A Young Girl’s War Between the Stars
88
Serenno. 35 BBY/965 GSC.
Asajj shifted against my side, twitching as her breathing evened out and I felt her fall asleep. Reaching down, I idly ran my fingers through her hair as Master Dooku sat in quiet contemplation across from —Allaya in much the sa position against him as Asajj was with , except the redhead had drifted off to sleep several minutes ago. Jenza, sitting to my right in her own overstuffed leather chair, frowned.
“A working ti machine,” she murmured. Looking to her brother, she asked, “And these sorts of things are just sitting around, forgotten by the Jedi for potentially thousands of years?”
Master Dooku nodded. “Yes. Unfortunately, such is the state of the Order, that they have lost track of many such ancient artifacts, super weapons, or technologies lost to the wider universe. This sort of rediscovery isn’t even all that uncommon. It tends to happen infrequently, once every few years—perhaps a decade or two at most between such things being uncovered and either destroyed or lost again. It probably happens much more frequently, but the Jedi who stumble upon them are not so lucky as Tanya and end up losing their lives before they can report their findings.”
“But ti travel? Really Dooku? You’re telling that’s not that uncommon?” the woman asked skeptically.
“Yes.” Humming, his face grew contemplative for a mont before he said, “There was an incident, not that long ago. It was kept silent, of course—with only the High Council receiving the report. Master Windu ca into contact with just such an artifact, in a temple that was only there because he ca into contact with said artifact and altered the past by winning a battle and saving the side who would then go on to build the temple in his honor. The artifact was removed from the temple and hidden away to prevent any future incidents.”
Shaking her head with an incredulous expression, Jenza sighed. “Utter insanity. Well, at least it was destroyed and there’s no risk of soone abusing it in the future.” I winced and Jenza sent a frown my way. “You did destroy it?”
“Oh yes,” I confird. “There was nothing left of the temple but a crater. However, my understanding is that the temple there was just a gateway guarded by a very simple lock that any Force user could figure out, given enough ti. The actual thod of travel, the World Between Worlds, is still out there and likely accessible so other way. I only destroyed the entrance we’re aware of. It’s possible that there could be hundreds more.”
“Well, that’s reassuring,” the older woman grumbled sarcastically. Taking a breath, she let it out in an explosive huff, before turning a smile on . “What are you going to do about this? You have no need for a disguise now and if you intend to use it again later, you should probably change back. You can’t go around in full armor to hide the changes forever.”
“No, but I can do it long enough to do what I need to,” I shook my head. “I’m going to send word back to Mandalore and let it leak out that I’m taking a five year sabbatical in order to train my students. We’ll be out in the wilds for the most part, with the occasional visit back when you’re back from business,” I nodded to Master Dooku. “After a year, I’ll hand Allaya off to you and make my way to Coruscant, then from there to Anaxes with Asajj for however long it takes to blitz through their academy. When I’m finished, then I’ll undo the treatnt. Are you aware of anything pressing you’ll need for before we set out?”
“Nothing that cannot be handled by soone else,” Master Dooku shook his head.
“Good.” I eased Asajj up and stood, hefting the girl in my arms as she sleepily clung to . “I’m going to turn in a bit early. The shipnt of battle droids I requested should be here in a week or so. I’ll let you and Allaya catch up until then, Master.”
“Good night,” Master Dooku sent a smile as I collected Allaya in the other arm and left. Behind , I heard him comnt to Jenza, “I’ll clear my schedule until the equipnt arrives.”
“I’m sure she’ll be happy,” Jenza chuckled.
Their voices faded as I closed the door behind us and headed for our bedrooms.
CTM-7777 sucked in a breath of fresh air as he marched down the ramp and turned around to his squad as they fell into formation, his second in command—CTF-7780—moving to stand beside him.
No, we don’t go by numbers anymore. It’s Ahab. The na may have been picked off a list, but it’s mine. Start using it.
Looking over the familiar, nearly identical faces before him, Ahab began relaying orders. “New orders have co in. There’s a transport waiting for us, to take us out for a training mission. Gather your gear and et at the transport in half an hour. Transport’s in slip thirty. Dismissed.”
