Disclaimer-I do not own Naruto or Star Wars, or any other game or manga, which I used while writing this...unfortunately.
Note: found a good cover image for my fic, all rights reserved.
Time and Space.
Chapter I.
He looked at the pitiful condition that Darth Thanaton was in. His enemy, standing in his knees and choking on his blood, prostrated himself before him.
He looked back, at the times when he didn't know about him belonging to a bloodline of Kalligs. Before the time, he became a fully-fledged sith. Before the time he became a slave to said sith. To the times when he was a slave in all but name, to the times, when he was known as Naruto Uzumaki.
Demon Brat of Konoha.
Slave hunters had taken him right after his fight with Sasuke, he was too powerless to fight back and they decided to be as sure as possible, when they took the new slave, a lot of sedative had done its work. He was send to some kind of facility, where he was taught the basics of the Force manipulation.
Several years later he was sent to the Empire's Sith Academy. Through rigorous and dangerous training, he became what he was today, Lord Kalig, Sith Inquisitor, who had never been bested in battle. Clad in his heavy armor, with orange lining and marks of the Sith Empire on his pauldrons he looked really impressive.
To finish his terror-inspiring look, he wore the respirator mask that covered the lower half of his face, this and the fact that during one of his fights the sclera of his eyes turned from white to red, he was one hell of a scary dude.
During his rise he acquired allies, like Khem Val or Ashara, but also he acquired the restless and dangerous enemy.
Darth Thanaton.
He never knew why the elder sith tried to kill him. Maybe it was jealousy, maybe it was some sort of fear, that he will take his seat of power. Well, all his fears turned into reality. He was standing before kneeling Thanaton with his lightsaber staff in hand, ready to finish him.
Thanaton slowly rose to his feet.
"No… I won't be defeated. I can't be." He raised his hands and summoned lightning to attack Lord Kallig.
He effortlessly slapped it aside.
Thanaton raised his hands and doubled the powers, sending another bolt of lightning in Kallig's direction.
Same result.
Thanaton cried out in anger. He summoned all his rage, willpower and remains of his Force to extinguish his opponent. Waves of lightning crushed into the dark form of Lord Kalig and he raised his hands trying to protect himself.
Whirlwind of dark energy slowly appeared in the center of Dark Council's chambers, causing the parts of ceiling, walls, floor and statues all around them, dance in the light show of death and dark force.
Two glowing orbs appeared in the black mist and lightning caused by the attack of Thanaton. Moment later every reminder of attack disappeared, except maybe the rubble that fell on the floor, as Kallig, with his eyes glowing and four force ghosts behind his back, stepped forward.
Seething in anger Thanaton once again summoned lightning, but the Force Push of Kallig forced him into the nearby wall, beating the air out of his lungs and invisible power gripped his neck.
Kallig released the Force Choke and Thanaton, finally free to breathe, fell to his knees.
Kallig crossed his arms on his chest, with superior look on his face, nearly inviting his opponent to strike him. Which Thanaton did, activating his lightsaber. Kallig lazily raised his arm and the red lightsaber stopped meters away from him, as did Thanaton.
Beaten, but not broken, Thanaton wasn't going to give up so easily. He summoned all his strength and the chambers shook from the clash of enormous powers. But Thanaton was exhausted and wounded, while young Kallig seemed to have nearly endless amount of stamina and all his wounds has already healed.
While Thanaton was creating some kind of plan that would have given him an edge in this battle, young lord slowly raised his other hand, several seconds later, Thanaton fell to his hands and knees, too week to continue the battle with the Lord Kallig.
But he was to stubborn to die just like this. His eyes glowed with power and suddenly he raised his head.
Only to receive a powerful Sith Lightning right into it.
For a while, his world turned black. When he returned to his senses, he was too weak to even sit, so he tried to crawl as far away from the position of Kallig, as he managed to sense him, even without looking in right direction.
Dark Lords circled him, preventing his escape.
"I'm sorry, Thanaton." Said Darth Mortis, using the Force to put an end to his misery.
"Good riddance, if you ask me." said Darth Ravage.
"He was a better sith, that you give him credit for… Ravage." said the Darth Marr.
"Let us hope, that his successor is as worthy." nodded Darth Mortis. He walked to the one of the empty seats in the chamber and turned to the young Kallig. "My lord, your seat."
"Finally, the recognition I deserve, is there is some type of a fancy title going with it?" asked young sith stepping forward.
"He is only a lord!" said Ravage, stepping in front of Darth Mortis. "You can't put a lord on a Dark Council!"
"Quit, Ravage!" stepped in Marr. "He has earned his place." Then he turned to the young sith. "By the order of the Dark Council and in light of your reputation as a master of a Dark Side, you are now, Darth Nox!"
Young sith bowed his head, in respect. He slowly walked to his seat and took his place on it.
"You are head of the ancient knowledge." Darth Marr started to instruct him. "You are charged with keeping the mystical knowledge of the Sith and guarding the secrets of our Order. With us, you are ruler of all the Sith, answerable only to the Emperor himself."
"By the way, isn't he supposed to be here? Why isn't he here?" asked Darth Nox.
"The emperor will summon you, if and when he sees it fit." Stated Darth Mortis. "Our business here is complete; you would do well to meet with your followers at Dromund Kaas and ensure their loyalty. We will summon you the next time, when Dark Council congregates."
Dromund Kaas. Sometime later.
He sat behind the table of Darth Thanaton and thought that this office needed a lot of renovation.
From his thoughts he was returned by the voice of Khem Val. "My master, your followers have gathered to meet you, in your moment of victory."
He lazily walked behind the Khem Val and stopped on the podium, in front of the mass of people, letting Khem to introduce him.
"Behold the heir of Tulak Horde and Kalig. Bow to the Darth Nox!"
Ah… this deshade knows how to rise his ego.
He made his gaze as hard as possible and looked at the crowd. Slowly, unsurely, they knelt before him. One of his new followers dared to slowly come closer.
"My lord… we all are honored to be in your presence… what are your orders?"
"Purge this pyramid of anything and anyone Thanaton related. I don't need his supporters ar even worse, his Force Ghost, roaming around."
