Chapter 35: Reunified (19 BBY)

"You know I've been thinking," Beckett said casually as they sped over the rocky surface of Concord Dawn. "For relative unknowns we do seem to run into each other quite a lot and we always end up helping each other in some way."

Cindo managed a smile under his mask. "I know. It's weird." Beckett nodded quickly. "It sure is."

All things considered the whole operation went well. No Mandalorians, except for the one Beckett shot were killed and they managed to get the scepter away. But Cindo just couldn't push away Kyle from his mind. How did this happen? What's so special about him that the father of the abyss chose him to carry out this task? How does abyssal corruption work? Who even is the father? The questions just kept on running through his head, but he currently had no answers.

"What about the landspeeders we left behind?" Naomi asked. "They probably found them by now and I'm not risking everybidy going back into a camp of fully armed Mandalorians for two landspeeders," Cindo explained to her. "I wouldn't mind," HK remarked. "I know," Cindo retorted with an exasperated sigh.

The sun began rising just as they began approaching their ship. "Is that it?" Beckett asked. "Yes," Cindo answered simply. The speeder stopped at the back side of the ship.

"It seems like this is it for now," Beckett said, a hint of slight disappointment in his voice. "You gonna miss us?" Cindo asked, teasingly. "I've learned that in my line of work it's better to not trust anybody. But that doesn't mean I miss some of the people I did work with," he explained. Cindo felt slightly sorry for the man. He appeared to be of great character.

"Well until we meet again," Cindo said, offering his hand. Naomi and HK already exited the speeder and lowered the ramp of the ship. "And I'm sure we will. Good luck or may the Force be with you or whatever you believers say," Beckett said, with a smile taking his hand and shaking it. Cindo jumped out of the speeder and Beckett sped off where they came from, disappearing into the distance.

Cindo turned his head towards the ship and sighed. Even though they got the scepter it was far from over. Kyle would definitely attempt to take it back or would somehow try to find other means to achieve his goal. So their hunt would have to continue for probably months or so he thought.

The team gathered in the flight deck after they exited Concord Dawn's atmosphere. Cindo felt safer there than on the surface for obvious reasons. "Did we learn anything?" Naomi asked.

"I learned that there are actually two masters of the abyss," Cindo began saying. "The first one was Manus who apparently hasn't been present for millions of years. And then there's the new one which we don't know much about," he finished.

"Well whoever he his he must've lived at some point. What else do we know?" Naomi said.

"We know that Kyle's objective is to bring the father back to life and we know how he plans to do it. We also know what their ultimate goal is – the destruction of everything that is connected to the Force," Cindo said thoughtfully, his hand on his chin.

"Kyle mentioned something about killing people to satiate his master's hunger," Naomi added, striking a similar pose, only that she also had her legs crossed. "But how does killing innocent beings do that?"

Something clicked in Cindo's head and his face lit up with excitement. "Force energy!" he exclaimed loudly. "What?" Naomi asked. "Force energy. I saw it in the abyss. Streams of dark side energy seeping in from above. His master has a thirst for Force energy. And a lot of it," Cindo explained.

"At least it's a start," Naomi deadpanned. "Don't worry there's more," Cindo said eagerly.

"HK how many times the ritual with the holocron and scepter been attempted?" Cindo asked HK, turning his chair towards him. "Two confirmed times," HK responded.

"Can you explain how it works again based off those two examples," Cindo said, leaning forward slightly. "I don't need you to tell me any names. Just how the attempts went and what the outcome was."

"The first time it was used to transfer a soul from one dying body to a body without a soul. The transfer was successful, but the body died soon after. The second time it was used to transfer a soul from a dying body to an item, specifically a holocron. The transfer was successful, and the soul could communicate through the holocron, but only for short periods of time," HK reported.

"This doesn't make any sense. Kyle's master wants to eat all of the Force energy in the galaxy, but that's impossible to do from something like a holocron," Naomi said irritably, thinking that they reached a dead end, but Cindo had something else in mind.

"It does make sense. Soul transfers from a body back to the same body were successful and I know that for a fact. Sith alchemists and even Jedi tried it and it worked. The person's body was completely normal even after the soul reentered it. This means that the father's soul had to be ripped from his body at some point," Cindo said, a picture of the whole thing finally forming in his head.

"That's impossible. If his body is thousands of years old it should be decomposed beyond use," Naomi countered.

"Unless we're not looking for a body made of flesh. We're looking for a specific item which acted as the person's vessel. And I only know of one man who had used items instead of a body and had an unparallel thirst for Force energy. Darth Nihilus," Cindo analyzed, his expression empty, the excitement gone.

"Who is this Nihilus?" Naomi asked with genuine intrigue and slight excitement. But that excitement was mixed with worry and concern.