With that, he returned their salutes as they fell out, then hurried to go grab his own gear. Beside him, 7780—that is, Izzy—followed along, asking, “You don’t think it was weird that we got our orders from the boss directly?”
“A bit. But we go where we’re told. That’s the job,” he shrugged, hefting his bag onto his back as Izzy did likewise.
“Mm,” she humd, nodding. Looking around, she said, “This place seems nice. Temperate. Comfortable. Lots of land…”
Ahab snorted quietly. “You’re still dreaming about that farm, huh?”
“What? A girl can’t dream?” she asked, sending him an amused look. “The boss told us to find sothing to live for, after this is all over. So that’s what I want.”
“More partial to the idea of getting a boat and sailing, myself. All that water on Kamino left an impression, I guess.”
Izzy shook her head. “Sounds lonely.”
“Maybe. But one man against the world, living by the sweat of his brow and what he can catch for himself? That sounds like living to .”
“Nope. I want a nice, peaceful quiet life sowhere away from war. A ho and a family. Get this contraceptive jerked out, have sobody fill full of kids, and have an entire squad’s worth of rugrats and a hubby to help grow potatoes or sothing. Fuck, I don’t know. Should do so research to see what cash crop we can grow to sell for profit.”
Ahab raised an eyebrow, about to ask what that ‘we’ business was about, when they were interrupted.
“Tea,” a new voice answered, drawing the pair’s attention to a blonde woman walking in their direction. Ahab raised an eyebrow, taking in the leggy blonde wearing short-shorts as an astroch droid rolled along beside her.
Izzy squinted, before a look of recognition crossed her face. “Aren’t you the boss’s—”
“chanic,” Ahab cut in, before his second could put her foot in her mouth.
The other clone smirked even as the blonde chuckled. “Yeah. I’m Cindy.”
“Sgt. Ahab,” Ahab introduced himself.
“Cpl. Izzy. So, tea?” Izzy asked.
“Right,” the blonde nodded. “The boss loves her tea. Not just any old tea though. It’s so special stuff she found sowhere a few years back. Strong stuff. Tastes amazing, like the premium caff blends, but a cup of this stuff is worth about four cups of normal caff. Always leaves buzzy after, you know? She said it’s not really safe for normies to use, but for Jedi it’s great. It’s apparently pretty easy to grow. You could grow it and have a guaranteed custor base.”
Izzy humd, nodding as she considered it. Ahab, anwhile, looked at the blonde’s apparent destination and asked, “You’re taking the transport out with us?”
Cindy nodded. “Yup. Need to talk to the boss about so things in person. We’re restricting flights in and out and it’s honestly just easier to hitch a ride with the grunts than it is to get clearance for one personal ship without Tanya calling it in directly and telling them to clear it.”
The pair of clone troopers glanced at each other briefly, before Izzy turned a bright smile on Cindy. “So~… Any idea what we’re doing? Where we’re going? Our orders said it was a training mission, but that was it.”
The chanic humd as they walked up the ramp, the clones stowing their gear as she took a seat. “I don’t know exactly, but I’ve got so guesses. I think we’re heading to an old base in a swamp right now, where Tanya’s been training her Padawans. She ordered a bunch of confiscated battle droids converted to independent operation and shipped down, and she sent for you, so the obvious assumption is getting so training in against droids.”
“Makes sense,” Ahab nodded.
“I’ve seen the kiddos. They’re cute,” Izzy grinned. “I wouldn’t mind working with them.”
Cindy blinked, before laughing. “If you think you’re going to be working with them, you’re in for a surprise.”
Another shared look between the clones and Ahab asked, “So we’re training against them? And against the droids?”
The blonde smiled. “Right… you don’t know what happened here, do you?”
“I heard there was an attempted coup and the Jedi ca with a bunch of Mandos and liberated the planet. Pirates were involved,” Izzy shrugged.
Cindy nodded. “And who do you think was on the team of Jedi sent to liberate Serenno?”
“…But she would have been what, seven?” Izzy asked, and the blonde nodded.
Frowning, Ahab asked, “What did she do?”
Leaning back in her seat, Cindy smiled. “I’ll leave that as a surprise. But if you want a hint… Ask around about the Ghost. That’ll probably give you an idea of what you’ve just gotten volunteered for.”