"The man shivered. "Nut my lord… surely we would serve you better alive…" under the hard gaze of the Sith Inquisitor he instantly shut up. "Of course… my lord."
Several minutes later, he stood in front of his companions in secluded quarters of his citadel.
"What else shall we do now, my lord?" asked Ashara. "Where will we go?"
"The Emperor is outdated, the Darth Thanaton is dead. I'm the future of the Sith and I will lead them to greatness!" said he as his eyes glowed with purple energy.
"All hail the next Emperor, all hail the Darth Nox!" claimed Khem Val.
Personal chambers of Darth Nox.
"You've done well for yourself, little snake." Said the annoying voice of Darth Andru.
Five ghosts circled him, all for the reasons of their own.
"But we are done, your enemies are defeated. Set us free." said another ghost.
"Speak for yourself, Orgast. I for once have no desire to spent the eternity bound to a coffin in the frozen lands of Hoth, alone and forgotten." Said the ghost of Horak Mul.
"Then stay here forever, I admit I have grown used to the power." Naruto evily smiled behind his respirator mask.
"Curse you! We will find our revenge we will find our free- AGH!" Lighning and dark mist surrounded the forms of the ghosts as Darth Nox consumed their energy, when he finished, nothing reminded of their presence.
"Finally! It was crowded even before they came here. Good riddance, I say."
"Kurama, please… be silent for several minutes. I will need a bit of a rest after this, and mind-talking will not count as such."
"My lord…" heard he the voice of Ashara, which came from behind. He turned and his bloodpressure nearly doubled. Seeing her wearing nothing but very sexy lingerie, which failed to hide her beautiful figure did that to him.
This night he was to focused on making her screaming than resting after the battle.
Several months later. Republic fleet.
Hero of Tython.
A title she had never thought to receive. She was just an ordinary shy girl, when Jedi came to their world, following the Sith slavers. She, alongside many others, was taken for training to the Jedi Temple. Even if she was the eldest heir to the Hyuuga line, the Elders bargained her, for the technology never before seen.
Back then she thought that her life was over. The one she loved was reported killed in action, Sasuke was retrieved and hailed as Hero for killing him and her relationship with her family become really… shaky.
She never thought to become something that she was now. At first she just wanted to help people. To heal them. But her family's genes showed themselves, she had a great talent for offensive techniques of the Force and beat her own master in the lightsaber duel.
Thus she was sent to Tython.
Here on the ancient world, where the Je'dai order came to existence, she made a first step to her destiny. She, alongside the padawan Kira Carsen, saved the Tython from certain destruction, after saving Kira's former Master, Bela Kiwiiks, and revealing the dark secrets of her past being the "Daughter of the Emperor".
Thought Hinata admitted, that having the padawan, who was the same age as her and had a lot of sithish views on different subjects was rather… strange.
Yet it proved to be really interesting and valuable experience for both of them. She looked at the holovid, where the Republic Command stated that Darth Vitiate was dead.
And thus they started the new war.
"Jedi Master Hinata?" asked a Republic soldier, who entered the large room where she meditated. "It's time."
With Darth Nox.
He beheaded the Sith Lord in golden mask. Dread Masters proved to be powerful enemies, but the Dark Side was with him and their greatest weapon was ineffective against him. When the leader of the Dread Master, Lord Raptus, who was the last to resist him, had fallen, he placed the holovid before him and the images of the Dark Council and the New Emperor appeared before him.
It took a lot of him, to persuade the members of the Dark Council to nominate the Darh Malgus as the new Emperor. They debated for two days and finally, when he managed to persuade Marr, Mortis and Vowrawn, Lady Acina reluctantly joined their cause. Zhorrid waited to join the winning side and Darth Rictus was indifferent.
The only one, who bitched about this was Darth Ravage, sometimes Darth Nox wondered, why he was given a position equal to the minister of diplomacy.
Ravage continued to bitch even when Malgus became the Emperor, which was very unusual for him, usually in such situation he would be already licking the boots of the new Emperor, looks like even he understood that his piss-poor job on his post gave him very few points in the eyes of Malgus, who without a doubt was looking for a suitable replacement among his followers.
"Problem was dealt with." Said he looking at the images and seeing that Darth Ravage wasn't among the members of the Council. "Where is Ravage? The activity of Dread Masters was reported by him."
"Darth Ravage has betrayed us." said Darth Malgus. "He used your absence to steal one of the ancient artifacts, the Scepter of Talnus and fled to the unknown location. Imperial Intelligence is still tracking him."
Naruto scratched his chin, no matter how he looked at it, the scepter was useless for Ravage. Inspired by the example of Marka Ragnos, Talnus decided to recreate his legendary scepter, that could turn the normal person into the Force-sensitive. His theories were based on the way of gathering of the Force.
His work however was… a failure. No, in a way he achieved the success, but instead of making ordinary people Force-sensitive, scepter just gathered the Force and turning it into the energy, thus being just powerful and compact generator.
However, the release of energy from the scepter was far from safe. Truth to be told, it was very unstable and the one who used it, risked to turn into pile of ash at best.
Or into a space dust at worst.
He will need a help of his certain friend for this case.
Republic fleet. With Hinata.
Hinata hated the Republic command. Basically, because of their decisions, they got fucked by the imperials on each frontline, while commanders supported some kind of new doomsday weapons, in hopes that it will break the course of the war, instead of spending the money on something they really needed, like upgrading the ships, building the new ones, training of the new soldiers and created the better weapons and war machines for them.
Seriously, how they think she must battle the Sith? With her breasts and ass naked? Then she looked down on her breasts and concluded that this isn't a bad strategy either, at least half of the Sith will be disabled, because of the serious blood loss.
Not listening to Republic Commander, who tried to explain, how they created a very secret super weapon, only for it to once again be stolen, like all the others before it.
At least now she will deal with betrayers of the Order and not with the Sith.
She raised her hand stopped the conversation, through the deactivation of the holovid. Lost in her own thoughts she didn't notice, when Satele Shan had entered her apartment. For several long minutes they sat in awkward silence.
"You told us that this will happen." said Satele, finally deciding to speak.
