CHAPTER IV
It took a while, but eventually their guests came back to their senses. Then they walked up to the waiting Thyrus and others. Senators were visibly awed. Jedi were keeping their emotions hidden and displayed perfect Sabacc face. The Queen seemed offended, but her captain Panaka was pleased with what he saw.
"Impressive display." remarked Adi Gallia when they reached Thyrus.
"We do our best." replied Thyrus.
"Senators, Jedi, your highness. Allow me to introduce to you captain Fora, her first mate Haken. And this is Cipher, head of our intelligence units." said Thyrus, introducing his closest allies.
Senators gave formal greetings of their own and so did the queen. However, Siri was looking at Cipher with half closed eyes, as if trying to probe him with the Force, foolish attempt and Thyrus knew it.
"Strange name, Cipher, and I haven't met anyone of your species, yet." said Siri, before Gallia could stop her.
Cipher waved back Qui-Gon who was trying to prevent Siri from making the situation worse and replied in his characteristically calculated and emotionless tone, "Because it is a title, and I would be astonished if you were to meet any of my brethren."
"Everyone else was introduced by their name, why not you?" asked the queen, curious.
"My name is, for all intends and purposes, Cipher. It has been since I became Intelligence operative." replied Cipher.
"If you have a problem with that, it is yours alone." he said, ending the conversation.
After a brief and awkward silence Thyrus tried to get things moving, "Now, I believe you would want a tour of the ship. Wouldn't you?"
"Yes, that would be most welcome." replied Qui-Gon. Senators agreed, wanting to see this ship for themselves.
Thyrus motioned towards Kyrhene and HK-55, appearing behind her, and said, "If you could follow them. I believe they can show you around."
"Yes, follow me please." said Kyrhene, undoubtedly already planning one of her antics.
When the delegation left, following their two tour guides. Thyrus asked one of the soldiers to take the two twi'leks to his and Kira's quarters. They could stay there for now, it wasn't like was planning to relax any time soon. With that out of the way, he thanked and dismissed the soldiers present. They saluted him and started clearing the hangar.
Thyrus beckoned and closely followed by Kira, Cipher and Fora set off for the bridge. As soon as they arrived on bridge he ordered all ships to jump to outskirts Naboo system. Then they all turned their attention to the holographic table with projection of Naboo itself at the back of the bridge on the left. They were joined by few of his trusted officers, some in person while others via hologram. Liberating the planet would be no simple task, but at the same time it wasn't impossible.
They could easily rout the droid army. According to the intel gathered it was more than substandard and heavily inferior to their own skytroopers. The blockade wouldn't be a big problem either, Voidstar and her escorts could take out the ships one by one. Thankfully they were stretched all around the planet and not clustered in one place. Good tactic for blockading a planet but a poor one for defending it against attack. That was the easiest part and soon they agreed that Voidstar would engage the main flagship and pierce the blockade. Her escorts would divide into two groups, each consisting of two Thranta-class heavy cruisers and one Terminus-class destroyer. That should give them flexibility to react and still leave strong enough firepower to knock out the refitted freighters blockading the planet.
Fighters could be a problem as they still were a big unknown, especially how many would they deploy. But flight deck officer was certain that their own Strike-fighters and Bombers could provide cover for shuttles carrying troops to the surface. Ground part of the liberation would be handled by few of his higher-ranking supporters who were on board Voidstar.
Former SIS agent Galen would lead a group of PowerGuard cybernetic soldiers in series of hit-and-run attacks on the Trade Federation strongholds in Theed, while master Ranos would liberate detention camp prisoners with help of Alliance Spec-Force.
In meantime HK-51, along with considerable force of Skytroopers, would engage main body of the droid army. Their main goal was not to destroy them but to lure them to open area. Strike-fighters would handle the rest. In order to get some answers Cipher and lieutenant Temple would lead the squad of intelligence operatives in attempt to capture Viceroy Nute Gunray, who was last sighted in the Royal Palace in Theed. With the droid army safely away, main body of Alliance army would land and secure Theed. From there they would plan further attacks if needed.
Just as they finished planning they could hear and then see Kyrhene and their guest enter the bridge.
"You are insane." claimed one of the queen's handmaidens.
"I prefer the term 'differently rational'" replied Kyrhene.
"Ah, I see you have familiarized yourself with each other." said Thyrus, walking up to them.
