He saw the scars upon their bodies. He felt those left upon their wounded minds.

    Yoda simply couldn''t step aside and leave the Sith in power, no matter the consequences.

    =RK=

    Part 2

    Flag bridge

    Corellian cruiser Freedom

    Unknown Regions

    The compartment was mostly empty. Most of the people manning the stations during our first encounter with Crimson were either dead, insane or spread through the fleet to bolster the crew. That left me alone with Joanna, who was sitting next to me at the tactical table. The holotank usually showing us the fleet disposition was busy projecting a map of the galaxy complete with color coded territories controlled by each side. There were a lot of crimson lines showing the first stages of the Separatists offensive.

    The map was flanked by the ghostly figures of Obi-Wan and Valentra. Both of them looked ragged and the enemy attacks began just twelve hours ago. That was time wasted, because my fleet actually missed the news. We were traveling through a region of space where there was no way to reach the holonet, especially while in hyperspace. It was fortunate that when we exited back into real space to begin the next leg of our journey a call from Coruscant came through. Otherwise we would be in even nastier position.

    "That''s not good." I stated after I could digest everything I saw on the map.

    Valentra chuckled grimly. "That''s a charming little understatement. There are a lot of indications that our estimates were conservative. ONI''s pretty sure that the enemy has about a Sector Fleet worth of Munificents more than we expected and they''re going to throw them all in our teeth."

    "There''s no way we''re getting back to the Core the way we came." Joanna concluded.

    "You''ll have to fight multiple enemy fleets to break through. Attrition alone will see most of your command destroyed." Kenobi agreed.

    "Which plan did you chose?" I asked.

    "Red One for the Western quadrant." My brother in law answered. "Staging areas Arubesh and Beth."

    I looked back at the map. The first was Bespin and I couldn''t recall the other. It didn''t really matter, I would check up later.

    "Arubesh it is then. We''ll need to refuel somewhere and that''s the best place. I''ll take command of the fleet there and then we''ll have to fight our way out of the pocket. It will depends on the circumstances where we''ll be heading after that." I outlined my rough plan.

    "That''s at least ten days if you''re lucky." Obi-Wan frowned.

    "Its a good thing that the Fury didn''t make its way to the Blacksite originally through the Core and we have the nav data. Otherwise we would have to sit out this one." Holt grumbled.

    "Let''s just hope that the hyper routes haven''t ''ll have to pass through at least two less than stable regions." Kenobi''s frown deepened.

    "Can''t be helped I''m afraid. Where do you need me when we get out of here?" I asked.

    Obi-Wan looked away, at his own map I guess.

    "Attempt to reinforce either Naboo or Kamino if they still hold. I won''t hold my breath for the former, but the latter will have come under ?ssault just a few days before you can get in the region. We heavily reinforced the area and the Separatists will need to fight their way through multiple fortified systems unless they want to be cut off and struck from behind." Valentra suggested.

    "Operational plan Black then." I nodded in understanding. That was basically an admission that the South quadrant would be at least temporarily cut off and a lot of defending fleets would be ordered to fall back towards Kamino.

    "General Veil, we''ll have our hands full and won''t be able to sent any more reinforcements to the Mid and Outer Rim." Obi-Wan spoke formally. "Once you reach Arubesh and get out of the pocket, I''m authorizing you to take command of the South Area of Operations and ordering you to do everything you can to protect Kamino."

    "Orders understood and accepted, General Kenobi. If this is all, I would like to speak with my wife before we''re out of range."

    "I''ll patch you through. May the Force be with you." Obi-Wan nodded.

    "Try not to get killed and bring as many of our boys and girls back as you can." Valentra straightened up and saluted.

    I got to my feet and saluted back. Joanna followed suit a moment later.

    "May the Force serve you well, both of you."

    "I''ll let you be." Holt nodded and left the Flag bridge.

    A few minutes later, I was looking at Bo. My wife was in a full armor sans helmet and looked less than pleased.

    "Delkatar. Its good to see you again. You look better." At lest she sounded warmer than the last time we talked.

    "I''m recovering as well as can be expected. How are you?"

    "Pissed off. Its all but guaranteed that the Seppies will hit Mandalore soon. I need to be there."

    "Mandalore needs you and your warriors where you are, Bo. If what we fear comes to pass, your presence might be vital. Without the Republic we''re kriffed. We need powerful allies especially while our fleet just begins to be rebuild." I smiled sadly. "I know that your heart aches to be on the frontlines. That you want to feel the rush of battle."

    "Damn right! I''ve been cooped here for more than a month now and I''m feeling useless." My wife grumbled. "I know why you need us here Mandalore. It doesn''t make the waiting easier to bear. Are you going to be all right? I saw the intelligence reports. Abregado-rae will fall soon if it hasn''t already. They are going to cut you off."

    "I''ll be taking another route. Unfortunately I''ll be out of contact for some time before we can get out of the unknown regions and after that we''ll be keeping a low profile until we''re ready to strike the enemy." I tried to reassure Bo.

    I hoped, but certainly didn''t expect that there would be this much affection between us so soon after our political marriage. I wouldn''t call it love, not yet, but I''ve grown to care about my wife and found out that I was missing her company. Unless I was mistaken, it was mutual too.

    "Try not to get yourself killed, Mandalore." Bo gave me a wan smile. "I want my husband back. We''re one together."

    "Then I have my running orders, dear. Stay safe. We''re one when parted."

    My wife''s image wavered and distorted before vanishing in the tell tale signs of jamming. The enemy had gotten close to the relay station used to maintain the connection.

    I stared at the empty space where holo-projection used to be. It was strange. Until not too long ago all I had in this time was my mission. A mission I''m pretty sure I stopped caring a long time ago. Even if I ever came back, I''m not sure how much I could care about Earth. After more than a sixty years spent in this galaxy I was a radically different man. I knew that back in the Empire, however I tried quite hard not to think about he implication. The entity that sent me here had to know how my experiences would change me. I''m pretty sure it counted on it.

    I frowned. It''s been years since I thought about this, yet it was fitting. The last time was after I fell in love with Ashara and finally fully accepted that this galaxy had became my home.

    Now I found myself in a similar situation. This wasn''t my time. I had no real stake in the fate of the factions tearing at each other. I''ve been going through the motions, that much it was easy to admit to myself. I had goals, vague plans that constantly changed to fit the circumstances. However my heart simply wasn''t in the game I was forced to play.

    A small smile crept on my face. Somewhere along the way thing changed. Was it marrying Bo? Becoming Mandalore? Fighting with the people under my command, touching their mindsthrough my Battle Meditation? I wasn''t sure. It was probably a combination of all those factors.

    For months I''ve been existing in this time. The same was true for the years that followed Ashara''s murder. At least back then I had my vengeance to drive me. By some cosmic twist, or more likely Force shenanigans, I still could avenge my first wife. However now I had something else to look up to. A reason to actually live.

    A reason to fight beyond the sheer joy that combat against worthy opponents could bring.

    More importantly, I finally had a very real, tangible reason to win this war I was fighting. To ensure I got enough power that no one dared kriff up with me and mine.

    My smile became sinister. Soon, very soon the galaxy was going to meet Darth Vael and my enemies would get their just reward. But first I had to deal with this offensive. Then the Jedi, Senate and eventually Sidious ¨C once I would be in position to hijack his Empire.

    Achieving anything less would be unacceptable.

    =RK=

    CIC

    CIS Command ship Conqueror

    Radnor

    TK 51 was glad that the Confederacy''s ship designers finally took a file from the Republic shipbuilders and the majority of the CIS Navy no longer was commanded from exposed and vulnerable bridges. Too many ships were left with the old configuration, however they were all exclusively Munificents and thus expendable. Most of them were dedicated for kamikaze roles anyway, so it wasn''t a great loss.

    The Tactical droid surveyed the CIC, which was exclusively manned by now obsolete B1s. Good enough to crew ship, if properly supervised, the cheap mass produced models were outclassed by practically everything else in the arsenal of both friends and foes.

    The droid gave out an electronic sigh, before plugging itself in the combat network binding his command together. The Battlenet was an invention that came from the Techno Union. It began as an upgrade of the Umbrella system meant to bind together the defensive and offensive systems of a group of ships and thus increasing their efficiency. Then someone was bright enough to figure out that the Battlenet could be used to enhance the capabilities of the droid armies too.

    TK 51 was spearheading the attack on the small ocean world of Radnor as a means to test those presumptions and some other pieces of equipment. The droid commanded another small fleet ¨C his Command ship and twenty five Munificents. The frigates carried a hundred modified Vulture fighters apiece, giving him 2600 of the small craft to play with.

    Against him were arrayed three Venators, an Acclamator and ten CR90 frigates as escorts. Those were by no means suicidal odds, at least when compared to TK 51''s first mission after his software was upgraded. However, his fleet was still on the wrong end of the firepower and durability equation. The powers that be had decided that such a correlation of forces was suitable for the tests they wanted him to run.

    At lest this time the Tactical droid had longer to plan. TK 51 has been aware of his objective for two weeks now and Radnor had been under covert observation all the time. Even if the Republic brought reinforcements, there were heavy forces waiting to jump them, which left the droid to deal only with the expected system defense fleet.

    Being a part of the Battlenet was different. TK 51 was connected with every single droid running his ships, the Vultures and had filtered channels to the sensor feeds and tactical computers of his fleet. There was no direct connection with those ship systems for security reasons, even if there were multiple powerful computers and cyber defensedroids plugged in to keep intruders out of the network. TK 51 agreed completely with those restrictions. He couldn''t afford to have his whole fleet and crew compromised if the enemy had some kind of countermeasure for Battlenet.

    For TK 51, being a part of the network meant he became something both more or less. The droid''s individuality was watered down as he became a pieceof a partial gestalt made by the electronic minds of his subordinates. The sheer amount of data and processing power they had at their fingertips were staggering. He could see through the sensors of the fleet, he could feel solar wind upon the armored skin of the Vultures landed upon his ships hulls.

    TK 51 paused. If he could he would have smiled. He could feel. That was a new sensation and he found it enjoyable.

    Multiple parts of the gestalt warned the Tactical droid that the Republic navy was on the move. They launching fighters and bombers, which were ?ssuming defensive positions. The frigates moved forward to form a screen in front of the capital ships. The Venators formed a romboid formation with the Acclamator in front and cruisers taking the other points of the geometric figure.

    All TK 51 needed to do was to think his orders. They were picked up by the Battlenet and his subordinates knew what to do. There was no need of inefficient verbal commands.

    A wave of anticipation went through the Vultures and they launched into a single swarm that formed around the fleet. The frigates lit up their engines at full military trust and headed straight at the enemy. Firing solutions were refined and thanks to Battlenet and their vectors, TK 51''s fleet could concentrate all its forward power at just two targets. That would soon change as the distance fell, however it was at least an order of magnitude better than what could be achieved without the network.

    It was just too bad that TK 51 had given different targeting parameters. His fleet locked on and unleashed its firepower upon the four leading enemy frigates before they could enter effective range of the Vultures which were their primary target. The CR90s went evasive and due to the distance most shots missed, however there was enough concentrated firepower to drain shields and cause shock damage through bleed-through.

    The third salvo saw a frigate stagger before breaking to pieces. Then the range fell close enough that the fire became more effective.

    The Tactical droid noted that the Republic cruisers were already launching missiles ¨C dozens of anti-fighter ones followed by heavy concussion ones aimed at his ships.

    Soon enough another theory would be tested.

    The Republic cruisers opened fire with their primary weapons and the Vultures followed their orders to pull out of the way. Another CR90 was destroyed and finally the missiles were in range. More than a hundred fire control computers spread over the Munificents acted as one thanks to Battlenet. They designated their targets and opened fire at the approaching light missiles. Counter missiles were launched against the incoming heavy ordinance.

    The Vultures acted next and broke off, keeping the distance open. Their experimental AMS systems opened fire and spears made of coherent light stabbed at the incoming missiles.

    The first two enemy salvos were significantly degraded by both active defenses and ECM. TK 51 felt only thirty Vultures die before his fleet entered effective range and he shifted targeting priorities. Eighteen Munificents unleashed their firepower at the Acclamator leading the charge, while the rest of the fleet continued to target the remaining five CR90s.

    At the same time the Vultures changed vectors, fired their afterburners and charged the two Venators at the flanks. The enemy small craft acted promptly and flew in to intercept them.

    TK 51 thought another order and the Umbrella system finally unleashed its own anti-fighter missiles.

    An unpleasant sensation stabbed through the Tactical droid''s mind when the enemy concentrated their fire on the Munificent leading his fleet. The frigate''s shields flared in a futile attempt to deflect, disperse and absorb the incoming firepower before it became too much and the system shut down to protect itself from a meltdown.

    The next barrage hit unopposed and the Munificent''s armor was never intended to take such punishment. It ablated, boiled or even vaporized in places. Decks were opened to space, weapons and power lines were blown apart. The ship listed under the sheer kinetic energy of the strike. Then a second barrage struck and it broke the Munificent''s back and the frigate disintegrated.

    TK 51 froze for a moment when M 355 was destroyed. The loss of all those droids, processing power and data diminished the gestalt and gave him pause. It took it precious seconds to recover, which were fatal for the leading Vulture squadrons.

    They failed to launch the missiles added to their wings or continue with their evasive maneuvers and were blown up by enemy fire.

    Fortunately the pause had no effect on the Umbrella, which was acting primary in automatic mode. Its missiles streaked in and went after their targets. The Republic fighters launched decoys, dispersed and their rear gunners attempted to shoot down the incoming ordnance.

    The Vultures jumped at the opportunity that presented itself and launched missiles of their own, before closing into gun range.

    TK 51 had to admit that the enemy pilots handled the situation better than the droid fighters during their first encounter with the Guardian system. They obviously had thought how to handle the situation. Dispersal, radical vector changes, decoys. The tactic was certainly more effective than what the Vultures had attempted at Ryloth and Geonosis.

    Unfortunately for the Clones, they had hundreds of missiles coming at them from two directions followed by more than two thousand droid fighters.

    In contrast, the Republic managed to launch only five hundred and fifty Torrents in the first place.

    While the Clones extracted their pound of flesh, it was still a slaughter. Two thirds of their fighters were blown up before the Vultures closed the range and the rest died in the crossfire that followed. Despite that, there were only 1900 droid fighters left to approach the Republic ships. They had to content with the Guardian system on their own.

    The Vulture''s AMS system were much less effective during the final approach. Seven hundred of the fighters were destroyed when the Republic capital ships put their launchers into sprint mode and emptied their magazines at the approaching swarm.

    The remaining 1200 Vultures slammed into a wall of flack fire augmented by turbo-laser cannons set to flare their plasma shots as an improvised anti-fighter weapon.

    Even that wasn''t enough. Almost seven hundred droid fighters survived to make their attack runs and TK 51 had kept those armed with proton torpedoes in the back of the formation. Each carried only two apiece and launched them before going into suicide attacks.

    Final defensive fire blew up more than half of the remaining Vultures and even a third of the proton torpedoes. Thanks to blinding concentrated ECM and the wild evasive maneuvers prior and during launch, some of the ordnance missed.

    More than five hundred torpedoes slammed into the flanks of the targeted Venators. Armor shattered, whole turrets blew up and the ships were engulfed by a short-lived firestorm. It took mere moments to outrun it and reveal the extent of the damage.

    The ships were listing. Their sides were opened to space and either burning or leaking atmosphere. At least half their weapons were gone and the damage to power systems was extensive enough to disable their shields.

    TK 51shifted fire from the finally crippled Acclamator to the gutted Venators and concentrated half his fleet on each. Even if he had already lost two more Munificents with a third heavily damaged it was all but over. Two minutes later the Tactical droid had reduced the Republic fleet to three wrecks drifting in space, ten expanding clouds of debris and a single Venator that was changing vectors in an obvious attempt to flee to hyperspace. TK 51 sent another order and three of his frigates jumped in front of the cruiser, thus blocking its escape. The next order changed targeting priorities to disable the enemy weapons and launch boarding parties.

    TK 51 relaxed and began compiling an AAR while overseeing the mop up operations and analyzing the battle so he could do better next time. He had to ¨C feeling droids and ships die through the Battlenet wasn''t something he wanted to experience any more than absolutely necessary. The Tactical droid was sure that its subordinates who were part of the network agreed. He could see their thoughts and feel their emotions after all.

    =RK=

    Plan Red One ¨C Western Quadrant: All republic naval forces are to disperse. Capital ships and appropriate escorts are to fall back to designated staging areas. Light elements are to harry and if practical slow down enemy advance; ground forces are to hold positions until either relieved or their situation becomes untenable. In the latter case they''re to either surrender or begin guerilla warfare depending on the circumstances.

    Operational plan Black: Only critical areas in the Central galactic quadrant would be defended. All other fleet elements will fall back towards Kamino and implement defense in depth. Further, heavy reinforcements will be dispatched from the Core Worlds before the CIS offensive begins and the hyperlanes leading to Kamino could be cut.

    Staging area Arubesh: Bespin

    Staging area Beth: Nothoiin

    =RK=

    Part 3

    Tipoca city

    Kamino

    "Ah, home, sweet home!" Echo pumped a fist in the air after he stepped out of the Acclamator that brought them back.

    A sheet of rain that had more in common with a wave slapped him in the face and he began to cough and splutter to his brother''s amusement.

    "No place like home ¨C as long as you remember to keep you helmet on outside!" Fives laughed.

    "Guys, let''s not make ourselves look like a bunch of morons." Rex ?r??n?d and pointed at the hangar where the elements of the 55th Army group were marching in. There were a few squads of cadets gawking at the disembarking Clones and heavy equipment.

    Fives got out of the rain and shook his head to remove as much of the water as possible.

    "Come on, we need to report in, settle our gear and book a training ground to test our implants." Rex ordered.

    "As you say, boss." Boomer''s voice, well boomed over the commotion. "You heard the commander, get moving!"

    "We hear you, there''s no need to scream!" Echo shot back and promptly followed the orders.

    Getting a free route to the armory and then barracks took longer that it should have thanks to all the Clones being deployed to the city. Finally 501st''s command squad stowed their arms and went to put down the rest of the gear. On the way to the barracks they passed by cadet squads heading for training.

    "You remember that? Target practice I recon." Echo pointed out.

    "Do I ever?" Fives smiled wishfully. "Those were good times, when our troop was whole."

    "Hey, is that 99?" Echo exclaimed and pointed down the corridor.

    There, behind another group of cadets shambled a hunchback clone loaded with a bunch of heavy blasters. The man stumbled and the weapons spilled from his grip.

    "Hey, 99! You all right?!" Echo grinned and went to aid the man who helped his first squad pass their training qualifications just as the war was starting.

    "Echo? Fives?!" 99 exclaimed and grinned at his brothers.

    "You actually remember us!" Fives grinned back.

    "I remember all my brothers." 99 frowned. "Where are the others?" He asked.

    Echo and Fives looked at each other and grimaced.

    "Skywalker and the clankers happened." Fives spat.

    All the Clones in earshot grumbled at hearing that name.

    "Heavy died on Rishi''s moon saving our ?ssess. The rest were killed because of Skywalker." Echo explained.

    99''s expression fell. He cast his eyes at the floor and sighed before looking back up.

    "Why are you back here? There''s many people arriving lately but no one''s telling me anything." 99 explained sadly.

    "The clankers are launching a major offensive and they will be throwing everything they can at Kamino. We''re here to protect our home." Rex explained. "So you''re the one who helped those two pass. Well done, brother." Rex finally spoke.

    99 beamed at the praise, then became serious.

    "How can I help?!" He straightened up as much as he could and asked.

    "That''s the spirit!" Boomer exclaimed and went to clap 99 on the back, nearly sending him to the floor.

    =RK=

    CIC

    Republic Star Destroyer Victoria, Victory I Class

    Third Core Fleet flagship

    High orbit above Duro

    Admiral Dao sat in this chair in the CIC, far away from the captain so they wouldn''t distract each other while giving doing their respective jobs and glared at the holo-image of the world he was tasked to protect.

    "No one with my name should be defending Duro of all places." The admiral grumbled quietly. "I can already hear all the dumb quips that will result of this mess."

    If anyone heard him they wisely refrained from saying anything and instead concentrated on doing their jobs.

    "Why I couldn''t be at either Corellia or Kuat like Plo-Koon and Coburn? I''ll gladly go to the Outer Rim and swap places with either Yularen or Adi-Mundi!" Dao shook his head in a futile attempt to chase off his dark thoughts and returned his attention to the big holotank showing the disposition of his forces.

    There was a GAR army group, the 44thdeployed on Duro along with a Caamasi armor division. With those forces backing the locals, the planet should be a tough nut to crack ¨C at lest as long as the planetary shields could be kept running.

    The admiral''s concerns were in space, which was his responsibility. He had a powerful fleet under his command, a brand new flagship that was upgraded after some vital lessons were learned when Veil rushed the first partially operational Victory in combat and most importantly, he could rely on some pretty heavy fixed defenses.

    While Duro was a pretty important world with plenty planet side industry that needed to be preserved, the primary reason why Dao was deployed here was simple ¨C he was to slow down and bleed the enemy by using all the fortifications built by the Duros. If practical he was to fall back to the last stop before Corellia and repeat the exercise, withdraw behind the planetary shields or if things got sufficiently kriffed up ¨C fight and die while dragging as much of the Confed fleet to hell alongside his command.

    Admiral Dao had deployed a third of his ships facing the direction of Kelada and they constantly maneuvered to keep it that way and compensate for the stellar drift while keeping station under the defense coverage of Golan stations. The rest of the fleet was close to the planet itself and ready to bring the hammer down in case the enemy was arrogant enough to jump behind the outer defenses and attempt to bypass them. While unlikely because such a maneuver would put any attacker under the concentrated fire of the Republic fleet and both defense ring, the admiral wasn''t going to dismiss such a stunt as impossible. The Confederacy was going to outnumber him significantly and if they were willing to absorb the casualties and his fleet was holding the outer position, it would be him who would be sandwiched by two enemy forces and torn apart.

    "Sir, we''ve got a call from Coruscant for you, it''s general Kenobi." The Clone manning the comms reported.

    "Patch him to my station." Dao pressed a bu??on a terminal built in the armrest of his seat and a small hologram appeared in front of him.

    "General Kenobi, sir!" The admiral saluted.

    "At ease admiral." Obi-Wan returned the gesture with a practiced ease. "One of ONI''s scouts managed to get away from Kelada and beamed a report just an hour ago. The former Jedi looked grim. "It''s confirmed that the Confederacy is sending a full Sector fleet your way."

    "Then I''ll be unable to hold Duro. Do my orders stand?" Dao asked. He was unfazed by the confirmation. High Command had expected this kind of outcome.

    "They do. Hold the line for as long as practical and bleed them. We can''t release our reserves until we know where the enemy primary blow will fall." Kenobi confirmed. "We''ve been forced to sent some reinforcements to hold Balmora because if that world falls the enemy will be in position to attack Felldale and block our direct route to Kuat."

    "Is there something else I need to know?" Dao asked.

    "We believe Antar is still holding but it won''t be long after the ?ssault on Oudlor cut them off. The last report we got was that the reconstituted Confederacy Third fleet was attacking and the leading elements of a Sector fleet were arriving." Kenobi grimaced. "Rhommamool has fallen and the Separatists Central Sector fleet is advancing on Denoon. We can''t release our reserves until we know for sure if they will move on Corellia or Kuat from there. That fleet''s destination will determine where they''ll concentrate."

    "It''s as we expected." Dao nodded. "It doesn''t make the waiting for the blow to come any easier."

    "I have a request from both Valentra and Jerjerrod ¨C try to keep your Flagship in one piece and send us report on her performance. Try not to get killed too. This war already has more than enough dead heroes."

    "If I die it won''t be for lack of trying to stay in one piece. I want to go of old age surrounded by my children who''re listening to my war stories." Dao chuckled.

    "May the Force be with you, admiral. Kenobi out."

    "The same to you, sir." Dao saluted.

    Now all he could do was wait. His forces were in position and he had multiple plans ready.

    =RK=

    It was early the next day when the First Fondor Sector fleet arrived. Sixty Munificent led the way. They launched a swarm of Vultures which dispersed and began sensor sweeps. A few minutes later the main body of the enemy fleet arrived and the numbers made Dao curse. There was no way in hell the Republic could stop them short of the massive defenses being build at Corellia and the multiple fleets gathering there.

    =RK=

    Republic detention center

    Coruscant

    Anakin was getting stir-crazy and kriffing bored. He had spent more than a month in prison with the only thing disrupting his monotone existence being Padme''s rare visits and each visit to the court. Only his wife and attorney gave him any news of the outside world. At least now he knew what that terrible disturbance and screams through the Force were about.

    Even thinking about Crimson and how close it came to destroying the galaxy, to killing his Padme made him fit to be tied. He should have been out there, beside his wife where he could protect her against anything!

    There were other news ¨C fragments heard by his guards and those that his two contacts with the outside world told him. Obi-Wan being expelled, Ahsoka being forced to basically go rogue and joining a military academy when the Council in their great wisdom decided that her place was to waste her time in the agri-corps¡­

    There were days when Anakin wondered if he was still in coma and suffering from nightmares, because the outside world was making less and less sense with every new news he heard.

    It was just yesterday when a disturbed Padme came to visit. All she wanted was to be held and be in his company. It took him a long time to coax what happened from his wife.

    Naboo was under attack and the fleet there wouldn''t be able to hold long without reinforcements that simply weren''t there to be sent. This time the government and population weren''t willing to keep their heads low and allow an occupation without fighting every step of the way. The GAR had been training the Naboo and Gungan volunteers as well as shipping in enough supplies and equipment of outfit a few armies.

    Padme was torn. Anakin could feel that that she d?s?r?d for the Confederacy to pay for what they did to her, for what they were doing to the whole galaxy. At the same time, there was still a quite large part of Padme that held her principles as sacred and was disturbed if not horrified that her peaceful people were becoming very militant.

    Anakin didn''t know how to respond. He personally agreed with the people of Naboo. In their shoes he would choose to fight too. So he simply held his wife and whispered sweet nothings in her ear.

    Then she left all too soon and Skywalker was again alone with an ache in his ?h?st he couldn''t place.

    Anakin''s boredom and mussing came to an abrupt end when the door of his cell opened. He looked up from the small bed he was sitting on and his eyes widened. Obi-Wan was right there, frowning at him.

    "Anakin, get up." Kenobi grumbled. "I talked with the jury. If you accept, you''re sentenced to life which is to be replaced with no less than twenty years service in the Republic armed forces. If you kriff up again, that sentence goes into effect and if you try to run, lethal force will be authorized." Obi-Wan sighed. "Are you ready to get out of this hole or do you like it in here?"

    "Whuh?" That was the only thing that came out of Skywalker''s mouth.

    "Oh, get up before I''m tempted to find you something even more mind-numbingly boring and unpleasant to do than cooling your heels in there."

    "What? How!?" Anakin exclaimed and jumped up.

    "As you might have noticed there''s this pesky war going on..." Came the dry response.

    "Padme told me about the offensive." Anakin''s mind finally rebooted.

    "This is your only chance to make up for your kriff up." Obi-Wan paused. "Anakin, please this time think before you act and kriff up your second chance."

    "I''ll be careful! I won''t make the same mistake again!" Skywalker nodded frantically. "I had much time to think about what happened. What I did." The young Jedi grimaced. "I''m still the same man, Obi-Wan. I regret the consequences of my actions. I''ll carry the memory of the men whose death I caused until I die. While Padme will always be my first priority, I''ll keep myself in line for her sake if nothing else."

    "I guess this is the best I can expect. I know where you''re coming Anakin. I might wish to say that I won''t be tempted to do something dumd to keep Satine safe if it was in my power, however a few months of marriage changed that. Still, I''ll say it one final time, don''t kriff up again because neither I nor Veil will be able to help you if you do."

    "I understand. Thank you."

    "Don''t be so sure about that. You need to get back into good shape fast, because I''ll be shipping you out with our reserves when it becomes clear which is the Confederacy''s primary target."

    "I''ll be ready. May I visit Padme or am I confined to base and still under guard?" Skywalker asked hopeful.

    "I''m giving you this evening free to visit your wife, but I want you ready to leave at five in the morning. I''ll have an aircar waiting for you at her apartment for you, then report to me at six at HQ."

    "Thanks again!" Anakin grinned.

    Obi-Wan moved away from the door then appeared again and threw a bundle at Anakin.

    "Get yourself somewhat presentable. That prison garb makes you look ridiculous."

    =RK=

    GAR HQ

    Coruscant

    Obi-Wan returned to playing at being a supreme commander after getting Anakin out of jail. For once there were no more bad news waiting for him, unfortunately that was going to change soon. The enemy had either won their first engagements and moving on their next objectives or still fighting where a handful of fortified and well garrisoned worlds held.

    Kenobi expected that the next blows will be falling either late in the evening or early tomorrow. He went next to Valentra, who was staring at a massive projection of the galaxy map. There were no change since the last he checked.

    "Its humbling." Valentra spoke quietly so they wouldn''t be overheard. "For a thousand years the Republic was unchallenged and now we''re likely to lose almost everything outside the Core."

    "The Separatists already partially achieved one of their primary objectives." Obi-Wan nodded. The map didn''t lie. The Confederacy had already managed to connect their far flung territories and more hyperlanes were already under attack, though some of the worlds anchoring them and their defending fleets were still holding.

    Besides in the Core, the Republic was offering heavy resistance primary in the South Quadrant where the routes leading to Kamino were all contested. The same went for Naboo, Ryndelia and Enarc.

    Special forces contested Utapau and fleet elements were still holding Kirdo before taking a long trip towards Kamino.

    In the west things were grim. While the Navy attempted to slow down the enemy at handful of places, it was falling back in good order all across the sector. There were only two notable exceptions ¨C Agonmar and Eridau where both the fleet and ground forces had dug in for the long haul.

    The majority of the Sector fleet meant to protect that quadrant was withdrawing towards the designating staging areas and were to wait for Veil''s arrival.

    "That''s a bright spot." Valentra pointed near Hutt space.

    "I agree. Bothawui, Rishi and Lanos are holding strong. They know whats at stake and will make the Separatists bleed before retreating even an inch."

    Those worlds held the gate to one of the main routes towards Kamino and were heavily reinforced in the last weeks.

    "So far we''re holding in the East too, but that''s not surprising." Kenobi noted. "That''s a secondary theater for the time being. While they will go after our industrial centers in the region we''re in position to fight them head on there." Obi-Wan paused. "Well, mostly." His eyes were drawn to his new home.

    Mandalore stood alone and awfully exposed after the quick fall of Phindar. Everyone knew that a major offensive there was imminent. The Confederacy wasn''t looking up to facing the Mandalorians after they could rebuild.

    "We''ve sent what we can there. Pellaeon seems a decent sort and Delkatar reassured me that he has a nasty surprise waiting there." Valentra offered.

    "He told me the same but declined to reveal any details. For obvious reasons I didn''t try pulling a rank." Obi-Wan said.

    Valentra chuckled at that. "I would have paid good money to see that."

    "I should be there, you know." Obi-Wan gazed at Mandalore. "Its the only home I have left. My wife feels the same. At least she''s safe here on Coruscant."

    "I feel you." Valentra nodded.

    =RK=

    CIC

    Venator cruiser Avenger

    High orbit above Mandalore

    "You''ve got what replacing the hangars?!" Gilad Pellaeon exclaimed. The freshly promoted admiral had finally fully recovered from the battle for Mandalore a few weeks back. Ever since then he had been fiendishly busy fortifying the system.

    Pellaeon had no qualms about the ground side situation. This was Mandalore after all and the bloody lunatics had received a lot of heavy equipment to play with along with at least two hundred thousand warriors who had returned when the general called them back home.

    Gilad problem was the situation in space which was grim. The Republic had scrapped the barrel and a pretty decent fleet had formed in bits and pieces. Unfortunately, until just today when two supposedly Mandalorian Venator arrived, the locals had no fleet left to speak of. Pellaeon was painfully aware of that fact ¨C he watched their navy die along with practically his whole command and his beloved Chimera.

    That''s why he was on board the Avenger ¨C to inspect the ship and figure out where it came from. There were some pretty obvious signs about its origin ¨C like the fresh coat of paint above what Gilad was sure used to be Republic colors.

    Captain Trek, commander of the ship and one of Veil''s spooks was the dead giveaway on how the Mandalorian got those ships. The Clone grinned and offered the admiral a data pad.

    Those two cruisers were extensively modified, that was plain to see when he landed and found out that there was precious little hangar space left. It wasn''t until he met the captain and the man brought him to the CIC that Trek finally decided to explain or show as it was the case.

    Pellaeon stared at the schematics on the pad and the notations about what the equipment was supposed to do.

    "This isn''t some kind of joke? Is the weapon tested?" The admiral asked.

    "Yes, though only against asteroids and a few wrecks that were write offs. It performed up to specs." Trek declared proudly.

    Pellaeon didn''t even try to fight the grin that stretched his face.

    "This changes things." Gilad said.

    "Well, Mandalore couldn''t possibly leave his capital world while he''s out there saving the galaxy from monsters out of a deranged nightmare. The Mandalorians won''t stand for it."

    "I can see that." Pellaeon nodded.

    "Besides, all those Basilisk droids bought the boss heaps of good will with the natives."

    Pellaeon ?r??n?d. He was trying very hard not to think about the few hundred Mandalorians taking their brand new war-droids on joyrides all over his AO.

    "Now all you have to do is figure out how to utilize the weapon system best before the enemy arrives. According to my agent we can expect uninvited visitors in the next two day." Trek informed his nominal commander.

    "Damn it, I need more time to integrate all the ships the returning Mandalorians brought with them. Right now they''re more of a mob instead of a fleet. That goes for the lunatics riding droids outside." Pellaeon grumbled.

    "That''s why they pay you the big money, sir." Trek shrugged.

    "What big money? While my new salary is nothing to sneeze at, it isn''t going to make me rich either." Pellaeon frowned and wondered if he had missed something.

    "Ah, right, you''re still getting pay from the GAR." A shiteating grin appeared on Trek''s face. "We''re getting paid by the general because we officially don''t exist as far as the Republic is concerned. The boss is quite generous."

    "Is this a sales pitch?" Gilad frowned.

    "Are you open for a change of employer perchance?" Trek countered. "You''re already working for the boss anyway."

    =RK=

    Republic fleet protecting Duro:

    Third Core Fleet commanded by Admiral Dao

    Flagship: Victory I Star Destroyer Victoria, the class namesake. Its the first fully upgraded and operational prototype to enter services. The rest of its division are being frantically outfitted at Kuat.

    The fleet consists of:

    10 Venator Cruisers; 200 fighter 50 bombers each;

    21 Acclamator Assault ships;

    9 Dreadnought heavy cruisers;

    15 Light Cruisers;

    44 CR90 frigates;

    Outer defense ring ¨C 12 Golan Arms battle stations circling the planet protected by minefields and 50 platforms each.

    Orbital defenses:

    10 Golan Arms battle stations protected by fifty weapon platforms.

    Extensive ring of weapon satellites ¨C approximately 400.

    Starfighters based on Duro or its floating cities: 3350

    Total: 5350 fighters; 500 bombers;

    Weapon platforms and satellites: 1500

    44th GAR Army group is deployed to Duro to hold the planet; They''re reinforced by a Caamasi Armor division.

    =RK=

    Fleet defending Mandalore:

    Rear Admiral Gilad Pellaeon in command

    Flagship: Venator Cruiser Avenger ¨C Silencer equipped;

    Venator Cruiser Vengeance ¨C Silencer equipped; both are nominally the only ships currently in the Mandalorian Star Navy;

    Republic Eight fleet:

    8 Venator cruisers 225 fighters 25 bombers each;

    5 Acclamators; 60 fighters; 60 bombers;

    11 Light Cruisers

    36 CR90 frigates

    1500 Mandalorian ?ssault fighters;

    160 small armed freighters and corvettes brought back by warriors who answered Mandalore''s call to arms;

    Two armies still in training equipped with Republic provided vehicles;

    800 Basilik droids as aerospace ?ssets.

    =RK=

    Confederacy fleet moving towards Duro and Corellia:

    First Fondor Sector fleet; Admiral Trench commanding;

    25 Lukrehulk Battleships; 1000 Vultures each /300 upgraded; 700 regular meant as meat shields or atmospheric combat;/ pulls 60 weapon platforms using tractor beams;

    8 Lukrehulk Command ships; 1500 Vultures each /400 upgraded; 1100 regular/ pulls 60 weapon platforms using tractor beams;

    19 Providence Dreadnoughts; pulls 20 weapon platforms using tractor beams;

    36 Command frigates; pulls 10 weapon platforms;

    368 Munificent Frigates;

    50,000 Vultures spread among the frigates, all regular;

    Total: 87000 Vultures:

    10700 upgraded space superiority and strike craft platforms;

    76,300 regular vultures;

    Weapon platforms: 2720

    =RK=

    Confederacy fleet approaching Mandalore: Numbers unknown, estimated to significantly outnumber and outgun the republic naval presence in the system;

    Part 4

    =RK=

    CIC

    CIS dreadnought Conquest

    First Fondor Sector Fleet Flagship

    three light seconds from Duro

    Admiral Trench waited for his whole fleet to finish its hyperspace transit and ?ssume a pre-designated formation before he made his move. He spent the time studying the sensor feed from the vanguard and the fighters it sent to scout for any unpleasant surprises.

    The Republic was acting as predicted. Trench would have preferred that the enemy dedicated more ships to protect Duro ¨C each one he could destroy here would be one less to face when ?ssaulting the primary objective of the whole offensive. More problematic was the reason why there weren''t any more ship defending this world. The admiral would bet his remaining flesh and blood eyes that the Republic fleets at Corellia and Kuat were busy training. Simply gathering a Sector Fleet that has never properly worked as a single unit at one place and expecting them not to get in each others way as much as in the enemy''s was wishful thinking at best. That''s why Trench had been drilling the principal commanders of the offensive and their subordinates for months. He even delayed the lunch date for a week until everything was performing up to his admittedly high standards.

    The tactical plot refreshed and Trench smiled. His fleet was in place. Finally it was time to put his theories to the test.

    "This is admiral Trench to First Fondor Fleet. Talon One, execute."

    From now on, unless he saw an opportunity or something unexpected happened, Trench was going to be a mere spectator.

    =RK=

    The Confederacy fleet divided into eight battle groups led by Lukrehulk Command ships. Those units consisted by three battleships and forty Munificents each. The remaining part of the fleet centered around the Flagship was Trench''s reserve. Thanks to all the dreadnoughts being concentrated in one place along with twice their number of escorts, that gave the admiral an armored fist to use as he saw fit.

    The bulk of the fleet ?ssumed a crescent formation and advanced towards Duro. While the planet''s outer defensive ring was made by twelve Golan stations, only four of them faced the Confederacy force. They were backed by a third of the Republic fleet ¨C 3 Venators, 6 Acclamators, 3 Heavy cruisers and 14 Frigates. The stations themselves controlled 200 weapon platforms and were screened by minefields.

    Unfortunately for the defenders, the Confederacy knew for more than a month the exact parameters of Duro''s fixed defenses thanks to a traitor bought by CIS intelligence agents.

    A single battle group moved until it was almost in the center of the Confederate formation and it launched two thousand standard Vultures as a screening force. They were followed by bombers which would be quite vulnerable if engaged by anything the Republic had, however that was accounted for and ten Munificent flew with them to provide Umbrella coverage until the strike craft could launch their seismic charges to clean up the minefield.

    The only surprise during this opening engagements was received by the Republic forces. Their vanguard launched its fighters and sent them on the heels of heavy anti-fighter missile barrage. The Vultures were wiped out in short order and the Republic small craft went after the bombers. Once the Torrents were committed, the escorting frigates launched everything in their hangars, and they were stacked with droid fighters. More were sitting on their hulls and they were sent out too.

    The whole purpose for the sacrifice was simple ¨C to lure out the enemy interceptors in a killing ground and they took the bait. From the 600 Torrents launched by the Venators, 563 survived slaughtering the droid fighters. Perhaps it was arrogance, a belief that they could survive everything that then frigates could throw at them and gut the bombers before the latter could strike. Perhaps it was an underestimation of how effective the Umbrella system was because the Confederacy had been careful to test it only when it could be sure that there wouldn''t be Republic survivors and the bulk of the navy received the upgrade only during the calm period that followed the debacle at Geonosis.

    In the end it didn''t matter. The Torrents had to contest with almost eight time their numbers while avoiding missiles launched from the Munificents. That they were on the edge of Guardian coverage didn''t help either. The only saving grace was that they faced unmodified Vultures. The Torrent''s missiles gave them a solid edge and they distinguished themselves before the enemy fighters swarmed them.

    Two wings lived long enough to disengage and only the tattered remains of a single squadron made it back to its mothership. Between the Torrents and entering a proper Guardian coverage, the CIS lost almost 1800 fighters and the rest were wiped out when they dived into a suicidal charge of the minefields and the weapon platforms hidden there in order to screen the bombers.

    Despite all their escort could do, a third of the strike craft perished before they could unleash their payloads. Half of the remaining bombers were blown apart while they attempted to disengage. The minefields were erased by overlapping energy waves that could be resisted by nothing less than capital ships shields or armor and most of the weapon platforms went out with them.

    The ten Munificents entered hyperspace on the edge of enemy effective range and returned practically immediately less than twenty kilometers from the two Golan stations anchoring the Republic fleet. Instead of slowing down or trying to evade, they went in while overloading their reactors and pushing the engines beyond their limits. Every forward mounted weapon spoke in unison, every spark of spare power was fed into the shields.

    To their credit, the defenders reacted immediately and a single salvo went in before it was too late. Two of the Munificents were crippled by the heavy firepower of Venators and battle stations and a third blew up when its shields were overloaded an a reactor with disengaged safeties went critical.

    It wasn''t enough. Seven practically untouched Munificents slammed into the Golans followed by the wrecks which couldn''t be diverted in time.

    A Golan weapon''s platform is impressive feat of engineering. It doesn''t need a hyperdrive or big engines, beyond those for station keeping. That left a lot of space for additional weapons and armor. They could take an awe inspiring amount of punishment before being destroyed. Usually it was much easier and simpler to go after their weapons in order to take them out of the equation.

    Further, there was a reason why such stations were usually deployed withing gravity well ¨C it was to make a ramming attack problematic.

    The battle stations outdid every expectation. Their shields held until each was struck by a second frigate. Even then, thanks to their heavy armor and robust engineering, it could be say that the Golans weren''t outright killed by the next frigate that rammed their armor with enough speed to be considered giant KEWs.

    There was no question that the stations were dead when another Munificent slammed into each of them and the remaining frigates shredded themselves when they plowed through the debris field.

    That was what the rest of the CIS fleet was waiting for. They executed hyperspace jumps of their own. Two battle groups targeted the remaining Golans in the area with the other five appearing in a rough semicircle around the Republic vanguard. Thousands of fighters nesting upon the Confederate ships launched and swarmed the enemy. They were another distraction followed by just enough shots to take out shields, engines and some of the weapons, because the next wave of the attack consisted by boarding pods chock full with Commando and SB droids.

    It took admiral Trench only half an hour to break through Duro''s outer defenses and the exchange rate was very much in his favor.

    =RK=

    Battle for Duro, losses after the first engagement:

    Republic:

    3 Venators /1 captured/

    6 Acclamators

    3 Dreadnought heavy cruisers /1 captured/

    14 CR90 frigates;

    600 Torrent fighters;

    150 Y-Wing bombers;

    4 Golan battle stations;

    200 weapon platforms;

    CIS:

    34 Munificent frigates; 10 more with minor to moderate damage;

    1 Lukrehulk with minor damage;

    7000 regular Vulture fighters;

    860 upgraded Vultures in bomber/strike craft role;

    =RK=

    Part 5

    CIC

    Republic Star Destroyer Victoria, Victory I Class

    Third Core Fleet flagship

    High orbit above Duro

    Admiral Dao gripped the armrests of his seat as he helplessly watched a third of his fleet be swarmed and taken apart by unexpectedly coordinated enemy battle groups. His only option to help his people meant leaving Duro''s inner defense perimeter and thus the coverage of the Golan''s and weapon satellites. Doing so would require leaving the planet''s gravity well and thus the relative security from hyperspace jumps in the face.

    It also meant getting into a great position to be jumped by the CIS reserve.

    The alternative wasn''t something he liked either ¨C stand in pace and at least continue existing as a fleet in being threatening the enemy''s rear and more importantly logistics. The Confederate admiral would ether need to leave a quite strong blocking force to keep Third Core Fleet bottled in or accept the casualties that would come with ?ssaulting Duro.

    "Comms, sent our sensor logs of the engagement thus far to High Command as well as our forces at Corellia and Kuat. Launch all fighters and bombers, defensive pattern Lambda." Dao was surprised that he somehow kept his voice even.

    His vanguard along the minefields were meant to prevent the enemy from carrying out successful ramming attacks on the Golans without getting a large covering force into range of both the stations and his ships. The admiral grimaced. He underestimated the enemy. Expected them to attack more or less conventionally. The infernal coordination of the CIS battle groups had nasty implications too. If their commanders could maintain proper C&C during a full fleet battle, they would be able to take apart most Republic forces that tried to stop them. While the Sector Fleets at Corellia and Kuat were training in similar tactics by necessity of protecting the spread out industry in those systems, Dao knew that they weren''t ready yet. If the other Separatist fleets were proficient to the same extent as the one he was facing, it would be imperative to slow them down.

    That''s why he gave the order to launch fighters. Right now he had probably the best opportunity he would get to cut his losses and run ¨C the bulk of the enemy fleet had their hyper-drives recovering from the tactical jumps they utilized against the Republic vanguard and the admiral was sure he could get most of his remaining forces past the enemy reserve and away in hyperspace before the rest of the enemy fleet can move in to crush him.

    Doing so would be the sane choice. Perhaps the only one that would see either Dao or any of his people leave Duro alive. It was the right tactical call ¨C to get his fleet out and preserve it so it could fight another day.

    Unfortunately doing so was the wrong strategic choice. It was vital that the Separatists were slowed down and he had one way to do so or at least pin some of their forces down. He had to stand and fight.

    Dao''s decision let him watch helplessly how his ships were torn apart in the crossfire of four battle groups each of which had the firepower at least equal to that of the dying vanguard. He noted that the enemy was attempting to cripple the ships and glared at the holotank when they launched boarding pods.

    "Captain, have security deploy across the ship. I want all vital areas fortified. Comms, make sure the rest of the fleet follows suit."

    The Clone in charge of Victoria confirmed he understood the orders and began implementing them.

    Half hour ¨C it took that long for Third Core Fleet''s vanguard to be taken out. The Separatists left ten frigates to look over the wrecks which were undoubtedly still contested, then dressed their ranks and faced the rest of the Republic Fleet.

    In contrast with the enemy''s opening move, there was little finesse in what followed. A dozen Munificents jumped at the edge of the minefields surrounding the inner defensive perimeter and shielding Dao''s fleet. They immediately launched three thousand Vultures that simply flew at the defenses. Those fighters were followed by a thousand strike craft.

    The Munificents died seconds after they launched the last of their broods and ten modified missiles meant to carry multiple seismic charges as replacement to their concussion warheads. Vultures burned by the hundreds as they ran afoul of mines and anti-fighter missiles. Half of the bombers followed suit before they could break through the outer layer of the minefields.

    Weapon platforms opened fire with their laser cannons and some launched proton torpedoes at slower targets. For a few minutes the night sky above Duro was lit up by thousands of short-lived stars. When the dust settled, there was a wide corridor carved through the minefields and most weapon platform in the are were wiped out. The Separatists casualties were total, yet those were losses they could afford.

    "Concentrate forward firepower on the breach! Launch bombers and have them cover it!" Dao ordered while the last Vultures were sacrificing themselves.

    He spoke just in time, because seconds later a whole battle group made a perilously short jump through hyperspace. Its leading elements let Duro''s gravity yank them back in real space and fifteen Munificents suddenly decelerated in front of the defenders. Four of them were dragged back out of hyperspace by intact interdictor mines and arrived in the middle of the intact portion of the minefields where they were blow apart before they knew what hit them. The other unlucky frigates died soon under the concentrated fire of the defenders.

    Yet all those escorts did their job ¨C they sacrificed themselves so more powerful and important ships could get into position practically unmolested. The remaining Munificents and the battleships they escorted launched their small craft ¨C all seven thousand of them and opened fire on the Republic forces. Half the Vultures went for the minefields and weapon platforms. Most of them died clearing them up the hard way. The rest of the small craft slammed headfirst into a storm of anti-fighter and capital ship fire along with more than twice their number of Torrents. The droid fighters died hard and did their jobs ¨C they kept the Republic bombers well away from the battleships which were so close that their Umbrellas couldn''t possibly intercept enough of the enemy small craft. By the time the defenders could break through the Vultures, the minefields were gutted and two more battle groups jumped in the cleared space. Their fighters swarmed forward and jumped the two bomber wings that somehow managed to approach the enemy.

    Half a squadron of Y-Wings actually survived long enough to execute their bombing run and they savaged the right flank of a battleship before a few hundred Vultures blew them out of space.

    Then the three Confederacy battle groups closed the range even further while unleashing every single weapon they possessed at the defenders.

    "Intensify forward firepower. Ignore enemy cripples and concentrate on disabling as many of them as possible!" Dao ordered. "Have the Duros sent all their remaining fighters to back our wings. Re-configure the Guardians to avalanche mode. Once our small craft have broken through, launch all remaining missiles at the enemy leading elements."

    This was the kind of battle the Republic admiral had been counting on. He hoped that the enemy would commit to an ?ssault, yet dreaded the prospect.

    By now the CIS had lost at lest twenty thousand fighters to clean the minefields, but they finally managed it and two more battle groups jumped into range ¨C one above and the other below Third Core fleet. Even when counting on the heavy defense around Duro, that was more firepower than Dao''s fleet could face and survive even before you took into account all the weapon platforms the enemy ship dragged into range.

    The Admiral smiled bleakly. He had the enemy where he wanted them.

    Thousands of missiles launched from weapon pods bolted on Jyvus Space City which floated just below the battlefield and at lest for the moment was protected by the planetary shield. At the same time the 2000 Torrents Dao had left along with a thousand Duros'' fighters threw themselves at the enemy on the heels of a thick swarm of anti-fighter missiles. The small craft added most of their remaining ordnance to the barrage, then approached to cannon range.

    The whole fleet and the Golans shifted their fire as appropriate and all that concentrated firepower managed to punch a hole in the enemy fighter screen. In just couple of minutes thousands of Vultures simply vanished under the onslaught. Even more of the droid fighters jumped to close the gap but it was too late. The Separatists Guardian knock-off did its best, however the range was too small and there were too many targets.

    The Republic and Duro pilots paid in blood to close to point blank range where they unleashed every single missile and torpedo they had left before going in guns blazing. They knew that there was no going back and many chose to seek an appropriate target to ram. Others dared the odds and continued to fight to the bitter end.

    Back in his Flagship''s CIC, Dao felt sick. He knew what he was doing when he ordered this stand. Knew the consequences when he sent his pilots on that suicide mission. And he knew if he had to do it again he would do so, because it worked.

    The three closest enemy battleships were crippled by the missiles that struck them despite the truly phenomenal amount of defensive firepower they could put in space. Those Lukrehulk fell out of formation and would soon be replaced by another battle group that was slowly approaching through real space.

    "Fire pattern Beta Five!" Dao ordered while the missiles launched by the city were still halfway to their targets. The defenders shifted their targeting priorities yet again and they trailed every weapon they could upon the Munificents escorting the battle group coming from below. A third of the frigates either died or were crippled before the missiles strike hit home. The enemy''s Umbrella took a large chunk of the huge salvo, however there was too much incoming ordnance to stop. With the battleships so close to the planet and lacking time to change vectors, they simply couldn''t escape by entering hyperspace.

    A thousand heavy concussion missiles struck just four Luckrehulks. They were all built in the huge factories even now toiling on Duro''s surface along with all the ECM and decoy birds that allowed them to reach their targets. Two of the battleships were relatively fortunate ¨C the warheads slammed into their outer rings that were mostly empty hangars and storage spaces for supplies. Their Cores survived practically intact and they were able to detach from the ruined cargo sections.

    The pair took at least a hundred missiles apiece at the spheres where their most important systems including the main reactors were located. While those sections were heavily armored, such firepower was more than they could take. The ships simply cracked and blew apart under the multiple missile strikes.

    Setting up the stage for such success didn''t come cheap for the Third Core Fleet. More than half its remaining ships were either destroyed or little more than drifting wrecks, with the rest suffering from various amounts of damage. Two of the Golans supporting them were silenced almost at the same time and a third soon stopped firing when it was swarmed by strike craft.

    Without any fighter support left, their magazines empty and their coverage compromised by battle damage, the Guardians were unable to stop the remaining Vultures from swarming the Republic fleet. Then the remaining battleship groups entered the fray to replace their lost brethren and the fate of Third Core Fleet was sealed.

    Victoria''sbridge was silent. The alarms were deliberately shut down. Most of the crew had gotten to the escape pods, while Dao had remained behind so he could keep commanding his fleet until the bitter end. Somehow despite all the enemy threw at them, the Republic forces held for twelve hours. Tugs had maneuvered the remaining Golans into range to provide support only to see them rammed by Munificents the hard way ¨C going sublight all the way and sacrificing frigates to make sure others hit their marks.

    The bitter smile that never left admiral Dao''s face ever since his vanguard was taken apart remained while his Flagship was pounded to scrap by a whole battleship division.

    =RK=

    CIC

    CIS dreadnought Conquest

    First Fondor Sector Fleet Flagship

    three light seconds from Duro

    Fleet Admiral Trench stared impassively at the wreckage that used to be a powerful Republic fleet. It was mixed with the remains of Duro''s inner defense ring along with those of too many good Confederate ships. The cost of this victory made him pause. If it wasn''t all part of the overall strategy, Trench would be raging at all the ships wasted here. Almost a third of his battle line was either gone or crippled. The same went for his Munificents and Vultures. Only the reserve was intact and that was because there was simply no good opportunity to deploy it. The battle-space had been terribly crammed even without adding those dreadnoughts.

    The Republic would believe that they have won a strategic victory here. That their admiral had crippled Trench''s fleet and forced it to spent the next two weeks consolidating and securing the nearby systems while repairs could be carried on.

    Such an ?ssumption would be mostly correct. Trench lost more than he feared while reducing Duro''s defenses. Yet it was a price that had to be paid. This planet had a strategic location. Even now, mere minutes after the battle was over, there were convoys en route from Fondor with replacement parts, supplies and the tools to turn this place into a fortress.

    The most important planet in the system was already under ?ssault with whole droid armies dropping to the surface and division landing in the floating cities. Element of the fleet were flying out to capture the industry in the outer and inner system while commando units were trying to take as much of the orbital shipyards intact as possible.

    It remained to be seen how much of the system''s industry could be taken before the enemy could destroy it. Something that might have been a smile passed over the admiral''s face. He had a call to make to the Duros leadership with an offer of conditional surrender. After that he had to keep the system secure in case of a Republic counter-attack until the third and final stage of the offensive was ready to be launched.

    =RK=

    Republic losses during the Assault on Duro: Third Core Fleet destroyed; Duro''s inner defenses ¨C destroyed; Outer defenses ¨C 4 Golans destroyed, 6 surrendered; 2 holding out;

    Confederate losses:

    1 Droid command ship destroyed; 1 crippled, 1 moderate damage; 1 light damage;

    5 Lukrehulk battleships destroyed; 3 crippled; 4 moderate damage; 6 light damage;

    98 Munificents destroyed; 11 crippled; 36 moderate damage; 24 light damage;

    38,000 Vultures destroyed; 6544 damaged;

    2783 Upgraded Vultures destroyed; 544 damaged;

 Chapter 73 - Interlude: How the Naboo crisis changed the galaxy

    =RK=

    "One of the most important events that set up the stage for the Clone Wars is often either overlooked or examined for the obvious consequences ¨C Sheev Palpatine being elected as the new Chancellor and the Trade Federation facing investigations along with heavy fines. While those events are undoubtedly important, others equally vital political and military changes are often dismissed, especially in the Core Worlds.

    That''s understandable. Most of the events we''ll be looking at happened on the Outer Rim or in the Colonies in the Expansion Region and to a much lesser extent in the Inner Rim. Most of those changes didn''t really affect the Core Worlds with Corellia and Fondor being two notable exception ¨C they would see a lot of business coming their way in the years leading to the formal formation of the CIS and the Clone Wars.

    When examining the facts logically, what happened isn''t a huge surprise to anyone. Or at least it shouldn''t be. The whole galaxy saw a Republic member world be invaded by a Mega Corporation that had a representative in the Senate in its own right. It watched as the Republic government was tied up in legalities and procedures. Instead of dispatching aid to their occupied member world, the Senate chose to begin an investigation, to create a committee to examine the situation.

    We all know the outcome ¨C Naboo wasn''t liberated by a Republic naval fleet. It had to fight on its own and only the aid of a pair of Jedi and a simply unreal amount of luck combined with a flaw in Trade Federation doctrine allowed them victory. The Senate acted only after the situation was resolved. Many believed that the consequences for the Trade Federation were little more than a slap on the wrist given the gravity of their actions. Yet that was enough to eventually drive them to become one of the founding members of the Confederacy.

    All of the above is public knowledge that can be easily found in the holonet. The consequences of those events are harder to trace so a person can built a complete picture for themselves.

    The galaxy saw the invasion of Naboo. Saw that peaceful world be abandoned by the Republic. It saw that only military action executed by the Naboo people led to their liberation...

    Thousands of systems concluded that the only way to guarantee their security was to either build up sufficiently powerful armed forces from scratch or to significantly upgrade and expand their existing ones. Soon the demand for military hardware outpaced the supply. Production all over the Mid and Outer Rim expanded and even Corellia and Fondor were contracted to build more ships...

    In ten years that military build up would see the worlds dis disillusioned with the Republic joining the expanding Confederacy one after another along with their military forces. Fondor which had become a huge arsenal supplying the colonies with all they needed would soon choose to become a part of the CIS and thus provide a large increase in industrial potential for the young alliance...

    The political implications of the Invasion of Naboo for the galaxy are in fact more important than the military ones. They in fact created an environment where the latter became all but inevitable. Arguably, it was the Republic''s impotency during the Naboo Crisis that made the creation of the CIS possible. It enabled the Confederacy''s unexpected growth. Thousands of systems joined the CIS after losing faith in the Republic''s ability and more importantly willingness to protect them, which has always been one of the large benefits of becoming a member world. That was especially true for the worlds one the Outer Rim where the economic benefits of being a part of the Republic were quite small in comparison to the benefits reaped by the Core and Inner Rim systems. The same environment if to a lesser extent existed in the Expansion Region..."

    Extract from "History of the Clone Wars, Volume I: The Calm before the storm"

    published by Anaxes'' military academy

    =RK=

    Phase 34: The Confederacy strikes back

    Part 6

    =RK=

    MandalorianMilitary HQ

    Location classified

    The place was so new that it still smelled of fresh paint, plastic and metal from recently installed equipment. There had been no time to put any decorations besides a flag with the symbol of Mandalore which covered one of the walls in the briefing room.

    The people who for all intents and purposes were the government were gathered inside discussing the impending Confederate attack and their readiness to receive it.

    "We have confirmation that a powerful Separatist force left Phindar thirty six hours ago. They should be here before noon tomorrow." Captain Trek informed the men in charge of Mandalore.

    "We''re as ready as we can be." General Skirata said. "The shield generators and power distribution network are a fortressesdefended by two Republic armored divisions, a Clone infantry division and First Army group. Second is spread among the major cities and industrial centers and backed up by every warrior on the planet not part of the army." The man running things in Mandalorian space while Mandalore was away reported.

    "We''ve got enough shelter for the civilian population to keep most of our people safe at every major population center. My people are confident that we''ve rooted out the majority of Death Watch true believers who are left. However we''re equally sure that the Confederacy still has at lest a few agents planet side they can contact for intelligence or simply buy. We''re working on finding them all and plugging up any leaks we can find."

    "The Protectors are back to seventy percent of authorized strength. With volunteers going primary to the army and navy, I''m not confident we''ll be able to do our job properly everywhere. I''ll might need to request aid from MP units in certain are depending on how things shape in the future." Ordo reported.

    "That covers the ground side affairs. Admiral Pellaeon?" Skirata asked.

    "My fleet is ready and the devices provided by general Veil are operational. I''ve chosen to ?ssume a defensive posture and depending on the enemy fleet composition and the effect the devices have on them I''ll either counter-attack or fall under the planetary shield."

    "While some people might disagree, we''re aware of the strategic situation. It will be six to eight months before our light naval units are complete and between twelve to sixteen for the capital ships, if you can keep the shipyards intact." Yomaget said. "With no Republic reinforcements expected for at least two to four months, we would be glad if you can keep your fleet intact and the orbitals reasonably secure until that changes, admiral Pellaeon."

    "That''s what I intent." Gilad nodded. "If that''s all, I need to get back to the fleet."

    "Victory and glory, admiral." Skirata said as goodbye.

    "Same to you boys and girls, general." Pellaeon saluted and headed to the hangars with captain Trek on his heels.

    When they left, the Mandalorians continued their discussions.

    "We''ll need to properly present the situation to our more volatile members." Bralor began. "Some of our warriors, especially those who came back, won''t like a defensive posture or the fact that we''re dependent on the Republic for a navy."

    "I don''t like it either even if they''ve been on the level so far." Ordo added.

    "While I agree, we can''t make ships appear from thin air. We''ll need the republic for at least the next two years." Yomaget shrugged.

    "How is incorporating the sector going?" Auwadasked. "We can use the additional manpower and industry."

    "The Duchess has been in talks with their Senators and ambassadors on Coruscant and we''ve sent delegations to the most important planets. Those with large Mandalorian population are pleased by our offer, however others don''t want to hear anything about falling under our influence."

    "What about our detractors at Coruscant? From what I hear, the Cathar are baying for our blood." Bralor inquired.

    "They''re a problem. Unfortunately Sylvaris actually has the full backing of her government. The last thing they want to see is us getting stronger." Horus answered. Dealing with diplomacy was a fourth hat he had to wear while that service was being restored after the attack and cleaned up from pacifists who might be against the resurgence of Mandalorian militarism.

    "That might get unpleasant. Sylvaris and her cronies already managed to slow down certain equipment and technological transfers for the army." Auwadgrumbled.

    "The same is true for industrial equipment to speed up our shipbuilding." Yomaget added. "I''m pretty sure Mandalore has plans for dealing with that nuisance, unfortunately for the time being he''s cut off from the centers of Republic power. "

    "At least he took care of Crimson." Skirata said. He had seen the uncensored reports from Atrisia, the GAR''s preliminary conclusions of how dangerous that thing was and his own theories aligned with them.

    There were a lot of quiet murmurs of agreement. The one thing that either pissed of some people or got Veil more support from others was the fact that he didn''t take a single proper Mandalorian warrior with him to deal with Crimson, which also meant that none were lost when the units sent to take out the planetary shields were sacrificed in the orbital bombardment.

    =RK=

    CIC

    Mandalorian cruiser Avenger

    High orbit above Mandalore

    When the Confederacy fleet arrived, Pellaeon and his people were waiting for them. Trek''s reports were right ¨C the enemy did bring a stronger force to eliminate Mandalore. While the enemy fleet that exited hyperspace fight light seconds from the planet was smaller than the one Grievous brought, this one had significantly more firepower thanks to the twelve kriffing battleships it brought.

    Gilad frowned. In a stand up fight he might be able to take out all the Munificents and about a third of the Luckehulks but that would see his fleet gutted. He simply would be unable to reduce the incoming enemy firepower fast enough to win.

    The admiral smiled coldly. It was too bad he wasn''t planning on a proper conventional battle.

    "Eight fleet, we''re going with Blue Two. Calculate hyperspace insertion coordinates and jump at my mark." Pellaeon ordered. "Captain, I hope for all our sakes that the Silencer works as advertised." Gilad whispered quiet enough that only Trek heard him.

    "Me too, sir. The plan is solid and it should come as a complete surprise. After all attacking the Separatists with the forces we have is going to play in their favor." The captain smirked. "Or so they''ll believe."

    Pellaeon nodded. He closed his eyes and ran some mental calculation. If he kriffed up his fleet might get either mauled or leave the enemy between them and the planet and thus let them land troop¡­ which when he thought about it wasn''t as big a problem as it would be at most other worlds.

    The admiral banked on the Silencer''s reveal and sheer shock impact to buy time and reduce the enemy numbers.

    "Calculations complete. The fleet is ready to jump."

    "Fire plan Beta Three. Ignore the battleships and concentrate on the enemy frigates." Pellaeon paused so his orders could be transmitted. "Execute."

    Now it was time to put the Silencer to the test.

    Part 7

    =RK=

    Bridge

    CIS Droid Command ship Murderous Intent

    Five light seconds from Mandalore

    TF-1726 was the droid in charge. He was the first of the of Confederate Super Tactical droids to receive a significant upgrade, which meant a more robust body, much fewer constrains upon his programming and significantly expanded processing capabilities. All that explained why he preferred to be called by his chosen name ¨C commander Kraken instead of the dull factory placed designation he wore.

    The Super Tactical droid had distinguishing himself by defeating the Republic forces at Quell shortly before the second battle for Geonosis. That victory earned Kraken the privilege of getting the upgrades first as well as a place in command of the fleet sent to remove the Mandalorian problem once and for all.

    TF-1726 took a long look at the sensor readings after his ship exited hyperspace and began crunching numbers. The result of any engagement should have been obvious ¨C the CIS battleships made all the difference and if commanded competently there was no way that he could lose. Math didn''t lie after all.

