Note: We are now about to reach the mid-point to the season. I have received complaints about the number of setbacks the good guys keep having, and I gotta tell you, there will be more. The good guys ARE scrambling to catch up. They ARE having trouble keeping track of what is going on. The bad guys are everywhere, and they seemingly are in control of the situation.
But the bad guys are also messing up. Mistakes have been made. Ones that will, hopefully, be easy to understand when it is time.
The setbacks also exist for a specific purpose that will be understandable soon. From the very beginning, I had this in mind and have been steadily moving toward a specific moment. A moment defined by three words. (No, I won't say what they are. But if you pay attention, it won't be hard to find in the next episode.)
I'm sorry, this is a really short chapter too. I didn't realize how short I had made the third part until I uploaded it. I promise the next episode will make up for it.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything, so no sue!
Remember to Review. I want to know what you think and how the chapter is to you. Is it good? Is it bad? Anything I need to know? Any ideas or things you want to see in the future?
Episode 9 - Harbingers of Past Sins
Count Dooku raised his eyes at the approach of the robot. "There is a transmission being broadcasted on all channels, Count Dooku." He raised an eyebrow curiously.
"Do we have a name?"
"Revanchist..." The Old Republic Senator snarled. "Damn annoying trash. Fine... bring it up. Let's see what is so damned important."
Jobba the Hut growled to himself. He didn't like this. The image on the holoscreen raised itself.
Why were the Revanchist broadcasting on a galaxy-wide channel? He knew the Revanchist were capable of hacking the media, but he hadn't considered they could get into his.
What the hell did he pay his security for?!
"Are you getting this?" Mina Bonteri asked from her end of the transmission.
Bail Organa nodded. He had been in negotiations with Mina Bonteri of the United Systems Alliance when this video hacked the channel. He had to make a private transmission with her only to find out it was on her end as well. "I have it, Senator..."
The transmission on the screen was troubling. It showed the inside of a large room on fire.
"Is it on?" Someone behind the screen asked.
"Yeah, its on. We are live." The same voice from a different location responded.
"Are you sure? There's no green light. All you did was hit a button."
"I'm sure, go ahead."
"Alright."
Suddenly there was a woman's face in front of the screen. Organa recognized her as a former Jedi hero. She had aged well. Unfortunately, there was something wrong... very wrong.
She was dead.
"Bastilla!" Varus suddenly yelled.
Ahsoka jumped, startled by his sudden outburst, and looked at him. His eyes were as wide as saucers. "No... no... She... She can't be dead." He whispered in disbelief.
Mandalore paled at the sight on the holoscreen. His surprise turned into a deep scowl and he clenched his fists angrily. The Wookie barked in fury and if it wasn't for Izthark holding him back, he might have attacked the device showing the video.
Varus continued to whisper to himself, and fell to his knees. His eyes never left the screen and tears appeared in his eyes. Ahsoka started to go to him... to at least be near... "Varus... what's wrong?"
But Anakin stopped her. He grabbed her arm and whispered gently, "He has Revan's memories..."
"I know that, but its not like he knew her!" She didn't understand. What was the relationship between Varus and this woman?
"No, but remember, Bastilla was Revan's wife." Ahsoka's eyed widened in realization. A cold chill went down her.
"uh oh..." Slavian reflected.
"Varus is feeling Revan's pain..." She murmured.
"Possibly." Anakin looked to Varus and a deep sadness went over his face. "There is no way of knowing how ingrained Revan and Varus are, but it looks like he is experience Revan's pain intimately. He may even love Bastilla, and not even have known it."
"Is there anything we can do?" Slavian asked.
"No, the memories are there to stay... we already crossed that bridge with him long ago." Ahsoka whispered.
"Hallo! Dis is me, Baaasteelaaa!" A voice mocked in a from behind the screen. The head bobbed up and down as the hand holding it moved, and the dead woman's jaw bobbed up and down unnaturally loose. Her jaw was split in front from a cut up the center of her face. It looked like she had been cut with the lightsaber.
Slavian threw up and Aramas paled in disgust. Aramas wrote something in the air and Ahsoka nodded. Aramas was going to take Slavian to the bathroom. They would be back when he feels better.
"That bastard..." Boba snarled.
"What's going on?" Falon asked worriedly.
Ahsoka gulped. "Someone is holding a dead woman's head in front of the screen like a puppet."
"Oh my..." Falon breathed.