"Welcome on the bridge. We should be arriving soon." he continued, while most of his officers dispersed from the meeting.
"What about plan?" asked Qui-Gon.
"Leave that to us." replied Kira with a wink.
"Liberating is what we do best… next to blowing things up." added Thyrus, with his hand stroking his beard.
It looked like they had more questions but he needed to focus for the upcoming mission, so he left Kyrhene and Kira to answer them and left the bridge. He fast tracked it to his quarters where he met the two twi'leks.
"Everything all right?" he asked with a smile as he was opening his wardrobe.
"Yes, master." they replied meekly. Still not fully accustomed to their new surroundings.
"Well, things will shake a bit for a while. Also, few alarms might sound. But you have absolutely no reason to be afraid." he told them as he was changing into his armour. His hands working on muscle memory alone.
"Should things go bad someone will come for you." he finished.
"Yes, master. We will stay here." one of them answered.
He would have to get them to know better but that could wait. As he finished, he once more assured the girls that all would be alright and left them there. Journey to the bridge was gone in an instant. Once there, he walked up to his usual command position. On the front of the bridge, in the middle of large number of screens containing sensor readouts and ship readiness data.
Qui-Gon had a helpful notion, "If you take out droid control ship, the army will deactivate."
Thyrus quickly dismissed it, "Gladly, if you tell me which one of the ships is it."
Nothing else could be said as at that moment Voidstar re-entered realspace.
"All ships, status report." ordered Thyrus. And soon reports came in.
"Brentaal Star, all systems in the green."
"Dauntless, ready and waiting."
"Tranquillity, standing by."
"Ravager, standing by."
"Shield of Sarkhai, all systems working."
"Vindicator, ready to bring the pain."
Communications officer turned, "All troops are combat ready."
Flight deck officer reported, "All wings are ready for action. Shuttles standing by. Drop pods primed."
"Captain?" said Thyrus.
"Voidstar is at your command, sir." reported captain Fora.
"What about our enemy?" asked Thyrus
"Probes report minimal movement since the last check." informed sensor officer.
"Very well then. All ships, begin the Operation 'Surprise Party'." Thyrus ordered and beckoned to captain Fora.
She turned and gave signal to navigation officer. Voidstar jumped and few seconds after that rest of the fleet.
Voidstar re-entered realspace some distance from one of the blockading vessels. Both assigned groups of its escorts on each side.
"Launch all fighters." ordered Fora. Other ships were doing the same.
"Forward thrust, point six. Seven degrees decline." commanded Thyrus.
Voidstar started slowly moving closer to its prey.
"Magnify the closest vessel." said Thyrus.
"Putting on main screen." replied sensor officer.
"What are you going to do?" mused Thyrus to himself. He studied the opposing vessel carefully. So far it simply floated in space. Then he saw it, countless little moths swarming from the open hangars of the ship. They were launching fighters, and it was a lot. More were being launched every moment. This was ridiculous number of fighters. He had to act fast or they would have a real problem.
"Main battery, target the primary launch bays on that ship." he ordered. Voidstar was unique from all the other Harrower-class vessels because, among other things, she had two rows of long-range turbolasers, one on each side of bridge superstructure. They packed a punch, but unlike other batteries they were far too slow to target fast-moving targets.
These batteries opened fire and Thyrus watched with satisfaction as the shots impacted in the unprotected hangars. They had to lower shields to allow fighters to launch, a mistake. Secondary explosions shook the entire ship as the launching fighters exploded and set off those still waiting to launch. Thyrus glanced on the screen, checking how the rest of his fleet fared.
First group, Vindicator Dauntless and Tranquility, was firing on the nearest Trade Federation ship on the left and from the looks of it caught it off guard. Second group, Ravager Shield of Sarkhai and Brentaal Star, were locked in combat with nearest ship on the right. Ravager was incinerating droid fighters by dozens while the two Thranta-class cruisers were firing all their might on the source of said fighters, being covered by their own fighters.
He returned attention to his own target at the right moment. Fighters that manager to launch were closing in fast. In his opinion, far too many for his fighter screen to manage.
"All batteries, target those fighters." he commanded.
