Emotion yet Peace; Peace is a Lie, There is only Passion(4)

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 assigned 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 a 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 pleasure. Did you really fight that monster Grievous to a 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 cyborg's 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 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 a 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 curiosity 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 buttons 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 a simple fact that the Republic has a better army and the Separatist possesses 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 – which I certainly wasn't.

Little did I know how my last words would come back to bite me in the ass.

"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 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 a 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 assigned 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 – so he could determine if he could be an asset 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 a 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 assault 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 an 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.