A/N: This fic takes place in 63 ABY, not 70 ABY. I've fixed this in the first chapter.
Errant Venture: En route to Kuat
Mara Padme was seated on a small equipment crate near Orion Pax, Bumblebee, and Jazz. The three Autobots had gone into stasis shortly after entering the Errant Venture. Energy flowed through the three Cybertronians in gentle, yet intense currents. She could tell that they weren't just regaining their energy, but they were also repairing themselves. Meaning they had been damaged in the fight. She suspected it was more from all the flying around than the damage inflicted by the Decepticons. After all, they were not meant to fly around like their Seeker counterparts. The other four Autobots had failed to reach the Venture before the Star Destroyer had entered hyperspace. But Mara Padme hadn't felt any alarm from them, so she was confident they were hurtling through hyperspace at the moment.
She turned her attention to Bumblebee as she felt his energy flow beginning to normalize. The Autobot seemed to be regaining consciousness. "Hello, Mara Padme."
"Hi," she said. "How are you doing?"
"Quite well. I should be fully repaired in approximately four point two seven hours. Orion and Jazz seem to have suffered slightly more damage; their repairs will take a bit longer. I sense there is something on your mind."
Mara Padme nodded. "I didn't really think anything of it during the battle, but a couple of the Decepticons seemed a bit... strange. Sort of empty," she explained. "Almost like they weren't completely sentient.
"Brawl and Blackout. We believe they are the results of spark splitting," Bumblebee said, with a note of disgust and sadness.
"That doesn't sound good," Mara Padme said.
"We are not quite sure how it is done, but it seems to involve splitting a spark in two and placing each half in a different body."
"And the spark is a Cybertronian's soul, basically," Mara Padme recalled, profoundly disturbed that such a thing could be possible.
"Yes, with a sort of membrane around it," Bumblebee elaborated. "Could you tell if they seemed to be suffering?"
"I didn't notice anything, but if they were I'm sure at least one of the Masters would have mentioned it. Is spark splitting just a Decepticon thing?"
"I certainly hope so. I have met a few Autobots who might stoop to such levels. But I doubt enough other Autobots would support it," Bumblebee assured her. Or was he just assuring himself?
"How long has this been going on?" Mara Padme asked.
"At least seven hundred thousand years," the Autobot answered. "That is how long ago we started noticing it. Some of the Decepticons we killed had smaller and dimmer sparks than usual. And there is a certain awareness of self characteristic of sentients, which was diminished in them."
"That's an awful long time. Can the sparks be... put back together?"
"I do not know," Bumblebee admitted. "We would have to know how the Decepticons split them. And I do not expect them to tell us anytime soon."
Decimator: Orbiting Kavan
Queen Mother Athena, her hand wrapped around the crystal in her pocket, could feel the frustration pouring off of Megatron like a fog. Its intensity was a bit unnerving. But the Decepticon leader easily kept it under control. Athena doubted most organic beings could have managed that.
"I did not know the Allspark could do that," Megatron confessed.
"I know. I could sense your surprise," Athena said. "But we have a much better idea of what it can do, now. That's one less thing they can surprise us with next time." She felt numerous, incorporeal filaments of energy being exchanged between Megatron and who she assumed to be another Decepticon.
"That was Soundwave. Our quarry has just exited hyperspace at Kuat," Megatron explained. He smiled sadistically. "They will not like what is waiting for them."
"Athena," interrupted a young female officer as she stepped onto the flight deck. "Darth Krayt has just woken up. He is insisting that he be brought to the hangar bay."
"I would appreciate that you do as he says."
"Straight away." The officer disappeared down a corridor.
Darth Krayt seemed mildly annoyed as that same officer brought him into the hangar bay in a hoverchair, minutes later. "Lord Krayt," Athena said. "I'm glad you could join us."
"There are things to discuss that should not wait," Krayt said, somewhat weakly, as that same officer left. The Sith Lord was exhausted, and his complexion was a bit sickly.