Voidstar opened fire with everything she got. Hundreds of Vulture-droids were swatted out of the sky. In many cases the parts of them carried in their last trajectory and harmlessly bounced of the hull. Then they came too close for turrets to track them efficiently. At that moment, their own fighters engaged the droid fighters. Skilled Alliance pilots were taking down one droid after another, combined together with Voidstar's cannons they thinned the numbers. After nothing more than few minutes, only the stragglers trying to fend off Alliance fighters remained. Droids had numbers and little more. When they took their numbers away, nothing more than poorly manoeuvring and lightly armoured drone remained.
Thyrus shifted his attention to crippled ship in front of Voidstar. They were closing in at steady pace.
"Forward thrust, point eight-five. Two degrees incline." Thyrus adjusted their course and speed. They were flying slightly beneath their target. This allowed all dorsal batteries to fire at it unobstructed and they were currently doing so.
"Tractor beam control, lock us onto that ship." he commanded.
"You can't pull in something that size." said Siri, not knowing what he was trying to accomplish.
"I am not trying to." replied Thyrus, not breaking his stare on the ship.
They were close to one another now, only few dozen kilometres. In space combat that was practically collision distance.
"Cease firing. Transfer all weapon power to the engines. Full forward thrust." Thyrus ordered. Voidstar shot forward with acceleration of vessel half its size. They flew past the crippled ship.
"Engines, stop. Maximum inclination." Thyrus commanded.
Nose of the Voidstar shot upward, then the entire ship shuddered. Voidstar was still connected to the other vessel with tractor beam, it was like a rope tying both ships together. It dragged the trade federation ship back and at the same time it slingshoted Voidstar around it, thanks to the combination their manoeuvres and relative weight of vessels.
In middle of the manoeuvre Voidstar found itself directly between the ship and the planet. At this point Thyrus ordered the drop pods and shuttles to launch. Drop pods fired off and Rendaran-class shuttles took off from the ventral hangar bay. Shielded from any incoming fire by the Voidstar itself, they carried troops to their assignments on the surface. Shuttles carried Cipher, Ranos, Galen and their respective teams while drop pods carried HK and skytroopers. Voidstar completed it slingshot and ended directly above Trade Federation ship upside down.
"Transfer power back to the weapons along with all engine power. Fire at will." ordered Thyrus, satisfied that his little gamble worked. Voidstar unleashed plasmatic hell. Her secondary batteries disintegrated the closest ship while main battery fired at the vessels locked in combat with her escorts. They didn't anticipate attack from this new direction and bolts flew past the weakened shields and tore away large chunks of hull. This weakened them and the escorts quickly finished them off.
Droid fighters suddenly found themselves out of reach of any central computer and deactivated. They were quickly dispatched by Alliance fighters. Afterwards the fleet regrouped and reorganized itself. All ships were mostly intact. Only Ravager reported slight superficial damage. Several fighters that were damaged landed in hangars for repairs. Few were lost, fortunately all pilots survived and were recovered by shuttles.
All ships formed around Voidstar. Thranta-class ships moved to outer perimeter facing away from the planet while Terminus-class ships remained close to Voidstar, inside the perimeter. They were facing the planet should the need for orbital bombardment arise. Voidstar herself was facing away from planet. Shattered remains of three ships floated peacefully in clouds of debris. This obscured the fleet from the rest of the blockade's view.
Shuttles dropped Cipher and his team at the outskirts of Theed. So far, everything went according to plan. Droid army was for unknown reason in middle of grasslands marching to swamps and the city was left with only a token of protection. Most of them were lured away by Galen and his attacks. Cipher had no idea how Ranos was faring but he believed it couldn't be much worse.
Cipher and his team weaved through the city like ghosts. Avoiding patrols and in some cases using them for cover. Blending into surroundings when they could and using stealth field generators when they couldn't. Soon they had the Palace in sight. Only a small force of droids and few tanks was present. Most of them were assembled on the courtyard.
They scaled the closest building and quickly crossed the roofs to the Palace. There were no guards up there, 'Sloppy' thought Cipher. Viceroy was last sighted in the throne room and that was where they would search for him. It should be on the fifth floor. Cipher counted the windows and after brief check with the plans he procured, during his earlier intel gathering, confirmed location of his target. Now was the time to make noise.
They fired grappling hooks above the window and over the gap between the last building and the palace. Being above their target helped. They checked their weapons and one after another confirmed their readiness. Cipher prepared his harness and bucked himself to the rope slung between buildings. He turned, nodded to the operative on his left and jumped.