"One of the most powerful Sith in the galaxy," Cindo began. "He had the power to absorb all the energy of a planet by simply being close to it. His hunger grew and grew and the more force energy he absorbed the more corrupt he became. His physical body began deteriorating and soon there was nothing left. He had to bind his soul to his mask and robe to stay alive. Eventually he was killed by Meetra Surik or so history taught us, but it's obvious now that that isn't the case."

"So, the key to all of this is his mask?" Naomi said, slowly comprehending everything.

"Yes. If we find it and destroy it Nihilus cannot rebind himself to anything which would provide him with the ability to cause much harm," Cindo explained, a small smile on his face.

"That's all fine and dandy but there's only one problem. Where are we supposed to find this mask?" Naomi asked with a raised brow. "The galaxy is quite a big place after all."

"This ship should have access to a part of the Jedi library and luckily for us Obi-Wan gave us a password. HK plug in," Cindo inclined his head towards the socket. "When you're in search for anything related to Nihilus's mask."

It took fifteen minutes for HK to search through all the files and find references to the mask but for Cindo it felt like an eternity. He had a bad feeling. Well multiple bad feelings if you can call it that. All of the sudden the clones were on his mind again as if something forced him to think about them.

Back on Coruscant he had conducted as much research as he could about them but came up emptyhanded. And through time the more he got to know the clones the less he thought about it. They appeared as normal people to him and he respected them as such. The other bad feeling he had was just about the general future. Something was going to happen and it wasn't going to be good. He was going through every possible scenario in his head and trying to come up with solutions for each one.

"Cindo? Cindo," Naomi kept calling out, waving a hand in front of his face. He was brought out of his thoughts back to reality. Back to the ship orbiting Concord Dawn.

"Sorry. I was thinking about something. What have you found?" Cindo said, putting his hands on his thighs and turning the chair around to face HK. "As I've told Naomi, I found multiple records about the battle where Darth Nihilus was supposedly slain. The mask was supposedly destroyed in the explosion of Nihilus's flagship the Ravager. For their help in the attack the Mandalorians were granted their request to salvage the remains of Nihilus's fleet," HK reported.

"So, the Mandalorains took it?" Cindo presumed with a thoughtful expression.

"Either that or the mask is still in space or on Telos IV itself," HK remarked. "To Mandalore we go then," Cindo said, turning back towards the console and mechanisms in front of him.

They were close to Mandalore when Cindo sensed that Naomi was feeling uneasy about something. "Naomi what's bothering you?" he asked.

"I just checked up on what's happening in the sector. It appears that we're headed right into a warzone. A Republic task force lead by Generals Kenobi and Skywalker is laying siege to Mandalore," Naomi reported.

"The Separatists took Mandalore?" Cindo asked, bewildered.

"No. The capital city is under the full control of a crime syndicate, led by one Darth Maul," she deadpanned. Her usual enthusiasm was replaced with slight fear. She had obviously heard about the man before and so did Cindo. Kenobi told him the story of how Maul killed his master. Kenobi managed to slice the Sith in half and send him down a shaft. But somehow the Zabrak survived and returned with his brother of all people to exact his revenge. He partially managed to do so by killing Kyle, Kenobi's Padawan.

"As much as neither of us like it we still have to go there," Cindo said, straight-faced. He himself didn't want to go but he remember why he was here. He left everything behind to become stronger, to help the Republic and protect the ones he loved. It's what drove him, alongside Naomi of course.

"Will I finally get to kill meat bags?" HK asked. Cindo and Naomi both knew that the droid was serious, but they couldn't help but snicker. Anything to relieve the stress helped.

A few long and quiet hours later they exited hyperspace. They were met by a Venator-class Star Destroyer. The usual procedure followed. The ship hailed them and asked them the usual questions of why they were there. After that they transmitted their security codes and were cleared for landing outside the capital.

The planet Mandalore was a dustbowl. That was all it was. The cities had to be encased in spheres made out of durasteel to protect the inhabitants from the harsh heat and desert storms. As they flew they saw at least five of these domes, smoke rolling out of them. Scenes of battles already fought.

Cindo landed the ship in the landing zone on the outskirts of the camp. Large tents were setup all around the perimeter. The first thing Cindo noticed when he stepped out was that all of the troops wore armor with orange markings. Perhaps a new battalion or something Cindo told himself before he spotted a familiar face. Out of the cloud of dust the shuttle left behind came Captain Rex.

"Commander Cindo," Rex said, stopping in front of him and saluting. "Captain," Cindo greeted, with an incline of his head, prompting the clone to ease his stance. He hadn't worked with the captain many times, but he did talk to him and get to know him.

"Who's the Twi'lek sir?" Rex asked. Naomi was eyeing him warily, half of her face masked by her black scarf.

