Dromund Kaas

There was probably no more dangerous place in the galaxy for her right now than Kaas City, but Julienne knew she needed to meet with Nocturne.

"You are considered a rogue agent now and disloyal to the Empire," said Nocturne.

"Does that bother you?" she asked. It had been difficult to arrange another meeting with her Sith Lord accomplice, but she had still managed it. And he had come.

"It makes our task more difficult," he pointed out.

"It was going to happen eventually," she said. "Have you had any success in recruiting others?"

"Some," he said. "If even half of them actually answer the call when it comes, we might have a formidable force. I would still like to know what you are actually planning."

"A raid on the Citadel," she said. "While the Dark Council is in session. We need to have the Emperor there for sure and he needs to be goaded into staying else he will lose face in front of his own leaders. That may or may not be important, but this whole venture is fairly desperate anyway. Our allies need to be able to fight off the Dark Council and their minions while I engage the Emperor with my Jedi ally."

Nocturne's face looked highly skeptical. "And you are going to do what, exactly?"

This was the moment she had to reveal Shem's secret, but there was no avoiding it. Nocturne was not going to commit more resources and time without some hope of success.

"My friend has a unique Force ability that allows him to … repurpose raw Force energy. It is how we killed Malgus. And others. As a Force-users his abilities are fair at best, but you can't attack him with raw power or he just takes it in and feeds it back to you."

Nocturne was stationary for a time looking at her before finally nodding. "I've seen a video of the fight on Ord Janon. It is not very clear and from a great distance, but what you describe makes sense unless your 'friend' was extremely skilled at projecting Force lightning." The tall Sith again seemed to be considering their chances of survival. Even Monikas knew it was not very great odds, were one a gambler, but it seemed to be enough that Nocturne might agree. Finally, he nodded one more time.

"I don't like our chances overall, but I will prefer to die fighting than being absorbed in some crazed Force-ritual where I will have no chance to fight," he said. "I will proceed but the planning of the actual raid will fall under my purview. We will agree on a number and a method. Do you have other allies that will aid in our cause?"

"I expect that my ally will be able to persuade a force of Jedi to be part of the raid," she said. "And I have a few other ideas. I will cede the actual raid planning to you. It is well beyond my scope of experience anyway."

"Do your visions give you a range of time when this needs to take place?" he asked.

"Soon," she said. "I can't guess at a time, but the sense of urgency that I have felt of late, pushes me to move within the year. Sooner if we can manage it. I doubt that Shemric and I will be able to evade the Emperors assassins for an extended period of time." She started. She had never given Shem's name before and Nocturne had noted it. Well, it was done. If Nocturne chose to change his mind then she had nothing and would live out the remainder of her life as a fugitive.

"Soon then," he said. "Take care of yourself, Darth Monikas. This Shemric sounds like as good an opportunity as any to get the job done. Getting him into the council chamber is going to be the entire point of the raid and the rest of us are just supporting actors. I assume you would not have suggested this if he was not up to the challenge, so knowing that, I will proceed. I have to plan for the government that is going to take over when the Emperor is destroyed and that is going to be considerably more difficult to do than planning a raid." His laugh that followed was without mirth. "May the insane Gods of our Fathers preserve us. "

Bandomeer

Julienne sat back and tried to appear nonchalant as she surveyed the crowd and especially anyone knew that entered. there were more than a dozen Mandalorians that were here for drinks or business but she had a feeling that none of them was this Stryver that she was looking to meet. He had said she could wait for him here but been very vague about when and who. She was paying quite a bit to keep drinking water disguised as some smelly local spirit but so far she did not think he had arrived.

Instead of searching with her eyes, she reached out lightly with her mind and tried to sense if anyone there was trying to observe her. After a few moments she picked up on something and followed it to a Gektl that was sitting at the bar. They were a reptilian species and this one she thought might be a female. Or all the adults were female; she could not really remember.

Had she not been looking for it, she would not have been sure if it/she looked his way but it was the casual glance of someone trying not to make eye contact and now she was sure. Either it was an assassin, or it was Stryver and she needed to be prepared for both. Or for the Mando being an assassin and Stryver.

