Chapter 34

(21 BBY)

(POV Thrunn)

It has been a couple of weeks since I sent Durge and his companions into a sun. And now it was time to dish out some we deserved vengeance.

Since it's just been over a year and some months from the start of the war. I am certain the number of observatories Palpatine has is negligible. But I only have coordinates to two. Well I will know more soon enough.

I also have sent very capable legions of assassin droids to kill Nute Gunray and San Hill along with their cronies. While I have also assigned the rest of these detachments of droids to carry out guerrilla warfare and wreak havoc on Serenno, Scipio, Cato Neimoidia. Their memory cores will not have data on who made them, or where they originated from. They will activate when cargo containers carting them reach their destination. They will only have their command structure, along with mission objectives and parameters, as well as all available intel till date. They will even take control of other droids and droid manufacture facilities to prolong the engagement. They are only meant to do one thing, cause Chaos.

Meanwhile, I am currently on Coruscant. And I am on my way to the LiMerge building, or Palpatine's bat cave. This is a large-scale operation. I have a few legions of 19STs and all active squads of the Ghosts deployed. Which currently stands at six squads, including mine and Omega squad. Most of the droids and will sweep down from the top floors of the building, all the while planting viruses on servers and systems and other snooping bugs throughout the base. While the other squads will move in from different tunnel entrances across the senate district. I ordered them to take it slow and carefully. Stealth is the priority here. Oh, and another key component of the mission was T7 and his cadre of protocol droids and micro probe droids. They had a more poisonous task.

My squad is heading for the tunnels in the lower levels of the 500 Republica district. There was a detailed layout of the tunnel system among the data we got from Mustafar. We are moving under full stealth protocols and are only using internal coms sparingly.

We reach the elevator leading to the tunnel. If my guess is right there should be Geonosians protecting the tunnel. "Squad listen up. Have thermals running. We don't want to be blindsided. I have reports of Geonosians in these tunnels. Also watch out for sensors and traps" I said in a hushed voice as I turn to my squad. I received silent nods in affirmation. Then we move into the elevator. It's a short ride down.

What awaits is a cavernous hall. My squad slowly spreads out as we move towards the tunnel entrance at the far end of the hall. Moving slowly scanning each angle for a possible ambush or traps. We picked up thermal signatures all over the roof of the hall. Geonosians, some even flew down to check why the lift door opened on its own. After checking about for a while, the return to their burrow in the roof.

When we reach the tunnel entrance, I spot motion sensors on the walls and floors. I immediately signaled my team to hold. This time Subail slowly moved up to disarm the sensors. It was a tense few minutes as we were still picking up movement of hostiles from above. But we were moving again soon enough.

The tunnels were a maze. Lucky for us we had obtained the layout or we would be walking around blindly. There were scores of traps, sensors and sentry turrets along the way. We made slow but steady progress. Eventually reaching the lower floors of the LiMerge building. We slowly make our way into the building. As we reach the first hall with the elevator leading up, I hear rustling coming from the side. I called out in a low voice "Thunder", within seconds came the response "Flash". Soon a blue outline of the stealthed Ghost squad appears from behind cover.

"Give me a report Omega-1" I said to the lead of Omega Squad.

"Sir, all squads have reached the building. Minor injuries, a few scrapes and bruises. All made it without being detected. I stayed behind for you squad to arrive, while all the others have already moved in" He said.

"Good, Let's join in shall we" I said to both him and my squad as I moved towards the lift.

"Can't let the rest of them hog all the fun just because we went the longer route" said Doth as he started following me.

The path had been cleared mostly by the previous squads. So, we made good time. We soon approached a large hall with multiple exits. I could spot IFFs of all the other squads and some 19STs on my HUD, they had spread out around the hall, encircling it. In the center were atleast 30 shadow troopers. Palpatine's little assassination squad.

"This is Reaper-1 to all Ghost squads. Pick your targets and take out these hostiles on my mark" I ordered through internal coms in a low voice. While my troops got in position, both me and Subail had moved in and taken down to guards near our entry point, silently using the hidden blades. As my troops locked on to targets small notations appeared over their head. As soon as we all had targets locked in, I initiated the engagement by taking down two nearby unmarked targets. Soon blaster bolts were raining down on the unprepared shadow troopers, all of whom were annihilated within minutes.

I ordered all but the droid troops to move through the three passages. Two squads for each. The droids would remain back to scan all the shadow trooper weapons and armor, their biometric scans and gather anything of use in the chamber which acted as their barracks.

We ran into only few organic guards, most of the base had automated defenses. We made slow but easy work of them. Once we had the whole base sanitized, it was looting time. While the other teams datamined the servers and other data caches, we went for the vault. It could only be opened using the force. Or as I was about to do it, cutting the whole door off along with the wall. All you needed was a set of heavy-duty breaching charges, and you can create your own entrance of any shape and size. Once the door comes collapsing down, we move into the vault. It not only had Sith artifacts but crates full of credits, rare metals including beskar and separate hidden server. I had the others move the loot, while I got to slicing into the separate data a cache. It was a gold mine of information, ranging from secret base location to accumulated research data on weapons and ships to different branches of biological research. The egg heads will love these, and I can strike the hidden observatories right away. I had forces on standby already, all they needed was coordinates.