Ahsoka didn't see who it was that was mocking her death, but she felt sick just from watching it. The mockery of life made her nauseus. If she ever caught the person who was doing this, she would gladly take him in to prison. Her heart ached as she heard Varus squeak as he watched his 'wife' mocked like this.
Not sure what else to do, she stood by him silently and watched the pain on his face go through its phases of disbelief and sickened realization.
"We are 'swarry' to interrupt your regular broadcast with a very important message. Isn't that right?" The head turned and a new face appeared on the screen.
"Yes, that's right." Starkiller replied to the head he held. He tossed it aside.
"Starkiller!" Most of the people in the room yelled in various forms of surprise, anger, outrage, and horror.
Varus was the only one silent. He paled further at the sight and fell from his knees to his hand and knees. He could barely keep from falling to the ground, his limbs shook so much. Ahsoka stopped down, grabbed his shoulders, and helped him keep from falling on his face. His face was frozen mask of horror, disbelief, and pain. He was so stunned he couldn't make a sound or change his expression.
Starkiller cleared his throat and looked into the screen. "There, now that I have your attention, let's get down to business..."
"When I get my hands on that little ******!" Mandalore murmured. Satine normally didn't like his language, but right now it was not just justified, it felt accurate.
"I have a list of things to do, so let's get to it." Starkiller pulled out a piece of paper. "First item on the agenda, a message. Right... Everyone, this is a message from the masters."
Starkiller cleared his throat and read, "All of you, Jedi! Vermin, who fight amongst yourselves for scraps. Look to yourselves and cower. Only those that submit will be relieved. Only those that beg and humble themselves will be spared. Long we have waited, long we have watched, and longer still we have prepared. There will be blood. There will be tears. There will be chaos. It is nearly time... time for you to feel our pain and our hatred and our fears as your own. We are the harbingers of all your sins come upon you... and they are many..."
Anakin seared the speech into his memory. These 'Harbingers' had a clear mission and focus towards the Jedi... and they spoke of past sins. Could it be linked to what Nihilus had said once.
"How could you ever hope to know the threat you face, when you have never walked in the dark places of the galaxy, or faced war and death on such a scale. If you had traveled far enough, rather than waiting for the echo of the Force to reach you, perhaps you would have seen it for what it was. Perhaps you could see the crimes etched into history by Jedi and Sith alike, and come to understand the need for redemption. Instead, you all wrote into your very code a need for detachment, to move away from your guilt and need to understand just what it was you have done to the galaxy. You stand yourselves up on such a high pedestal, you do not look to apologize to the ghosts of the past, and therefore in your final days those very ghosts shall lay you low. This is why I exist, Jedi. This is why Revan, Sion, Treya, Sidius, Malak… This is why our Sith Triad was born, to lay you low and humble and come to understand the doom you have planted for yourselves… and in so doing save you from it, before THEY do it for us. Because I promise you, Jedi, when they come, they will be less forgiving than I."
Nihilus had said that long ago... Nihilus was linked to Starkiller. Starkiller was linked to the Eternal Hand, as well as whoever gave them this speech to say. Nihilus knew... he had predicted.
Nihilus said that Revan and all of them had warned the Republic about these 'Harbingers' long ago, and had been disregarded, forcing them to take action and begin the Sith Triad war. All this time Anakin had believed it to be the man's need to justify his actions... but if there was even the slightest truth to it...
Anakin did his best to memorize every word down to the last detail as the speech was said. He would be looking into it later. And if Varus could recall Revan's memories, they might have a clue as to who it was leading the Eternal Hand, or at the very least being the mastermind behind Starkiller.
As for the speech. It was dumb and cheesy, but there had to be a purpose for it. There had to be a purpose for everything he was doing.
Starkiller finished his speech and bowed. "Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week! But that is not all! Time for a little game!"
"He's making a game of this!?" Ahsoka murmured. She and Anakin were Jedi, but she was getting dangerously close to truly hating the man. She believed in forgiveness, but for once... she was beginning to find an exception.
Starkiller had used her, tossed her aside, even kissed her! He had killed so many Jedi, mocked everything, put Varus on a path back to vengeance that she didn't want him on, killed Revan's wife and shoved it in Varus' face, mocked the very respect that should be had for life and death, and on galaxy wide television no less, and was making EVERYTHING seem like a game!
"Don't..." Varus whispered. Even though his attention was on the floor, she calmed. He sensed her growing anger and stopped her before it got anywhere. "Don't get angry... Not at him. Its not his fault... It's mine..."