"It was inevitable. When you asked me about Sasuke I told you that he shouldn't have been taken into the Order, no matter how great his potential was."
"But others from your age group decided to support him." said Satele. "We thought… that your opinion was biased."
"It is." Said Hinata. "The boy, who I loved… is dead because of him."
Satele sighed remembering her own, very complex family situation. "I will not say that I understand. At least I managed to be with the man I loved for a while… By the way, aside from the children we had taken, several adults showed great improvement in using the Force, alongside their ninja skills they will become a perfect Jedi Shadows."
"Whatever." Hinata once again turned her face away from Satele. Then suddenly she turned her head back. "Is that man, among them?"
"Hinata…"
"Is. That. Man. Among. Them?"
Satele made another heavy sigh. "Both of the men, who you greatly despise are in that group. And that woman too."
Hinata hissed. "Anything else I should know, Lady Shan?"
Sensing, how dangerous was being near Hinata now, Satele tried to change the subject, to not anger her further. "Yula will also go, alongside her apprentice, I would also like you to take your apprentice on that mission."
Now this was something good. Yula was mirialan Jedi Consular, notorious for her healing skills. They met briefly, but the friendship between them was powerful. She was glad that someone like her will cover her back.
However, when she was given the list with the names of the individuals, who will assist her on her mission… unbalance was clearly seen. Hinata sighed, perhaps, taking Scourge with herself will also be a reasonable action.
Her glance once again returned to the list. Sakura will bitch as always, Tenten will rush into the battle, Shizune will cover their backs, but Tsunade and Jiraya… these two were just very explosive mix. And of course the two who left…
Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina.
Naruto's mother and father. The woman, who gave her life, so her son could live and miraculously survived the consequences of her actions at that fateful night. And the man, who cursed him to be a weapon for the will of others, for the rest of his life.
This mission may have been doomed even before it started.
With Naruto. Aboard his personal ship.
There were several people, who Naruto respected. Among them was this very dangerous woman. And her name suited her most noticeable trait.
Lady Wrath. It truly did her justice, none of those, who faced her wrath, survived to tale the tale. Her skills with lightsaber, her manner of fighting and skills of the Force gave her the title and granted her the position of the lord Scourge.
"So… that bitch Ravage had finally decide to stop being a passive dick and became an active one?" asked she stretching her hand in direction of the Naruto.
"Yes." Answered he, pouring a glass with wine from Alderaan and levitating it into the waiting hand of Lady Wrath. "I fear that with his reckless behavior he will do something that may end with really big explosion."
"How big?"
"It will be like the whole crisis with the Vitiate again. Scepter had gathered a lot of energy and still continues to do so."
"Well… I can take Vette, Quinn and Jaesa, who will you bring to the table?"
"Khem, Ashara and Xalek. Imperial intelligence traced him till his facility. It's like a fucking fortress, so sending a large army will do us no good. But our little strike force may have a chance."
"Against Ravage? He only barks."
"And has no brains to plan something as grand as what he did. Without a doubt he has someone, who he works for."
Wrath nodded. "And he or she is your true goal. I see."
"Yes." He saluted her with a glass and with a sound of clashing glass, the agreement between two sith was reached.
With Hinata. Small Republic Armada.
Unknown to Naruto, Republic too had a great interest in the facility he was going to. Also like him, they were following traitor, but he stole one of the Republic's secret weapons and not the ancient artifact of unimaginable power.
And their way to deal with the problem was different too. They had sent a small fleet, alongside the group of the Jedi.
However, the atmosphere within the group was far from friendly. Hinata and Yula were appointed to this mission by the Satele Shan and their followers were asked to follow by them, shinobi turned Jedi were appointed by the member of the Jedi Council, who was notable to be most vocal against Kira Carsen, when her origins were revealed to the Council.
So, clashes between Minato and Hinata were ordinary among their groups. Yes, groups. Most of the former shinobi stood for their former Hokage, some were indifferent. So… when they arrived to the point of their destination, very heated argument started.
Minato wanted to start the full-scale assault, while Hinata insisted on the covert operation. They reached a conclusion after several hours. Minato will lead the assault on the front doors, while Hinata and her group will get there secretly.
Several kilometers from the facility.
Darth Nox looked at the smoke that slowly rose into the sky, in direction of facility. He narrowed his eyes. He knew that getting into the facility will be really problematic, but with the Republic forces here… he may use them as distraction, to get inside.
However… what worried him were several familiar presences that he felt in direction of the Republic forces.
"Nox!" he turned to see Wrath, who stood near the entrance of the underground tunnel, while others were already waiting inside. "You are going or what?"
"Yes, wait for me."
They entered the dark tunnel and slowly walked in the direction of facility. Force guided them, telling the right directions. Darkness never bothered the Sith, but their followers never spent so much time in it as did Darth Nox and Darth Wrath, so they used their lightsabers to light the way.
It took them twenty minutes to reach the metal walls of the underground basement of the facility red blades made of plasma pierced it and slowly cut through metal.
Sith strike team got into the basement's metal tunnels.
Warth and Nox instantly walked in one direction. They sensed the betrayer and decided to use the shortest way to reach him. The first patrol man, who stood in their way, was turned into the dust by Sith Lightning, none of the Lords even turned their heads in his way.
However, since they stopped caring about the secrecy soon they faced the large number of the troopers, waiting for them.
"Stop and prepare to be…" commander of the troopers raised his head, since the two Sith Lords, just disappeared from the place they stood on and seconds later he had found them in the air. Arms legs and blood were thrown in the different directions.
"I really like this." Said Wrath, deactivating her lightsaber. "Nothing better to get off the stress, than the mindless massacre of the enemy's soldiers."
"That and sex. You wouldn't even believe, how flexible Ashara is." Said Nox.
"Hm? Then, how about some group activity? I can ask Vette and Jaesa to join you, alongside me."
"Sounds like a challenge." Said he turning to her.
"Only if you wish to make it one." Said she moving her face closer. The arrival of their followers, however, made them step from each other.
"My lord?" raised her brow Ashara.
"Let's go." said Nox. "Ravage is awaiting us."
