3643—Dromund Kaas
Cheer up, Shem, said Julienne. This is going to turn out well.
They were riding along in a non-descript space bus that looked vaguely enough like a troop transport that it would not excite any comment. Monikas could sense Shem's thoughts and knew he was very nervous. Oddly enough, she herself did not feel nervous, only afraid. Maybe there was not much difference.
You promise, he replied?
Of course, she said. While I was on Coruscant I found a holocrom that was abandoned in the Jedi Temple almost like it was left just for me. The 'crom was an ancient Jedi psionic training course. The old Jedi inside searched my memories and found me worthy to continue, so I am probably the most advanced psionic in thousands of years. We are going to be fine.
She could sense that her words had calmed some of Shemric's fears. If only her own were so easily silenced.
"Five minutes, Lord Monikas," said Sergeant Sukwol. He was one of Nocturne's personal troops.
Monikas nodded and began to meditate. It was all coming to a close.
Monikas strode up the steps with Shem and her 'guard' in tow and tried not to admit to herself how much she was afraid of this moment. What should have been eager anticipation had become a silent dread. It was impossible to spend time with Shemric without reattaching to her feelings of happiness, warmth and human connection that came with him, but those feelings were not helpful here. Even knowing she was carrying Shemric's child was a liability. Each step up to the citadel's main gate felt like a march to her own destruction.
The problem Julienne, Monikas-whichever you prefer-is that you, like Shemric, cannot see that you are not two different people. The words were from Shemric's mother. Julienne and Monikas are both you. You feel like you must be Julienne to be a loving companion to Shemric, and Monikas to be a brutal warrior capable of bringing death to your enemies. I promise, there will come a time when you can no longer be torn between the two sides of who you think you must be. As she completed the last step, Julienne/Monikas finally understood. Today she had to be whole to destroy the Emperor and protect Shemric and her unborn child. What she called herself was irrelevant.
Julienne/Monikas slipped into Shemric's consciousness like the whisper of a breeze and joined with him.
It is time, my dear, she said. Monikas strode forward toward the open, but heavily guarded entrance. When a tall armored man stepped in front to bar her way she stopped and removed her hood. The unarmored clerk running the computer at the door saw her and his eyes widened alarmingly. Julienne reached out and blasted everyone before her off their feet and then leaped out of the way.
Sergeant Sukwol's team opened up on the weapons emplacements at the gate and then up above. Julienne sprinted forward as the armored doors began to close. She was through with Shem behind her long before they could bar her way. She strode into the guard control station where she ordered the personnel inside to shut down the defensive systems. It was a Force-enhanced suggestion backed by a look that promised death and they quickly complied.
Moments later, Sergeant Sukwol entered the center and herded the terrified personnel out of the room before setting his own people in their places. Two men remained outside manning the cannon. There was no need for Julienne to issue orders. The men began to shut down the orbital defensive shields and unmanned weaponry. One man made a call to the strike teams that should have been inbound already. Just over three minutes later, the citadel shook with the impact of the reinforced dropship breaching the outer wall.
"Nice work, Sergeant," said Julienne. "Seal yourself in and hold out as long as you can."
"Aye, my lord," he replied, without looking up.
Come, Shemric, let us join the others, she said. She strode out of the control room and ignited two red lightsabers. A subtle thought from Shem noted they were both of his manufacture.
Of course they are, she said. And then she ran off to follow the debris trail of the crash-landed dropship. They came upon the pitched battle that was already in progress, as red lightsabers clashed with blue and green and occasionally other red ones while the regular soldiers of the guard fired off blaster bolts at a furious pace. The Emperor's guard was arrayed in a rough semi-circle around the entrance to the Dark Council Chambers.
Let's drop on them from above, said Julienne.
Shem took Julienne's arm and blasted off with his rocket pack to skip over the line of warriors and drop down amidst the defenders right at the now-sealed blast door. Shem applied his odd Force-absorbing ability to gather the momentum of their fall and use it to blast the guards in their vicinity when they landed.
Keep them off me while I cut this open, she said. She thrust into the alloy of the door with both sabers. It began to turn molten but the progress was slow until several other Jedi and Sith joined her. When there were five or six entry points, Julienne waved the others through and stood to the side. This was the plan, to have the others engage and distract the Dark Council members before she entered with Shem.
Well, I have to say that everything has gone remarkably according to plan, my dear, said Julienne. Let us hope it continues. Just a few more moments … and, now! Julienne ducked into a hole in the wall and felt Shemric following.