    As a consequence, Kraken was taken aback when the whole Republic fleet advanced until they were out of Mandalore''s gravity well before entering hyperspace. He had mere moments to ponder the strange enemy behavior before the hole Eight Fleet came back on his right flank.

    Kraken tilted its head to the side in exasperation. If the Republic commander wanted a battle in open space, he was ready to oblige them.

    "TF three, engage the enemy. All TFs launch fighters. TF one, move to flank. TF 2, move to encircle using a hyperspace jump." TF-1726 ordered.

    The enemy had a short lived advantage in numbers and firepower at the point of contact that resulted in six Munificents dying in a short order in exchange of a heavily damaged light cruiser and a pair of CR90s.

    The force Kraken personally commanded ¨C TF 1, moved past TF 3 to flank the enemy and already thousands of Vultures were flying towards the Republic fleet.

    The tactical plot flashed red and the Super Battle droid simply stared in incomprehension. Twenty seven Munificents simply vanished from the sensors. The system initially logged it as a glitch and began self diagnostic.

    "Report!" Kraken snapped.

    "The Republic deployed a new weapon. Multiple beams of red light came from two of their ships and we lost more than half of our frigates!" The Tactical droid in charge of TF 3 was beginning to panic.

    "Target those ships! Fire everything!" Kraken ordered. "Redline the engines, we need to enter range faster!"

    For two minutes Fifth fleet''s third Task Force threw itself against the Republic Eight fleet. They lost most of their remaining frigates in the process and the enemy was practically engulfed by a firestorm made of dying fighters. TF 1 was about to enter range when the Republic ships charged against the battle group they have been engaging since the beginning.

    Kraken had opened a feed to his ships optical sensors and he managed to see exactly what happened. TF 3''s remaining frigates vanished in massive explosions when crimson bolts came from the center of the enemy formation. Then one of the battleships was given the same treatment. The Luckehulks was protected by massive shields backed up by a lot of armor. Those defenses actually made a difference and the behemoth survived.

    However it was far from intact. Its shields were drained and pierced in multiple places which resulted in wrecked sensor clusters and weapon emplacements. The whole Fifth fleet flew past it while unleashing every gun that could bear upon the battleship. They didn''t stop either but continued to open the range and began vanishing in hyperspace the moment their hyperdrives recovered. Unfortunately none of Kraken''s ships could get into proper vectors to plot an intercept.

    The losses were appalling. Fifty Munificents destroyed, one battleship battered into a wreck and another with moderate damage along with more than ten thousand fighters lost ¨C a significant part before or while launching.

    The Fifth fleet managed to take out a single Venator, six light cruisers and twenty enemy frigates along with unknown number of Republic fighters. There were reports of damage inflicted upon the enemy capital ships, however Kraken wouldn''t know for sure until all the sensor logs could be examined.

    The Super Tactical droids forced its processors into overclock. At worst it had a few minutes to get its force into position to counter another Republic attack. At best that was it and the enemy was retreating, however such an outcome wasn''t something Kraken could count on.

    The problem was those two unknown weapons. They were too dangerous and had to be eliminated else the enemy would be able to pull another two or three such attacks before they lost too many ships. While Fifth fleet could survive such losses, it wasn''t something that Kraken found acceptable after his upgrades and updates. He needed the enemy to come to him and stand to fight.

    Solving that equation was simple.

    "All ships form up on TF 1 and execute a hyperspace insertion on the edge of Mandalore''s gravity well. All ground units prepare for deployment."

 Chapter 74 - The Confederacy strikes back [Finale]

    Part 8

    =RK=

    CIC

    Mandalorian cruiser Avenger

    20 light seconds from Mandalore

    "I need to know the status of the fleet!" Pellaeon ordered.

    "We''re working on it, sir. We''ve lost one Venator ¨C Offensive at Dawn.Six light cruisers and..." The staff lieutenant paused. "We''ve got only sixteen frigates on sensors. Twenty CR90 are presumed lost. Damage reports are still coming in..."

    "Those battleships made a number on us." Trek grumbled. "At point blank range..." The captain shook his head.

    "I want emergency repairs complete ASAP." The admiral ordered. "Give me a status update on the damage the fleet took when you have it, staff lieutenant. Comms, I want an update from Mandalore on what the clanker are doing. Sensors ¨C the same from both the fleet and the sensor platforms in the inner system. Captain, I need to know the status of the Silencers. Findlong can they continue firing at the current rate before something breaks."

    "I''ll talk with the engineers." Trek confirmed and went for his comm unit.

    Pellaeon turned away and called the sensor logs on the main holotank. He needed to re-examine the engagement so he could judge both how effective the Silencer was without being distracted by the rest of the battle.

    A minute later, Gilad was interrupted by a status update.

    "Admiral, the enemy fleet is firming up their formation and continuing towards Mandalore."

    "Keep me apprised of any changes. I want a continuous update of hyperspace insertion coordinates at the back of their formation. Turn the fleet on the appropriate vectors once the damage ?ssessment is complete." Pellaeon ordered and continued studying the engagement.

    Gilad''s initial impression appeared to be correct ¨C the Silencer was simply devastating against lightly protected targets like the Munificents. As his test suggested, it was useful to break even battleship defenses ¨C that stunt was the only thing that allowed Eight Fleet to cripple one of the Luckehulks in such a short engagement.

    Pellaeon slammed a fist in the armrest of his seat ¨C which conveniently lacked any electronics and was well padded for just such occasions. If he had just two more, perhaps three Silencers, Gilad was confident that he could have won. He was reasonably sure that he could still cripple the enemy fleet if he got lucky and one of the super weapons wasn''t taken out by the enemy any time soon. Once he knew the status of his fleet, he would be able to refine his plans and ?ssumptions. Perhaps if he could keep striking the edges of the enemy formation and getting away before they could properly concentrate their firepower¡­

    The admiral reset the recording and began examining it again. Splitting his force in two groups each centered around a Silencer might work, however with the way his fleet arrived ¨C in bits and pieces, Gilad knew that he would be unable to keep proper tactical command of both units. The fleet simply didn''t have enough time to train as a single unit so any particular clever maneuvers were simply out of the question.

    However, there were all those light ships brought by the Mandalorians waiting on the other side of the planet. He could use them. It was going to be very ugly, but it might just work.

    "Sir, I''ve got the status update. One moderately damaged Venator: Midnight Blade. Two lightly damaged: Praetorian and Coruscant Dawn. Two moderately damaged Acclamators: Lighting and Majestic. Three light cruisers in the same state and one reporting light damage. The CR90''s fared worse ¨C five moderately damaged and three lightly damaged. The captains need at least two hours to repair important systems easy to fix with shipboard resources." The flag lieutenant reported.

    "Tell them to carry on. We''ll be engaging the enemy in two hours. Get the onduty shift take hour and half of downtime ¨C the same goes for the captains." Pellaeon ordered after digesting the report.

    It was painful to hear, though not unexpected. There were consequences of engaging multiple battleships and their escorts at point blank range.

    "Fighter loses?" The admiral asked.

    "Still compiling them. Torrents were landing at the closest ships when we jumped. Preliminary estimates are a third of our fighter strength. Can be a bit better or worse."

    "Give me the numbers when you have them. Comms, I need a secure line with Skirata. Use a direct beam through the sensor platforms away from the enemy fleet."

    =RK=

    Staging Area 7-1

    Sundari City

    Mandalore

    "All units in the AO, he enemy fleet has broken through. Expect Separatist ?ssault within the next twenty minutes." Control''s voice came over the comms of the forces dug in and around the capital.

    Among them was a certain Commando unit attached to the only Force Adept on the planet.

    "You heard command. Lazy time''s over. Check your gear and get to the transports. We''ll be reinforcing any position that cannot hold!" Niner ordered.

    "You know, I almost pity the clankers." Dev chuckled before began checking his grenade launcher.

    "What gave you that idea?" Aria snorted. The Sith in training looked over the skyscraper roof where they were stationed. The place used to be a civilian landing pad converted for military use. It was quite large too ¨C it had more than enough space for ten LAATs and a unit of Basilisk war droids and it was all properly utilized.

    All of them were a part of the QRF to be dispatched once the primary enemy landing sites and likely targets could be established.

    "I want one of those." Aria wh?n?d while watching the five war droids stand up after their pilots got on board.

    "Isn''t your Master making them?" Fi asked. "Can you just ask for one?"

    "I did!" Aria grumbled. "The first production runs are promised to the Mandalorians. Perhaps I should ask my Master to adopt me in his Clan so I can get my hands on one faster?" The Chiss woman frowned.

    "I want one too! We can all pass for proper Mandalorians, right?" Atin asked.

    "Well, general Skirata and his people certainly did their best..." Fi stopped checking his sniper after voicing that thought. "I wonder if they have long range fire support variants"

    "Focus people. You can drool over the Basilisks after we''ve dealt with the clankers." Niner shook his head in exasperation. They were Commandos ¨C special operations. While those war-droids were nice, they weren''t exactly fitting with Omega''s job description.

    However that didn''t meant he didn''t want to get one for himself.

    "All units in the Sundari AO, be advised. The Separatist fleet executed a hyperspace insertion in high orbit. They''ve began launching landing craft and fighters..."

    "So it begins." Niner noted. "Get on board, we''ll be deploying soon." He pointed at the waiting transport.

    =RK=

    Sundari airspace

    Mandalore

    A year of war can be a long time when the leadership of of an army is willing to learn. Since the beginning of the conflict, the Confederacy had attacked thousands of worlds and successfully taken a lot of them. They had lost planets too. However until they experienced a change of leadership, there was no institutional drive to learn from their mistakes ¨C that was left to individual commanders; those who survived after kriffing up anyway.

    Yet the leadership was replaced. Both victories and defeats were examined. The enemy tactics too. Conclusions were made and finally the Confederate military as a whole began putting in practice the lessons it should have learned months earlier.

    Duro and Mandalore were among the first places where the Confederate army was able to demonstrate how they''ve changed. Of those two ?ssaults, the latter was undoubtedly the harder. First, the system wasn''t secure ¨C the majority of admiral Pellaeon''s fleet was still operational and presented moderate to high threat for the CIS navy in orbit. Second, Mandalore was one of the places in the galaxy which anyone reasonable would have thought twice before invading.

    The Confederate military did precisely that and they reached the conclusion that the changes in tactics and doctrine implemented across both the army and navy would be sufficient to at least secure a foothold on Mandalore with the forces given to TF-1726. It was at noon Sundari time when that belief was put to the test.

    The Siege of Mandalore began with ten thousand fighters diving through the planetary shield followed by fifteen hundred strike craft, thousands of ?ssault ships and hundreds of transport. A not insignificant percentage of those craft were disabled by the energy field protecting the planet. Nearly a fifth of the Vultures and a hundred and twenty seven of the strike craft malfunctioned and crashed. Almost twenty percent of the transports had to make emergency landing where they could with a lot of them hitting the ground at velocities even their droid crews couldn''t survive.

    Yet, the bulk of the invasion force made it through the first line of defense largely intact. Their first act on entering the atmosphere came from the large transports. They were outfitted with both jammers and missile pods. Suddenly the incoming contacts doubled thanks to Confederacy EW efforts. Thousands of missiles were launched to seek any active sensor platforms they could find. Some were attack birds, however the majority were sophisticated decoys.

    The defenders did their best. Things might have been different if Kraken hadn''t chosen to attack the region bombarded by general Grievous months ago. If the Republic had provided more material or financial support the defense network around the capital might have been better equipped to face the onslaught coming their way.

    The defenders extracted heavy price from the machines coming to invade their world anyway. However, it was a price that Kraken''s army could afford to pay. By the time the last transport hit the ground ¨C either landing on its own or shot down, two thirds of the Vultures were destroyed, yet the skies were clear from Mandalorian fighters. Only the surviving AA emplacements made sure that Confederate strike craft and ?ssault ships didn''t achieve a total aerial superiority.

    The majority of surviving Vultures pulled up to provide CAP and intercept any fighter or bomber flights attempting to enter the region. The ?ssault ships dived at the entrenched defenders on the heels of all remaining strike craft. Blaster fire and missiles crossed in the air seeking their targets. Whole squads were torn apart in their trenches. Unshielded bunkers were blown open by heavy fire. While destroyed ships rained from the sky, ?ssault transport dropped Commando units behind the Mandalorian lines. Some of them even survived to pull back to the closest Confederate staging grounds where engineers were busy setting up shield generators and AA of their own.

    One hour after the landings began, CIS tank columns backed by mechanized infantry and artillery struck the Mandalorian forward defenses around Sundari while Commando units were still doing their best to disrupt enemy enemy attempts to reinforce. At the same time rearmed ?ssault ships headed for the still existing breaches in the dome protecting the capital loaded with fresh droids.

    The Siege of Mandalore had began.

    =RK=

    CIC

    Mandalorian cruiser Avenger

    High orbit above Mandalore

    Doing it all in just couple of hours was a testament to the skills of general Skirata and Pellaeon''s own staffs. Without them, Gilad was sure that his brainstorm would have been impossible. In theory the plan was simple ¨C the Mandalorian light ships would divide in two equal groups, then use the planets gravity well to swing around and strike the Separatist flanks skimming just above the planetary shield. Just as they were getting into range, after the enemy would have time to detect them and react,Eight fleet would execute a hyperspace jump and engage the Separatists''center from below, shoot up as many of the Confederate shipsthey couldthen get out of range as fast as possible. After that, the survivors would regroup, check their status and plan how to make the enemy''s life miserable.

    It was simple in theory. Pulling it off in practice, especially when you consider that most of the Mandalorians crewing the light ships weren''t navy or even experienced ship-masters, much less trained to properly work together, was anything but. In reality, getting all those ships moving in the same direction at the same time was a feat by itself and all of Skirata''s people who made it possible by coordinating things from the ground deserved free drinks for as long as they wanted.

    When Pellaeon''s fleet returned to real space and began targeting the enemy, the admiral stared intently at the holotank and waited for an update. It took precious seconds for the sensors to process the raw data and feed it into the tactical display. The admiral frowned at what he saw. In the short time it took to give the order to jump and for the Eight Fleet to comply, the more or less ordered Mandalorian advance had fallen apart. Instead of hitting the Confederacy as two large groups, the light ships had spread out. It was unclear if it was just ship-masters seeking glory, their inexperience or simply some ships being unable to main the same speed and direction under the conditions they were flying in due to technical difficulties. It was probably a combination of those factors.

    It didn''t really matter. The leading ships were simply blown to pieces by the Munificents on the flanks,which began peeling off to meet the of fighters flew to intercept them too and each one of those was one less to go after Eight Fleet.

    The rest of the plan simply didn''t work. The Confederate commander refused to be baited and instead kept the formation intact with the exception of the frigates at the edge of its flanks. Even worse, the enemy had put a swarm of weapon platforms in front of its ships and they were covered by the fleet''s ECM and fighter patrols until Eight Fleet found them the hard way when they unleashed their proton torpedoes.

    Pellaeon''s leading elements staggered under dozens of hits. He lost most of his remaining frigates and three light cruisers before anyone knew what hit them. Locating and targeting the new threat took precious seconds in which the platforms continued to pour fire in his fleet. Even worse, the shift in priorities meant that more of the Vultures coming to swarm the fleet ware going to get through.

    However, none of that changed a thing as far as the heavy firepower of Eight Fleet was concerned. After all, fighters and weapon platforms were too small to be effectively targeted by either the turbo-laser cannons or the Silencer and those unleashed their fury upon the enemy as planned.

    Twenty five Munificents vanished when the super-weapon spoke. Even more shattered under the concentrated fire of Eight Fleet''s capital ships.

    For long seconds the Confederate fleet refused to respond. Then its guns spoke as one and they had just two targets ¨C Avenger and Vengeance. It was fortunate that Pellaeon had planned for such an outcome. The moment after the Silencers fired, the hangar doors above the weapons began to close and multiple ships maneuvered to interpose themselves between the cruisers carrying them and the enemy.

    Meanwhile the Mandalorians reached attack range. A third of their number died getting this far, yet they were finally able to respond. Makeshift weapons bolted to the rag tag fleet spoke in a ragged barrage and scores of concussion missiles and proton torpedoes flew at the Separatist fleet. They were followed by laser, rail-gun and the odd turbo-laser battery shooting for all they were worth.

    As if that wasn''t enough, warriors seeking either glory, redemption or both aimed their ships at the closest Confederate target, redlined the engines and overrode the safeties of their reactors.

    Only twenty one of the Mandalorian ships lived long enough to escape the gravity well and enter hyperspace. However their sacrifice wasn''t in vain. Ten frigates died under their fire or thanks to ramming attacks. Four more were damaged along with two battleships which were struck by kamikazes despite all the Umbrella could do to protect them.

    Things in the center were mixed bag. Before escaping in hyperspace, Eight Fleet managed to destroy forty six frigates, damage two more. More importantly they gutted another Lucrehulk.

    That victory came at a steep price. All escorts but a nearly crippled light cruiser and another moderately damaged were simply annihilated. Another Venator was lost along with an Acclamator. Most damning was Vengeance''sfate. After she utilized her Silencer for the second time and before it could be protecting by the closing hangar doors, a pair of Separatist strike craft slipped through everything Eight Fleet could throw their way. They unleashed their load out of proton torpedoes and followed them through in a suicide attack.

    Vengeance was crippled by energy feedback sent by the Silencer''s destruction. While most of the shunts meant to prevent such an event acted as advertised a handful failed and the resulting chain reaction scrammed the cruisers hypermatter reactor feeding the super-weapon with energy. Vengeance fell out of formation and Pellaeon was forced to abandon her or risk the annihilation of his remaining fleet.

    =RK=

    Siege of Mandalore, Naval losses so far:

    1. Republic Eight Fleet and Mandalorian volunteer forces:

    3 Venators lost: Vengeance, Offensive at Dawn and Midnight Blade; Coruscant dawn ¨C heavy damage; Avenger ¨C light damage;

    1 Acclamator lost ¨C Lighting; Majestic ¨C heavy damage; Echo ¨C moderate damage;

    9 light cruisers destroyed; 1 heavy, near crippling damage; 1 moderate damage;

    36 CR90 frigates;

    138 Mandalorian volunteer ships ¨C light freighters and corvettes;

    2. Fifth Confederacy fleet:

    2 Luckehulks wrecked; 1 moderate damage; 2 light damage;

    106 Munificents destroyed; 6 moderate to high damage;

    33,000 fighters lost ¨C naval and surface action;

    2596 strike craft lost ¨C naval and surface action;

    367 weapon platforms lost;

    =RK=

    Interlude: The liberation of Ryloth

    =RK=

    "Its still argued when the first stage of the Clone Wars ended. Some believe it was after the Confederacy Council executed a successful coup and radically changed the nature of the enemy facing the Republic. However, some believe that event to be the beginning of the conflict''s third stage ¨C a sentiment shared by the authors of this book.

    It is generally accepted by the Anaxes military academy that the first phase of the Clone Wars ended after the Raid on Coruscant. That event led to General Delkatar Veil becoming the commander of all combat forces in the Republic. Among his first acts was the tall order of restructuring GAR High Command after it was practically destroyed after an attack on their HQ.

    That period is notable for the overhaul of the military command structure that saw two third of the Jedi who were in practice running the war effort be either demoted or removed from command positions. Many exchanged the command of whole armies with that of battalions, companies or even platoons. Others were attached to Commando strike teams and not always put in charge. This change was one of the most visible and effective ones implemented by the general and his supporters¡­

    The first major operation carried by the Republic military under Veil''s command was the Liberation of Ryloth. Even today, the strategic feasibility liberating the Twi''lek homeworld is questioned, though even its biggest detractors agree that the Republic was bound to act by the political realities of the time not to mention the moral imperative to do something about the enslavement of a whole Republic world¡­

    It wasn''t before the battle was concluded and intelligence gathered on the ground examined, that it became clear that Ryloth had been conceivedas a trap by certain elements of the Confederate military. Whole droid armies along with significant numbers of heavy proton artillery capable of damaging Acclamator Assault ships in the atmosphere had been deployed by the Separatists. The Confederacy navy was present in strength too, along with a large contingent of ships under Hutt flag sent to collect the first batch of slaves promised to them by Wat Tambor ¨C the leader of the Techno Union. It wasn''t until years later before the particulars of the deal he cut with the Hutt became clear¡­

    The space battle above Ryloth was notable for two things. First was the successful implementation of novel and unorthodox tactics by general Veil, many of which became standard later in the conflict. The other change had equally strong impact ¨C the introduction of the first iteration of the Guardian system, which in less than a year would make the deployment of standard starfighters and bombers a losing proposition, however that stage wouldn''t be reached until after the third phase of the Clone Wars was concluded with the end of Operation Deep Strike aimed at¡­

    The ground component of the liberation was notable for number of reasons. The most notable among them is a major change in the ROEs employed by Republic forces when ?ssaulting a planet, though it wouldn''t be until moths later during Second Geonosis that the full effects would become obvious¡­ After the infantry ?ssault on CIS artillery positions protected from orbital bombardments by Ryloth citizens captured by the confederacy achieved moderate success, general Veil called Ion strike from the fleet in orbit. The bombardment was nominally successful ¨C it resulted in the destruction of the CIS proton artillery preventing the GAR landing in numbers. However it was carried out while the army units who failed to achieve their objectives were still in the affected area along with all the hostages at those separatist positions. Aftereffects from the massive energy released by the bombardment caused the death or severe injury of multiple civilians and GAR personnel including Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi¡­

    It was only during Second Geonosis that it became clear to everyone that the GAR no longer was restrained by fear of causing heavy collateral damage and civilian casualties when taking out military installations or such with dual use through orbital bombardment. While controversal, such tactics met universal approval among the Clone Army and more limited one among regular personnel. It is notable that any attempt of changing back the GAR ROEs to what they were before the Raid on Coruscant by elements within the Republic Senate were blocked by¡­

    The military and political consequences of the Liberation of Ryloth cannot be overstated. That victory represented one of the biggest setbacks for the Confederacy during the Second stage of the Clone Wars and its understandable why some historians note it as the beginning of that period of the conflict¡­

    One of the biggest effects of the GAR victory is often overlooked. Prior to Ryloth, the Confederate Droid armies were universally outfitted with switch off codes possessed by the highest ranking Separatists leaders. Thus the capture of Wat Tambor and his agreement to hand over his personal codes were vital for the liberation of Ryloth. Instead of fighting through massive droid armies, the GAR won by simply switching them out. It''s still unclear when the switch off codes were universally removed from the Confederate armies. What we know for certain is that shortly after the Confederate Council seized power, the CIS no longer produced droids which could be turned off with a mere signal. Undoubtedly that was one of the major event making possible the¡­

    Another major consequence of the Confederate defeat at Ryloth was that their military leadership at the time ¨C Count Dooku and General Grievous conceived a trap aimed at taking out general Veil and fully regaining the initiative. The details surrounding their decisions were lost during the Confederate Council coup, however we can infer their general intentions by examining the tactics employed by admiral Dua Ningo and General Grievous in space and Count Poggle the Lesser on the surface¡­

    The political consequences were equally if not more important. Until Ryloth the Republic has been on the defense and under siege all across the galaxy. There were questions in the Senate if the war could be won. Many systems were neutral to the point refusing to trade war related materials to the Republic. Further, even after the Raid on Coruscant and the bio-weapon attack on Naboo, there were voices supporting the Confederacy, out of fear if not because they agreed with the Separatist cause. After all, as far as anyone could see, the CIS was winning the war.

    Ryloth changed that perception and later Geonosis shattered it until Operations Deep Strike and Southern Star were launched as the two primary components of the biggest Confederate offensive since the war began. The most notable and direct consequence of the liberation and getting proof of the attempt to enslave the whole planet, combined with the outrage after Naboo, led to Corellia leaving their neutrality behind. While the Corellians didn''t formally became a part of the GAR, they allied themselves with the Republic for the duration of the conflict and put their considerable industrial and economic power on the armed forces disposal. In the short term, the addition of Corellian naval units to the war effort was actually more important. Corellian ships would play key roles during Second Geonosis, the Assault on Mandalore as well as Operations Southern Star and Deep Strike¡­"

    Extract from "History of the Clone Wars,

    Volume II: The road to total war"

    published by Anaxes'' military academy

 Chapter 75 - The Lost Fleet [1/2]

    Part 1

    Conference room

    Corellian Cruiser Freedom

    Western Sector Fleet Flagship

    Bespin

    When the enemy is on the offensive, then days could be an eternity. Its worse when you were out of contact and left wondering what the kriff was happening. With the whole Western quadrant cut off from access to the rest of the Republic and the holonet being jammed, there was not much that the commanders of the Sector Fleet units at Bespin could tell me besides the state of the enemy advance in the region.

    To my utter lack of surprise, the news were quite grim.

    "I''m honestly surprised you managed to pass through Cerea before the clanker could secure it, sir." Rear Admiral Vex said.

    He was the Clone in charge of all units at Bespin before my arrival to take command.

    "We made a good time." Holt agreed. "We left scouts behind at Lorta. They informed us that heavy enemy units entered the system four hours ago."

    "So we''ve got a day at best to get get your ships resupplied, general." Vex said after glancing at the map of the sector floating above the table we were all sitting at. "While Nothoiin is still held by the rest of the fleet, Dolla should be under ?ssault already and the clankers should have dispatched a force to Gerrenthum to finish encircling our forces there."

    "You mentioned a good news, admiral?" I asked. The positioning of both enemy and friendly forces was quite interesting¡­

    "It''s Eridau, sir." The Clone smiled. "While some of us had reservations about getting a newly promoted rear admiral in charge of the whole Sector Fleet, he proved us wrong, sir. Admiral Tenant is still holding Eridau itself along with its moon, however the outer and inner system are under enemy control. His last transmission indicates that at least a third of a Separatist Sector Fleet along with the Confederacy''s Second Fleet were ?ssaulting his position. He''s determined to hold them off for as long as possible."

    "If our intelligence is correct and the information you provided seems to indicate that''s the case, we can expect almost half a Sector Fleet to converge on Gerrenthum in the next forty eight hours."

    "That''s correct, sir. While the enemy has left light forces to cover the hyperlane junctions and bottle up any important planets we''re holding, my staff estimates that approximately half the total Separatist forces ?ssaulting the quadrant are converging on Gerrenthum." Vex confirmed.

    "How reliable are the locals there? What forces do they possess?" Holt asked.

    "A decent sized defense navy and some fortifications, ma''am. We''re talking about the this sector''s capital world. As for reliability¡­" Vex shrugged. "I can''t say for sure."

    "I would have preferredmore time, admiral Vex." At least a week. Two would be better, however that was wishful thinking. "The Freedom has some good simulators. I want all captains on board in the next three hours. We''ll be practicing fleet operations until the resupply is done. We''ll leave for Gerrenthum late so we can be there after the bulk of the enemy forces arrives. Have a messenger sent to Nothoiin. I want the rest of the fleet to join us there. The Separatists believe that they can take this sector on the cheap and then sent the bulk of their forces to more strategically important locations. We''re going to prove them wrong. We''ll destroy as many of their fleet at Gerrenthum, then move to Eridau crushing anything standing in our way before kicking the enemy from that system too."

    Vex looked at the map and smiled coldly.

    While it was true that the local Sector Fleet simply lacked the numbers and firepower to meet everything the CIS was throwing their way, especially when their new love for ramming tactics were taken into account, the forces I brought were heavy on capital ships and the Freedom herself was powerful enough to crush a fleet by herself. My original plan was to resupply and get out of here as fast as possible. The fact that Tenant was still holding Eriadu and thus tying up a lot of enemy forces changed things. That his orders led to a full half of his original command waiting for me intact ¨C that altered the strategic situation significantly. Even with half a Sector Fleet coming to the Gerrenthum, we were going to have a solid firepower if not numerical advantage.

    =RK=

    Jedi Master Shaak Ti''s quarters

    Kamino

    "This is the situation, Master Ti." Master Rancisis finished explaining everything that had happened on Coruscant.

    He had arrived mere hours before the Confederacy launched their offensive and practically cut off Kamino from the Republic. The reinforcements he brought were going to be vital for holding the system once the enemy broke though the fleets defending the hyperlanes leading to Kamino.

    However, the news Rancisis waited almost two weeks to share made Ti on edge. It didn''t take her long to figure out why did he wait. Right now, the only way to contact Coruscant wast a single powerful transmitter that had enough range to reach the Core even with the holonet jammed and the place was under guard by a Cathar contingent brought by Master Rancisis. While welcomed, their presence has been a surprise for the Togruta; one that her fellow Council Member finally decided to dispel.

    The Jedi were planning a coup and she had been instrumental in persuading some of them that it was going to be necessary. Honestly, Ti wasn''t sure what to think about that. While she was convinced that Veil was up to no good and was using the Republic as he used her, the Jedi Master had qualms with what the Council planned to do.

    Ti had been equally shocked and resigned when she heard of the way Master Tiin''s address to the Senate went. It made her think what led to such an outcome. She watched a recording of the debates multiple times and reached some unsettling conclusions. Speaking with some of the Clones, who were simply put furious with her made other things clear.

    The Jedi were failing in their duties to the people of the Republic. Oh, Ti knew that the Sith had a hand in shaping the public perception, making the Jedi''s failing appear worse than they really were ¨C something that made her even more furious with Veil.

    "Please repeat that. I want to be sure I''ve understood the Council''s instructions correctly." Shaak Ti sighed and looked at Rancisis through narrowed eyes.

    "We expect that Veil will head to Kamino if we still hold this system after he fight his way through the Separatists in the Western Quadrant. When he arrives his forces will be depleted and he would likely be exhausted after utilizing Battle Meditation as often as he needs to. Once he arrives, you''re to request a meeting so you can apologize for the troubles you''ve caused him. One in person here in Tipoca city. When he lands we''ll engage him along with the forces I''ve brought." Rancisis explained.

    Even if they somehow managed to take Veil out, the army wasn''t going to just accept such a betrayal. If there was one thing she was sure of, that was it. Win or lose, the Council''s orders were a suicide.

    "I see." Shaak Ti whispered. By the Force, how things got so bad?!

    "I trust you''ll do what''s required of you, Master Ti?" Rancisis asked.

    "I''ll do my duty." Ti nodded. She told him the truth too.

    Shaak Ti just needed to figure out what her duty was and to whom.

    =RK=

    AN: Map of the situation in the Western Quadrant:

    {ibb} {.co} {/cpGRMv}

    =RK=

    Flag bridge

    Corellian cruiser Freedom

    Gerrenthum system

    A day of simulating training and a few hours of contingency planning for the battle we expected to fight were very far from enough to consider my new command to be combat ready. Simply throwing two fleets which hadn''t trained for weeks into a single unit and expecting them to excel was folly ¨C one I was forced to use anyway.

    That''s why the "plan" we decided on was basic. We weren''t going to use a combined fleet from the start. Vex''s command was going to strike the Confederate forces coming from Isde Naha while my own fleet was going to deal with the enemy contingent arriving from Jiroch. Whichever group took care of their clankers first would ?ssist the other. Once the system was secure we would commence repairs, have a chat with the locals and decide what our next course of action would be. Ideally we might even be able to jump the force coming from Lorta, though that was mostly wishful thinking. Once they learned of our victory ¨C and wasn''t that a bit of wishful thinking too, those Separatists would be pulling back the way they came if they knew what was good for them.

    "The simulations were useful for something at least." Joanna hummed.

    The tactical display hovering in front of us was updating and the combined fleet was more or less where it was supposed to be. Mostly less to be honest. I wasn''t going to be pulling anything requiring too much precision with this force for the foreseeable future. It was a good thing that with the Freedom here, good old fashioned brute force was going to work splendidly.

    "Yes." I nodded. "We don''t need to spend too long straightening up our formations." To be fair, both fleets ¨C mine and Vex''s were individually deployed rather well after exiting hyperspace. The discrepancies could be seen only when comparing the rough positions of the two forces with what they should have been.

    "Sir, we''re getting a feed from the scouts." Holt''s aide said. He along with Piett was acting as a third of our staff after Atrisia.

    "We''re inputting the sensor data now." My own aide added.

    The plot shifted again. There was a lot of traffic in system, though most of it was busy scattering. Two large blobs of red symbols were advancing towards Gerrenthum after prudently jumping on the north and south edges of the system. There were flashing dots spreading in front of the enemy forces designating scouts searching for trouble.

    There were at least a hundred ships ¨C a third of them cruisers near the sector capital. They were in formation along with a lot of smaller unidentifiedcontacts. It was a decent sized force, however each of the Separatists task forces coming at them had more than enough ships and firepower to take them on and win.

    "The plan''s a go. Admiral Vex, you''re taking on the southern force. We''ll deal with their friends up north. Admiral Holt, we''re going to test what we trained for while waiting for Crimson to raise its ugly head. You have tactical control of TF 1. I''m moving my flag to the Remembrance and taking control of TF 2. Have the insertion calculations ready by the time I arrive." I ordered. "Piett, you''re with me."

    "Aye, sir!" My aide jumped to follow me.

    "May the Force serve you well in the battle to come, admiral Holt." I nodded at the Corellian woman and headed to the nearest hangar.

    Finding both enemy forces in system and approaching the capital cautiously was less than ideal. We waited a bit longer before heading this way hoping that they would be deeper in the system ¨C preferably engaging the locals when we arrived, though we could work with this too. It just meant that the enemy had better odds at salvaging more of its forces.

    =RK=

    CIC

    Mandalorian cruiser "Remembrance"

    While Vex''s fleet wasn''t ready to execute any complicated tactical move along with my own forces, I actually had some time to drill my fleet before heading for Atrisia. While the hit the chain of command took thanks to Crimson was very bad, I had the captains gathered on the Freedom for most of our time in the Unknown Regions and we got busy in the simulators.

    It paid off.

    The fleet divided in two groups centered around the Freedom and my Silencer equipped cruiser before jumping at the northern force. We emerged at the enemy''s flanks and began moving in opposite directions. Thanks to having the Freedom, Holt''s TF 1 was heading towards the enemy''s front, where they could concentrate most of their firepower, while my own TF 2 was going to sling along wrecking everything in range before turning to hit the Confederate formation from behind. If we had more of the senior command staff from before Atrisia, I would have had two more task forces hitting the enemy from above and below.

    "Captain, fire at will. Concentrate on their light ships. Beware ramming attempts. Launch fighters and keep them as CAP." I ordered.

    The Remembrance was commanded by one of the Clones under Trek he recommended before leaving to get the next two Silencer equipped cruisers to Pellaeon at Mandalore before we headed for Atrisia. His name was Kilo and from what I saw during the simulations, he had a decent head for tactics on his shoulder even if he lacked experience.

    "Silencer is charged!" Piett announced from his station behind me.

    "Fire once you have the maximum number of targets locked in." I smiled. It''s been too long since I''ve seen that weapon deployed.

    To their credit, whoever was in charge of the Confederate fleet reacted fast. The first salvos just went in when the CIS fleet accelerated in attempt to get away from the killing ground formed between my two task forces. Unfortunately for them, Holt was accelerating parallel to their course and unleashing hell upon them as she overtook the enemy formation.

    "Targets locked in, firing!" Piett exclaimed.

    Twelve intact Munificents vanished from the tactical display.

    "Keep the Silencer covered while it recharges." I advised. "Have the TF move ten degrees to starboard, five degrees down." I added after watching the enemy react.

    Swarms of Vultures were already launching and attempting to close with us. Fortunately the enemy didn''t wait until they were all out and threw them in on big group. Instead they came piecemeal and most of them were devoured by the Guardian, CAP and our own frigates which were all concentrated on the starboard side of my formation. That enemy action was understandable ¨C they were losing a lot of Munificents fast and if they didn''t get their Vultures off ASAP and sent our way, they were going to get blown up for no gain. This way, the droid fighters were going to at least cost us some of our own and at least soften up if not take out some frigates too.

    Needless to say, the enemy wasn''t faring particularly good, especially on their other flank. The Freedom could unleash half her weapon at anything coming into range and only the battleships could survive such concentrated firepower for more than a few seconds. The Munificents that ran afoul of the Corellian ship simply blew up after the first salvo that made contact with them. Even better, for the first couple of minutes, the Freedom drew the fire of everything that could target her and her shields didn''t even waver. Before the Confederate commander could comprehend what was happening over there and change targeting priorities, that whole flank was being systematically shattered and Holt wasn''t going to give them a chance to reform.

    Things on my end weren''t going as well, which was as expected. While my TF 2 was actually larger, even with the silencer we had at most a third of the firepower Joanna could throw at the enemy. The Freedom made that much of a difference.

    "Good work weapons. Now target that Munificent division trying to pull up." The captain ordered.

    "The Silencer is almost charged, captain." Piett reported.

    "Get us five more degrees to the starboard and target that battleship. Have our division concentrate fire on it after the Silencer hits it. Once it''s disabled, continue targeting the Munificents." Kilo ordered.

    It was a good call. We were almost past the enemy formation and that Lucrehulk was one of the last things that might slow us down while we completed our turn and could take the CIS fleet from behind.

    I called both sensor and optical feed in front of me to watch how the Silencer was going to perform against a battleship. It already proved itself against the Munificents and it was going to be a great tool in neutralizing the numerical advantage the enemy usually enjoyed. If it was reasonably effective against modern battle wagons too, it was going to be even better.

    "Weapon clear. Target locked. Firing!" Piett announced.

    Ten crimson beams flashed from the hangar bay and struck the Lucrehulk at the same time. For a brief moment its shield blazed as it struggled to stop the incoming firepower, then it failed at the points of contact and the diminished energy lances struck the ship itself. Armor simply detonated and took everything around with itself. While the battleship was still operational and the damage it suffered was concentrated in the areas struck by the Silencer, its shields were depleted. The first salvo that hit it afterward popped them. The next slammed in the exposed hull as my ships began dismantling the Lucrehulk. Yet even as it was dying, it spat back its defiance. A CR90 was unfortunate enough to run straight into the return fire and simply vanished and it was soon followed by a light cruiser that broke in two after mere seconds of bombardment.

    Meanwhile the enemy Vultures had concentrated their remaining numbers and the CIS commander chose to throw them all at the Freedom in a last ditch attempt to cripple her. Despite everything Holt managed to throw their way, the range was too low and the droid fighters managed to break through. Those that lived long enough to do so might have been enough to cripple a smaller, more lightly armored ship. However the Freedom had been built to survive a tremendous amount of punishment even after her shields failed. All the Vultures could achieve was to disable some sensor clusters and weapon emplacements and with a single notable exception all of those were either secondary guns or Guardian clusters.

    The Remembrance''s division finished off the Lucrehulk it was targeting and my TF was completing its turn when the Confederate commander had enough. The enemy fleet broke and dispersed with ships fleeing in hyperspace as fast as they could.

    "Limited pursuit is authorized. Concentrate on disabling enemy hyperdrives! The moment they are all gone, resume offensive formation and have nav coordinates locked to admiral Vex''s force!" I ordered.

    Seeing the enemy force simply break was beautiful. To be honest, it wasn''t something I expected by a Confederacy force. Given the expendable nature of their crews and lighter ships, they were usually content with accepting losses that would shatter the morale of a traditional navy. To a lesser extent the same was true for the Clone crewed and commanded units of the GAR. In the right circumstances such a trait could be a great boon. However it sometimes led to losses that could be otherwise avoided.

    =RK=

    CIC

    Republic cruiser For Honor

    Three light hours from Gerrenthum

    Admiral Vex didn''t attempt anything fancy. While the enemy outnumbered his forces, he was most certainly not outgunned and the fleet units from Nothoiin should be arriving shortly. That''s why he chose to meet the enemy head on. He was going to concentrate their attention on his fleet and when the time came close in to deny them an easy escape in hyperspace.

    Vex ordered all fighters and bombers launched after his fleet reverted back to real space and ordered the later to move to the back of the fleet. He was going to keep them in reserve until the enemy force was broken and tried to flee. The Torrents on the other hand were going to aid the frigates and Guardians in fending off the Separatists Vultures.

    "We''ve got targeting solutions across the fleet!" One of the Clones making up the admiral''s staff reported.

    "Fire at will. The targeting priority stands." Vex ordered.

    Blue and red turbo-laser bolts crisis-crossedthrough space and ships began dying. The escorts took the brunt of the casualties during the initial engagement. CR90 and light cruisers were dying almost as fast as the enemy was losing Munificents. Tens of thousands of Vultures threw themselves against Vex''s fleet and were met by Torrents with missile and laser fire after the Guardian missiles softened them up. Whole squadrons of droid fighters were vanishing as they raced through the distance between the fleets. Then they slammed into a wall of fire when the CR90''s and the Guardians began engaging them with their AA guns. Some broke through only to be jumped on by Torrents left in reserve.

    To Vex it looked like someone was launching fireworks around his leading ships as hundreds of fighters dueled while shot at by the Guardian. The admiral felt relief when the Vultures failed to do more than lightly damage a pair of Venators and a single Acclamator before being mopped up. One of his fears was that the clankers had found a way to negate the Guardian in which case the huge number of droid fighters they had could have been decisive.

    With the Vulture threat handled, Vex could concentrate all his attention on the fleet engagement. The enemy had decided that they were losing too many Munificents and the frigates were peeling off to go to the flanks and their battle line was advancing. Now things were going to get really ugly as more and more battleships were getting into effective range.

    "Begin targeting the Lucrehulks. I want multiple cruiser and ?ssault ship divisions to concentrate fire on a single battleship." Vex ordered.

    Enough firepower to shatter continents was concentrated on single capital ships. It was slow and hard, yet they began to die. Acclamators were turned into floating coffins. Venators began falling out of formation if lucky or simply shattering when two or more Lucrehulks concentrated on them. The battleships didn''t go unscratched either. One after another they began to lose shields and were wracked by the Republic''s furious response.

    Suddenly the enemy formation broke. Their remaining Munificents charged Vex''s fleet at ramming vectors, while the battleships went to go around his fleet.

    "Admiral, general Veil has defeated the enemy northern force and will be arriving to ?ssist us in two minutes!" A staff member announced.

    "That explains it. Begin independent maneuvering. Escorts, keep those Munificents off our backs. The fleet is to disperse and block those battleships from escaping!" Vex ordered.

    For the next few minutes the battle turned into chaotic melee as the enemy fleet attempted to disengage. There were no formations, just pure chaos as the two forces continued to tear each other apart. Veil''s arrival should have broken the enemy, however the Republic''s luck ran out. A minute after the general engaged the southern force and began reducing it in earnest, the Confederate fleet from Lutrillia arrived and joined the melee.

    The chaos grew further when the forces from Nothoiin finally arrived and the locals decided to head for the giant fur-ball too. All Vex could to at that moment was to watch and pray. There was no commanding such madness.

    Suddenly things changed. The very idea that the Republic could lose the battle vanished from Vex''s mind. He knew that victory was at hand. Knew what his ships were about to do even if proper communication was all but impossible thanks to the jamming and ECM thrown around by everyone. All he had to to was command the few ships close enough for comms to work, because he was somehow aware what everyone else in the Republic fleet in the system was doing.

    It was time to end this madness.

    "Turn us twenty degrees to port. Half speed. Concentrate fire to the starboard..." Vex began issuing orders in earnest.

    The Republic was going to win. He was certain of it.

    =RK=

    Part 3

    Flag bridge

    Corellian cruiser Freedom

    High orbit above Gerrenthum

    "The final tally is up along with our best estimate of enemy losses." Piett came next to the chair where I was vegetating after using Battle Meditation before getting the chance to fully recover after Atrisia. Only a ???ktail of stimulants and alchemy produced concoctions kept my head more or less in the game ¨C something that was necessary. In less than an hour representatives from Gerrenthum would be getting on board to discuss the aftermath of the battle and I needed my head straight for that talk.

    "Tell me. Our losses first." I ordered.

    Piett looked at the data pad in his hands and nodded grimly.

    "We lost eleven Venators, with sixteen more suffering various degree of damage. At least four won''t be able to keep up with the fleet. Perhaps two more ¨C damage ?ssessment is still underway there." My aide began listing the bad news.

    To think that the battle began so well, before my luck finally ran out¡­

    "The ?ssault ship losses are even worse ¨C seventeen Acclamators are confirmed destroyed. Two more are little more than wrecks for the breaking yards, with six damaged. Another pair will need an extensive stay in a shipyard before they could be considered combat capable." Piett continued. His tone reflected his thought on our victory ¨C it was better than getting killed by the Separatists, but that was all you could say about it.

    If it wasn''t for my gamble with the Battle Meditation when it became clear we were losing, this battle could have seen my entire command annihilated. Only the Freedom and a few lucky ships might have made it out of the melee considering how many of the enemy frigates and destroyers went on suicide runs when everyone lost control of the engagement.

    "The heavy cruisers got gutted, sir. Six lost, one is a wreck and another got its engines torn out by a ramming attack." The "good" news continued to come.

    The only good thing after this debacle was that the Confederacy had only one remaining Task Force that could engage us anytime soon. It should be arriving at Nothoiin soon and I had dispatched scouts to keep an eye on them and apprise me of numbers and force composition. Even with my fleet mauled we should have more than enough forces to crush that bunch ¨C the Freedom by herself should be able to do so comfortably.

    "Our escorts took the brunt of the casualties." Piett grunted. "Eighteen light cruisers, twenty four Consular frigates and fifty nine of the CR90''s are destroyed. While most of the remaining frigates are combat capable, the preliminary estimates are that at least ten of the light cruisers won''t be able to leave the system without extensive repairs." Piett concluded.

    "What do we have left that can get under way in the next twenty four to forty eight hours?" I asked.

    Piett turned his attention to the data pad he was holding and began typing commands.

    If we wasted too long here, Eriadu could fall and if that happened, the Confederacy would be able to concentrate their remaining forces in the nearby sectors against us. We needed to relieve that planet and make sure we wouldn''t be intercepted by superior forces before I would be able to use Battle Meditation again. It was another question how well I would be able to handle the technique without a few weeks, perhaps a month of recovery time.

    "This is my best guess, sir." Piett handed me the data pad.

    1 Corellian cruiser ¨C Freedom, lightly damaged;

    10 Venators, including 1 Silencer equipped; /3 lightlyto moderately damaged

    12 Acclamators; /4 lightlyto moderately damaged/

    2 Dreadnought heavy cruisers; /1 moderately damaged/

    9 light cruisers; /5 lightly damaged/

    11 Consular frigates; /3 lightly damaged/

    15 CR90 frigates; /2 lightly damaged/

    I was left with a quite powerful fleet even without counting the Freedom or the Silencer, however it was a pale shadow compared to the forces I had before engaging the enemy. Speaking about the Separatist bastards¡­ I browsed the data on the pad until I found the estimates.

    300 Munificent frigates;

    144 Recusant light destroyers

    22 Luckrehulk battleships;

    71,000 fighters;

    If true, I had just won a great victory¡­ and the only reasons why my whole command hadn''t been wiped out were the Battle Meditation and the incredible firepower and defenses on the Corellian cruiser. I wouldn''t be able to rely on the former for the time being. Even worse, with the loss of so many ships, the chain of command was in tatters and what remained of the fleet would be less effective now that I would be unable to cheat. I needed to discuss our situation with both Joanna and Vex, though unless there was something I hadn''t considered, our best course of action was simple ¨C we simply had to relieve Eriadu and hope that some of the forces there were still reasonably intact. Otherwise fighting my way to Kamino might turn out to be a pipe dream.

    "Good job, Piett. Go make sure that the ships in best condition receive priority on supplies and parts for the repairs. We''ll be leaving in two days at the latest. I want a confirmation on what portion of the fleet will be combat capable and able to keep up at flank speed, both in hyper andreal space."

    "I''ll make sure of it, sir!" My aide saluted and left after I handed him back the data pad.

    Now I had to finish preparing to meet the locals.

    =RK=

    Joanna got back from her inspection on the Freedom a few minutes before our visitors arrived and crashed in a seat next to mine. While she had done a great deal of progress, Holt was far from being at hundred percent after Atrisia.

    "We''ll be ten percent down in combat capability until we can get back to Corellia and the shield systems are damaged. Twelve to fifteen percent below maximum until the engineers could overhaul some of the components. We''ll need at least a week or more of safety for that. Guardian effectiveness is down thirty percent due to destroyed weapon emplacements and sensor clusters. We can bring it back to ninety with the spares on board." Joanna grumbled. She was obviously pissed off that her ship had taken such damage, no matter that any lesser spacecraft would have been gutted by such amount of punishment.

    I wisely didn''t say aloud that all things considered we got off lightly.

    "Did you go over the dossiers of our guests?" Joanna asked after a short silence. Her tone told me all I needed to know about her feeling as far as the locals were concerned.

    "Yes. There isn''t much we have in our database ¨C most came from Vex''s ship. All we got was names and job description." I answered.

    "Not much to go on. They didn''t aid us until it became clear we were going to win." Holt grumbled.

    "True. At least they saved a few of our ships." While my battered force could take on the locals ¨C thanks to the Freedom, any further engagements here weren''t going to gain us anything. I needed them as either reluctant allies or neutrals willing to take Republic credits at worse. Otherwise I might be forced to write off most of my damaged ships and reduce the locals naval presence in order to keep them from aiding the enemy.

    The situation was less than ideal.

    "Many more were crippled or destroyed because they didn''t come to our aid when we really needed them." Holt growled.

    "I''m less than pleased, Joanna. You can trust me about that." If I had my way, I would see the locals paying for what was at the very least gross incompetence and at worst treason. While I wasn''t going to get what I wanted, I would be content with receiving what my fleet needed right now. Properly dealing with the Gerrenthum government could wait until the war was resolved. "Getting into another fight right now won''t serve our interests, no matter how much certain parties deserve to be turned into space dust."

    Holt nodded stiffly and glared at the door.

    =RK=

    Part 4

    Flag Bridge

    Corellian cruiser Freedom

    High orbit above Gerrenthum

    For what little it was worth it, the dossiers were correct. The two visitors led in by a CorSec escort were splitting images of the pictures we had in our database.

    "General Veil, admiral Holt, welcome to Gerrenthum. I wish we met under better circumstances." An aging man wearing the light blue uniform of the local navy greeted us. "I''m admiral Neo Lind, commander of the Gerrenthum Naval Forces." He introduced himself.

    Lind was a human with short graying hair and piercing brown eyes. He had beard that reminded me of Kenobi''s, though the admiral''s was shorter.

    Next to him stood a tall middle aged woman. She gave us a small formal bow and a smile that didn''t touch her eyes.

    "The Figg Consortium welcomes you to Gerrenthum. I''m the CEO, Marisa Figg."

    The image in our files obviously failed to capture the woman''s presence. While she had striking features ¨C tall cheekbones, a face that was a product of either great genetics or a plastic surgeon, probably both, what got my attention it was the air she carried around her. The man was a predator accustomed to getting what she wanted by any means necessary.

    Her presence here told me a lot ¨C instead of a diplomat or another high ranking member of the government, it was the CEO of one of the biggest corporationson the planet who came to represent Gerrenthum''s civilian leadership.

    "Admiral Lind, miss Figg." I kept my voice bland, disinterested. "You will provide basing, supplies and repair facilities for my damaged ships as well as resupply for the rest of my fleet. I''ll be taking a third of your battle line along with appropriate escorts to relieve Eriadu. You''ll be suitably compensated by the Republic treasury for your troubles."

    "Resupplying your fleet and aiding in its repair won''t be an issue. However, given the unsure times we live in, waiting for payment from the Senate won''t be acceptable." Figg''s smile never wavered. "For all we know, the funds to cover our expenses might not be available considering what is happening in the Core."

    "I''m afraid that we''ll need every ship we have to protect Gerrenthum, general." Lind managed to look quite apologetic. "Considering the number of Separatist forces that ?ssaulted this system mere hours ago..." The admiral gasped for breath when I focused my will through the force and constricted his airways.

    "Are you two along with your government under the impression that this is a negotiation?" I made sure my voice sounded amused. "Gerrenthum is a Republic world. When two Republic fleets engaged superior Separatist forces coming in to conquer your planet, your fleet declined to offer any support until it was clear who was going to emerge victorious." The amusement in my voice was replaced by ice. "Your only saving grace is that you chose not to openly side with the Separatist, admiral Lind. Otherwise, right now my forces would be making sure that Gerrenthum would be unable to provide any support for the enemies of the Republic." I let my grip on the man''s throat go.

    Even such a small thing set my nerves on fire, though I managed to keep my neutral expression in place.

    "You won''t get away with..." The man bristled.

    "Spare me. You''re obviously put up to take all the blame, admiral. When my report of the battle gets back to Coruscant, the Senate will want someone''s head for the failure of the Gerrenthum''s navy to engage the enemy before the battle was won. I can ?ssure you, GAR High Command will want the same. Have a half of your fleet ready to depart in thirty six hours, admiral Lind. You''ll be leading them. If you distinguish yourself at Eriadu, you might even save yourself from taking all the blame. Dismissed." I looked at the CEO, who kept an unwavering mask in place, yet I could sense she was disturbed by my actions.

    Lind glared at me, however he gave us a stiff salute before turning around and marching out of the compartment.

    "Are you going to dictate terms to our government and corporations too, general?" Figg asked. Her voice held a trace of amusement and was otherwise calm in direct contrast with the emotions coming from her. There was a bit of fear, a lot of anticipation and not a little anger and indignation that I could sense.

    "It can be arranged. If you decline to deal with the Senate''s treasury, I''ll have to simply requisition what my fleet needs." I said.

    "Doing so will earn you and the Republic a lot of enemies not only on Gerrenthum but in this whole sector." Figg countered.

    "So far you''ve proven yourselves anything but friends to the Republic. Sooner than later, there would no longer be place for such¡­ indecisiveness in this war. My bet is on sooner."

    "That''s a bold claim, general. You aren''t speaking for the Senate." Figg said.

    "I don''t have to." I chuckled. "With this offensive the Confederacy and those supporting them ¨C openly or not ¨C committed the one sin the Senate won''t forgive. They''re proving themselves a credible threat for the Core Worlds. Can the Republic count on the Figg Consortium or should I contact your competitors?"

    "They can''t provide you with everything you''ll need in any reasonable time frame." The CEO sounded very sure of herself.

    "If I''m not working with your corporation, there is nothing stopping me from simply requisitioning the necessary equipment from your and blacklisting your Consortium in both Republic and Mandalorian space."

    Figg stared at me in disbelief. That certainly wasn''t what she was expecting, even after she saw me deal with Lind.

    "It won''t be so simple andyou well know it, general." Figg protested.

    "You mean your people might prove difficult. Alter or destroy manifests, misplace or sabotage equipment¡­ I''ll consider anything in that vein as treason and Gerrenthum siding openly with the Confederacy. You people already proved yourselves as unreliable. Treason isn''t a big step down."

    "The Senate won''t stand for this!" Figg snapped.

    "On the contrary ¨C there will be enough Senators eager to make an example of an Outer Rim world, especially a Sector Capital if it means it might keep the other in line. After all, too many of the worlds in the Outer Rim openly sided with the Separatists."

    "And you wonder why?!" Figg sneered.

    "It''s obvious actually. The problem you people had in my time are simply worse nowadays." I nodded. "Their mistake was in backing the wrong side in this civil war, miss Figg."

    "Not if the Confederacy wins."

    "They had the opportunity to achieve a military victory months ago and squandered it. This offensive of theirs will cause a lot of damage," I made a dismissive gesture. "All it''s going to achieve in the end is prolonging the war and getting even more people needlessly killed. I''ll ask you again, miss Figg, can the Republic work with your Consortium or not?"

    "We''ll provide what you need." Figg said through gritted teeth.

    "See that you do. I''ll hold you personally responsible for any accident. Have a nice day, miss Figg."

    I slumped back in my chair when the woman left.

    "What happened with being reasonable?" Holt snorted.

    "I didn''t hear you utter a word."

    "You''re in charge of this fiasco and actually could speak for the Republic. As you very well know, right now the situation between Corellia and the Republic is complicated. Besides I agree. We can''t trust the locals."

    "That''s why I want as much of their fleet at Eriadu." I nodded.

    "You intent to place them in the position of most danger." Joanna raised an eyebrow after she reached that conclusion.

    "That too. I''ll want to give a fighting chance to our crippled ships we''ll have to leave here anyway if the locals get any ideas." I admitted. "Who knows, they might even see sense. After all once we''ve relieved Eriadu, the Separatists won''t be able to spare the forces for another major push in the region for some time."

    "There''s that. So this is your idea of gaining reluctant allies?" Joanna asked.

    "I''ll admit that mine wasn''t the best possible approach. However my patience for self serving politicians is gone after my last dealings with the Senate. Please advice the our people to keep a close eye on our hosts. It''s unlikely that they''ll do something particularly dumb with the Freedom around, but I''ve learned not to underestimate people''s stupidity." I slowly got up to my feet and ?r??n?d as my body protested. I needed to get some shuteye before I kriffed up even more.

 Chapter 76 - Interlude: The unknown enemy I

    Safe house

    Coruscant

    A human male who appeared to be middle aged sat behind a desk in a small comfortable apartment he had been calling a home for the last decade. He had spent most of that time acting as an information broker providing the movers and shakers on Coruscant with all the dirt and juicy rumors they craved. His work and all the contacts he made while doing it was in fact very close to his real one.

    The man who was know as Alin Gray was a spy ¨C one who worked for a power unknown in this galaxy.

    The agent put aside the data pad he was examining and put it next to a stack of pads, then pulled out a data chip from his pocket and inserted it into the terminal built into his desk. He typed his password, waited for a biometric scan and began writing his impressions on the topic that had his attention at this time.

    The war wasn''t going as expected, which wasn''t exactly a bad thing. The more the locals tore themselves apart, the easier his people''s task would be once they arrived in force. However, there were some wild elements that needed to be studied and accounted for in the report to the Fleet Masters and the Shapers.

    Gray was busy studying the actions of one such anomaly. Even after pressing all his contacts for more information, he knew less than he needed about the man. The spy frowned as what he knew began taking shape on the monitor. First he concentrated on the man''s major actions and achievements to date with more to be added as it became available. Once that was done, Gray was going to open another file where he would be adding his conclusions and theories based on the facts he had.

    Rodia ¨C Bodyguard duty:

    Veil is hired to act as Senator Amidala''s bodyguard; When she is betrayed by her long time friend, the Rodian Senator Ferr, Delkatar engages CIS droid contingent on the ground and dispatches it. After securing the site, Veil persuaded Ferr to aid him in setting up an ambush for Separatist reinforcements who are en-route to pick up Amidala. The ambush is succeessful and Delkatar eliminates the CIS contingent including two Dark Jedi twins ¨C Karoc and Vinroc trained by Dooku. He also captures Nute Gunray who was eager to get his hands on Amidala.

    Reinforcements led by Jedi Master Shaak Ti and Padalan Ahsoka Tano arrive at that time. A delay follows while the powers that be on Coruscant decide how to transport Gunray to the capital. Veil insist to accompany his captive in order to ensure he is safely delivered. Thanks to the delay, the Separatist have enough time to mount a rescue and ?ssault the Republic cruiser Tranquility with Gunray, Veil, Shaak Ti and Ahsoka Tano on board.

    During the ensuring battle, Ti and Tano engage Ventress while Veil is dealing with another of Dooku''s Dark Acolytes and various droid units. The result is a dead Dark Jedi, multiple Clone casualties. Gunray and a traitor in the Senate Guard who was supposed to deliver the captive for interrogation are killed by Veil while attempting to escape. At that point, Grievous arrives along with CIS reinforcements to make sure that Gunray is either rescued or silenced.

    Veil launches in a Torrent fighter along with all survinving pilots in an attempt to slow down the enmy until reinforcements could arrive. Meanwhile back on Rodia an ensign who has the bridge watch on the Acclamator Dauntless gives the order to immediately launch. The Assault Ship is the first to arrive to aid the Tranquility and turns the tide of the battle. Veil aks for and receives infantry support from Piett, then leads a raid to capure Grievous along with Jedi Shaak Ti and Ahsoka Tano.

    Veil engages Asajjii Ventress and captures her. At the same time Shaak Ti and a platoon of Clone Troopers run into Grievous and manage to subdue him.

    The consequences are profound. With Grievous captured, the CIS war effort staggers giving the Republic forces across the galaxy a sorely needed reprieve, no matter how brief. As a consequence of his success ¨C after all it was Veil''s idea to go after Grievous, the Sith is offered a commission in the GAR by Chancellor Palpatine, which he accepts.

    A tactical droid is taken out by local forces. Slicing into its systems leads to the discovery of a CIS research facility in the swamps. The Queen and Senator Amidala requests Jedi support. Veil is dispatched to resolve the situation with a promise for Jedi support once it becomes available.

    By the time the general arrives, Senator Amidala had gone ahead to investigate and had been captured. Veil along with a Clone unit under his command ?ssaults the Research facility hich turns out to be a bio-weapon creation lab ran by doctor Vindi. During the ?ssault, unknown agents release the weapon in the river passing through Theed City. Before containment could be enacted, a huge portion of the water networ on Naboo is contaminated and the planet has to be placed under quarantine.

    Veil interrogates Vindi and finds out what he needs to produce a cure.

    A Republic task force goes to the World of Thousand Moons where a cirtical component for curing Blue Shadow could be found. There Veil meets Jaybo ¨C a local orphan who he takes as his first apprentice. The neccessary substance is retrieved and production of Blue Shadow cure begins immediately. However it remains necessary for Naboo to be under quarantine until the bio-weapon on the surface could be eradicated. The Republic navy is forced to station quite a powerful fleet to enforce it.

    As a consequence of the casualties who die before sufficient amount of the cure could be produced, a radical shift in Naboo society''s begin. Within months the majority of the population loses their pacifistic ideals and begin the creation of proper army and navy. They request technical ?ssistance from the GAR forces maintaining the blokade and receive it.

    Another consequence is the effect the bio-weapon attack has on the Confederacy''s immage. Their credibility take a major hit and many who were supportive of their stated agenda begin to have second thoughts. All Confederate declarations of innocence are considered mere propaganda.

    The Raid on Coruscant:

    Shortly after Veil returns from Naboo, CIS forces and mercenaries hired by the Separatist execute a darring raid on the Republic capital. Using infiltrators, sleeper agents and a freighter loadev with orbit to surface weapons, Confederate forces attack Coruscant.

    GAR High Command is struck by bombs built into various maintaince droids, including some containing Blue Shadow. In one fell swoop, the Republic military''s staff is decapitated. At the same time, the Freighter Tranquility executes a series of orbital strikes at the GAR bases nearest to the Senate. Again, Blue Shadow is used in order to slow down any response. Further,

    After contacting commodore Pellaeon in orbit, General Veil is updated on the situation and ?ssumes command of the GAR forces on Coruscant. He intercepts Senator Taff, who is carrying the orders to relese the cyborg and Grievous remain in Republic custody.

    While Coruscant is gripped by chaos, a CIS strike force attacks the Jedi Temple. It is comprised by an unexpectedly large number of Dark Jedi who manage soon get the upper hand thanks to the element of surprise, droid back up and the fact that most Jedi are spread all over the galaxy.

    General Veil, who was on his way back to the Senate, diverts and moves to reinforce the Jedi along with what forces he has managed to gather.

    In the chaos, one of Dooku''s Acolytes ¨C Kadrian Say enacts a resque. While they make their way out of the Temple, Mace Windu intercepts them. At roughtly the same time, Ventress is freed too and she goes to join the battle.

    In the Jedi Temple''s great hall Ahsoka Tano, Bariss Offee and Nahdar Vebb are among the Jedi fending off the ?ssault. Offee is critically wounded. Tano is injured and stunned. When Ventress attempts to execute the Togruta Padawan, Nahdar intervenes and takes the blow, dying to save his comrade.

    Veil and Clone reinforcemets arrive turning the tide. While Dooku and Say escape, the rest of the CIS forces are decimated. Veil engages Ventres and kills her. He also injures the leader of the attack in the Great Hall, however then he heals her and takes her as a prisoner. In time she will take the name of Aria Astra and become Veil''s second apprentice.

    Mace Windu attempts to arrest Veil for being a Sith. He is dissuaded from that coure of action by Yoda who senses the hostility of the Clone Troopers present in the Temple. A consequence of that attempt is that Windu is latter stripped from his position as a Jedi Master and sent to the frontlines attached to a Commndo unit.

    General Veil makes his way to the Senate where forces under his command secure most of the building and resque the Chancellor. Then he leads an ?ssault on the Senate Chamber where most of the Sentors are held as hostages. Despite the mercenaries and CIS forces best efforts, including the detonation of bombs containing the Blue Shadow bio-weapon, Veil manages to rescue a significant portion of the Senators.

    The aftermath of the Raind on Coruscant is profound. With GAR High Command had been crippled a reform is implemented. Command of the Republic armed forces is officially divided in two branches ¨C Direct Action Command in charge of all combat forces and Logistical Branch, taking over the rest. General Veil is given a promotion and for all intents and purposes becomes the Supreme Commander of the Republci Military. General Telar Valentra is promoted to take over the Logistics Branch. They implement reforms in the chain of command which hits the Jedi Generals hard. The Jedi commanders are evaluated and only a third of them retain their ranks. The rest are demoted and put in charge of smaller formations according to their skills or even placed into Commando units.

    The Raid on Coruscant is universally condemned. Corellia changes its stance and begins covert negotiations with the Republic about joining the war effort. The Separatist cause takes another major hit.

    The Liberation of Ryloth:

    This operation was General Veil''s fist real test after ?ssuming command of GAR''s combat branch. The operation is overall a resounding success both in space and on the ground. Weaknesses in existing doctrine are identified and steps are taken to resolve them ¨C something which will have a profound effect during the ground portion of Second Geonosis.

