Chapter 11: The Phantom Nemesis(1)

"Order!" Called the tall, horned Vice Chancellor, Mas Amedda.

He slammed his staff of office into the ground of his platform, sending resounding echoes through the massive, cacophonous chamber which held the Galactic Senate. But the effect of even this normally effective display was muted, nearly ignored.

"Order! We will have order!" He demanded.

"Order?" Called Veedaaz Awmetth from his hovering platform.

"How can you demand order while insisting on this chaos?!"

Many others cheered and called out agreements to his sentiments, a chorus of dissent. Mas Amedda's face fogged with rage, and he made to slam down his staff again, but a raised hand from Palpatine was enough to defuse him. The man looked at the side of his leader's head, and Palpatine nodded without looking at him.

"Recognizing and addressing the Senator representing Sarresh and the Vensensor Sector." Mas called out.

Palpatine stepped forward, raising both hands in a calming gesture.

"Fellows please, I am sure we can resolve this alarm without devolving into exaggerations. I assure you-"

"Exaggerations?!" Veedaaz screamed.

"You've recalled nearly everything, nearly every asset, back to Coruscant! The outer rim sieges are folding like pazaak chips, all but lost! Sarresh is being overtaken as we speak by General Grievous's forces! The Sarresh Defense Force is fighting a battle they cannot win, and we are abandoning them to that fate!"

Palpatine kept a serene composure as he reached out with his mind, floundering the upstart Veedaaz, and creating a gap in his tirad to speak through, though it was not he who spoke. He had long learned that it was best to allow others to be the voice of rebuke when speaking among "peers".

"Is it a trait of your species to be unable to see what is in front of you, or is that your failing alone?" Crowed Senator Saam.

"The entire Kuat Drive Yard defense fleet is in shambles! The Defenders of Axum are mauled and defeated! Many Jedi are dead, and thousands of clones and personnel along with them! This new enemy has departed from the Axum system, practically next door to Coruscant, and you want to risk defeat here, in the very heart of the Republic, to preserve your planet from a temporary Separatist occupation?"

The Ishi Tib senator scoffed loudly, exaggerating his demonstration.

"The only chaos in this senate is coming from shortsighted fools like you who cannot adapt to an evolving situation!"

"Evolving situation indeed!" Called Ask Aak, the Senator of Malastare.

"Since when did we give the Supreme Chancellor the Authority to recall so many of our forces?" He asked openly.

That was not good, and Sheev stifled Ask Aak, carefully measuring his power. Jedi, many Jedi, were present after all. They stood in the hallways and entryways into the chamber, slicking in the shadows, and hovering behind their supporters. They felt nothing as he silenced the senator, again allowing another voice to speak where he himself might have had to.

"Nonsense!" cried Senator Ister Paddie.

"We have already bestowed the chancellorship with all the power required to orchestrate the war decisively and at his discretion." The member of the Loyalist committee asserted.

"As a member of the Military Oversight Committee, I must disagree." Said Senator Aang, speaking softly, yet being heard through the use of the speakers built into his platform.

Palpatine felt a spike of rage enter into him, and nearly reached out for the Roonian, before realizing that Master Windu himself was seated in the alcove behind the Senator. To stifle him as he had the others would risk too much, and he begrudgingly watched more of the senate's power balance slip away from his design.

"We have given the Supreme Chancellor all this power in regards to the war with the Separatists. But nothing about the briefings we have seen has hinted to me that these...far outsiders are of any relation to the Separatists at all. Therefore, I think we will need to take a vote to determine whether to include this newer conflict into his purview."

"Order! None of you have been recognized to speak! We WILL have order in this senate!" Mas shouted, his staff banging like an oversized gavel.

"My friends." Palpatine said, beginning again.

"Surely you realize that this conflict must not be a victim of indecision. Already I have put together a special task force to examine and advise on these outsiders, and as any of you would do, I am acting in accordance with their advice. But I must be allowed to act freely, or neither of these wars will end favorably." He said.

He longed to use his powers openly, to bend these unruly creetons to his will, but the time had not yet come, and the Jedi were not yet gone. So again he controlled his expression, as countless voices rose in dissent to his words.

"So we are merely to continue extending your term and power with every new war? That is unacceptable, we must vote." Stated Senator Mon Mothma of Chandrila.