Further conversation was cut short by the arrival of the rest of the squad, and then they were airborne a few monts later. The flight out was relatively short and, soon enough, they were landing in what looked like an older military base. The troops gathered their things and left the ship. Ahab looked around as he stepped down off the ramp, taking a deep breath and frowning.
The air stank of dead and dying plants, stagnant water, and humidity. It felt twice as thick as the air back at the spaceport. Worse, it was hot. A sweltering, thick, clingy heat that coated the skin of his face and neck and left him feeling like he needed a shower. He was just reaching up to put on his helt when a streak of red flew in from the corner of his vision and for a few monts, the world went ass over elbows and fuzzy at the edges.
It may have been an hour later, or only a few seconds, but when things cleared up he found himself being dragged by the handle on the back of his armor as Izzy pulled him behind a duracrete barricade. He made to get up only for the woman to push him back down and shove his helt on his head. “Stay the fuck down, sarnt! We’ve got a sniper out in the jungle!”
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His second in command looked to the blonde woman, who wore an amused look and hadn’t bothered to take cover at all. “Blondie what the fuck are you doing?! Get down before they take your fucking head off!”
Cindy snorted softly, shaking her head as she moved off to the side and found a place to sit, the droid with her beeping. “The girls aren’t going to shoot . I’m not part of the exercise. Besides, he’s the one who wasn’t wearing his helt,” she nodded to Ahab.
“She’s right,” a voice called from above, drawing the group’s attention to the familiar armored form of the Mandalore, silently floating above them without the aid of a jetpack. She lowered herself down, landing in the middle of the group. “The exercise is on pause, for now.”
The n hesitated, before they stood and ford up, coming to attention. She returned the salute, ordering, “At ease,” before making her way over to Ahab. “Bucket off, soldier. Let see the damage. Head injuries aren’t anything to screw around with.”
“Ma’am,” Ahab nodded, reaching up and pulling his helt off.
The woman reached up, her gloved fingers lightly touching his face and head, running through his short hair for a mont as she felt for injuries. Ahab felt sothing as a soft light glowed for a mont. The dizzy feeling he’d had passed and the pain faded to little more than a bruise.
“Na and rank,” she demanded, placing her hands behind her back.
“Sgt. Ahab.”
“Mm. Well, congratulations sergeant, on becoming the first loss of the exercise. And what have we learned from this?” she asked, turning away and moving to the front of the group.
Ahab considered for a mont before answering, “Keep our helts on. …And expect an ambush at any mont, even if we’re in what should be a secure facility.”
“Good answer,” the Mandalore agreed as she began stalking slowly up and down the line of soldiers. “For the next three months, you will be engaged in a prolonged training exercise with myself and my Padawans. Every two weeks, we will move to a new location on Serenno to give you practical experience in a new environnt. Jungle, forest, desert, polar, plain, and city. For the first week, you will be acting as one of three opposing forces in the area—yourselves, my Padawans, and a group of current model battle droids. Your goal is to survive and, if possible, eliminate one or both opposing groups as both will be attempting to assault your position. The second week, you will work with my Padawans against the enemy droids, attacking their position while they defend.
“You have all been issued rifles with a low power training mode. If you’re hit, you are dead for the rest of the day and night. At 0800 each day, ‘kills’ will be reset for all sides as though reinforcents have arrived. Attacks can co at any ti, day or night. You are encouraged to use the environnt to your advantage. Make camouflage, create defensible positions, make traps—whatever you think will work.”
She paused, looking over them for a mont before adding, “At the end of this three months, my Padawans and I will leave and you will begin training other groups of troops in the sa tactics—who will then go on to train others, and so on and so forth, until you’re all ready for what’s coming.”
Moving over to a crate that had been unloaded from the ship that brought them, she opened it up and pulled out a piece of equipnt, which she affixed to her left arm. A mont later, she had an energy shield deployed that covered most of her body, before shutting it off. Opening another crate, she removed what looked like a vibro-blade on a mount of so kind, before affixing it to the end of her blaster. Opening a third crate, she removed a short barreled blaster of so sort, before feeding in a magazine—what Ahab recognized as an actual physical projectile weapon, a genuine slug thrower. Finally, she opened the last one and pulled out a folded down piece of tal that, when unfolded, revealed so sort of short-handled shovel with a blade on one side and a saw on the other.