    The Liberation is notable for its hit on the general population of the Republic. The discovery of Separatist attempts to sell large portion of the Twi''lek population into slavery to the Hutts enrages the Republic. Recruitment efforts strenghtening after the Raid on Coruscant soar. Corellia officially condemns the Confederacy''s actions in the past few monts and enters a military alliance with the Republic.

    Wat Tambor is captured on Ryloth and forced to give up his deactivation codes which shut down the majority of the droid armies on the ground. As a consequence, the Confederacy stops adding hardwired shud down command into its droid armies.

    The Liberation of Ryloth was the first debut of the Guardian system, on of the weapons that changed the face of space warfare during the Clone Wars.

    Second Geonosis:

    This is General Veil''s biggest test to date. Republic intelligence receives information that experimental droid factories would soon be completed on Geonosis and that the planet has motly recovered after the first battle of the war which was waged there.

    The Confederacy heavily reinforces that world both on the ground and in space, daring the Republic to attack.

    General Veil receives authorization to eleminate the threat of the experimental Separatist weapons and neutralize Geonosis as a theat. To achieve those objecives, he ?ssembless one of the largest single fleets seen since the begining of the conflict ¨C First Assault Fleet. Veil''s plans for ?ssaulting Geonosis are torn ?ssunder when general Anakin Skywalker goes rogue and takes a dozen Ventor cruisesrs in an ill conceived attack upon the Separatists stronghold.

    While Skywalker caused an unexpecdedly high amount of damage, his force is annihilated with only his flagship surviving long enough to crashland. After the Republic navy secures the orbitals hours later, Skywalker is resqued along with any survivors. The Jedi Knigh is then placed under arrest to await a trial.

    In respone to Skywalker''s stunt, general Veil is forced to attack before he is ready. He reveals his skills in the mythincal technique of Battle Meditation, which tunrs the tide of the space battle for Geonosis. While First Assault Fleet suffers significant casualties, the Confederate presence beyond Geonosis orbit is eliminated within hours.

    Second Geonosis is notable for the first mass deployment of the Guardian system which was vital in dealing with CIS Vulture swarms. More new technologies wer used in numbers on the ground ¨C new weapons and armor along with a new method of orbital insertion, which was vital in securing the planetary shield generators and allowing significantly easier ?ssault on the planet.

    A major change from previous GAR operations was the unrestrained use of orbital bombardment on any targets with military or dual use ¨C including but not contained to space ports, industrial centers and logistic hubs.

    By the time Geonosis surrendered, its economy, industry and transport networks were wrecked. Conservative estimates of the local civilian casualties due to the oribital strikes is in the hundreds of milions. More are estimated to die due to exposure and disruption in water, food and medicine distribution.

    The Raid on Mandalore:

    After Geonosis, general Veil was dispatched to Mandalore to negotiate an alliance with Duchess Satine Kyze''s New Mandalorian governmen which at the time was opposed by Pre Vizla''s Death Watch.

    Even now, months later details are sparce. What is know for sure is that general Veil married Bo-Katan Kryze, the Duchess sister in a dual ceremony when Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi married Satine Kryze herself. Hours later a Separatist fleet led by General Grievous who had been freed by an unknown pary, ?ssaulted Mandalore. They were aided by Death Watch members who disabled the planetary shields. As a consequence the capital City of Sundari and the surrounding area were bombarded by the Confederacy force which was simultaneously engaging the Mandalorian Defense Fleet and Republic Task Force under the command of Commodore Gilad Pellaeon.

    The battle ended with the arrival of Republic reinforcements led by the Corellian cruiser Freedom commanded by captain Joana Holt. The end of the engagement saw the complete destruction of the Mandalorian navy, Pellaeon''s task force and Grievous'' fleet, though the Separatist general managed to make planetfall.

    In the aftermath, general Veil was elected as Mandalore. Meanwhile general Kenobi led a strike team to re-capture Grievous. The Jedi found the Separatist leader and engaged him in combat which resulted in Grievous'' death.

    Atrisia: Veil led a containment fleet to engage a sapient bio-weapon, which resulted in the destruction of the world. What was made publically available of that Crimson Strain''s capabilities was intriguing ¨C note to self: put all information about Crimson on a separate file and send it to the Shapers as a high priority. Carefully contact agents and try procuring a sample if available.

    Gray glared at the cliff notes. This Veil character was concerning. The Intelligence directorate had been glad when the Sith managed to get themselves finally killed off a thousand years ago, no matter what the Warrior Caste though of the lost of such worthy enemies. Those lunatics were disgraced anyway ¨C their failure was the primary reason why the Vong had been forced to fundamentally change and run in order to survive.

    Jedi, Sith. Bah. Couldn''t all those bastards kill off each other and spare him the headache?!

 Chapter 77 - The Lost Fleet [2/3]

    Part 5

    Republica 500

    Coruscant

    Anakin nodded stiffly to the squad leader of the Riot Police unit stationed at his wife''s floor to keep reporters and other crazies away and got a cold acknowledgment in reply. Skywalker wondered if he''ll ever see the day when most people he met wouldn''t hold his action on Geonosis against him. Personally, he deemed the odds quite low.

    Skywalker got into the apartment he now openly shared with Padme and dragged himself to the fresher before discarding his clothes and getting under a fan of hot water. The training regiment instituted by Obi-Wan to get him into shape was running Anakin ragged. At least he had leave to go home in the evening, which was heaven after his imprisonment.

    Skywalker smiled when he heard the front door open. A moment later he was able to sense Padme''s presence. The anger and resignation radiating from her wiped the smile off his face. Anakin finished his bath ASAP, got a robe from a nearby cupboard and went to see his wife.

    "Tough day, love?" Skywalker asked when he entered the living room.

    Padme had collapsed on the couch and just ?r??n?d something unintelligible. Anakin went to sit next to his wife and pulled her into a hug. Her very presence made the stress and frustration which were his constant companions for months subdue.

    "I''m not fine." Padme grumbled. "We finally got news from home a frigate made it to a holonet transmitter in Hutt space. The fleet was forced to go under the planetary shield. Multiple landing sites were confirmed before the connection was cut."

    "I''m sorry. I should be there." Anakin grumbled.

    "I need you here." Padme mumbled.

    "General Typho should have things handled. Everything I''ve been cleared to see indicates that the army is well trained considering how new it is and its very well equipped. There are a lot of Clones on Naboo too." Anakin tried to reassure his wife.

    He pulled her closer and began running a hand through her hair in an attempt to calm her down.

    "Everything feels wrong!" Padme grumbled. "We''re peaceful people! We shouldn''t be training armies and building war machines!" Padme shook with the outrage she felt.

    "I know. Believe me, I know how wrong this whole madness feels." Anakin muttered.

    "That''s what my mind says." Padme whispered. A tear formed in the corners of her eyes. "It''s no longer what I feel." Her words were a harsh whisper.

    Anakin nodded numbly. The anger rising in Padme''s ?h?st was like a beacon that called to him.

    "Peace!" A hollow laughter escaped her lips. "What did it get us?! Two invasions and a poisoned world!"

    Skywalker could practically taste his wife''s indignation. Every word she uttered, every admission made her anger burn hotter.

    "Padme, what happened on Naboo isn''t your fault." Anakin said.

    "Isn''t it? I was the Queen and did nothing but utter hollow protests before running away to beg the Senate for help. We all know how that turned out! Now I''m Senator and it took another invasion and the Separatists using a bio-weapon on Naboo to open my eyes! How isn''t it my fault!?" Padme snapped.

    "All you did was to stand up for your principles, love. That''s something I admire in you, not something to be blamed for." Anakin did his best to calm down his wife.

    "Tell that to all the people who died from the Blue Shadow! Tell it to everyone who will die fighting off another invasion!" Padme raged.

    "I will." Anakin simply nodded.

    "I can''t go on like this, Anakin." Padme muttered quietly. "I can''t go on and keep telling people that there must be peace. That this war has to end in anything but the destruction of the Separatists." Her face hardened. "I want them to pay for all they did to my people. To us. To me..." Padme admitted.

    Skywalker held her tighter and felt her anger mingle with mortification at that confession. There was something in her expression, in the emotions she radiated that made him shiver and swell with d?s?r?.

    "I understand." Anakin whispered back. "I know how you feel, my love. I feel the same way. There is a part of me that needs to make the Separatists pay for all the pain they caused you. I need to make sure they won''t be able to hurt you nor anyone else ever again¡­ Those emotions go against everything I''ve been taught as a Jedi." Skywalker smiled sadly. "I don''t really care. You''re what matters, my love. I''ll do everything in my power to make the Separatist pay for everything."

    Padme gazed in his eyes and smiled. There was no need to say anything else. They had an understanding, a pact. All the mortification and shame Padme felt melted away. They were replaced by determination and vindication. Her anger cooled down a bit and slowly turned into another kind of heat.

    Anakin smiled and leaned forward to capture Padme''s lips in a searing kiss, which she returned eagerly.

    =RK=

    Industrial district

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    The droid armies paid in fields of war-machines turned into scrap and rivers of oil for their achievement, however they did it. The defenses were breached and the enemy began shuttling troops into the city. There were rumors about an armored force being ?ssembled up seal the breach, however Aria didn''t put much trust in that idea. While the new and inexperienced Mandalorian armored formations did well when on the defense, they were mauled badly by air strikes and Separatist armored thrusts. Astra was well aware of that fact ¨C Omega squad was sent more than once to take care of enemy infantry dropped behind the front lines, so she saw firsthand how the armored formations performed.

    On the other hand, most of the Basilisks were kept in reserve until a good opportunity to use them decisively appeared. At least that''s what the rumor mill said according to Dev. For all Astra knew, the war-droids might have attacked and been crushed already.

    "Omega, we''re up!" Niner shouted. "The AA in the industrial district is being suppressed and the clankers are landing all over the place. We''re moving ahead of Fifth Sundari regiment to slow down the enemy. Heavy reinforcements are twenty minutes behind us."

    "So much for getting a bit of shuteye." Atin grumbled.

    "We got four hours off yesterday¡­ I think." Aria frowned. The last few days were already blurring together.

    "Get on the LAAT!" Niner snapped and followed his own order.

    Aria and Omega squad piled into the transport and it shot in the air before diving to street level. It was joined by five more LAATs loaded to the brim with heavy armed and even more pissed off Mandalorians.

    No one bothered sealing the side doors, which let Aria have a great view of the part of Sundari they were flying over. The streets below were blocked by makeshift barricades with the odd strong point properly built by combat engineers. The buildings on the both sides were being turned into fortresses by platoons of Mandalorian warriors.

    Soon enough the QRF Omega was attached to reached the contested zone. Harsh sunlight poured through the breach in the dome giving the industrial area a haunting beauty which was broken by the flashes of firefights and explosions. Separatist ?ssault transports and gunships were busy shooting up the defense perimeter surrounding the area around the breach, while others dashed in different directions to drop Commando droids behind the defenders.

    "Hold on, we''re almost at the LZ!" The pilot shouted. The LAAT accelerated even faster for a few seconds before getting to a jarring stop next to a wall surrounding a row of warehouse.

    "GO!" Niner shouted and jumped off the transport.

    Nearby Mandalorians in heavy armor with jet-packs were simply hurling themselves off the LAATs before flying at the nearest enemies. In moments heavy fighting erupted at the both flanks of the LZ.

    Aria shouldered the carbine she carried for mid-range work and to preserve her strength and scanned the area. Omega had was covered by the wall for the time being and there were no clankers in sight.

    "Aria, you''re getting over first. Draw the enemy''s attention. We''re five seconds behind you." Niner ordered.

    The Sith in training nodded, put her gun on the magnetic clamp on her back and got her lightsaber before simply using the Force to jump over the wall. A droid tried go shoot her while she was descending, however she was able to deflect its fire. The clanker was still attempting to gun her down when the Clone used grappling hooks to scale the wall and shot the droid before getting on the other side.

    "Right flank!" Niner ordered.

    Atin and Aria moved to secure the corner of the closest warehouse and the rest of Omega followed. A Mandalorian flew above them and sent two missiles somewhere behind the next warehouse before diving away from a gunship that attempted to nail him. The Separatist machine froze in midair when a quartet of red beams speared through it, then in promptly blew up. Aria glanced up and grinned when a Basilisk flew overhead searching for other targets.

    A minute later Omega was sneaking up to the closest firefight. Two squads of Mandalorians in painted Clone armor had dug in into the front of a warehouse and were ducking it with a platoon of SB and Commando droids. The most of the machines were taking cover behind a ragged line of destroyed armor ¨C both CIS hover-tanks and GAR provided walkers.

    "Throw smoke and we''re flanking them before some of their friends turn up. Aria, you''re on point. Fi, get on a higher ground and provide support. The rest form up on me." Niner ordered.

    Less than a minute later it was all over. The defenders gave out ragged cheers, however the Clones were already sprinting towards the next engagement.

    It was going to be another long day for Omega squad.

    =RK=

    Part 6

    Bridge

    Heavy cruiser Warrior

    High orbit above Eriadu

    "Our situation is deteriorating." Rear admiral Nils Tenant said over the comm. The man''s expression was a textbook example of grim determination mixed with weariness.

    Brigadier Gideon Tarkin, the man in charge of Eriadu''s own fleet and the forces he had built from the System Defense Navies of most notable worlds in the Seswenna sector nodded in acceptance.

    "I have another regiment embarking. They''ll be on the moon in four hours." Tarkin said. For all the good it was going to do.

    "Thank you, brigadier. If we lose the remaining cannons and the shield generator on the moon, we''ll be done for." Tenant let out a relieved sigh.

    "Another regiment won''t be enough stop the Separatists. However I don''t dare pull out many more units. As of two hours ago there are three droid army groups down on Eridau and they''re pressing hard towards the shield generators and the capital." Tarkin grimaced. "We lack Acclamators able to land and lift off afterward to easily shift forces anyway."

    Only two of the Assault Ships in the system were still operational and both were too heavily damaged to successfully land on the planet and then reach orbit. That left Tarkin relying on various shuttles in order to bring reinforcements and supplies to the moon.

    The brigadier fixed his attention on the holotank showing the remaining Republic forces in the system. With the exception of the combined fleets pinned in place between Eriadu and her moon, there was a small task force playing tag with a much larger Separatist battle group in the asteroid rings of the system''s single gas giant. Technically speaking, Tenant and Tarkin had a powerful force at their disposal, one that was further augmented by the remnants of four theater fleets. However most of those ships were damaged to one degree or another during the two weeks long siege that led to their unenviable position. If it wasn''t for the anti-orbital cannons still operational on the moon and the multiple Golan platforms dragged around the shipyards in Geo-stationary orbit between Eriadu and its single natural satellite, the loyalist would have been overwhelmed days ago. Even with those defensive advantages, only the presence of two gravity well generators completely locking up any attempt for hyperspace insertion in the middle of the pocket where the Republic forces were gathered prevented the enemy from successfully implementing its favorite ramming attacks.

    In the end everything the Tarkin brothers and their extended family did, all the preparations they made in the buildup to this inevitable war only meant that he was losing the battle for his homeworld slower. Ever since the enemy offensive began, Eridau had acquired a ring of destroyed ships, dead men and broken droids, which was a testament for the ferocity with which both sides fought.

    Despite heavy losses, the Confederacy continued to feed more material in the ?ssault. The enemy simply had to remove Eriadu as a threat ¨C the system was strategically placed to threaten multiple sectors and was at a crossroad of multiple hyperspace lanes. Taking Tarkin''s world was going to tear out the heart of the whole Seswenna sector, which would then fall relatively easy. That was a foregone conclusion when most of the System Defense Navies were here as a part of the theater fleets created by Gideon.

    The idea for drawing the bulk of the enemy forces hitting the sector to Eriadu by making the system a staging ground for raids in Separatist space has been his. Takin knew his world would be ?ssaulted anyway and this way he not only had a better chance to hold it, but he was going to spare the other worlds he was responsible for.

    That was the plan. Unfortunately it overlooked the sheer magnitude of the forces the Confederacy could bring to bear against the Republic in this grand offensive of theirs. It was a small miracle that instead of throwing more ships at Eriadu, the Separatist had decided to spent most of a sector fleet to lock down the whole Western Quadrant. Otherwise the fact that two thirds of the Republic Sector fleet meant to protect that same territory wasn''t here at Eriadu would have proven fatal.

    On the other hand, even their presence wasn''t a magic solution. If Tenant''s whole command was present, the same would be true for the enemy too, and the overall correlation of the forces would be roughly the same anyway.

    "The Separatists are forming up for another attack." Tenant spoke quietly.

    Tarkin frowned. If he was in their shoes, Gideon would have waited for the droid army on the moon to crack the defenses there and take out either the cannons or the shield. Attacking while that firepower was still available was going to be expensive and likely futile.

    The Separatist had tried it multiple times anyway and there was no indication it was going to work.

    "That''s weird." Tarkin''s frown deepened.

    The symbols representing the enemy fleets boxing in the loyalists were shifting all right, however only a third of them were ?ssuming an offensive formations aimed at his forces. The rest were ?ssuming defensive formations and maneuvering to face away from Eriadu.

    "Brigadier, the enemy forces on the moon are starting another ?ssault." Tarkin''s liaison with the infantry informed him.

    "Tell them to hold at all cost. Reinforcements will be arriving in a few hours." Gideon spoke absent-mindedly.

    Despite all the ECM thrown away by the Separatists, the Republic forces had no trouble detecting a decent sized fleet exiting hyperspace a light hour from Eriadu. There were a lot of powerful scanners still operation on the moon and in the orbital segment under loyalist control.

    The newcomers were obviously more Separatist ¨C probably called back from securing the rest of the quadrant. However that didn''t explain the enemy''s actions. The Confederate forces appeared to be preparing to fend off attack and not one coming from Tarkin''s or Tenant''s fleets.

    "Sir, we''re getting a lot of encrypted traffic between the newcomers and the enemy flagship. There''s too much interference to get much of it. We''re dumping the raw data to Intel for decryption and analysis." A member of Takrin''s staff reported.

    "They''re either putting an elaborate show for us or Veil put a spanner in their plans. He should be getting to the staging areas at this time. Perhaps a few days earlier if he was lucky in the Unknown Regions." Tenant chuckled.

    "That would certainly explain it." Tarkin nodded. "It won''t matter if the good general''s coming to relieve us if we aren''t here when he arrives." Gideon added.

    "I concur." Nils agreed. "We''ll just have to hold the line no matter what."

    =RK=

    2nd Platoon

    Black Company

    41st Battalion "The Grim Reapers"

    Eriadu''s moon

    "Dex, get on the comm! We need air-resupply!" Sergeant Hound growled.

    The senior NCO was once again in charge of the whole platoon after the newest lieutenant managed to get himself killed last week. Fighting on the mostly airless ball of rock reminded Hound of Geonosis ¨C with more droids, less bugs and no air to breathe.

    After just a week of R&R, the whole division had been hurried to Eriadu and ordered go hold the world at all costs. That in turn meant that they got thrown in the hottest fires thanks to the simple fact that they were one of the few units in the system fully equipped with the new weapons and armor. The former proved invaluable in holding the moon so far, because in that environment even an otherwise non-lethal glance could prove fatal.

    Things like the running out air supply of the platoon might very well kill them all before the clankers could.

    "I''m on it, Sarge!" Dex shouted back.

    Hound nodded in satisfaction and returned his attention to commanding. He was actually beginning to miss that competent Jedi who took command back on Geonosis. They sure could use a few of the blighters.

    "We''ve got droidekas!" A KNG ¨C kriffing new guy ¨C from the local company helping hold the valley leading to the Ion Cannon shouted.

    "Heavy Three, you''re cleared to engage. Blue and Red fire-teams, provide support." Hound ordered after examining the situation.

    Twenty or so of the destroyer droids had come uncomfortably close after being screened by a battalion of B1s sent out to soak up the incoming fire. The blighters actually managed to deploy and activate their shields before coming under effective fire and only one was disabled before it could be surrounded by its defense field. The droidekas laid down suppressive fire, which in turn allowed two SB companies to advance without too much trouble.

    In the evening twilight the firefight looked like something from a demented dream. The thin atmosphere was just the right composition and thick enough to make each shot appear as a much larger glowing bolt of fiery plasma moments after leaving the barrel of a gun. It was almost beautiful in a macabre sort of way.

    "Black One to Black Actual, I need a fire mission at the following coordinates¡­" Hound called command.

    "Black Actual, Black One, that''s negative. All supports is engaged to capacity. Hold your ground, over."

    "Copy that, Black Actual." The Sergeant added a few quiet curses. "Rock, bring in the reserve on the right flank!" Hound ordered, before cursing again.

    The Sergeant activated the zoom function built in his helmet and grit his teeth. An armor column was heading straight at the valley''s entrance. It was screened by ten speeder mounted B1s and followed by what looked suspiciously like a battalion worth of mechanized infantry mounted in APCs.

    "Black One, to Black Actual, be advised I have visual on heavy enemy forces moving our way. ETA eight minutes. We need all the support you can get to us."

    "Black Actual, Black One, stand by. Dispatching reserves to your position. Over."

    "Black One, Black Actual, roger. Over." Hound grunted. Those reinforcements better hurry or they would be running right into a clanker armored spearhead.

    The Sergeant glanced around. The only thing he had left was his command squad.

    "Dex, make sure we get our kriffing air and call in all the artillery support that becomes available. The rest of you boys, come with me. We have some uninvited guest to kick out." Hound ordered and began advancing to the right flank where his heavy weapon specialists were laying down the pain upon those droidekas.

 Chapter 78 - Interlude: ShadowfeedI

    Shadowfeedstudio

    Raxulon city

    Raxus

    "Good morning to you all, citizens of the Confederacy! I''m Ryloth Resa and today I want to welcome you all with our first broadcast from Raxus!" A blue Twi''lek woman exclaimed. Her face was hidden by strategically placed shadows, however her voice was know to trillion both in the Confederacy and the Republic.

    "Good morning, Raxus! I''m Ull Haber and today we bring you the truth about the war from the center of the free galaxy!" An apparently human male whose face was hidden too displayed his exuberance for the whole galaxy to see.

    "Lets start with the topic we at Shadowfeed know is on the minds of you all ¨C the sudden change of leadership in the Confederacy!" Everyone watching could feel that Resa was beaming at the cameras. "We''ve been diligently investigating for months before finding out the truth."

    "Indeed, Ryloth." Ull added cheerfully. "The results of our investigation are ready and they''re why we took the radical step of moving here to Raxus. We at Shadowfeed are glad to dispel some of your fears." He added in a more somber tone.

    "It''s regrettable that our agents were able to confirm others." Resa could be seen nodding in the shadows. "The former leader of the Confederacy, Count Dooku was arrested under suspicions that he was a Sith Lord." The Twi''lek said. "That came as a shock to many. After all, he''s been saying for years that the Republic had fallen under Sith control and the Confederacy was the one true hope for freedom in the galaxy."

    "I''m afraid to report that we were masterfully deceived." Haber spoke in a sad tone. "Among Count Dooku''s personal items seized after his arrest were documents and journals proving that he is indeed a Sith Lord. Even more concerning, he often speaks of a Master who is highly placed within the Republic."

    "We''re making the documents our agents managed to copy available to you all to see." Resa waved a hand and multiple windows appeared around the anchors. "At this time its our best guess that the Clone Wars were engineered by the Sith so they could seize control of the Republic and crush the freedom loving people of the Outer Rim and those supporting the cause of real democracy and freedom across the galaxy."

    "The sudden appearance of the Republic general Veil, who freely admits that he''s a Sith and his war-crimes lends further credence to that theory." Haber continued. "The most damning revelations about Count Dooku are fragmented orders retrieved by Confederate slicers confirming that he gave the orders for unleashing the bio-weapon Blue Shadow on both Naboo and Coruscant. Further, it was under his direction that the peace conference on Cato Neimodia was sabotaged and Republic Senator Padme Skywalker grievously wounded."

    "The betrayal by that Sith runs deeper. Our agents recovered data confirming that he persuaded Wat Tambor, the former leader of the Techno Union to make a deal with certain criminal elements in Hutt Space so they could make the Confederacy complicit in the enslavement of millions of peaceful Ryloth citizens!" Resa''s rightful indignation shone through her words.

    "After Dooku''s guilt was proven, the Confederacy Council made the decision to attempt to end this war one last time so we could foil the Sith''s plan." Ull continued. "Count Dooku was handed to a Republic naval battle group under the command of Jedi Master Rahm Kota more than a month ago so he can be put on trial for his crimes against all free sentient beings in the galaxy." Haber paused. "We heard nothing from the Republic since then. Attempts from Confederate diplomats to open talks were rebuffed."

    "Everything our agents could gather and all our sources in the Confederate government agree with one regrettable truth. The Republic appears to have fallen under the control of the Sith. It''s unclear how many of the Jedi followed suit like the former Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, who was placed in charge of the Republic armed forces." Resa took up the narrative. "This is why the offensive currently carried out by Confederate forces across the galaxy was approved. There could be no peace, no freedom, while the Republic is under the control of power-hungry, warmongering Sith."

    "We all saw what means to lose when the Sith are in charge. Geonosis is a testament for the Sith''s brutality and cruelty. Even now, more than two months after that world fell to Republic forces led by the Sith Lord Delkatar Veil, the civilian casualty count is being updated." Haber reminded the viewers. "Under the Sith, the Republic thew away all conventions of civilized warfare and wantonly bombarded civilian targets leading to more than four hundred millions of non-combatant casualties to date."

    "Yet, when general Grievous was sent to Mandalore to bring Veil to justice and execute a lawful reprisal, against strictly military targets mind you, he was captured and summary executed by Veil''s ally Obi-Wan Kenobi. Even now, Republic propaganda is busy tarnishing the image of one of the Confederacy''s most successful military leaders while singing praises to their own pet butcher!" Resa exclaimed full of righteous indignation.

    "Fear not!" Haber announced. "The days of the Sith and their pawns are numbered. As we speak, fleets led by the Confederacy''s finest military minds liberate large parts of the galaxy! Forces under the command of admiral Kirst are ?ssaulting Kamino as we speak so they can capture the source of endless Republic manpower."

    "Other Confederate forces fight valiantly to liberate Mandalore and all peaceful New Mandalorians from the war clique led by Veil who took power after a coup following general Grievous attempt to arrest the war criminal." Resa added.

    "We can confirm another news that has been on the minds of many. Duro finally surrendered to Confederate forces under the command of Admiral Trench. The system is being fortified against Republic reprisals and efforts are underway to eradicate Sith influence among the Duro''s government. Meanwhile, admiral Dua Ningo finally broke the fanatical Republic resistance at Antar and is consolidating his forces before pushing further into the Core..." Haber continued.

    =RK=

    "With the galaxy set aflame by the actions of the Sith, many citizens wonder why we fight." Resa continued after the summary of the current military situation was over.

    "It''s an important question. Why the people of the Outer and Inner Rim should fight, sacrifice and die to save a decadent and corrupt Republic from its just reward?" Haber nodded emphatically.

    "The answer is simple and regrettable. There is no other choice for any freedom loving being in the galaxy. We all know the history of the Sith, even if the details had fallen out of favor in many history classes. While we''ll be running a special editorial about the history of the Sith later this week, the high points are obvious to us all. They become crystal clear when we examine the actions of Dooku and Veil, the two Sith we know for certain exist." Resa explained.

    "Wanton senseless destruction. War crimes. Slavery. Those are among their sins. How long before they announce that the Republic is no more and openly replace it with an Empire? How long before they stir the gullible into a frenzy and persuade them that everything that''s wrong in the Core Worlds and the Inner Colonies is the fault of the peaceful people here in the Outer Rim? I ask you, how long before they come to put a durasteel boot on our backs because we dare defy them?" Haber exclaimed.

    "If given the chance,tomorrow." Resa answered the rhetorical question. "We''ve been showing the galaxy the truth for months now. Bringing Republic propaganda, lies and crimes into the light. We''ve been doing the same when misguided elements in the Confederacy committed crimes in an attempt to retaliate for the GAR''s atrocities."

    "The sad truth is that there could be no peace while the Sith control the Republic. If the Confederacy does anything less than its best to achieve a total victory, it wouldbe betraying not only the ideals it was built upon, but condemning every one of its citizens to life under Sith rule. Our few remaining agents on Mandalore showed us all what happens with those who oppose the Sith." Haber said.

    The Death Watch organization whose only crime was to wish a reform that kept their traditions alive and to support the Confederacy in its defiance of the Sith led Republic hadbeen outlawed and its members hunted down like rabid krath hounds. That''s what awaits us all if the Republic is allowed to triumph ¨C every free minded individual in the galaxy wouldbe labeled a dissident and hunted down for daring oppose tyranny!"

    Phase 35: The Lost Fleet

    =RK=

    Part 7

    Bridge

    Mon Calamari Star Cruiser Liberty

    Mon Cala system

    This wasn''t his place, Gial Ackbar thought. He should be back under the oceans of the homeworld with his prince. Instead, like a good Guard captain, Ackbar followed the orders he hadbeen given.

    "How long, captain Rowe?" Ackbar asked the chief engineer in charge of retrofitting the Liberty into a warship.

    The much older Mon Calamari looked up from a data pad he was studying and blinked at the interruption.

    "We''re running out of time." Gial pressed on. "The Republic fleet won''t be able to keep the enemy off our backs for much longer and the capital might fall withing days. We need this ship ready to fight is way to friendly space with as many people we can cram on board." Ackbar continued. "How long?!" He asked again.

    "The primary shield systems are good. We still have problem with the secondary emitters interfering with each other and scrambling targeting scanners along the broadside. While half of the turbo-lasers and Ion Cannons are installed and ready for testing, we''re only thirty percent done with the Guardian. We need more time!" Rowe exclaimed.

    "That''s the one resource no one can give any of us, chief engineer. How will the Liberty stand up to Separatist frigates? To a battleship?" Ackbar sighed.

    "Oh. That." Rowe tilted its head in confusion. "Why didn''t you say so? Once we resolve the interference issues, she''ll be able to take on a battleship or two even with the limited armaments we''ve been able to instal."

    Ackbar felt like strangling the engineer.

    "Get it solved then. The first evacuees will be arriving tomorrow morning. We''ll likely be carrying whats left of the Royal family too, so for all our sakes, I hope that you''re right. We''ll have to fight our way to friendly space." Gial said.

    Ackbar dismissed the engineer, made his way to the comm station andcontacted the Royal palace. Soon the captain was looking at the tired youthful face of prince Lee-Char, the heir of the Dac throne. The young royal was wore a crumpled blue uniform with only the few medals he had earned during the fighting when he got too foolhardy and actually led from the front to prove his bravery. Fortunately Gial and the rest of the Guard managed to keep their charge alive. At least the boy more or less knew how to handle himself in a scrap.

    "Captain Ackbar, its good to see you." Lee-Char smiled tiredly. "I hope you have good news. We can use some."

    "The Liberty will be ready soon, my prince." Ackbar said.

    "Good." Lee-Char''s stiff posture relaxed a bit. "We won''t be able to hold for much longer. General Fisto took our remaining reserves out to slow down the enemy advance. The best estimates are that in two days the capital''s defenses will be breached." The prince looked at the floor. "If we''re lucky."

    "The situation up here isn''t much better. The navy is hard pressed. I have to report that most of the refits won''t be completed in time. At best we can count on another partially armed Star Cruiser. The good news is that the others will have their shield systems mostly operational. We should be able to evacuate a lot of civilians." Ackbar hoped so anyway. Getting all those people to the ships and then to safety was going to be anything but trivial.

    "I''m glad to hear it, captain Ackbar." The prince smiled. "I''ll organize the evacuation. We''ll get out everyone we can before the capital falls."

    =RK=

    Coral City outskirts

    Mol Calamari

    Kit Fisto was in his elements. The cool ocean water slid around him as he swam forward leading hundreds of Clones and Mon Calamari into battle. The Jedi Master wished he had the time to appreciate the beautiful reef surrounding the capital before they were ruined by the battle, however he knew that it was a wishful thinking. In font of him tens of thousands, both flesh and blood soldiers and droids were busy dying.

    Fist could feel the battle even before his eyes could see the wild melee. He waved forward and activated his lightsaber. It was time to fight and die to buy time for the civilians in Coral City to evacuate.

    The Jedi Master had no illusions about the ultimate outcome of the battle. The Clones, while doing their best, simply lacked sufficient training in underwater combat to counter the warriors of a species evolved to fight in such an environment. There was not enough training in the whole galaxy to make up for the natural advantage an aquatic species had in the heart of their domain. Nor the GAR soldiers could properly counter the new variety of droids meant for underwater combat deployed in massive numbers by the Separatists. While the Mon Calamari could hold their ground against the best the enemy had, the sad fact was that there weren''t enough of them. Fisto knew of plans to get the Gungans Grand Army as reinforcements when fighting on water worlds, however the Blue Shadow hit them hard and they were still under quarantine anyway. Besides with the planet cut off from Republic space, reinforcements couldn''t reach them in time anyway.

    That left fighting a desperate holding action and Fisto was all right with that. He was doing his duty as a Jedi ¨C protecting the innocents against those wishing them harm.

    Kit finally reached the edge of the raging battle and used the Force to make himself even more maneuverable by all but eliminating friction. The Jedi Master danced through the water shifting away from blaster fire and harpoon darts. A Quarren tried to bite him with his fang-liketeeth and most of its face tentacles for his trouble, before Fisto swam away. He headed straighttowards a group of droids content to provide fire support for their allies.

    A minute later the soldiers were in position and they swam at the enemy leaders. The escort saw them coming and most of it peeled away to face the danger. Kit smiled and dashed at the officer when he was sure he''ll reach them before their protectors can turn back, not that the Clones were going to let them do so.

    A hail of blaster bolts and harpoon darts came his way from the remaining bodyguards. Fisto gave them a teeth filled grin and raised his free hand in front of him, using the gesture as to aid him in controlling all the Force he was channeling. A wave of telekinetic power flew in front of him supercavitating the water and obscuring him from vision by creating thousands of bubbles. Both darts and blaster bolts were throw off target by the effect. Moments later, the enemy group was scattered in all directions and then the Jedi was upon them. Most died before they could recover, with just a handful putting any resistance before falling to Fisto''s blade.

    Kit searched for other targets and his grin grew. The enemy was attempting to disengage. He was going to oblige them ¨C soon. But first, reducing their number on the cheap sounded like a good idea to the Republic general. He gave the order for a limited pursuit and headed for the closest concentration of separatist forces.

    Fisto only hoped that this victory, no matter how temporarily was going to buy enough time.

    =RK=

    2nd Platoon

    Black Company

    41stBattalion "The Grim Reapers"

    Eriadu''s moon

    That was cold comfort for sergeant Hound. The local company 2nd Platoon has been attached to was simply gone. To their credit, the Eriaduian soldiers didn''t falter, nor break. They knew what was at stake, they held their ground when the armored spearhead struck.

    They died well.

    The same could be said for Hound''s brothers.

    "Go, sarge! We''ll cover you!" Alek shouted over the comm.

    Hound''s head snapped up and his heart stilled. The remaining heavy weapon specialists advanced towards the enemy unleashing every single weapon in their disposal.

    "Second Platoon, pull back now! On the double!" Hound roared. He paused for a moment to salute Alek and began following his own order.

    As he ran, Hound glanced back every few paces. What he saw was going to be carved in his memory till his dying day. The overran forward trenches were a solid wall of fire as grenades and thermal detonators were spent like piss in the wind. The enemy thanks who led the charge went up one after another after being struck by missiles or portable laser cannons carried by troopers in heavy armor.

    The Separatist advance faltered at the sudden counter-attack. For a heartbeat, Hound hoped that it would be enough, that Alek stood a chance after all. He jumped over a boulder and when he glanced back again, reality simply had to rear up its ugly head.

    The heavy troopers ran out of explosives and the enemy rallied. Hundreds of droids surged over the forward trenches followed by more tanks and APCs.

    Hound cursed the whole kriffing galaxy and ran faster. He could see too damn few of his platoon doing the same. Most were either already dead or with Alek.

    When the Sergeant looked back for one last time, he saw his buddy spear a tank with an overcharged shot from his laser cannon. The front of the armored machine blew out and it lurched to a halt before something inside cooked off and its turret was sent to the sky from a secondary explosion.

    The return fire came in enough volume to make a whole regiment proud and was deadly accurate. Alek vanished under a rain of blaster bolts that seemingly made the thin gas passing for atmosphere ignite around him. Then multiple tanks acquired his position and let lose with laser cannons and missiles.

    Hound knew that there wouldn''t be enough left of his friend to bury. All he wanted then and there was to turn around and tear the droids with his b?r? hand. Instead, the Clone cursed again and kept sprinting to the next and last defensive line just behind the edge of the shield keeping the Ion Cannon safe from bombardment. If that defense was breached, the clankers would be able to take out the weapon and that couldn''t be allowed.

    The sergeant was almost at the bunkers where a battalion was arriving to reinforce the two local platoons stationed there, when the Separatist tanks finally got through the abandoned defenses behind him and opened fire. Hound screamed when one after another his remaining brothers were picked up by cannon fire. Even their advanced armor couldn''t take such firepower and most of them were still in the open.

    A trooper got under the safety of the shield, then another. In turn two more were blown to pieces.

    "Come!" Dex reached the bunkers and turned back to wave at them. "There''s a fire mission incoming!"

    Hound''s was already pushing himself as fast as he could. He could hear artillery shells slice through the thin atmosphere as they descended.

    Almost there!

    More of his brothers made it. Something detonated behind the sergeant and the shock-wave was enough to propel him through the shield. He landed hard and grunted in pain. His vision swam, however Hound was aware enough to see the end of the flight. Rock and Blue squad were in the rear, carrying a few wounded with them. Artillery shells began landing among the abandoned positions and the droids swarming them sending shock-waves and shrapnel in all directions. A tank was hit in the cupola and flew blew up when the thin armor was penetrated and the warhead detonated inside.

    Mac, who was carrying a wounded comrade passed through the shield. Ken was next and Rock was following a step behind when he was replaced by a flash of light. Hound blinked the white spots away from his vision and let out an incoherent scream.

    Rock was gone. Somehow only a single smoking boot was left where he stood.

 Chapter 79 - The Lost Fleet [3/3]

    Part 8

    Bridge

    Heavy cruiser Warrior

    High orbit above Eriadu

    "I guess Veil''s still some time away." Admiral Tenant grumbled over the comm.

    Tarkin snorted. That became painfully obvious a few hours after the enemy reinforcements arrived. Gideon still had no idea what news they brought, however after taking some time to digest it, the Confederate commander had decided it was finally time to secure the system for good. Most of the Separatist forces around Eriadu had shifted their positions and ?ssumed offensive formations in a circle around the loyalists and were now advancing. At the same time, the droids on the moon were throwing everything they had against the cannons. There were points where the fighting had reached the last defensive lines and even rushing all available reserves there, the soldiers weren''t expected to hold for long. In an hour another regiment would be getting there from Eriadu and that would be the last force that could be spared from the planet.

    "Deploy all remaining fighters and bombers. Let them use the wrecks as cover until the enemy comes close." Tarkin ordered. I want the tugs ready to maneuver the improvised platforms when necessary." Those were little more than hulks tractored in to provide some cover before a bright engineer had the great idea to either partially restore them or just slap on some light guns, shields and missile pods to give them a bit of punch.

    "Already doing it." Tenant said. "The mine-layers are deploying everything they have left too."

    "The enemy is advancing." A sensor operator reported.

    The tactical plot changed to show hundreds of red dots moving towards the loyalists.

    "Authorizing the last of the weapon platforms to go activate. Good luck, Tarkin." Tenant saluted.

    "Let''s make our own. Try not to die. You''re a decent sort for someone from the Core." Gideon cracked a small smile before cutting off the feed. "Comms, I need to talk with all the Theater Fleet commanders."

    "Patching you through, brigadier."

    Four tired faces appeared in front of Gideon. Two older humans ¨C a man and woman, a Zabrak and a Bith, all wearing admiral uniforms from their respective system defense navies.

    "We all know the score, so I won''t be making any grand speeches. If we fall, our whole sector falls with us. The enemy comes, so let''s kill the rusty bastards." Gideon''s smile was all teeth. "First and second fleet take the flanks. My own will hold the center. Third and Fourth, take those coming from above and below respectively. The Republic navy has our backs."

    Tarkin looked back at the tactical display. Nearly four hundred Munificents led the charge followed by two hundred Recusant destroyers and the battleships come behind them. The frigates came at flank speed and didn''t appear to intent stopping until ramming something or passing through the loyalist formation.

    This was going to be unpleasant.

    The various weapons bolted on the wrecks surrounding the Republic forces spoke next. Couple of thousands concussion missiles were launched aimed at mere ten frigates, while laser cannons and the odd turbolaser on or even a couple of railguns spread their love in an attempt to cripple as many of the incoming enemies as possible. The Umbrella did its best, the light screen of Vultures deployed with the Munificents flew to intercept the incoming ordnance too. Two Munificents died when the missiles changed their attack vectors at the last possible moment, with another receiving moderate damage. A wave of return fire tore apart the first line of defense and further cluttered the battlefield with even more debris.

    Finally the Separatist entered extreme range and began trading shots with the loyalist forces. Withing minutes an ever shrinking ring of fire appeared between Eriadu and her moon.

    "Reform the right flank. Third and Fourth Theater fleets, begin falling back at ten percent reverse thrust. In two minutes the rest of the fleets do the same at twenty five percent. Continue crippling the Munificents and re-targeteither when they fall out of formation or when their maneuverability is compromised." Tarkin ordered.

    The long range engagement against the enemy escorts favored the Republic forces so far, however that segment of the battle was almost over. The frigates were coming uncomfortably close and the light destroyers nipped on their heels. Once all of those properly mixed up, the battleships would come to mop up at their convenience and in relative safety. The price was going to be high, unfortunately if the enemy was willing to pay it all Gideon could do was to make it even steeper.

    A few minutes and a lot of crippled and destroyed ships later, the range had fallen significantly. Soon, the Munificents would be free to execute their ramming run.

    "All small craft are clear to engage." Tenant ordered fleet wide. "All remaining weapon platforms are released to fire on the approaching frigates."

    And just like that, Tarkin became a spectator. There were no reserves left to deploy. No place left for any clever maneuvers. The Republic fleet had to fight and die nested into the small protected space between Eriadu and her moon.

    =RK=

    71st Bomber Squadron

    Just a few short months ago, Lieutenant Falk thought that Geonosis had been a chaotic storm of death and destruction that wouldn''t be equaled any time soon.

    Two weeks of fighting to keep Eriadu from the Separatist''s clutches showed the error of his way.

    The Clone believed that the losses at Geonosis had been bad.

    This never sufficiently kriffed up place gleefully proved him wrong again.

    Falk had the dubious honor to be the only one left still alive from the original 71stSquadron. Everyone who had made it through the cauldron that was Geonosis died above Eriadu. Even worse, their replacements died too. Twice.

    The 71stwas practically in its third iteration by now and it was chock full with KNGs who Falk really didn''t bother to know besides the b?r? minimum needed for administrative duties. It didn''t matter really. They were all going to die too and he was a dead man flying on borrowed time anyway.

    Fighting through Vulture swarms since the war began to reach the clanker''s motherships had been bad enough. The new systems introduced by both sides ¨C those kriffing Guardians and Umbrellas were the death knell of small craft everywhere. Only command either didn''t know it yet or didn''t care because they kept throwing fighters and bombers in the fire for small gain.

    "Revenant Actual, you''re weapons free. Target any Munificent that you can, Overlord out."

    Falk twitched when he heard his new call-sign, which he got after the 71stwas all but destroyed for the second time. Some REMF obviously decided that it was either funny or it would raise morale. The reminder that he should be dead like his brothers did neither.

    "Revenant flight, Revenant Actual, we''re free to hunt. Keep a nice solid hulk between ourselves and the enemy until we can execute an attack run." Falk paused. "Try not to die." He added, though the Clone doubted it was going to help.

    The Lieutenant looked up through the canopy. There was so much firepower concentrated in a relatively small space that a literal downpour of turbolaser bolts going every which way was visible with the n?k?d eye. Falk shook his head. It would be miracle if he made it through the next hour.

    He found he didn''t really care. Today, tomorrow¡­ It didn''t matter. All Clone pilots were on borrowed time anyway.

    Falk''s scanners pinged and he smiled grimly. Once more into the breach and all that bantha poodo.

    "We''ve got incoming targets. Form up on me. We''re pouncing on them when they pass by the hulk. We go in, unleash our torpedoes then scatter and go back to the nest to rearm." The lieutenant ordered.

    Falk stared intently at his scanners. Every moment now¡­

    "Follow me!" He snapped over the comm and went immediately to afterburner. His Y-Wing accelerated past the battered wreck of the Venator in which shadow the 71stwas hiding.

    Two Munificents flew past the destroyed engines of the Star Destroyer and the bomber squadron flew straight behind them. A few weapon platforms which were playing dead until now went active and sent twenty missiles apiece at each of the frigates along with a lot of blaster bolts.

    Falk grinned savagely when his targeting computer sounded a positive tone and he pressed the firing bu??on. The ark behind the engines was where the Umbrella had the least coverage. It was meant to be covered by other ships or Vultures and right then and there those weren''t in any position to ?ssist.

    However a comparatively lighter defensive fire didn''t mean it was non existent of ineffective. A Y-Wing blew up. Then another. A third was clipped and spun out of control before slamming into the front third of a destroyed light cruisers.

    Finally the torpedoes were away and Falk made a sharp turn towards the burned out hulk of a Luckrehulk which had been dragged to serve as an improvised shield for an orbital shipyard. Warning tones screamed in the ???kpit announcing that multiple missiles had locked on the lieutenant''s bomber and were approaching fast.

    Falk cursed and began releasing decoys before sharply diving straight towards the wreck. A chocked scream cam over the comm and another newbie died.

    The Clone was b?r?ly able to pull back before splattering over the torn armor of the Luckrehulk. Most of the missiles weren''t so fortunate and slammed into the ship. Two somehow managed to turn and follow him. Falk banked left and began weaving dangerously close though a field of twisted cannon emplacements. One missile clipped the half melted barrel of a turbolaser, yet the other persisted and it was coming closer and closer.

    Falk pulled up, then dived sharply and turned around to fly into the cavernous hold of the battleship. The kriffing missile continued to follow.

    Floating debris, including large pieces of disabling droids began bouncing off the fighter. Falk was b?r?ly able to see where he was flying and had to rely on his instruments alone. A proximity alarm roared in his ears and he cut the engines then went for a crash landing just in time to avoid ramming a bunch of tanks floating in the vacuum. The missile''s luck finally ran out and in slammed into one of the armored vehicles. The blast-wave was enough to throw the rest around and one hit the port engine at the precisely wrong angle and speed, disabling it.

    Falk just stared in the darkness for the next few minutes unable to believe that he was still alive. By all rights he should have bought it and joined his brother in whatever passed for afterlife if such a thing existed. The Clone shook his head in exasperation. Why the kriff was he still alive when so many good men didn''t make it?!

    =RK=

    Part 9

    =RK=

    2nd Platoon

    41stBattalion "The Grim Reapers"

    Eriadu''s moon

    "Sarge!" Dex shouted.

    Hound b?r?ly heard him over the scream of artillery shells and the constant cacophony of explosions. Even with a fresh battalion sent to hold the line, the only reason why the clankers hadn''t reached the Ion Cannon behind them was the constant bombardment.

    "What?!" The sergeant asked before wincing.

    The barrage tapered out and soon ended. Hound went to one of the monitors showing what was happening outside the bunker and began cursing. While the valley was turned into a hell-scape of craters and twisted metal, the enemy was still pressing through. They sacrificed whole regiments of B1s used as little more than cannon fodder and it apparently worked. Hound could see more tank approaching, this time escorted by Commandos, SBs and some new hulking droids that had a lot of big guns built in.

    "The artillery is running short on shells, sarge!" Dex explained. "We can''t call for orbital support either, the fleet is fully engaged. From what I heard, they might be losing too." The was come out as a whisper.

    "Kriff it all. Are there any reserves left?" Hound cursed again.

    "Another regiment managed to land before things up there got totally kriffed up. We should be getting at least one company." Dex pointed at the ceiling.

    "Keep calling for more support. We''re going to need all the help we could get." Hound clapped his brother''s shoulder.

    Heavy laser cannons and repeaters built in the bunkers opened up on the advancing enemy. They answered with a barrage of smoke grenade that covered the whole valley in a silver metallic mist that cut visibility to just a few meters and scrambled all but the seismic sensors.

    "Why did they sent the competent clankers at us?!" Dex wh?n?d.

    "Because we''re that big pain in their metal ?sses. Get me all the support you can." Hound triggered his comm. "This is Black Two actual, I need all indirect fire support shooting at predesignated coordinates..." At least the company''s integrated mortar section had some rounds left. Not enough to make big difference, but the shock-waves might clear up the smoke temporarily so the cannons could bag a few tanks before more could be applied.

    Hound smiled when the tell tale flashes of thermal warheads lit up the silver mist and either burned it out or scattered it. The cannons wasted no time in re-targeting and slagging the leading Separatist tanks before more smoke grenades were utilized by the enemy. The clankers were already a third up the valley and coming in fast.

    Hound gave the re-adjusted coordinates to the mortars two more times before they ran out of ammo.

    "Well, kriff." The sergeant summarized. The enemy was almost at the edge of the shield.

    He went to a nearby console and flipped open the transparent lid of a red bu??on, then waited for the first group of tanks and infantry to pass through. They were met by withering amount of firepower and most were slagged before they could sent back more than a shot or two. A few survived long enough to shoot more of the smoke grenades further obscuring the battlefield.

    Hound waited for a few more seconds and pressed the bu??on. Dozens of charges placed just behind the edge of the shield detonated. It was a mix of high explosive packs and Ion grenades. They were carefully crafted to expend most of their fury in a cone aimed at the enemy most likely approaches.

    The resulting thunderclap and pyrotechnics thanks to the weird stuff passing for atmosphere were quite impressive too. Hopefully that would make the clankers pause.

    Or not. Hulking figures surrounded by glowing shields came striding through the aftermath of the explosion. Automatic dispensersliberally sent grenades ¨C smoke and otherwise ¨C everywhere. Shoulder mounted cannons tracked the nearest bunkers and sent eye-watering lances of white light at them followed by missile barrages. Scores of repeater bolts slammed in their shields and had seemingly the same effect as water drops hitting the surface of a lake.

    Then the laser cannons finally re-targeted and began blowing up the behemoths, though it took at least two shots ¨C one to pop the shield and another to potentially disable depending on where it hit.

    The bunkers weren''t getting unscratched either. The war-droids firepower began flaying their weapon emplacements, silencing them one after another. Then more silver smoke obscured the enemy and they became little more than ghost visible only when they fired.

    =RK=

    Bridge

    Heavy cruiser Warrior

    High orbit above Eriadu

    "We''re being surrounded. Enemy ground forces are about to reach two of the moon cannons." Tenant succinctly summarized their predicament.

    "Three of my Theater Fleets are collapsing. Only my forces are still keeping the center, but that wont'' last long." Tarkin admitted.

    The Confederacy lost most of its Munificents in the ?ssault, a lot of the Recusants too, however their battleships were practically untouched ever since the final ?ssault began. Actually sacrificing the escorts and light destroyers for a victory might even be a bargain for the bastards ¨C there were a lot of Republic forces trapped in the pocket. The same advantages that made ramming attacks suicidal unless they were a part of a large offensive also meant that none of the loyalists had a chance to escape in hyperspace.

    "We''re hanging a bit better, however my escorts are practically gone along with a third of the battle line. My remaining Venators and heavy cruisers are taking a beating." Tenant continued with the good news.

    "We always knew we won''t be able to stop the bastards if they just kept coming and decided to pay the price." Tarkin grudgingly admitted. "I honestly didn''t expect them to be willing to do so."

    "It''s Veil''s fault I guess. He must have pissed off our guests." A ghost of a smile flashed over Tenant''s face.

    "Speaking about him..." Gideon trailed off.

    "He better arrive soon or he''ll have to deal with all the Separatist by himself." Tenant nodded grimly.

    "The enemy battle line is advancing." An aide announced.

    "So this is it." Tarkin mussed. "It was honor knowing you, Nils. See you on the other side."

    "It was an honor, brigadier. Cut off engines and intensify forward firepower. Continue targeting those destroyers. Only when they''re all gone concentrate on the battleships!" Tenant ordered to someone off screen before cutting off the connection.

    "We''ll advance until we overtake Fourth Theater fleet." Tarkin ordered. Have third pull back and use those shipyards on the flank for cover. I want them to reform their lines as well as they can and hold their ground."

    "Brigadier, the defenses of the Hypervelocity gun had been breached. Enemy Commandos with death packs are converging on the generators!" The liaison with the ground forces reported. "One of the secondary approaches to the Ion Cannon is about to be overran and the only available reinforcements might buy half an hour at best."

    "It changes nothing. We might not last half hour anyway." Tarkin shrugged.

    Gideon was out of options. He couldn''t run, couldn''t survive for long if he stood his ground and an attempt to attack would meant that his ships would leave the debris field surrounding them and providing a partial cover which would lead to them dying faster for no much gain. Actually reaching one or two of the battleships and ramming them was a pipe dream at this point. They had sufficient escorts and firepower to avoid such a fate.

    All that was left was to fight to the bitter end and hope Veil would arrive before the enemy could take Eridau.

    =RK=

    Part 10

    =RK=

    CIC

    Mandaloriancruiser Remembrance

    3 light years from Eriadu

    interstellar void

    "The scouts just exited hyperspace. We''ve got good connections on all data-links." Piett reported.

    "Put the sensor data on the main holotank when available." I ordered and returned my attention to the floating images of the three admirals under my command.

    In the end I managed to convince the nice folks at Gerrenthum that it was in their best interests to sent Lind to tag along with us along with half of their intact navy. However pulling off that stunt cost me making a lot of enemies among the locals. Still it was worth it ¨C after the shenanigans they pulled off, I couldn''t trust them politically, nor their navy. I was pretty sure they would be ever more determined to go after me in the Senate after the coming battles. Lind and company were going to lead the ?ssault upon the Confederate forces at Eridau escorting the Freedom ¨C which had both the durability and firepower to take them out if they suddenly got any bright ideas about defecting.

    I had commanded reluctant and sometimes openly hostile allies in the past. I knew how to keep them in line when the only thing I had available was a very big stick with no real carrots to go around.

    Needless to say, Lind wasn''t feeling particularly patriotic about potentially dying for the Republic in the coming battle. The sense I got from him was that while he wasn''t pleased by the prospect of being neutral or siding with the Separatists, he preferred such an outcome if the alternative was fighting what he saw as a superior enemy with an arguably good cause.

    Ironically, if the new CIS leadership played their cards right, they might objectively become the good guys in this sordid affair. For a lot of the worlds in the Outer Rim, they were already a better alternative than what the Republic was willing to offer, which at least partially explained the attitude of Gerrenthum''s politicians and military. However that little truth didn''t change the fact that their actions during the battle were borderline treason.

    Civil wars were kriffing messy and seldom black and white, who knew?

    A major pain in the ?ss too, no matter the opportunities they presented ¨C like feeding a bit of disinformation to Lind and company stating that we wold be leaving in no less than thirty hours when I had the fleet moving twenty hours after we secured Gerrenthum. I personally found it mightily suspicious that when we arrived we found the Separatist throwing everything including multiple kitchen sinks at Tenant in an obvious attempt to remove him from play before we could arrive.

    The raw sensor data finally came through.

    "That''s a right mess." Vex pointed out.

    What looked like all the Separatist forces in the system were busy ?ssaulting the Tenant''s fleet along with whatever still survived from the local navy. The Confederacy appeared to be winning too, though all the wrecks surrounding the planet were a testament that our boys and girls had put up a hell of a fight.

    "That simply wouldn''t do." I shook my head. "Vex, you''re taking out that reserve force hanging out fifteen light seconds from the moon. I''m leaving all bombers with you. Jump in their faces and blow them away from my battle space. Joanna, you and Lind are hitting the bottom of the enemy formation attacking the moon. I''ll be working on them from above. We''ll do a modified variant of what we used against the northern force at Gerrenthum. Take out the battleships first. Whatever escorts are left can be handled by Tenant''s people."

    "This is going to be painful for our pilots." Vex noted.

    "Using hyper capable bombers to jump in their faces and shoot first is probably the best way to utilize our small craft until we figure out a better counter-measures for the Guardian." I shrugged. Honestly, I was astounded of how well the kriffing thing worked. I expected a moderately effective defense against small craft and instead got a real game-changer. "Begin coordinating with your forces. We''ll be making a synchronized insertion for a best effect. May the Force serve you well in the battles to come."

    Once the conference call was over, I began issuing orders to my task force. I actually got two thirds of the Republic forces to play with, with the rest going to Vex and Holt being left with babysitting our new "allies". My plan was rough but workable ¨C I was going to use the Silencer to breach the shields of a battleships, then finish ASAP by concentrating on it. While the weapon recharged, the whole task force would focus its firepower on another which would allow us to to take care of it in a short order. Before taking some loses, it should be possible to take out a Luckrehulk that way reasonably fast. By then the Silencer would have recharged and a third battleship would die in a short order.

    I got the necessary orders out along with some tweaks on the offensive formation we were going to use just in time, because the calculations were ready.

    "Engage!" I ordered and thus rendered myself a mere spectator until something unexpected happened.

    =RK=

    Under the ideal conditions and at the maximum speed of military hyperdrives, crossing mere three light years couldbe done very fast. Somewhere between eight to nine seconds if we got as fast as the slowest ship in my fleet could travel. The conditions were good, though we went for precision and safety considering we were going to appear on the edge of two gravity wells and aimed to get as close as possible to a bunch of Lucrehulks.

    So we spent leisurely two minutes in hyperspace before arriving at Eriadu. A few tense seconds followed until our targeting systems and sensors could stabilize and their raw data processed. That gave the enemy just enough time to figure out how kriffed they were.

    "Silencer is up, target locked, firing!" Piett reported.

    The plot updated. We were in almost perfect position ¨C behind four Lucrehulks. which would need to turn if they wanted to aim most of their firepower at us. The closest one flashed and its red symbol turned amber signifying moderate damage. Its shields were gone and my fleet unleashed all its fury upon its hull. Thirty seconds later it was a mission killed wreck and the Task Force shifted its attention to the next target.

    While a Luckrehulk could duke it out with up to eight Venators for extended periods of time and cripple or destroy more than a few before going down, when seven of the cruisers, eight Acclamators, one Dreadnought and a bunch of escorts concentrated their firepower on a single battleship, its shields tended to overload in short order. The second Luckrehulk began taking moderate damage before the enemy could put any significant resistance. By the time they turned so the bulk of their firepower could be aimed at us, half of the battleships were out of the game.

    "Silencer is up, acquiring targeting solution..." Piett reported. "Target locked, firing!" He exclaimed and another Luckrehulk turned amber.

    Whoever was in charge over there figured out that they were kriffed. The battleships were too deep in the gravity well to get out before we pounded them to scrap and they weren''t going to be able to take out more than a single Venator before being overwhelmed. Instead the bastards focused on my escorts. I gave the order for them to hide behind my battle line, however it came too late for three of my light cruisers and five frigates. I had to helplessly watch them be methodically dismantled by the battle wagons before only one of the behemoths was left. By the time it shifted its fire on my leading Venator, the outcome was predetermined. Even the Lucrehulks significant firepower was unable to overload the cruiser''s shields before its own defenses collapsed and it was bathed in turbolaser fire.

    "Full ahead. Take us over the upper edge of the battle. The targeting priority remains unchanged. All units are free to independently maneuver within the formation." I ordered, then called up a smaller tactical display to look at the rest of the battle.

    Joanna had used her ship to a devastating effect ¨C she had practically ran over a group of five battleships complete with escorts without slowing down and left only a field of cooling debris in her wake. The Freedom was already engaging the enemy forces fighting Tenant.

    Next was Vex. He was ducking it with an almost equal Separatist force and was apparently willing. However, from what the sensors were telling me, the bomber force was gutted even if it apparently did its job.

    "Comms, can you raise either admiral Tenant or whoever is in charge of the local navy?" I asked.

    "No can do, sir. There''s too much interference." Came the prompt reply.

    Hopefully they were still alive.

    "The enemy is attempting to break off!" The sensor operator exclaimed.

    The kriff?! I didn''t have any forces in position to pursue. At least most of them were within the gravity wells and coming into range fast.

    A light destroyer division accelerated towards us at ramming vectors and flank speed backed up by five battleships that broke off their attack on Tenant and headed our way. However most of the enemy were scrambling to get away, not to fight.

    "Use the Silencer on the destroyers. Reverse thrust, I want to hold off contact with the Lucrehulks. for two minutes." I ordered.

    Just in time for the Silencer to reload.

    "Targets locked it and firing!" Pied announced ten seconds latter.

    The battleships paused. With all the chaos, ECM and general jamming, they probably weren''t aware how exactly we took out the first Luckrehulk group. That hesitation was going to prove fatal ¨C the Silencer was going to be ready for sure before the first Luckrehulk entered effective range.

    We were going to win unless something got kriffed up in a major way. Catching the enemy out of position and engaging their naval forces in manageable chunks along with the Freedom and my super weapon made that a foregone conclusion.

    Unfortunately the bastard refused to just die ¨C that was one of the reasons why call them the enemy after all. Even as the first Luckrehulk was crippled by the Silencer and then pounded to scrap, one of my Venators, which was doing its best to shield my own ship, was singled out and taken apart by concentrated fire.

    We managed go take another battleship out before the Silencer recharged, however we traded another cruiser, two ?ssault ships and two thirds of my remaining escorts for that privilege.

    The Silence spoke again and a third Luckrehulk became vulnerable. It died too.

    "Keep covering the Remembrance, physical intercept if you have to." I ordered. My remaining ships no longer had the firepower to take out a battleship''s shields without ducking it out for a prolonged period of time. However as long as the Silencer was operational we could sidestep that issue.

    Two more capital ships were damaged to some extent including my own before the enemy could be taken out.

    "Jamming is clearing up. We still don''t have contact with admiral Tenant or the local''s commander ¨C a brigadier Tarkin." The comm lieutenant reported.

    "Carry on and keep trying."

    I looked at the tactical plot and zoomed out. Joanna was already pulling up and she continued to wreck anything that came in her range. On an even brighter note, half of Lind''s forces were already gone. Hopefully he was going to get himself killed sooner rather than later and save me a few headaches.

    Vex was still busy. He was maneuvering wildly around an enemy which was doing its best to flee too, considering they had lost up to half their original numbers. In contrast, the admiral had lost mere four ships ¨C a single Venator, on Acclamator with heavy damage and his escorts were reduced to a quarter of their original numbers. The less said for the bombers the better.

    "I want a report form both the planetary and moon surface when available. If necessary prepare our ground troops for deployment." I hoped it wasn''t to be necessary. Doing so would mean leaving a lot of them on Eriadu when I leave for Kamino.

    The remaining enemy forces finally broke. They either scattered or went for ramming attacks ¨C some thing that hit Tenant''s people and Lind''s friends quite hard. At least my own Task Force was still far enough so we could shoot up with impunity any suicidal moron who headed our way.

    Finally it was all over but the screaming.

 Chapter 80 - Operation Southern Star

    Part 1

    2ndPlatoon

    Black Company

    41st Battalion "The Grim Reapers"

    Eriadu''s moon

    "Kriffing die already!" Hound roared at a Commando droid that attempted to gut him with a vibroblade. It managed to kriff up the sergeant''s rifle, forcing the NCO to bash its head with the stock.

    He threw the useless weapon away and drew his sidearm. A SB appeared at the torn apart door leaving out of the bunker and Hound put three quick shots between its eyes. The machine spluttered and died, blocking the exit and buying the Clone a brief reprieve.

    "Dex, without reinforcements we''re all dead and the cannon is lost." Hound growled. "I would like to avoid that."

    "Everything''s committed, sir!"

    "We''re actually here." A deep voice sounded from the exit. The destroyed droids flew away from the door and a tall man wearing an armor identical to Hound''s came in followed by a much shorter.. girl?

    "Jedi Knight Gared, at your service, sergeant. Come on, we have some clankers to kick out of here!" The Jedi exclaimed and vanished through the door. The kid gave them a shy wave and followed the man.

    "Competent ones?" Dex asked.

    "They better be or we''re all dead." Hound grumbled. He looked around and grabbed the gun of a fallen local, then followed the Jedi outside.

    "It''s a good day to die¡­" Dex muttered. "Kriff it, I don''t want to die!" He shook his head and followed the sergeant.

    It was pure hell outside. The enemy was swarming over the bunkers, which had their built in weapons disabled. The only reason why the place hadn''t been overran was a GAR company charging the clankers.

    Dex ducked under a swing and jumped away from the Commando droid that nearly gutted him. He promptly shot the clanker, then dived for cover when one of the new big droids came behind the corner. The Jedi ran towards it, using their lightsabers to parry blaster bolts coming from weapons built into its side. They were almost upon it, when both jumped back to avoid a shield snapping around the machine. It slammed its legs into the ground for better stability and its shoulder mounted cannons tracked the tall Jedi.

    The Jedi landed lightly on his feet, then paused and raised a hand towards the big droid. Dex never knew what the officer planned to do. The Jedi suddenly exploded in action and dived away.

    Gared wasn''t fast enough. Two white lances shot from a droid no one saw coming and hit less than a meter from the Jedi. He was picked up by the resulting explosion and thrown away like a twig.

