Ventress looked at the monastery in the distance, had it really only been four years? Shaking her head, how stupid she had been. Hell, what she was doing now was stupid but she knew they would find it interesting, even if the so-called "Orthodox" Jedi did not. Weirdest Schism in the history of the order this one, No Dark/Light divide, just pure politics. She chuckled, the inklings of her padawan days coming to mind. She ran her fingers through her short hair, she had decided to grow it out a little. Hide the pain of the past. Nodding to herself, she drove her speeder towards the mountain fortress where she had fought the Jedi so long ago yet not long ago at all. She estimated at least half an hour's drive through the jungle, if she could find a route that wouldn't require climbing.
Ahsoka stood at the grave again, Lux holding onto her providing some small comfort. A tiny grave for her lost child. Today marked the anniversary of her miscarriage. She looked to her husband, who was desperately trying to avoid tears himself. She smiled sadly; the pain would probably never go away for the rest of their lives but she had something she thought she would never have gotten the strength to say.
"Lux."
"Ahsoka?"
"I've been thinking."
Lux nodded, "About what?"
"I think I'm ready to try again."
"Are you sure?" he asked in concern, the last thing he wanted was for them to try again if she couldn't handle it.
She nodded, "I'm sure. I love you, and I really, really do want to have a family with you."
"And I want to have one with you," Lux replied with a quick smooch on his wife's montral "I just don't know if we're ready to try again yet."
"The pain will never go away, but we have to move past it at some point. I think we're ready." Leaning up, she slowly kissed her husband on the lips as he held her tight against him.
Anakin watched his children play, Jinn and Leia beginning to toddle, his girlfriend laying on his shoulder. He kissed the top of Luminara's head and cuddled her closer. His was far from the only family to be in the courtyard this evening, couples new and old, and children of all ages ran about in the waning sunlight. Life was good, and all seemed at peace: the government of Teth agreed to send any local force-sensitives their way, classes were getting started, wages and trade were getting the individual Jedi established or reestablished, Ahsoka had taken the Wookie youngling as a padawan, Obi-Wan let it slip that Satine had finally gotten pregnant, and the Reformed Jedi Order was established enough to maintain it's current position, with the Orthodox seeming to leave them be for the moment. They'd have to remain vigilant though, Windu could decide to wipe them out at any moment; they all knew it, all prayed to their personal gods that day would never come, but deep down they all knew it was only a matter of time. He smiled a sad smile, he hoped that they would be able to defend their home, their families, their new way of life from that ever-maddening lunatic. Then he heard a noise; it almost sounded like… wheezing?
Ventress grabbed the top of the cliff, digging her fingers into the dirt before pulling herself up and resting her forearms on the top, her head poking above the cliff's edge. "Kriffing…. bantha… poodoo," she gasped, finally pulling her entire body onto the top and flopping onto the ground and rolling onto her back, she breathed as deeply as she had ever breathed in her life. Hearing the sound of several dozen lightsabers igniting, she simply looked towards the complex, and saw the upside-down figures of several Jedi masters and knights.
"Ventress!" Anakin hissed, "Stay, away from our families."
Coughing, she held up a single finger, "Wait a minute!" she called out, "Wow, was cliff always that tall?" Rolling onto her knees she stood and chucked her unignited lightsabers at Skywalker. "I'm not here for your damned kids. *whew* I'm here to let you know, about Dooku's replacement for me. You wouldn't happen to have some water, would you?"
Plo Koon glanced towards Kit and Aayla Fisto, "Why didn't she just take the footpath?"
"ARE YOU TELLING ME THERE WAS A KRIFFING FOOTPATH?!" Ventress screamed.
"Yep," another Jedi sounded.
Anakin grabbed the lightsabers and hooked them onto his own belt with the Force, paging the rest of the council for an emergency meeting and tossed a bottle towards the former Sith assassin, who was more than happy to chug the entire thing in one go. "You. Follow. Now."
The seven masters played and replayed the cantina security footage. There was no mistaking it, with or without the armor, that was Gràinne. Why she protected a Jawa instead of killing him they didn't know or particularly care. All that mattered was that she on Tatooine. She was active in the wider galaxy. Anakin and Obi-Wan stroked their beards in unison, quietly pondering the revelation. Voss was the first to speak, "You said you showed the Coruscant Temple?"
"Tried. They wouldn't hear it, and I was lucky to get away from there in one piece."
"Doesn't surprise me," Obi-Wan commented, "They've been getting more and more paranoid by the day."
"Rumors in the underworld are that there was talk of a Jedi coup while the Senate was in a panic. Whether it was just a rumor or they chickened out I can't say."
