It seemed so familiar and yet so distant.
Thayla walked through the jungle of dense foliage, feeling the fronds of alien ferns brush her skin before emerging into a clearing.
It was silent as the grave. Even the passing wind made no sound, nor did the dark figure before her.
A ship, golden and shimmering, stood in the center of the clearing. A ramp descended from its central body, where a person sat waiting for her.
"I suppose it is only fitting," it said, its face blurry and corrupted. "Once again, the Jedi come to end me."
"Who are you?"
As if in a dream, Thayla could clearly see the figure staring at her, even as its face remained obscured.
Without answering, it approached her and sat down on the grass, its legs crossed and eyes still glued to hers.
The Jedi did the same, sitting before it and asking once again, "Who are you?"
"I am the last of the Sith Consensus, rulers of the Kantic Sector."
"So, the Sith are behind all of this. The dark side hovers over the Blood Battalion, like a dark cloud."
"Do not confuse my people with the brutish warmongers of the present day. We took no joy in conquest."
"Then end the conflict. Send your people home, so we can have peace."
"There is no peace."
The figure sucked in a breath, taking a beat and centering itself before continuing.
"This remote corner of the galaxy was once ruled by a criminal overlord named Chawlor, who kept the populace brutally enslaved. The Republic turned a blind eye to the edges of its territory and the Jedi would not allow us to end the problem, once and for all. They wanted us to simply mediate and advise instead. Decades of watching the horrors continue finally changed something within the Jedi stationed so far from the soft and luxurious galactic core."
"The paths of hatred and revenge are always tempting, but they must be resisted for there to be peace."
"On that, we agree," it said, to Thayla's surprise. "We killed Chawlor, and as her head rolled down the steps of her opulent palace we smiled and believed we were the saviors of this insignificant sliver of the galaxy. We installed a man named Mel Ahn as governor and military leader, but Chawlor's body didn't have time to grow cold before he was committing the very same acts of aggression and terror. Then it was Occuren, then Gol-Noss and then a dozen others."
"You should have heeded the warning of the Jedi Council."
It uttered a sound that shook Thayla to her core, a laugh that unnerved her in ways she could not have imagined. "No, doing nothing as the slavery and bloodshed continued was not the answer either. We knew that from the start, but our path only became clear when we realized that the degenerates were beyond saving."
Thayla's mouth stood agape as it continued.
"As our blades cut through the savages, settlers and soldiers alike, we wept for a galaxy beyond saving. There was no anger or hatred, only aversive understanding."
"You are a monster," Thayla called out, her composure slipping.
It shrugged. "Small minds often have trouble digesting hard truths. After I harvest your corpse from the cold vacuum of, you will understand. I promise you that."