"True," Athena agreed. "Megatron was just telling me that our enemies have arrived at Kuat. And," she glanced up at the Decepticon, "he apparently has a surprise for them. What exactly is it?"
"I have an asset on Kuat. Let's call it a mobile, heavy artillery emplacement." Megatron said.
"How heavy?" Athena asked, mildly annoyed at the Decepticon leader's lack of specifics.
"It has the potential to take out an entire Star Destroyer," Megatron said proudly. He brought his attention to Darth Krayt. "You mentioned that your Meditation Sphere could enhance a battle meditation. Could it protect against what the Allspark did?"
"I believe so," Krayt said. "Though it wouldn't surprise me if the Allspark still managed to put up some resistance. I won't be able to form the meditation this time, though."
"I didn't think so," Athena said. She imagined the mere attempt would kill him.
"I can contact Darth Wyyrlok and have her meet us near Kuat," Darth Krayt suggested. "She can assist you in the battle meditation, and I can give you some guidance."
"That would be very helpful," Athena said. "Would Daala be able to spare a fleet by any chance?"
"Yes," Darth Krayt said. "I didn't sense the rest of your fleet nearby, so I assumed you sent them back to Kavan."
"We can't leave Kavan unguarded, now can we? I also left a small patrol at the Maw," Athena said.
Lecersen: Some distance from Kuat
The Lecersen and a number of other Star Destroyers, along with their support craft, dropped out of hyperspace outside of Kuat's sensor range, just as Darth Krayt had instructed them over a very secure comm. connection.
"My bloody stars," Daala breathed. Floating beside the double disc of a Hapan Battle Dragon was a massive vessel about the size of a Super Star Destroyer. The unknown vessel somewhat resembled a creature from the deep sea. "That looks like the thing that attacked that Freedom Federation fleet."
"That's the most reasonable explanation," Darth Wyyrlok agreed. The Chagrian Sith Lord's face suddenly took on a rather concerned look. "Lord Krayt has been injured," she explained.
"How serious is it?" Daala asked.
"I'm not sure," Wyyrlok said. "But he doesn't seem too concerned about it. So it likely is not too bad."
"The Decimator is hailing us, Admiral," interrupted the comm. officer.
"Put them on," Daala ordered. A somewhat familiar face appeared on the screen of Daala's terminal. "Queen Mother Athena."
"Hello, Admiral Daala." The image panned outward to show the current ruler of the Hapes Consortium standing beside Darth Krayt, who was seated in a hoverchair.
"Wyyrlok, Daala. I will be fine, so you needn't worry."
"That is good to know," Daala said with a slight smile. "It seems you have made a new friend. A very big one," she added, referring to the larger, unidentified vessel.
Athena couldn't help but laugh, eliciting a mildly perplexed frown from Daala. "Oh, you have no idea."
Athena and Krayt's new friend certainly was big. It made a strange, childlike sense that a ship the size of the Nemesis would have such large crew members. Natasi Daala could see why this meeting had to take place in a hangar bay. Megatron somewhat resembled a giant, mechanized Yuuzhan Vong warrior. Which was quite ironic given the Yuuzhan Vong's hatred of technology.
"Soundwave will provide sets of coordinates for the enemy vessels' positions," the leader of the Decepticons was saying. He turned to Athena. "As far as I know the Autobots don't know about Soundwave. It would be best to keep it that way. Could one use the Force to learn the enemy's positions?"
"It's possible, though we wouldn't get actual coordinates. But more likely, the Force would guide its user as to where to place their own ships," Athena said.
"Then that is how it must appear," Megatron stated. "We will intentionally be imprecise to the appropriate degree. But there can't be any sort of pattern to this imprecision."
Daala nodded. "I will instruct the captains of my fleet to individually offset their positions. They will each do this differently."
"This should work quite well," Megatron said.
A/N: The spark splitting thing was my own idea.