Chapter 4
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Sith Holocrons were always very precarious things. They were constructed of Force sensitive crystals generally sythetic ones as they had more stable parameters. It was the same logic that the sith employed in the construction of most of their force sensitive technology including the iconic red lightsabers.
It was a mature technology. One that had been in use for tens of thousands of years. If not for the fact that force users were rare compared to the rest of the galaxy such systems might be more common.
Some Sith Lords were so vain as to use holocrons as autobiographies, recording the entire sum of their lives for posterity. A Sith Lord could imprint his memories, his personality, a very piece of himself into the crystal with effort into them... or force another being into them, though that was somewhat more complicated. Kratos appreciated meticulous notekeeping and recognized that holocron technology was substantially more secure than traditional computers, but there was such a thing as taking it too far.
Most Sith sought to insure intruders were not able to access the secrets contained with ease, and relied on a variety of dark magiks to protect those secrets. Amongst the most common, though somewhat tame, protections were the habit of forcing users to relive memories. Powerful force users could work through this, and thus insured that only the strong could access the knowledge.
Thus the Sith Lord watched his younger self... it was the waning years of the republic, though truthfully Coruscant had not really changed that much in the intervening decades. The trade federation had invaded Naboo... it was a time of weakness for the wider galaxy. The Republic, and its Senate was weak and feckless.
Kratos himself was young. His eyes were still vibrant green. Not even a hint of gold flecks that would develop in time as the conflict progress. He had no lightsaber either, after all this was a time when the Jedi still lorded about heedless of Darth Sidious working alongside them day in and day out.
This must of been one of his brief sabbaticals from the College. Palpatine had furnished him a stipend, and allowed him a choice of prestigious schools. The Academy at Carida had been his first choice... later as the Clone Army matured on Kamino Darth Sidious changed his mind. Following his graduation from the Academy the Emperor had sent him away to post graduate studies at Axanes War College with the promise of an immediate commission of Captain in the Republic Fleet, and command of a ship.
This was between then. This holocron crystal Zaarin had sent him could be showing him any number of memories, Coruscant was the center of the Galaxy. Palpatine was only just now assuming the position of Chancellor. This was many years ago indeed. Kratos watched as his younger self unsapped the collar of his old Caridan Academy uniformed.
More memories followed... some adjuant talking about the invasion of Naboo, and the Trade Federation's actions... the impotence of the Senate to react to the invasion, and how unlikely the trade federation would really be punished.
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The successful demonstration of the Clone Army, and the declaration of the Grand Army of hte Republic had sest the stage for everything that would come in the years to follow. Palpatine had made good on his assurance. The Venator-class Star Destroyer produced by Kuat were amongst the most modern starships in the galaxy.
"Divert power to forward guns primary those Destroyers." The order was quickly carried out, which was a relief given the state of the crew. There were not enough clones, which was fine for the Fleet matter. While the backbone of the Grand Army of the Republic was indeed the Clone army created on Kamino, the Military Creation Act had not been written with knowledge of the Clone Army merely that it laid out the understanding the republic needed a permanently standing force to address the growing threat of presented by the seperatists.
Not all regional fleets, and academies were of the same quality. Best and brightest of the republic translated in reality to mean those well connected to their senators, and by and large swarms of green enlisted personel foisted off on the Republic as individual systems hoarded experienced crewmen... and that was before factoring in the Jedi's role in the command and control apparatus of the infant fleet.
A fusilade of heavy turbolaser fire crashed into the forward shields, feeding enough energy into the shields to rattle the bridge. Kratos grimaced, reality was proving to be substantially more problematic than simulated combat. Kuat's engineers had managed substantial effort to increase the power of the shields, but there were limits to what you could do. The opposing Providence Destroyers were nearly the same size as his own ship... as the rest of the Republic core line. The Acclamator were fairing slight worse.
Warship design had been laid out to best suit a profile of attack. The Arrowhead or spear point profile oriented guns in a forward direction and well suited to pursuing enemy ships. "Magazines are reloaded Captain,"
"Commander where is Green squadron?"