"She's my business," Cindo answered a bit aggressively, but he immediately apologized after.

"Can you show me to the command tent please?" Cindo requested and the Captain gave a confirming nod. Naomi and HK followed closely behind as they navigated through the camp. Cindo thought Naomi might raise suspicion. Thankfully that didn't happen as the troops patrolling, carrying supplies or wounded, or talking didn't pay them much attention.

"Cindo!" a familiar voice from behind said. Cindo turned on his heels and saw Razy casually walking towards him with a smile on his face. His Padawan braid was flailing around in the wind. "What brings you here?"

"An urgent matter I'm afraid. I have to talk to Generals Kenobi and Skywalker," Cindo explained.

"They aren't here. They left for Coruscant when it got attacked," Razy stated. Cindo's eyes widened. "You didn't know?"

Cindo slowly turned his head toward Naomi. "How don't we know that?" he asked her over the bond. She just shrugged in response.

"So, then who's the commanding officer?" Cindo asked, his head fixed on Razy who positioned himself at the entrance to the tent.

"I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Come on the briefing is starting," Razy said, pulling away the tarp. Cindo stopped Naomi and HK as they began to walk towards the entrance. "You should stay here. I have a bad feeling about this," Cindo said and they both nodded in response and turned away.

He, Rex and Razy entered the dark tent. There was a holotable in the middle of the room surrounded by more clones, Mandalorains and… "Ahsoka," Cindo muttered under his breath when he saw her. She changed so much in the few months he hadn't seen her. Her whole attire was different and her Padawan braid was gone.

She only spared him a quick look before she started addressing the troops. Her posture was very authoritative. Her back was straight and her hands were behind her back while she was pacing back and forth going through the plan and pointing out things on the holographic map of the city.

"Ahsoka I'm really sorry about everything," Cindo began saying when he caught up with her outside the tent after the briefing.

"I'm past that," she said, her back turned towards him.

A few moments of awkward silence followed. "So… When did you get knighted?" Cindo asked, trying to break the silence. He did more than that. She winced slightly before bringing her right arm to her right elbow.

"I didn't," she answered as she turned towards him. Cindo couldn't remember the last time he saw her that sad.

"W-What do you mean you didn't? What happened while I was gone?" Cindo said, stuttering slightly.

"Hey Cindo, is there any place where I could get some water?" Naomi couldn't have appeared at a worse time. She looked up from the datapad in her right hand and froze in place. "If this is a bad time, I'll just move out of the way," she said awkwardly, pointing back where she came from.

"No, don't worry. I'm not mad about that anymore," she said, waving her hand dismissively and forcing a smile. "The water supply is down that row of tents," she said, pointing to her left. "Thanks," Naomi said with a fake smile.

"Come. I'll tell you the story in my tent," Ahsoka said, turning back around.

"You left the Jedi when they gave you a chance to come back?" Cindo was bewildered by the entire story. According to Ahsoka she was framed for a bombing in the Jedi temple. She was expelled from the order and taken to prison to await trial but the actual perpetrator helped her escape, making everybody else think it was actually her who did it. She eventually got capture but Anakin proved her innocence by finding the actual bomber, Barriss Offee.

"They didn't trust me. They threw me out without a second thought and then they made an excuse that it was actually a test when they were proven wrong. They're a bunch of self-righteous idiots," she explained.

She took a deep breath a few seconds later. "Why are you here? Still on your little investigation?"

"Yes. We found out who it is and how to stop them."

"And who is it?" Ahsoka asked with a raised brow.

Cindo's stomach sank. "It's an ancient Sith lord. Darth Nihilus. But that isn't the worst part. He brought Kyle back from the dead and now he's using him to resurrect himself," he explained.

"Kyle's alive?" her eyes shot open.

"Not exactly. He's not the Kyle we remember. He has been consumed by the dark side," Cindo said solemnly, looking at the ground.

"We can try bringing him back."

"He's too far gone. I have fought him but there is nothing else except for darkness left within him." Cindo made up a simple explanation. Going through the whole abyss thing would take too much time. Time, he didn't have.

"I need your help," he said after a short silence.

"With what?" Ahsoka asked with a raised brow.

"Whatever we're looking for is in that city, probably the palace. I need to get my team there."

"Impossible."

"Why?"

"The whole city's crawling with Maul's men and the palace is the center of his rule," Ahsoka explained.

"There has to be a way," Cindo said thoughtfully, stroking his chin.

"Well I can think of one that won't get you killed."

While I was away I made the mistake of reading this whole story. Why was it a mistake? The flow is terrible. It feels like the story is all over the place and poorly explained. Makes me feel really bad. I have no idea how people get through this whole thing. But what can you do. Leave the past behind and focus on the future I guess. I can't really say things'll get better but I'll try.