    Dex winced when the man hit the ground. There was no way anyone, even a Jedi, could walk from something like that.

    The girl screamed in surprise, then sprinted towards her master.

    The sergeant shouted a warning, but she either didn''t hear it or didn''t care.

    "Draw its attention!" Hound ordered and opened fire on the closest war-droid and Dex followed suit.

    The blaster bolts splashed over its shields and the kriffing thing paid them no attention. Instead it leveled its guns at the two Jedi.

    "So much for making it through this..." Dex ?r??n?d.

    The world flashed in blue and he screamed as like what felt like electricity washed over him. The last thing Dex recalled was seeing n?k?d lighting dancing all over the that kriffing war-droid, then the pain became too much and he knew no more.

    Bridge

    Corellian cruiser Freedom

    High orbit above Eriadu

    Going by appearance alone, Gideon Takin wasn''t an impressive man. He was thin, almost sickly looking with receding brown hair. His injuries didn''t help matters. The brigadier''s right hand was shattered when his flagship ran afoul of two Luckrehulks which were too deep in the gravity well to run.

    At least he was alive and would recover in time. The same couldn''t be said for Tenant. His Venator was rammed by a light destroyer at the end of the battle. The cruiser was a wreck still combed by SAR teams, who were making their way to the CIC as fast as they could, however there simply wasn''t a clear route to that compartment. The rear admiral could be dead or dying for all we knew and there wasn''t anything more that could be done.

    Tarkin sat in the seat waiting for him and ?r??n?d quietly.

    "Brigadier, its good to finally meet you in person. I''ve heard good things about you and your brother. There were enough wrecked separatist ships here when we arrived to prove those rumors true I see." I smiled.

    "The same goes for you, general. Your reputation precedes you." Tarkin nodded. "I''m glad you arrivedin time. The situation was getting unpleasant." Gideon added dryly.

    I chuckled. The man was a master of understatement it seemed.

    "Back to the Core or Kamino?" Tarkin asked.

    "The latter. Unless I take every relatively intact ship in the system I won''t be able to fight my way to friendly territory in the Core without losing everything but the Freedom. Besides, they probably could use any help they could get." I explained.

    "Yes. They will be facing another powerful force." Gideon nodded. "I take it this isn''t a social call, general?"

    "No. With Tenant''s situation unknown, I''ll be placing all Republic forces that I''m leaving here under your command, brigadier."

    "I appreciate the trust. How many ships will you take?" Tarkin asked.

    "Every relatively intact Republic cruiser and ?ssault ship. We''ll be leaving as soon as some basic repairs and resupply are complete." I added.

    "That will leave the whole Quadrant significantly weakened." Tarkin pointed out.

    "I''m aware." I turned around and went to the window.

    The space outside was cluttered with dead and damaged ship. Moths of light flew all around them ¨C SAR units doing their best to cut out wounded crew members before it was too late. Too many weren''t going to make it anyway.

    "If we''re lucky." Tarkin frowned.

    "I''ll be doing my best to ensure that no matter what happens at Kamino, the Separatist would find it hard to come your way with overwhelming force. At worst I''ll lead them on a chase towards the core." I turned my back to the carnage outside and smiled at Gideon. "After Geonosis and the last two battles I commanded, I''m sure that our Confederate friends will do their best to remove me as a threat."

    "If things got kriffed up at Kamino, you might not have the numbers to get away, general. Even if you take every ship that''s not too badly damaged with you, that won''t be a big fleet." Tarkin said.

    "I know. I''ll simply have to play the hand I''ve been dealt. Presuming that we don''t get killed in the next few months, I have some thoughts on how best to utilize Eriadu. I would like to run a few ideas past you, brigadier..."

    =RK=

    Flag bridge

    Corellian cruiser Freedom

    High orbit above Eriadu

    Firmus Piett felt a lot of apprehension. This was the second time this week he had to deliver a report about the devastating losses the fleet suffered. The fact that the enemy was mauled even worse was small comfort for all people who died here and at Gerrenthum.

    "Firmus, good. You have the reports?" Veil returned the salute and asked.

    "Right here, sir." Piett offered one of the data pads he was carrying.

    He still found it eery how the general thought nothing of using his abilities for little things ¨C like picking the device with his mind and making it float into a waiting hand. The Jedi seldom did such stuff, though Firmus wasn''t really sure why.

    "I knew it was bad, but this... Kriff it, we got mauled." Veil grumbled. "Give us the sordid details, lieutenant. I promise I won''t shoot the messenger, nor space him." Veil jokedgrimly.

    "I''m glad to hear that, sir. I''ll begin with what we''ll have available in two days if that''s all right with you, general?" Piett smiled nervously.

    "It is. Calm down man, I don''t bite unless you''re my wife and ask nicely."

    That was too much kriffing information.

    "We''ll have have five Venators and six Acclamators ready for extended travel and heavy combat as well as a single Dreadnought heavy cruiser. The situation with the escorts isn''t much better ¨C just a single light cruiser and fifteen, perhaps sixteen frigates."

    Admiral Vex began cursing in an unknown language. The general answered in the same. The Clone shook his head and slammed a fist in the table.

    "Our combined losses are substantial. Thirty two Venators are confirmedas destroyed. Twenty with heavy damage. The rough estimates are for fifty percent crew loss across the board." Piett reported. Tens of thousands dead just from the cruisers.

    "It gets worse, I recon." The general muttered and waved him to continue.

    "You''re regrettably correct, sir. Acclamators ¨C thirty six destroyed and nineteen damaged. At least the crew losses are significantly lighter ¨C thirty one percent." No doubt thanks to the heavier defenses on those ships.

    "Gentlemen, we got kriffed up." Hold declared quietly.

    "We kinda noticed." Veil muttered. "Do go on, Firmus."

    "We''ve got a single operational heavy cruiser, twelve lost and five more needing extensive repairs. Their crews fared best ¨C only twenty percent casualties across the board."

    "That''s something..." Vex muttered.

    "Do I dare ask about the escorts?" Holt asked.

    "The situation there is bad. We lost forty seven light cruisers, twenty are fit for either scrap or extensive time in the dock and three are MIA. The overall casualty rate is fifty nine percent." Firmus winced.

    Needless to say, the frigates suffered even worse.

    "Thirty six Consular frigates and eighty eight CR90s are confirmedas destroyed. Almost forty are with significant damage and four are missing. Casualties among their crews are the worst ¨C about seventy two percent."

    "It makes sense. When a capital ship hits one of the bugs, usually everyone dies." Holt sighed.

    "What about our esteemed allies?" Veil asked.

    "Brigadier Tarkin''s Theater Fleets suffered heavy casualties. We don''t have final numbers, however the current estimate is for forty two cruisers lost, over ninety destroyers and over a hundred and ten frigates among the four fleets defending Eriadu. That number includes the ten cruisers and twenty three escorts admiral Lind lost."

    "That''s..." Admiral Holt trailed off.

    "It puts things in perspective, doesn''t it?" Veil asked.

    "I honestly never thought I''ll witness, much less fight in a battle bigger than Geonosis. The last few days..." Holt shook her head.

    "I hope we accounted ourselves well enough?" Veil asked hopefully.

    "That''s the only good news I can think about right now, sir. We''ve got only estimates. Proper numbers would need to wait until all sensor logs are checked over and enemy wrecks are accounted for." Piett said. He glanced at the data padhe held. "We gutted them all right. Four hundredplus Munificents, over two hundred Recusant light destroyers, between thirty five and forty battleships."

    "That''s a lot of scrap." The Clone admiral whistled. A pleased smile slowly appeared on his face. "How long could they sustain such losses?"

    "At least as long as us." The general wasn''t too pleased at those numbers. "To put things in perspective, if out friends in intelligence know what they''re talking about we''ve destroyed somewhere between two to three percent of the total enemy navy from before the offensive began. If we keep achieving such victories, both sides would have lost their navies before anyone could achieve a victory."

    "It''s not that bad. With all those battleships gone, we''re overall ahead in the firepower department, though the raw number of lost ships isn''t exactly favoring us." Holt said, then paused. "I think."

    "I think that all of us could actually use some shuteye before thinking about the price of this victory. A drink too, when I think about it."

    "Some good Mandalorian spirits per chance?" Vex perked up.

    "I might have a bottle or two for special occasions. Surviving the last two battles counts I recon..." The general looked at Piett. "Firmus, care to join us? You look a bit pale."

    "I..." Ah, why not? Declining the invitation didn''t strike him as the best possible idea. "I''ll like to, sir. If it isn''t too much trouble."

    The general waved a hand and a bottle appeared from under the table followed by four glasses. Piett shook his head and went to join the flag officers.

    =RK=

    Part 2

    Bridge

    Droid Command ship Magnificent Annihilation

    Duro

    Couple of minutes after the bulk of his fleet exited hyperspace, admiral Tonith was speaking with Trench.

    "You''re just in time." The arachnid like alien made a grimace that might have been a smile ¨C before half his face had been replaced by cybernetics anyway.

    "We''re on the clock after all. I couldn''t afford to be late ¨C for all our sakes." Tonith answered.

    "I''m sending you the updated course now. When your ships are ready we''re all leaving." Trench said.

    "Naturally. As far as my people could figure out, we''ve been able to fool the enemy. I''ve sent the decoy fleet towards Bellassa and then Kuat to aid in Ningo''s distraction." Tonith reported.

    "Even if they sent their reserves at Corellia, I have a few ideas on how to handle them." Even Trench''s few remaining natural eyes gleamed at that announcement. "With a bit of luck, our "raiding" fleets might slip in unnoticed too. Either way, we''ve got enough ships and firepower to succeed."

    "That we do." Tonith smiled.

    It took them weeks to clean up the surrounding space from enemy scouts, not to mention the ships expended in taking out listening posts and jamming the holonet in the nearby systems, however they were finally ready¡­ and the fourth and last Sector Fleet meant to hit the Corellia had arrived at

    Duro an hour or so before Tonith''s own forces.

    "I want you and your senior commanders on board my ship for the transit. We''ll use the time for some additional training and further refining out plans. You''ll get back for the last leg of the journey." Trench continued. "This is going to be the biggest battle the galaxy has seen in more than thousand years." The alien fixed Tonith with all his eyes. "The stuff of legends, history books and more importantly the one that decides if we lose the war in a few short years or actually earn a chance to win it."

    "I''m well aware of what''s at stake." Tonith shot back.

    "I know. It bears repeating. Get your people moving. I''ll meet you in the hangar. Trench out."

    =RK=

    Confederacy Council Chamber

    Raxulon City

    Raxus Prime

    It was rare to see the whole Council gathered in the same room, Vombra thought. However it was understandable. The offensive was entering its most critical stage and they all wanted a briefing on how it was going ¨C which unfortunately was a mixed bag lately.

    Naturally, the damned Sith were to blame.

    Sui Main, Ilroth and Hill finally took their seats, joining him, Argente and Nudo at the table. Kleo went over the motions of the inefficient pleasantries everyone exchanged and felt relief when they finally got to the point.

    "We''ve got both good and bad news from the front." Hill, who was chosen as a chairman for today, began. "Most of the secondary objectives of the offensive are complete. Only Mon Calamari still holds in the far Eastern reaches of the galaxy. Our various territories are connected by direct hyperlanes and we''re fortifying the key systems on those routes."

    "It''s good to get an official confirmation about that, Chairman." Mai smiled.

    "Unfortunately, our efforts in securing the whole Western Galactic Quadrant met unfortunate end." Hill continued.

    "Explain. I''ve heard rumors of heavy fighting but that''s all." Passel snapped and began rubbing one of his horns.

    "Veil. We still lack a complete picture, however it appears that about eight days ago he reached Bespin with his containment fleet. There he linked up with the bulk of the Republic naval forces in the region before moving on Gerrenthum. There he engaged roughly two thirds of the Sector Fleet sent to clean up the Sector and won."

    "Another crushing defeat at his hands?" Ilroth ?r??n?d. "I hate the Sith."

    "Actually it wasn''t if the numbers I''ve got are correct." Vombra interjected. "His fleet suffered major casualties when the situation turned in a general melee. Unfortunately after his victory, Veil conscripted half of Gerrenthum''s navy which spent most of the battle on the sidelines and made best speed towards Eriadu."

    "I don''t like where this is going." Nudo hissed.

    "You won''t." Hill continued. "Veil arrived while our forces in the systems were busy reducing the enemy naval forces. He caught them out of position and managed to defeat them in detail. Only a small part of our fleets there managed to get away. However, we''ve got confirmation from both agents on Eriadu, sensor probes and a few scouts left behind that our forces slated to subdue the Western Quadrant and the GAR naval presence there practically managed a mutual kill. If it wasn''t for that Corellian cruiser or the Sith new weapon ¨C there''s at least one with Veil, we would have won. "

    "That¡­ actually not so bad." Ilroth perked up.

    "Our analysts believe that once he''s resupplied and conducted some repairs, Veil will attempt to reinforce either Kamino or Naboo. The former is more likely." Vombra announced.

    "What forces can he bring?"

    "That Corellian pain in the ?ss, ten or so cruisers and ?ssault ships with a few escorts." Vombra answered.

    "That ship can take on a fleet by itself." Mai pointed out.

    "Yes. The Corellian cruiser is the primary threat. We''re considering letting them reach Kamino, then concentrate all the forces we can support in that area and crush them." Vombra said.

    "I concur." Hill agreed. "There''s an interesting piece of information that finally made it back from our agents at Coruscant. It appears that the Republic intelligence services had underestimated our total naval strength." San smiled.

    "How so?" Mai asked.

    "They got the total number of our Sector Fleets mostly right and estimate them to be hundred plus." Hill''s smile grew wider. "However for some unknown reason they appear to believe that each fleet is made of 200 to 4000 ships at the high end."

    Vombra let out an electronic chuckle.

    "Are you telling us that they underestimated our numbers by an order of magnitude at least?" The cyborg asked.

    "Yes. My guess is that they saw what we''ve been building up for the offensive and made their conclusions based on those numbers." Hill shrugged. "It''s too bad that due to logistics we''re unable to leverage our full strength against the core."

    "We''ll need a lot of those ships to counter the enemy retaliation in a few months anyway and a lot of the older ships are being upgraded as we speak and thus not available." Vombra added.

    "That news is heartening." Mai said. "The situation in the Core?"

    "So far its going mostly according to plan. There were just two setbacks ¨C Trench lost more forces securing Duro than anticipated, though we could afford them as long as the primary objective is complete. The other problem was how long it took Ningo to capture Antar. The Republic made a stand there behind formidable fortifications. While we''re controlling the system and fortifying it in turn, the planet itself is still under siege. There are two army groups down there and they''re all dug in around the shield generators."

    "Unpleasant, though not unexpected. Corellia and Kuat ¨C that''s whats important." Argente interjected.

    "It remains to be seen. Ningo has been reinforced and should reach Neimodia tonight. Once he gets more up to date intelligence, he''ll go after Balmora and from there Kuat. One of our fleets is capturing Bellassa as we speak and go for Kuat too afterward."

    "That makes what? A heavy reinforced Sector Fleet going there?" Nudo asked.

    "Yes. Admiral Ningo won''t have the numbers and firepower to wreck a lot of the industry, much less capture the system, however that was never the plan. His attack is going to tie up the local forces for long enough, including all Mandators which were recalled to Kuat."

    "Oh. That''s going to be ugly." Ilroth winced.

    "Corellia?" Argente asked.

    "Admiral Tonith reached Duro yesterday and he should be moving towards Corellia as we speak. His Sector Fleet was brought back to full strength with the arrival of his Second and Third Task Forces. In addition, Third Fondor Sector Fleet was dispatched to joint the ?ssault." Vombra explained.

    "That''s a lot of ships no matter how you put it." Nudo nodded. "Will they be enough?"

    "I trust admiral Trench. He''s the best we have. However, its an unfortunate truth that a victory can''t be guaranteed. Unless we got lucky and the enemy reserves are dispatched towards Kuat, Trench will be facing two full Republic Sector Fleets, Corellia''s navy, including five of their big cruisers and the system''s defenses."

    "That''s¡­ heh." Nudo chuckled nervously. "When was the last time such a battle happened?"

    "I think there were one or two similar engagements during the New Sith Wars. The last one that''s properly documented are from the Great War between the Old Republic and the Sith Empire."

    "We''ll have to trust Trench to win, won''t we?" Mai asked.

    "He''ll do it. I''m confident in his abilities." Ilroth said. "What''s the status of the rest of the galaxy?"

    "In the east, only Mandalore holds. However, our advance in Republic space in the Expansion Region is slowing down due to stiffening enemy resistance. We''re still not hundred percent sure where the Republic is going to draw the line and attempt to actually stop us. So far they''ve fortified only the important industrial worlds in our path and falling back unless they can rely on decent system defense to back them up." Hill answered.

    "My guess is the Inner Rim. Depending on how cold blooded and pragmatic their Senate could be persuaded to be. My guess is that we''ll hit heavy resistance once we reach the eastern fringes of the Inner Rim. We''ve got reports of a Sector Fleet being ?ssembled there with another being spread out and harassing our advance all over that Quadrant..."

    =RK=

    Part 3

    Flag Bridge

    Republic cruiser Light''s Solace

    Kamino

    "General Rancisis, the enemy is entering the system in strength. Our remaining fleets in the sector are making their best speed here." A Clone reported. He was Kal, the admiral who used to be in charge of the defense in space before the Jedi Master arrived.

    "Any trace of Veil''s fleet? We can use any help we can get." Rancisis asked. His tail coiled around his custom seat and gripped it indignation at what he was forced to do for the good of the galaxy.

    "No, general. As far as we know he should be somewhere in the Western Quadrant." Kal answered.

    Rancisis simply nodded lost in thoughts.

    While the Jedi Master agreed that the Sith needed to be removed from power, all these lies, deceptions¡­ they weren''t the Jedi way. What he found most disturbing was how easy lying turned out to be. It was too easy. It didn''t feel like pushing him towards the Dark Side and that more than anything scared Rancisis. Because in the end, even if everything went as planned or even better, the Sith might have won. Not because they would succeed into eradicating the Jedi, but because they made them to destroy themselves from withing. To fall without noticing it.

    Rancisis frowned. That wasn''t a new thought. He had those doubts for months now, however he simply couldn''t see a better alternative. What should he do, betray everything he believed in so he could run and save his own skin while abandoning the galaxy to the Sith? Doing so was simply unacceptable. Another person might have considered running away without doing their best to halt the Sith. That was simply unthinkable for the Jedi, which left them with less than ideal options.

    "Launch fighters and keep them under Guardian coverage at all times. I want all ships constantly executing random evasive maneuvers to minimize the chance of ramming attacks." The Jedi Master ordered.

    A single command zoomed out the image in the holotank in the center of the tactical table around which Rancisis and his staff were sitting. The hundreds of Republic ships and thousands of fighters became green symbols as the scale increased. Finally the enemy leading elements became visible. They were coming in cautiously. The closest Munificent divisions were entering real space four light hours from Kamino.

    First were scouts which immediately launched Vultures to extend their effective sensor coverage. Soon the Separatist numbers began increasing exponentially until Kamino was surrounded by a red tide. It wasn''t long before jamming and general ECM made scanning the enemy unreliable.

    "General, I''m glad you got here when you did." Kal said. "The enemy numbers are about sixty percent higher than ONI''s estimates."

    Rancisis hissed in annoyance. Was this a mistake, a deliberate deception or simply the enemy being well the enemy?

    "In conjunction with the system defenses we should be able to hold." The Jedi Master said with confidence he really didn''t feel.

    "They probably can call more reinforcements. We aren''t so lucky." Kal pointed out.

    "Then we''ll have to fight harder." Rancisis shrugged.

    It was true, what he said. It was another deception too. One of the last communiques from Coruscant contained a coded message for his eyes only using a one time ancient Jedi cypher. Practically unbreakable if you didn''t know the key, which he was given before leaving the Temple.

    The message was short and to the point. The Council had proof that the Clone army was a Sith invention and would in all likehoodback up the Sith when this whole charade was over. There were no instructions sent. Just that bit of information.

    Rancisis closed his eyes. What was he supposed to do?! Wasn''t it enough that he had to lie to and deceive everyone under his command?!

    No, there were no instructions. Nor suggestions. He was left on his own devices, so he could follow his conscience. The Jedi Master almost laughed bitterly at that. The Sith had all but won unless something radically changed. They had the ear of the Senate, their popularity was soaring while the Jedi were hated and mistrusted by the ordinary people. Now he learned that the bulk of the Republic army was actually a Sith one simply waiting for an order to turn upon the nation they were supposed to protect and transform it into an Empire.

    Rancisis hissed quietly. Kamino was the primary source of the Clones. There were a few new smaller facilities, though in the great scheme of things they were of no consequences. Besides all of them were cut off behind enemy lines anyway.

    If Kamino fell, the Sith would lose one of their greatest weapons. Without a source to replenish their numbers, by the end of the war the Clone army would be a shadow of its former self at best. The only question was could Rancisis do it? Could he betray all the men under his command in such a way?

    Could he dare not do it? Could he risk leaving an intact Clone army in the hands of the Sith if the Jedi at Coruscant failed?

    The Force was quiet. The Light Side didn''t guide him. The Dark Side didn''t attempt to sway him. Rancisis found himself alone with his thoughts and for the first time since he could remember, the Jedi Master found himself despising the Force.

    What was one more deception, one more betrayal, when it was to protect the whole galaxy?

    "We''re going with Blue One." Rancisis finally ordered. "May the Force be with us all."

    The Separatists swarmed forward and the battle was finally joined.

    =RK=

    Bridge

    Droid Command Ship Death at Dawn

    Kamino

    Ever since he got his updates, TK-51 had experienced many new emotions. The sheer frustration he was feeling after a week of slamming into the Republic forces defending Kamino and bouncing back was a new and most certainly not welcomed emotion.

    Loses on both sides had been steadily mounting. Kamino had acquired two brand new orbital rings made exclusively by destroyed ships and shattered battle stations. While the enemy was slowly, surely losing, the price was proving almost too heavy. While the Confederacy could afford to spent incredible amounts of resources in order to neutralize this planet once and for all, TK-51 couldn''t help it but notice that only droids were thrown in the first four ?ssault waves. They did their jobs, shattered the enemy''s outer defensive rings and all but a lucky few were destroyed in the process.

    For the first time since being built, he found that fact worthy of resentment. TK-51 paused at that revelation and activated his self-diagnostic sub-routines before concentrating on the task at hand. He was part of the sixth ?ssault wave and this one was going to break through to the planet. In fact, TK-51s role was a vital one. All the ships he had captured in previous engagements were repaired and chock full with advanced droids and the Confederacy''s new allies. He was to simulate a running engagement while those ships attempted to seek safety with their friends protecting Kamino. Once in positions, they were going to disgorge all the ground forces they had and ram the closest juicy target.

    That little deception was going to happen while the fifth ?ssault wave was busy throwing itself against the last defense line and all remaining enemy ships, which were still too many for comfort.

    It was a good plan. A few Republic battle groups evading CIS forces in the sector were able to reach Kamino in the last few days. Two actually fought their way to the planet losing most of their numbers in the process. One such incursion was the primary reason why the fourth ?ssault wave got gutted instead of achieving its mission with acceptable loses.

    There was just a single problem ¨C TK-51 had qualms about the Confederacy''s new allies. Jedi of all things. That they were supposedly from the Old Republic ¨C well that bit of data didn''t make him feel any better. Still, TK-51 was a Confederate Tactical droid with a mission and he was going to do it to the best of his abilities.

    An alarm sounded. The plot updates showing ten Republic cruisers exiting hyperspace in a zone reasonably far away from CIS forces. TK-51 began issuing orders, including a calculation of hyperspace insertion coordinates in front of the new enemy. Letting them plausibly get away was going to be tricky.

    =RK=

    Part 4

    =RK=

    CIC

    Republic cruiser Daring

    High orbit over Kamino

    Wilhuff Tarkin was a man running out of what little patience he had left. His homeworld had been under siege for weeks now with no world of what was happening there. His brother was there holding the line and he had no idea if Gideon was still alive. If the rest of his family was safe.

    If that wasn''t enough, someone in Republic intelligence had kriffed up by the numbers. There was supposed to be a single reinforced Separatist fleet ?ssaulting Kamino. They could have stopped such a force. Instead they came knocking with thrice the expected numbers.

    That was bad, however the combined Republic fleet and fortifications should have been enough to hold off the enemy for a long time. A month, perhaps more, unless they got heavy reinforcements and could afford to waste ships or the Jedi in charge went with an overly passive plan that saw both sides trading ships at a rate the Republic couldn''t sustain.

    "General Rancisis, if we continue trading ships with the enemy at this rate, we''re going to lose the system." Tarkin growled at the Jedi. Why the did High Command put that madman in charge anyway?! Wilhuff had been pondering that question ever since Rancisis arrived. Why couldn''t they sent Piell? The man might have been annoying as hell, however Tarkin couldn''t deny his competence. "Give the order and I''ll lead a counter attack against their next ?ssault. If we bloody them bad enough we''ll buy ourselves more time. Letting the enemy have the initiative and dictate the tempo of the engagement is suicide!" Tarkin snapped.

    "General, I have to agree with the commodore." Admiral Kal finally saw sense and decided to support him. It was a week too long, however Wilhuff was going to take what he could.

    "Thank you, admiral." He nodded in gratitude.

    "The Separatist can''t keep these ?ssaults for much longer." Rancisis dismissed the suggestion. "We still have fleets pulling back to reinforce us."

    "Fleets that are being chased by enemy forces that would at best make sure the overall situation doesn''t change." Tarkin shot back.

    "I will not sent our men to die pointlessly." Rancisis hissed.

    "We''ve got another convoy coming back. I suggest we continue this discussion later." Kal stated after an aide got his attention.

    Tarkin looked away from the holo images of the other officers and turned his head towards the holotank.

    "Zoom out, we''ve got more strays coming home. I want to know how many and where they''re." Wilhuff ordered.

    "Aye, sir."

    The image changed. Ten cruisers apparently got lucky. While they were obviously damaged, they arrived away from any nearby enemy forces that could immediately threaten them. If they were fast and lucky enough, they might even make it without being engaged.

    "Which task force?" Tarkin asked. Thanks to ECM from enemy units between his ship and the newcomers, the IFF couldn''t be read.

    "We''re analyzing now, sir." The officer in charge of the sensors reported.

    Wilhuff frowned. They were out of position ¨C it would take him longer to reach them than the newcomers would need to make another jump to the edge of the gravity well.

    A minute passed while the convoy headed towards Kamino at maximum acceleration. Separatist units were moving to intercept them, but unless they could plot a hyperspace insertion coordinates in time, the survivors would make it.

    Another minute was almost up and the hyperdrives should be ready soon.

    "Sir, we''ve got preliminary analysis. We''ve got ships from multiple Task Forces..." The officer paused. "That can''t be right..."

    "What is it, commander?" Tarkin asked.

    "At least one of those ships is reported lost, two more are from a battle group we lost contact with more than two weeks ago..."

    Wilhuff''s blood froze. Those weren''t Republic ships. They were Separatist now¡­

    "Give me a line to Kal and Rancisis now!" Tarkin snapped.

    Long seconds passed. The ships came closer and closer, then a Separatist force jumped almost in their path, but not quite. The newcomers altered their vectors a bit to avoid collision and fire was exchanged. For a moment Tarkin thought he was mistaken, then shook his head. This was a masterful deception, nothing more.

    "What is it, we''re busy commodore!" Rancisis hissed angrily.

    "It''s a trap! Those ships are under enemy control!" Tarkin explained.

    "That''s why the enemy is engaging them?" The Jedi sneered. "Stop wasting my time, commodore!"

    Tarkin grit his teeth when Rancisis cut off the channel. He looked at the holotank just in time to see the convoy vanishing.

    "Captain, I want the task force advancing towards the flagship. We''re being had." Wilhuff ordered.

    Before he was finished, the cruisers appeared on the edge of the gravity well. They didn''t alter their course but instead continued to accelerate. Separatist ships attempting such a stunt would have been blown to pieces. However no one opened fire on those units. Then the enemy jumped the gun and sent the next ?ssault wave.

    "Well done..." Tarkin nodded in grudging respect. He doubted that those cruisers would be stopped now. Not when a couple of hundred enemy ships thew themselves against the defenders as a distraction.

    "Engage the enemy. Continue moving towards the Flagship. Have the local reserve take our place." Tarkin ordered.

    A few seconds later he called sensor image of those cruisers. No one was shooting at them yet.

    "Damned fools." Wilhuff grumbled.

    Finally someone over there figured that something was wrong. Two Venators began maneuvering to avoid being hit. The pair of Gollan platforms that were targeted too had nowhere to go and weren''t shooting yet, damn it.

    Eight of the captured cruisers opened their hangars and began launching ?ssault transports and Vultures to screen them. They also opened fire and only now Rancisis and company deemed fit to return the favor.

    It was too little too late. The defending fleet couldn''t leverage enough firepower at those cruisers to take them out in time. One slammed into Kal''s Flagship and soon both of them were expanding clouds of debris. Another clipped Rancisis ship, yet didn''t manage a mutual kill. Why the hell the decent man had to die while Rancisis likely survived?!

    Tarkin wanted to scream in frustration.

    Then to his utter lack of surprise things got worse. The two Gollan stations were hit by three Venators each and that was more than they could handle. Final defensive fire from nearby ships shot down some droid fighters and transports, though most of them passed through the shield and too damn many continued towards the surface under their own power.

    The remaining rogue cruisers breached the atmosphere and began b?r?ly controlled glide towards the oceans below after being mostly disabled by the shield. Unfortunately they opened their hangars before that and more transports that were shielded by their motherships launched and began their descent.

    As if all that wasn''t a big enough disaster, the enemy sent three whole battleship divisions at the gap in the orbital defenses above Tipoca city.

    "Is Rancisis reachable?" Tarkin asked.

    "We can''t raise the flag." The comm officer answered after a few tries.

    "At least something good came out of this. Give me a fleet wide channel." Tarkin ordered. He took a deep breath and put his thoughts in order. "This is commodore Wilhuff Tarkin. Admiral Kal''s ships was just destroyed and general Rancisis Flag took crippling damage. The Jedi Master is currently out of contact. I''m ?ssuming command of the fleet. Contingency Arubesh Three is now in effect. All forces are to counter-attack if practical. First to third reserve squadrons, move in to plug the gap. I''m moving my battle group to ?ssist." Wilhuff made a motion to cut the channel.

    Tarkin sighed in relief. Now all he had to do was to deal with the enemy and ensure that Rancisis wouldn''t be retaking command of the navy.

    "Call Master Shaak Ti. I need to talk with her." If Rancisis was still alive, which was a given considering Tarkin''s luck lately, he was going to ensure that the overgrown snake would be somewhere he could be actually useful ¨C like down at the capital keeping at bay the enemy troops he allowed to land.

    =RK=

    Assault transport Omega 3

    Kamino

    Captain Romilda Vance sat strapped in her seat and wondered how the kriff she ended up in this kriffing mess. The war was supposed to be over, lost. Every fight, every sacrifice made irrelevant when the navy collapsed after a week of heavy fighting all across the galaxy leaving the Sith Empire victorious.

    As if that wasn''t enough, the small fleet bringing Havok Squad home, possibly one of the last battle groups that the Republic still had, suffered a hyperspace accident that somehow stranded them in a strange and terrible future.

    Romilda grimaced. The news that everything they knew had been gone for thousands of years was too much after the defeat. It broke too many of the people who had survived everything the Sith could throw at them. Only figuring out that the Republic had preserved and controlled the galaxy stopped the wave of suicides and people who had simply given up and refused to live.

    For a few days that news had injected life into the Remnant as they began to call themselves. That lasted just as long as it took to figure out that this so called Republic wasn''t anything like they expected. Rampant corruption, inefficient Senate that was practically useless¡­

    The command staff had gathered to decide what to do. There were a lot of angry people at that meeting. The Remnant needed a cause a reason to keep going and Master Perrion gave them precisely that. A goal. A cause to fight for.

    Even now, a few years later, Romilda had no idea how the discussion had turned from talks of reforming the New Republic into finding a way to tear it down and rebuild it from the ground up. It wasn''t something that happened suddenly. As the Remnant learned more about the Republic and talked with people on a dozen of worlds in the Outer Rim, they began seeing some uncomfortable things.

    Then they heard about Count Dooku ¨C a former Jedi leading a secessionist movement after being disgusted with the Republic. Feelers were sent, agents met him to hear his side. The tiding they brought was the final coffin. The Republic had been under the control of the Sith for years now. Dooku even presented some kind of proof, though Vance didn''t see it herself. Once that become known across the Remnant, all of them were outraged. Felt the betrayal. After all they had suffered through, after all they had sacrificed and lost, finding a Republic controlled by the Sith was too much.

    The Remnant had their cause. They had an enemy. It was that simple. The only snag was when Master Perrion found out that Dooku himself was a Sith too. That''s when the Remnant almost broke beyond repairing. It was only the Jedi Master''s charisma that got them through the last shattering blow. Romilda smiled at the thought. If it wasn''t for Perrion being able to pull them through and give them a reason to go on, Vance was sure that even she would have bitten the blaster sooner than later.

    When the Jedi Master spoke, everyone could hear the conviction in his voice. Everyone could see his point. The New Republic was a corrupt mess that needed to be torn down. The CIS wasn''t much better with a Sith in charge.

    Things became clear. They weren''t sent into the future as a joke by a merciless universe. They were here to save the galaxy from the Sith and the corrupted monster that usurped their republic.

    It all made sense. They got a noble reason to go on. To fight, to live.

    Perrion was right too! The Remnant actions caused the Confederacy to overthrow the Sith leading them, making an alliance to save the Republic citizens from Dooku''s master and that monster Vael possible.

    That''s why Romilda was here, in the back of an ?ssault transport leading a company of Remnant special forces and a pair of Jedi attached to her command. They were going to cripple the New Republic''s Clone production and retrieve the GAR''s gene templates.

    A victory on Kamino would be the first step in the open towards restoring the real Republic.

    Romilda smiled and her eyes shone with a purpose. It was high time to show those cloned fakes what proper Republic soldiers were like.

    =RK=

    Part 5

    GAR Command center

    Tipoca City

    Kamino

    Shaak Ti rubbed her forehead and ?r??n?d. She wondered what the Council thought when they arranged Rancisis to be put in charge of the naval units in the system ¨C if they thought anything at all.

    "Commodore Tarkin, your request is approved. You have command of the fleet. When Master Rancisis is recovered, please send him down here. We need to have a chat." The younger Jedi Master said.

    "Thank you, ma''am." Ti could feel Tarkin''s relief.

    "Can you spare some fighters? Too many of the enemy transports are going to reach Tipoca. We lack enough air ?ssets and AA to stop the bulk of their forces before landing." The Jedi Master asked.

    "I''ll see what I can do, general. Our Torrent wings took a serious beating." Tarkin looked away. "Send in the rest of the reserve now! Concentrate on the leading battleships!" The commodore ordered. "General I''m afraid you might have even more Separatists to deal with shortly. They''re throwing everything they''ve got in the breach and hitting us all across the line. I''m not sure I have the ?ssets to prevent the enemy from gaining and holding a foothold in orbit."

    "May the Force be with you, commodore Tarkin. Do your best, that''s all I can ask for."

    "Good luck, general. Tarkin out."

    "Rex, the 501st is with me. We''ll be the operational reserve." Ti said.

    The Jedi waved a hand and the projection hovering in the middle of the room shifted to show a bird''s eye view of Tipoca. There were a lot of red symbols coming down and too few blue ones rising to meet them.

    "Give me camera feeds." The Jedi Master ordered.

    One of the Clones manning the command center did so and windows opened in front of the general showing what was happening outside.

    Missiles, both from the Torrent squadrons and AA emplacements rose to challenge the advancing enemy. The invaders responded in kind with all the leading Vultures opening their wings and revealing the ordnance hidden there.

    The night sky was lit up by scores of explosions and then torn asunder as laser cannons opened up. A few hundred Vultures died screening the ?ssault transport. The remaining droid fighters went after the surviving Torrents with a small number going in ballistic towards the city. The second group kept firing everything until they were either shot down or rammed into AA emplacements.

    Even the CP shook a bit after a Vulture slammed nearby.

    Next came the transports preceded by gunships which rained hellfire upon the city.

    Shaak Ti frowned when she felt a shift in the Force. She raised a hand and without thinking used her power to manipulate the controls. One of the windows shifted angles and showed a Separatist ?ssault transport. From this side it was obvious that its rear ramp was open. The camera caught it just in time to see two figures jumping out.

    The Jedi Master leaned forward and stared intently at that pair. The Force whispered to her. They were important.

    The camera followed them as they fell faster than mere gravity could account for. Suddenly they abruptly slowed down before slamming into a platform with an AA emplacement and a squad of Clones providing security. The troopers were thrown away like leafs on the wind and the weapon crumbled as if hit by giant hammer. The unknowns stood up from their landing and pulled out lightsabers which they promptly ignited.

    Their blades were vibrant shade of blue.

    Ti grit her teeth. Was this the Order''s punishment for their hubris? The price they had to pay for tactically supporting a Sith Lord for months?

    Those people were Old Republic Jedi! They should have been the Order''s natural allies! Instead members of the Council chose to ally with Veil of all people¡­

    "This is going to be unpleasant." Rex stated after seeing the Old Republic Jedi joining the fray.

    "Tactical teams led by Jedi taking out strategic objectives leading to the fall of whole planets..." Ti hissed. That''s what Veil told her about the Jedi of old.

    Damn that man and his manipulations! It was because of him and the incompetence of the Council that she was forced to go out at fight fellow Jedi.

    "Lucky us." Rex muttered.

    =RK=

    Outer landing platforms

    Tipoca City

    Kamino

    Making an aerial insertion was still a rush even after hundreds of jumps. The only thing Romilda regretted was that she couldn''t actually feel the air rushing around her thanks to the power armor encasing her. However, the capabilities of her suit more than made up for that minor inconvenience.

    Her HUD updated with information from the IFF beacons of her people. More than two third of the company survived to make the jump and all were already in the air. Another update and the sensor suite of the armor began noting targets spread all across the landing platforms that were her first target.

    The Jedi who jumped first were already landing and causing havoc. Now it was time for her unit to live up to its name. Vance designated targets for her shoulder mounted missile pod and activated the repulsor unit to counteract the recoil before firing. Six micro-missiles shot from their sheathe, then the pod detached and flew behind her.

    The antigrav unit wh?n?d as it fought to slow Romilda''s descent, giving her just enough time to see the platforms being engulfed in fire. There were hundreds of missiles shot from her company alone. By the time she landed, the resistance in the immediate area was confused and had lost most of its heavy weapons.

    "Up and at them!" The captain shouted and charged over the bridge leading towards the next platform.

    A pair of trooper who landed nearby joined her. One was a heavy weapons specialist who moved slower but compensated by suppressing the next platform with his ?ssault cannon. The other was a marksman packing an anti-material rifle.

    The only one who had a prayer of slowing them down was a Clone wearing one of their new heavy armors which were practically combat exo-skeletons. The man had a laser cannon of his own and shot at Romilda who dodged by triggering her repulsor unit once she saw him aiming at her. One shot was all he could do before being staggered by a sniper round that shattered his shields and dented his armor. Vance finished him off with a burs from her own weapon meant to deal with heavy infantry. The Clone''s armor was simply insufficient to deal with that much firepower. His ?h?st plate caved in and the man was instantly cooked.

    Securing the next platform was as simple as disposing of a couple of wounded Clones before making sure that the AA emplacement there would not fire again. After that, Romilda charged over the next bridge.

    The sheer shock of the explosive entry combined with almost unrestricted air support and twenty Jedi was more than enough to see the outer platforms fall in a short order. The enemy rallied up and put a stiffer resistance only when they reached the city itself where the Clones blew up the bridges leading to the outer platforms.

    That was a mere inconvenience for the Old Republic special forces and their Jedi allies, however most of the droids were going to have trouble crossing until an engineering section could rig new bridges of someone figured a way to improvise.

    Well, there were always the still intact transports hanging back until the AA in the area was properly dealt with¡­

    "This will be interesting." Romilda smiled when he reached the enemy positions.

    The Clones were dug in and had the higher ground ¨C they were positioned on balconies along the buildings across the blown up bridges leading towards the landing platforms. They had heavy weapons too ¨C laser cannons, missile and rocket launchers and at least a third of them had the new weapons and armor being fielded by the New Republic.

    This was the kid of problems Havoc, especially when backed up by Jedi, was meant to solve.

    =RK=

    "Captain, do you need a hand?" Newly promoted Jedi Knight Denii Strum asked after finally making her way to the frontline.

    "We can use any ?ssistance you can provide, Master Jedi." The power armored woman answered. "How good is your telekinesis?"

    "Pretty good, why?" Denii answered.

    "We can use some makeshift cover and a way across..." Captain Vance explained and then waved at the platforms behind them.

    "Deploy smoke grenades, my team and I will do the trick." Denii nodded.

    Seconds later, the whole area was covered by multispectral smoke clouds.

    "You heard the captain, people. Follow my lead!" The Jedi Knight ordered.

    She closed her eyes and concentrated. Her mind expanded, touched the Jedi around her and their wills merged. It wasn''t a technique that could be used for long or when under direct fire, thus the smoke, however for as long as it lasted¡­

    One of the nearby landing pads, which was free from friendly forces began shacking when five Jedi concentrated their wills upon it. Its was torn away from its supporting pillar with a deafening screech of tortured metal then slowly flew above the heads of the Old Republic soldiers. It gained speed until it tore through the air with enough force to imbed itself in the building on the other side of the chasm.

    Denii faltered from the spent energy, though she smiled at a job well done. Only a couple of meter long gap was left between the closest platform and the one now sticking from under the enemy position. Short enough for the Commando droids to jump through from a running start and trivial for Jedi and power armored troopers to cross.

    Strum carefully extracted herself from the meld and sighed in relief when she felt the rest of her unit were all right if a bit tired.

    "That''s more than good enough, Master Jedi! GO, GO, GO!" The captain ordered and she led the charge.

    Denii grinned at the praise and sprinted after the older woman.

    =RK=

    Part 6

    CIC

    Republic cruiser Daring

    High orbit over Kamino

    Daring shook as she glided over the edge of Kamino''s shield. She and her consorts flew so close to the energy barrier that the electromagnetic field produced by it compromised their stability. Their deflectors were at maximum power, slowly draining due to the interference however it was all worth it to pull of a tiny bit more speed from the Venators.

    Tarkin''s battle group was still a minute out of range from the Separatist battleships exploiting the hole torn into Kamino''s defenses. Twenty Lucrehulks were advancing at the gap which the remaining Gollan stations couldn''t properly interdict. Over a hundred escorts were screening the battleships, taking hits, going into ramming runs and putting a deadly Umbrella barrier in place.

    The reserve squadrons ¨C built from a single Venator with light cruiser and frigate escort were entering the fray in a desperate attempt to plug the hole. Tarkin was racing there too, however he was sensing that it might already be too late.

    Munificents shattered under the crossfire of multiple cruisers, a swarm of Vultures threw itself into the gap, a Venator was mission killed when twenty frigates concentrated their forward weapons on it.

    Tarkin tore away his gaze from that engagement and looked at the bigger picture. The rest of the ?ssault was more cautious, obviously meant to pin down the bulk of the Republic fleet while the Separatist could exploit the opening.

    Two days ago it wouldn''t have worked. Then Tarkin could have sent in reserves that were wasted by Rancisis. Even yesterday morning he would have something more to work with.

    "Damn you!" Tarkin hissed. He clutched his fist so hard that he could no longer properly feel his fingers.

    He looked back at the gap in time to see the Munificent formation opening and spreading out to clear the battleship firing lanes. Half of those frigates were still intact when they should have been gutted. The reserve finally got into position, caught seven of the Munificents into crossfire and promptly shattered them. The three battle groups were in place, however the same was true for the battleships.

    "All units above Tipoca City with the exception of the reserve force are to attack immediately. Push out the enemy and move in to englobe the Separatist battleships, then concentrate fire on them. No less than ten cruisers per Lucrehulk!" Tarkin ordered. "Captain, bring the battle group fifteen degrees up then straighten our course. Primary targets are the frigates and light destroyers. Once we''re clear coordinate fire on the closest battleship!"

    Whole Venator divisions and their escorts surged forward. That bold move caught the enemy by surprise after a week long passive defense. The Separatist escorts failed to react fast enough to the changed situation and a third of them were caught out of position and wiped out before the rest could consolidate and form a proper formation.

    Whoever was in charge of the battleships reacted promptly. He kept half of them going towards the planet, while the rest changed vectors as fast as they could and moved to attack the Republic forces attempting to trap them.

    At last Tarkin''s cruisers were in range and they opened fire at the enemy escorts. Munificents and Recusants began dying faster. Their broadsides lacked enough punch to even slow down the armored fist falling upon their formation.

    A minute later, Tarkin''s battle group was through, leaving a thrice their number of gutted escorts in their wake.

    That was a long time for the reserve battle groups. Even combined, they had the firepower to b?r?ly take out a single battleship. The ten coming at them ¨C the only way to stop them was by taking a page from the Separatist''s playbook and attempt a ramming run. They couldn''t run, couldn''t hide and standing meant dying a bit slower. The reserves flew straight at the enemy, maneuvering so their formations came at the Separatists one after another and thus using the ships in front as shield.

    Whoever thought of that needed a medal. Promotion too if they were lucky to survive.

    The Lucrehulks weren''t maneuverable enough to evade and were already in Kamino''s gravity well so escaping was out of the question. Their answer was simple ¨C reverse thrust to slow down the approach and fire everything. The reserves ran straight into what looked like a wall made of red turbolaser fire. The leading battle group simply disintegrated and it was soon followed by the second. The third plowed through the debris of their comrades, some of the lighter ships going out of control thanks to the collisions.

    The light escorts died first, simply torn to pieces from the ceaseless barrages. The light cruisers fared a bit better, though they too shattered under concentrated fire. That left a single Venator approaching the leading Lucrehulk. The cruiser''s shields were on fire and soon popped up like a soap bubble touching open flame. Turbolaser fire racked the Venator, yet it was too late. It came in firing all the way and all three battle groups were unleashing all their firepower upon that single Lucrehulk forcing it to keep its deflectors up and particle shielding at minimum power.

    The Venator flew through the gap in the outer hull and struck the battleship in the center of the sphere containing its vital systems. Even the Lucrehulk''s heavy armor couldn''t survive such an impact. It caved and the cruiser plunged deep into the battleship''s guts. The sheer momentum of the impact pushed the larger craft up and backwards before its reactor went critical and both ships went up in a blinding explosion.

    That sacrifice wasn''t in vain. Tarkin smiled coldly when he managed to tear his gaze away from the last stand. His plan worked! The counter-attack was successfully and multiple battle groups were in position to surround the enemy battleships. The only downside was that the nine closet to Kamino were going to unload all the droids on board and send them down before he could do anything about them.

    Tarkin sighed. That was less than ideal, yet the best he could do. Now he had to maul those Lucrehulk before the enemy could muster a rescue force and get them out of the improvised trap.

    "Angle us down five degrees, cut engines and all non-essential power and transfer that energy to forward weapons and shields!" Tarkin ordered.

    =RK=

    Outer landing platforms

    Tipoca City

    Kamino

    Denii used the Force to vault over the parapet at the balcony where the New Republic soldiers had taken position. When she landed, the young Jedi Knight was surrounded by both a Force barrier and a shield emitted by her custom light power armor meant for exclusive Jedi use.

    Those defenses bought her the necessary few moments to gain her bearing and concentration so she could sweep the whole area off enemy soldiers by sending powerful telekinetic shock-waves to her sides. Most Clones were thrown clearly off the balcony, with a few unlucky souls bouncing between the railing and the walls before finally crashing for the last time. Moments later, more Remnant Jedi and troopers came up and began fanning in all directions.

    Clones away from the affected area attempted to bottle them up only to face strike teams led by veteran Jedi who could withstand the firepower leveled their way and then some. The troopers protected by the Knights wasted no time in shooting up any resistance and the advance continued without slowing down.

    Without proper anti-Sith or well Jedi tactics, all the Clones had on their side were numbers and firepower. Given the battlefield they fought only the latter mattered in the short term and the New Republic forces were soon figuring out that properly supported Jedi Knights were a nightmare to deal with.

    Some of them even lived long enough to tell the tale.

    Denii herself was on point followed by captain Vance''s command squad and half a platoon of the expanded Havoc squad, which was now a company sized formation.

    The Jedi Knight soon fell in a pattern she was familiar with from the war against the Sith; deflect the incoming blaster bolts or tank them with a Force based barrier; sent back to sender any missiles, rockets and grenades coming her way and either reflect heavy laser shots, take out those weapons before they could fire at you or simply don''t be where they aimed when they finally took a pot shot at you. She would have been in some amount of danger in a more open battlefield, however that simply wasn''t the case in Tipoca City. The firing lines were restricted and usually funneled the enemy into coming from a single direction. Havoc dealt with anyone audacious enough to attempt a flanking maneuver, which left Denii with a reasonably simple job ¨C to act as a mobile cover for the troopers behind her.

    That was something her Guardian training covered extensively as a Padawan and she had some experience against people familiar with the tactic and knowing how to counter it.

    She knew the Clones were going to learn sooner rather than later. It was inevitable.

    It was going to make no difference for this fight.

    Denii turned the corner to face another strong point at the end of rigged to blow hanging bridge. The Clones stationed there opened fire with everything they got ¨C blaster, two heavy repeaters as well as a pair of grenade launchers.

    "Morris, do your thing!" Denii ordered the best telekinetic in her team.

    "I''m on it!" The human youth exclaimed.

    Denii concentrated on the task at hand. Her lightsaber became a blur as she drew more Force energy into her body in order to enhance her reflexes. The world around her slowed down allowing her to meet every single shot coming her way, though the firepower was enough that she couldn''t spare the effort to properly reflect it back.

    Meanwhile the grenades froze over the bridge then suddenly flew back even faster and before the Clones could react their position disappeared behind multiple explosions. A heartbeat later, all the explosives attached to the bridge were rudely torn from it and hurled away before someone had the presence of mind to detonate them.

    At least they made for nice fireworks.

    The enemy should have set them up to blow at the first sign of tampering ¨C doing so would have one way or another slowed down the advance.

    Denii waved for one of the other Jedi to take point until she could take a breather. She waited for the first couple of squads to cross the bridge and followed suit in the middle of the formation. Soon enough Denii would recover and take point again. After Tython she was eager to make those serving Vael pay for what he did to her master.

    =RK=

    GAR Command center

    Tipoca City

    Kamino

    "We need to slow down their advance." Rex said. "Set up crossfires, call in air support and all indirect fire ?ssets¡­ That might work..." He thought aloud.

    He wondered if that''s how the Separatists felt when they had to deal with a GAR unit led by a Jedi, then dismissed the idea. What he was seeing over the cameras was worse. Those enemy Commandos were acting as if they had been working with the Jedi for years, perhaps decades. So far nothing the forward deployed GAR elements did besides blowing up bridges and wrecking as much as possible of the buildings to deny easy access seemed to slow them down.

    "We''re fresh out of air support, boss." Fives pointed out.

    "Here..." Shaak Ti spoke after zooming in the map of the city floating in the middle of the chamber. "I feel this is the most dangerous enemy unit. We need to stop them now."

    "Plan?" Rex asked.

    "Let them enter that building, its the fastest route towards the cloning facilities and they''re making a beeline for them. We''ll be ambushing them inside. I''ll keep their Jedi..." Shaak Ti spat the word as if it was a curse, "on me. You''ll hit the Commandos as hard as you canthen try taking their Force Adepts from behind. Attack from multiple angles and directions at the same time. Gear up on what sonic weaponry we have in the armory before we leave."

    "That''s it?" Boomer chuckled. "I like it. Its simple so its harder to get kriffed up."

    "There''s a whole droid army coming for us. Unless we stop those people from gaining a bigger foothold in the city, Tipoca will be lost soon and that''s unacceptable." Shaak Ti snapped. "Armory, now!"

 Chapter 81 - Conflagration [1/2]

    Part 1

    General Plo Koon''s quarters

    Republic cruiser Gallant

    Corellia

    A shrill keening noise tore Master Koon away from his meditation. He bolted up from the floor where he sat and went for his comm.

    "This is general Koon, report." The Jedi wheezed through his breath mask.

    The captain''s face ¨C that of an ordinary looking Clone appeared in front of Koon''s face.

    "Our long range scanners detected massive disturbance six light years away. The Separatists are coming. There''s too much interference and sensor ghosts to be sure of total numbers, however there''s a lot of them." The Clone reported. "Rough estimates are two to three times our worst case scenario."

    "I see." The Jedi said. "I trust you''ve called the fleets to battle stations?" Koon asked though the still roaring alarm was a dead giveaway.

    "Yes, sir."

    "I''m coming to the Flag Bridge. Get me a conference call between Kenobi, Coburn and Yularen." The Jedi ordered before switching off the comm and marching towards the ship''s nerve center.

    On his way there, Koon mussed that it was a good thing High Command had kriffed up their deployment orders and hadn''t sent Yularen to reinforce the Outer Rim as he was supposed to do. The man had been surprised when he had been called for a status report and asked about the situation on Naboo when he was in fact here at Corellia overseeing the final repairs of the forces that fought at Geonosis.

    That administrative fiasco meant that Kenobi could remain back on Coruscant doing his job ¨C running the whole war, while Yularen was free to command one of the reserve fleets in the Core. That was vital, considering that Wullf was one of the few flag officers to actually command forces of the scale being deployed at Kuat, Corellia and in the reserves. Yularen''s expertise and experience had been invaluable in setting up the training for Koon''s fleet.

    Now it only remained to be seen how well all that effort could be put in practice.

    =RK=

    Plo Koon entered the Flag Bridge and nodded in approval when he found it a hive of activity. His staff were busy updating the holotank with the status of the defense fleets. One after another they were lighting up in green denouncing full combat readiness.

    The Jedi got in just in time, because the images of the people he needed to talk with appeared one after another next to the main tactical plot after he entered the compartment.

    "Yes. It has began. Our intelligence appears to be wrong." The Jedi Master confirmed.

    Kenobi looked away from the comm unit and nodded. "I see. I''ll talk with the relevant people. They obviously dropped the ball in a bad way. Any sign of activity on your end, Coburn?"

    "It''s juts a matter of time. As you know, last night the Separatists secured Balmora after Ningo forced our remaining forces there to retreat. He''s close enough to make it in one direct jump if he has done his homework properly."

    "Such a jump is quite risky." Yularen noted.

    "Yes. It can also bring a whole fleet on my doorstep with little to no warning." Coburn grumbled.

    "Thoughts? Is the main blow coming at Corellia?" Obi-Wan asked.

    "If it isn''t I hate to think what they have in store for Coburn." Koon pointed out.

    "It''s good thing we were overly paranoid in reinforcing you both." Kenobi muttered.

    "We''ve got enough forces in place to crush what we expected to hit us." Coburn frowned. "When combined with the system defense navies anyway.

    Things were not so lopsided at Corellia with only five of their six Corellian cruisers in system. They were still a formidable force able to give Koon''s own command a run for its money.

    When combined with the rest of Corellia''s system defense navy, those ships made for a big and powerful force on their own.

    Plo Koon was going to need every one of them plus some heavy reinforcements.

    "Kenobi, we''ve got a situation!" Valentra''s characteristic voice snapped off screen.

    "What?" If Obi-Wan was annoyed, it didn''t show in his voice.

    The former Jedi looked away when suddenly his image twisted and distorted. Kenobi was saying something, however his voice came in as a garbled mess. The familiar wh?n? produced by jamming came over the comm and Obi-Wan''s image was gone.

    "Comms I want a status report! Raise GAR HQ on Coruscant now!" Koon ordered. The mere fact that both Coburn and Yularen were still present in a holographic form meant that the problem wasn''t on Plo''s end.

    "We''re trying¡­ Sir, we can''t raise HQ. I''m attempting to call¡­ The kriff? General, I can''t raise anyone at Coruscant!" The comm officer exclaimed.

    "The Separatists couldn''t have bypassed us!" Coburn exclaimed. "We''ve got listening posts and battle groups stationed all over the Core!"

    "Gentlemen, we''ve got a problem. Yularen''s people might very well be needed back on Coruscant in case I''m mistaken." Coburn grunted.

    The three of them looked at each other.

    "I''ll be able to hold Corellia without reinforcements. However in that case most of the industry away from the planet could be written off. That''s a significant chunk of our new construction."

    "This might be a Separatist trick to paralyze our response." Yularen suggested. "Attempt to divert my forces so they can hit you without interference."

    "True." Plo Koon nodded. "I suggest you wait until a scout can reach Coruscant and confirm what''s happening over there. I''ll keep the channel open and inform you of what''s really hitting Corellia."

    "I''ll be doing the same when our uninvited guest arrive here too." Coburn nodded.

    "Sir, update on the enemy forces. They''re entering hyperspace."

    Plo Koon looked at the holotank. The fleets were ready. All but a handful of the battle stations were good to go and all fighter and bomber wings were manned and needed just an order to launch.

    "This is general Plo Koon to all Republic and Corellian forces in system. I''m ?ssuming direct tactical command of the fleets. The enemy comes daring to challenge the Republic, democracy itself. Our very freedom." The Jedi Master spoke with conviction. "Today we draw a line and say no more! Here we stand! Here we fight! Here we win! For the Republic!"

    "That''s a lot of red..." A staff lieutenant muttered.

    "I should have kept my mouth shut..." Plo Koon ?r??n?d.

    The people in intelligence had kriffed up so much the Jedi Master had no words.

    "Admiral Yularen, I''ll need all the reinforcements you can get to me yesterday if I''m to keep any of the industry intact." Koon turned to look at the image of the younger man.

    Wullf nodded. There was no doubt he was looking at the raw data being streamed to his ship.

    "I''ll get the ball rolling. We''ll be there in a few hours. Admiral Coburn, I''m putting the secondary echelon reserves at your disposal. Call them if you need them." Yularen sighed. "Let''s just hope Coruscant isn''t under attack too."

    Plo Koon turned his attention to the task at hand. He needed to buy time.

    "All Arubesh elements, you''re a go. Go in, maul them and pull back to your zones. Take as many of the escorts as possible. Koon out." The Jedi Master ordered.

    The five elongated triangles designating a Corellian cruiser each began moving along with their escorting broods. Letting the enemy dictate the terms of the engagement was going to be suicide given their apparent numbers ¨C the Separatists still got ships arriving in system and they had already brought thousands of them.

    =RK=

    Part 2

    Garage

    Borealis

    Coruscant

    "Sir, I''ll really appreciate if one of these days you begin keeping a lower profile." Agent Bail Kyle grumbled.

    He was the man unlucky enough to be in charge of director Yle''s security detail, something that was hard on the nerves.

    Bail was a middle aged human whose hair was already turning silver thanks to all the stress he had to deal with on a daily basis. His boss'' various excursions all across Coruscant weren''t helping.

    "Nonsense. We''ve finally got the place more or less secured. Besides who''s going to be aiming at me when there are so many more juicy targets on Coruscant?" Marik chuckled and held the air car door open for his wife who simply shook her head at their antics and got inside after giving Kyle an apologetic look.

    "We got most of the bastards." The director smiled.

    "Most is most certainly not all, boss." The agent pointed out.

    "Fine, rain on my parade. What''s the next stop?" Yle asked.

    "Home. You might actually get a few hours of sleep before the next crisis this time."

    "That would be the day." The director smiled and got into the air car.

    Bail looked around, nodded to the rest of the security detail and went into one of the other cars of the small convoy. So far so good.

    "Prism, Pillar Actual, we''re leaving." Kyle called the central. "Anything of note? Over."

    "Pillar Actual, Prism. Negative. Everything looks fine. No new alerts and nothing out of the ordinary on the scanners. Have a nice trip, over."

    "We''re a go folks. Let''s try not to end the day by kriffing up, all right?" Kyle called the rest of the security detail, earning himself a few tired chuckles.

    The convoy headed towards the exit when a bright flash of light blinded Bail. The following thunderclap was little more than an afterthought because he was too busy being tossed around when his car was picked up and sent skidding across the floor by a shock-wave.

    When Kyle was coherent again, the first thing he noticed was sharp pain in his side, arm and back. Only then he began remembering that something went terribly wrong.

    "Prism, Pillar Actual, three was an explosion..." Bail wheezed in his comm. "We need¡­assistance..." The agent found that talking and breathing was getting harder.

    Kyle looked around and even that little motion sent red hot pain running up his back. A distant part of his mind concluded that hurting was good ¨C it meant he wasn''t paralyzed.

    Bail saw that his car was more or less upright, though the people inside were at least as bad hurt as he was. He appeared to be the only one conscious at the time. Kyle carefully turned his head and looked around. There was a smoking pile of debris in the middle of the garage. If he didn''t know better he would have thought they were all that was left from the director''s car¡­

    Oh, wait¡­

    Kyle blinked and swore quietly. That was Yle''s car¡­

    =RK=

    Jedi Master Piell''s quarters

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    "Why did you call us all here?" Tiin whispered.

    "We just got a data file from our friends. You need to see it now." The small Jedi grumbled.

    He waved his co-conspirators to get inside and close the door, before plugging a data chip in a holo-projector built into his dining table. Piell proceeded go fast forward the piece of Separatist propaganda until the announcement that Dooku had been handed to the Jedi.

    "We''ve got hours at best before this become public knowledge here on Coruscant. Less before the Chancellor sees this and begins wondering what his apprentice has been telling us. Do I need to go on?" Piell spat.

    "We''re out of time." Kota nodded. "I''ll go pick up our friend. Who is coming with us to talk with the Chancellor about this recording? This is information he simply needs to see." Rahm smiled thinly.

    "I agree." Master Drallig said. "I''ll get everything moving here. How long do you need before we can go loud?"

    "I''ll talk with Yoda. He''ll be seeing our other problem student. Then I''m off to our waylaid friend." Tiin smiled sadly.

    "It''s decided then?" Master Yaddle sighed. "All right. Cin, I''ll collect your Padawan and we''ll go check up on the younglings. They can use a walk to stretch their legs."

    "I''ll go talk with the Chancellor too then." Piell looked around. "Any second thoughts?"

    "We''re already too deep for those." Kota snorted. "We''re already committed and our hands are dirty. The only thing left is to see if we can neutralize the Sith or not."

    "May the Force be with us all." Tiin gave the ?ssembled Jedi a deep bow and left the room, with Piell and Kota following behind.

    "I certainly hope so. Otherwise all this is going to be for nothing." Yaddle muttered.

    "We''ll make sure that the Order doesn''t end today. That''s all we can do." Drallig told her. "The rest is up to the Force."

    "I trust the Force not to kriff up. I can''t necessary say the same for the Jedi who let things get so bad without noticing." Yaddle chuckled sadly.

    "That includes us two, you know." Cin quipped.

    "Most certainly. We aren''t blameless. We should have acted when Yoda told us about the Sith all those months ago. We were blind, complacent and now its time to pay the price." The tiny woman frowned. "I regret that we won''t be the only one affected by the fallout."

    "No matter what things are going to get worse before they can get better. Come on, we have some youngsters to pick up."

    =RK=

    SIB Safe House

    Coruscant

    "Can you feel it, Mace?" Dooku asked. The Count was sitting next to his one time friend, who was his jailor nowadays and sharing a cup of tea with the man. "Change is in the air."

    "I can." Windu nodded. "The Force is trembling in anticipation." The former Jedi Master put down his cup. "Its going to be today. Soon."

    "Have you decided what to do with me?" Dooku asked. He didn''t appear to care one way or another.

    "We might still go with Ivon''s plan."

    "That idea has potential¡­ unless Sidious decides to simply play along as the tired old man." Dooku frowned. "He has that routine down to perfection."

    "We''ll do what we have to..." Mace paused and looked at the front door. They weren''t expecting visitors today, however he could sense two familiar Force signatures ready to enter. "It''s time." Windu said and stood up.

    The door opened to reveal Kota and Piell, who looked suitably grim.

    "We''re out of time. Palpatine will know very soon that we have him." The short Jedi pointed at Dooku.

    "Ah. The game is up indeed." The Count smiled. "What is going to be?"

    "You''re coming with us, Dooku. The Chancellor will want to know if we have you." Windu smiled. "We''re going to give him what he wants." Mace turned towards the other Jedi. "Have you called our allies?"

    "They''re moving as we speak. The timing might have been better, however we have most pieces in place." Kota noted. "My people are in position, the same goes for Sylvaris''."

    "Let''s go then. Time is running out. I can feel it." Windu told them.

    =RK=

    Hangars

    CIS battleship Warrior Spirit

    High Orbit over Kamino

    "Its done. The enemy air-force is suppressed. We''ve got a secure beachhead at the capital. You''re clear to deploy, general." Admiral Kirst announced.

    Lok Durd beamed at the news.

    "Splendid! I''ve got my new weapons ready to deploy and all those grim folks just waiting to exploit my success!" The Neimoidian waved at the power-armored men getting into ?ssault transports all around the hangar.

    "Just try not to have friendly fire accidents. Our new allies won''t appreciate it and they will be in position to do something about it." Kirst glared at the general.

    "Oh, pshh. There''s nothing to worry about! I''ve tested my weapon against their nice armor." Durd frowned. "It keeps it all out." Then he beamed again. "However the Republic''s suits aren''t as good."

    "Go down there, secure the capital and get what we need so I can remove all the cloning facilities form orbit. I need the location of the shield generator complex, then I need our new friends to take it out. Meanwhile you''re to secure those samples for the Techno Union and get them up to the fleet. Don''t fail us, general."