"What?" Ahsoka whispered back. Why not at Starkiller? His words made no sense.
Starkiller continued, "The game is simple. We want Jedi Master Anakin Skywalker. We don't know where he is, but if you would all be so kind as to get him and hand him over, we would greatly appreciate it." Starkiller smiled. After a moment, the smile went from childish and nice and wanting, to dark and humorless. "Or... we will be forced to take action. Here is how this will work. Every day we do not have Skywalker in our hands, is another day we will open up the huge can o' worms we have come to call the 'Revanchist information database', and pull something out on one of you beautiful little victims. Now doesn't that sound fun!"
Anakin glanced worriedly at Mandalore. Mandalore didn't look like he was going for the bait. Whether Starkiller was serious or not, if the galaxy took it well, then one of two things would happen. The galaxy would go after Starkiller, or they would hand him, Skywalker, over.
Anakin would turn himself over if it had to be done, but he didn't exactly want to do that. He didn't want to leave his wife and children without a father, especially when he was still searching for them.
This 'game' only made Varus worse. He put his head on the ground and whimpered. Ahsoka could do nothing but sit by him and try to talk to him, but Varus didn't look like he heard anything.
His clones were out of control.
"Now... just to prove I'm serious..." Starkiller presented a blank piece of paper in front of the screen. "On the opposite side of this slip is the coordinates to where the Revanchist hid his family. Tomorrow morning I will show it if I have not received anything."
The transmission ended.
Anakin could only stare blankly at where the transmission had been. His... His family... The Starkillers knew where his family was... And they were going to put the location up on galactic television. His family... on galactic television.
As much as a part of him was overflowing with joy at the prospect of knowing where his family was, the last thing he wanted was the rest of the galaxy knowing as well, or Starkiller. Being Anakin, he had a lot of enemies. Naturally that would put his family in danger. He could just imagine the Dominion would send ten fleets for such a prize.
And Starkiller... Was after him. Using his family hostage.
Anakin couldn't feel anything. He wasn't angry. He wasn't happy. He wasn't glad or sad or mad or anything. He was numb. He could barely hear the yells around him, the fury in Mandalore's voice. All he saw was his angel in danger... and his little ones were being used as pawns in a messed up game for his head.
Most of the room was either in an uproar or was numbed into silence. Varus was neither, he was a guilty mess on the floor. He was hyperventilating, sweating cold sweat, shaking, stuck somewhere between guilt, horror, disbelief, and was on the verge of passing out. He kept murmuring to himself, and from what little bit she could get he was talking to himself, talking to Revan, and saying how sorry he was.
"Varus Wynn." Mandalore demanded. "Will these ******'s actually do it?"
He whispered something, but no one heard it. Ahsoka had to say for him, "Starkiller doesn't bluff... Ever. He sucks at it."
Mandalore, the peak of angry strength, collapsed in his chair and looked weary beyond his years. "How bad is it?" Boba wondered.
Mandalore chuckled. "Bastilla... Revan... The whole ding-bat Revanchist. They're experts at espionage, information gathering, blackmail, and being all brains. There is information on everything, from me and my favorite hobbies, to Count Dooku's favorite vegetable to whether or not Jobba snores in his sleep. Military secrets. Technological advances not yet announced. Predictions for everything imaginable. Not just on us, but our enemies as well. Most of our greatest victories have been acting on information she provided us, and our effective defensive response to attacks on our end."
Mandalore wiped his face with his hand and gazed into his helmet. "The information in that database can turn the galaxy on its head, spin it upside down, chew it up, and spit it back out. It will be chaos. The whole galaxy will be in chaos if we cannot stop them."
Varus flinched.
Boba said, "Then we go after them! Where are they?!"
"I don't know." Mandalore put his helmet on. "Bastilla never told anyone where she was. She was fanatical like that. Revan was afraid of something, and never returned after he left to fight them. That made Bastilla... a bit paranoid."
Varus, in a move that startled everyone, jumped up and fled faster than any of them could imagine. Ahsoka ran after him, but he was much faster and ran out the door before anyone could respond.
"Should we go after him?" Izthark asked.
"No..." Mandalore responded. "Let the lad be. Falon, I want you to stay on the ship with him and help keep us coordinated. He will be the key to our counter-attack."
"Yes, sir."
"What will you do, Master Jedi?" Boba asked Anakin.
Anakin looked down the hall where his two students ran and sighed. "I have some students to take care of... then we're going after my family."