As he was slinging from one building to another along with most of the team, the operative fired off wrist rocket. It flew past the Cipher and impacted the window, creating perfect entry point. Cipher hit the end of the rope, disconnected his harness and with roll ended in the building. He quickly swept the room for any enemies he might have missed and confirmed it was clear. He took cover near one of the two doors leading out of the room. After few seconds the last member of his team entered. The droids below didn't even react yet. They formed up two groups and set off to the throne room.
As they ran they encountered few battledroids but they quickly dispatched them. There was only a few of them because most of them was guarding the main entrance. One more turn and they would have the throne room in sight. When they approached, they were stopped by hail of blaster bolts. The first operative was hit by grazing shot and injured, but he was quickly pulled back into safety.
Cipher stuck his head out and glanced over the corner. They had the throne room in sight but they were cut off by at least dozen battledroids. He pulled his head back and few bolts impacted the place where he was seconds before. He signalled to his team using hand signals and one operative came forward. He crouched and pulled satchel of his back. He pulled out few EMP grenades and handed them to Cipher and two other operatives.
Cipher took the grenade and activated his shield probe. It instantly enveloped him in protective deflector field. He signalled to his team and rolled over into middle of the hallway. Two other operatives poked out and provided suppressive fire. Cipher stood and threw the grenades. As he was doing this, his field redirected few shots that impacted it, sending them into walls instead. When he ran out of grenades he jumped to the other side of the hallway, taking cover behind pillar.
His grenades had the desired effect, they disabled most of the firing droids. With much lighter fire coming at them, Cipher and his team piled out of cover. They dispatched still firing droids with few well-aimed shots and as they passed them, they destroyed the disabled droids too.
Unfortunately, doors to the throne room were closed shut during their shootout. Team assembled on both sides and prepared a breaching charge. Once it was in place and they were in safe distance, it was set off. Team stormed the room with Cipher in lead.
It looked like the Viceroy tried to escape but the other team cut him off. His guards were in firefight with second team and Viceroy himself was hiding behind the throne, shaking with fear. Operatives quickly destroyed the guards which found themselves caught in crossfire. Then they secured the room with the help of the second team. They closed the blast doors firmly shut and barricaded the breached entrance.
Cipher walked up to the Viceroy and shook his head, "Well, well, well. What do we have here."
Viceroy's hands shot upwards, his voice shaking, "I surrender. I surrender."
"I am sure you do." replied Cipher with smugness in his voice.
Master Ranos's mission went smoothly. They quickly overwhelmed guard droids at the largest detention camp and were in process of making sure the prisoners were all right. Combat medics were walking among the freed prisoners, checking their health. Few of the prisoners were from the security force and they grabbed fallen droid weapons and stood guard along with Alliance SpecForce squads on the perimeter.
Once they were sure that the prisoners were all right they set off in 'borrowed' speeders for another camp. But master Ranos stayed behind. The chiss Jedi ordered all squads but one to carry on their mission and she herself went with the squad to investigate strange feeling she had. It lead them to the main reactor of Theed. She walked on the walkway into the heart of massive room. Her squad went to secure the hangar on her orders.
Ranos closed her eyes and searched with the force. After a while she found what she was looking for.
"I can sense you. You can't hide from me." she called out into the room. She sensed flare of anger in response to her statement.
Something impacted on the walkway behind her. Ranos opened her eyes and turned around. A young zabrak, dressed in black robes stood there. She looked up and assumed that he had to jump down from one of the higher walkways.
"Give up, sith. You can't win. Your blockade is broken, army in disarray. Your master exposed." Ranos tried to reason. But the zabrak didn't say anything, he simply ignited his double-bladed lightsabre. This would be a challenge.
Ranos shifted her footing and grabbed both her own lightsabres. She assumed traditional defensive posture and waited for zabrak to attack her. He leaped at her with ferocity that surprised her. His lightsabre cutting diagonally and aimed at her chest. She parried with her left hand and the strike was deflected into air. Trying to end this quickly she attacked with her right hand, aiming horizontally at his head. He saw it coming and intercepted it with his lightsabre. To her surprise he kicked her in midriff and sent her flying backwards.
She underestimated him, a mistake that would not repeat itself. She landed in crouch and saw him running to her. Defence was good but attack was better and she betted that his defence was weaker. She gathered her strength, used the Force to ease her pain, and charged at the zabrak. He didn't expect it and for a while was distracted. 'Perfect' she thought.