    "Heh. No worries I say! Everything is going to be just fine!" Lok waved at the admiral, who glared back.

    "Get your forces planet side now!" Kirst snapped.

    =RK=

    Outskirts

    Tipoca City

    Kamino

    Using Tipoca''s cameras, Rex was able to track their target''s progress and deploy his men for what he hoped was a good ambush. He waited the Remnant or whatever they called to enter the large building which was the most direct way towards the center of the city and ordered the 501st to begin converging on their positions. Meanwhile, he kept tracking the enemy to ensure there wouldn''t be any unpleasant surprises.

    After seeing the Remnant in action, Rex dismissed any notions in bringing heavy troopers ¨C the better armor and shields simply weren''t enough to stand up to the firepower brought by the enemy. Instead he opted for medium and light armor, thus relying on mobility and stealth.

    Still, he had his brothers grab the heaviest weapons they could ¨C the firepower was going to be vital.

    "They''re getting near." Shaak Ti whispered.

    "My people are in position. Thirty seconds and all squads will be ready to strike." Rex said after consulting the camera feeds.

    The enemy was moving in a long column with Jedi leading the way and taking up the rear. There was none of those in the middle of their formation at this time, which was going to be a boon or so Rex hoped. He looked at the Jedi Master who simply nodded. Rex sent two clicks over the comm ¨C that was the signal. Twenty seconds and the 501st was going to charge the enemy from the various side passages honeycombing the building.

    Shaak Ti used the remaining time to stealthily move towards the corner end of the corridor where the enemy was coming from. She drew her lightsaber waved to the Clones behind her to follow.

    Time was up.

    "Ambush!" Someone shouted mere moments before the 501st struck.

    Rex didn''t need the cameras to know that the enemy were scattering and covering all the approaches. He cursed and sprinted after Shaak Ti who activated her lightsaber and vanished behind the corner.

    =RK=

    Part 3

    Operations room

    GAR HQ

    Coruscant

    "Give me a status report! What the kriff is happening?!" Valentra''s voice snapped like a whip.

    "We''re being jammed. Land lines are out!" The young lieutenant overseeing the comms exclaimed.

    "Put the base on alert. We''re either under attack or soon will be." Obi-Wan ordered.

    "Another raid? The Separatist couldn''t have gotten a proper fleet here without us noticing." Tellar grumbled. "This place was supposed to be secure after what happened with the last HQ."

    "Worry about that later. Let''s make sure we won''t end like the previous High Com staff." Kenobi whispered. The Jedi''s hand went for the handle of his blade and he turned around to face the door.

    Alarms began roaring a moment after it opened revealing Tiin wearing a combat armor. He was followed by a squad of armored people ¨C were those Cathar?

    "I have the sneaking suspicion you''ve got something to do with this, Master Tiin." Valentra narrowed his eyes at the newcomers.

    "General Valentra, general Kenobi," The horned Jedi nodded. "It''s good you''re both here. You''re under arrest for treason."

    The staff in the large room began looking between the newcomers and their commanders. The two Clones stationed at the door stood very still when Tiin entered revealing that they were kept at gunpoint by his men.

    "What madness is this?!" Valentra snapped. "You''re getting too far Tiin! This is treason!"

    "Treason? Says the man serving the Sith. The man serving the people who began the Clone Wars so they can ascend to power." Tiin shot back. "Why don''t you tell him Kenobi? Or aren''t you aware of it? Didn''t your new friend tell you? It''s Palpatine!" Tiin snarled. "He''s the Sith we''ve been searching for ever since your Master was murdered on Naboo. He''s the Sith Lord behind the war!"

    That accusation gave anyone pause, though it didn''t do much to stop the rising anger of the officers in the Operations room.

    "I can see you believe this¡­" Obi-Wan spoke carefully. "Do you have any proof?"

    "Stand down!" A Clone shouted from the corridor behind Tiin.

    Blasters spoke and the two men guarding the door were cut down there they stood while a firefight erupted outside. Tiin drew his lightsaber and Obi-Wan followed suit. The Jedi Master stepped further in the room and was followed by a squad of armored men while others were exchanging fire at what had to be a security detail.

    That''s when all hell broke loose. One of the officers drew a blaster and Tiin''s people opened fire.

    =RK=

    R&D Complex

    Location Classified

    Coruscant

    "Doctor Zash, you''ve got a visitor!" One of her ?ssistants called over the comm.

    The Sith grumbled and looked up from her work. She had a lot of fun catching up on new discoveries and theories found while she was away. She knew something was going to happen today, even as clouded as the Force was lately, Zash still could feel its faint warning.

    She turned away from the table where she was examining an ancient device with yet undetermined function and smiled at one of the cameras in her lab.

    "By all means, send them in."

    The door hissed open and a small hunched figure hobbled in.

    "Master Yoda, to what do I owe this p???sur??" Zash''s words were pure sarcasm.

    "Surprised you''re not." The Jedi Master stated the obvious.

    "I had a feeling my day work would be disturbed this afternoon."

    "Sidious?" Yoda asked.

    "Never heard of that. Some kind of STD? It sounds like it." Zash mocked.

    Yoda''s ears flattened along his skull.

    "Dark the time is. Too powerful the Sith are. Stopped you must be." Yoda''s voice had a melancholy echoing with each word.

    "So? It''s not illegal by the Republic''s own laws." Zash chuckled in delight.

    "Mistaken I was. Too late it is." Yoda sighed. He left his cane to fall and called his lightsaber into his outstretched hand. "Fight we will. The fate of the galaxy today decided will be."

    "If you insist. I can use a bit of work out." Zash hummed happily. She raised a hand and her own saber jumped into her palm like an eager puppy.

    =RK=

    Secure room

    Chancellor suite

    Senate building

    Coruscant

    "I want an explanation now!" Palpatine glared at the captain in charge of his security detail. "I don''t appreciate being manhandled in my own office!"

    "There are attacks under way, sir. As you know, earlier today director Yle was ?ssassinated."

    "I was told yes, and I should be getting a briefing on that situation right about now." The Chancellor narrowed his eyes at the Clone.

    "We just got unconfirmed reports about more attacks. Communications are down due to jamming. QRF should be rolling in soon. We believe its another Separatist raid meant to disrupt us while their offensive is underlay." The soldier reported.

    "Thanks to you its succeeding!" Palpatine snapped.

    He closed his eyes and took a moment to get his temper under control. Since the last nigh the Force had been constantly shifting. There was a sense of foreboding in the air, yet Sidious had been unable to narrow down any details. Was it the Separatists pulling off some new stunt? The Jedi acting up? The Senate or even Veil or Zash pulling a fast one?

    Sidious didn''t know, which kept him constantly on edge. This was a critical moment. The enemy would be hitting Corellia today if they hadn''t already and Kuat would follow. This was the worst possible moment for the Jedi to act up for example ¨C calling Order 66 right now might spell a disaster. While Sidious had a contingency ready to explain why he might have to send the army against the Order, this wasn''t the time for that, kriff it all!

    "Confirm that!" The captain ordered as he listened to something over the comm built into his helmet. "Good for them. We''re at lock-down, the Primary can decide if he wants to see the prisoner when the situation becomes clear and we''re secure."

    "What is happening, captain?" Palpatine put forth his patented exasperated old man persona.

    "An attempted breach of the building. Two Jedi Masters coming to see you intercepted it and captured its leader ¨C Count Dooku apparently. They asked to meet you anyway and to present you the prisoner." The soldier shook his head.

    "Ah. I see." Palpatine smiled, while internally he became very still.

    Dooku was supposed to be in Confederate custody, possibly dead even. Getting away and actually attempting an attack on the Senate or even just trying to meet with Sidious in this building? That was sheer madness ¨C nothing like what Tyranus would do.

    The Chancellor kept his smile on and looked at the security detail surrounding him. Six clones and three Jedi Knights, who looked on edge. Sidious didn''t dare access the Force right now to make sure, though he was convinced he knew what was happening.

    The Confederacy Council had indeed pulled a fast one. Covertly contacting the Jedi, handing Dooku after Palpatine made sure that all official attempts to do so fell through because he was convinced it was another Separatist trap¡­

    Dooku had been in Jedi custody for some time. He had talked and the Jedi were moving to remove the Sith from power. That''s what was happening. Dooku had been brought along so they could plausibly get a large group of Jedi close to him without enough warning.

    Palpatine frowned. They must have allies, because what was happening ¨C it simply felt off. He would have expected the Jedi to march in and confront him publically. This however smelled like a planned coup, which implied support and some rather unpleasant things.

    That''s why Yle was murdered ¨C he must have found something or got too close.

    Palpatine went behind his desk and sat in the chair, making himself look like a tired old man. There had been Jedi on his security detail for months, which meant it was compromised. That was partially accounted for ¨C he was planning to use them as scapegoats once the time for Order 66 came anyway.

    Now the only question was how to play this. Palpatine looked around the room. The walls were decorated with shelves covered in Sith artifacts and art, including a dense metal statue where his lightsaber was hidden. There were also various recording device he could switch one from a hidden bu??on on his desk.

    The Jedi wanted to play for keeps? So be it. Palpatine switched on the recording devices and turned around along with his seat until his back was turned towards the security detail.

    Sidious lips slowly twisted into a vicious smile. He let his mask crack and accessed the Force. The three Jedi in the room stiffened and Palpatine''s smile grew, but now for long.

    The Sith Lord could sense danger in the air. The Force was high on anticipation, but that was it. The Dark Side was clouding the future from his gaze.

    Was that how the Jedi felt ever since the Sith began preventing them from divining the future? Sidious didn''t appreciate the irony.

    All that was left was to decide should he wait for the Jedi to properly hang themselves or start the ball rolling right now. Both choices had problems ¨C if all this was a set up to have him show his true colors¡­ Sidious dismissed that idea. He had enough backing to survive the backslash of being declared a Sith. Decent odds to get away with purging the Jedi too even if they didn''t give him a clear cut reason to do it.

    Sidious felt danger approaching and felt relief. After all those years of hiding, he could finally cut lose. The Sith let his perception expand, sensed the rising fear of the Jedi in the room and then clearly felt a familiar presence approaching. It was surrounded by Force signatures Sidious didn''t know, which was expected ¨C he had been doing his best not to use the Force around Jedi after all.

    It was time to see if he can properly turn this little trap against the people moving against him.

    =RK=

    Part 4

    Flag bridge

    Republic cruiser Without Fear

    Kuat

    "Multiple hyperspace events! Updating tactical!"

    "Bring the fleet to battle stations." Admiral Coburn ordered and fixed the holotank with his eyes willing it to update faster.

    "That''s a lot of ships¡­" A staff officer muttered. "Much less than what''s at Corellia though." The man sounded relieved.

    The display finished refreshing with the new data. Coburn could honestly say that he agreed with the sentiment. Oh, the Republic and local forces at Kuat were outnumbered by a lot ¨C as expected. Nonetheless, the admiral felt calmer. His worst fears didn''t materialize. He had the enemy comfortably outgunned. Now he simply had to reduce them before they could cause too much damage.

    "First echelon battle groups, you''re free to go. Red One is in effect. Kuat Command, release the battle cruisers, but keep those Mandators in reserve. Second echelon, wait until the enemy chooses a target, then intercept them. Until further notice the primary objective remains preserving industrial ?ssets across the system." Coburn ordered.

    Thirty battle groups, each built around three Venators, plotted a hyperspace jump and soon materialized in the face of the enemy fleet. Seconds later they were followed by all Praetor battle cruisers and the few of their direct predecessors which were till in service. Each of those were three kilometers long flying fortresses complete with heavy armor, even stronger shields and inconceivable amount of firepower.

    It was humbling to think that there were seven much more powerful ships waiting in reserve.

    Coburn frowned. The first moments of the engagement happened as expected. The sheer shock of the attack and the firepower his sub-formations could bring to bear shattered the light ships in their immediate vicinity. However the enemy didn''t hesitate. The Separatist fleet separated into sub formations of its own and surged forward. They moved in such a way as to maximize the firepower they could bring upon the first echelon, while the bulk of their fleet simply avoided action and began spreading out.

    "Second echelon, be ready to move. The enemy is picking up targets." Coburn ordered.

    Almost a quarter of the Separatist fleet jumped in the way of the admiral''s reserves ¨C obviously to slow them down. After that all but those engaging his first echelon made jumps toward various industrial sites, where they met smaller defensive forces and as much fixed defenses as could be spared.

    "Sent in half the Mandators to clean up the way. Second echelon, avoid the enemy forces heading your way and proceed with your mission." The admiral instructed.

    "Third echelon..." That was the GAR operational reserve, where his own ship was stationed, "Clear the gravity well and await further orders. Kuat Command, I''m leaving you with tactical command over remaining reserve..." Which was enough to handle any emergencies with its three Mandators and escorts.

    "What do you have up your sleeve?" Coburn asked aloud while he watched the unfolding engagement.

    =RK=

    CIC

    CIS dreadnought Conquest

    First Fondor Sector Fleet Flagship

    "That''s how you want to play it?" Trench chuckled after seeing how the enemy reacted to his presence. "Vanguard elements, break by squadrons and engage the enemy. Move in for englobment. Escorts screen the battleships. Concentrate on enemy propulsion. Once it''s disabled get out of range and ignore them. Designated Munificent units are clear for ramming attacks."

    The admiral looked to the right, where Tonith''s holoimage floated awaiting orders.

    "Admiral, you''re to engage the bulk of the Republic navy near Corellia itself. Third Fondor, you''re to keep the pressure and provide reinforcements to the vanguard until they''ve disabled the Corellian cruisers. Second, divide in pre-designated task forces. We''re going after the prize." Trench ordered.

    "I''ll handle them." Tonith saluted and went to engage the main Republic fleet.

    Trench on the other hand left the harder task for himself ¨C coordinating the almost the whole second while spread into more than twenty separate battle groups all over the system. He had a window of opportunity ¨C few hours until heavy enemy reinforcements could arrive and he was going to exploit that time for all it was worth it.

    The admiral concentrated his attention on the tactical display and began giving attack vectors to his forces. He sent two battle groups to clear up the newly built shipyards around the two dead worlds in the outer system. They were the most lightly defended of his primary targets.

    Trench himself led a full Task Force of his fleet, which was the most powerful one of the three making up Second Fondor Sector Fleet. His target was Selonia ¨C the farthest from the sun planet of the Five Brothers. He gave the order and his ships separated into four battle groups which would maximize the amount of firepower he could bring to bear and ensure his ships wouldn''t be getting in each other way or stand idly because they lacked clear firing lanes.

    "Coordinates locked in, admiral." A Tactical droid announced.

    "Commence insertion." Trench ordered. He b?r?ly felt the shift into the hyperspace and the almost immediate transition back to real space. "Launch fighters and strike craft. Munificent divisions, take out the outer battle stations after the minefields are cleared. Recusants, concentrate on enemy light ships. Lucrehulks ¨C targets of opportunity, with Gollan stations and other sources of heavy firepower being a priority."

    Trench shifted his attention to the vanguard. They were swarming those cruisers, making sure they won''t be using hyperspace to get away, however the price was heavy. Over there ships were dying by the second and that wasn''t going to change until the behemoths were disabled. That only made the success of this operation even more vital. A failure would meant the Confederacy would be kriffed up once and for all.

    =RK=

    Yongling training center

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    "Master Yaddle, you sent for me?" Padawan Serra Keto offered the ancient Jedi a respectful nod. She frowned when a group of Temple Guards jogged to join them.

    "Yes, please follow me. We don''t have much time." Yaddle offered in a sad tone.

    "Did something happen?" Serra asked, not even bothering to hide her concern.

    "He. You can say that. Or that its about to happen. We have a task, young Padawan. We have to get the younglings to safety." Yaddle explained.

    "Is the Temple going to be attacked again?!" Serra exclaimed.

    "In a manner of speaking." Yaddle nodded.

    "An attack?!" One of the Clones stationed nearby overheard them.

    "Yes. I''m terribly sorry about this, young man." The Jedi Master waved a hand and the Clones hit the wall behind them hard enough to knock them out.

    "Master!?" Serra exclaimed.

    "Short version, Padawan. We finally figured out who is the Sith behind the war. It''s Chancellor Palpatine. The Council is attempting to arrest him as we speak. It was also discovered that the Clones had been commissioned by the Sith and we expect them to side with them given the order. We need to get the younglings and other non-combatants to safety, because if the arrest attempt fails, the Sith will see us all along." Yaddle explained.

    The Jedi Master entered the youngling''s part of the Temple and smiled. "Gather around, children." She used the Force to add a touch of suggestion in her voice and soon dozens of kids scurried forward. "We''re going on excursion. Follow us and don''t separate no matter what happen, all right?"

    "Yes, master Yaddle!" A chorus of excited agreements answered.

    "Let''s go. We don''t have time to waste." Yaddle ordered firmly.

    =RK=

    Security control room

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    "Master Drallig, is there a problem?" The captain overseeing security asked.

    He had seen some irregular movements by Temple Guards and had requested to speak with someone on the Council though, so far his inquires were rebuffed. He did put his men on higher alert just in case.

    "You can say so, Jake." Cin smiled sadly. "I need to ask you to stand down."

    The door opened revealing more Temple Guards, who had their weapons drawn and activated, pointing them at the Clones stationed outside.

    "What is the meaning of this?!" Jake asked.

    "We''ll be leaving Coruscant and can''t have any accidents happening." The Jedi Master explained.

    "I can''t allow such a thing without clearing it with command and the Chancellor." The captain pointed out.

    "I see. Well, we were afraid of that. Will you stand down peacefully?" Cin asked again.

    "I can''t do that." Jake said stiffly. He dived to the left and drew his saber only to be caught mid-air by a telekinetic blast that slammed him into a console.

    The Temple Guards either used the Force or their weapons to take out the Clones manning the security center.

    "Damn it, this isn''t how I wanted it to go." Cin shook his head in regret. Two of the soldiers were dead with most others suffering blunt force trauma after being slammed hard into either consoles or walls. "Why the kriff did you kill those two?!"

    "At least we have control over security." One of the Guards pointed out.

    He was immediately proven wrong when alarms began screaming and the door behind them slammed shut.

    "ALERT! Rogue Jedi are attacking GAR personnel stationed at the Jedi Temple! I repeat, rogue Jedi are attacking GAR personnel stationed at the Jedi Temple. All GAR units in the AO ensure your own security and engage rogue elements..."

    "Take out the computers!" Cin shouted. He ignited his lightsaber and began slashing through the consoles, though he knew it was too little too late. "Sith damned¡­ Get to our people now and take out any Clones on your way. We need to get away from Coruscant now!" Drallig ordered.

    =RK=

    Part 5

    Outskirts

    Tipoca City

    Kamino

    "Attack!" Echo ordered a heartbeat after someone on the other side figured out the ambush.

    One of his men slammed a fist over the control panel of the door separating them from the side passage leading straight at the enemy flank. Echo waved forward and charged with his brothers following on his heels.

    The Clone turned right and aimed his grenade launcher. He took just a couple of steps in the enemy''s direction when an armored figure appeared at the end of the corridor and he pressed the trigger. Whoever that was, they managed to duck before the resulting explosion, though Echo was sure they were caught in the blast-wave.

    As he advanced, the Clone sent grenade left and right, keeping the end of the corridor clean from enemies. Five, a frag exploded. Four ¨C concussion, three ¨C an Ion one, two ¨C another frag, one ¨C a high-explosive and he was out. Echo dropped the gun and retrieved a heavy blaster he had slung over his back. His timing was good ¨C he had shouldered and aiming the weapon when he reached the junction at the end of the corridor. The Clone swept left, leaving right for the man behind him.

    The echo of explosions and the Ion discharges made hearing and scanners less than reliable, leaving the soldiers to rely on good old fashioned Mark One eyeballs ¨C though in the 501st case, most actually got upgrades in that department. In Echo''s case, one of his eyes was artificial and able to see infrared, which helped him locate the enemy through dust and smoke obscuring everything.

    A bulky figure turned his way and Echo promptly sent a burst at it. His thermals were partially obscured by the blaster bolts reaction with the enemy''s shield, which unfortunately held. The Clone ducked back and shouted a warning. A solid laser beam went through the space where his torso was a moment ago and struck the edge of the corridor b?r?ly missing Boomer.

    "Huttspawn! That was close!"

    Echo mutely nodded. The laser had carved deep gorge in the wall, which was more or less solid metal. If that had hit his brother in the back¡­ Echo snarled at the thought and pulled out a thermal detonator which he sent at the bastards downrange. A flash of light and a deafening thunderclap announced his success. Then the heat wave hit making everyone sweat despite their environmentally sealed armors.

    Echo glanced across the corner and ducked back when someone shot at him through the haze of the explosion. That part of the corridor was wrecked, opening it to the surrounding levels.

    "We need to push them back further! Divide and isolate the bastards!" Boomer shouted.

    Echo nodded. "Grenades ¨C HE and concussion, then we advance to the right." He pulled another thermal detonator and thew it where the first go off to create distraction.

    So far so good.

    =RK=

    Fives led his own squad in another flanking maneuver. He had to move slower to let the replacements fostered to the 501st keep up with him and his two enhanced buddies.

    To say he was surprised that the ambush didn''t go exactly as planned would be a lie ¨C more often than not the enemy tended to be inconvenient like that. Still, things began well enough. Two rockets were sent downrange by the newbies lugging the heavy weapons, then everyone threw a wide ?ssortment of grenades to clear the way.

    The Clone was taken aback when one of he power armored enemies remained on their feet after a missile detonated against their shields. The defensive barrier winced out and the bastard was left intact ¨C for a second or so anyway, because then the second rocket slammed into his shoulder and tore the whole arm away. Even if otherwise the enemy appeared intact, there was no way that fella was still alive ¨C the overpressure wave and shock would have seen to that. Anyway it was a moot point because multiple grenades landed around the body and that was that.

    "GO!" Fives shouted.

    The overall plan was to hit the enemy from all sides, use the side passage to divide them in smaller, much easier to handle groups and defeat them in detail before their Jedi could turn the tide.

    That at least appeared to be working. Even with a warning preventing a complete surprise ¨C if that was at all possible while the Remnant were in enemy territory seeking contact with the GAR, the opening stage of the ambush went reasonably well. Multiple power armored troopers were taken out before they could properly respond to the threat.

    However, the rest of the attack diverged from the plan significantly. The Remnant refused to be isolated. Any surprise they felt lasted mere seconds, before they rallied and began counter-attacking.

    Fives hit the ground when two enemies got to the corners at the end of the corridor before his unit could reach it and opened fire. Blaster bolts flew above him even as he returned fire. He saw Cipher continue charging while actually dodging two shots from a heavy blaster before slamming in the small cover provided by the indentation around a sealed door to the right.

    Someone screamed in pain from behind announcing that the enemy finally got lucky.

    "Smoke!" Fives snapped after hitting one of the people in power armor only to see his shots being tanked by a shield. Staying in the open against such firepower was suicide.

    "Cipher get that open!" Fives ordered and rolled away to avoid a burst that left a line of glowing holes in the floor.

    A smoke grenade detonated filling the corridor in silver mist.

    That was going to buy them a few moments¡­

    "Get to solid cover!" Fives ordered more quietly. He got up and crawled towards Cypher''s position.

    "I''m almost done, sarg.. guah..."

    A hulking figure appeared through the smoke and slammed a vibro blade through Cypher''s back.

    For a moment Fives stood froze. How the kriff that thing managed to sneak up on them?!

    The figure raised its gun and the Clone''s training kicked in. He dived away form the line of fire and brought his own weapon to bear on the enemy. Somehow he manged to open fire before hitting the ground, which had predictable results ¨C the recoil was just enough to make him land badly and cost him precious moments.

    His shot actually hit, however it wasted itself on the shield.

    Fives had to roll away again, when suddenly the other enemy emerged from the smoke. Eery, the bastard made no sound. Some kind of stealth field? The though ran through Fives brain before he acted on instinct and jumped away from the charging brute.

    Once the second armored figure was past him, it continued its dash towards the rest of the squad. It was met by a fusillade of fire and it answered in kind. However Fives was too busy to pay any attention to the firefight besides merely acknowledging it. The maniac who gutted Cypther like a fish was upon him waving that vibro blade. On a closer look, the thing was actually built into the armor''s left hand.

    Seeing no other option, Fives met the enemy headlong. He used his cybernetically boosted reflexes to dive under a swing and roll behind the armored grunt. Fives raised up on one knee, brought his weapon forward and pressed the trigger. The barrel was inside the shield, making its existence moot. Hot plasma hammered the back and side of the power armor. It might have even worked if Fives could have kept firing for a bit longer. Instead he was forced to lunge back, which made him fall on his back in order to avoid a backhand swipe that nearly cleaved his head in two.

    Seeing no other option, Fives pulled off the single thermal detonator he carried, activated it and threw the explosive at the lumbering enemy''s feet. That bastard then had the audacity to kick the detonator at the Clone before literally flying back.

    Fives had a moment to register the sound of repulsors before lunging towards the live explosive.

    =RK=

    Hex was a fresh Clone ¨C he finished his training mere days before the invasion began. He was among the best of his class, completed ARC training with flying colors too. He thought himself quite good too ¨C something even his Mandalorian instructors agreed to before leaving Kamino.

    That''s why he was chosen along few lucky others to become a part of an elite formation ¨C the 501st Special Operations Legion. He had heard stories about them, some quite wild too.

    Hex didn''t believe most of them ¨C he might have been young, however he was no dummy. There were enough veterans passing through Kamino to ?ssist in the training before being reassigned to make him understand that most war stories were quite embellishedin one way or another.

    A single training session with the veterans of the 501st changed his mind. They were unreal ¨C much faster and stronger than a regular Clone like himself. Their reflexes and reaction times were unreal too.

    After just four soldiers tore apart the newcomers, Hex included, and there were twenty three of them, the young Clone knew that all those stories were understated if anything. He was proud to fight besides warriors of such caliber.

    Hex knew that with the 501st on his side, there simply wasn''t a force in the galaxy that could stand on their way.

    That happy state of affairs continued until the Separatist fleet managed a breakthrough and landed forces in the city of his birth.

    Kamino, especially Tipoca City, had a special place in the heart of every Clone. This place was their home. The only home than they ever knew. It was where their younger brothers were born, raised and trained.

    If there was one place in the galaxy which every single Clone would gladly die to protect, it was Kamino.

    Hex as no exception. That made seeing his home invaded hard to bear. Watching the camera feeds of the enemy plowing through defenses set up by veteran soldiers didn''t help.

    Yet, Hex was a member of the 501st. There was no enemy that could stop them. He was elated when the order to intercept the enemy finally came down the chain of command. Hex hungrily anticipated ambushing the hutspawned bastards who came to ruin his home.

    He cheered when his missile took out one of the power armored invaders.

    Hex wasn''t cheering now. He wasn''t thinking about protecting his home either. The only thing on his mind was putting down the monster that blew apart two of his brothers and was advancing towards him and the rest of the squad no matter how many times they shot at it.

    Even as the shield protecting the armored behemoth fell, it continued to advance and fire back.

    Fin, the last remaining veteran in the squad took a grenade from his belt, however he was torn apart by heavy blaster fire before he could arm it.

    Then another brother went down and there were only three remaining. They fought shoulder to shoulder, pulling back in good order and constantly shooting at the enemy.

    Its armor began melting from the constant fire. Instead of faltering, it actually flew forward, firing all the way.

    Hex was the only one fast enough to dive out of the way. His brothers were literally ran over and their broken bodies swept away.

    "Kriffing die!" Hex shouted.

    He saw red and threw his blaster away, then grabbed two grenades, disengaged the safeties and pressed the triggers before charging at the armored monster who was turning his way.

    A massive explosion sounded from behind and Hex grinned. The sarge got one of the bastards, he was sure of it.

    Hex was almost upon the monster, when it jumped back and flew away until hitting the end of the corridor, then it began raising its gun. Even in his enraged haze, Hex figured out he won''t be reaching it in time. He made to throw the grenades, then there was only searing pain. Hex crumbled to the ground and saw one of the live weapons roll in front of his eyes.

    This wasn''t fair! He was part of the 501st! They never lost!

    The grenades detonated.

    "We won''t be talking about this." One of the power armored men muttered.

    "If the captain see how we kriffed around, she''ll have our heads." The other agreed and they both went to rejoin the battle.

    =RK=

    Part 6

    Outskirts

    Tipoca City

    Kamino

    Rex sprinted on the heels of the Jedi Master. He cleared the corner a heartbeat behind her and saw Shaak Ti thrust her left hand forward. The Clone wasn''t quite sure, though he thought he saw a shiver pass through the air down the corridor.

    The point man leading the enemy formation had their hand up too and was the one of the few who remained on their feet. The rest of the Remnant vanguard were thrown on heir back as if shoved hard. There were only three people standing upright ¨C two men and the woman in front. If they were surprised by what just happened, none of them showed it. Instead the trio activated lightsabers of their own ¨C all blue and charged. The woman made a beeline towards the Jedi Master, while the others sprinted by the walls.

    Rex took aim and opened fire to rightmost Jedi. He could hear the rest of the unit coming in behind him, which was good. They were going to need the firepower. That was painfully obvious when every single shot he sent downrange was reflected back at him. His enhanced reflexes actually gave him a chance to sidestep a few of the bolts and he was lucky enough that his shield absorbed the rest. His men finally arrived and opened up raining shot after shot at the approaching Jedi.

    Instead of stopping or at least faltering, those two sped up and began running up the walls of all things. That was enough to throw off the aim of some Clones for a moment or two, time well spent by the enemy. The Jedi acted in unison - one made a pulling motion and only the implants increasing Rex''s strength allowed him to keep his gun even if it was a close call. Some of his men, who didn''t have such extensive enhancements didn''t manage it and their weapons were torn out of their hands.

    That''s when the other Jedi acted. Rex felt like a wall slammed into him. A moment of disorientation followed, a sense of falling and then a painful contact with the floor.

    This time he lost his gun.

    "Up and at them!" The commander shouted. He jumped on his feet and grappled for his sidearm.

    Rex was relieved to see Shaak Ti using her powers to pull back one of the Jedi coming at his men, however there was nothing left to stop the other. The enemy jumped off the wall and landed in front of the closest Clone. His lightsaber came down and Tio lost his head. Phil tried to tackle the Jedi, got suspended in mid-air for his troubles before that bastard impaled him.

    "Kill him!" Rex snapped and charged the Jedi. His men got out of their shock and followed his example.

    The Jedi strode forward without a care in the world. He waved a hand and another invisible wall of force sent Rex tumbling on the floor. By the time he was up, two more of his brothers were cut down. Someone had kept his gun and opened fire only to be ignored ¨C the Jedi simply let his shields take the shots and killed another Clone, only then did he deem fit to begin deflecting the incoming fire.

    That man never stopped walking forward. It felt like, with every step the Jedi took, Rex lost a brother.

    Sam, one of the new guys screamed, and charged the killer coming for them all. The Jedi finally paused. He clutched his fist and pumped it in the air. Sam flew up and with every motion slammed in the ceiling with bone breaking force. The enemy lowered his hand, yet the young Clone left hanging as if embedded into the metal.

    "Surrender. I won''t ask again." The Jedi spoke for the first time. His voice was mechanical, likely thanks to the comm in his helmet.

    "Go to hell!" Rex snarled. He picked up a pistol laying next to him and began firing.

    "You first." The Jedi shrugged and continued his march.

    A dismissive gesture slammed a Clone into the wall ¨C he fell and didn''t get up. Yet another kid was next; he was pulled off his feet and impaled. Then the Jedi walked below Sam and flourished his saber, nearly cutting the poor bastard in two. The murderer took another step forward and pointed his weapon at the remaining soldiers. It was only then that Sam finally fell from the ceiling, hitting the floor behind his killer.

    Rex looked at his brothers.

    "General, we need to pull back now!" The commander shouted. "Kas with me." Rex looked over his shoulder. "Run, fools!"

    When he looked back at the Jedi, the man gave him a small nod. Rex was surprised that he felt no fear. He was totally outclassed. Everything he tried so far had proven useless against the Jedi. He knew he was about to die and the only thing he felt was regret ¨C regret that he failed his men and led them against an enemy he had underestimated. He believed that surprise, numbers and the equipment the Clones had combined with Ti''s ?ssistance would be enough.

    After all, Rex had seen Jedi die before. He knew they could be overwhelmed. When figuring out how to take out these bastards, he should have used general Veil as a baseline, not the Jedi generals he knew.

    "Kriff it." The commander nodded at his brother. He activated the blade built in the right arm-guard of his armor, took a grenade from his belt and charged the Jedi.

    =RK=

    "You should surrender, Master Ti, was it?" The woman in power armor engaging her spoke for the first time.

    "I don''t think so." The Jedi Master parried a thrust from the younger sounding female before sidestepping a slash aimed at her hand from her other opponent.

    "Your men are dying. You can''t stop us. There is no shame in surrender. It will save your lives." The Remnant Jedi tried again.

    Shaak Ti knew that the woman was right about Rex and his men. She felt them dying one after another ¨C slaughtered by the Jedi she was unable to stop.

    Ti parried an attack, riposted, ducked and weaved between the blades seeking her flesh. She gathered the Force around her hand and sent it forward as a battering ram aimed at the other woman. The Old Republic Jedi simply slapped the attack away and the energy went to dent the wall, making the corridor ring like a gong.

    As if the situation wasn''t bad enough, Ti could see the ambush falling not only in the front of the enemy column. A Clone squad was hitting the Remnant vanguard from the back ¨C they had demolished the corridor behind them and their presence was the only reason the Jedi Master hadn''t been overran by the power armored troopers who followed her opponents. Instead they were busy killing the Republic soldiers attacking them.

    Ti faltered when Rex ordered a retreat. She dared glance back and winced. Most of the Clones were dead or pulling back. Only Rex and one of his brothers still stood obviously ready to buy their brothers a few precious seconds.

    "Its over, Master Ti. Stand down." The enemy offered again.

    Shaak Ti narrowed her eyes. She was out of time. The soldiers down the corridor were retreating too and soon she wold be facing more enemies.

    The Jedi Master closed her eyes and deactivated her lightsaber. Was this it? Was this how it all ends?

    No.

    The anger Ti had been feeling ever since Veil used her and throw her away rose to the surface.

    She would not fall here!

    Shaak Ti still had unfinished business with Veil. She couldn''t be defeated, couldn''t be captured before she faced that man one last time!

    Her anger grew hotter and Shaak Ti felt a surge of cold, soothing power rushing through her. She thrust her hands forward, the new energy flowed through her arms and discharged in a massive shock-wave, more powerful than anything she had managed before this day.

    The Remnant Jedi managed to defend themselves, however both of them staggered and had to took a few steps back. The power armored soldiers behind them were caught off guard and sent sliding across the floor, while every single piece of debris in the vicinity flew through the corridor with enough power to dent steel.

    Ti didn''t waste the opportunity, she turned around and began running. Her anger grew to new heights when she saw the Jedi she missed execute one of the Clones while Rex stood frozen mid-swing. Ti voiced her anger through a voiceless roar, just like her ancestors did before the dawn of civilization.

    The Force gave he more strength and she descended like a blur at the Jedi who murdered her men. He managed to turn around and parry her swing, yet that wasn''t nearly enough. The Force was singing to the Jedi Master. It gave her ice cold purpose and strength. Despite the power armor, the Remnant Jedi was brought on one knee by the sheer raw power behind the swing. She struck again and this time tore the lightsaber away from the man''s hands, leaving him open for the killing blow.

    Ti raised her weapon for one last strike, however it never landed. In the last moment she was pulled back and her lightsaber slashed through the floor between her and her victim. The Jedi Master looked back to those who denied her vengeance. Behind them their friends were getting on their feet and turning Ti''s way.

    Shaak Ti snarled at the denied kill and ran. The Jedi dove out of her way, avoiding her last attempt to take him out. At lest that was enough to release Rex, who stumbled forward.

    Ti went past the Clone, grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the end of the corridor. Blaster bolts began wheezing past them, something blew up behind and finally they were going past the corner and getting out of sight.

    Shaak Ti let Rex go, helped him turn around and pushed him forward.

    "Go!" she wheezed. The cold power rushing through her veins was disappearing and leaving her feel exhausted. Now it was Rex''s turn to grab her shoulder and drag her.

    Ti bit her lip and pushed herself to move faster. She could hear the sound of approaching armored feet.

 Chapter 82 - Conflagration [2/2]

    Part 7

    Operations room

    GAR HQ

    Coruscant

    When the chaos erupted around him, Obi-Wan was slow to react. Stunned disbelief made him sluggish. His mind whirled in circles, fighting to comprehend the obvious ¨C the conservatives were staging a coup ¨C that was the only explanation.

    Yet, even after all that happened, even now that the proof stared him in the face, Obi-Wan struggled to believe it. Jedi turning against the Republic at this time? It was unthinkable, sheer madness!

    Only reflexes honed by months of war saved Kenobi. He rose his blade to parry an incoming slash while his mind was still preoccupied with processing the impossible. Obi-Wan slapped away a thrust and stepped back, out of the range of another slash guided by the Force. His mind was finally rebooted by sensing one of his aides ¨C Rhee, a young cheerful Rodian, die behind him.

    Kenobi felt like awakening from a dream and walking straight into chaos. He flinched when another man he had been working closely with for more than a month was suddenly snuffed out. A pang of anger was born in his heart and was immediately stroked when Obi-Wan saw from the corner of his eye Telar fall clutching his shoulder.

    Kenobi never got the opportunity. A grenade flew his way and Obi-Wan acted without thinking. His hand snapped up, guiding the Force to stop the weapon before it could reach a group of officers taking cover behind a row of consoles in the back of the room. Before Obi-Wan could sent it back, Tiin used the opportunity to push the grenade closer to Kenobi.

    It detonated just two meters away from the former Jedi who lived thanks to hastily erected barrier made by the Force itself. However that defense was far from perfect. While it stopped the overpressure wave from turning Obi-Wan''s organs into soup, it was less effective against the fragments. Some tore through the barrier and slashed through the green fabric of his uniform. Kenobi staggered back as hot metal slashed through his left side. He had a moment to curse himself for not coming to HQ with his armor on lately, then Tiin was upon him.

    The Jedi Master didn''t escape the blast unscratched either - his right cheek was a shredded mess and his horns were the proud owners of still smoking pieces of grenade casing. However, the Jedi''s armor protected him from any debilitating injuries courtesy of the shrapnel.

    Tiin jumped at Kenobi and forced him back before stepping past the former Jedi and made him turn his back to the Cathar soldiers at the door.

    The feeling of immediate deadly danger was coming from all around Obi-Wan. It was like the Force was screaming at him loud enough to deafen everyone nearby.

    It was quite superficial too. Obi-Wan knew how deep trouble he was in. His wounds were slowing him down, the blood leaking from his left side weakening him with every heartbeat. Not that it mattered right then. Having his back turned to soldiers already aiming to gun him down was more immediate concern. Tiin attacking to keep him in that position was an issue too.

    At that moment, Obi-Wan''s mid was crystal clear. He parried a stab, pushed away a thrust aimed at his heart and whirled in place, sweeping his lightsaber in an arc around him. The Force guided his blade and allowed him to deflect most of the blaster bolts coming at him. A few missed when he moved away from where the enemy anticipated him to be.

    One shot caught him from behind, crisping his left shoulder and making him stumble and fall to his knees. It was a fortunate hit ¨C otherwise Obi-Wan would have ran straight into Tiin''s riposte and ended up in two pieces. Instead he b?r?ly avoided the Jedi Master''s saber.

    Kenobi drew on the Force as much as he could and pushed the searing pain away. He rolled away from a blaster barrage, a choking cry escaping from his lips as the shrapnel in his side moved tearing at his flesh.

    "It wasn''t supposed to be like this!" Tiin spat in frustration. "Why did you support the Sith, Obi-Wan?!" The Jedi snapped and advanced towards his wounded opponent.

    For a brief moment, Kenobi was back on Mandalore. He was looking at Satine, imagining her dying in his hands. He heard Veil''s question. He remembered choosing his wife above his duty as a Jedi.

    Then Obi-Wan moved, frantically parrying Tiin''s onslaught. Satine''s face flashed before Kenobi''s eyes. He put everything he had into keeping Tiin''s lightsaber away and for a few seconds they were evenly matched. However Obi-Wan was getting weaker, slower. He had to fall back relying in his Soresu''s superb defense. That bought him a few more seconds before the Jedi Master dashed boldly at his former comrade and locked their weapons together.

    They stayed that way for merely a heartbeat before Obi-Wan''s remaining strength failed him and his lightsaber was torn away from his grasp. The Jedi kicked him in the gut and sent him on his knees. A brief look of triumph passed through Tiin''s eyes and he stabbed at Kenobi.

    Obi-Wan got his good arm up and caught the lightsaber''s blade in his hand. He channeled all the Force he could still grasp into his palm and stopped the weapon cold.

    Tiin nodded in respect, then kicked Kenobi in the ?h?st and send him crashing on his back.

    "This never should have happened, Obi-Wan!" The Jedi Master whispered. "You were one of our best! A beacon of light in this dark galaxy!"

    Obi-Wan looked up at Tiin. He was spent.

    The Jedi shook his head in regret and slowly walked towards Kenobi.

    A hazy image of Satine swam in front of Obi-Wan''s mind. He noticed that her hair was un-kept, her eyes were red and puffy from crying.

    The angle changed and Satine''s image became blurry. She looked different, regal. Her hair was made up and fell like a golden waterfall around her shoulders. Satine was looking at a tall granite pillar, covered with carved up names. His wife took a step closer and gently traced one of them with a finger.

    For an instant the vision became a bit clearer and Obi-Wan could recognize his name, standing next to Valentra''s. The angle shifted again, and Kenobi saw his wife from the right. Satine was smiling sadly at the monument, because now it was obvious what the pillar was. It was surrounded by four burning cauldrons, each flanked by troopers standing at parade rest as honor guards. Yet, that was merely an afterthought.

    Obi-Wan''s eyes were drawn to a small bundle in Satine''s other hand. She was looking down at it and smiling sadly.

    The vision shifted again, coming closer to his wife and Kenobi saw what she was holding close to her heart.

    It was a tiny baby, who was smiling at Satine. The child turned his head and looked straight at Obi-Wan. He stared at two sparkling blue eyes just like his own and smiled.

    "I''m sorry, Obi-Wan." Tiin''s voice shattered the vision.

    Kenobi''s eyes snapped open and he looked up at the Jedi Master towering above him. Tiin had his lightsaber raised and ready to plunge it in Obi-Wan''s heart.

    The time seemed to slow down to a crawl. Obi-Wan felt like freezing ¨C a chill the likes of which he hand never felt before crawled through his body. The lights built into the ceiling dimmed, making Tiin appear to be cloaked in shadows, with only his lightsaber chasing off the darkness.

    Their child, his mind supplied.

    His daughter, he was certain of it. A daughter he would never know. Never hold.

    Kenobi could feel the chill spreading, slowing down his heartbeat, almost like it was freezing the blood in his veins.

    Finally, Obi-Wan understood the choice he made back on Mandalore. His wife. His unborn daughter. They were what mattered. They were the reason he turned his back to everything he knew, everything he had been taught to believe in.

    They were the choice he wold make again if given the opportunity.

    Kenobi stared at the small smiling face of his daughter. The very idea that he might not be there for her made him furious. It was unacceptable. Unthinkable.

    The frost spreading through Obi-Wan turned into molten magma. The Force shivered when he reached for her. Obi-Wan didn''t open himself for the source of his power. He didn''t threat her as the ally who had been beside him ever since he could remember. Instead Kenobi demanded her power. He wrenched it into his body, demanded as much strength as she could give him and the Dark Side complied.

    Eagerly at that. Obi-Wan could dimly sense the Dark Side rejoice at his choice. A part of him could dimly feel that the balance of the Force subtly shift. For a heartbeat he felt confusion. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the galaxy didn''t become darker because of what he was doing. The Light Side didn''t become dimmer. Nor did the Dark gain power, even if he knew he was taken a firm step towards the darkness he had been taught to fear.

    It was simply different.

    Obi-Wan''s eyes focused. Tiin''s lightsaber was frozen mid-stab, mere centimeters above Kenobi''s heart. The Jedi Master''s eyes widened in shock. He struggled to push his weapon down to no avail.

    "Impossible!" Tiin exclaimed.

    Obi-Wan didn''t answer. He slowly raised his good arm and pointed it at the Jedi. A ball of pure light formed in his palm and was immediately surrounded by a corona of crackling, crimson lighting. It suddenly flew at Tiin, who jumped back and raised an arm to protect himself. A Force barrier materialized in front of the Jedi Master, then it was promptly shattered by Obi-Wan''s attack. His shield was triggered by the lighting and popped up, stripped away from raw Dark Side energy. That however was enough to dissipate the outer layer of the attack and only the ball of light struck Tiin with bone breaking force.

    The Jedi Master was blasted away. He felt multiple ribs snap before slamming into one of his soldiers and hitting the ground in a tangle of limbs. He laid there stunned for a few moments, before his armor administered painkillers and stimulants that cleared his mind.

    Tiin ?r??n?d in pain and looked around. He was just outside the operations'' center, laying among multiple bodies. The last of his soldiers were either on their knees or prone on the ground to present smaller targets and trading fire with an ever increasing number of Clones.

    Kriff.

    Tiin glanced back through the door. He used the Force to seek Kenobi and smiled grimly. The former Jedi was out ¨C he could sense that Obi-Wan was still alive, but no longer any threat.

    Feeling another of the men who followed him here die, snapped Tiin back to the firefight around him. There were only a handful of soldier left. People who followed him here, despite the unlikely odds of success. People dying because of him.

    He glanced back at Obi-Wan. At the end the former Jedi was like an open book. Tiin had no doubt left that Kenobi had fallen. The Jedi could fell the Dark Side practically leaking from the man before he blasted him away. Yet, somehow he was not only using the Light Side too, but they were in balance within Kenobi.

    Tiin closed his eyes briefly. The Council was mistaken. He was wrong. Whatever Kenobi was, he hadn''t fallen. He was no Sith. He didn''t deserve to die for a betrayal which he might very well be innocent of.

    Another of Tiin''s men fell to the Clones. He felt the Force tremble. Jedi were dying. The Jedi Master could feel it. The galaxy was growing darker. He had been a fool. He was responsible for leaving the Order, the Jedi as a whole no choice but follow him in this madness. Tiin snarled when he felt the cold touch of the Dark Side. He could sense its triumph as good men and women died.

    At that moment Tiin knew. He had been deceived. Betrayed.

    By the Jedi teachings. By his own stubborn refusal to see how the galaxy had changed in mere months. By his own heart, when he left his emotion rule him and went to confront Veil in the Senate. By his mind when he refused to stop and seek the reasons why everything went so wrong within himself and the Jedi first, before blaming everything solely on the Sith.

    More people he knew were suddenly dying on Coruscant.

    "No more!" Tiin grunted in pain as he got up.

    It was too late to stop this madness. All he could do now was save whoever he could and if he was fortunate to leave Coruscant alive, seek the faults in himself that led to this madness. Only then he could begin figuring out a way to end this madness if at all possible. If it wasn''t already too late, because Tiin was afraid that no matter what he did from now on, no matter if the coup succeeded in its primary objectives, the Dark Side might triumph anyway.

    He let the Force flow through him; it soothed the pain in his ?h?st and invigorated him. Yet, it wasn''t the calm feeling of the Light Side. Not at all. Tiin felt the Force flowing through him being fueled by his emotions ¨C anger, despair, regret, the overwhelming feeling of failure¡­ He raised a hand and his lightsaber flew into it.

    "Follow me! We''re leaving!" Tiin shouted to the few Cathar Commando''s still on their feet. "Grab the wounded, I''ll clear up a path."

    Tiin strode in front of his remaining men and began deflecting the incoming blaster bolts. He found he didn''t particularly care if the Dark Side was aiding him right now. He was a failure as a Jedi anyway. No matter what happened, Tiin was the one who ultimately led to countless Jedi dying right now with more to follow.

    He screamed his frustration, his despair at the Clones in front of him. The Dark Side responded and turned his wordless shout into a physical force that threw those nearby off their feet.

    "I''m sorry..." Tiin repeated, then decapitated a Clone trying to find his footing.

    The Jedi Master caught another soldier in a telekinetic grip and crushed the poor bastard, then continued striding forward. His lightsaber danced guided by the force and sent back every shot coming his way to its sender. Those wearing the new armors merely tanked the reflected firepower. Yet, half the Clones were clad in the old Phase I suits and they began falling one after another.

    Tiin pulled away the weapons of the closest troopers as he approached the end of the corridor and cut through a soldier that charged him with a knife he pulled from his belt. The Dark Side sang with joy at the slaughter he was committing, it grew that much stronger with every Jedi who fell on Coruscant. With every step he took forward, with every life he took, Tiin grew angrier; at himself, at the Dark Side, at the Force itself.

    That anger merely granted him more power, thus stroking his fury further.

    Tiin caught a blaster bolt aimed at his heart, took a step forward and slammed the energy in the ?h?st of a Clone unlucky enough to be in his way. The man gave out a chocked scream as the blaster shot burned through his armor and seared his ?h?st. Tiin let him fall and impaled the next Clone that came in range.

    The worst was that he could feel the Dark Side mocking him. Corrupting him. With every new kill, Tiin''s revulsion at himself grew. With every death he dealt, he began to feel a tiny bit of p???sur? at a besting another enemy, at removing another obstacle in his path.

    Tiin felt himself slowly but surely falling, knew that it was inevitable unless he stopped right now. He felt the Dark Side laughing at the idea. He could all but see the consequence ¨C he and his few men being gunned down by enraged clones.

    Tiin faltered. Was this how Obi-Wan began walking down the dark path? By facing the choice between dying along someone he cared about, no matter if it was a forbidden love or a sense of duty and obligation towards people who willingly walked with him in hell?

    A chocked laugh escaped his lips. The Dark Side was truly an insidious bitch.

    A blaster bolt slipped past Tiin and hit one of his men in the head, killing him instantly.

    The Jedi roared his despair and charged the Clones. The die was cast. The sides drawn. There was no turning back.

    All Tiin knew was the need to get his people out and the Dark Side''s mocking laugh. The bitch had won.

 Chapter 83 - Their finest hour [1/2]

    Part 1

    Security Center

    GAR HQ

    Coruscant

    Colonel Zack was staring at multiple screens showing the same thing in stunned disbelief. One moment everything was quiet, then all landlines were suddenly down and the HQ was put under jamming field.

    "Sound the alert! Security team to defense positions! I want to know who is attacking us!" The Clone snapped out of it and ordered. "Check the internal feeds. I wan to know the moment we''ve got a breach. I want someone getting out of the building and sounding the alarm!"

    More than a dozen Clones sitting at various consoles began typing frantically, while Zack began looking over the right wall which was covered with screens showing camera feeds.

    "Everything appears quiet, sir..." One of the tech''s muttered.

    "Hey, check the Ops room..." Another exclaimed.

    A group of soldiers in what appeared to be modified Phase I armor were at the entrance and pointing blasters at the Clones stationed there.

    "Security teams to the Operation Room, on the double!" Zack snapped. "Where did those bastards come from..." The colonel frowned, then he snarled. "That Jedi Huttspawned¡­" he switched in Mandalorian for some juicy curses. "I want everyone who came in with Tiin located and security dispatched to arrest them. Lethal force is authorized. Burn through the Jamming, we need to sound the alert." Zack spat. "I bet we aren''t the only ones hit." The Clone paused.

    Zack remembered a weird message that Skirata sent him a few weeks ago.

    "I want two security teams to get to the hangar and break out no matter who attempts to stop them. One is going to the closest GAR base, apprises them of the situation and sends QRFs here, at the Senate and to reinforce our people at the Temple. The other is going to the Mandalorian embassy. Tell their chief of security Knightfall, they know what that means¡­" The colonel trailed off.

    The closest security team made it to the corridor in front of Operation and were immediately engaged. The two brothers at the door were gunned down, then a firefight exploded withing the HQ''s nerve center too.

    "Have more security sent to Operations, medics too, they''ll need them." Zack growled.

    =RK=

    EW warfare center

    ONI Frigate Shadow of Intent

    "Data links are up. We''ve got good connection..."

    "Sending verification codes¡­ We''re patched into the system¡­

    "We''re receiving confirmation from our agents. Broadsword is green¡­ Reaper is green¡­"

    "Do we have a go, ma''am?" Agent Kelly Ganz asked the holo image of her director.

    "Proceed. I''ll be in position in time. Good luck, agent." The director''s electronic ghost vanished.

    "You heard the boss lady. We''re a go." Kelly ordered. She brushed a hand through her short black hair and cursed quietly.

    "To think it came to this..." One of the specialists muttered.

    "What did you expect? That we would stand by and let the Sith ruin the whole Republic just like they did with my world?!" A short woman sneered.

    "What happened to Tarsis was a tragedy, but it was done thousands of year ago..." He began.

    "We''ve all agreed that the Sith can''t be allowed to gain more control over the Republic, no matter the price. That''s why we''re here." Kelly spoke quietly, yet conviction rang with every word. "We all know what would happen if they''re not stopped. Our worlds still bear the scars from the last time. We stop them now. Carry out your orders."

    "Command channels are infiltrated. Reaper has green light. I''m sending the orders." An agent who had been content to simply listen, announced.

    "Good." Kelly nodded. "May the ancestors forgive us." She whispered so quietly no one heard her.

    =RK=

    Reaper flight

    High Orbit above Coruscant

    "Damn the Jedi and the Hutt they crawled from!" Captain Vigo snarled when he got the order to execute his mission.

    He was leading a Y-Wing squadron on a training flight, that accidentally would bring them close to the Coruscant defense fleet''s flagship. A cruiser that ONI apparently suspected of being suborned by Jedi who might be trying to pull of a coup today. When he had been given the orders a few hours ago and got an explanation what might be happening planet side if ONI and SIB kriffed up an operation aimed at traitors among the Jedi, Vigo found it hard to believe. Surely even the Jedi wouldn''t be that crazy, right? Then he remembered Skywalker''s stunt and other horror stories he had heard from buddies stationed at the frontlines¡­

    To think that the Jedi would be insane enough to attempt a coup and even worse have some support among the fleet and his brothers¡­ Vigo snarled. It had to be that crazy space magic of theirs. The Force¡­ There was no other way some of his brothers would follow the madmen.

    The clone increased the speed of his fighter and slightly changed course. It wasn''t quite an attack vector aimed at the Flagship, though it was close.

    "Reaper flight, Republic Actual, you''re getting pretty close. Did you get lost? Over." A painfully familiar voice, the same as Vigo''s own sounded from the captain''s comm.

    He looked up from his instruments. The Republic ¨C Flagship of the Coruscant defense fleet was already clearly visible.

    "Republic Actual, Reaper One. We''re on a training flight. Just enjoying the view, over." Vigo switched back to the squadron''s frequency. "Keep it steady. We''re almost there."

    "Reaper One, Republic Actual," The Clone on the comms sounded amused. "You should buy us a drink first before ogling us from this close..."

    "Go!" Vigo ordered and hit the afterburner.

    The captain put his Y-Wing into a steep dive towards the Republic and activated the targeting systems of his bomber. Another flick of a bu??on and the weapons were online too ¨C the whole load worth of Ion bombs.

    "Reaper One, break off!" Republic Actual exclaimed.

    "Sorry, brother. I hope you make it thorough all right." Vigo answered.

    The captain smiled sadly. The Republic wasn''t going to make it in time. He got a good targeting tone and pressed the trigger. Glowing azure orbs detached from their hard-points and flew at the cruiser. Vigo continued to fly above the target until his weapons were spent, then broke off. He banked left and looked down through the canopy. The Republic was listing while big forks of Ionic energy wracked her superstructure and made sure she was knocked off.

    Vigo''s comm beeped as he received a fleet wide priority message. He switched channels to listen while making his best to get out of the Republic''s squadron range before they got over the shock and began shooting.

    "This is director Ivon Fell, from ONI. Coruscant Defense Fleet, you''re ordered to stand down. A Jedi coup is in progress on the surface. Multiple GAR ground and naval units have been compromised. As we speak, ONI and SIB units are conducting operations to apprehend the traitors. Until you loyalty to the Republic can be made certain, you''re to stand down. Keep you weapons and shields off. Any aggressive move will be considered a clear and present danger to Coruscant and her people, thus dealt with accordingly¡­ I repeat..."

    Some ships simply remained frozen in their positions. Others either received conflicting orders of their captains had no intention to strand by while a potential coup was going off on the world below them. Within minutes, elements of the Coruscant Defense Fleet, the orbital defenses and an ONI squadron that just exited hyperspace began shooting at each other. Some of the ONI ships launched ?ssault shuttles that ignored the fight in orbit and acceleratecc towards Coruscant.

    =RK=

    Part 2

    Zash''s lab

    Republic R&D Complex

    Coruscant

    Those words stopped the Jedi in his tracks and he looked at the Sith with wide, horrified eyes. She saw the understanding in his gaze and laughed.

    "Yes, its been a long time since I got a Jedi to run around in." Zash beamed.

    Yoda''s features hardened. He leaned forward and his fingers closed around the hilt of his lightsaber in a death grip.

    "Such a blind fool I was..." Yoda whispered and glared at the Sith. "End you today I will, Sith!"

    "Come on!" Zash bid him to approach. "Come and try!" She smirked.

    "Judge your crimes the Force will." Yoda declared.

    One moment the Jedi master was meters away, then in the next he was little more than a green blur rocketing straight at Zash. The Sith''s delighted laughter rand throughout the lab and she went to meet him.

    Purple lighting whipped from Zash''s blood and flesh hand and struck the Jedi mid-flight. He bounced from it and touched the ground for a mere heartbeat before jumping at the woman. Yoda''s lightsaber moved like a buzz saw ready to render the Sith limb from limb.

    "That''s it! Come on, you can do better!" Zash continued to laugh.

    She parried a lighting fast slash, leaned away from another and her prosthetic snapped forward to tear a chunk of Yoda''s robe. The Jedi b?r?ly avoided losing a bit of flesh, before he was caught by a pulse of creeping darkness that made him jump away. He landed five meters from the Sith and threw away his over robe. Yoda''s eyes narrowed and for a moment he literally glowed as he channeled as much of the Force he could. The Dark Side energy clinging to his body slithered away and he took a deep, relieved breath.

    "That''s not all you can do, right?" Zash frowned. "Right? We''re going to have so much fun!"

    "Hmm. Powerful you are." Yoda admitted.

    The Jedi raised a hand and concentrated. All the lab station around the large room shook before they were torn away from the floor. Pieces of equipment began floating around them like asteroid rings orbiting a planet. Yoda''s hand slashed down and every single piece of equipment and furniture in the lab shot at Zash.

    "Bravo!" The Sith exclaimed and graced the Jedi with a huge grin. Zash smirked and everything flying at her froze in the air. She pointed an artificial finger at Yoda. "My turn." The Sith crooned.

    Tendrils made of purple energy exploded from her body and began striking the floating furniture, then jumping from piece to piece until Zash stood in the middle of lighting web. She began humming happily to herself and jabbed a finger at Yoda. Following her command, every single piece floating around the Sith hurled itself at the Jedi.

    Yoda let his weapon go and raised both hands up with the palms open and pointing at the incoming barrage. The pieces began slowing down and crashing in each other, with every collision sending a sparks flying everywhere.

    "Triumph you shall not, Sith! Allow it I shall not!" Yoda declared and pushed everything back at Zash.

    "That''s better!" She clapped her hands, sending the furniture and equipment at the walls, floor and ceiling with enough force that everything shattered to pieces. The Dark Side energy discharged harmlessly away, only making the room appear cloaked in shadows for a few seconds, before the still intact ceiling lights could chase away the brief twilight.

    "You know, it''s been a long time since I had someone of your kind to play with. Being able to naturally live for centuries even without being touched by the Force..." Zash spoke in irrelevant tone. "Do you mind if I keep you as a lab buddy? You know, to experiment on and have a proper conversation with?" Zash beamed at the Jedi.

    "Decline I must. Too busy being dead you will be." Yoda grumbled.

    "Not by your hand." Zash laughed cheerfully.

    The Sith pointed her lightsaber at the Jedi. Six spears made of light-devouring darkness formed in a circle around her weapon.

    "I say jump!"

    The lances shot at Yoda one after another. He sidestepped one, dove under a second, then rolled to avoid the third. The next three came in a quick succession, forcing him to jump away. The next attack came in immediately and Yoda had to concentrate all his attention on catching and absorbing the continuous lighting bolt that Zash sent at him. For long seconds, the Jedi Master was suspended in mid-air, holding on the Dark Side attack.

    Even as he absorbed as much as he could, the lighting increased in magnitude. It made his palms sweat, then they began the tingle and smoke as the moisture began evaporating.

    The attack cut off letting Yoda land on the floor. He swayed on his feet and panted for breath. The energy he had to absorb was more than his small frame could handle. He felt the strain ¨C it was like the lighting had actually wracked him and set his nerves on fire.

    "Not impressive, though not bad either. You can use some tutoring, I recon." Zash frowned. "You''re the Jedi Grandmaster, not his ugly little sidekick, right?" The frown marring her face deepened. "Eh, whatever." Zash shrugged.

    She raised her artificial hand and all the debris in the room jumped to obey like pets eager for their master''s touch. Her fingers closed into a fist and everything condensed into a ball above them.

    "Lesson number one. Please pay attention!" Zash ordered.

    Metal, crystal and glass shattered into a fine dust. The lab began smelling of ozone before it grew darker. Yoda''s eyes widened and he jumped back towards the entrance. Lighting exploded from the ceiling, struck the cloud of condensed dust and ignited it until within moments it was a ball of glowing plasma.

    Zash leveled her hand at Yoda and sent the small artificial sun flying unerringly at him. The Jedi Master used all the excess energy still running through his body to halt the incoming fiery death. The sphere halted in front of him and it took all his strength to throw it to the side so it flew past him when Zash pushed harder. The plasma slammed into the wall, splashed over it and the floor and began melting through them as it was cooling down.

    Yoda panted from the exertion. He knew he should be feeling the heat from the plasma, instead all he could sense upon his skin was the cold touch of the Dark Side. He felt sluggish. Exhausted.

    "Good, good, my unwitting apprentice!" Zash chuckled. "You''re actually a lot of fun, aren''t you? Huh. What''s this I''m sensing? Resignation? Don''t tell me you came here to become a martyr or something!" Zash scoffed. "Ah, Jedi, you never change." The ancient woman huffed in exasperation.

    "Determination you feel, Sith! Triumph you shall not!" Yoda grumbled.

    "Bah. As if I care about that." Zash waved dismissively. "Give me a decent lab, resources, a few competent ?ssistants¡­ Minion One you most certainly don''t count!" Zash pointed at one of the cameras built into the ceiling that had survived so far. "Where was I, hmm? Ah! As I said I don''t really care about the annual spat between the Jedi and Sith. If it wasn''t for my apprentice being here to tease and well you people being fun to watch stumble in the dark, I wouldn''t be paying you any attention." Zash pointed an accusing finger at Yoda who appeared to finally be catching his breath. "Why did you come here to trash my lab anyway? It wasn''t a half bad attempt..." Her frown deepened. "It isn''t just because I''m a Sith, right? That''s dastardly discrimination! Bloody Jedi..."

    Zash began walking towards Yoda who used the Force to recall his lightsaber. The weapon had somehow survived the destruction of everything in the lab besides the Force Adepts.

    "Move away. I''m done playing with you, little Jedi. If you want lessons on how to properly use the Force or that tiny lightsaber of yours, call one of my ?ssistants. I recommend Minion Two. She''s showing the b?r? minimum of competence required to survive in a lab. We''ll start with a thousand credits an hour. That''s a fair price, I think." Zash looked lost in thought.

    "You shall not pass." Yoda declared.

    "Huh, you still here? You''re trespassing you know. Hey, minions, where''s security? We''ve got someone loitering in my lab. He trashed everything too, now that I think about it..." Zash pointed at the Jedi Master. "Before you receive any more lessons you''ll be paying for this!" She waved at the empty lab and the melted wall.

    "What madness is this!?" Yoda exclaimed.

    "Madness?" Zash narrowed her eyes dangerously. "This was my lab, before you trashed it, you little ignorant troll!" The Sith snapped. "I demand an apology!" Zash huffed.

    She put her hands on her feet and gave the Jedi an expectant look.

    "Mad you are." Yoda muttered.

    "Me? I was simply minding my business, not bothering anyone! You''re the one who barged in, threatened me, attacked me and wrecked the place!" Zash pointed out.

    "No more lies, Sith!" Yoda snapped.

    Zash smiled inside. She wondered how long he could hold out before his restrain was gone. Toying with self-righteous Jedi was so much fun!

    "Lies? By little old me?" Zash took a step back in mock horror.

    Yoda opened his mouth to speak and staggered. His eyes widened in horror.

    "Oh, my. What did you people do now? Forgot your medicine or something?" Zash grumbled. "Couldn''t you wait to get yourselves killed until the current unpleasantries are over? I swear, you Jedi, have the worst timing!"

    Yoda glared at the Sith.

    "Your kind to blame is. Deceived us Sidious did!"

    "What? Is that some kind of STD?" Zash frowned.

    Yoda shook. More Jedi were dying ¨C both at the Temple and Senate. Every lost soul sent stabs of pain through his heart. It created a void where the bonds with those people used to be. Every death made the galaxy that much darker, the light that much dimmer.

    "Sith, mock us no longer!"

    "Is that anger I sense, Master Yoda?" Zash batted her eyelashes at the Jedi and asked coyly.

    Yoda''s ears drooped and he paused.