"Is this the same Task force which suggested allying with the Separatist animals?! Why are you even heeding that kind of advice?!" Shrilled Senator Neb Creip, who pointed a crooked finger at Palpatine's Pulpit.

The words of the two senators caused the room to stir into a fresh Frenzy, and Palpatine felt himself tested as he never had been before. The senate had been in the palm of his hand only a few weeks ago, and now they were rolling out of his control. He needed to secure a temporary alliance with the Confederacy to crush the upstarts, a prospect he had hoped would be more palatable to the Senate after the Republic's recent losses.

But, again, he found his own effectiveness getting in the way of his plans. The Senate had been divided and polarized by design, to keep them weak beneath him, to make them unable to unify and resist him as he used his emergency powers to shape the cradle of his nascent empire. But what once had served as his protection, was now a determined fetter, one he was not certain he could overcome in time. And to add fuel to the growing fire, Dooku was having an even harder time on his end.

As the Republic pulled back, the Confederacy advanced, and none of the senators and interests of that side had any intention of backing down now that they were on the winning foot. All talk of an alliance with the Republic, even a temporary one, had been laughed out of what passed for a senate among the Separatists, just as General Grevious delivered his report on his latest uncontested conquest.

Sheev suspected, from what he sensed, that they were in for a rude awakening, but even if they did fall into place, it would be meaningless unless the Republic was willing to extend an olive branch. And after four years of stoking the flames of resentment and hatred, the Emperor now found that the momentum which should have made his Empire and plan all but inevitable, was the very same force jeopardizing everything!

The rage such a thing inspired within him nearly had the master of the darkside raising his voice as the many influences of the Senate struggled for the right to be heard. He made progress towards his cause, he always did. But not enough, not nearly enough. So had it been in all previous meetings. And, he sensed, so too would it be at all future meetings, until the threat was upon them.

But the Jedi were already moving forward with their own plans, that Palpatine could sense keenly, and Anakin had suggested as much to him in their last meeting. And whatever it was they planned to do, their Dark Lord's machinations were also shifting. Perhaps the Republic could not be converted into an Empire, not before it was eaten alive by these new outsiders.

But that meant nothing more than a delay, for Sidious knew, in his black heart of hearts, that his Empire was written into the stars. He would sit the throne of his Galactic Regime, even if it was a throne of Corpses and Ruin, instead of one fashioned from the broken body of the bowed and bent Republic.

All things were shifting, but in this, Palpatine's Faith and Ambition were... Absolute.

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"You are sure this is the Planet? This is the system?" Asked Orion.

He stood straight and tall in his Cataphractii Armour, looking down upon the world they were orbiting from the massive viewing window of the secondary Bridge. The planet glowed like a star, the thick waves of slightly off color sand crossing its surface making it resemble a massive, divine tiger's eye.

The round man beside him shuffled slightly at the question, spider-like legs clicking and scattering automatically to compensate for his weight.

"Yes, my lord. This system is the most analogous to the Sol system in sixty four of our four hundred and eighty three spatial position tests. While that may not seem very similar to you my lord, it is actually an abnormally high amount of correlation when one also factors in the distinct shape and, err, abnormal stellar geography of this whole galaxy." Said the head Astrogator.

Orion nodded slowly.

"And you are sure that it is habitable?" He asked, a bit more skeptical this time.

The large, augmented man flapped his head in an emphatic nod.

"Yes, the oxygen level is well, well within Imperial tolerance ratings. The planet is rich in moisture at high altitude. Our instrumentation indicates to us that the planet was the subject of a manual exterminatus some tens of thousands of years ago, which is why the oceans have vapolithofied into the atmosphere. We suspect it is that, paired with the silica content of the sands, which is causing the planet to glow as much as it does.

"In any case, Master Phatris, the water can easily be tapped with the right moisture harvesting technology, and the Scions of the Adeptus mechanicus have been proving most...compliant with our requests."

Again, Orion nodded, not looking away.

"Air and water. Will that be enough?" The old Space Marine muttered.

"Of course it will be, Master Phatris. Hydroponics and vat farms are run of the mill technologies, long mastered by the Tech Priests of all the worlds we have adopted into the fold. You are not condemning them, my lord. You are giving them a great honor." Said the astrogator in his most reassuring voice.