Monikas entered the Dark Council Chamber that she had only visited once before and immediately felt that overwhelming presence of the Emperor. He was here and that meant that everything could still be accomplished. The council chamber itself was a war-zone with Sith, Jedi and Mandos engaging each other in deadly combat everywhere that could be seen. Monikas looked to the center to see the Emperor watching the conflict with an expression of anger on his face. Occasionally he would reach out and fire off blasts of lightning and concussion that overwhelmed any to whom it struck, but the combatants were so mixed up as to make it difficult to distinguish targets from a distance. That gave them a chance.
She could sense Shemric's feelings of horror and fear at the Darkside aura that drenched the entire council chamber and even his surprise that they were actually facing the Emperor. Monikas moved forward knowing Shem would follow and tried to skirt around several conflicts. Finally, there was no more avoiding it as Darth Ravage strode up and recognized her.
I will take him, Shem, she said quickly. Go to the Emperor!
Ravage tried to blast her with lightning, but she grounded it out on her blades and attacked him savagely. The surprise was evident on his ruined face as she drove him back into the center of the chamber and sensed Shemric leaping past her. She could see out of his eyes and knew he was approaching the Emperor, but needed most of her attention to survive her own fight. Ravage railed at her treachery and called her many names, but she continued to batter him with both sabers until he fell to his back, shocked that she had taken his blade hand. She ended him a moment later and then spun to where she knew Shemric stood. She thought he might have frozen there and almost called to him, but then he leaped at the Emperor and Monikas rushed to help.
With her connection to Shemric intact, it was not hard for her to 'hear' the Emperor as he intruded into Shemric's mind.
YOU HAVE AN UNCANNY KNACK FOR SURVIVAL, LITTLE JEDI. The words boomed in Julienne's mind and she thanked that ancient Jedi Master for her newly gained psionic skill and strength. She blunted the force of the words that were both communication and an attack.. AH, AND ONE OF MY OWN, A TRAITOR. I CANNOT SAY THAT YOUR RETURN IS WELCOME, MONIKAS.
She did not reply, but gripped and threw one of the Shem's Force javelins at the same moment she sensed him doing the same. The Emperor's eyes widened in surprise, but he swatted them aside with a derisive expression and then laughed.
IT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE ANYONE TRIED TO ASSASINATE ME, he said. THAT ATTEMPT DID NOT WORK OUT VERY WELL FOR THE JEDI OR SITH IN QUESTION, EITHER. They pressed their attack while he spoke but he blasted them back with a pure Force sending that made Shem's eyes glaze over for a moment before Julienne slammed his consciousness back in his body.
Do better, Shem, or this is not going to work, she cried at him.
They continued to circle and attack with sabers while he kept them back with lightning and concussive blasts that should have sent them flying were Shemric not absorbing the energy and dissipating it. Julienne had also lashed out psionically several times only to be rebuffed. She sensed the crudity of the Emperor's skill, but he was so powerful it hardly mattered.
Julienne managed to circle behind him and they rushed the Emperor from both sides, but she felt herself be slammed as if hit by an invisible wall. She fell as she sensed Shem unleash all the pent-up Force energy at the Emperor. The man was surprised, but he rebuffed the attack and Monikas felt him gathering strength to crush Shem.
This is the moment, Shemric, came Julienne. You must drain him.
When the attack came, it was a discharge of pure Force energy and Shemric took it in and sent it back at the Emperor in the form of lightning. As he had done with Malgus, Julienne sensed him began to pull energy directly from the Emperor and use it to feed his assault further.
FOOL! THAT IS A NICE LITTLE TRICK, BUT YOU ARE STILL A MEANINGLESS INSECT NEXT TO ME.
Monikas felt the flow of power into Shemric cease and then it was rushing out of him like a river trying to fit through a hose. He would be drained if she could not help him.
Shemric. Fight this, Shemric! He will suck you empty until you cannot exist! She felt along the connection she held with Shem and then used a portion of control over his mind to access his special talent. She felt the flow of power out of him slow but it was still the outrushing of great waters through a small break in the dam. They could not stop it. Even his fear for Julienne could not halt the flow. Shemric knew he was moments from ending and Julienne could do nothing.
You don't have to win this fight on your own, Shemric. The voice was not one that Julienne recognized but pure Force essence joined with them in the great tug of war and the flow of power out of Shemric lessened.
You brought us to do this thing, came Grand Master Shan's voice. Her presence caused the flow to slow considerably, but it was not enough.
Then I guess you need some more help, came Nofa voice. Or was it his mother and father? All the voices blended in their minds and suddenly the tug-of-war ceased. Or rather, the change of Force essence flow stopped and they were suspended in limbo, neither side moving or giving in.
YOU ARE ALL FOOLS! YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME. I WILL NOT BE UNDONE!
Julienne could sense the Emperor's fear. He was desperate and pulled harder; again the tugging resumed and the energy rushed out of them despite all the others' every effort against it. It was not going to be enough.