The next time her gaze passed overr her, she subtly suggested she come over and talk to her. It was the barest brush so that that he would not even realize it had come from her. A moment later she stood and looked around and then started walking over in Julienne's direction. Her walk was casual but it was a charade. This one smelled of danger and death. in her favor, she doubted the Mando would want to start a fight with a Sith without any armor.

The Mando sat across from her and scowled. "I know you did that," she began. "Did you kriffing Force-users ever consider that people don't like others messing in their heads?"

"It was a way to move this meeting along without bringing attention to ourselves," she replied. As such, I would say it worked. And I could not have done it to you if you were not already planning to come this way." The Mando who had yet to admit that she was a Mando did not appear to have been mollified at all by that explanation. She did not want to offend her but she also had no desire to sit in this bar any longer. This meeting had come about through a very odd set of circumstances and if she had not seen a vision where Mandos played a part in the attack on the Emperor's citadel, she would have feared a trap. Now she wanted to know how the Mando had found her. When she voiced this question, the Gektl gave her an odd look.

"I may have made the acquaintance of an associate of yours," she said. "A very annoying man named Shemric who had the bad form to defeat the Mandalorian Champion in the pit and then not stick around afterwards. However, he did mention you, if not by name, and so I have had my contacts on the lookout for you should you make an appearance. He told me a bit about your Emperor's plan to destroy the galaxy or some such."

"And why would you trust a Jedi that you were trying to kill?" asked Julienne.

"The Mandalore does not keep me as her champion just because I happen to be the best fighter under her governance," said Stryver. "That is how it began, but I have done much to earn her trust and she listens to my counsel to some extent. I have an extensive network of informants and others who I pay to help me help keep the Mandalore on top of current events. I sift a lot of information and have to make a judgment about its value. I tell you this so you will understand my role with the Mandalore." The Gektl stopped and took a drink of whatever she had brought over to the booth. "Your friend Shemric was persuasive. Not his words. His ... character." She stopped then and looked at Monikas as if that explained everything.

Julienne nearly smiled. Shemric had that ability to convince people that the things he said were true and without any use of the Force to influence their minds. She had no idea what would come of sending him to Mandalore but that was always how the visions worked. Blind faith in the will of the Force.

"You sound like an important asset Mandalore so I won't waste your time. I am looking for allies in an attempt to remove and destroy the Emperor. To do that we will have to conduct an assault on Dromund Kaas with a very high probability that very few , if any will survive. And the soldiers in question need to be comfortable with the idea of fighting powerful Sith Lords. Know anyone like that?"

She regarded Julienne for a long time before nodding. "I think I can help with that. I'm not sure the Mandalore will agree, but it would be better if she did. I'm not really sure how much I should even tell her in case she does not agree. She could cause a lot of problems for you should she choose. I can provide a Force of experienced troops that will be fine with fighting Sith even independent of the Mandalore, but that would be the end of being her champion. I intend to investigate this matter on my own, but from what I have gleaned so far, this is not politically motivate for you and that makes me think you may not be completely crazy. After all, what point is there in removing the Emperor if there is no benefit to yourself?"

Julienne sensed that Stryver phrased it as a rhetorical question, but really did want an answer. "I've seen Force-visions of the end of the galaxy. Or at least, I assume that was what I sensed. It felt very much like visiting the Emperor's home planet where he gained his power."

"I have been unable to verify that story," said Stryver.

"Nathema," said Julienne.

Stryver nodded and then stood. "I'll be in contact" she said and then left the bar.

Julienne pondered if this had been wise involving the Mandos, but she thought they would need plenty of assistance when the assault came. Having Mandos there would provide surprise in ways that Jedi would not. Assuming Shem would be able to persuade any of his fellow order. Darth Monikas finished her water, left payment and a tip and stood to leave herself. She did not sense any ill thoughts or an ambush, but she meandered randomly through the city until she was sure that she was not followed. It was time to get back to Coruscant. She had no idea why, but there it was.