“You’ve been issued so new equipnt to test as well. Energy shields, because droids like using massed fire tactics. We’re hoping that basic shield wall tactics can counter that and allow you to close range. Vibro-blade bayonets, for once you get close. Slug thrower short barreled shotguns. Expect that your ammo supply for these will be limited. They’re for dealing with Jedi and other threats using the Force, not for droids. And finally for personal equipnt, beskar coated vibro-blade e-tools.”
Turning, she pointed to the end of the field, where several squat, narrow, wheeled vehicles were parked along with a small group of bipedal walkers. So of the walkers were small, light looking things with rapid fire blaster cannons and seating for two while others were much larger and more heavily ard. There were crates beside the vehicles, but Ahab couldn’t read the labels from where he stood. “You’ll also be training with and testing so new equipnt. Light wheeled vehicles and prototype walkers.”
Putting the new gear back in the crates, the woman asked, “Any questions?”
“Rules of engagent?” Ahab asked.
“Don’t kill my Padawans and try not to wreck the droids. You can destroy them, but I’d prefer it if you left them as intact as possible. I’m willing to write off any damage as an expected result of training and have them replaced, but keep in mind that we have a limited supply, and the longer you’re able to keep them up and running to train against, the better prepared you’ll be.”
“Understood, ma’am. When do we start?”
She considered for a mont, armored head tilting slightly to the side, before answering. He could hear a smile in her voice. “I’ll give you two hours to prepare, to make it fair. Dismissed.”
Sothing about that triggered sothing in Ahab’s lizard brain. He imdiately began shouting orders. “Get your gear stowed, set up defensive positions, and establish a periter! Triple-ti, people!”
“Sarnt, she said—” one of the n began to protest, but the corporal cut him off.
“Move it, soldier! Sarnt said triple ti it! Assu we’ve got ten minutes! Go, go, go!” Izzy yelled, before rushing to comply as well.
Quietly, Ahab heard the Zeltron woman chuckle. “Good instincts. Keep listening to them and you might just live through this,” she murmured, moving away to speak with the blonde chanic.
Hyperspace. En route to Coruscant. 35 BBY/965 GSC.
Sheev seethed as he paced back and forth in his quarters on an ergency flight back to Coruscant. Passing his desk, he glared at the holo projection hovering above it, displaying a list of nas beside familiar faces. So ‘friends’ of the senator from Naboo, others bitter rivals, or enemies. But all of them useful to the cause in their own way—parts that made up the web of connections he and his Master had spun. And now, that neat web, so ticulously crafted and nurtured over the years, had been blasted full of holes!
The death toll from the attack on the Senate was staggering. Worse than that was the loss of resources, contacts, knowledge, favors, blackmail. People who had been there for decades, so for more than a century. People who had been so deep in debt to himself or Hego, one of their proxies, or soone who themselves owed them a debt that they would never see the light of day. New up and cors, carefully selected for their willingness to obey, to further their agenda and not ask questions. All gone.
Dead.
Dead at the hands of an unknown Sith. An impostor, perhaps—though he doubted it. Not with this sort of kill count. An usurper was far more likely. Or perhaps a remnant of so long lost cult of Sith. Perhaps even so old monster, awakened from its slumber—one dating back thousands of years to the ti of the Old Republic. Those were rare, but not unheard of. It seed so relic popped up once every few hundred years or so. Not long enough to take over, but frequently enough to remind the galaxy that they were still a threat.
They knew that was always a possibility, of course. The Republic of this era was corrupt and weak, and the Jedi mirrored them. They had supped on the fruits of peace for too long without knowing true conflict, and so had grown fat, lazy, and worst of all complacent. It was the most opportune ti to strike and potentially deal a fatal blow, in the last thousand years. If there were others out there who followed the teachings of the Sith, it only made sense that the current state of the Republic and the Jedi would be too good an opportunity to pass up.