    "Played us you did." The Jedi began talking slowly, thinking about what he was going to say. "Set us up the trap you did and walked into it we did."

    "I honestly have no idea what you''re babbling about, Jedi. Can''t you speak plain old basic? It''s not hard you know!" Zash grumbled.

    "Strengthening your control over the Republic you are, Sith. Stop you we will. Protect democracy we will. No new Sith Empire will rise." Yoda declared.

    "This rings no bells, I''m afraid. If you can try saying it again. In. Basic!" Zash spoke the last words slowly as if she was talking to a young child.

    Yoda felt a fellow Jedi Master die at the Senate. He closed his eyes briefly, gathered the Force around him and then looked up at Zash. His gaze shone with utter determination.

    "Are you going to attack me again? With no provocation? See, I''m unarmed!" Zash levitated her weapon from where she attached it to her belt until it laid on the floor between them. Her lips twitched into a mocking smile and she raised her hands to show them to the cameras.

    "Foolish, blind old people we are." Yoda muttered.

    "Hey! Speak about yourself! I''m neither a fool like your kind loves to make themselves into, nor blind thank you very much." Zash grimaced. "I don''t look old, do I?"

    "If die we must, if hated we must be, so be it. Our duty we do. Until our last breath the Republic protect we will!" The Jedi Master continued as if he didn''t hear her. "While a Jedi draws breath, darkness triumph will not. Oppose you we will, Sith!"

    "Ah. So you''re just an old fashioned fanatic. Why didn''t you say so from the start? We could have called some nice folks from the closest sanatorium. I hear they have some great pills to help you with your problems!" Zash grinned. "Or perhaps you just need to get laid. I hear that some Jedi get much more reasonable after that¡­ Yes, that''s it! Ashara certainly did became bearable after some wild s?x..." Zash grimaced again. "I''m not sure who would like to sleep with you, but this is Coruscant¡­ Have you tried the better brothels in the lower levels? I remember this nice place back during the sack, I got a lot of fun there while all the fools were running around shooting and stabbing each other..." Zash trailed off.

    Was that enough to push the Jedi over the edge? His eyebrows or well what passed from them, were twitching in synch already¡­

    Yoda sent her a malevolent glare that would make any self respected Sith proud before shaking his head, crushing his anger and jumped at her, with an ignited lightsaber in hand.

    "I tend to ramble..." Zash jumped back to avoid a slash. "Is this a reason enough you want to stab me with that little lightsaber of yours? Shouldn''t you take me on a dinner first or at least buy me a drink?" The Sith grinned at the Jedi Master.

    "Utterly mad you are!" Yoda declared with absolute conviction.

    "Hey, you''re the crazy chasing me around with a blade in hand!" Zash protested indignantly and jumped over a low sweep aimed at her knees. "I''ve got enough of that! This is no way to treat a lady!"

    Yoda was spinning in the air and his blade went for Zash''s throat. She stood her ground and glared at the Jedi who froze in place caught by an invisible grip. Lighting danced in a circle around them before jumping at the Jedi. It struck Yoda and he screamed within his intangible prison. For a moment he was hidden by arching tendrils of purple energy which formed a sphere around his tiny frame. It exploded outward like a grenade, forcing Zash to jump back. She instinctively raised a hand and formed a Force barrier when a small ball of blazing light shot at her.

    A loud bang sounded and the Sith was thrown back, flying one way and her torn off prosthetic spinning in a different direction.

    "You''ll pay for this, you little monster!" Zash snarled and jumped to her feet.

    Her lightsaber which laid forgotten on the ground jumped in the air and ignited as if on its own will. The broken artificial arm did the same, however it was engulfed by crimson lighting that arched all over its surface. Zash pointed her hand at Yoda, who was on all four and still trying to recover. Blade and hand flew at him; the Jedi raised his arms and stopped the projectiles a moment before they pierced his flesh.

    Then Yoda''s own lightsaber flew up from where it had fallen, ignited and tried to take off his head. The Jedi grimaced at the weapon and the blade froze just before it seared away his eyes.

    "I will put you down like the mad dog you are!" Zash growled.

    A sound of distant thunder sounded in the lab. Yoda was found himself in the middle of a dark circle and he had just a moment to feel afraid before lighting descended from the ceiling and began ???k?n? at the Jedi. For a moment nothing seemed to happen. Yoda absorbed the first few strikes, then he started screaming.

    The Jedi''s defense faltered. The prosthetic arm escaped his grip and flew straight at his head. The Jedi managed to twist without killing himself on his own blade, yet he didn''t escape unscratched. Lighting clawed fingers racked the side of his head and tore away his left eye along with a piece of his scalp.

    More lighting bolts struck home and Yoda howled in pain. His lightsaber hit was next ¨C purple energy descended from the ceiling and fried it up, making it blow up near the Jedi. He stumbled back and screamed again when he lost the tenuous hold he had on Zash''s weapon. The crimson lightsaber tore away free and took his right hand at the shoulder.

    A choked groan escaped Yoda, before a massive lighting fell from the ceiling and slammed him in the floor with bone breaker force.

    The localized storm subdued and Zash strode forward.

    "Are you happy now, Jedi? You came here looking for a fight. Are you glad that you got what you wanted?" Zash shook her head and schooled her expression to be one of sad resignation.

    The Sith walked next to the Jedi''s smoking body and knelt to take a better look. Sensing that he was just alive, Zash smiled and whispered quiet enough that the sole remaining camera''s microphone wouldn''t catch her worlds.

    "Do you know how hilarious it is to watch you Jedi dig your own graves? To see you''ve put yourselves in a position with no way out but death?" Zash chuckled quietly. "I should thank you, Master Yoda. Thanks to you, I''ve got the privilege to see not only the Republic but the Jedi fall a second time. Even if I don''t particularly care about our ancient conflict, I appreciate the opportunity you gave me."

    Yoda opened one bleary eye. This was probably the only truth that infernal woman uttered since Veil brought her to Coruscant. His lips twitched as he tried to speak.

    Zash leaned closer.

    "We¡­ oth¡­ lo..s..e..." Yoda croaked.

    Zash''s eyes widened. She attempted to jump back, however Yoda kept her in place with an durasteel telekinetic grip. He flooded himself with the Force, pulling more energy than his saturated, dying body could handle. It was a forbidden technique, one meant for a Force Adept that knew he was facing a superior opponent they could not best.

    Yoda screamed as the energy he was pulling inside his body reached a critical point and he began burning. His last conscious thought was used to hurl himself at the Sith.

    There was only light, which Yoda''s dying mind embraced.

    The Jedi''s body hit Zash resembling nothing more than a ball of liquid fire and splashed over her before it detonated with with a strength not quite as much as a thermal detonator.

    =RK=

    Part 3

    GAR HQ

    Coruscant

    When everything went to hell, Anakin was stuck in the lower levels of the HQ, fighting training droids. At least it was much more fun than the other training and studying Obi-Wan had him doing these days ¨C those usually let him bored and frustrated.

    After the alarms shrill screams began stabbing in Skywalker''s head, he was exhilaratedby the chance of real actions. That was before the common sense Kenobi has been attempt to nurture in him kicked in and he swore. An alert going in the HQ spelled bad things happening all around.

    Anakin jumped off the training ring and went to the only other flesh and blood occupant of the room.

    "What''s happening?" The Jedi shouted.

    The Clone set up as his minder tilted his head listening to the comm in his helmet.

    "There''s an attack ongoing. Multiple enemy units in the building." The Clone glared at Skywalker. "They''re led by a Jedi." He raised his blaster and pointed it at Anakin.

    "What?!" Anakin exclaimed. This had to be some kind of mistake, right?!

    "Stand down, Skywalker. General Tiin and men he brought in are busy shooting the Ops center. You will stand right here and wait for a security team to arrive and escort you to the nearest cell. Otherwise you''ll be considered hostile."

    "I..." Anakin was lost for words. "What about Obi-Wan?" He asked.

    The Clone''s featureless helmet stared back.

    "The general is engaging Tiin." He finally said.

    "We need to help him!" Anakin said.

    "You''ll be staying right here where I can see you!"

    Skywalker stared at the Clone, opened his mouth to say protest, then thought better of it and closed it. The kriff was happening?!

    =RK=

    Mandalorian embassy

    Coruscant

    "What do you mean you can''t establish connection with the Senate?" Satine glared at the comm unit on her desk.

    "Did you hit it one many times?" Bo-Katan needled her sister.

    "Very funny." Satine sighed and pressed a few bu??ons. "That''s weird." She frowned and began fiddling with the comm.

    "Perhaps ONI is messing up again and jamming half the hemisphere as they did two weeks ago during that equipment test." Bo muttered. That was quite the scandal.

    "They should know better after that circus." Satine shook her head. "The Senate''s making noises about inquires, investigations or even the next year''s budged."

    "I''ll believe it when I see it." Bo shrugged. "When are you going to tell Obi-Wan the good news?" She asked and looked pointedly at her sister''s belly.

    "Tonight, unless he''s cooped up at work due to another emergency." A pleased smile appeared on Satine''s face.

    "He better be appropriately happy." Bo smiled. "Though I bet he''ll be left speechless and wondering how it happened."

    "Hey, Obi-Wan isn''t like that!" Satine protested.

    "Keep telling yourself that sister. One of these days it might even be true."

    "Why am I keeping you around anyway?" Satine grumbled.

    "I''m your favorite sister?" Bo tried.

    "Only sister. Calling you my favorite one anyway would be a stretch." Satine smiled sweetly.

    "Nice to see you still have some of your snark." Bo smiled too.

    The comm beeping interrupted their banter.

    "Ambassador, you''ve got a call from a Republic soldier. He''s saying its an emergency and has a message ¨C Knightfall." Satine''s ?ssistant explained after she accepted the call.

    "Get him on the line, now!" Satine snapped and stood up.

    "Jedi. Can''t they for once not kriff everything up for us?" Bo grumbled. She activated her comm and sent the codes which would put the building on high alert and send every warrior on the grounds to the armories.

    Seconds later, the soldier was put on and he tersely explained about the attack on GAR HQ, the jamming and cut ground lines.

    The sisters looked at each other with worry.

    "This is a planned strike." Bo pointed out. "Taking out command and control, either neutralizing or eliminating QRFs..."

    "The Senate!" Satine exclaimed.

    "They will need to arrest the Chancellor, won''t they?" Bo agreed. "They apparently have allies too." She frowned at the thought. "Your husband is a big boy, he should be all right." Bo continued. "We need to go keep the government in one piece until the army gets its stuff together and comes to clean up this mess."

    Satine slammed a fist into her desk and winced before nodding slowly.

    "We need the Republic for the time being." She agreed.

    "If you''re coming, you''re getting in the best armor that fits you and you''ll stay with your security detail at all times, sister of mine." Bo looked Satine in the eyes, then glanced at her belly. "Keep them between you and any lightsaber waving maniacs too. Leave the crazies to us."

    =RK=

    GAR HQ

    Coruscant

    Anakin could clearly feel how wary and distrustful the Clones surrounding him were. The arrival of their backup didn''t help matters ¨C it simply added more sources of negative emotions around the Jedi. They were escorting him towards the small detention center in the bowels of the building, when the sergeant leading the almost platoon sized procession faltered in his march, then cursed in unknown language. The NCO raised a hand in a halting gesture, making everyone stop, then turned around and stared at Anakin.

    "Skywalker, whose side are you on? Can we trust you not to pull another, well, you moment like Geonosis or worse?" The sergeant''s gruff voice betrayed how he felt about that line of questioning just as strongly as his emotions.

    "Yes, I mean no¡­ I won''t be kriffing up like that ever again!" Anakin stammered.

    "This is bloody stupid..." The sergeant grumbled. "The chief of security has new orders." He paused. "Generals Valentra and Kenobi are down for the count..."

    Anakin blanched. He wold have felt it if Obi-Wan was dead, right? However with the Force feeling like a gathering storm light now, everything was concealed by the Dark Side and the Jedi couldn''t really be sure about anything beyond his general vicinity. Apparently, Obi-Wan simply wasn''t close enough.

    "Is Obi-Wan all right?!" Anakin exclaimed.

    "All we know is that he''s down, wounded or worse." The sergeant shrugged. "We''re to go intercept Tiin and his band of murderous bloody bastards and either subdue or slow them down until reinforcements can arrive in numbers. Can we count on you not to kriff up or stab us in the back?" The sergeant asked bluntly.

    Anakin winced.

    "I''ll do what I have to. I too have some pointed questions to ask Tiin." Skywalker nodded. Like what the kriff? Was the Jedi Master in league with those nebulous Old Republic people, besides Veil, Anakin had been hearing rumors about lately? What in the name of the Force was happening?!

    "You''d better." The sergeant muttered. "Take point, we''ll be right behind."

    Anakin rolled his eyes and nodded.

    "Here, you might need this..." The sergeant detached Skywalker''s confiscated lightsaber and handed it back to the Jedi.

    "Thanks." Anakin said after snatching it up. He was pretty sure he was able to keep the sneer out of his voice.

    "Now, go!" The sergeant pointed in he general direction of the closest elevator.

    =RK=

    Part 4

    Chancellor suite

    Senate building

    Coruscant

    Palpatine slowly stood up and made his way to the artifact covered rafters to the left of his desk. The Jedi''s heads snapped in his direction when he let his mask slip almost fully and the Dark Side became a literal vortex around him.

    "Is it just me or did it really get cold around here?" One of the Clones asked quietly.

    "Impossible!" A Jedi exclaimed.

    "What do you mean, Master Jedi?" Palpatine asked in a cordial tone. If someone saw his face, they would have been disturbed by the hungry smile splitting it in two.

    Sidious laid a hand above the statue hiding his lightsaber. At that moment he could swear that the weapon actually felt as hungry for the bloodshed they both knew was coming as the Sith Lord himself. It was an illusion of course ¨C the lightsaber was a tool, no matter how useful. Yet, he could appreciate the sentiment that had to be coming from the Dark Side itself. It was high time the Sith got their vengeance.

    Palpatine schooled his face into an expression of confusion and turned sideways to look at the Jedi. The Knights had taken a step forward, placing themselves between him and the Clones. The commander of the security detail was glancing between the Jedi and his charge, broadcasting his confusion for everyone to sense.

    "He''s a Sith!" The oldest Knight, Cero or something, exclaimed and pointed an accusing finger at the Chancellor.

    "Am I, now?" Palpatine frowned. "Even if you''re right, what does it matter, Master Jedi? Thanks to general Veil, we all were reminded that being a Sith isn''t a crime. We''re living in a free Republic!" Palpatine granted a disapproving look to the younger man.

    "What is this nonsense?!" The captain snapped. "We''re here to protect the Chancellor, nothing more, nothing else!"

    "He''s a Sith!" The only female Jedi in the room exclaimed. "I can feel the Dark Side all over him!" She took a step back with disgust plainly visible on her face.

    "Do I have something on my robes?" Palpatine asked innocently, earning himself glares from the Jedi. He had to fight hard to keep his confused expression on his face. This trolling the Jedi thing Veil was doing was actually quite fun. It almost made him regret that they will be all dying soon.

    Almost.

    A metallic screech coming from the entrance got everyone''s attention. Heads turned around and weapons were raised just in time to see the door open. To the Force Adepts and at least a few Clones it was obvious that someone was using telekinesis to make an entrance.

    "Halt!" The captain ordered.

    "Stand down, soldier. This is general Piell. We''re here on Senate business."

    "I can''t grant you entry until the emergency is over, sir. Protecting the Chancellor is my only priority at the moment." The clone stated.

    "That is no longer your concern." The small Jedi Master walked slowly through the door. He was followed by Kota and Windu. A group of Jedi Knights could be seen waiting outside.

    "That''s close enough!" The captain snapped.

    "What is the meaning of this, Master Piell?" Palpatine put a confused frown on his face.

    "Chancellor Palpatine, in the name of the Republic Senate, we''re placing you under arrest for high treason. For engineering the Clone Wars, for creating and abetting sedition¡­"

    "What nonsense is this?!" Palpatine showed some anger and snapped at his accusers.

    "We have proof!" Kota announced.

    "I seriously doubt that, otherwise you would have done this through the proper channels or at least presented it to the Senate in a full session." Palpatine snorted.

    "The courts and Senate will decide that." Windu stated.

    "Before or after you''ve taken control of them? Forgive me if I''m suddenly lost any trust that I used to have in the Jedi Order. Besides, aren''t you supposed to be out on the frontlines along with a Commando unit? Where are those soldier, mister Windu?" Palpatine continued to play along.

    "They''re delayed." The former Jedi Master answered quietly.

    For Sidious it was plain to see that the man was lying.

    "Is that so? Permanently I take it." Palpatine shook his head and put as much regret as he could in his voice. "You come here to arrest me after killing or incapacitating the men meant to ensure you don''t do something foollish¡­ This is madness! Master Piell, Master Kota, I implore you, stop and think about what you''re doing!"

    "We did that, Lord Sidious. You should have done the same before you decided to plunge the whole galaxy into a war for your personal gain. You will remain under Jedi custody while the Senate and the courts are able to review all the evidence and set up a trial date." Piell stated as if it was a fact.

    "Really? I know what this is!" Palpatine glared defiantly at the Jedi. "You''re afraid that your dogmatic religion is threatened. General Veil shook your Order to the core when he revealed what he was. You couldn''t conceive of someone calling himself a Sith not doing their best to see the galaxy burn and instead standing up in the Republic''s hour of need and fighting to protect her. You curse and decry him for doing your duty better than most of you could!" Palpatine exclaimed.

    "That''s rich coming from a Sith!" A Jedi from the back row shouted.

    "Your lies have no purchase, Sith! We know the truth." Piell glared back. "It was you who misled Sifo Dyas! It was your kind who engineered the creation of the Clone Army, to ultimately use against the Republic once this sham of a war was over! It was you and your kind who began this murderous affair!"

    "I''ve served the Republic for decades! I did my best to avoid the horror of this war, because I saw what conflict did to my homewolrd of Naboo! Once it became clear that a conflict might be inevitable, I did everything in my power to prepare us all! I used every scrap of ability I posses, called every favor I''ve earned during my time as politician, made every promise and deal I could to prepare us so we could avoid what happened during the Naboo Crisis!" Palpatine glared at the Jedi. For anyone seeing a recording it would appear that he was taken over by righteous anger over the charges leveled at him. He took a deep breath and continued. "All that time I was forced to stay hidden! To never pay even a lip service to my own religion because I was afraid that this moment would come! You aren''t here to protect the Republic, nor to do what is best for her. You''re here out of fear. Because your dogma states that you must put me down like a rabid hound!" Palpatine paused.

    "We suspect nothing, Sith. We know!" Windu said and his hand fell on his lightsaber. "Your own apprentice told us everything."

    "That I''m a Sith who had to hide himself to avoid persecution? I freely admit it! Please tell me this isn''t the reason for this whole war? I can feel who you have in the back. Count Dooku. Is he the source of your truth? Is this why most Jedi turned out to be useless commanders in the war? Were you always backing the Separatists in secret, or were they your creation?! Dooku never truly left the Order, did he?"

    "Enough of these lies and deceptions!" Piell snapped. "You will stand down and be placed under arrest!"

    "I refuse. I believe that doing so would be a suicide." Palpatine smiled sadly.

    "Then we''ll take you in our custody using force." Windu countered.

    The Chancellor turned at the Clones, who were covering the Jedi with their weapons.

    "I''m truly sorry about this, captain. You shouldn''t be dragged in this religious dispute." Palpatine was the perfect picture of an old man wracked with regret.

    "There''s nothing to be sorry about, sir. We''re merely doing our duty. General Piell, General Kota, stand down." The captain ordered, even if it was obvious to everyone that it was a futile gesture.

    "Thank you, captain." Palpatine smiled.

    "Stand aside, soldier. This does not concern you." Piell tried one last time.

    "You''re attempting to arrest the Chancellor on what appears to be false charges. I must respectfully disagree. Stand down!"

    "Try not to kill the Clones. They merely do what they were taught to." Piell reached for his lightsaber.

    "It''s treason then." Palpatine sighed.

    A pulse of energy exploded from Sidious and turned off all recording devices. The statue he was still touching shattered and he grasped his lightsaber.

    =RK=

    Part 5

    Chancellor''s suite

    Senate building

    Coruscant

    For a single heartbeat everyone stood still. Sidious laughed because he was free at last. He let his mask slip off and cackled like a madman. The Dark Side surged aroundhim ¨C an eager servant for its master.

    The Sith Lord drank deeply from the source of his power. He shuddered in delight as it flowed through his veins and made him feel like someone decades younger. Another heartbeat passed and Sidious directed the Force to enhance his raw strength and more importantly, speed. The Sith was already moving and activating his lightsaber, when he released another energy pulse. A miasma made by the Dark Side itself splashed all over the Jedi, making the sluggish.

    It was only then, that Sidious finally exploded into action. The closest Jedi Knight had just began raising his lightsaber ¨C the weapon wasn''t even active yet, when Palpatine flew at the human like a bat escaping the Nine Corellian Hells, stabbed him in the face and baked his brain. Jedi traitorous guard number two was next ¨C the only woman in the group. She actually managed to switch on her saber, yet wasn''t fast enough to parry a slash that bit deeply in her side. Yet the sudden pain paralyzed her for an instant and that was enough for Sidious to throw her at the wall hard enough to shatter every bone in her body.

    The Sith Lord was upon the last of the Knights in his security details, before anyone else could act. Lightsabers were ignited with the traditional snap-hiss of burning air and the Clones opened fire. That confrontation should have been over almost as soon as it began. All but a handful of shots were reflected back only to splash harmlessly over integrated shields. That state of affairs lasted mere moments, before Master Piell rolled under the barrage and was suddenly between the soldiers. One tried to shoot him, another actually came close to kicking the Jedi with his armored foot.

    None of them were fast enough. Piell raised his hands and all the Clones were lifted off their feet and slammed into the ceiling with a dazzling force. Then again and again until the Jedi was sure they were all knocked out.

    That reassurance came from the Sith in the form of a lighting storm that engulfed the room and the Jedi busy getting in. All the Masters and a handful of Knights used their lightsabers to ground the attack and protect themselves. The rest and virtually all the Clones were thrown against the walls by the onslaught. A few were actually unlucky to remain conscious for the few seconds it took to be fried by the attack.

    The storm was over as abruptly as it began and Sidious came on its heels. The Chancellor charged so fast he appeared to fly and another Knight died before she could defend herself. Kota, who was nearby went on the offensive, hoping to catch the Sith in the flank. His attack was parried and he was pushed back with a flurry of blows almost too fast for the eye to follow. Windu and Piell went to help their comrade, however before they could reach Sidious he called the weapon of a dead Jedi in his free hand and redoubled his attack. Kota held for a moment then jumped back out of range and it was almost too late.

    A distant part of Piell''s mind heard his fellow Jedi scream. The Jedi Master saw him stagger back and grab his ruined face as he jumped towards the Sith.

    "Evacuate Master Kota!" Someone shouted, before Piell had no time to worry about anything but the monster he was engaging.

    They had to pin him in place for a few seconds and it would be all over! There were still a dozen Jedi Knights available to surround and swarm the Chancellor.

    Sidious had other ideas. This was utterly and completely fun. His loud, joyful laughter and the disturbing grin he knew he had on his face were proof enough.

    Piell began jumping around, trying to imitate Yoda. Sidious snorted and froze the short Jedi at the height of a jump. He parried a stab coming from Windu ¨C the former Master was proving to be troublesome ¨C and let go of his borrowed lightsaber. Sidious guided the green blade with his mind and sent it like a spear at a Jedi attempting to flank him. The Twi''lek attempted to deflect the blade, however his own lightsaber simply bounced from the hard telekinetic grip the Sith maintained. Sidious was glad he caught the alien''s astounded expression as the weapon buried itself to the hilt in his ?h?st and moved to ensure his organs were all destroyed.

    That brief distraction, no matter how fun, almost cost him everything. Windu went on the offensive and with every passing moment the Jedi''s strikes were coming faster. Stronger. And a slash almost got him in the shoulder. Fortunately it left only a smoking gash in his robes as a parting gift.

    Yes, this was going to be a problem. Sidious'' grin went as wide as it could. Its been a very long time since he faced a real challenge in combat and even longer since he could allow himself to enjoy such a thing.

    The Chancellor took a step back, parried and deflected the next couple of attacks before locking blades with Windu. He left the Jedi slowly overpower him and used that brief time to snatch Piell form where he stood frozen and throw him at his opponent''s back. Windu''s eyes widened in surprise when he sensed what was happening. It was at that moment when Sidious left himself be overpowered, slid around the Jedi, ducked Piell''s attempt to lob of his head and swirled around in one graceful motion that brought him in a perfect position to cut the Jedi Master in two, leaving the smoking pieces hit Windu. Sidious raised a hand and sent everything nearby at the former Master, buying himself a few precious moments. While Windu was busy fending off the projectiles and processing the death of another Jedi, Sidious wasted no time and went on the attack against the Knights swarming the room.

    The Sith Lord''s next victim lasted two heartbeats ¨C just long enough to parry the fist attack, to lose his sword hand the next moment and receive a lightsaber through the throat. Sidious used a prolonged lighting strike to move the corpse out of the way. He then proceeded to slam another Jedi with her dead and lighting covered comrade, which was enough to take her out for the count.

    A Jedi Knight attempted to attack Sidious from the right, thought he was simply not fast enough. The Sith stepped past a swing and responded by impaling his attacker through the eye.

    That left only two more Jedi in the room besides Windu. Well, still alive at any rate. Sidious could see two more dragging a whimpering Kota out and thus blocking the door.

    So far so good.

    Sidious used the Force to throw his massive desk at Windu who was approaching from behind, and followed with concentrating his full attention on one of the Jedi Knights. The Zabrak female glared defiantly as she settled into a Soresu stance. Sidious smirked at her and used all his power to telekinetically twist her head around. She tried to counter him, however the woman simply lacked the raw power to do so. He felt satisfaction when her head finished turning completely around and saw the shocked expression on her face.

    Next thing Sidious knew was that he was ducking under a sweep from Windu, then he received a hit in the gut that sent him on his back. The other Jedi in the room usedthe opportunity to jump at him and tried to impale Palpatine.

    The Sith Lord snarled in sudden anger and caught his new ?ssailant in a telekinetic grip. He pushed all the frustration he had been feeling for months in one single act. A loud popping sound was heardand the Knight was squished like a soft drink can.

    Sidious threw the corpse at Windu, which b?r?ly bought him enough time to surge to his feet even with all the enhancements the Force was giving him. The Jedi glared at him.

    "You will not win, Sith!" Windu snapped and went on the attack.

    "I''m doing pretty well, don''t you think, Master Windu?" Sidious shot back and laughed.

    Yes, this was it! A worthy opponent at last!

    Sidious pushed the Force to enhance his body to its limit and laughed in exhilaration when Windu was able to keep up swing for swing.

    =RK=

    Part 6

    Chancellor''s suite

    Senate building

    Coruscant

    Sidious'' features morphed into an ugly snarl. His fun was about to be interrupted by the Jedi Knights and were those armored Cathar of all people, rushing into his private office. Fighting Windu in a single combat was one thing. It was simply incredible fun to finally face off against someone who could keep up when the Sith Lord went all out.

    Getting interrupted, and possibly blindsided by a nobody, thus not only interrupting the fun, but potentially getting Palpatine wounded or worse ¨C that simply wouldn''t do.

    The Sith Lord parried a flurry of lighting fast blows, riposted twice ¨C to no real effect and jumped back to place his back firmly towards the wall so he could avoid getting completely surrounded. Windu scowled at him, shook his head and waved his backup to flank Sidious.

    Five more Jedi ¨C two female Humans, a Zabrak male, a Twi''lek female and a Rodian man approached cautiously followed by half a dozen armored men carrying blaster rifles with a practiced ease. Windu pointed his purple blade at the Sith and Sidious answered with a small flourish of his saber.

    To tell the truth, the Sith Lord was getting a bit tired. It had been too long since he had the opportunity to train, even longer since he was in a proper battle. If it wasn''t for the Force helping sustain his physical shape since the war began, not to mention using it to enhance his capabilities, Sidious knew he would have been exhausted by now. While the fight hadn''t been going for more than couple of minutes, the Sith Lord had been expending a great amount of energy to kill off as many of the Jedi as possible while keeping himself intact.

    If he was facing just Windu, Sidious would be content to keep fighting for as long as it took. However there were a lot of Jedi and their minions outside and all it would take was for one of them to get lucky.

    "Did you get enough friends Master Windu? Or should we wait for a few more to come in?" Sidious taunted. He hatted ending his fun duel, however self-preservation took a precedence. Palpatine needed to buy time.

    The Sith Lord clawed at the Dark Side for even more power, wrenched as much energy as he could from it and unleashed it at his enemies. The Jedi raised their lightsabers to protect themselves from the lighting storm that manifested throughout the room. The soldiers stood their ground and opened fire only to see their shots be intercepted by forks of purple energy. Their surprise wasted just a moment before lighting blots picked them up from the floor and thew them across the room.

    Sidious laughed and sent a large wave of telekinetic force at the Jedi and used the distraction to sprint deeper within his suite. There was just a bedroom and small living room he could reach without going through the enemies, though that should be enough. Holding them off at the door would be much easier than facing multiple Jedi in the open. At the very least he would be spending less energy that way.

    The Sith had to dive through the door when the Force warned him of incoming danger. He moved a split second before a throw lightsaber slammed where his spine used to be. The ignited blade left a smoking hole in his shirt, however if fortunately failed to bite into his back.

    Sidious got back on his feet and destroyed the lightsaber than almost crippled him with a lighting bolt, before turning to block the door. The Sith grimaced when he saw that all six Jedi were still on their feet and more people were coming in behind them.

    Force damned fools! He should have dealt with them earlier and damn the consequences!

    =RK=

    Mace Windu glared at the Sith Lord. Sidious was smiling mockingly at him. The murderer had the gall to taunt Mace after cutting down more than a dozen Jedi, most of whom were his friends.

    "This ends now, Sith." Windu declared.

    He let everything go. There was only the Force, the Vaapad, the Sith and his Shatterpoint.

    Sidious raised a hand and unleashed another wave of sickly looking lighting. Mace caught the attack on his blade and walked through it. Part of the energy was absorbed by his lightsaber, some was radiated in the air around the Jedi, however most of it became a part of his own power when it was channeled through the Vaapad. The longer Mace fought the monster, the stronger he became. The Jedi was getting closer to discovering the Sith''s Shatterpoint. He simply needed more time.

    Windu passed through the attack, which was cut off when he got in range of his enemy and went on the offensive. Every single one the Jedi''s actions were fueled by the Dark Side energy he stole from his opponent. Sidious might not be getting weaker, not yet, however Mace was getting stronger every time he locked blades with his opponent.

    Purple and red slammed into each other. The lightsabers'' containment flashed furiously with each strike. The door frame between them was soon cut apart and long glowing gorges were carved in the walls. Mace''s attacks grew more and more furious. With every new swing, there was more power behind his blade.

    Then it finally happened. The Sith was forced to take a step back. Windu smiled grimly and took things even further.

    Jedi and Sith became dark blurs illuminated only by the half melted walls around them and the glows of their weapons. They fought for long seconds on an even footing until Windu slammed Sidious'' blade aside with enough force to leave the Chancellor open. The Jedi''s fist soared forward surrounded by a visible sheathe of telekinetic force and slammed it into the Sith''s ?h?st.

    Sidious was thrown clear off his feet, landed heavy into a couch, tumbled over it and spilled himself on the ground at the other end of the living room. Seeing an opportunity, Mace sprinted forward, determined to put an end to the madness. He b?r?ly cleared the entrance, when all the furniture jumped up and flew at him.

    Windu raised his hands and used the Force thundering through his veins to halt the attack, before returning it at Sidious. The Sith retaliated with a thick torrent of lighting that turned everything into so much kindling that he sent soaring back at the Jedi. Mace spread his hands, letting his lightsaber fall to the ground and stopped the shattered furniture. It floated between the combatants as they struggled to overpower each other.

    Mace pushed for all he was worth and slowly began nudging the debris toward the Sith. As Sidious drew more and more energy from the Dark Side, Windu was getting stronger as well until the balance was tilted in his favor. The Jedi roared and sent the debris hurling at the Sith.

    Sidious went down on his knees and formed a small dome that protected him from the raining pieces. Windu used the opportunity to call his lightsaber and charge the Sith.

    The Chancellor snarled at him and attempted to fry the Jedi once again. The incoming attack was so potent that it looked closer to a solid beam of dark energy instead of lighting bolts. Nevertheless Mace was able to block it using his lightsaber and his Vaapad. Windu had to take a step back, then another, before he was able to absorb enough energy to halt the ?ssault and begin pushing through it. He was vaguely aware that Jedi Knights were cautiously entering the room and spreading out, preparing to jump at Sidious the moment the onslaught was over.

    If the Force was good, their help wouldn''t be needed and Windu was going to be able to finally end the Sith. He could almost taste victory ¨C Sidious was getting desperate, weaker. Mace allowed himself a small smirk. He was close to discovering the Sith''s Shatterpoint, though Sidious might not last that long as things were going.

    Windu took a step closer to the Chancellor. The Dark Side attack began harmlessly surrounding him, yet it was either deflected or absorbed by the Jedi, giving him more raw power to work with.

    The next step was easier to make, as Mace knew it would be. Four more and he could cut down the monster.

 Chapter 84 - Their finest hour [2/2]

    =RK=

    Part 7

    Chancellor''s suite

    Senate building

    Coruscant

    Just one more step ¨C that''s all Mace needed. He was almost close enough to end it all. Windu could already taste his victory. All he needed to do was to take the last step and swing down.

    The Jedi pushed through the Sith''s desperate onslaught. Ice daggers stabbed into his back as lighting forks glanced off his armor. A cold wave passed through Mace. He could sense Sidious'' Shatterpoint. Just a few more moments and he would uncover it.

    It didn''t mater. The Sith wasn''t going to last that long.

    Windu finally took the last step. For a split second he was blinded by a virtual wall of crackling lighting before the attack abruptly cut off and he swung down his blade. It took the Jedi a heartbeat to comprehend that the Sith had somehow produced a lightsaber and was holding the locked weapons a hair breath from his forehead.

    Sidious used that small opening to regain the initiative. The blades became blurs that flashed when striking each other. Yet with every clash of the lightsabers, the Sith was forced a step back.

    Mace''s hands moved guidedby the Force. He feinted, and then locked blades with the Chancellor for a brief moment before using a supreme effort to overpower the old man and push his weapon away, leaving the Sith open. Windu''s spirit soared when he saw the realization in Palpatine''s eyes. The Sith attempted to jump back, though both knew it was going to be too late.

    The Jedi swung his weapon aiming for a killing blow. Sidious raised his hands up in the last possible moment and they were enveloped by lighting. The Sith unleashed it into a wide ark in a last desperate bid to save himself, all the while jumping back.

    Windu''s purple blade went down a moment before a lighting bolt caught him in the left shoulder. The attack had enough power behind it to spin Mace in place and sent him falling on the ground.

    He didn''t care. Before the lighting struck, Windu saw his blade slicing clean through the Sith''s forearms.

    However, he cared very much when the floor lifted to meet his face and the world around him roared with the echo of an explosion. One quite powerful and close at that. The feeling of Jedi dying nearby came as an unpleasant confirmation that Mace was out of time. He had to finish the Sith now.

    Windu got to his feet and looked at the Jedi in the room.

    "I''ll end it. Secure us a way out!" Mace shouted. He hoped that they were able to understand him, because if the ringing in his ears was anything to go by, they were all half deaf at best.

    Mace''s position ¨C looking towards the Chancellor''s private office, gave him an excellent view of a wave of fire and screaming metal coming from the outer part of the residence. It was almost immediately followed by blaster blots and couple of missiles that detonated almost immediately after flying through the door.

    Only a last moment warning coming from the Force prompted Windu to avert his eyes and avoid being temporarily blinded.

    The Chancellor was in a sorry state. He was cradled his ruined arms in front of his ?h?st and glaring balefully at everyone. Yet, the madman had the gall to smile at him.

    "It ends now!" Windu snarled and stalked towards the Sith.

    With every passing moment more explosions could be felt. More Jedi dying.

    The Sith''s lips moved, however Mace couldn''t make up the words. All he knew, or really cared about right then and there was the fact that Sidious had to die for everything he caused.

    The Jedi didn''t consider, or really care that a cold current was flowing through him. He had surrendered to the Force. Became one with his Vaapad and now, he would be its instrument in bringing it closer to the prophesied balance.

    Instead of feeling fear at his impending demise, Palpatine was shacking with laughter.

    Windu scowled. No matter. He raised his lightsaber and prepared to finish it.

    The Sith slid down the wall until he was sitting on the floor. Mace grinned savagely.

    This ¨C his enemy being on the floor waiting for the killing blow. It few fitting.

    Windu''s lightsaber descended¡­ and instead of cutting through the Sith, he was whirling around and parrying blaster bolts flying at his back. The first few shots went to the walls and ceiling, though then Mace sent the following barrage back at the fool who interrupted him.

    The Jedi glared at a woman in scorched Mandalorian armor. She was using a wrist blaster to shoot at him while keeping two other Jedi at bay with a flamethrower built into her other arm-guard.

    A surge of unrelenting fury rose within Mace. He didn''t have time for this nonsense. The Sith behind him wold recover any moment now and attack him!

    Windu raised a hand and channeled all the fury he was experienced through the Force without really thinking about what he was doing. The armored woman froze in place then she was lifted up by invisible grip. Mace''s clawed fingers clutched into a tightly gripped fist. The Force obeyed with some reluctance and the woman''s armor buckled then collapsed a bit around her ?h?st, breaking bones and driving them into her flesh.

    Mace left her fall to the ground and turned to finish off the Sith. Hopefully the other Jedi would be capable enough to keep the enemies occupied for a few seconds.

    "Fool!" Sidious cackled from the floor. "Do you think you just won?"

    At least now Mace could hear again, though it wasn''t as if the Sith could say something worth listening to. Yet, Windu found himself compelled to answer.

    "Yes. I really do."

    Mace used the Force to raise up Sidious and then slammed his lightsaber in the Sith''s gut.

    "I might have lost¡­" Sidious hissed. "You haven''t won. The Dark Side has its due."

    Windu sneered. No matter what happens now, the Sith were done. He was convinced of it. There was no way that Veil would cold be more powerful than this monster and Sidious was done for.

    "Can you feel it, Jedi?" The wheezed in a mocking tone. "All you did is ensure the Dark Side won.

    Mace snorted. He pulled out his blade and stabbed the Sith again. And again. A monster like this shouldn''t be getting a clean death. Besides, Windu''s fury demanded something more.

    A blaster bolt slammed into his back. The Jedi''s shield didn''t activate and the shot slagged a lot of his armor, making him stagger and let release the mauled Sith.

    Windu''s furious gaze tracked the source of the blaster fire. His eyes fell on the prone figure of the woman whose ?h?st he just crushed. She was still somehow conscious and had defiantly raised a hand to shoot at him.

    She had discarded her helmet and that allowed Windu to recognize her. It was that Mandalorian ¨C the red head who married Veil. Despite being in obvious pain, despite the blood leaking from her mouth or the fact that she was likely already dead and simply still clinging to life of sheer stubbornness, she was glaring defiantly at him.

    Then she shot at the Jedi again, though this time he contemptuously reflected her shot back, though it missed her face by a couple of centimeters, merely burning a bit of her hair.

    Windu glared murderously at her. Bloody Mandalorians! There were more of the fools engaging the rest of the Jedi in close combat behind the crippled woman.

    "Can''t you feel it, Master Windu? You just lost!" The Sith taunted again.

    As if such lies could¡­

    For the first time since engaging Sidious, Windu paused to properly think. Even through the red haze of his fury, he could sense the truth in the Sith''s words, but that couldn''t be! This was the Shatterpoint of the Sith! Of the Dark Side itself!

    Mace frowned, then forced his will upon the Force for the first time. He needed answers, now!

    The world around Windu shifted subtly. The Force obeyed, his talent finally had enough time to work too.

    And he saw it¡­

    The Shatterpoint of the Dark Side. Both of them.

    He could have, should have just killed Sidious earlier. That was the best chance to break the Dark Side Mace would have ever gotten. Because, now that he was aware of what exactly happened in the last few minutes, he knew he kriffed up.

    Mace Windu was the Dark Side''s second Shatterpoint. He could see himself right now. His path forward from this moment on.

    That realization almost broke the Jedi, but not quite.

    No. That was left for the third realization. For the last Shatterpoint he didn''t even knew was right here until it was too late.

    Mace stared at the broken figure of Bo-Katan. Bo-Katan Veil, that was her name now.

    She was the Shatterpoint of the Light. Veil''s too. And she was dying because of a Jedi. By Windu''s hand.

    Mace let out a single, long scream that expressed all the desperation of a damned soul who saw their whole world die around them. He could hear the Sith''s mocking laughter. He could sense the promise of the Dark Side ¨C all he had to do was surrender himself to it and the pain would be gone.

    Windu blindly threw his lightsaber at the Sith. Even without looking, he knew the blade impaled Sidious in the ?h?st. With all his other wounds, the Chancellor was a dead man.

    The Jedi paid no real attention to Palpatine. Instead his eyes were centered on the dying woman. While the Sith was finally silent, the same couldn''t be said about the Dark Side. Mace could still hear it whispering quietly in the back of his mind.

    This¡­ This madness was simply too much.

    Bo-Katan began chocking on her blood.

    Mace could feel the veil of the Dark Side falling upon the galaxy all because of his actions. He averted his eyes from the dying woman and fled.

    =RK=

    General Veil''s quarters

    Corellian Cruiser Freedom

    three hours from Kamino

    Hyperspace

    I was sitting cross-legged on my bed and meditating to gather my strength and clear my mind before the coming battle. I knew that no matter what we found at Kamino it was going to be ugly. My Battle Meditation might very well be needed before the day was over and I was going to need every bit of strength I was left in such a case.

    However, my mind was far from Kamino right now. For the past hour the Force had been tremulous. The best way I could describe it was a real cauldron of storms, fury, fear and anticipation. Something momentous was happening and I was far away from a position to influence it.

    Kriff Crimson, the fool who created it and Palpy for unleashing the never sufficiently damned thing!

    A few minutes ago, the Force began practically shacking from tremors. Jedi were dying a lot of them. It was a sensation I was accustomed to from the war. The hell? Did Palpy decide to begin the purge far ahead of schedule or did the Jedi try something particularly unpleasant at the worst possible time?

    I concentrated, pushed my will through the cauldron that was the Force and attempted to divine answers.

    It took me some time, but eventually I was able to see some disjointed images.

    A pair of Temple Guards falling upon a Clone patrol. A young Padawan ¨C couldn''t have been older than twelve screaming in fury and charging a whole platoon who had an elderly Jedi woman surrounded and were pumping shot after shot at her. Something that suspiciously looked like Obi-Wan bleeding on the ground.

    With each image I saw, my anger grew.

    "Damn all Jedi! Honorless bastards, the whole lot of them!" I hissed and pushed yet further. I needed to know more.

    A huge dark presence revealed itself in the Force. It was like a beacon and not hard to identify ¨C Palpy had done hiding it seemed and bloody hell, the sheer raw power I could feel coming from him. Suddenly I was glad I didn''t do something dumb like confronting him without a lot of backup.

    I dove through the Force towards Sidious'' presence and was ?ssaulted with another wave of images. I got glimpses of Palpy cackling madly and Jedi dying. Of Windu engaging the Sith Lord and somehow managing to push him back.

    The Dark Side shook. It shifted and I could feel it watching me with anticipation.

    The next vision was a clear one.

    I saw my wife setting a Jedi on fire with a flamethrower ¨C good girl. The perspective changed. I saw Windu glaring at Bo, raising his hand, no bloody hell, then he simply crushed her ?h?st.

    All I knew then was fury, which I channeled right back into the Force. My mind gripped the image, which was trying to flee and I used it as an anchor to seek Bo through the Force. It tool almost everything I got, yet thanks to both the vision and Palpy''s fading presence acting as beacons I could locate my wife even if she was right across the galaxy.

    My mind brushed hers. I could sense her pain, her anger. It stroked my fury into a blinding rage.

    Not again! I wouldn''t lose another wife to the kriffing Jedi! I would see the galaxy burn before I allow it!

    I used the wisp of a connection we had and poured all my power through it, with one directive ¨C Heal! The Force surged through me, fighting to push even a tiny bit of energy through the vast gulf separating me from Bo. I felt as if my body was on fire and didn''t care, instead I grasped for more and more power.

    I knew that a small trickle of healing energy somehow reached Bo, but that wasn''t enough. I needed more! I pushed further and every cell in my body lit up with agony. I screamed, but didn''t stop. I couldn''t!

    Palpatine''s presence vanished, then the vision of Bo dying on the ground shattered and I my awareness was violently shoved back firmly into my body was so hot I felt like melting. Sweat was leaking from every pore in my skin and every rasping breath I could gasp sent red hot daggers of indescribable pain straight into my lungs.

    I don''t know how long I writhed in pain on the ground before my body could bleed off all the Force energy I was channeling without killing me. I was vaguely aware that if I had not gotten my body rebuilt back in the day, this experience wouldhave killed me. It may still do it in the coming days and weeks.

    No! I snarled. I couldn''t let myself die. I needed to find out what happened to my wife. If Bo died¡­

    I used my fury to push the agony away. The pain didn''t matter. My wife did. Making sure the Jedi ¨C both new and old pay for their crimes did!

    I used the wall to pull myself into a sitting position. My gaze passed over my hand and what I saw gave me pause. I raised my arm, turned it around and looked at my fingers. My skin was leathery, shivered. For the first time since I could remember, my arm looked like my real age.

    I slowly got up and dragged myself to the fresher. I was still burning and needed water. Mirror too.

    It took me a minute to stumble into the fresher gulp some water and finally look at myself. An old man in his late eighties or early nineties looked back with two blazing yellow eyes.

    Yeah, I practically burned through my body all right. I just hoped I gave Bo a chance, that would make it worth it.

    Bo, damn it¡­

    I glared at the mirror. Despite the agony I knew it was going to cause me, I used the Force to activate the comm built in just outside the fresher.

    "Officer of the Watch, this is General Veil. Have Admiral Holt meet me in the Flag Bridge in thirty minutes." I hissed and cut of the connection.

    I could no longer afford to waste any time on Kamino so it was time to change the plans. But first I needed to brew myself an alchemy concoction that would allow me to operate without crashing for the next few days. With my body practically kriffed up, I no longer needed to particularly care about the nastier long term side effects of the more potent stuff I could create. My body wasn''t going to last more than a few months at this rate anyway.

    =RK=

    Part 8

    Chancellor''s quarters

    Senate building

    Coruscant

    Sidious was dying.

    Even his mastery over the Dark Side wasn''t enough to sustain him his gutted body for long. It was only his anger, pain and glee fueling the Force within him that let him cling to life for so long. At least that allowed the Sith to see those Mandalorian fellas slaughter all the Jedi they could get their hands on. Sidious felt even more of the fools die outside of his sight, yet that force damned bastard Windu was getting away.

    The Chancellor snarled at the thought. The man killed him. He had to die for that.

    The bloody smile was back on Sidious lips when his eyes fell upon the dying form of Veil''s wife. That single fact somehow broke the light. The good general would be out for blood now. Sidious for once hoped that someone would succeed where he failed and kill Windu. Perhaps if he lived long enough he could personally slam the last nail in the Jedi''s coffin instead of relying on contingencies¡­

    Sidious chuckled and that made his ruined lungs convulse sending his body into a shacking fit. H used the pain to draw a bit more of the Force, though he was already feeling his power slip through his grasp. It wouldn''t be long now. Yet, perhaps he could still have his chance. The fighting in the immediate vicinity was dying out.

    The Chancellor sighed. All he could do right now was cling to his life for as long as possible and wait. Hardly a fitting end for a Sith Lord.

    No matter. He would have the last laugh anyway. There were contingencies in place. One way or another Order 66 would go to the Clones across the galaxy and that would be just the beginning. Soon after he died all his blackmail material on the Senate would be released. In this situation it would be more than enough to at least paralyze the Senate, throw the Republic into chaos, perhaps shatter it.

    Let Veil and whoever else was left pick up the pieces if they were strong enough. Sidious would have his revenge no matter what.

    The Chancellor''s musings were interrupted by a new group of Mandalorians storming his private office. He saw most of them charge the few remaining Jedi who were fighting with their backs pressed to the wall where his desk used to be.

    Damn it, that was one nice and comfortable desk!

    Sidious chased that odd thought out of his mind and returned his attention on the Mandalorians. Two medics were busy tending Veil''s life.

    "She needs a trauma center right now." One shot at their apparent leader ¨C another armored woman who was hovering nervously above them.

    What drew Palpatine''s attention to her was the sheer fury he could sense coming from her. Ah. The Duchess. So much for her pacifism. Right now she felt deliciously murderous. Well, that at least proved that family was useful for something.

    "That or a stasis pod." The other medic nodded, though none of them slowed down their ministrations.

    "Do what you can." Satine snapped.

    The battle behind the Duchess was finally over. Palpatine gleefully saw the Jedi being shot to pieces and immolated with flamethrowers. That image by itself was enough to buy him a minute or two ¨C it was that potent fuel for the Dark Side.

    "Ambassador..." The Chancellor wheezed. Now that the battle was no longer raging right on top of them, he could be heard. Barely.

    Satine''s head snapped in his direction. She examined him for a moment, then shook her head. Yeah, his injuries were mortal. At least she deigned to come closer so she could hear him.

    "We need more medics over here. Get some of the Clones in here now!" The Duchess ordered in her comm, then came and knelt to look him in the eyes. "Chancellor." She nodded.

    "Ambassador..." Sidious was wracked by another set of convulsions.

    "You''re dying." Satine bluntly stated the obvious.

    "Thank you, I hadn''t noticed." Palpatine''s sarcasm was cut through by a coughing fit. "Do you have a recording device? I have one last order to give. This treason can''t be allowed to prosper. How did you know to come?"

    "Yes. They struck GAR HQ first. A few troopers managed to get away and tried to raise the alarm." Satine answered.

    "The Jamming." Palpatine nodded.

    "Kriff. We need more medics now!" A Clone shouted. "The Primary needs a hospital." A pause. "No, I don''t care. Get us reinforcements right now and shoot everything and everyone that gets in your way!" The soldier snapped, then he made his way in the smashed living room.

    "Sir..." The Clone trailed off when he could clearly see the Chancellor''s state. "I''m sorry, sir. We''re too late." He added numbly.

    "No matter. You stand as witness. I have one last order..." Sidious rasped. "Make sure it goes to the GAR at large."

    "I will, sir!" The Clone straightened up.

    "This is Chancellor Sheev Palpatine, identification..." It took almost everything he had left to dictate his codes without interruption. Most of the rest went into suppressing his coughing for long enough to actually give the order. "The Jedi are executing a coup on Coruscant. I''m myself mortally wounded. GAR HQ has been attacked in an attempt to decapitate the military." Palpatine coughed out a coagulating glob of blood. The world was getting dimmer, distant. He put everything he had left to strengthen his voice. "All GAR personnel, execute Contingency Order 66. This treason can''t be left to succeed..." Sidious rasped.

    Why was so dark? The veil of the Dark Side embraced him like a warm cloak and there was no more pain.

    =RK=

    "You heard the Chancellor. Make sure that his orders gets to the troops." Satine sighed. "Am I correct to ?ssume its meant for precisely this kind of thing?"

    "Yes, ma''am. We''re to deal with the Jedi if they betray the Republic." The Clone answered.

    "This counts I think."

    "Yes. Excuse me, ma''am." The Clone nodded at Satine. "You two, stay with the Chancellor and do what you can for him. The rest of you, follow me. We need to get to a comm unit that can burn through the jamming."

    =RK=

    GAR HQ

    Coruscant

    Finding Tiin wasn''t hard. All Anakin and the Clones behind him had to do was follow the sound of battle and the bodies.

    There were dozens of gunned or cut apart Clones they had to run over. Even more dead or wounded, not all of whom were part of the security forces. From what Skywalker could see, at least a third of the casualties if not more were either officers or technicians who simply worked in here. A lot of them weren''t even armed. They were just gunned down for being in the way.

    As if that wasn''t enough to anger the young Jedi even further, what he could feel through the Force would have guaranteed it anyway.

    Jedi were dying on Coruscant. A lot of them and some were people who he knew well. People he trained with.

    Friends.

    When Anakin finally caught up to Tiin and his traitors, he was furious. He didn''t bother offering them a chance to surrender. Even if he could, even if they hadn''t been bust taking apart the last squad of a platoon that stood its ground in a futile attempt to stop them, Skywalker wouldn''t have done it.

    He was too angry to even consider it. Instead he went on the offensive. Just as Tiin cut through the last Clone in his way, Anakin jumped forward and slammed his lightsaber in the back of a traitor obviously backing the rogue Jedi Master. Skywalker used the corpse to cushion his fall and whipped his blade up, thus cutting off the left arm of another traitor.

    The rest of the enemies finally comprehended that they were being hit from behind, however it was too late. Anakin used the Force to sent them all tumbling on the floor behind him, where the sergeant following him and his men could gun them down at their leisure. That left him facing Tiin.

    "I should have known. You''ve chosen the Sith." Tiin shook his head and went on the offensive.

    Those bizarre words caught Anakin off guard and made him pause for a moment. The hell? What Hutt spawned madness was this?!

    The brief confusion was enough to give Tiin the initiative. Their blades clashed and Anakin was forced to take a step back, then another.

    Mad or not, Tiin was actually quite good. That much Anakin had to grudgingly admit to himself. The man might have less talent for lightsaber combat than him, yet the Jedi Master made up for that with sheer experience.

    Skywalker scowled. That bastard attacked Obi-Wan and left him for dead! He couldn''t be let to get away!

    Anakin''s anger began enhancing his blows. His speed grew when instead of trying to clear up his head he embraced it and used it as fuel.

    The lightsabers slammed in each other with enough power that the hilt in Skywalker''s hands actually shook. The blades met again and again ¨C every attack was anticipated and either parriedor avoided by a hair breadth. Anakin had seldom felt stronger than he did right now, yet Tiin was meeting every swing with a ferocious blow of his own. The young Jedi could feel the anger coming from the older man. They were both using that emotion and to his uncomfortable surprise, they were currently evenly matched.

    Skywalker grimaced. He needed more power. He had to win, to make sure the madness was over so he could go check on Padme!

    The moment he thought about his wife, his anger shifted. It was a cold thing now, full of determination. What''s more, the very thought about Padme, the emotion coming when it recalled a fleeting image of her, it gave Anakin even more strength. He embraced it, welded it to his anger and pressed forward.

    For a few seconds Tiin managed to hold his ground, yet then the initiative shifted. Anakin became subtly faster. Stronger. This time it was Tiin who took a step back. Then another and the Jedi Master finally lost the initiative. Tiin had to continue retreating to avoid Anakin''s blade.

    =RK=

    Republic cruiser "Pillar of Eternity"

    High orbit above Coruscant

    "Captain, we just got a tight beam transmission from GAR base Keito. GAR HQ is under attack. They''ve got unconfirmed reports of attacks on the Senate and our R&D facilities planet side and require immediate reinforcements on those locations. Their QRF is already on the way and they''re mobilizing." The Comm officer reported.

    "I see." Captain Pharl McQuarrie nodded. "Launch the CAP. I want every Clone Trooper we have head for the armories and then the hangar. They''ll be going planet side soon. Comms, give me a fleet wide channel. Patch those ONI people in too." The captain ordered.

    He might have been in charge of a just a light cruiser recently, a new hand in running a major vessel, not to mention one of the more junior captains in the Coruscant defense fleet, yet none of that meant he didn''t know his duty. Their people on the ground needed help, now and he wasn''t content to sit by while someone was probably trying to pull off a coup ¨C no matter if it was really the Jedi, the Separatist or even ONI.

    "You''re on, sir."

    "Thank you. This is captain Pharl McQuarrie. My ship just received a reinforcements request from GAR base Keito. We''ve got confirmation of an attack on GAR HQ as well as possible ?ssault in progress upon the Senate and other vital facilities. I''m dispatching my ground compliment with fighter escort as we speak and I advise you to do the same." McQuarrie paused. "Director Yle, I advise you that the force under your command shouldn''t interfere with my small craft."

    "Sir, we''re being targeted by the ONI squadron!" The Clone in charge of tactical exclaimed in disbelief.

    "Return the favor. Is our squadron ready to back us up?"

    "Renown stands by us." The Comm officer reported. "Warrior too. The escorts are moving in to screen us."

    "What about the rest of the fleet?" The Captain asked while examining the tactical plot.

    "Magnificent is launching fighters and ?ssault shuttles. Vice Admiral Grad is demanding that the ONI ships stand down..."

    "Damn it..." McQauirre cursed.

    He could clearly see a whole bomber wing swing from their station near the ONI ships and had straight for the Magnificent and Grad.

    "Sir, admiral Grad is hailing the fleet."

    "Put him on speakers."

    "This is Vice Admiral Grad. I''m ?ssuming command of the fleet. Director Yle, order your bombers to break off and stand out, I won''t warn you again. All GAR elements in orbit, launch your ground units ASAP. Priority is securing the Senate, GAR HQ and all vital Republic military government and civilian facilities planet side. We''ll sort out this mess when order down there is restored."

    "That''s negative, admiral Grad. You''re interfering with an ONI operation. Stand down, or your action will be considered treason and I will be forced to open fire!" Yle snapped.

    There was a long pause.

    "This isn''t your call to make. ONI answers to GAR High Command and the Navy. You will stand down now, Director." Grad shot back.

    McQauirre could see the Magnificent''s escorts move in to block the bombers path. The cruiser was launching fighters too and the captain was sure that its Guardian system was already targeting the incoming small craft.

    "Magnificent, Pillar of Eternity, this is your final warning. Stand down or we''ll open fire!" Yle ordered.

    "Target her Flagship. Weapons, if they open fire, respond in kind." McQauirreordered.

    In the end it was the admiral who acted first. The bombers flying at the Magnificent crossed an invisible line and the cruiser''s Guardian opened fire. Couple of seconds later, the ONI squadron andtheir allies began firing.

    "Fire at will." McQuarrie ordered. "Launch the transports when ready and move in to screen them." The captain frowned as he watched the tactical plot.

    Most of the fleet chose to remain neutral, though almost a third of it was converging on the ONI ships. At least there were dozens of ?ssault shuttles and LAATs heading for the surface from the ships whose captains were prudent enough to have them prepare earlier. If he got away clean from this mess, McQauirre was going to keep a QRF ready in or near the hangars so they could be deployed at a moment''s notice.

    Then he dismissed that thought and concentrated on the unfolding space battle. Most of ONI''s ships were light cruisers and other escorts. Their Cathar and other allies were in fact more dangerous and the only reason why they might last longer than it would take the ships backing the Admiral to get to grips with them. At least the spooks would be too busy surviving to mess up with the reinforcements dashing to Coruscant.

    =RK=

    Security Center

    GAR HQ

    Coruscant

    "Colonel, the jamming is gone! Our comms are still kriffed up but we can at least receive transmissions!" A technician exclaimed.

    "Good. Get them fixed. Try figuring out what the kriff is happening outside!" Zack ordered and went over to check for himself.

    "We need reinfor...argh..."

    "This is captain Felix Noon of the Senate Guard! Case Black, I say again, Case Black! We''re under attack by Jedi and Cathar forces and need immediate reinforcements! All loyalist GAR personnel, be advised, ONI units are ?ssisting the coup attempt!"

    "This is captain McQauirre, from the Pillar of Eternity, reinforcements are on the way..."

    "This is Commander Asp, identification¡­ Primary is secure. We need reinforcements and medical personnel on site ASAP! The Primary is critically wounded! Be advised, we''ve got Mandalorian personnel on site and they''re friendly. I say again, the Mandos are friendly! Further, I''ve got an order to transmit from the primary¡­"

    From what Zack could gather, things outside were just as chaotic as withing GAR HQ itself if not more so. He was about to ask the tech again about the comms, when he heard the Chancellor''s voice come over an open channel from the Senate.

    Zack heard the confirmation about a Jedi coup being in progress. Heard Palpatine''s authorization and identificationcodes. Though what really mattered in the end was just one sentence: "Execute Contingency Order 66."

    It came from the Chancellor. It was lawful and that''s all that mattered.

    Zack and his brothers were trained even from before birth to obey orders, especially the contingency ones. While technically he had the freedom to disobey, he wasn''t really capable of it. Nor did he want to given the circumstances.

    "Get me the comms operational, now!" Zack snapped to the technicians. "And get me on all loudspeakers and comms within the building."

    =RK=

    "This is colonel Zack. We just got a transmission from the Chancellor. A Jedi coup is confirmed to be in progress. The Chancellor authorized Contingency Order 66. I repeat, execute Order 66!"

    Palpatine was still alive, good! Anakin smiled briefly just as Tiin stiffened. A moment later Skywalker followed suit when the sergeant behind him spoke.

    "Stand the kriff down, both of you, or we''ll open fire! You''re under arrest!"

    "What?!" Anakin exclaimed. He dared to glance back and froze when he saw all the Clones pointing their blasters at him and Tiin.

    "Order 66 is in effect. You''re under arrest. If you resist we''re to terminate you on the spot, Jedi." The sergeant snapped back.

    Tiin bolted and the Clones opened fire at him. Anakin was forced to deflect a few blaster bolts coming his way, which prompted the soldiers to concentrate on him.

    "I''ll stand down, just stop shooting at me!" Skywalker exclaimed. He felt that something was terribly wrong and somehow knew that right now he was on a cross-roads that would determine his future.

    The Clones continued to fire at him, making him slowly fall back. It was only thanks to the armor he wore during his training and the built in shield that the few shots that passed through his lightsaber didn''t prove fatal.

    Anakin scowled and unleashed a telekinetic wave that sent the Clones off their feet. He was torn. What was the right call? Go on the offensive? Retreat? Surrender? Chase Tiin?

 Chapter 85 - Twilight

    Part 1

    Throughout Republic space, all non-military holonet transmissions suddenly ceased. They were briefly replaced by the sigil of the Republic, which was proudly displayed above the words ''Emergency broadcast''. This unusual state of affairs continued for twenty seconds before it was replaced by the image of a human male who stood behind an empty metal desk. The only thing behind him was a plain green wall which gave no real clues about the location.

    "Greetings citizens of the Republic. I regret the need to address you in this unusual way. My name is Marik Yle, the director of the SBI." He smiled sadly. "If you''re watching this transmission, it means that I''ve failed in my duty to safeguard the Republic and I am dead before I could warn the Chancellor and the GAR of an imminent and present danger for everything we hold dear. There is a plot to subvert the republic by parties that already have their claws in both my own agency, the SBI and at least ONI ¨C the Office of Naval Intelligence. I hope my warning goes out in time, however if I''ve underestimated our enemies, you need to know this¡­" Yle took a deep breath.

    "Our intelligence services aren''t the only ones subverted. The same is true for our supposed Mandalorian allies and elements of the Jedi Order as well."

    Yle pressed a bu??on on the computer terminal built into his desk and a holographic window appeared above his right shoulder. It showed a conversation between a group of Jedi, director Ivon Fell from ONI and Count Dooku. Their discussion ¨C planning how to cripple the GAR on Coruscant for long enough so they could successfully remove the Chancellor from power.

    "I believe that the conspirators would initially try to present their coup as an attempt to save the Republic from the Sith." Marik''s expression became grave. "This couldn''t be farther than the truth. Count Dooku''s presence ¨C a Sith himself ¨C is evidence enough. They plan to sow confusion, cripple the GAR for long enough that our armed forces are unable to respond in time and eliminate some of the biggest obstacles to their plan. This treason isn''t a misguided attempt to protect us from the Sith. On the contrary ¨C it is a Sith plot aimed to destroy the Jedi who would stand against an overthrow of our democratically elected government and the first step in transforming our Republic into a Sith Empire. Unless the conspirators are stopped, they will blame the murder of Chancellor Palpatine and other officials ¨C both civilians and military ¨C who would have stood on their way, on the Jedi still loyal to the Republic and thus use the GAR to dispose of them..."

    =RK=

    GAR HQ

    Coruscant

    For the rest of his life, Anakin Skywalker would wonder if things would have turned better or worse if he made another choice that day. Hindsight wasn''t really helpful. It wouldn''t be long before he figured out that things might have turned very, very differently. That at least in the short term he would have been hunted.

    All those things were obvious, yet none of them helped him figure out if he made the right choice that day. There would be nights in the future when he would lay in bed wondering if his relationship with Padme wouldn''t be so rocky if he had chosen to resist his arrest. If he had fled and eventually joined the Jedi who survived Order 66 and weren''t convinced to take the deal they were offered by the Senate ¨C a blanket amnesty for those who weren''t a part of the coup in exchange for fighting for the Republic.

    Anakin never knew, yet kept wondering till his dying day. He often dreamed of that day, of making another choice.

    Yet, perhaps it didn''t matter in the end. After knocking that pain in the ?ss of a sergeant and his men off their feet, Anakin didn''t run. He didn''t cut them down. He didn''t fight.

    Instead he deactivated his lightsaber, levitated it to the ground between himself and the Clones and then raised his hands as a sign of surrender.

    "I don''t resist! I''m giving up as you instructed!" Until his dying day, Anakin Skywalker would wonder what exactly went through the trooper''s heads at that moment. He could sense their distress. For a moment Anakin was sure that they would open fire anyway and he wasn''t certain he could survive.

    "On your knees! Hands behind your head! If I even think you''re trying to pull one of your Jedi tricks, we''ll shoot!" The sergeant barked.