With quick succession she attacked with her lightsabres, one swift strike after another, trying not to give the zabrak time to rest and wear him down. Their weapons clashed repeatedly with blinding light and sparks were sent flying all around them. Zabrak was forced on defensive and had to act fast to parry her two sabres. This carried on for some time. Ranos attacking him with her two weapons and every time he struck back at her she simply jumped backwards out of his reach and then reengaged him.
Finally, she forced him to make a mistake. She attacked with both her weapons horizontally and he parried, but in doing so he swung his weapon too far from his body. She carried the momentum of her attack, lowered herself on one leg and with another swung and kicked his legs from beneath him. He landed on his back, air knocked out of his lungs, head dazed and his weapon rolling on the ground deactivated.
She immediately pushed herself upwards and, holding her lightsabres in reverse grip, impaled the place where he was lying moment before. Zabrak acted fast. Before she could kill him, he rolled to his side and grabbed his weapon. As she was crouching down with her weapons stabbed in the ground, he swung will all his strength horizontally at her head. She had no chance to bring her weapons up in time.
Ranos pushed herself away from the walkway and let go of her lightsabres. She leaped in mighty arc backwards, landing over a dozen meters away from zabrak, crouching. He stood between her and her weapons. He knew this. With dark side surging through him, he charged at her. She was slowly getting exhausted, she needed to end this fast.
Ranos gathered the Force around her and with wave of her hand sent ball of telekinetic energy at her attacker. He took the full force of her attack and it sent him flying backwards, until he impacted the force field behind him. He slid down on the ground, shaken and bleeding. Ranos stood up and attacked once more. This time her attack threw him through the force field and several others behind it. Overloaded emitters short-circuited and their sparking and discharging set the area in eerie glow.
Ranos walked up to her weapons and with the Force, called them to her hands. Then walked up to the zabrak. He stood up and was holding his ribs, backtracking from her slowly. He was bleeding from dozens of small cuts on his face and from his nose, his ribs must have been broken in attack.
She ignited her lightsabres and called to him, "Surrender. You can't win."
He only hissed back at her, exposing his teeth. They were bloodied and few of them were cracked.
With no other choice, she closed the distance in one force-imbued leap and attacked him again. This time his movements were much slower and at certain moments, he winced in pain. With one slash she severed his lightsabre in two and kicked him in the gut. He was thrown back few steps and tried to bring his one remaining blade to his defence.
Ranos didn't give him time to recover and attacked again. Her left lightsabre swung outwards and dragging the zabrak's weapon with it. Then she grabbed her other lightsabre in reverse grip and attacked the same way. He didn't manage to bring his sword back in time and she gutted him diagonally from right to left.
His hands dropped down and he stared at his wound in disbelief. He stumbled few steps back, then hit the edge and fell down the bottomless abyss. Ranos dropped to her knees exhausted, the fight took every bit of her strength and she simply didn't have the energy to stand. With sigh she lay on the ground and closed her eyes trying to recover what she had spent.
After few minutes, the SpecForce squad that followed her, came in looking for her. They found her in small room behind series of shattered force fields, lying on the ground. One of them briefly lighted his torchlight down the hole, in middle of the room, but he found nothing. Shaking her awake, two soldiers grabbed her under each arm and helped her stand. After that, she hung onto one soldier as they left the reactor room, still not fully trusting her legs.
Thyrus was pacing back and forth. He was powerless for now and he hated it. All he could do was wait for the ground teams to fulfil their parts.
He already received report that Ranos has engaged and killed the Sith assassin he fought on Tatooine, but it was given by SpecForce squad commander who accompanied her. She was still exhausted too much. Thyrus immediately ordered shuttle to pick her up and sent Scourge down on the planet, in case the assassin wasn't alone. He scolded himself for not seeing that possibility and that he didn't plan for it.
HK was doing fine. He and his skytroopers claimed quite a few battledroids. There was a brief incident on the bridge when HK requested orbital bombardment on the droid army.
"What! You can't!" suddenly cried out one of the handmaidens when she overheard the request.
"And what do you want me to do? Sent my men down there to die, simply because of your idealism?" he retorted angrily.