He had dismissed them as any sort of real threat, however. The very few credible threats he caught wind of, he sent Maul out to investigate and remove. Those had all been eliminated. The last one to co to his attention was the Sith, or perhaps fallen Jedi, that young Tanya reel had encountered, when he set events in motion to see a dark holocron falling into her hands. That one, he had left alone, for the mont. After all, he knew of Knight reel’s bloodlust, had felt it himself and seen how it drove her—there was no circumstance under which she was attacked and just let it go. No, he fully expected her to track down the attacker and kill them, and perhaps further embrace the dark side as she did.
Except…
This seed targeted. Directed at them, specifically. As though their enemy knew of his and his Master’s existence and sought to disrupt their plans. Perhaps this enemy Sith didn’t want the competition. Or perhaps she sought to use the chaos to flush out Darth Plagueis and Darth Sidious, reveal them to the galaxy at large and the Jedi in particular, then step in when the Jedi eventually ca for them. Or it could be that their mystery Sith simply wanted to tweak their noses and laugh, while enjoying the chaos.
The reasons why didn’t matter, only the act and the outco.
The other Sith had killed their allies. Those deaths dealt a huge blow to his and his Master’s soft power. They weren’t entirely powerless, but at the mont their political influence was much reduced and things were in flux, until things settled down and they could begin rebuilding.
So regardless of why the Sith had done it, their actions marked them as an enemy.
It was a mistake to let this one roam free, he finally decided.
He knew she had inford the Jedi about this potential Sith and they would have begun investigating. They weren’t as competent as they once were, but they had resources that rivaled or surpassed his own. If the Jedi Order and Knight reel had been unable to locate her, then that wasn’t for lack of trying. If they had failed with their resources and Tanya’s vested interest in finding the attacker for her own personal retribution, then it was very likely that they simply lacked the proper tools—that is, the dark side of the Force.
He paced a bit more before making the decision to send Maul after this interloper. But if he was going to do that, then he needed to know everything the Order did about them. That information would likely be impossible for Tanya to acquire, given how she and Dooku had left the Order, but that was fine—he had other contacts within the Order to tap for that information.
But that didn’t an he shouldn’t call her. No, given everything going on surrounding her, Dooku, the Jedi, and the newly ford Confederacy… if anything, this was the best ti to call her. Grandfatherly Sheev Palpatine could lend an ear to her troubles with being forced to leave the Order and encourage her to continue, perhaps even explore new avenues of power within the Force, now that the rules of the Order were no longer holding her back…
And if Maul found the interloper, if he could capture her… Well. Every Sith apprentice needed soone to practice on. To learn the subtle art of inflicting pain, and grow to appreciate it, to savor it like the bouquet of a fine wine.
Moving over to the desk, he placed the call and waited for it to connect. For a few monts, he wondered if she would pick up as he waited. Until eventually, the call connected to the sounds of blaster fire. In the projected video, he caught sight of Tanya running through trees, blaster bolts streaking around her as she returned fire blindly behind herself. There was a rush of movent and noise as she apparently dropped into a slide, then the image settled as she pressed her back into what looked like a boulder.
When the image stopped moving, Tanya turned her focus to the video. She eyed him for a mont, before smiling. “Sheev? I heard about the attack on the Senate. I was worried you had been caught up in that. It’s good to see you made it out unscathed.”
“Thank you, Tanya,” he returned the smile with one of his own and a nod. “Luckily, I was away on business on Naboo at the ti of the attack.” Whether by luck, the will of the Force, or because the attacker planned it that way, he wasn’t quite sure.
“Sorry to hear about what happened. I would have called, but between my new duties and training my Padawans, I’ve been too busy to find the ti to do much of anything,” she apologized, and he waved her off.
“Think nothing of it. No harm done,” Sheev said.
He started to say more, but sudden blaster fire cut him off, followed by movent on Tanya’s end. This ti, the movent kept going for several minutes, scenery whipping by at a speed that turned everything into a blur that had him looking away from the hologram until it settled.
“My apologies. We’re in the middle of a training exercise.”
Sheev chuckled, nodding. “So I see. Then I won’t keep you too long. I am worried about this person who attacked the Senate. That makes twice now they’ve acted publicly. It seems they’re the sort who prefers to act in front of an audience. There’s no telling where they may strike next, but it’s bound to put innocent lives in danger. Have you made any progress in tracking them down?”