Julienne saw a small green streak converge with the Emperor and she saw it was Shem's friend, the tiny battlemaster Nofa. She drove her green saber into the Emperor's chest and his eyes widened in shock and pain for a moment before he reached out a hand to Nofa and made her … disappear, as if he had simply destroyed her at the most basic level. In the Force, Julienne felt her life force extinguish and then heard the faint whisper in their minds. The Force is with you, my friend. And then she bid Shem goodbye.
Monikas could sense the Emperor's fight to maintain his life essence even while his body failed and Shemric took his Force-energy. She lashed out with her mind and found the lessening link between the soul and body of this man who has lived long past his time. And then she severed it.
The power that rushed into Shem then brushed aside their connection like it was nothing and she lost the sense of his mind. She scrambled to find it in the flood of energy and felt as if she was climbing a waterfall using a rope. Julienne felt the link narrowing and it closed down to a fine thread of connection. She stopped then and realized she had been trying to force her way back into his mind. Instead, she relaxed and sank into a deeper psionic trance. She ignored the rush of energy and simply spoke to Shem in his mind.
Shemric, she asked gently. His thoughts were strange to her now, as if he was looking down on her from a great height.
WHO ARE YOU? he asked finally.
The intensity would have swept away her defense before her new training, but even then it felt like his thoughts were a ram against the doors of her mind.
You know who I am, she said.
Then he slapped away her psionic defenses as if they were nothing and began to rummage through her memories. She sensed his confusion. What was she? An enemy. A friend. A lover. An accomplice. She had brought him to this point in his existence. She was responsible in part for who he was.
WHAT DO YOU WANT? he replied.
You seem to have lost your way, Shemric, said Julienne. Let me help you find your way back. She tried to strengthen the thread of their connection but he pushed her away from himself easily.
This is not what we came to do, Shemric, she said. Julienne was gaining confidence now. Yes, he was very powerful, but she knew the mind better and she was more skilled. He slapped her away again but she went back quickly. You have to find a way to disperse that power without destroying yourself and us all, she said. You can do it. I don't know how, but you do.
Shem was thinking thoughts that were beyond his ability to accomplish. He felt like he had the power to right the wrongs of the galaxy. He had power to make bad things stop happening. He had power to do … well, whatever he wished. Why would he give that up?
This is not what you want to be, Shemric, she insisted.
STOP USING THAT NAME. I AM NOT … HIM, ANY LONGER. I AM MORE.
She cringed back for a moment but then struck again.
It is not up to you to solve all the galaxy's problems, she sent. We must all make our own choices. We have done what we came to do.
Despite everything, Monikas sensed that she was losing him to the feelings of omniscience and omnipotence he was experiencing. That was intolerable. She had not come this far to fail. She tried again.
Think of our daughter, Shemric. Our daughter does not need an all-powerful being. She needs her father.
She forced a vision into his mind of a man and a little girl. The man was swinging the girl about as she laughed and laughed until they both tumbled to the ground. Daddy, daddy, again! cried the child. She had dark hair that streamed behind her in the breeze and she looked at him with such … love?
It was a construct of her making, but Julienne knew it to be true.
WHO AM I? he asked.
You are Shemric Norm. Man. Jedi. Friend. Lover. Spouse. Father. She tried to send her love and affection along the link; as much as she could muster. You are mine, Shemric. I have given my life to you. You need to set this thing down and take that life back. You need to find a way.
Julienne sensed his resistance. He did not want to come back.
Daddy? It was not so much a voice or a word as it was a sending of … something.
Julienne sensed it as Shemric did and it was not of her sending.
Daddy?
Julienne sensed Shem feeling along tentatively at the connection with the voice. He entered her and went through her to their unborn child and then out to a great network of other life connections.
Julienne is right, Shemric, came another voice. This is not what you want to be. Find a way to put it down.
That was not the child voice; Julienne thought it was Shem's mother.
Use the power to find a way, Shemric, Julienne sent again. And then Shem recognized her again and she felt their connection blossom as their shared consciences rushed together.
I am glad you are back, Shemric, but you need to find a way out of this quickly, said Julienne. Your body cannot sustain this for very long.
I do not know what to do, he said.
Well, do better, she said.
Shemric sensed she was correct and he remembered the other voice. Use the power to find a way. He extended his senses into the roots of the planet. He felt along the unlimited pathways that connected all living things and he sensed a dying, groaning planet and its people that had been slowly drained to give the Emperor his power. It was wrong. Shem reached out to the trees and the water and the sky and poured his power into them until they were full of life again. He reached into the people and gave them hope. He reached down into the planet's core and fixed the damage there. He touched a million little things and made them whole. Flowers bloomed, small birds sang, water became pure and the sky became blue. For just a moment Julienne shared the connection with Shemric to millions of things and her mind strained at the enormity of it, but she sensed that he was overreaching and needed to pull him back.