    Anakin glared at the Clone. He was sorely tempted to lash out with the Force, yet he squashed that d?s?r? along with his rising anger and simply nodded. Then Skywalker silently followed the instructions. He was led to a detention center in the lower floors of the building and along the way he got an ever increasing guard detail. By the time he was secured in a cell, Anakin was sure that there was at least a company in his immediate vicinity and there were more soldiers not too far away.

    Skywalker was both proud that they considered him such a threat and resentful towards the implication that he would turn on the people who he fought beside since the war began. The worst thing was that Anakin had only himself to blame for his predicament and he knew it very well.

    Not that such an admission made him feel any better¡­

    "Can someone tell me what''s happening?" Anakin turned towards the door and asked. He knew that there were a lot of guards nearby ¨C he could feel their presence.

    =RK=

    Part 2

    =RK=

    Flag bridge

    Corellian cruiser Freedom

    Hyperspace

    en route to Kamino

    When Joanna Holt entered the Flag Bridge she shivered. The large compartment was mostly dark and very, very cold.

    "Admiral. We have some unforeseen complications." A voice rasped from the twilight. It was somewhat familiar ¨C it sounded not unlike that of general Veil, yet it was different too. This voice belonged to an old man, one nearing the end of his life, not to a someone in their mid-thirties at worst.

    "Veil, what did you do to yourself?!" Holt snapped before she could think things through.

    "My reach exceeded my grasp." The Sith rasped again and raised his head to look him in the eyes.

    This¡­ This wasn''t the same man she knew. It wasn''t just his sudden change of age, it was his eyes. They were like two yellow stars blazing angry in the void of space.

    "What do you really know about the Force? About her limits?"

    That question took her off guard. This wasn''t a time for a religious discussion, damn it! Joanna''s anger grew as she watched Veil''s lips twitch into a ghost of a smile.

    "This wasn''t a rhetorical question, admiral."

    "I''ve seen Jedi fight. I''ve felt you¡­ connect this whole fleet into a single whole. I can''t explain it." A shiver went down her spine. "I felt Crimson." Joanna spat the world as if it was a curse. Whatever this Force of yours is, it''s very much real." Holt eventually answered ¨C after she shackled her anger and drove it under the durasteel veil of her professionalism.

    "It is. There are very few limits on what''s possible with it." The general nodded slowly and tapped the cup in front of him with a finger. That was enough to make the liquid inside bubbling increase into a sizzling hiss that threw droplets all over the metal table. They began eating through the surface with a hiss of an angry reptile.

    "What is that?" Joanna asked.

    "I hope there''s some kind of explanation incoming?" Joanna grumbled. That man was going to be the death of her. What in the name of all Corellian hells did he do and why the bloody hells did he do it now, when they were about to enter battle?!

    "An explanation¡­" Veil glared at his cup. "I can give you many."

    The Flag Bridge grew darker. What looked like living shadows coiled around them both and apparently swallowed the light. Joanna shuddered at the unnatural phenomena. Veil on the other hand didn''t appear to notice what he was doing. That or he didn''t care, the bastard.

    "There are few limits to what a powerful Force Adept could achieve with the Force. Enhancing our bodies, influencing whole fleets¡­ Making contact with people on the other side of the galaxy ¨C if the situation is either right of wrong enough..." He trailed off.

    "I take it its the latter case." Joanna was almost sure of it. At the end something shifted in Veil''s tone. Was that regret? "I''ll ask again, what did you do, general?"

    "I sensed the Force trembling with shocks. Jedi dying on Coruscant. I needed to know what in the name of the Force was happening. I needed to know that my wife was all right."

    Joanna frowned. Veil''s voice almost broke there¡­ and Jedi dying on Coruscant?! How the kriff did the Separatists reach the capital?!

    "It wasn''t the Confederacy." Veil hissed in furyas if reading her mind, and wasn''t that a terrifying idea¡­

    He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

    For a brief moment Holt was tempted to claim he was lying. That what he was talking about was impossible. However she knew better. What Crimson did, what she knew for sure Veil could do¡­ So much power concentrated in the hands of a single man whose allegiance she was unsure of simply terrified her. On the other hand, as the former captain of the Freedom and now as an admiral¡­ Joanna herself had more power at her fingertips than most people across the galaxy could comprehend. The real difference was control. Checks and balances. She simply couldn''t burn a world at her whim or go conquer one without good reasons that were approved by her superiors back home.

    Veil on the other hand ¨C he himself was a weapon and right now Joanna doubted that anyone but himself had ever been in control of his actions.

    "What did you see?" Joanna asked, while her mind was busy going over worst case scenarios.

    "Mace Windu crushing my wife''s ?h?st. Chancellor Palpatine dying." Veil''s words were quietly, yet Holt couldn''t help it but feel a terror when she heard his voice. He sounded like someone on the edge of madness. Just a heartbeat away from becoming berserk. She certainly didn''t expect him to smile mirthlessly. "The Jedi pulling a stab in the back I didn''t see coming. It''s almost commendable."

    If what Veil was telling her was true, if the CIS hadn''t found a backdoor toward Coruscant or even worse ¨C somehow swept all resistance leading towards the capital¡­ it actually made a twisted amount of sense. It was no secret that there were a lot of Jedi who saw Veil as a threat. That because he was a Sith he was the enemy they had to fight instead of the Confederacy. Joanna wasn''t blind, nor deaf. She knew that those Jedi had some support in the Senate. It was at least plausible that they might have moved to cut off the people supporting Veil back home while he was far away. If the man was telling her the truth. If he wasn''t mistaken. If he wasn''t lying for some reason or another. Too many ifs¡­ Too much that was uncertain.

    In the end everything went to one simple question ¨C did she trust Veil?

    Unfortunately the answer was uncertain too ¨C Joanna simply wasn''t sure if she could. She knew who he claimed to be. Knew of his infamous exploits on Corellia thousands of years ago. She knew that if going by his actions he had done his best for the Republic. That he had been faithful to his vows as a military officer. However, Veil was a Sith and everyone knew they were treacherous creatures.

    Still¡­ during that battle meditation of his, Joanna had touched his mind; both above Geonosis and when they had to burn down Crimson. She knew she could reasonably trust the man who won Second Geonosis. She could admire the man who somehow turned the whole fleet into a single entity to protect them against Crimson.

    Joanna wasn''t so sure about the man hunched above her conference table.

    That was something many people had been wondering for about a year or so now. Most stopped caring as Veil achieved victory after victory for the Republic. If Joanna was to be honest with herself, so did she after Geonosis.

    "I was content. I didn''t have the Dark Council to worry about. I was back in command of a military unit and in the thick of things." Veil smiled wishfully. "I was lazy too." He sighed and finally looked back at her. "Why do you fight, admiral Holt? For the Republic? For Corellia? Or for your family, friends and the menand women under your command?"

    "Why do you fight, general?" It was impolite to answer a question with the question, yet Joanna needed to know. She felt it was vital to hear Veil answer and more importantly believe it if he gave her one that she felt acceptable. In the same time¡­ Her gut instinct was to say she fought for the Republic, for Corellia. It was an easy answer, the easy answer. It was true too ¨C it just was far from the whole truth.

    "Because its my nature. Because I thrive on the chaos and madness of combat." Veil smiled sadly. "To keep the few close to my heart safe." She almost missed the last words he whispered: "Something I failed yet again..."

    "Because its my duty ¨C to those under my command, to my people. For my family and friends." Joanna muttered.

    Both of them knew there was something Veil didn''t say. Something he didn''t need to spell.

    He was a Sith and vengeance was a part of his nature.

    "What do we do now, general?" Joanna asked.

    Veil stared at his drink then grabbed it in a single sure motion and downed it in one swing.

    "Gahh¡­ This tastes¡­ kriff..." The general spluttered.

    Joanna would have found his antics amusing if it wasn''t for the changes that occurredwith his body. His hair began turning metal gray and the complexion of his skin changed too as a healthy color bled back into it. His back straightened and Joanna was sure that his very muscles became bigger to fill back his clothes in the way he looked before whatever turned him into an old man occurred.

    "Huh. Two moths or so. A bit better than I feared." Veil muttered to himself.

    "Two months?" Joanna inquired while still staring at the slowing down changes. When they finally stopped, the general still looked much older than he originally appeared but it was a far cry from the ancient apparation that waited for her on the Flag Bridge a few minutes ago.

    "That''s how long I''ve got left unless I find a way to permanently fix up my body. On the bright side, I''m back in the game." Now he sounded much younger too. "We''ve got some contingency planning to do, admiral. Unless you think it would be prudent to throw me in the brig and space the key?"

    Now that he brought up that idea, Joanna was tempted. Doing so might be good for her sanity. Kriffing Sith!

    =RK=

    Part 3

    Tipoca City

    Kamino

    It was fitting, I think. The furious storm trying to tear down the city around us was a good reflection of my surging emotions. A massive lighting bolt slammed into a nearby building lighting up the night. The resulting deafening cracking thunder struck with such a force that for a split second the waterfall like rain was blown away letting me get a good look at Rancisis and the squad of troopers behind him.

    I glared at the bastard and smiled coldly.

    Another lighting bolt struck ¨C this time to the light and the flash illuminated a robed figure sprinting towards us from behind the Jedi Master.

    For a moment I wondered what Shaak Ti was going to do ¨C even drenched she was easy to recognize in the twilight. However I found it hard to care. The Jedi did it again ¨C baring a miracle Bo was dead. No matter how hard I tried I couldn''t sense her in the Force.

    Perhaps she was merely critically wounded and her signature was faint. Perhaps I didn''t have the strength left to sense someone who wasn''t Force Sensitive all the way to Coruscant.

    Or the more likely scenario ¨C my wife wasn''t able to survive her ?h?st being crushed.

    My wife.

    Murdered.

    By a kriffing Jedi.

    Why the kriff didn''t I join the Confederacy and ensured that they burned downthe whole Republic and every single damned Jedi?

    I glared at Rancisis who was simply waiting for Shaak Ti''s arrival. I glanced at her when she finally made her way to stand beside the older Jedi Master. Ti looked like hell and not just because the heavy rain had turned her robes into a sodding mess.

    That sight brought a thin, cruel smile to my face. I could almost taste my vengeance unfolding.

    "Master Rancisis, Master Ti." I greeted with as much false cheer I could muster.

    It wasn''t a lot.

    "Veil." The snake hissed back. His clawed hand went to the hilt of his blade. "Your madness ends tonight."

    "Madness?" I tasted the word and smirked. "The only madmen I see are you, Jedi. A coup at this time? Your stunt is a worthy of Sith." I taunted.

    The news came just an hour ago, mere minutes after we arrived in system. Even when I was able to sense what was happening through the Force I still found the truth hard to believe ¨C the Jedi pulling such a stunt at this juncture.

    I underestimated the bastards. Under other circumstances what they did would have been something I could respect. Admire even.

    Despite my precautions, the Chancellor was officially critically wounded, though I knew the truth. The Jedi somehow offed Palpy ¨C I sensed his death after all. At least he was able to activate Order 66 ¨C something I should thank him if I ever met his Force Ghost.

    That''s why I was down here instead of coordinating an evacuation alongside Holt and Tarkin the Elder. I wanted, needed blood to satisfy my thirst for vengeance.

    "Congratulations, Jedi. Your friends murdered Chancellor Palpatine ¨C the most respected and beloved Chancellor in centuries." I chuckled darkly. "Well done! Order 66 is in effect. So I offer you my congratulations once again ¨C today you doomed all the Jedi across the galaxy."

    "What did you do?!" Ti exclaimed. She could sense I was telling the truth. Well, mostly.

    "What we had to." Rancisis hissed and pulled out his weapon. A blue blade came to life and began sizzling as raindrops fell upon it only to evaporate before they could touch it.

    The armored men behind the Jedi spread out and leveled sonic blasters at me.

    "Had to? Yes. I can see it. Mace Windu had no other choice than to murder my wife." I nodded. "That might even have been true. Bo wasn''t someone to just back off from a challenge. It doesn''t mater Jedi. Your kind robbed me from my wife again."

    Ti flinched at my words. She knew what I did the last time.

    Yet another lighting bolt lit up the skies. I could see Ti steeling her resolve.

    "I can''t allow you to wreak vengeance upon the Jedi no matter what Windu did." She declared.

    "You know, there''s a part of me that hoped you would say something like that." I nodded and let go the hold I''ve been keeping upon my fury ever since arriving in system.

    My lightsaber jumped into my open palm and Rancisis soldiers opened fire.

    Finally my vengeance was at hand.

    =RK=

    Part 4

    Tipoca City

    Kamino

    Cold fingers gripped Shaak Ti''s spine and it wasn''t because of the icy sheets of rain whipping at her drenched robes. She wasn''t a stupid woman by any means. The short conversation between Rancisis and Veil made all the pieces fall together.

    "What did you do?!" The exclamation fell from her lips before the Jedi Master could help it.

    When Veil showed her Ashara''s death all those months ago Ti experienced those events through his eyes. She knew that it broke him. Sent him into a murderous fury that never truly went away. Now if Bo-Katan had really been killed at the hands of Jedi, no matter the circumstances¡­

    Ti stared at Veil. While she couldn''t see his expression thanks to the helmet he wore, the man felt almost calm in the Force.

    She knew better.

    Last time his vengeance had been mostly targeted at those responsible for Ashara''s death even if Veil hadn''t really cared if he had to burn whole worlds to get to them. Because he knew his first wife wouldn''t like him to eradicate the Jedi Order as a whole because of what happened to her.

    This time it was different. He had no reason to hold back. No reason to spare any Jedi who wouldn''t follow him, perhaps not even then¡­ and that wasn''t something Shaak Ti could allow. Not something that she could live with, even if she believed that what the Council apparently did was sheer madness. Going after Veil ¨C fair enough. Launching a coup? Taking out the Chancellor while the war was going this badly? Sheer madness.

    Yet, she had only Veil''s words about what really happened on Coruscant. He didn''t feel like he was lying so he might very well believe his words. They might be the truth as well.

    However, there were still Jedi dying all over the galaxy after what felt like scores being cut down in a very short period of time. No matter what happened on Coruscant, no matter what some of the Jedi might have done, Shaak Ti simply couldn''t support someone who was going to go after every one of her comrades.

    "I can''t allow you to wreak vengeance upon the Jedi no matter what Windu did." She declared.

    "You know, there''s a part of me that hoped you would say something like that."

    Shaak Ti knew Veil was smiling when he said those words. Only then he did release the grip he had upon his emotions and what she felt coming from him almost brought her to her knees. Shaak Ti had never sensed such uncontrolled fury. Blood-lust emanated from Veil like a cloak and she knew he had to stop him now. No matter what could have been, no matter what either the Jedi or he had done, he had to be stopped.

    Because the way he felt in the Force ¨C Shaak Ti was sure that right now Veil would cheerfully set the whole galaxy on fire just to enjoy watching it burn.

    =RK=

    Something in Veil''s presence shifted and the Force screamed. Rancisis was b?r?ly able to bring his lightsaber up and brace himself when a solid wall of Sith Lighting slammed into him. The corrupted energy coming at the Jedi Master was grounded by his blade, yet tendrils somehow whipped around and rend gorges into his armor no matter how much Force energy he pumped into a barrier to protect himself. Beside him Shaak Ti was doing the same with a bit more success. Forks of lighting twisted around her blade only to disappear just before they could touch her flesh.

    The Cathar commandos who came with the Jedi Master weren''t so fortunate. They managed to sent few shots at Veil before the lighting storm literally picked them up and sent them flying off the platform.

    Rancisis felt them die screaming before they hit the water.

    The onslaught was over as suddenly as it began. The Jedi knew what was going to happen and left himself be submerged into the Force. He felt its power surge through his body and the dark night suddenly became clear as a day. The Force was on his side. It would guide his actions and ensure that the Sith end today.

    There was no doubt in Rancisis mind. It didn''t matter how strong Veil was in the Dark Side. The Force had always been more powerful than a Sith could really grasp. Rancisis knew it for he was one with the Force. He was its tool to restore the balance in the galaxy.

    When the blood red blade came for him, the Jedi Master was ready and at peace.

    =RK=

    Shaak Ti knew it was coming, yet the sheer ferocity of Veil''s attack caught her by surprise. His movements were wild, furious. If it wasn''t for the sheer speed and strength behind each blow, the Jedi Master might have dismissed her opponent as a mere monster.

    Veil was acting sloppy ¨C lost in his rage. Shaak Ti could see openings in his stance, ready to be exploited.

    This should have been a fight they could win. Perhaps the best chance to stop this insanity the Jedi would ever get.

    Obviously no one told that to Veil. The Dark Side surrounded him like an armor. It was a pulsing tumor in the Force that made it almost painful to look at the Sith. As Veil tore at Rancisis, Shaak Ti moved to flank him and end it then and there. It didn''t appear that the Sith paid her any attention. His flank was wide open as he slammed his blade in the Jedi Master''s guard again and again.

    Shaak Ti sprinted through the sheets of rain and swung down aiming to take Veil''s arm at the shoulder. The Dark Side surrounding him grew more solid and gathered around his free hand. Ti''s blade came slashing down and to her eternal shock bounced off a spot of pure darkness that soon became a caricature of a clawed gauntlet that formed around Veil''s left hand.

    The Sith never slowed his onslaught against Rancisis, yet he pointed straight at her. Tears made of the Dark Side itself manifested above Veil and elongated becoming black spears that absorbed what little light illuminated the landing path. Ti didn''t need the Force''s empathic warning to know she needed to be anywhere but where she stood.

    The Togruta jumped back b?r?ly avoiding the first spear. It slammed into the metal floor and went through it as if it was made of bu??er. Just coming to be so close to the damned thing made her feel unclean. Shaak Ti shivered in revulsion and continued to move back as the remaining spears flew her way.

    It was only thank to the Force that she somehow succeeded in avoiding the onslaught. Only one spear came close to burying into her side. It ripped through the outer layer of her robe and dissolved the armored fabric. The mere backslash hitting her skin sent needles of ice boring straight into her nerves and made her scream at the touch of the Dark Side itself.

    A heartbeat later, Shaak Ti figured out that she wasn''t the only one screaming. Rancisis was moving like a lighting, using his serpentine speed and agility to keep up with Veil. They tore through the falling rain leaving strings of steam before it was washed away.

    Rancisis was good, very good. Any other opponent would be on the back-foot when facing such speed and ability. Veil matched the Jedi Master blow for blow and didn''t look like he would be slowing down anytime soon.

    Shaak Ti had to change that. She rant towards the Sith while pulling more and more of the Force into her body in order to make herself even more powerful. She had to end this now.

    Ti was already halfway there when went right into Rancisis face. For a moment it appeared that their lightsabers were pressed between them and they had cut down each other, yet that illusion was proven as a lie in the next heartbeat. Rancisis flew away to slide over the drenched catwalk leading to the landing pad and he was howling in pain. Before Shaak Ti got close enough to jump at Veil, she was sure she saw the Jedi Master''s right side cave into a swirl of darkness.

    The Sith turned to face her in the last possible moment and their blades met for the first time that night. Red and blue blades cut short-lived gaps in the torrential rain as they fought for domination. At that moment, Shaak Ti knew that if Veil was in his right mind, she would already be dead. If he used the skill she knew he possessed instead raw power and fury, he would have cut her down within moments.

    Yet he didn''t. Ti fell into a defensive stance and began giving ground ¨C taunting him to come after her. Waiting for an opening she could exploit.

    Eventually Veil''s fury got the better of him. He overextended and Shaak Ti was ready for it. He used all the Force she could to give her a sudden burst of speed. Veil went for her feint and tried to slam it into her heart. Shaak Ti winced when the blade burned through her robe, grazed her br??st making her howl in pain and seared the skin and muscle over a rib. However the pain didn''t slow her down enough. The Jedi''s own saber struck true straight at the elbow joint of Veil''s sword arm. His deflector failed, the armor''s weak point gave in and she took off his arm with a single Force enhanced swing. The backstroke sliced an angry glowing line in his ?h?st, unfortunately this time the armor held if b?r?ly enabling the Sith to jump back.

    For a moment, Shaak Ti couldn''t believe that it worked. She crippled him! She won!

    The pulsing ball of fury and corruption that was the Dark Side broke in an invisible explosion that sent Ti falling on her bu??. The jarring impact made her scream in pain as her burned skin broke.

    When she found her footing, Veil appeared different. Shaak Ti was sure he was looking at her curiously.

    "To think that there would be a Jedi in this era who could match me." He said in wonder.

    "It''s over." Shaak Ti said.

    "Over?" He looked down at his still smoking stump. "It''s such a pity things turned outthis way, Master Ti." Veil nodded in respect.

    "Stand down! This doesn''t need to end in anymore blood!" Ti pleaded. No one else needed to die.

    Right?

    The Force shook as it screamed of the danger she was in. A crimson blur came from the darkness below the catwalk. Shaak Ti acted on instinct and parried the spinning lightsaber. However, as she met that first attack, the Jedi Master knew it was too late. The next onslaught came into the form of a dark blur that splashed over her and covered the Jedi into the nauseating stench of the Dark Side. Her perception dulled and she knew that whatever Veil did was going to slow her down. Despite that, Ti managed to parry the following strike ¨C which came from Rancisis levitated saber.

    As she battered the weapon away, Shaak Ti managed to get a glimpse of her fellow Jedi Master. He was still alive ¨C somehow, but wasn''t long for this world. Rancisis was blissfully unconscious and unable to feel the Dark Side dissolving his flesh. Already almost half his ?h?st was gone and the dark energy eating at him was far from done.

    Shaak Ti didn''t see the next attack coming. Veil was suddenly in front of her and he slammed his remaining hand into her gut. The sheer power behind that punch lifted her off her feet and the next thing Ti knew was the cold metal of the catwalk kissing her cheek. An armored boot kicked her lightsaber out of her hand, sending it flying into the ocean below.

    The Jedi lashed at Veil with the Force, yet her desperate attack slammed into and bounced off anunyielding barrier. A telekinetic grip closed around Shaak Ti and hoisted her into the air.

    "I owe you one, you know. You broke me out of my funk." Veil explained.

    "I can''t let you go after the Jedi for whatever the Council did!" Shaak Ti declared. No matter what happened on Coruscant, the whole Order, no the galaxy shouldn''t pay for that mistake.

    "You can''t stop me either."

    Purple lighting slammed into Shaak Ti and she screamed as it ravaged her muscles, lit her nerves on fire and somehow tore the living Force from her body.

    "Such a pity..." Veil''s voice came from very far away. "Don''t worry, you aren''t going to die here. I still have a use for you, my dear." Shaak Ti''s darkening mid was momentarily taken aback by the almost gentle tone Veil spoke in.

    Then blissful darkness claimed her and there was no more pain.

    =RK=

    Part 5

    Flag Bridge

    Corellian cruiser Freedom

    one light second from Kamino

    Leaving hyperspace was swift and smooth. There was no physical sensation to mark the return to real space, yet Veil somehow knew. Even before the sensors could stretch and figure out what was around the fleet, Veil was already snapping orders and there was no trace of weakness or even weariness in his voice.

    "Enemy units to the starboard. Weapons flee. Full ahead two thirds, twenty percent up..."

    However, Joanna had been around the Sith for long enough to still hear the anger b?r?ly kept at bay behind his words. She still wasn''t sure if he told her the truth about his condition or if he lied for one reason or another. Holt believed that he had earned the benefit of the doubt, yet she simply couldn''t help it but be wary of his motives. After all, Veil fought for a nation that wasn''t his own. He had no bounds with the Republic, no people or home to protect.

    There were Mandalore and the Mandalorians of course ¨C his wife''s people and now his own, however that only meant that Veil was an ally of convenience at best. On the other hand, he was one of the most effective commanders the Republic had and in these days that made him the closest thing to indispensable there was.

    The sensors finally refreshed the tactical plot ¨C a few seconds slower than they should have ¨C which meant the admiral needed to have a quiet word with the captain so he could handle it. When the tactical situation became clear, two things were immediately apparent ¨C Veil was right about the enemy ships that used to be to the starboard ¨C two Munificent squadrons which were turned to so much scrap by the warships on that side of the Republic formation even before the Freedom''s sensors could properly determine what was happening and put the information on the tactical display.

    The second thing was the situation at Kamino itself ¨C the Republic defenses were breached at two places and while GAR units were swarming over the enemy at those locations, the CIS were liberally pouring reinforcements into the gaps. The enemy was also hitting the defensive line hard in multiple places in order to either open new breaches or pin down the Republic forces.

    "Primary CIS ?ssault is in the vicinity of Tipoca city. Secondary is in orbital strike range of the Planetary Shield generator complex." One of the analysts on staff reported.

    "Get us to the gap above Tipoca and give me a line to whoever is in charge." Veil ordered. "Maintain formation, all ships are to maneuver independently within the formation. Fighters and bombers, standby for launch."

    "Comms to and from Kamino are being jammed." The resident communications officer reported. "Attempting to burn through the enemy ECM and establish a laser lock with GAR units at Kamino..."

    "The fleet is to go to full military thrust in one minute and move on the following vector¡­ Be advised, CIS forces will attempt to intercept us shortly. Weapons are free, fireplan Arubesh Seven..." The Sith continued to rattle orders.

    A frown crossed Joanna''s face. That course change ¨C was it merely a prudent precaution, simple paranoia or could Veil anticipate where the CIS was going to come from thanks to the Force? The latter thought was unsettling. Quite likely too, considering what Holt had seen and felt him do.

    The minute passed and the fleet altered course while Joanna was busy examining the tactical situation. The GAR fleet at Kamino was still holding ¨C a miracle in itself given the sheer amount of wreckage littering the inner system. All the debris and dead drifting hulls told a tale of an apocalyptic battle that had been raging for days, perhaps weeks. There were enough wrecks to account for whole normal sized fleets and that was just what was visible at a resolution showing the whole planet and everything larger than a bomber within five light minute radius from Kamino.

    Ten seconds later, a CIS battle group exited hyperspace in a perfect position to intercept Freedom''s fleet ¨C before their course change. Now the enemy was suddenly in a position to got their faces struck by a full broadside from two thirds of the fleet. The first hammer-blow was more than enough to simply shatter the CIS Munificent frigates and Recusant destroyers in range. By the time the enemy was able to retaliate, the Republic ships had concentrated their firepower upon the three battleships making the core of the

    core of the Confederate formation. Freedom shattered their shields in a punishing display of firepower while her brood mission killed them in a short order. By the time the two formations were out of effective range, the CIS battle group was a drifting collection of helpless wrecks, while the Republic lost merely a handful of unlucky frigates.

    Veil rattled another course change ¨C one that would bring them just above the enemy throwing themselves at the gap above Tipoca city and allow the Freedom to gut them with near impunity until the CIS could bring heavy reinforcements to throw at Joanna''s ship.

    "Sir, we''ve got a laser lock with the Nomad. They''re patching us through commodore Tarkin ¨C the acting fleet commander."

    A few seconds later a holographic image of a thin, tired looking man appeared next to the tactical plot. Still, his ice blue eyes shone with determination that was almost manic ¨C an obvious sign that the maelstrom of destruction at Kamino hadn''t dulled the man''s spirit.

    "I''m commodore Wilhuff Tarkin. Are there any more reinforcements coming?" He got straight to the point.

    "Negative, commodore. We''re it."

    Tarkin closed his eyes for a moment.

    "In that case sir, what are your orders? I do not believe that we have the numbers to hold Kamino even if the Confederacy doesn''t send any more ships our way. I''m sending you an update on the fleet''s status."

    Veil paused and studied the tactical display where a window opened and began scrolling through damage and logistic reports.

    "We''re plugging the gap above Tipoca. Order immediate evacuation of all Republic forces on Kamino while we still have the orbitals mostly covered. What''s the status of General Rancisis and Admiral Kal?"

    "The Jedi''s ship had to make a crash landing. The last I heard, he got to Tipoca. The admiral went down when his flag was lost with all hands." Tarkin answered.

    "Sir, we''re receiving priority one message from Coruscant. It''s on all military channels." The comm officer said in incredulous voice.

    "Put it up and calm down." Veil grumbled.

    Joanna looked at the Sith who turned his head her way and have her small nod. A frozen ball formed in the pit of her stomach and she knew in her bones what the transmission was going to be about.

    "¡­ 66. I say again¡­ is admiral Grad, acting ...mander of all GAR for... Coruscant¡­ Jedi led coup¡­ Chancellor¡­"

    "Clean up that transmission!" Joanna and Veil snapped at the same time.

    The transmission hissed like an angry lizard before the audio feed cleared up while the holographic image became grainy and much fuzzier.

    "Identification seven dash delta dash one zero nine nine dash arubesh dash thirty one dash ninety two. Codewords: Exile, Purple, Black."

    "Authenticating code..."

    "It''s the Chancellors." Veil growled.

    Joanna closed her eyes as she heard Palpatine confirm that he had been mortally wounded by Jedi attempting to overthrow the government. The Chancellor''s visual image was bad, yet clear enough to recognize his wounds.

    "Execute Order 66. This treason can''t be left to succeed..." Palpatine rasped. His body shook and he laid still.

    The recording finished only to be replaced by the familiar Clone face of admiral Grad. "I confirm Jedi attacks upon the Senate, GAR HQ and GAR forces stationed at the Jedi Temple. All GAR units receiving this transmission ¨C Order 66 is in effect. I say again, execute contingency Order 66. Further, elements from ONI, SIB and the Cathar military took part in the Coup attempt..."

    A terror the likes of which Joanne didn''t knew existed froze the blood within her veins. Her head snapped up to stare at Veil on its own volition, which nearly made Holt''s heart stop. The Sith was surrounded by a swirling cloud of darkness that simply dissolved everything around him. Pieces of chairs and a significant chunk from the table by which the man stood simply disappeared as it they were never there.

    All Joanna could think then and there was that she was sharing a compartment with a devil from the deepest and darkest of all Nine Corellian Hells.

    "Commodore Tarkin, inform our men on the ground that I''ll be executing Order 66 myself. They''re not to interfere. Make a call to our Jedi friends to meet me at the nearest secure landing pad to their current position. Their presence is mandatory. Be advised, all GAR ?ssets in system are under admiral Holt''s command until I''m back from the surface. General Veil, out." The Sith spoke with a voice laden with such intensity and power, that no-one who heard him ever contemplating doing anything but obeying as fast as humanly possible.

    Joanna was just glad when the cloud around Veil dissipated and she could breath again.

    =RK=

    Part 6

    GAR Assault shuttle

    above Tipoca city

    Kamino

    Huh. I''ve served the Sith Empire for a sixty years. I''ve suffered grievous injuries. I''m pretty sure I''ve been clinically dead at least twice.

    Yet, today it was the first time someone was able to cut off one of my arms¡­ and I felt like I should be thanking Shaak Ti for that. The sheer shock knocked the madness out of my mind ¨C for the time being at least.

    I could still feel my fury claw at my mind. The need to tear apart the Jedi, to see my enemies drowning in their own blood ¨C it was overwhelming and this time I didn''t particularly care. Even if I could, I wasn''t inclined to put on another mask and become it like I did after Ashara was murdered. I wanted to revel in my vengeance. I needed to even if I knew that letting my emotions rule me would get me killed even against this day''s Jedi.

    Ti proved that much.

    I glanced at her body, which I dumped near the ???kpit. She wasn''t going to be awaken any time soon.

    The Dark Side whispered of blood ?ust, of how sweet it would feel if I tore apart Shaak Ti ¨C both body and mind. I was tempted too. In the end, the Jedi proved themselves my enemies and needed to be put down like the rabid dogs they were. If I hadn''t wasted so much time playing nice and figuring out how to turn as many of them to my side peacefully, my wife might be whole right now. Alive.

    What the kriff was I doing all this time? It wasn''t like I particularly cared about the Republic. Nor the Jedi.

    Yet, being part of an army with minimal political entanglements until I went to Mandalore ¨C that was the closest I''ve felt to home, to being content ever since Ashara''s death. I didn''t want to rock the boat. Didn''t want for things to change, to deal with politics any more than I absolutely had to.

    I''d gone soft and Bo paid the price.

    As a mere Republic general, even as Mandalore, when all was said and done, I was at the mercy of the Republic. Once upon a time, that very thought would have been infuriating, however ever since I got my rank in the GAR, I didn''t really care. Things were simple ¨C I was just a soldier who had a war to fight. Just like the brief period back in the Empire between the time I got enough power to be relatively safe and the time I was neck deep in Sith politics. Before meeting Ashara, that was the best time in my life.

    Heh. What bloody kriffing mess. What was I supposed to do now? Palpy was dead ¨C I felt the bastard die. That was a plus. The Jedi Order was broken and about to be hunted down like the rabid dogs they are ¨C another plus.

    The Republic was decapitated and from what I knew of the Senate, they were unlikely to elect someone who could effectively run the war or at least leave us the do it for them. Hell, without Palpy, his supporters were going to be fractured. Perhaps enough that I got the Senate on my case again and that wasn''t something I would allow.

    It wasn''t like I''ve ever cared about democracy¡­

    I was back to the same question, what the kriff should I do now?

    =RK=

    Flag Bridge

    Corellian cruiser Freedom

    High orbit above Kamino

    By the time I was back on board the Freedom, I had some ideas on how to proceed. My two immediate issues were resolving the situation on Kamino and getting my body fixed one way or another. Given the time constraints my best bet was to see if the machine that rebuilt my body last time was still operational. If not, I might need to use Ti''s body as a spare which would open a whole new can of worms. Admiral Holt and the people under her command might have issues with that idea or even disbelieve that I might be able to wear Ti''s body like s spare set of clothes.

    The same goes for the Clones under my command, not just the Corellians. Speaking about the Clones¡­ did Palpy had contingency orders for them in case he got himself killed? Even if he didn''t, there were still too many of them to influence if they got lawful orders to go after me. Orders that might get issued by the Senate depending if my detractors could push such resolution through, because for all I knew, my allies on Coruscant were either gone or in no position to be of any help.

    I shelved those thoughts for later when I got to the Flag Bridge. There was a heavy guard in front of it, though they didn''t do a thing to stop me. Inside I could see that most signs of my brief ??pse of control were gone, though there still was a large chunk missing from a table. On the other hand, Joanna had two squads of heavily armed and armored CorSec troopers posted around the compartment. It was like she didn''t like me any more.

    Or was afraid if the way she flinched and the brief spike of terror coming from her the moment I entered were anything to go by. Joy.

    "Sitrep, admiral." I asked and looked at the tactical plot.

    Not good. The primary breach in the defense line was plugged by the Freedom and the rest of my fleet, though the other one had been reinforced by the enemy. The CIS had also pierced the defenses surrounding Kamino in two more places and were busy sending wave after wave of transports full with both droids and Old Republic Jedi of all things. In my fury I didn''t really pay any attention to them while I was down there, though now I could get a vague sense of them. Most of those Force Adepts felt strange¡­ fresh.

    There were a lot of them too.

    That clinched it. Even if I didn''t have time constrains, holding Kamino would be very damned hard and expensive. As things stood, I was going to lose the place one way or another and likely get blamed for it unless I managed to shift the blame to the Jedi.

    "Status of the evacuation?" I interrupted Holt''s report. It wasn''t like I paid any attention to it, which just served to demonstrate that I needed some time off to get my head straight before I kriffed up by the numbers once again.

    "Less than ten percent."

    "We get two more courses for the shuttles and LAATs. Tell our people on the ground that that''s how long we can hold the orbitals before suffering unacceptable casualties. Whoever is not on board in the next thirty minutes will be left behind."

    I heard Holt protest that we could hold on for at least a few more hours even if things really went to hell or something, though I was already tuning her out. When everything was said or done, the forces that I could count on right now were my Mandalorians, which were kriffed up without Republic support which might not continue to be reliable for long and my special operations group. While every Republic piece of hardware, soldier and crewman in this system technically answered to me, the great majority of them owned their allegiance to either the Republic or Corellia. I had no doubt that only a fraction of the Clones in system would follow me if whoever ended up running the Senate turned on me.

    Not to mention that Joanna was a smart girl so she didn''t really trust me outside my competence as a military leader.

    Considering that for all I knew, the Republic was going to hell, my situation was far from ideal. If I was lucky, my allies on Coruscant might be able to re-establish some measure on control and even keep the senate from kriffing up everything.

    I glanced at the stump where my right arm ended.

    I didn''t feel particularly lucky today.

    I needed this fleet and the people in it behind my back without a knife ready to stick into it when I wasn''t paying attention. I needed their allegiance bound to me personally and that simply wasn''t possible. It wasn''t like even a Sith could turn a whole army against the people they were sworn to protect¡­

    But that wasn''t entirely true, was it? One Sith did it centuries before my time.

    Revan. Malachor V.

    A smile crept on my face. The idea was insane. If I kriffed it up, which was the likely outcome, the Republic might very well turn into my enemy¡­ which for all I knew might soon be the case anyway.

    I closed my eyes and let the Force flow through me, ignoring the pain it caused. As far as I knew, Revan managed it without having access to Battle Meditation.

    This was going to be tricky. Not something I could let Joanna or anyone else see coming until it was too late¡­

    I wondered if someone had ever used Battle Meditation to betray and turn the forces under their command...

    =RK=

    "The next round of transports just docked." Someone reported.

    Good. It was time.

    I felt Joanna and everyone on the Flag Bridge stiffen as my Battle Meditation touched them. The pain I felt increased with the strain brought by every new mind that became connected with my own and once it was on the verge of overwhelming me, I dumped the sheer agony I felt in the gestalt consciousness under my command. My will slammed into the minds of the Clones down on Kamino controlling the planetary and theater shields alike; I tore at them until they could comprehend a single thought ¨C shut down the shields.

    "This is general Veil to the fleet. Kamino is on the verge of being overrun by the enemy. We can not allow vital war related infrastructure and information to fall into separatist hands. Under my authority, execute Wildfire protocols." I ordered the fleet, using the Force to reinforce my command, then returned my whole attention to the Battle Meditation.

    I concentrated on the soldiers across the fleet. They were good soldiers and good soldiers follow orders ¨C that was the thought I wanted to pass through their collective minds and it did.

    Now it was time to see if my efforts were going to be enough.

    Good soldiers follow orders and we have ours - I pushed that thought until it was to the forefront of every single man and woman connected to me. I could feel Joanna''s agreement, then horror as a part of her comprehended what was about to happen. She turned to look at me and opened her mouth to say something.

    I pushed for all I was worth and the admiral stumbled, then the first barrage was on its way to Kamino''s undefended surface and the die was cast.

 Chapter 86 - Interlude: Darkness falls

    "There is a place in the galaxy where the dark side of the Force runs strong. It is something of the Sith, but it was fueled by war. It corrupts all that walks on its surface¡ªdrowns them in the power of the dark side. It corrupts all life, and it feeds on death."

    - Kreia, KOTOR II

    Malachor V. That was arguably Revan''s greatest achievement. In a single stroke he ended the Mandalorian Wars. It was an event that echoed throughout the galaxy and was heard by those touched by the Force.

    The Mandalorians were broken in that battle. The Republic won.

    That''s what everyone knows for sure of that battle.

    Then there are the rumors. Some say that Malachor V was a trap. That it was the moment when Revan showed his true colors and sacrificed those under his command who held their loyalties to the Republic and their homes in higher regard than the loyalty to Revan himself. They say that he used Malachor V to turn all but one of the Jedi who joined him to the Dark Side.

    Others believe that Malachor V was a freak incident of war.

    I''ve been above that broken world. I''ve walked across it''s ravaged plains. Even four hundred years later I could still feel the screams of the dying. I could still sense their fear and taste echoes of their pain.

    There was no great revelation ¨C no clue if Revan wrought that day was intentional or not.

    There was a great revelation ¨C even centuries later, Malachor V was different. I could sense it screaming at me through the Force. That planet was a place of death. It was covered by intangible oceans made by the Dark Side itself. When I was on the surface, I nearly drowned in the sheer corrupting power of contained on that wretched world.

    When I stood there and opened myself to the Dark Side, it drove me to the edge of madness. Malachor V left its mark upon my soul and made me understand that no matter what Revan intended to do upon that cursed world it didn''t matter in the end.

    A single act of war tore a wound in the Force itself. One that feeds on life and corrupt everything it touches. After seeing it for myself, I knew. I knew how Revan turned every single Jedi who followed him but the Exile on his side. I knew why almost every soldier in the Republic army under his command chose to turn against the Republic.

    Almost a billion died when the first barrage hit Kamino. A third of them were lucky ¨C they had just an instant to begin feeling pain before the orbital bombardment turned them into ashes. Others were flash-burned to death by the thermal impulse or torn apart by the shock-waves and were lucky that their brains lacked sufficient time to register the agony.

    I felt their pain anyway. The Force echoed with their dying screams regardless. From men, women and children, to the tiniest microbe ¨C I could sense their deaths. The oceans boiled, cities burned and those on the edge of the orbital strikes wailed in agony as their skin melted or were boiled in the ocean which used to offer them protection.

    The tiny part of me that contained the tattered remains of my conscience recoiled by all that death I was responsible for.

    Most of me reveled in the power of death. The Dark Side shook with the influx of power my actions fed it with and ensured that I would love every moment of it.

    At the same time, every man and woman in my fleet screamed when the death of a billion people hit them like a sledgehammer. It was only the gestalt making us all as one expanded mind that kept their minds from shattering.

    The second barrage hit. The third. Kamino screamed.

    The bombardment continued. Ships died when the CIS pressed their ?ssault in order to try preserving their ground forces down on the planet. I fed the echoes of those deaths into the gestalt making my people experience them just as I made them feel everyone below us dying.

    Something tore in the Force and the Dark Side itself boiled upon Kamino''s vaporizing oceans. Those few still alive down there within deep shielded bunkers had a moment to scream in desperation before their lives were consumed. A ripple went over Kamino and every single still living thing on the surface was snuffed out of existence. I felt the few enemy Jedi who hadn''t manage to evacuate in time scream like damned souls when the Dark Side claimed them for its own.

    I could feel everyone bound to me recoil from what we just wreaked upon Kamino. I could feel their minds begin to fray under the strain of the Dark Side.

    And I loved every single moment of it.

    Clones and natural born alike screamed for respite. They needed for something, anything to take away the pain. It was their darkest hour and I was there to offer them succor when they needed it most.

    The Dark Side offers many gifts. It could mask many things. It often lies.

    Most importantly it helps us in our darkest hour. It can help us believe the lie that the monster in the mirror isn''t our distorted reflection. Its greatest gift is that it can hide us from ourselves. It can drown our pain and suffering in the screams of our victims. In our darkest hour it could offer us the succor we so desperately need¡­ and the price is one that we would gladly pay.

    Pain, suffering, fear and despair ¨C those are no longer things we should be wary of. They''re nothing we need to fear, because from now on they''re merely our instruments.

    I was what my people needed. I was the shoulder they cried on. I was the helping hand that dragged them back beyond the edge of madness. I was the one giving them the warm hug they craved and telling them that everything was going to be fine. I was the one who convinced them that they could live with the burden of murdering Kamino and every living thing upon that planet. I was the one who convinced them they weren''t monsters in their own eyes.

    I am the one who damned them and they were grateful for it.

    I am the Dark Lord of the Sith and the Dark Side is my eager servant.

 Chapter 87 - Interlude: At the mouth of hell

    Tipoca city

    Kamino

    "Come with me!" 99 waved at all cadets he managed to gather after the evacuation order came in.

    He glanced behind the his younger brothers. The far end of the corridor was mostly blocked by a barricade made of whatever the oldest cadets could get their hands on. Those boys had chosen to stay behind and buy the rest of them as much time as they could.

    99 was proud of them. Sounds of blaster fire and explosions had been creeping closer and closer in the last ten minutes. All reports coming over the comms were grim ¨C there was no stopping the Jedi working for the Separatists. All the Clones could do was slow them down and if very lucky ¨C extract a pound of flesh in return. As if that wasn''t bad enough, Order 66 came in almost an hour ago.

    Every Clone knew what that meant ¨C the Jedi had betrayed them all in when they were needed most.

    99 shook his head and began running towards the landing pads ¨C those were still secured, he hoped. For his brothers sake, not his; 99 didn''t intent to leave his home. He knew that the fleet couldn''t possibly take everyone with them and he wasn''t going to take the place of one of his whole brothers, much less than a seat which could hold one of the kids.

    Rapid fire erupted from behind and 99 redoubled his efforts.

    "Go, go!" He waved again. The older cadets couldn''t possibly succeed where the trained soldiers failed. Fortunately, they didn''t need to. They just had to buy a bit of time.

    99 and his charges got out straight into the raging storm when a loud explosion shook their barracks building. The cadets had no explosives and were likely dead now.

    "I''ll hold them off!" 99 shouted. "Go! That way!" He pointed in the direction of the pads. They weren''t particularly far, yet he couldn''t see them through the sheets of rain falling from the skies.

    99 waited for all the cadets to go past him then took cover behind the wall next to the door. A content smile appeared on his face. While he hated the clankers and traitors who successfully attacked his home, he was oddly grateful too. They gave him the chance to go out like a real soldier, just like the rest of his brothers!

    99 glanced down the corridor and saw a pair of flimsy B1 droids move through the smoke. He took careful aim and gently pressed the trigger just like his favorite brothers taught him so long ago. His first shot flew true and the closer clanker flew apart. 99 grinned and shot the other machine too.

    Among them was a youth calling himself Boba.

    They were the last flight to make it off Kamino before the orbital bombardment struck.

    =RK=

    Republic ?ssault ship "Tarsis"

    High orbit over Kamino

    "Move it people!" Rex shouted.

    He and the few remaining survivors of the 501st were in the hangar busying themselves by helping with the evacuation. There were a lot of wounded to move to either the overworked med-bays for the critical cases, a nearby first aid station¡­ or the back of the cavernous hold for those who didn''t look like they would make it.

    There weren''t a lot of the latter. Most of the mortally wounded were left behind ¨C something that made Rex''s blood boil. Kamino was their home! They were born and raised there!

    "Those are the last transports! Prepare to clear the deck!" Someone shouted.

    "What are those maniacs thinking?!" Rex exclaimed. The anger in his heart suddenly died and he was thinking clearly again.

    "Get on that LAAT and make sure it won''t burn. Medic too!" The commander ordered briskly. "Move it people!"

    Something made him look at the open end of the hangar where his home could clearly be seen. Rex frowned when he felt a pang of regret immediately followed by anticipation.

    It was then when he knew what was about to happen. Rex could swear that he could sense the gunnery officers across the fleet give targeting orders, could almost see gunners aiming their weapons. There was something wrong. He knew this wasn''t merely orbital support. The whole thing felt wrong¡­

    Rex''s eyes widened when he saw the first salvo. There were hundreds of turbolaser bolts raining upon Kamino.

    Before his mind could properly register what he saw, Rex knew what was happening. He could somehow sense it in the back of his head. Whatever this madness was, it was happening all over Kamino.

    Then the bombardment struck.

    Rex lacked words to describe what he experienced. It was death itself that manifested in the hangar bay. He was screaming ¨C just a single damned soul among so many.

    He felt them ¨C his brothers abandoned to burn on the surface. Clone Masters dying by their millions as well. They were all screaming in pain and anguish. They were dying and a part of Rex went with them.

    The next salvo went in.

    Rex was wrong. After all things apparently could get even worse. The commander could feel his own mind unravel. So much pain ¨C it should have knocked him off. It should have killed him. But of course the torture was without end.

    He was in hell.

    Death stripped Rex to his very core. It washed everything else away with an ocean of blood and when it was about to consume his very soul, something shifted. The agony was still the same ¨C that of billion dying souls. The madness was clawing at his mind and Rex knew he was already over the edge, when he felt a familiar presence.

    At least he would be in good company.

    Rex felt a gentle embrace. He laughed, shrieked and cried when his general dragged him back over the edge of madness. The onslaught continued, yet Rex was no longer alone. Veil was beside him, using his own body to shield the Clone from the worst of the onslaught. The General was the spark of reason which kept him from sliding back into madness.

    When Rex''s home howled accusations as it was murdered, when it condemned the sons who failed it, Veil was there to convince him he wasn''t a wretched failure of a man.

    When Rex believed he was one of the monsters responsible for torching Kamino, his general was there to tell him it wasn''t his fault. That he could still look himself in the mirror.

    The General was the only light in a sea of never-ending darkness. He was the only thing standing between Rex and the abyss.

    AN: This part of the update was inspired by Uriel on the space battle forums. Thank you very much!

    =RK=

    CIS Shuttle 988-56L

    High orbit over Kamino

    "Get us away faster!" Jedi Knight Denii Strum shouted at the droid pilot. "We need to get everyone off planet!" She continued to frantically plead at the soulless machine.

    "This is TK-51. Explain yourself, Jedi!" A Tactical droid''s image appeared on the right side of the ???kpit and an angry mechanical voice snapped like a whip.

    "The Republic is about to bombard Kamino!" Denii spat. "You need to get everyone out now..." She trailed off. "It''s too late¡­"

    This wasn''t the first time Denii felt a world die. Not even the first time it happened in this era. Yet even before the first shot hit the surface, she already knew things were going to be different this time. The Force was going wild. Its literally shrieked its warning for the whole galaxy to hear.

    Denii blanched when she felt so many people die. Their dying cries merged into one with the screams of the Force itself and the Jedi joined them.

    It drowned her. It murdered her. It made the pain go away. It embraced her into a sheathe of welcoming darkness as it washed all of her concerns away.

    Jedi Knight Denii Strum was no more.

    She was something less, yet more. She was home and free.

    Denii opened her eyes and awoke to an endless sea made of welcoming darkness. It was as much a part of her as she was a part of it.

    This was the Dark Side. She was magnificent ¨C more beautiful and powerful than Denii could have ever imagined.

    The former Jedi frowned. There was something wrong nearby. She could see the breach which let the Dark Side pour all over Kamino. How could she not, when it was the whole planet?!

    Yet, there was another breach nearby. It was so similar yet different. It was drinking from the Dark Side like it was a fountain sprinkling crystal water.

    Denii looked at the anomaly and frowned. She knew it, no him. It was Vael ¨C the man who murdered her master.

    The Dark Side was with him and Denii was torn between fascination and boundless fury.

    Flag Bridge

    Corellian cruiser Freedom

    the abyss between the stars

    I let the Battle Meditation go only when we were three jumps out of Kamino. Only a quarter of the fleet was with us, however I was hopeful. Thanks to my Battle Meditation, two thirds of the fleet that was still operational when the orbital bombardment began managed to leave the system. They would be joining us soon.

    I made sure of it.

    A tired sight escaped my lips and I looked around. Everyone was looking shell-shocked and I knew they were feeling so much worse.

    Joanna turned to look at me. There was both hatred and devotion in her eyes. She slid to her knees and began to sob soundlessly and she wasn''t the only one. At least half the people in the compartment were in the same state and most of the rest could simply stare in empty space.

    They were all broken and it would take time to heal.

    I went to the admiral and sat down on the deck next to her.

    "Why?" Joanna asked and turned her tear stained face away from me.

    "Shh..." I brought her into one handed embrace.

    For a moment Joanna shook with revulsion, before she relaxed and her head fell upon my shoulder.

    "Why did you did this to us?!" She asked in a tone fit for a lost little girl, which right now wasn''t far from the truth.

    "Because I need you all." I told her the truth.

    That simple admission sent a spike of pride and warm fuzzy comfort through her heart. She loved it and loathed it in the same time.

    "You broke us."

    "And I will put you back together."

    "In your own image?" Anger and longing were so thick in her tone that it was painful to listen.

    "Yes."

    "Thank you." Joanna said.

    I was sure she also damned me in her mind. A small part of me loathed what I did, what I was still doing. The rest ¨C I was ready to pat myself on my back for a job well done. Then there was the smugness coming from the Dark Side.

    I had my fleet. I had my people who were closer to me than anyone but my two dead wives could ever hope to be.

    I finally had an army on which I could count on no matter what and for the first time since arriving in this mad future I felt completely safe.

    AN: Well, this covers the Kamino ark. Now I''ll be dealing with the other consequences of the Jedi coup and after that I intent to begin RK''s sequel which will cover the rest of the Clone Wars and their explosive conclusion.

 Chapter 88 - Epilogue [1/2]

    Part 1: Knightfall

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    "I''m sorry." Serra Keto sighed. "Can we talk about this?" She tried.

    They were so close! Most Jedi in the Temple were already out. Why did she volunteer to go back and make sure the archivists gout out with the most important holocrons?!

    The two livid Clone fire-teams pointing blasters her way answered that question nicely.

    The Jedi Knight knew her words would fall upon deaf ears, yet she was compelled to try. Too many died already because of the Sith. This madness did little else but to feed the Dark Side.

    Kriffing Sith!

    Keto knew it when the Clones decided to act. She could see them squeezing the triggers of their weapons before their brains even gave the order. They were good. Veterans all. Unfortunately strong minded like most Clones stationed in the Temple which was quite unlike most of their ilk.

    It didn''t really matter in the end.

    Serra ignited her lightsabers and charged before the closest Clone could open fire. Two shadows moved behind the troopers and soon turned into Temple Guardians whose armors were scorched and dented, yet that didn''t slow them down.

    Before the Clones knew what hit them, three Jedi were among them. The following fight, if one could call it anything but a slaughter, was over in seconds.

    "Where''s the archivist?" Serra asked.

    The closer Guardian pointed down the corridor where four more of their kind appeared escorting a frail looking old human woman. Each of them wore a large sack over their backs ¨C hopefully the holocrons.

    "Let''s avoid that dear. The climate here is no longer healthy." The Archivist smiled sadly. "The Younglings?"

    "Master Yaddle got them out."

    "Then we''re done here." There was the tiniest hint of regret in the old woman''s voice.

    "We need to leave now." One of the Guardians said.

    Serra nodded and waved them to follow.

    "This way."

    =RK=

    When Order 66 came, it wasn''t a complete surprise. The events on Coruscant earlier that day led to hundreds of Jedi dieing, primary at the Jedi Temple. That shock reverberatedthroughout the Force. It put the Jedi across the galaxy on edge.

    Yet, that warning was a double-edged sword. A few were wary or paranoid enough to keep close eye even on the people under their command. Others began looking for CIS traps or reinforcements.

    For some Jedi the shock was sufficient that they complied. A lot of them even lived long enough to be taken to secure locations, though for a significant number the disruption of command in the middle of battle spelled disasters. They fell either to CIS units which were fast see an opportunity and exploit it or shot up by Clones when they tried to defend themselves and their actions were perceived as an attempt to escape in the chaos. Only three Jedi who were forced to fight against the CIS after their arrest were lucky enough not to be gunned down by both sides.

    A handful even managed to escape and got to be at least temporarily free.

    =RK=

    Sector 11

    Onderon

    Jedi Master Ayala Secura felt almost at home in the jungles of Onderon. Walking through shadows cast by tall trees, smelling the scents of the vegetation¡­ it was soothing ¨C something she sorely needed.

    After Secura began sensing Jedi dying earlier that day, she put her forces on high alert. When no attack came in the first couple of hours, her patience ran out. Ayala still sensed Jedi dying though it wasn''t nothing in comparison with the first hammer blow. Yet, the Force was going mad. The Jedi Master could practically hear the cackling of the Dark Side. It shrouded everything as it grew more and more powerful by the minute.

    Secura knew that things were going to get worse. The Force practically screamed that warning in her mind. She was compelled to do something, anything.

    That''s why she went on a patrol. It wasn''t like Ayala could simply leave and go to Coruscant to check what in the name of the Force was happening over there! Contact with the capital was lost and that didn''t bode well.

    Once that happened, any hopes for widespread rebellion on Onderon died. Even now, thousands of years after the Sith Empire ceased to exist, the locals still remembered and loathed him.

    Delkatar Veil. Lord Vael. The Butcher of Onderon. The planet still bore scars that could be seen from orbit from when the man came and conquered the place for the Empire. Looking at those places, Secura could feel the echoes of the death clinging like miasma over the otherwise pristine world.

    As a consequence, the people willing to help the Republic when Secura arrived with two army groups and a decent sized fleet were few and far between. The locals fought fanatically to slow down the GAR advance. They knew that the CIS was coming and were among the few populations who would see them as liberators.

    Secura understood where they were coming from. She could be sympathetic. Yet, she had to keep Onderon from the Confederacy''s hands. If her forces were thrown out, the enemy would have a friendly base of operation which they could use as staging ground for deep strikes in Republic space. That had to be prevented at any cost.

    The Jedi Master stiffened and focused on her surroundings.

    There was danger in the air. She could¡­

    "Stand down, general!" The lieutenant behind her snapped in a tone leaving not a shred of doubt what would happen if she disobeyed.

    Ayala froze and very slowly turned her head so she could glance back at her men. The closest Clones had formed a semicircle behind her and pointing their blasters at her back. The rest of the platoon was spreading out so they could have clear firing angles.

    "What is the meaning of this?!" Secura snapped back, though she made sure that only her lips moved.

    The most notable thing, besides the preposterous accusation was that the lieutenant didn''t address Ayala by her rank. There was a long moment when Secura felt fear. The Dark Side all but screamed at her that surrendering meant death. The Jedi felt cold wave passing through her and sending shivers up and down her spine. Her hand twitched and it was a miracle Ayala didn''t summon her lightsaber before she could think straight again.

    It was true that the Clones might be lying. She could sense their anger, but that was all. They didn''t feel any different than when they followed a more usual order. They might just want her to disarm herself so they could take her down safely.

    Or they were simply trying to arrest her.

    Secura knew one thing ¨C if she fought now, there would be no turning back. This had to be some kind of mistake! The Jedi wouldn''t attempt a coup, unless they felt they had no other choice and even then¡­

    "I surrender." Secura spoke clearly.

    "On your knees. Remove your lightsaber slowly and row it our way. Any resistance will be met with lethal force."

    =RK=

    Unfortunately, there were a lot of places across the galaxy where things went truly wrong. Many Jedi were on edge after sensing scores of their brethren die. When their soldiers turned on them, a not insignificant number was not inclined to go down quietly. Many of them believed that they could either escape to figure what in the name of the Force was happening or that a surrender might spell their doom.

    On more than a hundred worlds Jedi fought and died. Eleven managed to get away, instantly confirming their status as traitors and earning themselves death in the eyes of the GAR.

    =RK=

    Part 2: Ragnarok Act I

    Even as Order 66 made its way across the galaxy and set it on fire, there were a few notable exceptions.

    At one of the Republic''s most prestigious military academies, Ahsoka Tano was in her room buried under a small mountain of data-pads. When the Jedi Coup began, she felt restless. When she felt Jedi die in impossible numbers, she was terrified.

    Ahsoka tried to call Obi-Wan only to find out that Coruscant was under a communications blackout. When that news made its way across the academy, the Commandant put the whole facility on lockdown just in case, while every military unit in the system went on high alert. As far as anyone but Ahsoka knew, there was no attack coming.

    No physical one anyway. What Ahsoka felt through the Force, she would never forget. Jedi were dying by the hundreds. First on Coruscant, later all across the galaxy.

    Tano felt the Dark Side drowning her perception and crashing over her. She heard the dying screams on a whole world.

    That day something intangible changed in the Force. It was like the sense of a deja vu. All Ahsoka knew for sure was that one future was closed to her. To everyone. It was as if the whole galaxy paused to take a deep breath before exhaling and just continuing on its way as if a world dying didn''t matter. Yet, it was on a subtly different path.

    There were no Clones bursting to arrest her. If one wasn''t able to hear the Force, they might not have figured out something was wrong ¨C just like most of the cadets found out about the events of Coruscant hours later.

    Her instructors were not amused.

    =RK=

    On Coruscant, the only effect that Order 66 had on Obi-Wan Kenobi when it came was that it guaranteed him even stronger protection detail to keep the Jedi from attacking him again. The same was true for his wife and the Mandalorian Embassy, which were surrounded by a strong GAR presence ¨C to keep anyone from bothering them.

    The Mandalorians were torn between feeling amused that the Republic military for once was willing to protect them and furious at the insinuation that they couldn''t handle the Jedi by themselves.

    Oh, they had concerns. No one was looking forward to explaining to Mandalore that his wife was critically wounded and even after hours of surgery no one knew if she would survive her encounter with Mace Windu. On the face of it, she fell in an honorable combat against a worthy opponent.

    However, the Mandalorians still remembered the Sith of old. Mandalore wasn''t likely to care that his wife fell in proper battle. When he came back there would be hell to pay and every Mandalorian warrior on Coruscant was looking forward to that.

    =RK=

    Flag Bridge

    Republic cruiser Gallant

    Corellia

    Plo Koon checked the time. Just one more hour and Yularen would be here, which was good. The Jedi Master was going to need all the help he could get. In less than four hours of all out combat all across the system, almost half of the new construction and a large chunk of industry were gone. Two of the Five Brothers had their own navies overwhelmed, the orbital defenses breached and droid armies on the ground moving in to eliminate as much of the planet-boundindustry as they could.

    A third of Koon''s own ?ssets were torn to shreds while he met the enemy again and again. What''s worse, two of the Corellian heavy cruisers were mission killed ¨C they were leaving the system at ballistic ark with their engines cripples. One more had more than half its weapons gutted after suffering multiple suicide runs.

    The enemy paid a steep price for their success. The system was chock full with the wreckage left by whole CIS fleets, yet the Confederacy still had enough numbers and firepower left to take the system. After the last clash, Plo Koon began contemplating bulling back to Corellia, where a lot of his damaged ships were gathering along with almost half the surviving Corellian fleet.

    "We''re going for one more fast pass then pulling back." The Jedi Master decided.

    That wasn''t the order he wanted to give. He knew something was terribly wrong on Coruscant. He felt many friends as well as people who were a major pain in the backside lately die over the last few hours. What the Jedi wanted was to order a retreat so he could bring his fleet back home to the Jedi Temple and face the enemy who attacked it.

    Instead he was stuck here.

    The sheer madness he was sensing through the Force didn''t help either. Whatever was really happening, it was of the Dark Side. Plo Koon could sense its insidious power grow in bounds as Jedi after Jedi died.

    "General, we''re getting transmission from Coruscant!" The communications officer exclaimed.

    "Put it on!" Koon ordered the Clone.

    It took precious seconds to get the transmission cleared. Time the Jedi needed to give orders for his sub-formations as they would be entering effective range of the enemy in just a couple of minutes.

    "Execute Order 66..." Chancellor Palpatine''s voice came over the comm a moment before the man''s mangled image appeared next to the tactical plot.

    Those words froze everyone on the bridge.

    "Order 66 is in effect. Security to the bridge!" Gallant''s captain snapped.

    The Jedi Master looked around as the transmission from Coruscant finally got cleaned up and was played in full.

    "General, you''re under arrest for treason. Please come in quietly." The captain turned to face him.

    "I see." Plo Koon sighed. "May I ask what exactly is Order 66?" What the kriff did Tiin and Piell did?! Or were the Sith to blame?!

    "In case of Jedi treason all Jedi are to be placed under arrest. If you resist your life is forfeit, general."

    "I see." Plo Koon repeated, then frowned. "What do you mean all Jedi? Not all of us are part of the military. Those on Corellia aren''t currently part of the Republic much less the Jedi Order."

    "All Jedi." The Captain repeated in monotone as he was reading from a document. "The Corellians are certainly included. We''ll be moving to take them into custody or eliminate them ASAP."

    "What is this madness?!" Plo Koon exclaimed. He didn''t know if it was the strain of combat, the chaos in the Force or feeling the death of so many Jedi.

    Perhaps it was the utter calm with which a man he considered friend discussed an act of war against an ally of the Republic. An ally who even now fought beside them.

    It was an utter madness, yet the captain felt as if he was discussing the weather. The Clone was utterly calm.

    It didn''t really matter in the end. Plo Koon''s composure broke.

    "I can''t allow that. The Corellian''s are our allies. No matter what''s happening on Coruscant, the Green Jedi are innocent." Koon''s hand fell upon the hilt of his lightsaber.

    "You chose to resist then."

    The Jedi felt the tiniest pang of regret coming from the captain.

    The armed crew-members on the bridge drew their sidearms. Behind the Jedi, the armored doors were opening and he knew there were more soldiers coming for him. He had to warn the Corellians. It was his duty to stop this madness from spreading.

    Plo Koon drew his lightsaber and the bridge descended into chaos. The Gallant didn''t alter course just before engaging the enemy as the general intended to do. The cruisers task-force, which used it as a leader continued to follow it in. When contact with the Flagship was lost, the rest of the task-forces reacted sluggishly. What should have been a fast pass meant to concentrate firepower and minimize engagement times was anything but.

    When Plo Koon cut down the last Clone attacking him, the Gallant was shacking under the guns of more than thirty separatist ships. The Jedi Master went to the comm station and attempted to warn the Corellians, yet it was for naught. The Gallant was deep within an CIS formation and their ECM made anything but laser com useless.

    The Jedi Master lowered his head and closed his eyes. He failed and all the people who he killed on the bridge died for nothing. He didn''t react when more Clones stormed the compartment and opened fire.

    It didn''t matter. Before his charred body hit the deck, Gallant shattered under the guns of the Confederate ships.

    There were no survivors.

    Part 3: Ragnarok Act 2

    Jedi Temple

    Corellia

    "This sucks!" A petite human girl grumbled.

    "Yep." Jaybo grumbled and looked up at his friend.

    Eli Cerulian sat a few stairs above him and looked criminally cute in her form fitting forest green robes.

    "Are you listening to me?" The Jedi Padawan frowned at him.

    Jaybo smiled. Eli looked even more lovely when she was getting angry.

    "Of course I am!"

    "Uh-huh." Eli sighed. "Why are we stuck here again?"