Tanya shook her head. “No, I’m afraid not. The trail went cold after Nar Shaddaa, before she abruptly resurfaced in the Senate Chamber.”
Sheev sighed. “I see,” he murmured. “Perhaps, if we pool our resources, we can bring them to justice. If you could send whatever information you do have, my contacts may be able to find sothing. And surely the Jedi Order knows more, yes?”
The woman frowned at that. “I wouldn’t know. Once this training exercise is done, I’ll send you what I have. Unfortunately, I no longer have access to the resources of the Order. I have so contacts within the Temple still, but I doubt they have the clearance to get what I need.”
“Why is that?” Sheev asked, internally suppressing his desire to smirk.
“We had a… falling out over this matter between the Republic, the treatnt of everyone outside of the Core, and the formation of the CIS and my and Master Dooku’s places within it.” Hesitating for a mont, she glanced at the hologram briefly before turning her attention outwards again. “There was an altercation. Master Pong Krell threatened my Padawans and an uninvolved civilian to draw my attention. …Well, he got it. I killed him for it. I parted ways with the Order then and there. I can’t be part of a group whose mbers think that targeting my charges is acceptable or who would make excuses for that behavior. Given their handling of Mundi, I fully expect that if I had stayed, I would have been brought before the High Council and censured for my handling of the matter while they would have likely tried to keep Krell’s actions quiet.”
Taking a breath, she let it out in huff. “Everything I worked for within the Order wasted, because of the actions of two n. And it was allowed to happen because the Jedi have grown lax and corrupt. It’s… disgusting.”
Sheev could hear the anger and frustration in her tone. Internally, he wanted to laugh. Externally, he put on his best consoling expression, nodding gravely. “I’m sorry that happened. It is a true sha, how an organization that has survived for millennia has begun to rot from the inside. A great tree withering and dying, as it threatens to fall and take out everything around it, perhaps even spreading its illness when it goes. It’s a true sha. But there is a silver lining.”
The woman raised an eyebrow, before looking away again, then moving quickly for a few monts. When she settled back down, in what looked like the branches of a tree, she asked, “What’s that?”
“Your connection to the Force remains. You’ve lost none of the skills or power you gained. If anything, without the rules of the Order to hold you back, you are free to find your own path, are you not?” he sent her a smile. “If they were this wrong about Master Mundi and Master Krell, what else were they wrong about? How long has this rot gone unnoticed as it infected the Order? Perhaps… Could it be that they forbid study of the dark side of the Force, or labeled certain knowledge as ‘dark’ in order to prevent anyone from growing too strong—from growing beyond their ability to control?”
Sheev smiled, shaking his head. “Who can say for certain? Certainly not I. But you are a Knight, even if the Order no longer acknowledges it. Yours is the only judgnt you should trust, when it cos to what you should and shouldn’t study, don’t you think?”
The Zeltron girl frowned, but nodded once. “Perhaps you’re right,” she murmured. Shaking her head, she shifted the holocom to look at it. “Thank you for the advice, Sheev. I’ll send what I have on the attacker when I’m finished here. And good luck with the Senate.”
“Oh, it’s no trouble at all. Just the idle musings of an old man,” he chuckled. “As for the Senate, I’m afraid it’s going to take a bit more than luck. We, those of us who are left, are going to put forth a vote of ‘no confidence’ and try to replace the current Supre Chancellor. Then, it’s going to take a lot of hard work to get back up to speed. Thank you, though. It’s always nice to speak with a like-minded individual.”
They said their goodbyes and Sidious disconnected the call. The laugh he’d wanted to make escaped. The girl was sure to embrace the dark side soon, and when she did, he would take her under his wing. Perhaps Maul would have served his purpose, by the ti she was ready to take his place.
Shaking his head, Sidious took a breath and got to work placing calls to the senators he knew were still alive. He had a lot of work to do, if he wanted to ensure his na was entered for the vote for the next Supre Chancellor. Losing his allies was a minor setback, in the long run, if he could use this as an opportunity to seize power. Rebuilding a network of politicians all bound to him by debts and blackmail would take ti and work, but it could be done. Seizing the Chancellor’s seat… well, the opportunity may not co around again for several years.
Supre Chancellor Palpatine. I like the sound of that…
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