Coming through the waves of troopers and droids was easy, perhaps way too easy. But maybe the Jedi and a small army of Republic soldiers was a reason.
They found Darth Ravage in the large room, speaking with the man, who was very familiar to Naruto.
Sasuke Uchiha.
He felt how his blood boiled, seeing his old friend, who was the reason of his fall and life in slavery. He turned to his surprised friends and followers, who had never seen always calm and collected Sith with such a fury burning in his eyes.
Meanwhile, Darth Ravage huffed and left the room, leaving Sasuke alone and Naruto finally decided.
"Wrath, take Ashara, Xalek and Khem Val. I sense that this one is quite dangerous and quite knowledgeable. I will deal with him, while you deal with Ravage. Without a doub he will try to leave the facility, filling the space between you and himself with soldiers, who are still loyal to his cause."
"And you?" asked Lady Wrath.
"I will get to you as fast as possible, after I will deal with Sasuke."
Looking at his back as he walked away, Wrath finally decided to leave, followed by her and Nox's followers.
Several minutes later she realized that he called him by name…
Sasuke stood alone in the large room, cherishing this moment of his triumph. All was going according to his master's plan. He stole the secret teleportation device, while the other accomplice of his master, Darth Ravage, stole the ancient Sith artifact, which will be used to power device and if his master's calculations are right, it will do something that will never be expected by the Empire or Republic.
However, he sensed that his alone time was rudely interrupted.
"I know that you are here step out of darkness." Ordered he.
"I was never hiding." Said a voice as a dark mist gathered before him. A figure stepped out from it, covered by the dark cloak. "You are just to prideful and narrow-minded to notice."
"Who are…" he was forced to shut up, when an armored hand grabbed his face and with overwhelming power, threw him into the wall. The figure also released a powerful Force Push that also forced him deeper into the wall.
He forced himself out of the wall, activating his lightsaber, unstable, silver blade appeared from the blade. Nox raised his brow, under his hood.
"Judging by your blade, your lightsaber's crystal is damaged. Aren't you afraid that it will explode in your hand?" asked he.
"Who cares about something like this? All I care about…" said he taking the Juyo stance. "Is the level of my own power."
They jumped forward at the same time, Naruto's red and Sasuke's silver lightsabers crossed.
With Hinata.
Two purple lightsabers pierced the abdomen of the sith trooper. She had never expected to face the sith troopers, fighting alongside the rogue Republic troopers, at least on that facility.
She never expected for Kushina to follow her, instead of Minato, of course, she was one of those who never interfered in her and Minato's arguments, but she never expected Kushina to support her, instead of her husband.
She knew however, that something was off.
"Hinata…" ah… here it started. "Can we speak?"
"If we will not sabotage the mission with our talk." Answered Hinata.
"It's about Naruto…"
Hinata immediately stopped.
"Why?" she turned to Kushina, with her expression being cold and unreadable as possible. "You spoke with others."
"Yet none of them told me anything." said Kushina. "They evaded my questions. Minato doesn't see this. He is too into idea of persuading me to have another child."
"Already? Cannot he see what had they done to his firstborn?"
Kushina shook her head. "He is too stubborn to realize that his home and his people were at fault. So… can you tell me… everything?"
Hinata nodded. "After this mission." They passed the large doors, entering the large room and to their surprise they saw Sasuke fighting the figure in dark robe. Silver blade barely managed to block the strikes from the red one, as Sith glided around Sasuke.
Rogue Jedi jumped backwards, making a sault in the air. He smirked confidently and played with his lightsaber in his left arm. Sith on the other hand just used the moment to send a powerful Force Push in the direction of the betrayer.
Sasuke withstood it, raising his lightsaber, still holding it with one arm, however, it was what Sith Lord wished for. Lightning hit the hilt of the sword, further damaging the crystal, making the lightsaber explode in the hand of the rogue Uchiha.
He fell to his knees, screaming from the pain and clutching the remnant of his arm, trying to stop the blood from flowing. Finally, he lost the consciousness from pain and blood loss.
Sith Lord deactivated his lightsaber and hid it under his robes.
"Hero of Tython…" his voice, changed by the breathing mask, sounded raspy and threatening. "That's an honor to meet you."
Darth Nox. Very surprised Lord of the Sith.
Many months ago, he promised himself to never feel surprise. Seriously with all shit he passed through it was too troublesome.
However, in times like this he, felt himself unable to held this promise. Since the time he heard that shy, meek and kind girl, who nearly fainted whenever he was around became a fierce warrior, who defeated the Emperor of the Sith, passed a lot of time, so he managed to come to some sort of agreement with this fact.
But his mother, who stood behind her… alive… and not as Force Ghost… Now this was even more surprising.
"Hero of Tython…" greeted her Naruto. "It's an honor to meet you."
"Honor?" asked him Hinata, activating her lightsabers. "I don't expect that you will be pleased to meet someone, who got herself famous with killing your Emperor."
"Technically speaking, since the moment he decided to suck out the Life Force from entire Galaxy, including his subjects he stopped being the Emperor. Much less… my Emperor."
"Still… this doesn't mean anything. You are outclassed and outnumbered. Surrender yourself and the captive, and I promise you a fair trial." said she.
"Outnumbered? Maybe. Outclassed? Very unlikely." answered Darth Nox.
Suddenly the doors, which led to one of the corridors, exploded, with body of the Darth Ravage coming through it. Lady Wrath and the rest of the squad got inside the room.
"And here goes your advantage in numbers." Said Darth Nox. "I think that we shall take our rogue, while you will take yours and go our merry ways."
Hinata deactivated her lightsabers and placed them on her belt. "I agree, this time the confrontation will not give us anything. You are free to go."
"Foolish…" spitted blood the burned and beaten Darth Ravage. "But you are too late. That experimental teleportation device that Republic created will be powered by the ancient Sith artifact and when it will reach the meltdown it will explode."
"Teleportation device?" asked Darth Nox. "You are tinkering with a space-time continuum? Are you nuts?"
Ravage laughed. "Nearby system soon will be annihilated and while the Empire and Republic will fight each other, my Master will emerge from the darkness of the Galaxy. He will defeat both the Republic and Empire and instate his absolute rule over the Galaxy."
