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 – 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 – 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.

That was a very far cry from the presence he had felt during their few meetings.

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 assumed, along with most Jedi, that Veil was simply grandstanding – 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 – 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 – 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.

The smirk turned into a vicious smile. It was true that Sidious was bound by the trapping of the office he held as Palpatine. The same was true for Veil – the man was a general who had to follow any reasonable orders. He could be managed just like the Jedi.

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 – usually keeping them busy away from the most important areas was enough.

One question remained – 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

Geonosis

"Keep at it men, we're almost there!" The Jedi shouted.

The tall man was in the lead – deflecting a hail of blaster bolts and sonic blasts – 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 – 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 short corridor, which widened into a vast chamber. In the far end he could see it lowering down in what appeared to be a huge tram station.

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.

=RK=

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 – 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 – 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 – 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 assault path. Thanks to that, Shaak Ti was able to drop on the unsuspecting enemy, who was distracted by the leading elements of the original assault 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 – simply more expensive in lives paid to secure the objective.

Squads of clones were busy either trashing inactive droids – 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 – 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 assault 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 – 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 assumed 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 bare 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 assistance 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 – 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 – 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 – 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 – 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 – 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 – a victory that would be showering Veil with glory for a long time to come – 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 – once he mopped up the enemy on Geonosis. He would come covered in glory, with the most dangerous weapon of them all – 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.