"Windu had always talked about that as a possibility if Palpatine never surrendered his emergency powers. He's fanatically loyal to the Republic, I doubt he'd do it for his own gain."
"Madness changes men, Kenobi," Ti interjected, "We don't know how deeply the Nexus has permeated their minds and hearts."
Anakin never took his eyes off Ventress, "What else do you have about Gràinne? The new apprentice?"
"There's talk she saved a tribe of Jawas. Took an acolyte for herself from among them."
"Force-sensitive Jawas?" Anakin remarked, "Now I've heard everything."
"You've never met Master Akial, have you Skywalker?" Master Plo questioned.
"Who?"
"A Jawa Jedi Consular. I had the privilege of being on mission with him once or twice."
"Can't… say I have," Anakin muttered quietly in mild embarrassment.
"The footage says she was looking to buy components but for what?" Voss questioned aloud.
"No idea," was all Ventress could reply.
Dooku looked at the construction site before him, a new training academy and in the near distance a castle for Gràinne and a second, larger palace for himself; Séamus stood at his side as they awaited Darth Serpeness to return. It took little convincing to gain him as a soldier, if his wife-to-be trusted Dooku then he would too. The Sith Lord and Emperor of Britannia had spent that morning training new acolytes, there were a few dozen so far, an unusually high number for one planet to have at one time. Once they had gotten enough ships, they would continue their recruitment outreach in the unknown regions of space, to swell their numbers until they had a veritable Sith Order to rival that of the Jedi. For now they trained with metal blades and polearms, at least until his Apprentice returned with components to construct their new lightsabers. While somewhat breaking the tradition of how new Sith get their lightsabers, now earning them as a sign of rank as opposed to "murder a Jedi and take their blade" it was out of necessity. The Jedi would hardly notice one or two of their rank going missing, but dozens, even scores at once? That would raise alarm bells. No, they had to remain in hiding, likely for the rest of Dooku's natural lifespan, until they were ready to strike at last.
Hearing the sonic booms of two ships entering the atmosphere, he saw his shuttle and the freighter gifted to Serpeness by her Jawa allies. Glancing at Séamus, he simply said, "Come. Let's meet your fiancé."
Gràinne lowered the ramp to her shuttle and looked over at Poblithes landing the Millennium Falcon. She'd definitely make that one hers, without a doubt. She doubted she'd have much opposition in that regard as well, it seemed a little rough around the edges for the more refined tastes of her Master. Then she heard a familiar voice behind her.
"Gràinne? Mo grá? An é sin i ndáiríre tú?"
She stood frozen, almost refusing to believe it, refusing to have faith in the impossible. Slowly turning, removing her helmet, she saw him. "Séamus? SÉAMUS!" Turning fully and bounding into his arms, she melted into his kiss as he whirled her around as he always used to. "Séamus. Conas a tháinig tú slán? Chonaic mé an t-ollphéist seo á rith. Shíl mé go raibh tú marbh!"
"Aye, I thought I was dead to for a minute. But not even Death can keep me from me lass." He kissed her again, kissed the woman he thought he had lost forever; they would wed first thing in the morning, and he would always remain by her side for so long as he lived, he swore to it.
Dooku smiled. He would hear everything she had to say about what intel she could gather and see any materials she had brought, besides the flying junkheap piloted by a Jawa, but that could come later. He would leave her to her happiness; he had to plan for a trip to Korriban and Exegol, alone. He would gather texts and holocrons of the ancient Sith hidden away on these ancient worlds, the birthplace and the hidden refuge of the Sith.
End… for now.
SNEAK PEAK:
Serpeness felt a shift in the Force, memories she never had suddenly flashed before her eyes, raw power filling her, lifting her from the ground. In a flash, she witnessed millennia of Sith warriors in battle, a man in a ventilator mask leading a charge at the Jedi Temple, Sith warriors on Ruusan, combative trials of long-dead Dark Lords, earning their place at their masters' sides. All races, men, women, some she had no idea what they were: Twi'leks, humans, Pantorans, Rodians, Gun-guns, Muuns, Bith, Kaminoans, Zygerians, and even a Hutt. All the visions came to a halt, and she fell back to her feet where she stood. Around her loomed the phantoms of tens of thousands of Dark Lords, before her the red, haunting visage of Darth Bane.
The Dark Lord's spirit eyed her before proclaiming, "A thousand generations now live in you… Sith'ari." Much to her surprise, the phantom bowed before her, followed suit by the thousands of Sith who lived before her. All kneeled to the ultimate culmination of their work. By the hands of Darth Serpeness, the Jedi would finally fall.