"Not while we still breath!" said Hinata.
Ravage just started to concentrate the Force.
"He is going to use the Force Explosion!" screamed the Darth Nox. "He will destroy us all alongside with himself. Kill him before he will destroy us!"
Everyone used every technique or weapon in their arsenal to destroy the Darth Ravage. Slowly but surely he gave his position under the assault. Then at one moment red lightsaber pierced his heart. Second later, spinning lightsaber hilt was caught by the hand of Darth Nox.
"We must hurry, take your traitor, we are returning to our respective leaders." said Darth Nox. "If we will not manage to get there in time… I fear the consequences of what will happen today."
Meanwhile in the nearby inhabited system, the bomb made from the experimental teleporter device and powered by the Sith artifact, exploded, causing the creation of the anomaly. Republic instantly blamed the Empire and Empire did otherwise. Fortunately, because of the efforts of Darth Nox and Hero of Tython the war didn't break lose, anomaly grew in size and both Empire and the Republic were interested in saving of the Galaxy, then in its destruction.
Combined efforts of the greatest scientific minds of the Empire and Republic managed to stop the further spreading of the anomaly. Both Republic and the Empire was forced to work together as did Jedi and Sith.
They built the science station near the borders of the anomaly, and the greatest leaders of Empire and Republic monitored the situation from it.
Darth Nox, clad in his armor, hidden by his robes, looked over the glowing white mass that was the anomaly. It changed form and color, seemed to move and twist, but still stayed in the borders of force field created by scientists.
Since, even with both Sith Empire and Republic financing the project, it took a great tool on their economical might, the war between two was once again postponed. Malgus wasn't a fool and even senators agreed that if they will continue the war the galaxy will be consumed by the anomaly.
To the threat of Vitiate a new threat was added.
For the first time in many thousand years, Empire of the Sith and Galactic Republic was forced to work together.
Sasuke still withstood the torture in his personal jail on Balmora, so they had no information about his and now deceased Ravage's Master. However, answer to this question came in form of the figure, clad in old robes, whose face was hidden by mandolorian mask.
He proclaimed himself to be the Darth Revan, who once again returned from the embrace of death. He stated that only his vision can save them and surprisingly a lot of Jedi and Sith, alongside the republic and Empire's commanders alongside their units joined his side.
So right now the political situation was like this: Revan Empire on one side and Alliance of Empire and Republic on the other. Both Empire and the Republic put their forces in defense against the Revanits. However, the so-called Revan ordered his forces to wait and prepare the defenses too.
He prepared his troops, upgraded war machines, built new ships, shipyards and industrial facilities. He was going to create the state that will last.
Right now both forces were in stalemate, but even the slightest spark may have started the flame of war. Nox saw one of the Emperor Revan's speeches. He claimed that he saw, how endless armadas of ship will raze the known territories of the galaxy.
He told them that Vitiate will once again, with new face, claim the galaxy for himself. And he can stop him. Fear of the Vitiate and the reputation of the Revan, alongside his, or the one, who used his reputation, charisma, brought him countless followers.
Left without supervision, he may become powerful enough to defeat both Empire and Republic.
That's why Hinata and Darth Nox stood before the holograms of the members of the Dark and Jedi Councils. None of them liked the current situation, especially Satele and Malgus, who fought each other in the first war.
"This is outstanding." Said Darth Malgus.
"This is a rare thing, but I agree with Malgus." Said Satele. "But first things first. How is the anomaly?"
"It is changing its shape." answered Naruto. "Becomes tunnel-like. I fear that it will lead somewhere… unpleasant."
"That leaves us vulnerable from the side of this anomaly." said Hinata.
"Great. We are surrounded." Said Malgus. "First Revan then this. Nox, anything is there anything good to report?" asked he.
"No, my Emperor, except for the fact that we can still close it with power of our fleets."
Malgus nodded. "Satele, we need to gather our tacticians. New plan is needed. I hope that you, Wrath, Hero of Tython and Great Healer will be enough to hold this frontline, while I and Satele will plan, how to deal with the Revan."
Everyone stopped the conversation with the personnel on station, except Darth Marr. "I want to once again congratulate you with your diplomatic victory. However, there is still those, who thinks that our alliance is nothing more than a fluke. I suggest you to be aware of the Jedi called Minato Namikaze, he seems to have some kind of personal vendetta against you. Also I will send you an agent of our intelligence, who proved herself as reliable and competent warrior. Her Name is Lana Beniko."
Lana Beniko arrived to the station 'Windblade' as it was called now, when the forming of the tunnel was finished. The research group even managed to send several droids through it and they returned safely, proving that the 'tunnel' is stable.
Nox looked at the line of operatives, who will be send to the other side of the 'tunnel'. Lana Beniko, who will be charged with commandment on this mission, since it isn't her first time dealing with that kind of shit. Under her commander were Ashara, Jaesa, Kira and Nadia.
He, Wrath, Yula and Hinata, all sent with her those were capable enough and had their outmost trust.
Four of them stood before Lana, while their apprentices were behind her.
"Lana." started the Darth Nox. "You are in charge of this mission, the greatest operative, sent to us by the Darth Marr himself. Remember, you were chosen to be our eyes on the other side of the 'tunnel'. Try to not fail or lose any of our apprentices in vain. I kill swiftly, but I can't promise the same about Hinata, Yula and Wrath."
Lana huffed. "Don't worry, I'm professional, me and girls will return as fast as possible, with as reliable information as can be find on the other side."
Lana Beniko. Very confused Sith master of espionage.
Lana never expected to found herself, alongside with her followers in Outer Rim. Yet it happened. She tortured several smugglers, killed a pirate crew and finally reached more… civilized area. And when she reached it, her greatest worries, that appeared after the first torture of prisoners, turned into terrible reality.
There was no Sith Empire.
Only Republic.
There was no Sith Order.
Only Jedi.
She sensed the Darkness and it was just a small black dot compared to the eternal light. Here Sith were defeated. Moreover… judging by the date, they were over the three thousand years in the future. Of course if she was correct in dates. At Outer Rim most of the worlds used to count the dates from the Ruuasan Reform.