He was far from familiar enough to reach out and lay a hand upon Orion's shoulder, but the Chapter Master felt the sentiment and smiled, though only slightly. They had trillions of people to safeguard, and most of their ships could only make calculated jumps, as opposed to the piloted jumps of the navy ships. They needed to unencumbered themselves, and they needed to do it fast.

"What you said to the Tempered Hands was wise." The Astrogator added.

"Only the best half of those we have brought can follow. For the others...this is more mercy than even the Emperor would show. Here they will have a chance. Their supplies will last until they can finish construction of their water towers, and everything else will follow naturally from there."

These words curdled the small amount of comfort the astrogator had imparted to Orion, for he knew those words to be only technically true. If the settlers found their way to a proper location quickly. If nothing delayed their construction, and no disaster of any kind struck, then maybe…maybe the supplies they had would be enough.

But unless the Emperor truly was a God, and truly did bless these people, there wasn't a chance of that happening in Orion's clear mind. He saw several black dots suddenly contrast against the shine of the planet, and he felt his gut clench at the sight.

The first transports, carrying those colonists he and the others among his slowly growing government had judged to be...non essential, as both labor, and skill. It would take a miracle to preserve them. But with well worn discipline, he stiffened his jaw, and hardened himself as he had done countless times.

"Mankind must suffer, so that Mankind may survive." The Ancient Warrior King muttered.

"What was that, Lord?" The Astrogator asked.

"Nothing. Well done Zerventus. I commend your work and your skill. Now please...leave me. I desire to...reflect."

Zerventus bowed with the aid of his spider like servo limbs, and exited the room in short order. Orion remained, gazing out upon the enormity of his civilian fleet, watching nearly half of it descending onto a barren planet.

It was upon thoughts of inevitable death that he was dwelling, when he noticed the intruder. Though he could not hear whatever it was, nor see it, nor directly smell it, Orion suspected they had entered through a vent on the aft side of the empty secondary bridge.

His guards stood outside the room, watching the entrance, but for all intents and purposes, this intruder had found him alone. It made its way across the room, from the corner, towards him at the far center. Utterly silent, but Orion could still smell it. Or rather, Orion could very distinctly smell where the intruder had been.

While the hidden thing which approached him had no smell of its own, the coolant pipes it had squeezed through, the rancid home cooking which had blown over it as it crossed through the ventilation shafts, and even the particular tang of the rust which still adhered to the tips of its fingers, all served to give it away.

Additionally, he also suspected he knew who the silent intruder represented. It reached a distance six feet behind him, at which point the Chapter Master chose to turn languidly around. Orion was unafraid of attack, no single strike could slay him while he wore his most holy and potent vestiment. What he found waiting for him confirmed his suspicions, and felt his brow crease.

No figure, man or otherwise, stood waiting for him there. Instead, upon the ground lay a sealed note, stamped in red wax. It was tied to an object via a thin, silver cord. Orion recognized it after a moment, a syringe-like device, made to imitate the corrupting organ of a Genestealer. It was partially deformed by exposure to extreme heat, but certainly still recognizable, as was the stylized "I" which adorned the red wax which had been stamped onto the note.

The Inquisition.

Never before had Orion desired an assassination attempt over the message that had been delivered in its place. He did not even need to open the note and read it to know what message it contained. The Inquisition was here, had been here, among his fleet, all along. They knew what he had done, what he had ordered the Skyward to do. And they wanted to use that information as leverage against him.

The Chapter Master grit his teeth, but showed little of it. He bent and, with precision born of master craft, he picked up the letter and syringe. A new, infinitely more dangerous player had just entered the game, and they had a hand which could wipe the table of all of Orion's machinations. But the fact that they hadn't, that they sought him as a pawn or as a partner, spoke as loudly as any implied threat of exposure.

Orion felt a fire kindle in his stomach at that, and a fierceness took his expression as he exited the room, something neither of his Guards failed to realize.

"Master, are you...well?" Asked Nellos.

Orion smiled at the man, a visage which nearly stunned the veteran, who after a brief pause, smiled in response.

"A challenge then?" Asked Nellos.

Orion nodded. His smile broadened into a toothy, predatory grin that was common on many marines, but rare for the Chapter Master. Thus far he had played the role of shepherd, though in truth he was a sheepdog by nature. And he had just caught the scent of a wolf.