The holographic display altered, displaying the enhanced resolution of the planet's network of artificial, and natural satellites. Blue, and Red Squadron had both taken extensive losses, not without the opportunity to attack the swarms of droid fighters. The damage was done though Red, and Blue were out of this fight, and the next few until replacements could come. "Get me Commander Liir, tell him to execute State-7."
"State-7, aye sir."
Kratos clinched his hand, and waited. They'd only ever tried this in simulation. Never with real crews, never mind this mish mash of personel. "tell me when she's ready," He muttered, and considered how badly this could go sideways... pun intended. The Separatist Fleet had been building for years... Darth Tyrannus had been preparing for this kind of battle... and the Republic hadn't. The nascent Republic forces were spread thin in response to many numerous separatist incursions across the galaxy.
"Task force is in position, Captain."
"Execute State-7." Unlike Starfighters, Capital ships could be described as many things but nimble was not one of them. It was a simple matter of physics as the mass of a capital ship was too great for its engines to turn 'on a dime'. "Order all fighters to attack the enemy engines. Keep our shots tight, and hold us in formation."
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His younger self was tracing a thumb over healing wounds. Three ribs if he remembered correctly... though the scar had bothered him more at the time. It would heal in time, as with all things. "You souldn't pick at that admiral."
His younger self had been more prone to emotion, as the glare demonstrated. At the time of the republic though that had been dangerous his emotions risked revealing his force powers to the Jedi Order. At times though, with the weight of the war weighing heavily it had been difficult to control that torrent. The danger posed from losing control would not abate until after Order 66 was carried out.
"Thank you general," Kratos declared, "I will attempt to remember that." The Jedi obsession with avoiding material entanglements had never made any sense to him; not then, nor now. At the time though the Jedi General had meant well... after all it was a dark time for the republic. The Jedi had been unsuspecting, and while Kratos had wielded a not insubstantial grasp on the force he had not been privy to everything. He understood though that either the Jedi worn down by attrition or their would be war after the separatists were dealt with... there could be nothing else.
"This war may seem without end but it cannot last forever,"
Shellshock may not have effected the clone troopers, or if it did at significantly reduced rate than natural born recruits, but it had problem amongst regulars... even into the flag ranks... even the Jedi were not immune. "Even the drone armies have their limits," Kratos replied, "The decision to finance the clone army after the invasion of Naboo was the correct one."
"Were that it was not necessary." The Jedi agreed, "The Republic though has been rotting from the inside for so long."
"You don't want to admit that thi could go on for years, but it can." It could... Palpatine's end game could take the rest of the decade... it could take longer. The Jedi Knights were dwindling in number as they were spread through out the galaxy. The Academy at Carida had a much easier task when it came to the matter of ramping up the number of available officers, which was the whole point. Carida, Axanes and the other prestigious military academy were connected to powerful senators, and that was useful political capital.
Then the sky broke, as Separatist ships poured out of hyperspace over Coruscant. Kratos grabbed for the comm band he generally wore around his ear, "Commander what-" A snarl of static interrupted his inquiry, which admittedly indicated jamming... then again that with the number of star fighters blitzing down from orbit... Kratos didn't want to go down that path.
Then the glass in the skyscraper started exploding. This was the separatist assault on Coruscant made possible by technology pioneered by the Intergalactic Banking Clan... not that it had really been that much of leap. Kratos watched as his younger self snatched for his side arm... the Jedi General wouldn't survive... and he'd end up improvising with her lightsaber. That had been a problematic thing to deal with in the aftermath.
Eventually he had awoken on a beach... still stranded, and faced with the threat of hostile primitives to deal with... and the monstrous local fauna.
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Kratos knew this world instantly in his memories. Located in the far reaches of the outer rim he had spent nearly a year marooned here waiting for the rescue party. His stranding had been in part his own fault. This world had been lost to the galaxy since the downfall of the Rakatan Star Empire. He had had time to study the archives though, and had not expected rebel saboatge of his ship.