Right now she wasn't sure how to tell her higher ups the information she had. She overzealously seeked the information about their period and to her own relief found a lot of differences. Darth Malgus rebelled and was killed by the members of the Second Wrath of the Emperor, Darth Thanathon served as the Dark Councilor till his demise under the hand of Jedi battlemaster.
Reven never returned like it happened on their side and Vitiate was killed completely, during the attack on Dromund Kaas. She sighed in relief: it was alternative future. However, the terrible nature of the portal was finally revealed to her.
Something like this was too dangerous to exist. Space and time itself were pierced, if it connected two different timelines and two different dimensions, who can say that the 'tunnel' cannot connect other timelines or dimensions?
They didn't need Rakatha or someone else like them here.
Lana Beniko sighed.
She will need to once again remember her writer's skills. Right now, while she will be writing a small essay with a title "Alternative future with no Sith, Lana Beniko isn't to blame" and praying that Darth Nox or Lady Wrath will be in good mood.
Windbalde. Sometime later.
Darth Nox awaited the arrival of Lady Beniko's group in the hangar. He sensed the disturbance in the Force and feared that it was caused by the death of one of the sent apprentices.
However, his worries were swayed away, when he saw all of them, alive and well, leaving the space ship, but what they brought with them wasn't what he expected actually.
"What is it? Or rather… who is it?" asked he looking at the wounded form of the young man, who laid on the bad in medical bay, where he was carried by the appretices.
"He serves the Republic. Or served, judging by the way, how the soldiers of Republic tried to kill him. He had this." said Lana Beniko, giving him a lightsaber. Nox pushed the button awith a familiar hissing sound a blue blade emerged from the hilt.
"A Jedi? Then why was he hunted by the Republic soldiers? Wait a minute… There is a Republic on the other side?"
"Well…" Lana pushed her fingers together looking the other way. "You see…"
Sometime and several broken walls later.
"So, judging by the information you had gathered this is alternative future of ours?"
"Yes, Lord Nox." Answered Lana Beniko.
"And in this alternative future there is no Sith… just the Jedi and no Empire… Jest the Republic."
"Yes, my lord."
"Do you even understand what will happen if we will let the information become public, Lana? Republic will try to do exactly the same thing to get rid of us!"
"Actually this will just destroy the Alliance, start the civil war within the Republic and leave us all at the mercy of Revanists." answered Lana.
After her words Naruto calmed down. "You have already calculated the possible outcomes? Impressive. I see now, why Darth Marr decided to rise you above others. You truly are special."
"Thank you, Lord Nox. But what shall we don with the Jedi? His wounds are severe and he lost a lot of blood."
"Relocate him to my mystic chambers. My new apprentice needs his medical treatment."
Unknown place and time.
He floated in darkness, not believing in the strange set of events that brought him to his current situation. He was just knighted, started to gain power, he was given padawan, a young reckless togruta… he feared for her… Snips is such a reckless girl, she may even try to jump into some kind of action to release her irritation. He can only hope that Rex will take care of her.
Suddenly a bright light appeared in front of him. He saw a woman and to his surprise he recognized his mother, he sensed how the Force circled around her, creating a life inside her. He was them moved by the Force in direction where it came from.
There he sensed the malicious energy, which was trying to overcome the light. Then he appeared in a place where the energy came from.
"We have failed." a large figure, clad in black robes, said in a low, raspy voice.
"Do not worry, my Master." Said a voice very familiar to him and a Jedi with a surprise recognized the young Sheev Palpatine. Suddenly the image froze, leaving only him moving.
"An interesting story." said a voice behind him. He turned to see yet another figure in dark robes. "Tell me, Chosen One, how is it, to find out that your 'father' is a Dark Lord of the Sith? But actually… do not answer. I don't want to know. I'm here to ask you another question. And on it will depend your life."
"What kind of question?" asked young Jedi.
"You understand, that Palpatine will not rest while you are either not dead or a submissive slave to his will. He wished for you to become a Sith, or rather his pocket assassin, who he can take out from his robes whenever he wishes to."
"So… what do you propose?" asked the Chosen.
"My apprentice, Xalek, successfully finished his studies under me. Recently he was christened as lord Xalek. My other apprentice, Ashara Zavros, is focused on the combining the teachings of the Dark and Light Side. That is what I'm proposing to you. Learn under me and my companion, combine the knowledge of two Orders, be neither a Sith, nor a Jedi, but both."
"Any other option?"
"You can always die in your sleep, which will certainly happen, if I will not save you." replied Sith Lord.
"Well if you are placing it like this… I agree."
"Then rise… Lord Vader."
And with loud gasp Anakin Skywalker opened his eyes.
Sometime later.
"So how are you going to heal me?" asked Anakin as he lied on the metal, medical table, with different medical equipment surrounding him.
"Your wounds were severe, even with all your tremendous Force, you weren't able to close your wounds. Even with my interference, the wounds will remind about themselves. That's why I created this special battle armor for you. Created with usage of Sith Alchemy, enchanted by the dark rituals of the Force and forged by yours truly, it will not only protect you in battle, but it will also help you regenerate your wounds. According to my calculations, it will also remove the consequences of your 'run from the Reublic. Now… if you don't mind we will start the process."
With clanging sounds parts of the armor were placed on the young warrior. Minutes later armored boots stepped on the metal floor.
Same time. The other side of the 'tunnel'. Grand army of the Republic.
Newly instated admiral Tarkin never liked the Jedi. Maybe that's why he didn't want any kind of the force-sensitive warriors on his ships. He tolerated Trachta, who as far as he knew, was sent here to oversee his actions.
His already bad mood only worsened when he was sent to secure some sort of archeological finding, instead of fighting for Republic and seizing glory and power for himself, moreover he was forced to work with a Jedi.
Oh… just how much he hated this blasted, sexy, purple-skinned, female twi'leck, who managed to find the ways into hearts of nearly everyone officer and soldier on this fucking fleet. Even Trachta wasn't as grumpy near her, and he suffered heavy wounds because of one of the Jedi scums.
It seemed that the diabolical woman managed to trick everyone… except him.
