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 – 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.

Smoke grenades rolled around the corned towards the killing field and detonated, concealing their end of the corridor. Bo nodded and two of her men went low and immediately launched their missiles. One was unlucky and received multiple E-Web rounds to the helmet – more than enough firepower to remove his head. His buddy however managed to duck out just in time.

The bastards were canny – 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 – 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 cockpit. 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 – there was only one cruiser outside and it was circling around the other side of the station – 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 whined 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.

The remaining seconds stretched into eternity. The missiles were coming closer and closer with every beat of her racing heart. The closest one was going to hit just about… Denni pulled the level and for a brief moment she saw the optical illusion of the stars stretching away and then they were safe.

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 – 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.

As it turned out, her dear husband had a similar idea. Bo and her comrade met him close to the storage compartment she planned to search. When she saw him, the Mandalorian woman halted her sprint. Delkatar was carrying over his shoulder what appeared to be a well cooked corpse.

"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 barely 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 – 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 – 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 – 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 – 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 assistant 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 – 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 groaned. 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 buttons 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 – a net minus. A Mandalore – that's good. Making the Jedi look like blithering idiots – 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 – 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 groaned.

"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 – 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 – 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 assassination 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 desires 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 – 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 – 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 – the other Sith was apprehensive, almost scared. Furious too. What Palpatine knew for sure—the 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 – 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 – 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 ass 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 – 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 – Jerrod might hear about it and decide to come "help" get us all killed.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing – 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 – 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 desire 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 – 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 – 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 desires 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 – 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 groaned. "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 – 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 assets 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 – 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 – 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.