As a result of its seperation its traditions had developed unmolested by outside influence. Other force traditions had involved the manipulation of the 'classical elements' like fire and water, but this was well inventive given the primitive nature of things. Twenty thousand years ago the 'four elements' had been split equally between Sith and Jedi. It was nonsensical of course. Once upon a time the jedi had wielded lightning as well, rather than merely redirecting it. Things changed as opinions took hold, and labels were applied.
It seemed this world had taken this farther than that, especially for somewhere that could barely manage steam technology. Kratos had seen nearly a thousand worlds, but few had anything approaching this level of technology... though none had this level of force sensitivity in their population. He rarely had this kind of opportunity... if he hadn't been fucking marooned and this backwater rock.
These people fought with primitive iron weapons, the majority of its cities were collections of stone, and wood with nary a hint of running water or electricity. The lack of technology had made up for things in other has been a time he had been free of the boundaries of the Senate, or the Emperor...though truthfully the Emperor hadn't noticed as Vader and Kratos had been tationed in the far outreaches of the Outer Rim, and expected to be gone for most of his time.
In hindsight that was perhaps a weakness. Kratos watched his younger self unleash the force powering through the wave of fire, in a bid to get to his lightsaber.
A moment later the long silver cylinder ignited with a satisfying snap hiss into a magnificent glowing crimson beam of energy. Then of course the sea had pitched, and heaved him across the deck... if it had been the storm it would have been one thing. The local wildlife had predators comparable to what might be found on Lehon... some of hte monsters here might have even been transplanted the same way.
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Kratos remembered the Chandrilla uprising with mixture of loathing and disgust. A particularly hard line offshoot of the rebels had bombed a series of barracks after a festival. It had been egregious enough that Mon Mothma had repudiated the actions as not represenative of the Rebel cause, and disavowed the perpetrators. Not that it had done any good.
What he couldn't understand was why the holocron forced him to remember it, these were struggles certainly... trials.
He had spent the days after his arrival supervising the last few days of the clean up. It had been after, during the entry to the catacombs that he had found something else. It had to be that which this holocron the Zaarin had found meant to show him. The tomb of Andas have been a tremendous find by itself... to face the force ghost itself. Andas Bas had been a Jedi from long ago, when the Jedi had been a powerful foe.
He had fought Jedi before... the Jedi of his era, the 'knights of hte Republic'... Bas had been nothing like them. A single minded furor of energy resonating within the force. Because the lightsaber's core was a force attuned crystal the blade could harm him, but blasters had been useless. Even if he hadn't been a force ghost Kratos was dubious about how useful a blaster would be against a Jedi from Bas's era in hindsight.
The catacombs beneath Hanna were spacious, if slick with water. There had been an abundance of material to navigate, and avoid. Bas had been able to hurl them at him, while doing the same had been useless except as a diversion... and even that was of limitted value.
For thirty eight hours Kratos had evaded, and fought against the Force Ghost.
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Kratos snarled spasming as his mind snapped out of its force bubbled in his veins what raced through his mind were not his own memories. The downside of the holocron... being force senstive crystal was it brought him in tune with the force.
The vision of gold ships were not any make he recognized, but he knew the world they were attacking... and he would have remembered a space station above such a primitive world. It wa the force itself that warned him that this was not now, but was not in the distant future. This would soon come to pass, but it remained vauge how soon.
Zaarin's holocron would have to wait, he mused, wiping the blood from his nose. Vader needed them... this Bespin mining settlement... first that... and then they could move on to other matters.
Bloodshot gold eyes glared at the doorway, "I will be fine," The sith lord growled defensively, "This does not concern you, if you want some way to be helpful remind me to thank Zaarin for his find, Holocron are hard to find, and I appreciate his efforts."
For now it was time to prepare the fleet... not that Vader should need them... if anything this was a Sith matter.
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