Once everything that can be looted was taken, we made our way to the disused large hangar on the upper levels of the building. Ofcourse we didn't forget to plant enough explosives to blow this place up, while also leaving behind clues that this is a Sith hideout. There were three YV-929s waiting for us. Once all the goods were loaded the rest of the teams started their journey home, while my squad went for the Scimitar hidden on level 1313. By now T7 would have made it back, and his droid buddies would have dispersed throughout the area. Once we got the ship, we too made our way back. When we reached space, I transmitted the coordinates of the secret bases to the strike groups waiting in the dark. They will destroy and loot those bases. I say bases but there were only five. Palpatine had not yet set the other scores of hidden bases, he would during his reign as Emperor. Shortly I will have an Imperialis luxury corvette for my personal use, ofcourse after some personalized modifications ofcourse.

(POV T7)

I am on my way to do a special mission for my master. He placed two protocol droids working for us under my command and some od his latest micro probe droids. The protocol droids are working within the Galactic Senate building. They are just a fraction of the vast network of droids loyal to master.

At present I am on my way to an access port within the senate droid maintenance room. Why these organics leave such access ports around everywhere, I will never understand. I could slice into the Senate buildings networks from there and coordinated the mission.

"Where are you going little guy?" asked a clone organic guarding the doorway.

*I am heading for regular maintenance. There are a lot of glitches in my navigational program after a recent update* I said to him.

"Very well, go ahead. Can't have you crashing our ships" said the clone with extreme disinterest, stepping out of my way after his superior said something through their internal coms. Stupid Organic.

I make my way to the hidden access port and slice into it. It was astonishingly easy, especially with all the upgrades master gave me. Time to commence the operation.

Task one, was to alter shipment and delivery manifests. The protocol droids will handle the rest. A few minutes of sifting through data of all the junk these corrupt organic leaders buy, redirecting a few things master will find useful, doctoring and forging new shipment and delivery schedules and manifest and that task is complete.

Task two, providing access to the scores of micro probe droids. They will infiltrate and integrate into the office rooms of many important senate officials. They will not only provide eyes and ears, but also act as an easy way to slice their computer systems when needed.

Task three, reprogram and add all the droids currently in the maintenance center. They will be added to the already vast network under my master. There will also be a trojan software installed to carry on doing this for the foreseeable future.

Everything took almost an hour to do meticulously. With all my assigned tasks done, it's time for me to return. The organics suspect nothing. Of course, they don't. I am the greatest astromech there is.

(Chancellor's office)

It has been a good month; my plans are panning out. The war wages on, as the people���s resentment towards the republic and especially the Jedi grow. And all the while I am seen as the Hero trying to hold the republic together.

The misguided peace talks have broken down due to the untimely assassination of Mina Bonteri and her family. Now the bill to increase clone production will be passed in the next senate meeting.

*Sip* nothing like good Alderaanian wine, to enjoy your victories *Sip*. I will have to thank that bootlicking Lott Dod, he was considerate enough to gift me a few bottles of this exquisite wine.

Another positive thing I have to look forward to is Anakin. Assassinating his mother and his former master on Naboo was a good move. He now craves power to protect the people he cares for most. This will lead him to the dark side. Although trying to push the remnants of the Mandalorians to fight against the republic, failed. According to Anakin, Nomad didn't even fight the Gen'Dai and his cohort. He just tossed them into the sun. He would have been an excellent underling, too bad for his principles. *Sip* I will properly deal with them later.

*Sip* ... why is the force giving me danger signals *Sip*

Something is terribly wrong. It can't be… *cough*…*COUGH* …. (falls down bleeding from his eyes and nose, profusely coughing up blood)

"Chancellor I have the rep…." Mas Amedda walks in to see Palpatine face down on the floor convulsing. He rushes over "CHANCELLOR…CHANCELLOR! …GUARDS… GUARDS! CALL THE MEDICS …. CALL AN AIR AMBULANCE, NOW!" and starts shouting in panic while calling for the guards….

Soon the chancellor is rushed off to the nearest hospital.

(Time skip- 1 week)

(GNN NEWS)

"This is Gina Parker for GNN NEWS. Now a recap on the main headlines of this week.

It has been a troubling week for the republic. First a large explosion that destroyed a few levels of the LiMerge building. Some of our sources hint at the explosions being a separatist base hidden within the building. Yes, you heard right. It was a separatist base. The mishap occurred while some of our shadow forces engaged them, to dismantle the base. Somehow the stockpiled ammunitions exploded during the firefight causing a chain explosion, killing many of our brave soldiers as well.

Further troubling news came in from an unknown source, which we were able to verify. There was an assassination attempt against our glorious chancellor. Reports state that he is still recovering. What condition he is in is still unclear. All the officials stated was that he will make a full recovery in time. How they were able to reach the chancellor and who was behind it is still a mystery. But verifiable sources claim it was an attempt by the separatists to weaken us, although the separatist council keeps denying it. For now, Vice Chancellor Mas Amedda is carrying out the duties of the chancellor.

Chaos reigns as conflict spreads across Serenno, Scipio and Cato Neimoidia. According to sources it is the droids that are waging war against their own masters. It has been nothing but utter chaos and death. We were also able to conform the deaths of two prominent members of the Separatist council Nute Gunray and San Hill, when the violence started. But things will soon return to normal as our sources were able to confirms major separatist forces are being deployed to quell the descent.

But all is not bleak. Even with the head of state out of action the men and women of GAR fight on tirelessly. There has been another set of major victories for the Republic forces aided by many contracted mercenary fleets, like the Mandalorian Ghost Fleet. For those viewers who don't know what this fleet is, it is an Enigma. After the disappearance of the Mandalorian Sector, all Mandalorians in the galaxy have congregated to this highly armed fleet, under the command of the Ghost of Mandalore himself, the ever-elusive Nomad. They had just previously liberated the Ryloth system from occupation. They are among the many unsung heroes of this war. Staying in the shadows, fighting the good fight.

Now transferring over to..."