Enough, Shemric, said Julienne. You must leave something for yourself.
Their connection was as strong as ever, but now their shared awareness was no more or less than it had ever been. It seemed a great loss, of a sudden.
Daddy?
Julienne knew it to be their daughter now, but shielded her from any further contact. Her spirit was too unformed yet to experience this.
A moment later she felt Shem let go and his consciousness fled far away.
Julienne sensed Shemric passing out but could do nothing to catch him. The entire exchange after the Emperor's death had taken mere heartbeats to accomplish and to an outside observer, Shem's Jedi friend had attacked fewer than five seconds earlier. However, with the death of the Emperor and the release of his pent-up Force energy, the atmosphere of the council chamber changed dramatically. Men and women who had been fighting stopped suddenly. The air felt … different.
Jedi and Sith who had been fighting stood back and eyed each other warily and then looked to the center of the chamber.
"The Emperor is destroyed," she said, and projected her voice so all could here. "What becomes of the Sith now is up to you, and others. Let us end this conflict." Warriors of all types began backing away from each other and checking their dead and wounded. Some looked stunned. Other faces held the triumph of success.
The Mandalorian Stryver landed close to Shemric and looked down at him.
"Did he survive?" she asked.
"His body is still alive," replied Julienne. She feared his mind may have fled away; she could not sense him in any way.
"Well, we can't have that," said Stryver and pulled a pistol to aim at Shemric's head.
Julienne was so shocked that she could not even react. In slow motion, she watched the Mando's finger compress on the trigger. Shem was going to be killed.
A metal object flashed out of nowhere and struck the warriors arm. The shot that would have discharged into Shem's head stuck the tile harmlessly.
Julienne's half-formed cry turned into a blast of air that sent the Mando tumbling. Mandalorians all over the room opened up on Jedi and Sith alike as Stryver came back to her feet and came blasting back toward Julienne and Shem.
"What are you doing?!" she shouted as she deflected blaster bolts back at the Mando champion.
"It is time to clean up all the Force-users and free the galaxy of their tyrannical rule!" shouted Stryver.
The attack was so unexpected that Julienne was barely reacting at all.
When other Mandos landed near her, she nearly took the head off the first who approached until he held up his hands. "Take care of Stryver!" yelled the man she knew as Wash. He began dragging Shem to cover as the other Mandos fought their own.
To finally destroy the Emperor and then have this happen was intolerable. Her anger pulsed and with it her fear for Shemric and their child increased. She took it in and stoked it and fed it into lightning that burst out of her hands in a nearly-solid line of pure energy that connected her for a fraction of a second to the flying Mando champion. When it touched Stryver, she exploded from the inside, her tissue vaporizing in an instant and what was left fell to the ground in a lifeless heap and did not move.
Julienne looked around to see that the Sith and Jedi had teamed up against the remaining Mandos. Under that intense onslaught, the fight ended quickly and again there was silence. Grand Master Shan mounted the dais and put a hand to Shemric's neck.
"You need to take him away quickly, Monikas," she said. "We will withdraw with you out the way we came. I don't know what that was with the Mandalorians, but your surviving Sith council members may get the same idea." She retrieved her saber and stood scanning the chamber before beckoning to several of the Jedi.
The man Julienne recognized as Panarch took her orders and gathered their dead and wounded. In a few moments, Nocturne and her old master approached very cautiously.
"So you managed to succeed, my old apprentice," said Acina. "What does that mean to the Empire?"
"A new start," said Julienne, but Acina laughed.
"Always so naïve," said Acina.
Nocturne was eyeing the two of them carefully.
"What do you intend now, Monikas?" he asked.
"I intend to leave," she said. "This was never about collecting power for myself."
Nocturne nodded but Acina laughed again.
"Do you think this is the end of the game? Do you think you can just quit?" said Acina.
Julienne stood up to her full height and gathered all her strength of character and the Force about her. "Do not come looking for me, Acina," she warned. "Do not underestimate my wrath if someone decides to attack my family."
Acina met her eyes in surprise and blinked several times as if she was trying to understand what she was seeing. She did not like it at all. She let out a derisive laugh and whirled to depart.
"Good luck, Monikas," said Nocturne quietly. "I can't see how you are going to escape the politics of this transition, but I wish you well." They nodded to each other and he, too, turned and walked away.
The Jedi were already carrying Shem away and she loped to catch up to them and keep an eye out for threats. They were done here and now the only question was whether or not Shem would ever wake up.
This concludes the story so far as it is complete, but if you wish to read the rest of the story of Monikas and Shemric then it continues in my other story Knights of the Old Republic: Unexpected Allies starting with chapter 41. I may post future chapters from Julienne's perspective but those chapters are as yet, unformed. Thanks for reading.