    "Beats me." Jaybo shrugged, which made his friend roll her eyes at him.

    "No Padawans on the frontlines if we can help it. Duh." A new voice came from above. "How are you two lovebirds today?"

    Jaybo looked up and saw an older copy of Eli walking down the stairs.

    "Mum!" The young girl suddenly turned beef red.

    "Ma''am!" Jaybo shot up. He was very glad he didn''t sit closer to Eli otherwise her mother wouldn''t stop needling them any time soon if the last few times were anything to go by¡­

    "Seriously. How are you? With the way the Force feels..." The Jedi Knight shrugged helplessly.

    There wasn''t a Force Sensitive person on Corellia, probably in the whole galaxy, who couldn''t sense that something was terribly wrong. For hours the Jedi Temple had been on high alert with both CorSec and GAR sending reinforcements on top the two battalions stationed nearby in an anticipation of possible Separatist attack.

    "As good as could be expected, I guess." Jaybo frowned. "Something happened to my Master a few hours ago. He''s been keeping his bonds shut ever since he went after Crimson but I could still feel it." He shuddered. "I know he''s alive but otherwise..."

    A pair of strong yet soft hands pulled him in and Jaybo found himself embraced by Eli. He relaxed and hugged her back. She felt like warmth, spice and home. Made him feel at peace even as the Force went more and more chaotic.

    "Mum, do you know whats happening?" Eli muttered in Jaybo''s shoulder.

    "Not for sure. There''s no contact with Coruscant and the situation in orbit is less than ideal." Nejima explained. "You can feel it too, don''t you?"

    "There''s something in the air..." Eli mumbled.

    The Force flared. Shots and explosions erupted just outside and Jedi began to die right there on Corellia.

    "Go back!" Nejima ordered. She was already sprinting towards the main doors of the Temple. There were CorSec troopers stationed across the big antechamber who were either doing the same, taking cover or shouting in their comms.

    The teens looked at each other. They didn''t need to speak aloud and just nodded and ran after Eli''s mother.

    When they got to the doors, both of them froze in place. Outside was a war-zone. Clones and CorSec troopers were shooting at each other. The Republic soldiers were fighting the few Jedi who were outside the Temple too and the teens arrived just in time to see Nejima enter the fray.

    A Republic walker blasted Corellian hover-tank, two platoons of supposed allies tore viciously at each other and another Green Jedi fell when he was shot at from three sides before his killers were either cut to pieces by Eli''s mum or shot by vengeful Corellians.

    For a moment it looked that this was it, then laser blasts lanced down from the sky and began killing the defenders. Jaybo''s head snapped up to see a swarm of LAATs coming in fast. Far behind them ominously hovered a familiar triangular form.

    "We need to get out of here!" Jaybo exclaimed.

    "Not without mother!" Eli exclaimed.

    "She''ll be with us soon!"

    Nejima looked their way.

    "Go!"

    "Mum, come with us!"

    Instead of answering, the Jedi Knight turned around and raised her hands. A swarm of missiles launched by the approaching gunships froze in midair.

    "Come!" Jaybo grabbed his friend''s arm and began dragging her inside.

    "No! Mum!" Eli struggled to get free.

    Laser cannons roared. A handful of shoulder launched missiles answered and the space in front of the Jedi Temple suddenly became a death ground. Eli and Jaybo were thrown through the Temple''s entrance by the blast-waves and left dazed on the ground.

    When they came back to their senses, the teenagers were being dragged up the stairs leading to the Temple''s upper floor. The building''s antechamber was turned into a killing ground by wave after wave of Clones attempting to push back fanatical Corellian resistance.

    A platoon of heavy troopers finally did the trick when they blasted through the walls next to the door and stormed in firing heavy weapons at anything that moved.

    =RK

    Site K

    location classified

    "What the hells is going on?!" Governor-General Shyla Merricope snarled.

    The head of the Corellian government glared at her advisers before her furious eyes fell upon her liaison with the GAR.

    "I have no idea, Ma''am." Captain Jorje Victus answered. "My best guess is that Order 66. This is the first time I heard of such a contingency." The Coruscanti born and bred officer looked mightily uncomfortable but he didn''t appear to be lying.

    Or he just was a better actor than Shyla gave him credit for.

    "General, place that man under arrest and get him out of here. Give me an open channel to all forces in system ¨C ours and Republic." Merricope ordered.

    Shyla''s eyes went back to the live feeds from Coronet city. The GAR battalion stationed near the Jedi Temple was busy ?ssaulting the building they were supposed to protect. All Republic formation in the region were making their way there and fighting anyone who was attempting to stop them, which wasn''t going well for anyone. There was a whole army group on Corellia and the bulk of those forces were in the general vicinity of the capital. To make things worse, a number of Republic cruisers had entered the atmosphere before anyone knew something was wrong and were moving towards Coronet too. They had already sent waves of gunships and ?ssault shuttles at the Jedi Temple which was a war-zone.

    "Diktat, all we''re getting as an explanation is that Order 66 is in effect and anyone attempting to prevent its execution is to be considered traitor." An exasperated sounding colonel reported.

    "We''ve got open channels to our and the Republic ships in system."

    "This is Governor-General Shyla Merricope to all Republic units in the Corellian system. You''re to cease offensive actions against our people at once or we will respond with deadly force. You will explain yourselves now. All Corellian ships, Contingency Winter. I repeat Contingency Winter."

    "Governor-General Merricope, this is Rear Admiral Felix, acting commander of all Republic forces in system." A Clone in the green uniform of a flag officer appeared above the holotank in the center of the room. "I cannot do so. Contingency Order 66 is in effect. All Jedi are to surrender into Republic custody at once. Any resistance means their lives are forfeit." The Clone paused. "If your forces continue to resist the execution of my lawful orders, I will be left with no choice but to consider them enemy combatants. My orders leave no latitude, Ma''am. Order 66 is to be carried at any cost."

    A deadly hush fell around Shyla.

    =RK=

    Part 4: Ragnarok Act 3

    Site K

    location classified

    The Diktat made a hand-sign and the outgoing transmission was put on hold.

    "I need options." Merricope''s voice held b?r?ly controlled fury.

    "Military? We might be able to hold the orbitals if the remaining Republic and Separatist forces in system bleed each other badly enough. We''ve got heavy Republic reinforcements incoming under admiral Yularen. It''s anyone''s guess if he''ll try to stop this madness or continue with it." The man in charge of CorSec mussed. "On the ground¡­Corellia is currently secure with the obvious exception of Coronet and the surrounding regions. We''ve got running engagements with GAR units on eight separate locations. An ?ssault ship over the capital with a Venator and two more approaching."

    An aide gave the general a data-pad which he skimmed through before continuing.

    "We''ve got multiple battalion level formations converging on the Republic forces with QRFs heading for the Jedi Temple. The Theater shield over Coronet is being raised as we speak, however as you know it won''t cover the Temple. It''s just outside the outer perimeter." The general sighed. "It''s possible that those ships will bombard the area if the Republic ground forces are unable to secure the Jedi Temple. I require authorization to take them out with either the anti-orbital defenses or if that''s not practical I''ll request the navy to neutralize them."

    "Political options?" Shyla asked in marginally more controlled voice.

    "It depends what the hells is happening on Coruscant. Coup or not, for all intents and purposes the Republic just began a shooting war with us. That admiral didn''t seem to care for the political fallout of his actions and I''m finding that highly disturbing." Merricope''s oldest politically ally and adviser added her two credits. "Besides..."

    "Even if all our Jedi part of the GAR suddenly went insane and joined the Separatists or something we''re still independent. The Republic has no right to simply demand that we hand them our people and attack our military personnel when they refused as they should have done." Shyla finished.

    Even if she and her government were willing to just hang the Green Jedi on the Republic''s said so, that simply became impossible when the GAR on Corellia attempted to take things in their own hands and attacked CorSec.

    "Get in contact with our people on Coruscant. Find what in the hells those lunatics in the Senate and GAR think they''re doing. Get that admiral back on." Merricope ordered.

    Couple of seconds later, Felix''s image was back on.

    "Admiral, all Republic ships are to move at least two light seconds from Corellia ASAP. You will order all GAR personnel on the ground to stand down as well. If you do not, I will consider the presence of your forces as a clear and present danger to my people and act accordingly."

    "I''m afraid I cannot do that, ma''am Governor-general. The contingency orders are absolute. They''re to be executed at all cost and no matter the consequences. I implore you to stand down and let me do my duty." The Clone looked sincere and unyielding.

    "You''re aware you''re committing an act of war against one of the few allies the Republic has in this war?" Merricope asked.

    "I am, ma''am. My orders stand. Anyone interfering with their execution is to be considered enemy and eliminated."

    Shyla closed her eyes and sighed. This was utter madness. Yet, she had her duty to her people who were fighting and dying right now.

    "Damn you!" Merricope hissed. "Give me channel to all our military forces." She waited for confirmation. "This is Diktat Shyla Merricope. Execute Contingency Winter Solace. I repeat Winter Solace. All non-Corellian ships in orbit are to be neutralized. Any Republic ship approaching a two light seconds exclusion zone from Corellia is to be considered hostile." She paused to take a breath. "Republic forces stationed on Corellia attempted the unlawful arrest of all Jedi on the planet. When CorSec personnel took offense, they were engaged by our supposed allies. All attempts to peacefully resolve this crisis have been met with threats and demands to hand our people under the charge of treason. Yet the Republic commanders were unable to give any shred of proof to support such grievous charges. All they tell us is that they have their orders¡­

    =RK=

    After the Republic Flagship went down with all hands, pure chaos reigned across the Corellian system. The carefully orchestrated defense fell apart as command and control lines shredded. In places Republic and Corellian ships continued fighting side by side against overwhelming odds. The task forces meant to reinforce them often didn''t show and they died fighting valiantly until destruction.

    In other sectors of the system wide battlefield, Corellian ships peeled off and abandoned the Republic navy as they followed Winter Contingency and made best speed for their homewolrd. At the same time, Republic battle groups peeled off and left their local counterparts to fend for themselves as they hurried for Corellia so they could execute Order 66.

    While madness grasped their enemies, the Confederacy navy was briefly shocked in inaction. For a time they suspected a trap and merely redressed their lines while dealing with the forces still engaging them. Yet, it didn''t take long for admiral Trench to make up his mind. He saw an opportunity and grasped it by throwing everything he had at the remaining two brothers, thus ignoring Corellia for the time being. His forces used the opportunity to decimate what was left of the enemy construction and infrastructure across the system which suddenly found itself abandoned.

    =RK=

    Jedi Temple

    Corellia

    The fight for the Jedi Temple lasted more than an hour. By then the GAR battalion which was stationed nearby was all but gone, yet more and more Clones were funneled into the fight from the four Republic ships above Coronet. All attempt to take them out from the ground failed courtesy to the Guardian systems and hovering just bellow the engagement range of the planetary defense cannons which were supposed to cover the capital. Those ships also intercepted any attempts from forces outside Coronet to reinforce the Jedi fighting to their lives, which meant only CorSec units covered by the capitals Theater shield could offer any respite.

    Ultimately, those forces weren''t enough. There weren''t many Jedi left at the Temple in the first place ¨C most of them were spread all over the planet or the other worlds making up the Five Brothers. When the engagement began, the defenders were caught off guard by the Clone units on Corellia turning on them. CorSec troopers and Jedi alike fought like demons who crawled out of the Ninth hell, yet they were slowly but surely overwhelmed. Waves of Clones, gunship raining hell and even limited direct fire support from the ships over Coronet saw to that.

    "We need to get out of here!" Jaybo snapped.

    "We can''t kid. Any transport trying to leave gets shot down by those ships. The same goes for our reinforcements. Unless the navy deign to show up, we''re kriffed." A CorSec lieutenant taking cover nearby shouted.

    "There''s no shield covering us! Enough firepower to take out those things will kill us too!" Jaybo shot back.

    "I know." The officer snapped.

    Jaybo looked around. They were pushed almost into the gardens at the back of the Temple. Once the Clones forced them in the open it was all over. The gunships would make a short work of them.

    There was less than a platoon left from the CorSec and a handful of Jedi left. That was all. There were at least few more survivors cut off deeper in the large building. The explosions and distant shots were proof enough, though those people weren''t going to be much help.

    At least Eli was still in one piece, though after her mother died she was out of it.

    "Here they come!" The lieutenant shouted.

    Sure enough. A bunch of smoke grenades rolled in and the moment they obscured everything, Jaybo could hear armored feet running towards them. So much for the short respite they got.

    Jaybo ignited his lightsaber and prepared to meet the next onslaught. Blaster fire flew in all directions, then a deafening thunder struck the Jedi Temple like the fist of an angry god. The sound came as a physical wave that tried to rattle the teeth right out of his mouth. Moments later, it got very warm.

    Jaybo didn''t hear the next explosion, though he felt it as the whole building shook.

    The Corellian navy finally came down to play and they were all kriffed.

    =RK=

    Flag Bridge

    Republic cruiser Hunter

    Corellia

    "What?" That was all admiral Yularen could say once his fleet exited hyperspace.

    He knew that the Jedi had attempted a coup on Coruscant and that the planet was in chaos while GAR elements were attempting to secure the damn place. He knew an Order 66 was given and all Jedi were supposed to be arrested.

    What he didn''t know was why there were Corellian and Republic ships shooting at each other all across the system while apparently the Separatists were given a free reign to do what the kriff they wanted as long as they didn''t approach Corellia itself or any large concentration of Republic ships.

    As far as the sensors could tell, there were no Republic ships within two light second radius of Corellia and the bulk of those remaining were forming into ?ssault formations aimed at the planet.

    "What the kriff?!" Yularen asked in disbelief. "Get me whoever is in charge of this kriff up on the line now!" The admiral let out an uncharacteristic snarl.

    It took almost a minute before the holographic image of a Clone wearing a green uniform just like Yularen''s appeared in the center of the Flag Bridge.

    "Sir, admiral Felix reporting!"

    "Explanation. Good one. Now." Yularen growled. It wasn''t professional but at that moment he didn''t really care. Just what the kriff?!

    "Corellian forces attempted to prevent the execution of Order 66. We engaged them. We''re currently preparing to ?ssault Corellia so we could carry out our orders." The Clone answered calmly.

    "Run that by me again." Yularen somehow was able to gather his crumbling professionalism and spoke in a light, almost pleasant tone. "It sounded like you attacked our allies so you could carry your orders¡­ which were to protect this system against the Confederacy."

    "That''s negative sir. Contingency Order 66 is in effect. It trumps all per-existing orders." Felix still looked unperturbed.

    "Rear Admiral, you''re relieved of command." A fell seconds later, Wulff was speaking to all Republic forces in the systems. "This is admiral Yularen. Admiral Felix is relieved of command. I''m ?ssuming direct command of all Republic forces in the system. You''re to stop any and all offensive actions against our Corellian allies. We''re here to fight the Separatist, not each other."

    "Admiral Yularen, I''m compelled to ask you what are you intending to do about Order 66." Felix asked.

    "That''s no longer your concern, admiral." Wulff glared at the Clone.

    "I''m afraid it is, sir. If you intent not to do your best to ensure Order 66 is executed, I''ll be compelled to consider your orders as not lawful and continue doing my duty."

    "Admiral Yularen, I''ve been listening to your conversation." Captain Ren, the Hunter''s CO interrupted. "I''m afraid, admiral Felix is correct, sir. I believe you''re unaware of the gravity of the situation." The Clone continued.

    Wulff redirected his glare to the image of his Flag Captain.

    "What is the meaning of this, Ren?!"

    "The Contingency Orders are absolute, sir. They must be obeyed and executed no matter what. If you have no intention of doing your best to follow Order 66, I''ll have no option but to remove you from command. I''m sorry sir. We''re good soldiers and we have our orders."

    Yularen looked incredibly at Ren. He opened his mouth to relieve him too, then paused and looked around. Every single Clone in the Flag Bridge looked at him.

    "You all agree, don''t you?" Wulff concluded incredulously.

    "That is correct sir."

    "You expect me to order an attack on Corellia to capture the Jedi there instead of engaging the Separatists rampaging throughout the system." Yularen couldn''t believe it.

    "That''s correct sir. Unless you could persuade the Corellians to stand down. That outcome would be preferable. Order 66 takes absolute priority." Felix answered.

    "And if I can''t persuade them?" Wulff asked.

    "Then you either lead us in battle against them or we''ll have to remove you from command, sir." Ren spoke with conviction that was scary.

    "Are all Clones convinced of that course of action?" Yularen asked.

    The looks on the faces of the people around him was an answer enough.

    "Who could countermand Order 66 so we could deal with the real enemy?"

    "Only the supreme commander of the GAR, sir."

    "Get me line to Coruscant now and open a channel to Corellia. Let''s not kill any more people than we have to."

    "Thank you, sir." Felix sounded relieved. "I stand relieved."

    Yularen nodded glumly. The utter conviction and readiness the clones showed to turn on an ally because of a contingency order made his blood chill. What other such orders were there?

    =RK=

    Part 5: Ragnarok, Final act

    "Execute Order Sixty Six. Four woulds that irrevocably changed the galaxy.

    Until that order was given, there were very few people thought about the implications of the Republic having a clone army. Oh, the benefits were obvious and immense. The Clones were at the peak of human performance, perhaps a bit beyond it. Every single one of them. With the exception of a few defective units, they always followed orders. Only the various commando subtypes had any latitude in that regard thanks to their increased independence.

    The existence of the Clones meant that the Republic citizens didn''t have to bury millions of their children. Billions even. It meant that when the Republic most needed it, it got an army to protect it.

    Their existence was too good to be true and when Order 66 was given, that became a fact.

    There were few people who truly knew the details around the creation of the Clone army. By the time of the Jedi Coup was over, they were either dead on the run. We might never know the truth, though with the benefit of hindsight there are some conclusions that become obvious.

    The most popular theory, which is the one accepted by most post war governments is that the Sith were to blame for the creation of the Clone army. Count Dooku and his shadow master to be precise.

    The events at Corellia and later interrogation of thousands of Clones who survived the battles across that system revealed some troubling facts. It wouldn''t be stretch to conclude that Order 66 was the primary reason why they were created in the first place. Unfortunately no one knew that during the first stage of the war¡­ and even if they did, it wasn''t like the Republic had any choice. As we all know, all the army and navy crew expansion programs implemented shortly after the start of the conflict gave fruit shortly after Order 66 was given.

    The sad truth is that the only people who likely had any inkling of what the Clones might be capable of were the Sith who engineered their creation, the Clone Masters themselves and the Jedi who had Count Dooku in their custody shortly before the Coup. Unfortunately they''re all dead and the little records that survived are contradictory. Those who wish to give the Jedi the benefit of the doubt claim that any information they got came from Dooku ¨C a traitor and thus not something the Senate would believe. Further, they believed that the Republic was already under a Sith control which made any legal recourse a moot point anyway.

    We all know the consequences. The Jedi Coup. Attacks upon GAR High Command, the Senate, the ?ssassination of Chancellor Palpatine and strikes aimed at various critical facilities on Coruscant.

    Finally, the traitors just reward ¨C Chancellor Palpatine giving Order 66 with his dying breath.

    It is a sad to think that the last actions of a man who spent his whole life in service of the Republic did more to end it than Dooku and his Separatists.

    No one really knew what the Clones would to to execute a contingency order. Much less 66. It is widely believed that it was the reason they existed. It is know that their indoctrination and mental conditioning was especially heavy when Order 66 was concerned.

    In hindsight the only surprising thing that happened at Corellia was the restrain shown by admiral Felix and the rest of the Clones. They could have bombarded the Green Jedi Temple the moment Clones on the ground met resistance. Instead they chose to take the place conventionally, which allowed a handful of Jedi and most of the youngest among the trainees to escape while the rest along all CorSec personnel in the area fought to cover their retreat¡­

    However, the Corellian Diktat of that time didn''t see it that way. All Shyla Merricope knew for sure was that the Republic betrayed Corellia and started an unprovoked war. Admiral Wulff Yularen was placed in even worse position..."

    The Grand Army of the Republic ¨C Saviors or Traitors,

    Anaxes War College Publication, Second Edition

    =RK=

    Flag Bridge

    Republic cruiser Hunter

    Corellia

    "Diktat, please give me something to work with." Admiral Yularen implored.

    His words were met with a mask of cold indifference. He was running out of time too. Wulff had no idea how long the Clones would tolerate his attempts to buy time. As if that wasn''t bad enough, the CIS navy was busy gutting what was left from the infrastructure in the system or ?ssaulting the two words besides Corellia which could still put up a fight. Yularen was furious that his supposed subordinates were the ones preventing him from doing his duty and protecting the Republic.

    Instead, Wulff was forced to find excuse after excuse not to attack Corellia immediately.

    Merricope''s mask cracked.

    "You betray our trust. You attack our people without proof or provocation and you have the gall to demand that we hand our citizens to your mad attack dogs. Admiral Yularen, let me make this crystal clear ¨C any Republic vessel entering the exclusion zone around Corellia will be considered hostile and fired upon." The Diktat''s worlds came in a tone colder than liquid helium.

    Yularen wondered how much of that was her emotions speaking and how much was for the benefit of her own people. He knew from the beginning that talking with Merricope was a long shot at best. Wulff did it primary in order to buy time because everything he knew about the Corellians led him to one irrefutable conclusions ¨C they weren''t going to back down. Doing so wouldn''t just be a political suicide for the Diktat. It would be futile too.

    The Green Jedi were intermarried with all important Corellian noble houses and practically every single notable military family on the planet. They had been doing so for thousands of years and by this time it was hard to see the distinction. This wasn''t Coruscant where the Jedi kept themselves separate. Here on Corellia, the Green Jedi were Corellians. They were practically family with both CorSec and the ruling classes. Giving them up would be all but impossible even if elements in the Diktat government were willing to do so. Doing so would create an unacceptable precedent and that was even before one took into account the temperament of the average Corellian.

    What the Clones did before Wulff''s arrival was to repeatedly push all the bu??ons the locals had. The Corellians were fit to be tied, outraged and ready to fight. The CIS commander ¨C Trench of all people ¨C wasted no time in figuring out the gist of the situation and was running wild across the system.

    All that left Yularen in untenable position. He turned his attention to the open channel with Coruscant. Palpatine was dead. The Senate and surrounding areas were still in chaos. Kenobi had just been taken out of surgery and put into a bacta tank. He wouldn''t be in position to to anything but float in there for hours and that was the best case scenario. Apparently it''s been touch and go for the general.

    That left Wulff''s and Corellia''slast chance in the hands of the politicians.

    "What do you mean you can''t find him?!" Yularen glared at the Clone admiral currently in charge of Coruscant.

    "Communication lines with the surface are still being disrupted by worms in our systems. Amedda''seither gone to ground, kidnapped or dead. I''ve got people securing all government facilities and finding the most important Republic officials to keep them in one piece in case of further troubles."

    Yularen closed his eyes and cursed. Mas Amedda, the ViceChair was supposed to briefly become the new Chancellor if his predecessor died. However in that case his powers were going to be limited and his only real duty was to gather the Senate ASAP so they could vote in a new Chancellor. The Republic bureaucracy and armed forces were supposed to continue doing their jobs while the politicians figured out who the next Supreme Chancellor was going to be. Under normal circumstance that wouldn''t be particularly big problem. GAR High Command ran the war mostly by itself anyway and the bureaucracy was perfectly capable of operating for some time without a Chancellor at the reins.

    The situation was anything but usual.

    Yularen needed time. Hours, probably days. The alternative was unthinkable.

    "Admiral Grad, what is the status of the Jedi who launched the coup? Of the Jedi Temple and the Jedi Order on Coruscant?" Wulff asked. He knew that his harebrained idea was very long shot. Unlikely to work. However he had nothing else left.

    "They went to ground. While the Temple is currently being secured most Jedi went away. I''ve blockaded Coruscant as well as I can but I could use more ?ssets in order to implement Order 66." The Clone answered immediately.

    "I''ll see what I can do. Yularen over and out." Wulff cut the connection. He had an opening no matter how tiny. Now he needed just to convince the Clones to stop being kriffing maniacs.

    Yularen composed himself and opened channel to all Republic forces in the system.

    "I''ve been apprised of the situation on Coruscant. The Jedi responsible for the coup went to ground. Admiral Grad needs more ?ssets to hunt them down before they can get away. At this time all Jedi on Corellia are confined to the planet''s surface. With the CIS fleet in system they won''t escape. I''ll be bringing this fleet back to Coruscant so we can execute Order 66 as intended. Any comments?" Yularen asked.

    He looked around the bridge dreading the Clones reactions, then looked back at Felix''s image. There were a lot of emotions crossing the man''s face at an alarming rate. Yularen could clearly see that the Clone was fighting to reach a decision.

    "I can see the benefit behind your reasoning sir. I can understand it." Felix ground his teeth and it looked like he struggled to speak. "I¡­ I''m still compelled to execute Order 66. We can''t let the Jedi get away from Corellia."

    "Are you men willing to remain behind and ensure no Jedi leaves Corellia without ?ssaulting the planet?" Wulff asked.

    Felix was technically relieved. The two Clones after him in the chain of command were even worse so despite his qualms, Yularen kept talking with the man. He was honestly afraid to know how the rest of the Clones from Plo Koon''s fleet felt about Order 66. Felix at least was willing to listen despite being an obstructionist crazy maniac.

    The Clone blinked a few times as if struggling with the thought, then nodded.

    "I believe so, sir. As long as the Jedi remain contained at Corellia." Felix answered.

    And why the kriff didn''t you think to do so from the start instead of starting a kriffing war?! Yularen wanted to scream that question aloud. He wanted to choke that idiot to death. Yet, the way Felix struggled with the very idea of not attacking Corellia immediately in order to get to the Jedi. The confused looks the Clones on his bridge were giving him¡­ That made him pause.

    There was something terribly wrong with the Clones. Yularen needed to figure out what before he could trust them enough to lead them in combat. If he could ever trust them again.

    Wulff ordered his fleet to calculate the first leg of the journey to Coruscant and called Merricope.

    "Diktat, I''ve reached¡­ an understanding with my men. Apparently the contingency orders are absolute. At this time no one with the rank to countermand them is in any state to do so." Yularen paused, praying that Merricope would play along.

    "I see." The Diktat allowed frosty.

    "I''m bringing my fleet back to Coruscant to ?ssist the hunt of the traitors there. Admiral Felix and his forces would remain behind to ensure no Jedi leaves Corellia." Hopefully he would either dissuade Trench from invading the last of the Five Brothers or would go down fighting when the CIS either went for him first or when he was compelled to engage them in order to ensure the Jedi wouldn''t escape in the chaos.

    It was likely going to be a disaster anyway, but until someone back on Coruscant could unkriff the unholy mess there wasn''t anything else Wulff could do. He just prayed that Merricope could gleam his reasoning and go along with it because otherwise they were all kriffed.

    "That¡­" The Diktat trailed off. "That would be acceptable for the time being. The exclusion zone stands in place."

    "Understood. Admiral Felix, you''re to ensure no Jedi leave Corellia. Do not enter the two light seconds zone. If a ship leaves Corellia you''re to dispatch force to follow it up and check if there''re Jedi on board."

    Yularen cut off the connection. There was just one more thing that he could do for Corellia ¨C if Kuat decided to play ball and not just leave their biggest rival burn anyway.

    "I need a line to admiral Coburn at Kuat."

    Unless Kuat''s government decided to spare a few of their heavy capital ships, there was virtually nothing stopping Trench from taking control of the whole Corellian system.

    =RK=

    Part 6: The Sithapprentices

    Jedi Temple

    Corellia

    The whole building shook to its foundations. The tremors ¨C mere aftershocks from the battle above Coronet made it hard to remain standing, yet Jaybo had little choice. A squad of Republic heavy troopers was pushing through the smoke and the sheer bulk of their armor combined with the exo-skeleton built in it allowed them to largely ignore the floor trying to shake itself apart. The few remaining CorSec people weren''t so lucky ¨C they were on the ground, which while made them smaller targets cut their mobility to next to nothing.

    When the Clones strode in down the corridor, that handicap proved fatal. Heavy blasters and ?ssault canons ripped to shreds everyone pinned in place. The flying plasma made the scorching heat turn into furnace and the air itself began to shimmer.

    Jaybo soon found himself in untenable position. He was pinned in place trying to keep Eli safe, while the Force went completely insane and clawed at his mind. He could hear the tortured screams of a whole world through the bond he shared with his master.

    It proved too much. His muscles were screaming in agony, the air in his lungs was hot enough to choke on and to top it all, Jaybo''s concentration shattered like a plane of glass with a speeder flying through it. The Force giving him strength slipped through his fingers and the young apprentice faltered. A blaster bolt struck his sword arm and charred it into a useless pile of charred meat. Before Jaybo could register the pain, more shots slammed into his ?h?st and he tried to scream as his body burned.

    He heard a chocked scream of rage. The air above him shimmered,tortured metal screamed and men howled in pain.

    Jaybo blinked and he was looking up at Eli''s tear streaked eyes, which were two blazing embers.

    Another blink. Eli was hugging him and babbling. He felt tired. Hot. Oh, so hot.

    Eli was looking at him and gave him a wan smile.

    He blinked and a wave of heat washed over them. For a heartbeat Eli was framed by dancing flames which didn''t touch her skin, making her look like an angel.

    An instant of agony. Eli screaming through the Force before her voice was lost among the chorus of a burning world. Only then blessed darkness fell and Jaybo knew no more.

    =RK=

    Sundari

    Mandalore

    "Aria, get yourself together!" Niner shouted.

    "She''s out of it!" Dev snapped and hauled her over his shoulder.

    "Where''s our kriffing backup?!" Cor asked after throwing his favorite vibro-knife at a Commando droid. It caught the clanker in the forehead before it could open fire.

    "Busy counter-attacking." Niner grumbled. We''re on our own until the second echelon gets here it five."

    "We won''t last five minutes without her!" Atin jabbed a finger at the closest thing they had to a sister.

    "You better do it." Fi grumbled from his perch a hundred stores above them. "Clankers two o''clock. Platoon strength. SBs."

    Dev stashed his burden into the burned out trunk of a cargo van, then checked the magazine of his grenade launcher. Huh. There was one Ion grenade left, the rest were HE. Nice.

    The demo expert waited for the machines to come a bit closer and opened fire. Behind him Aria stirred. Her eyes snapped open and she m??n?d. Two blood tears streaked down her cheeks, painting her dust covered face in red.

    "So much power..." Aria wheezed drunkenly. Her connection with her master was wide open and it felt like Veil was connected to the heart of the Dark Side itself.

    Aria could taste just an echo of that power and it was enough to make her feel invincible. She staggered to her feet and smiled. With a thought her new found power was made manifest and thick arcs of lighting danced over her body.

    She finally looked around. Niner and the rest were trying to protect her. It was so heartening, yet so insulting. Aria didn''t need help. With the power she now had, there wasn''t a thing upon that world which could challenge her.

    Aria strode past the Clones paying them no more attention. She could feel droids ¨C hundreds of them ¨C charging at their position. She smiled and raised her hands. The Dark Side obeyed and was made manifest. The sky above them tore into a whirlwind of cracking energy.

    Aria brought her hands down and lighting rained upon her enemies tearing them piece by piece. It was too bad that those droids couldn''t feel pain. Otherwise their screams would have made a nice additions to the chorus of damned souls she could hear howling as their world died and took them with it.

    "This¡­ This is awesome!" Dev cheered. "Can you teach me this trick?" He asked hopefully.

    Aria turned her shining eyes upon the Clone. Oh, him she liked. She smiled and decided to keep him.

    The fountain of power in Aria''s mind suddenly dried up. The screams she so enjoyed became distant echoes carried upon the Force. The sheer power drain of the continuing attack drove her to her knees before her concentration could shatter. The lighting storm vanished as suddenly as it began and for the first time in more than a month Sundari was quiet.

    Arias eyes rolled and she collapsed in the sleep of the utterly exhausted.

    "I guess we''ll last more than five minutes now." Cor quipped.

    "Dev, pick her up. We''re displacing before someone calls artillery on our ?ssess." Niner ordered. He looked at the devastation and was very glad Aria was on their side. And to think she was just the apprentice¡­

    =RK=

    Part 7: Shattered dream

    The situation at Kuat couldn''t be more different than the debacle at Corellia if it tried. It had the notable exception of going on more or less according to plan for both sides too.

    The Confederacy threw a full Sector Fleet at Kuat under the command of admiral Dua Ningo. A fleet that had been reinforced until its three task forces had two thousand warships each. By anyone''s reckoning, that was an incredible concentration of war-making potential. There were few systems in the galaxy which could stand up to such a firepower. As if to make things worse for the Republic, an hour after the battle began, a smaller CIS fleet arrived and headed straight for the vulnerable industry spread across the system.

    That maneuver should have been the deathblow against the defenders ¨C if the battle was happening anywhere else. Even an Coruscant with its potent defense fleet and scores of Gollan stations would have been hard pressed to fend off close to seven thousand ships.

    Kuat was different. A Republic sector fleet was stationed there ¨C almost a thousand ships of all classes even if most of them were various escorts. Thus admiral Coburn had a potent force of his own to use, yet it was far from enough to protect the industry of that vital star system.

    The real game-changer was Kuat''s own navy. For thousands of years, the kuati had been one of the, if not the premier shipbuilding hubs in the galaxy. For the past few hundred years, Kuat was the primary military contractor for the Republic and many of the Core Worlds. The benefits were massive with the most notable one finally proving its worth.

    When admiral Ningo came calling, there were seven Mandator class Star Dreadnoughts in service. While usually only three were part of Kuats defense fleet, they were all recalled home when it became clear that the CIS long anticipated offensive would pierce deep into the Core.

    In order to back up those behemoth, Kuat had their older Procurator battle cruisers as well as a formidable number of Venators, not to mention a suitable number of escorts and fixed defenses. It wouldn''t be a stretch to call Kamino the best defended system in the galaxy.

    That explains why the CIS threw as much tonnage against it in what for all intents and purposes was a feint. In order to dismantle Corellia, admiral Trench needed a free hand to act, which in turn meant that Kuat''s heavy capital ships needed to stay home.

    For five hours the whole system was set on fire while Coburn maneuvered task forces formed around either Mandators or Procurators in order to smash any concentration of CIS ships threatening Kuat''s industry. At the same time small battle groups made of half a dozen ships at most dueled all over the system as the Confederacy attempted to wreck as much new construction as they could.

    For five hours the heavens themselves were set on fire. Thousands of ships died on both sides and in the end both admirals achieved their primary objectives. Kuat emerged from the offensive mostly unscratched. Merely ten percent of is industry was damaged, with a similar number of new construction lost. Coburn''s fleet was hurt badly, however the Confederacy paid in blood for each ship they managed to bring down.

    Admiral Ningo lost most of his fleet before he gave the retreat order. More than five thousand Confederate ships wouldn''t be going home. However, he succeeded too ¨C during the critical phase of the battle for Corellia, there were no kuati capital ships flying to the rescue.

    =RK=

    Flag bridge

    Republic cruiser Without Fear

    Kuat

    When the war finally reached Kuat, a lot of pretenses fell away and were replaced by one simple reality, admiral Coburn thought.

    Kuat Drive Yards, which were ran and owned by the Kuat family were Kuat. While the system was technically democracy, no one in their right minds had any illusions who really called the shots.

    That''s why Coburn wasn''t talking with an elected official. Not even one of the admirals who he worked with in order to protect the system. Instead, he was begging Onara Kuat, Kuat Drive Yards principal director for help.

    "Admiral, I''ve just heard from sources at Corellia." Kuat''s whole bearing was severe. Her deep blue robes made her look like an apparation out of legends in the holoprojector.

    Not a nice one.

    "Your request is denied. Our fleet stays home to protect Kuat against any enemy who means us harm." Onara declared.

    Coburn had to suppress a wince. Even if his fleet had been intact, he didn''t dare bring it to Corellia. Yularen''s report was chilling ¨C there were obviously unknown details surrounding Order 66 as well as any other potential contingency orders which were chilling. It wasn''t hard to reach the conclusion that currently there were no GAR elements which could be used reliably at Corellia. That left the various system defense fleets manned by regular people and Kuat was the one which could act decisively in this situation.

    "You''re going to let Corellia fall. Many might accuse you in letting corporate interests take priority over whats best for the Republic." Coburn tried.

    The Corellians would certainly scream so both in the Senate and in front of any reporter they could get their hands on.

    "Am I? It was your people who made the Republic position at Corellia untenable, admiral. I only do what I must in order to protect Kuat against either Separatist aggression or your Clones going rogue. Until this situation is resolved to our satisfaction, our fleet remains in system. You''ll be hearing from our Senator at Coruscant too, admiral. As far as Kuat is concerned, today the Republic failed in its principal duty. Please make sure that there won''t be a repeat performance." Kuat cut off the transmission.

    Coburn slumped in his chair. He was furious, yet couldn''t fully blame Onara either. The admiral had no doubt that the primary factors guiding Kuat''s decision were corporate and political. In the best interests of Kuat too. Every moment they delayed helping Corellia, their principal rival in the Core Worlds got weaker. The price Kuat could demand in the Senate in order to release their sorely needed fleets for offensive operations was going to be astronomical and the Republic would have no choice but to pay it.

    If there was a Republic when the dust settled.

    "All ships with moderate or heavier damage are to remain at Kuat for repairs and to augment the system defense. Rear admiral Zach is in charge. The rest of the GAR fleet is to form on the Flagship. We''re regrouping at Coruscant." Coburn ordered.

    So we could go figure out what in the name of the Maker we''re going to do with the Clones and the Separatists, he didn''t add aloud.

 Chapter 89 - Epilogue [2/2]

    Part 8: Coruscant blues

    Jedi Temple

    Coruscant

    While the Clone Wars continued to rage across the galaxy, the situation on Coruscant began calming down. When the primary sources of jamming were removed from orbit, all military, law enforcement and emergency channels were swarmed by cries for help.

    Thousands of LAATs and ?ssault shuttles descended from the heavens and landed at all important Republic facilities on the planet. Heavy armored Clones charged out of their transports with a single mission in mind ¨C restore order and ensure the security of vital installations and personnel at all cost.

    Most of the soldiers were met by confused if relieved citizens, especially among those in position to see the Senate and Jedi Temple ¨C which were both burning.

    While the former was secured post-haste when the ?ssassins responsible for the murder of the Chancellor fled, the situation at the later remained grim.

    Despite the best efforts of certain Jedi Masters, the evacuation of the Jedi Temple was anything but bloodless. Most Clones stationed there turned out to possess unusually strong minds which inevitably led to confrontations which soon erupted in all out warfare. It wasn''t until heavy reinforcements arrived that the building could be finally secured.

    The Jedi Masters and younglings vanished shortly after the troubles began ¨C whisked away by their ONI allies. Most of them managed to leave Coruscant before the Republic Navy could properly blockade the capital and many others succeeded in vanishing within the city-planet''s lower levels.

    Yet, nearly a third of the Jedi present at the Temple when the coup began were less fortunate. A lot of them were confused, cut off and forced to fight overwhelming numbers. Then Order 66 came down¡­

    When a concerned Bail Organa arrived to check what in the name of everything unholy was happening, he certainly didn''t expect to see Republic soldiers engaging Jedi. He didn''t know it, yet his actions resembled those he would have taken in a different timeline ¨C a couple of years later in the aftermath of a very different yet uncomfortably similar coup.

    Organa landed his aircar at on of the visitor platforms on the west of the Temple and for a few seconds simply stared in confusion. A terrible accident, another Separatist attack ¨C that''s what he feared when communications were suddenly cut. Seeing smoke raising from both the Senate and Jedi Temple all but confirmed those suspicions.

    However the truth turned out to be much more bizarre and terrible. On his final approach Bail followed in a flight of Republic gunships which were descending like a flock of avenging angels. He intended to request information once the immediate area was secured, yet any such thoughts flew away when he landed.

    There was a boy sprinting towards the landing pad. The lad was a teenager ¨C certainly no older than fourteen at best. He was dragging a crying girl by the hand and brandishing a lightsaber in jerky, desperate motions.

    A LAAT flew in front of the Padawan and disgorged a squad of Clones who immediately opened fire on the Jedi. The same was happening behind the lad and he soon was gunned down. It was a miracle that no one hit the girl who curled next to her protector and appeared to go catatonic.

    "What the kriff is happening?!" Organa snapped, shocked by what he just saw.

    "Identify yourself!" A trooper whirled around and pointed a heavy blaster at the Bail''s face.

    "Senator Organa from Alderaan. Explain yourself, soldier!"

    "Order 66 is in effect, sir. The Jedi attempted a coup. As far as we know they managed to take out the Chancellor, we''ve got confirmation about multiple generals including Kenobi being wounded and we''ve lost contact with our men stationed at the Temple. We''re here to neutralize the threat and restore order." The soldier paused. "Hex, Lida, on the Senator. Keeping him in one piece is your only priority. The rest, form on me. We''ve got traitors to hunt."

    "What about her?" A Clone asked and pointed at the little girl.

    "She''s a Jedi." A trooper grunted.

    "She''s obviously surrendering and thus following Order 66." Another shot back.

    "I don''t care. A Jedi''s a Jedi." Another grunted.

    "We''re good soldiers and good soldiers follow orders." The sergeant who spoke with Organa interjected.

    "As you will, sir. Hex, the rest of your squad remains to keep an eye at the prisoner. Make sure she doesn''t escape." The sergeant shrugged and jogged towards the Temple.

    "Are you sure about this, Senator? She''s a Jedi and they just betrayed us all!" Hex grumbled.

    "She''s just a kid." Organa glared at the soldier.

    "A Jedi too." Hex shrugged. "Your responsibility, sir."

    Bail glared at the soldiers and went to check up on the little girl. He needed to get her out of here and then figure out what was really happening. The very thought of the Jedi pulling off a coup ¨C an obviously unsuccessful one at that¡­ Organa''s mind refused to accept it.

    =RK=

    GAR Hospital

    Undisclosed location

    It was quiet at the hospital. The only sounds Satine could hear were the quiet beeps of the equipment and a few whispered conversations coming from the doctors who just got her husband out of surgery.

    Bo on the other hand¡­ Satine shook with fury. Her sister was still under the knife and was expected to remain there for the rest of the day ¨C if she was lucky. Bo died twice on the way to the hospital. If she survived the operation, Satine''s sister was going to be crippled and relying on life-support tech to continue living. The damage to her ?h?st and spine was so much that the doctors would have to turn her into a cyborg if she was to live.

    The Duchess looked around in derision. There already was a Clone company on the floor with the rest of its battalion securing the building. She was pretty sure there were more soldiers coming in ¨C both Mandalorian and Republic.

    It was too little too late. None of them managed to keep either her husband or sister intact.

    Satine''s hands fell to her belly where her child was growing. She shuddered with a very different emotion when she thought of suffering Bo''s fate. Her child wouldn''t have survived such a trauma and it was only luck she didn''t run into Windu herself.

    The Duchess was terrified of that prospect. Scared that her daughter might not be born. Of the world she might be born too.

    Satine looked at Obi-Wan who was peacefully floating in the bacta. Even after being repaired during the surgery, his wounds were gruesome. Her husband was lucky to be alive.

    This¡­ It was unacceptable! The war needed to be over as soon as possible. It needed to be won in such terms as to ensure no one would dare threaten her loves ones again!

    For her daughter''s sake if nothing else.

    That simple thought put things in perspective for Satine. Mandalore needed the Republic in order to survive. Barring that, it needed an alliance that could keep her home safe for long enough to be fully self-sufficient military wise. Satine''s mind went to the implications of the coup, its inevitable fallout and to whatever she would need to do to spin things in Mandalore''s advantage.

    Republica 500

    Coruscant

    For once in her life, Padme Amidala missed all the excitement. It was embracing really ¨C with no Senate meetings or really anything else of importance until the afternoon, she decided to sleep in. With communications jammed, there was no one to warn her of the coup or really whatever else was happening on Coruscant.

    That''s why she slept in. C3PO was busy recharging and there was no one else at hand to give her the news so she could do something to mitigate the madness gripping Coruscant. Not until it was too late anyway.

    Once the jamming was up and a message from Bail got through, Padme was suddenly awake and stunned. The news channels were going crazy, comm lines were in disarray and the GAR was announcing martial law until they could restore order and ensure there would be no more fighting on Coruscant.

    Naturally a furious Padme got clothed ASAP and went straight to the senate¡­ where she was barred entrance while the building was being secured by an even increasing number of soldiers.

    "What do you mean the Senate''s sealed?!" Padme exclaimed.

    "We''re still sweeping the building for enemy combatants, wounded and any unpleasant surprises, ma''am." A harried sounding lieutenant explained. "You might want to try at HQ. Someone there should have more information." The Clone paused. "Max, the Senator needs security detail, get on it!"

    "I don''t!" Padme shot back.

    Amidala fumed. Tried to go to her aircar before her minders arrived, though she was unsuccessful and found herself being driven to GAR HQ by a group of polite Clones who paid no heed to her orders to leave her alone. They even had the gall to sound amused, the bastards!

    That''s how Padme got a security detail as a consolation prize and a driver on her way to GAR HQ where she wanted to get more information and to lose the Clones if at all possible.

    "No can do, Senator." Another grumpy lieutenant met her at the doors. Well, a good distance from them, because the entrance was currently blocked by a pair of walkers and a small army of Clones who were busy fortifying the place as if they expected the whole Separatist army to drop for a visit.

    "What about my husband? Do you know if he''s all right?" Padme pressed on.

    "Skywalker? He''s in the brig." The lieutenant sighed. "He didn''t have the good manners to resist. I would advise that you head home until we can finish securing Coruscant against the Jedi and the other traitors. Sergeant, please escort the Senator home."

    "What do you mean?!" Padme exclaimed.

    "Weren''t you informed, Senator?" The officer proceeded to explain what little he did know.

    That''s how a shell-shocked Padme ended up back at Republica 500 in the company of five Clones who were very polite but firm in their request that she stay put and doesn''t go out to get herself shot at - again.

    That was¡­ for once Padme was at loss of words in her indignation.

    Padme shuddered. If it was true¡­ If the Jedi went and murdered Sheev just because he worked with and supported Veil¡­ what about her? It wasn''t that long ago when that man proposed an alliance that ultimately might have made her the most powerful woman in the Republic if she and Anakin allied with him. If things had turned differently, would the Jedi had gone after her?!

    Padme shook her head in sick fascination. How could things go so wrong so fast? She was afraid to even contemplate the political consequences of the Coup.

    =RK=

    Senator Mothma''s home

    Coruscant

    Senator Mon Mothma sat in her darkened study and was afraid. The initial reports she could get pointed at one inescapable conclusion ¨C the coup she tactically backed was less than successful.

    The only good news was that Palpatine apparently didn''t survive. Mothma knew that the senators who offered direct help were already scrambling and leaving Coruscant ¨C well those who weren''t prudent enough to find a good reason to make themselves scarce earlier. That put her in an awkward position. Mothma didn''t know if one of the people who orchestrated the coup and knew of her tactic support was going to be caught alive. She thought about running but dismissed that idea.

    If she had to Mothma would fall on her sword in order to protect Chandrila. Thanks to her deal with the devil, there were a lot of new munitions and arms factories being constructed back home. If it came to that, the nucleus of resistance against tyranny was already being formed by ONI and SIB loyalists. However, if she was lucky, Mothma might yet make such a thing very much not needed. With Palpatine out of the picture it was possible to get someone not corrupt confirmed as a Chancellor. The Republic might yet be saved from both itself and the Sith ¨C something Mothma couldn''t do while on the run.

    And if she had to fall on her sword, then she would die a martyr inspiring those who knew the truth.

    =RK=

    Lower levels

    Coruscant

    Mas Amedda was on the run. He''s been doing so from the moment he got confirmation that Palpatine was dead. Amedda was possibly the only one who really knew the depth and breadth of the blackmail material the Chancellor had gathered on everyone.

    Mas knew Palpatine better than anyone else too. He had no doubt that the Chancellor had placed more than one dead man switch as a final kriff you to his enemies. The Republic was in for some very interesting times. Amedda too, unless he managed to disappear before the files were released ¨C after all he featured in many of them.

    The ViceChair of the Senate was too busy with his own thoughts to pay much attention to the people around him. People who looked quite scruffy and dangerous. People who were examining his expensive clothes with speculation in their minds.

    That''s why being grabbed by the shoulders before a massive fist impacted in his gut came as such a rude and terrible surprise. Something hit his knee and Amedda found himself falling to the ground.

    "Another rich boy coming down here for the thrill, eh?" A gruff voice growled.

    A spiked fist sunk in Mas'' kidneys, then someone kicked him in the ribs hard enough to break them.

    Two days later, the brutalized body of Mas Amedda was found in the gutter by a Clone patrol, which explained how the last man who could have possibly prevented the Republic spinning out of control was not available to do it in the first critical hours after the Coup.

    Ultimately, Amedda ended up hailed as a hero and another victim of the traitors, despite being posthumously being implicated in corruption, trading influence and blackmail.

    =RK=

    Part 9: The Confederacy ascendant

    Trest Ilroth''s residence

    Raxulon City

    Raxus Prime

    The Triumvirate which for all intents and purposes ran the Confederacy of Independent systems got together for one of their frequent gatherings where they discussed the state of the galaxy and how to go forward. Usually all they really did at their meetings was to straighten some details and ensure they presented a united front to the rest of the Council. Most of the really important discussions and decisions, at leas as far as the war was concerned were usually made at one of the beyond secure conference rooms at the primary military complex on the planet.

    Trest and his two guests did precisely that early in the morning before retiring to the Neimoidians residence for further discussion before meeting the rest of the Council in the late afternoon. San Hill and Kleo Vombra got their chosen poison following Ilroth''s example and sat on comfortable armchairs next to a low table in the corner of the study. They were soon joined by their host after he made sure that the room was sealed and the built in jammers running.

    Ilroth crashed on the soft couch, sipped his tea and looked at his colleagues.

    "Who wants to start?" Trest asked.

    "Our latest military successes are going to be troublesome." Hill grunted. The tall being took a swing from his Corellian Brandy and sighed. "One look at the maps and people would begin asking why haven''t won yet."

    Trest winced. He was the one to ask that precise question to their military leaders, which earned him a nasty tirade. At a first glance, the Confederacy currently controlled most of the galaxy. Since yesterday the Corellian system was under the firm control of admiral Trest, though his forces had been able to capture only one of the Five Brothers. There were battles raging all over three more, though Corellia itself was merely blockaded for the time being.

    Kamino had not only fallen but utterly destroyed by Veil''s forces. It still wasn''t clear why or what exactly happened there. All living people in the CIS fleet were in need of medical attention thanks to various mental issues. They were all raving about hearing Kamino scream as it died. The recording from automated systems and droid reports weren''t enlightening.

    No matter the details, the burning of Kamino was a huge boon for the Confederate propaganda¡­ or would have been if most people outside the CIS were willing to believe it on face value.

    By any reasonable standards, the offensives all across the galaxy were an unparalleled success. The Triumvirate put their trust in their new military commanders and they delivered. However, that success had the potential to turn into a two-edged sword.

    "I can guarantee that our fellow Council members would push for a swift end of the war ¨C either military or diplomatic." Trest agreed.

    "That''s just Mai. She won''t get enough support for a peace to be a problem." Vombra dismissed that particular concern. "Those pushing to carry on with the attacks right now would be the problem. Both in the Council and Senate."

    The Confederate Senate was largely neutered. However it was chock full with people supporting the war. Making them not scream for a continued offensive at this time was going to be troublesome.

    "I know where they''re coming from." Ilroth snorted. "You two were all ready to order Tresk to jump at either Kamino or deeper in the Core too."

    Vombra grumbled. The cyborg was very grumpy since it became clear he hadn''t run certain numbers which made the Confederacy''s situation crystal clear.

    Yes, the offensive achieved a stunning success. The Jedi''s unsuccessful coup ¨C and wasn''t that thought amusing ¨C further crippled the Republic. Whatever caused GAR and Corellian units to shoot at each other was just the icing on the cake.

    By any reckoning, this was the ideal moment to push deeper in the Core and end the war.

    There was just one tiny problem ¨C the Confederacy simply couldn''t.

    "Once Tresk pointed it out, I ran the numbers. I''ve been doing it on the way here too. They don''t lie." Vombra let out an electronic wh?n?. "We''ve used too much fuel and ammunition. Fleet losses are higher than estimated and we''ve got more than a Sector Fleet worth of Republic ships unaccounted for in sectors we supposedly control."

    "Not higher than we could afford." Hill pointed out.

    "True that." Trest agreed.

    "We can throw another seven, perhaps eight thousand ships at Kuat. However, doing so would strip our garrisons in the Core and leave Fondor vulnerable. We lack logistic capacity to shift a significant number of ships from other theaters. It would be a mistake anyway. Veil''s on the lose with a large fleet, Eriadu''s still a major thorn in our side, and we''re engaged all over the east side of the galaxy."

    "Eight thousand more ships might be enough to reduce Kuat''s industry." Hill mused.

    "The GAR strategic reserve in the Core remains intact. Even if we take out Kuat, they might still be in position to reduce Fondor in which case we''re back at square one." Ilroth countered.

    It got back to those three systems ¨C Kuat, Corellia and Fondor. They were the three largest industrial hubs in the galaxy. The places where capital ships could be built with ease. With Corellia neutralized, Fondor and Kuat were the targets both sides had to protect and neutralize in order to win the war. Each of those systems alone accounted for at least fifty percent of the capital ship production for their respective factions.

    If both were lost, the Republic would have a slight edge in cruiser production while the CIS would remain ahead in its capacity to build escorts. It was tempting to throw everything at Kuat. If everything went right such a gamble could be a war winner. If it failed, a counter strike at Fondor would spell disaster.

    "What will we ''recommend''?" Ilroth asked.

    "We need to build up our logistics. Fortify our gains in the Core, build more FOBs and supply depots. Secure the control we''ve got over most of the galaxy before the enemy comes knocking." Vombra said.

    "The Republic needs to kick us out of the Core. We can bleed the, wait for our next major construction cycle to finish and end the war when our new fleets are ready." Hill added. "Meanwhile we can see how much political trouble we can stir in the Republic."

    "We''re in an agreement then." Ilroth smiled and raised his cup in a toast. "To victory!"

    "Victory!" The rest of the Triumvirate chorused.

    The galaxy was within reach and soon would be in their grasp.

    =RK=

    Part 10: The twilight of the Jedi

    Passenger area

    Republic transport Swift

    Hyperspace

    Master Yaddle watched like a bird of prey over the younglings she managed to get away from Coruscant. Officially, she and a few Jedi Knights who were with her were teachers on a school trip with their charges. They had all the documents claiming so in order with a few loyal SIB agents back at the capital ready to confirm it if anyone bothered to do in depth check.

    The ancient Jedi was glad she succeeded in saving as many of the younglings as she did. In the same time her heart tore at the thought of those who were left behind. All she knew for sure was that about half of the Jedi who were at the Temple when the coup went down managed to get away from the building itself. How many reached the transports waiting to spirit them away of found alternative means of leaving Coruscant, she didn''t know.

    Yaddle smiled at the younglings. They were the future. Not of the Order, because as far as she was concerned, it was death. The Sith, the Jedi themselves ¨C they were all to blame. They got complacent. Blind. Arrogant.

    It was hard to admit it to herself¡­ It was easy to blame the Sith ¨C Sidious, Veil and Dooku. It was easy to resent the Senate for not listening. To hate the galaxy for letting the Jedi fail.

    Yaddle couldn''t afford to continue with such self-delusions. The younglings counted on her to keep them safe. To train them as proper Jedi. To do that, she had to be brutally honest to herself. The Sith evolved while the Jedi stagnated.

    The Jedi had to change too, otherwise the blood of the younglins in her care would be on her hands.

    =RK=

    Mon Calamari Star Cruiser Liberty

    Hyperspace

    Kit Fisto frowned at a small pile of knocked out Clones. Beside him, one Gial Ackbar, the ships captain and the Mon Calamari prince were looking between the Jedi and the Republic soldiers with confusion.

    "What''s Order 66?" Lee-Char finally asked and sheathed his sonic blaster.

    "I''ll be asking them when they''re awake." Fisto grumbled.

    "They''ll be awakening in the brig." Ackbar sounded far from amused. "I want a marine detail to the bridge. What about the other Clones? There''s two companies worth of them on board."

    "I''ll go have a friendly chat with them too." Fisto smiled grimly.

    "Not alone." The Prince shook his head.

    "Certainly not. I''ll be sending as many marines as we can spare, Master Jedi." Ackbar agreed.

    "That might be for the best." Fisto nodded and looked back at the Clones. He knew every single one of them. They had been fighting beside him for months now.

    They were his friends.

    What in the name of the Force was happening? Wasn''t it bad enough that hundreds of Jedi died in the last few hours?!

    =RK=

    "What do you mean treason?!" Fisto exclaimed.

    The rest of the Clones on board were disarmed, most stunned thanks to liberal use of concussion grenades and sonic blasters. Those who still had their wits with them were being asked some pointed questions and weren''t particularly shy in answering.

    Order 66. It was meant to neutralize all Jedi in case of treason. By refusing to surrender without a damn good explanation, Fisto apparently marked himself for death in the eyes of the Clones.

    The Jedi was at loss at the sheer insanity of the idea. The Jedi betraying the Republic? Just what in the name of the Dark Waters possessed the Clones to believe in such madness? What about those who gave the order in the first place?!

    Fisto needed information. However, firs the Liberty had to reach friendly space and that was going to be problematic. They were still dodging Separatist patrols, then there was Hutt space to content with¡­

    =RK=

    Lower levels

    Coruscant

    "I don''t think we''ll be getting out that way, master." Serra Keto glowered at the secluded hangar where their way out of Coruscant waited.

    Her master put a placating hand on her shoulder.

    "Calm down, Serra. We''ll figure something out." Cin Driilag''s voice sounded as if he had no care in the world.

    "Calm down?! There''s a small army waiting for us don there!"

    "Down there. Not up here. So we''re going to calmly turn around, smile and get away. Then we''ll figure out a place to lay low and plan what to do." Cin shrugged.

    "What about..." Serra trailed off and looked around.

    "We''ll need to get the cargo to our clients ASAP or there might be penalties. So we''ll need to find a fast freighter or something."

    Serra grimaced, but nodded. They were obviously going to play the role of merchants or smugglers with cargo that needed to reach their clients ¨C somewhere that was far away from Coruscant.

    Keto looked at the dark street and all the gloomy looking beings minding their own business. If she hadn''t met her master on her way out of the Temple with a pack full with holocrons, Serra wasn''t sure what she would have done. Neither her Padawan training, nor her missions with her master or even the war truly prepared her to survive on her own without help from either the Jedi Order or the Republic.

    It was unpleasant to admit it, but she would have been lost if Cin didn''t find her.

    =RK=

    SIB Safe house

    Coruscant

    Two crippled men were hiding in off the books apartment on the other side of Coruscant from the Senate. The suburb was a very ordinary and serene place ¨C not a location one would expect to find a disgraced Jedi and a Sith Lord.

    If they weren''t on the run from practically everyone, Dooku would have been highly amused. Mace Windu of all people was stuck here with him and the way the man felt in the Force meant only one thing ¨C the former Jedi Master was falling to the Dark Side.

    That might prove quite useful. Or dangerous. Windu had always been quite insufferable as a Jedi. The Count only hoped that a close connection with the Dark Side would make the man easier to be around. That or drive him around the bend which would be problematic. Without hands, Dooku was at a significant disadvantage. Not to mention that being stuck in the small apartment waiting for their contact to procure a few prosthetic and way off Coruscant was proving highly unpleasant.

    On the bright side, Sidious was very dead. Dooku felt his master perish through the Force, Windu confirmed it. Even better, Order 66 was in effect and the Jedi were on the run, thus the Count not only had his vengeance but also a reasonable chance to get away.

    After months of captivity, things were finally beginning to look up.

    =RK=

    Abandoned basement

    Cidra City

    Malastare

    Ki-Adi-Mundi contemplated his situation. He didn''t like it at all. Three days ago, his soldiers suddenly attempted to arrest him in the middle of a firefight. As if that wasn''t enough, apparently one of the Clones had different idea and simply opened fire. Only the shields built in Mundi''s armor saved his life. In the ensuring battle, he had to cut down half a platoon before managing to break contact and vanishing in the war-torn city.

    That''s how the Jedi Master found himself in the basement under an abandoned food store while the Republic and CIS forces were busy fighting for control of the planet.

    He had to dodge both sides for long enough to get to safety ¨C whatever that meant nowadays and then contact the Order so this mistake could be straightened out. After all he certainly never betrayed the Republic. However, first Adi-Mundi needed to find a way off world. He wondered which would be easier ¨C trying to snag a Separatist transport or a Republic one?

    =RK=

    Part 11: The last Lord of the Sith

    Observation lounge

    Corellian cruiser Freedom

    Hyperspace

    The chaotic light of hyperspace was the only thing that could be seen from the former bridge of the Freedom. As a part of her refit, she had outfitted with a proper CIC before we left to deal with Crimson just a few short months ago.

    Its strange how long ago that feels. The galaxy is a different place nowadays. The Republic is reeling from repeated blows. The Corellian system had fallen. The Jedi went on the deep end in their hatred of anything Sith, the kriffing hypocrites. Palpatine was dead. My former master was either finally dead or the next best thing because I couldn''t sense Zash either. The Jedi were being hunted down like the rabid dogs they are.

    Kamino was a dead cursed world just like Malachor V.

    I would love to say that I planned it all. That I caused all that chaos.

    Yet, Kamino''s the only thing I could take credit for. All the rest''s nothing more than unintended consequences. At least I got the war I needed. With the Jedi and so called Sith of this era broken, I was finally free to act as I saw fit.

    The events of the last few weeks were a great boon for me. Or would have been if it wasn''t for a few not so tiny problems. Sooner or later I would need to explain why Kamino was destroyed by a fleet under my command. I already had a few versions of events hashed out with Joanna and Wilhuff. It remained to be seen which one would serve me best.

    Then there was the clock I was on. My time was running out fast. We wold soon arrive on Belsavis and the future would be shaped by what we would find there. If the Mother Machine was still operational I could restore my body. Otherwise, I would be forced to possess Shaak Ti who was still kept under sedation in the brig. In that case, I would have to discard most of my current goals and play a long game of conquest and subversion against both the Republic and Confederacy.

    Yet, I still could get lucky in which case my primary problem would be explaining the destruction of Kamino. With the whole fleet being mine body and soul, I had good odds of blaming it all on the CIS and their pet Jedi disrupting my Battle Meditation to disastrous effect. There were a few other contingencies we planned too.

    Those were all practical considerations. Planning for the future. Plotting. It kept me from thinking about Bo. I couldn''t sense her. Barring a miracle my wife was dead. Murdered. Again.

    It was tempting to throw away my goals. Lately I found it hard to particularly care about them. What I wanted was to see the galaxy burn. To make it suffer just as I did. To hunt the Jedi and see every last one of them die screaming.

    I could sense Joanna''s delicious distress, which brought my mind back to the present. We were the only occupants of the observation lounge, sitting on a table next to the windows.

    My admiral continued to both loathe and be almost bestowed with me. Breaking her along with everyone else in the fleet did what I needed it ¨C they were all mine, yet retained most of their personality and all their skills. However¡­ after shattering someones mind and then putting it back together¡­ there were consequences which went both ways in this case.

    Joanna Holt was blind to the Force. Yet, there was a weak connection formed between us. I didn''t need to be in her presence to sense her emotions. What I did to her¡­ It made the little piece of the man I was before becoming a Sith loathe me for it. Made me pity her.

    Yet, in the same situation I would have done it again without second thoughts.

    "I don''t need your pity!" Joanna glared at me.

    Ah, yes. The other downside of my stunt ¨C if she was nearby and I wasn''t shielding myself, Joanna could feel my emotions too.

    "Being pitied infuriates you." I looked at her eyes, who stared back defiantly. Anger, need, fear ¨C she felt it all at once and I was the heart of those emotions.

    I stood up and went to Joanna, then cupped her cheek in my hand. She leaned in the touch and sighed in content. Shook in revulsion. Moaned in p???sur?.

    "You broke me." Joanna whimpered. "I need you." She wh?n?d. "I hate you!" The admiral growled. "Make the pain go away..."

    "I wish I knew how." I sighed. Experiencing the roller-coaster of her emotions wasn''t fun even if I could use them to fuel my powers.

    Need. Hatred. Adoration.

    "I feel your pain..." Joanna sighed.

    "And I yours."

    Losing Bo just as I fell in love with her¡­ What was I supposed to do now? Why did I fight for a nation which was never mine, for people who aren''t my own? Even the Mandalorians ¨C the closest people to temperament and culture to what I would call mine, weren''t really my own.

    Why did I care about the Vong turning this galaxy into hell? So that I might be able to return to a woman I once loved? Natarle was in a different reality. She would loathe the man I chose to become all those years ago on Korriban.

    Joanna startled me when she pulled me into a hug.

    "I could hear you, you know." She muttered. "You aren''t alone. If you believe you have nothing left, you''re wrong. Know this ¨C we will be with you until our last breath; every single man and woman in this fleet. We are your people, Delkatar."

    I could hear the truth ringing in her words. Joanna hated herself for admitting it aloud, yet that truth set her free.

    "Yes, you are." A small smile tugged my lips.

    "Not long ago you asked me why I fought." Joanna looked me in the eyes. "For my people. For my family and home. And now for you, general. You have a home. A place to belong. Its with us. We will fight for you, no matter the odds. No matter the enemy. Will you fight for us?" Joanna looked up at me with hope shinning in her eyes.