"I will not risk the lives of those under my command and approach the enemy with tenderness so that you can satiate your conscience." he bit back on the handmaiden.
She was seething with anger and almost did something stupid. But Alliance guards that watched their guests since their arrival acted fast and restrained the handmaiden. This, surprisingly, brought strong reaction from the queen and the rest of the handmaidens. Situation deteriorated to the point where both his and queen's guards were in a standoff. Only because he ordered the handmaiden released he prevented any harsher actions. She was still seething with anger and glaring at him.
He may have had alienated the queen but it didn't weigh heavily on his conscience. The lives of his subordinates came first, even those like HK. Even with this accident, he ordered Ravager and Vindicator to open fire.
Pinpoint accuracy of the bombardment obliterated the core of Trade Federation army in the plains and meadows. Even the damage to the surrounding terrain wasn't that bad. Thyrus estimated that it could be cleaned up within few days of work. It was awkwardly quiet on the bridge afterwards. Where before they asked irritating amount of questions about the proceeding of ground operations, now they were all quiet.
He studied them for a while, it looked like the senators understood his actions and perhaps even agreed with them. The Jedi were harder to read, they might have not liked his course of action but he could feel their admiration for his dedication to his subordinates. The queen, that after a bit of probing with the force, surprisingly proved to be the angry handmaiden, was despising him and he could sense that in her mind was cursing him heavily.
After what seemed like eternity, but in fact was nothing more than fifteen minutes since the incident. Hologram sprung to life.
Cipher reported in, "Mission successful. VIP secured."
The projection switched from him to the Viceroy.
"Viceroy, finally I get to see your face." said Thyrus.
"Don't be so happy. You will be destroyed by my ships very soon." Viceroy tried to sound defiant, but Thyrus could easily see past the façade.
"That will not be happening any time soon. I am afraid. You should give us your overriding command codes. It would be better for everyone." Thyrus tried negotiating.
"Never." bit Viceroy, still trying to sound strong and defiant.
"As you wish. We have nothing more to discuss." finished Thyrus and the projection switched back to Cipher.
"Cipher." said Thyrus with steely gaze.
"Yes, commander." replied Cipher.
"Bring him to Voidstar for questioning, we need those codes. Rest of the blockade is amassing and I would rather avoid further confrontation." ordered Thyrus.
"Understood." replied Cipher, his eyes studying Thyrus closely.
"Cutting connection to prevent signal interception." said Thyrus, his gaze unflinching from the hologram of Cipher. Then he turned to the communications officer and nodded. Before the hologram vanished, he could see understanding in Cipher's eyes.
Thyrus looked behind him. It didn't look like his guests caught the hidden meaning of his words and took them at face value. Short while after, communications officer informed him, "Receiving communication from the surface."
Thyrus looked at his screen. Cipher sent him text message. It contained a long set of digits and letters, a code.
"Broadcast on all frequencies." he ordered.
"Broadcasting." replied communications officer.
"Report." Thyrus asked.
"All Trade Federation vessels are powering down. Droids on surface are deactivating." replied sensor officer
"All wings, target and destroy the bridges of the blockading ships." commanded Thyrus.
"Why? They aren't threat anymore." cried out Adi Gallia.
"This is only temporary, they will retake control of their ships and we will be right where we began." countered Kyrhene and Thyrus nodded in agreement.
"You can't know that." said Siri, her voice raised.
"The probability of it is too high to not react to it accordingly." explained Thyrus, his voice firm.
Surprisingly, the senator from Kashyyyk agreed with him. Saying something along the lines that wounded beast is much more dangerous.
"Exactly." said Thyrus, nodding in gratitude towards said senator.
That was the end of discussion as the fighters carried their orders and the bridges of seven Trade Federation ships were nothing more than smoking wreckage. 'Cut off the head and the body dies' was the old saying.
With the battle over, Thyrus ordered engineers and relief teams to the planet. They would help civilians a bit with getting their life back on track.
Queen and her entourage left shortly after, probably not just to get away from him but to see the damage inflicted on her planet as well. He knew she would be surprised how little her planet was damaged by his troops. Federation did much more damage with their improvised camps and military hardware.
Still, entire meadow littered with wreckage fused together by the energy of bombardment was not a pleasant sight. But he knew that only collateral damage in that action was slight alteration of landscape that could be reversed. The Jedi and Senators left with the queen, wanting to see the planet for themselves. In meantime he ordered his ships to stabilise orbits of the debris with tractor beams and collection of any of their own damaged or destroyed equipment. He didn't need to worry about bodies because they, surprisingly, didn't lose anyone.