Unlike others his hatred was too great. He will wait, he will smile just like the others do and then…
"You do know that you have an habit of thinking out loudly, admiral?"
How he hated this twi'leck.
Rachi Sitra was one of the best Jedi archeologists, period. So, when they arrived to the site, where the sample of ancient technology had been found, she took an action against all kinds of unfortunate events. The archeological site started to resemble the small fortress.
Rachi Sitra knew her work. Followed by silent Trachta, she inspected every corner of the constructions, before starting to explore the ruins nearby and the tech itself.
Several days passed until she finally managed to theorize, how the tech works. Week passed before she managed to gain any kind of success.
Just like Rachi presumed, whatever they found was some kind of teleportation device. However, whenever she looked at it, she had some strange sort of déjà vu, like she had already seen something like this. After some time, she remembered where she saw it.
At the start of her career as archeologist she was greatly interested in the ancient civilization of Kwa. If she understood everything right, they had found one of the legendary Infinity Gates.
Sometime later. Command center.
"So you are saying that this thing is an ancient teleportation device that leads who-knows-where, and we don't know if we can activate it or deactivate it?"
"Well… actually I'm pretty sure that we can deactivate and activate it at will, when Kwa built them they left the very descript instructions, it was way before the rakata rose to power, so this place was abandoned later and not destroyed.
"You all understand what this means, isn't it?" asked Tarkin with a strange, dangerous glint in his eyes.
"Actually… no. What do you have in mind… sir?" carefully asked Trachta.
"This means, that until we are proven otherwise, we are now on the war operation. And all power of command transfers to me." Said Tarkin.
"What, surely you are joking! This is just a protection of the archeological site! Trachta, please say something!"
"Unfortunately, commander Rachi, Tarkus is right, Infinite Gate is a strategical object now, and therefore all command here transfers to the highest officer, who is admiral Tarkin." Sighed Trachta. He never liked the man, but he knew when to stop to reassemble his strength.
Tarkin may have won this battle, but he surely didn't win the war.
Rachi sighed, also realizing her defeat and decided to leave Tarkin to his musings, silently followed by Trachta.
Former Archeological site. Now, secret Republic base "Object 5".
After her report to the Jedi Order and the Chancellor, Tarkin was now officially stated as commander of the "Object 5", to reinforce his position, he was sent the 501st Legion and Rachi received a padawan, former apprentice of defected Jedi General Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano.
It was clearly seen that Ahsoka wasn't really happy about this assignment. However, with help of captain Rex and, surprisingly, Trachta, she managed to get the girl out of her shell, where she put herself, after the proclamation of her teacher's betrayal.
Ambitions of Tarkin grew from day to day and when a strange group of the Jedi get past all his security posts and promised their loyalty to him, he finally decided to act, persuaded by the leader of the knights, the blonde, called Minato Namikaze, he managed to use the Infinity Gates to transport the starships.
After the first success, Tarkin instantly believed into all that the leader of the knights whispered into his ears, not even caring, how the Jedi managed to find out, how the Infinity Gates work. Obsessed by his vision as him in role of the ruler of the galaxy, Tarkin's brain was an easy target for the mind tricks of the Jedi.
Namikaze smiled when he looked at the work of his hands.
Emperor Revan, his forefather and Master will be pleased with his work.
Meanwhile, Tarkin started to build the base on the other side of the gates. He slowly gathered the information about this unknown star system where the gates were. The captured planet after planet and set the small bases on them, until Tarkin finally haven't found the colony filled with the sapient creatures.
To his surprise they were humans.
Here Tarkin finally managed to find the answers to a lot of questions. They were in the Sarabarik System as locals called it, it was part of the Terminus systems, where pirates, slavers and mercenaries ruled supreme.
Technically of course, in reality all of them answered to the high standing officials from the Citadel Space, where lived the "civilized" society. Of course there were such players like Systems' Alliance and Batarian Hegemony, with first trying to become the member of the Citadel Council, and the other one, being the main provider of the slavers in this galaxy.
Tarkin never liked when the humans bowed before the other species, like Palpatine he was a secret supporter of the human superiority. Thus he decided to report about this case directly to Chancellor Palpatine.
To somehow approve the installing of the human superiority, he ordered Tarkin to seize the control of the Terminus Systems and the admiral did it with glee.
At first he ordered the warriors of the 501st to seize the control of the Omega Station. Being a general was a new experience to Rachi, but she managed and even led the assault on the "Afterlive" where the supposed Queen of Omega, managed to gather the last line of defense.
Aria was taken prisoner by Rachi and Ahsoka with Rex and Trachta, dealt with the remnants of resistance on Omega. From all mercenaries and pirates who survived were formed the special corps, which will be used to clear the way to Republic soldiers.
They were led by the mysterious group of Jedi, who served as Tarkin's personal guards.
Slowly but surely, Tarkin gathered the strength and when came the reinforcements from the Republic, he was controlling the half of the Terminus Systems already.
Several weeks after claiming Omega he was visited by the very unusual guests.
Sometime after "Omega Incident".
Illusive Man sat in his leather chair, looking at the image of dying sun. At such moments, when every kind of a plan he had so carefully forged, were destroyed even before he managed to use them. Seconds before the contact with Omega was lost, his agents managed to report that they were attacked.
By humans.
Humans. So many thoughts buzzed in the head of Illusive Man. He greatly hoped that nobody but him will know about this, or the next step will be futile, if not dangerous. If newcomers, who had such great technologies and is clearly hostile to anything Council-related. The last fact he deduced from the statement that that they can't not know that Omega is under protection of the Circle of Matriarchs.
"Sir…" came the worried voice of the secretary. "You asked to tell you when the "Wonderer" will dock."
Illusive Man smiled. It was time for his best operative to shine once again.
With Republic forces.
Rachi was panicking.
No. It wasn't like this. Rachi was PANICKING!
The situation with Tarkin and his 'mission was spiraling out of control and she failed to stop it. Alongside the strange group of the Jedi he was invincible. She was pretty sure, that their mysterious leader had already brainwashed Tarkin.
He never liked the Force-sensitive people and he never was into building new industrial objects. However, before they attacked the Omega, a new company appeared in the Citadel Space.