Without the knowledge of anyone on Naboo, Thyrus slowly pulled out his troops, but still maintained the illusion of their presence. In the evening he invited the senators to his ship for discussion and they agreed. They unknowingly boarded the shuttle with last remaining Alliance troops and left for Voidstar. He and his fleet were gone before the four Jedi noticed.
The Jedi noticed his departure when his ships jumped away but it was too late to stop or follow him. The senators reappeared two days later on Coruscant as if nothing happened and gave their report to the Senate. They claimed that the ships were damaged in the fight and that the army was slowly dissolving, having lost everything they fought for. In the end they convinced the Senate that no action was needed regarding the fleet or its commander.
This went against everything the Jedi present there felt and it confused High Council greatly. When the council tried to question the two senators, they failed to gain any new information.
Within few months, rumours began spreading throughout outer rim about ships being miraculously saved from pirates and slaves being freed. On several worlds, criminals appeared with incriminating evidence on stations of local security forces. Corrupt politicians and high-ranking bureaucrats were exposed by anonymous tips here and there. The former Viceroy, Nute Gunray, was gone, vanishing without any trace however.
High Council had their suspicions but couldn't prove any of them. They couldn't even find the fleet itself.
One day, in the evening, High Council was debating the recent rumours about certain cult appearing on Nar Shadaa when their lights switched off without warning.
"What is going on." master Windu demanded to know.
Blueish hologram appeared in middle of the room, clear to see in the darkened atmosphere of the room.
It took form of Thyrus, dressed in his Jedi armour.
"You have some explaining to do, you…" said master Gallia. But was waved away by the hologram.
"This is just a recorded message I am leaving for you. No need to ask questions. It won't answer them." said hologram, smiling almost laughing.
"I know that we haven't ended on the friendliest terms, but no matter what you think, I have no intentions to harm you or the Republic. Quite the opposite in fact." started the hologram and council was listening.
"I have been brought here by the Force for a reason I don't yet understand. But what I see of your time saddens me greatly." stated hologram with pained expression on face and psychical pain in voice.
"I know that the democracy isn't perfect but I have seen what the Republic is capable of. And I will do everything in my power to bring that glory back." hologram continued with almost dreaming expression.
"I know you are searching for me. Don't. If something wrong happens we'll contact you. You need not fear us because we are going to fulfil the work you are supposed to do and for some reason don't. I will not ask why you are neglecting it and instead you are on beck and call of Senate." said hologram. This irritated few members but they remained silent.
"So, we will be out there, looking out for the little guy and doing the work Jedi Order is supposed to do. Oh, one last thing." said hologram with a smirk and leaned forward.
"I have taken the liberty of taking back my friend's holocron, I hope you don't mind. In return, I have downloaded complete historical data we had from our computers into your archives. It is not much but it is all I can give, for now." hologram stated. Madame Jocasta would go mad learning of it.
"And also, that girl, Etain. My friend chose her for a reason and I would be fool to disregard her wisdom. It may have been a while since I have trained a Padawan but I will do my best, protect her with my life and teach her what I know. I talked to her and she agreed, so I am simply informing you. Farewell." ended the hologram with formal bow and lights returned to normal.
Council sent for the initiate but she was nowhere to be found. They studied their temple security logs carefully but only sighting of Thyrus was when he stood in front of her doors knocking and then entering, nothing more not even their leaving. The archives showed no signs of tampering, unless you viewed millennia worth of history as a sign.
High Council was still divided when it came to him. Few, like Yoda Plo Koon and Yaddle, wanted to let him be and simply watch him from the side-lines. Others, led by Windu, wanted him to be answerable to the Council for his actions. But in the end, they were forced to watch because they couldn't simply find him. They agreed to try to infiltrate the cult on Nar Shadaa and some hoped that it would lead them to Thyrus and his hideout.
AN: Enjoy the new chapter. Following chapters can be expected more or less Monthly. Sometimes less.
You can guess who will be one of his allies from his tactics if you know EU well enough.
BOBAN094: I will try to work on my conversations
SMASTER28: I have answered in PM already but I hope that the piece about the senators gave you bit of insight into his intentions.