'Republic Motors', rising star in cyber technologies and augments. Their new model of battle droids, THOR, far exceeded the Alliance's LOKI and their rifles and pistols also exceeded the analogues of the Citadel and Alliance.
Tarkin without a doubt was excited with his current victories, but she Trachta, Ahsoka and Rex saw the main problem: the group of Force-sensitive. No matter for whom Tarkin was conquering the system, for himself or for Republic, neither will receive it in the end.
But the Jedi group will. And even if the general Kenobi will arrive as soon as possible, neither of them had powers to prevent the worst outcome. The only possible thing to save this galaxy was to deal with the Jedi, and they were to many for her and young Ahsoka alone.
"Thinking about the Jedi, girl?" asked the voice behind her back.
She turned and her activated lightsaber stayed an inch away from figure in dark robes. She never noticed when he entered and the Force didn't warn her. Either he didn't have any kind of ill intent towards her, or he was very powerful with the Force to hide both his presence and his ill intents.
Or maybe both.
Either way, whoever or whatever stood before her, was certainly a Master of the Dark Side.
"Who are you?" asked she, trying to sound unfazed and calm. She failed in it miserably, given away by the shaking of the lightsaber.
"Call me Nox. Nox the Wanderer." answered the man in the robes. "I'm here because we share the same problem. The Jedi group, who is pushing Tarkin to start the open conflict in this galaxy, forcing the Republic to fight on two fronts."
"And you want to help me stop them, why?" asked Rachi.
Because this moment is the great time to deal with this group of dissidents." answered her Nox. 'If you will don't want to use neither my lightsaber, nor my Force skills, let me give you a free advice: find the Lioness, in her will be the key to your victory. In her will be the key to piece in this galaxy."
Black mist covered the figure and when it dissolved the man was nowhere to be seen.
Puzzled, Rachi deactivated her blade.
Somewhere else.
Darth Nox, left the meditating sphere, which he used to contact the Jedi. In the complete void that was the Force of the other galaxy, her signature was like loud pleasant melody. It was hard to create his image before her eyes.
But now, after his success with the twi'lek, he was prepared to continue his operation. Right now, however he will need to focus on the training of the Lord Vader. He walked in the direction of the training grounds.
There, Vader dueled with Hinata. Her two sabers left the purple marks in the air and Vader, not used to such powerful, yet also quick strikes slowly retreated under her assault. Finally, with lucky strike she managed to disarm him.
Red lightsaber flew into the corner of the room.
Nox clapped his hands. "Looks like you still have a room for improvement, Lord Vader."
Anakin growled, this armor restricts my movements. If I was without it…"
"You would be beaten even faster." Interfered Nox. "She had fought against the Sith Emperor himself and won. Without the armor I that had crafted for, you would have lost at the first minute. Moreover, you need to get used to it, because of your wounds your body need this additional life-support."
Young lord growled.
"Don't growl at me, Vader. You know that I'm right. All that we need right now is to sharpen our skills. After your session with Master Hinata, I'm waiting for you, to continue our Force training."
Rachi Sitra. Republic Forces.
Young twi'lek looked over the different reports on her datapad.
"Hopefully, you did follow the advice that I gave you." Said the grim voice behind her.
As always he appeared behind her. Bringing his advices and different kind of news.
"Lioness of Elysium." Said she. "Why is she so important?"
"She is the prime candidate for a position of the Citadel's spectre, she has enough brawn and enough brains to back this decision, this also gives her an edge against her enemies and other candidates for this position."
"Even then, why do you care about her?" asked twi'lek.
"She will become a beacon of light in these dark days. However, right now we need to focus on problems at hand." said he, moving closer to her. "Right now, Tarkin is meeting with the representative of Terra Firma. This organization is about to create an alliance with Tarkin. Situation is becoming worse and worse with any second."
"And what do you propose?" asked she.
"You will need an upper hand in this conflict. Here." Said he giving her some sort of memory card.
"What is it?"
"It took me awhile, but I managed to find out the location of the ship called 'Grey Throne'. Planet Hagalaz." Answered Nox.
"Why do I need this?"
"You and your legion need to be superior in terms of information gathering, since all that you have is this one Legion and six Star Destroyers. By the way, were the inhibitor chips dealt with, as I told you?"
"Yes." Nodded her head Rachi "I do not know, how you managed to find this out… But thanks to you their loyalty belongs to me now. Thanks."
Naruto smiled. Anakin was branded a traitor for one simple reason: he had found out about these chips in the heads of nearly whole Great Army of Republic.
But there were a lot of problems also: Tarkin didn't like the army from the glass tanks, so on his ships and in his squads served the real troopers and officers, of course not as good as veteran clone commandos of the 501st and ship crews that Rachi received command of as general of Republic, but still good enough to deal with the locals, especially with blasters and other weapons, that locals could had only dreamt about.
Meanwhile with Tarkin.
"So… Miss Lawson… did you receive the proof that I'm mostly a member of the same species that you are?" asked Tarkin, filling her glass with the Alderaan wine.
"Nearly same?" asked Miranda.
"Less rudimentary organs, more resistance to the different kind of radiation." Said Tarkin making a pause to enjoy his glass of wine. "But let us not go away from the main theme of our discussion. What 'Cerberus' want from us?"
"Terra Firma…" Miranda stopped her speech and corrected herself seeing Tarkin's raised brow. "Cerberus wishes to forge the alliance with the force that you represent."
"You wish to form the alliance with the Republic?" Tarkin scratched his chin, deep in his thoughts. "This will be rather… problematic. As far as I heard you are rather… racist organization."
Miranda looked deeply hurt. "Cerberus is pro-human organization, that I agree with, but we are not a bunch of racist fanatics, who wishes to make other species our slaves or something else. We just want for humans to not be spitted upon."
Tarkin smiled. "That is good to hear. Republic is filled by many different races and even if humans are most of them, they still have the right of voice."
"Really?"
"Really. Now, if you will go with me, I wish you to meet the man, who will be greatly interested in the pro-human policy of 'Cerberus'. His name is Sheev Palpatine."