Alright everyone, this is chapter twenty-six. I've decided that I'm just going to power through and finish this story, no hiatus like there was between act one and act two. Act three is currently planned to be at least ten chapters, but I think it's pretty likely to end up at fifteen, the same number of chapters as act two. Even if it is ten chapters, the chapters will be longer than the first act, as we've gone through quite a bit of length creep over the last act. Sorry, not sorry. Anyway, that's enough outta me, here's act three!
Secrets of The Outer Rim.
Act III.
The Hunters and The Hunted.
Chapter XXVI.
The Flight of The Silent Fleet.
The Silent Fleet was a fleet of some of the large ships ever constructed, capable of supporting truly massive amounts of people, and possessing a cloaking technology that's been lost to us, perhaps even lost to the refugees that first boarded these ships. There was a certain irony to the fact that these ships had led the exodus from Dromund Kaas which culminated in the discovery of Taaszon, now, these ships were fleeing Taaszon back to Dromund Kaas. Anyway, for all the technological marvels and benefits of these ships, they were rather slow. They were capable of hyperspace, but the hyperspace of four thousand years ago wasn't quite as fast as the modern equivalent, and I don't think the sheer scale of these ships is helping matters. In short, this means that, across these seven ships, hundreds of thousands of people are cramped into the same space, having just lost their world and countless friends, relatives, and loved ones, and there was a very uncertain future ahead of us. The Silent Fleet was a powder keg in that regard, stressed out, grieving, desperate people all grating on each others' nerves.
This meant that Phanza, while still reluctant to take a leadership position and definitely not wanting to play the same role that Empress Voytana had played, had quickly worked to establish capable, consistent, and constant security patrols. Considering we didn't only have to deal with civilians, but soldiers, Mandalorians, and even other Force users, Phanza decided that Schweva, Yevenna, and I should be part of these patrols. That meant that I was currently walking along the perimeter route of Admiral Wurrathu's capital ship, keeping order, making sure everyone was safe, and trying to make sure that people at the breaking point didn't crack. Needless to say, this was easier said than done. The problems began with me, a five and a half foot tall girl with stunted social skills, an aversion to conflict, and lacking the urge to be threatening, even if I had looked the part, having to be the one to assert authority over Sith civilians.
The automatic doors opened to reveal another one of the residential blocks of the ship. The Silent Fleet had stopped at several points by now, shuttling people across the ships, trying to get everyone with the right group of people and trying to unscramble the diverse groups of people who had all been thrown together in the last desperate stages of the evacuation, but people were still mixed up. It was a logistical nightmare to evacuate the entire population of Taaszon, especially considering ships and vessels from several other Grand Duchy worlds have joined the Silent Fleet in the voyage to Dromund Kaas. All of this was a further point of contention, adding to the stress and the tension building up on these refugee ships. Taaszon had been a diverse society, and, to me anyway, it had seemed to function well, but, either revealing an unseen undercurrent in society or as a result of the suffering and the fleeing, things were getting rather divided and tribal. That much was clear even as I stepped into this room.
The block has been similar to the one Phanza and all of us shared, with a central common room and a number of bedrooms, but the feeling in this room was completely different to my quarters. A few Chiss families, or perhaps just one extended family or clan, gathered on one side of the room, on the other, a group of humans, including a pair of soldiers, some with cybernetics, clung together, pretending that they were minding their own business, but I could tell that they were glaring across the common room at the Chiss. The solid red eyes made it hard to tell, but I had a feeling that the Chiss were up to the same thing, making it clear that both groups saw this as their space. I also noticed that, at the far corner of the area, one of the bedroom doors was looked. Mindful of the tension, and fearing what it could be, I headed over there and investigated, deciding that I would deal with this first.
"Hello? My name is Zaliza, I'm doing a security sweep, is anyone in there?" I called out as I knocked on the door, hoping I could get a peaceful entrance to this place. I had a distinct fear that, whatever is in this room, could be a point of conflict between the Chiss and the humans, but I couldn't be sure. That's why I wanted to investigate, to find out what's causing them to be so on edge. Perhaps I had feared a dead body, perhaps someone was hoarding food and resources away from the other, maybe it was something as petty as an empty bedroom the two groups were in conflict over, each wanting to gain it for themselves and deny it from the other. When the door opened, however, it was revealed to be neither one of them. A red-skinned Zabrak woman had opened the door, another, taller woman stood behind her, likely for security, and, behind them, three kids were cramped into the room. Two sons and a daughter, it seemed.
"Yes, it is five of us. Is there anything else you need?" the shorter one asked, her tone stiff and indicating her discomfort. I put together a number of things in that very moment. First of all, these quarters were overcrowded, all three of these families were large enough to warrant a number of bedrooms each, but, as it seemed, the Chiss had three, the humans had two, and the Zabraks were left with only the sixth. The second thing I noticed was that these aliens were scared. They felt the tension between the humans and the Chiss so they basically confined themselves to their own room for their safety, making the situation even more unhealthy than it already was. Third of all, I became distinctly aware of an older Chiss man, the patriarch of their clan, it seems, walking up behind me, likely wanting to explain the situation. I didn't have to be a genius to guess his explanation would make the Chiss the biggest victims here. He has an argument, to a degree, everyone here is sharing too little space with too many people, but I count five Zabraks forced into one room.
"What is going on here?" I asked the man, deciding to see what he had to say. I also noticed that, seeing this conversation begin, the two oldest human men - seemingly a father and his eldest son - came up to me as well, no doubt prepared to give their side of the story. I would imagine that their side of the story would, naturally, emphasize the suffering of the humans, complain about the Chiss majority, and leave little to no consideration for the aliens. Naked self-interest was already a growing theme in these sweeps, going along with the tribalism and the tension. I wish that I could say this was the first time I've seen something like this on the security sweeps, but I've already had to deal with fights, with interspecies violence, and with the hoarding and unequal distribution of food and resources. It's not even like I've been doing this for long, this is one of my first sweeps, and I've already been exposed to this. Needless to say, this wasn't going to be an easy voyage, not on us, and not on anyone else on these ships.
"There are too many of us per room in this section of the ship. We have already brought this up with the section administrator, a Cyborg man named Senphtos, has refused to do anything about this. He and his family have one entire block to themselves, and he has done the same to a number of his allies. This has left the rest of us overcrowded and sharing rooms with hated strangers and enemies of ours." the Chiss Patriarch explained, actually painting the situation to be more complicated than it was. I had assumed this was simply down to lack of space and overcrowding, combined with prejudices and conflict, but they were principally putting the blame on corruption. I was about to ask a natural follow-up question, but one of the human men preempted it and answered me.
"We've complained to Senphtos but he hasn't done anything with it. We tried to go around him and go to Lord Korzytkos but we were blocked from doing so. Senphtos isn't letting us make things any better, so all of us are just trapped together in this little space. We can't live like this." the younger of the two humans added, the eldest son rather than the father. Lord Korzytkos, from what Phanza told me, was the human male Sith Lord that spoke with the Chiss General after the elite council meeting at the beginning of the voyage. I was going to give the Sith Lord the benefit of the doubt and assume that he was unaware of Senphtos' corruption when appointing him to this position, but that just demonstrates another one of the difficulties with getting people in the right place here. Corrupt interests, lying, incompetence, and even just ordinary people being distrustful of the process all make it hard to try and get everyone in the right place, especially while we keep moving in the attempt to get to Dromund Kaas as quickly as possible.
"Is this true?" I asked the Zabrak women, still standing in the doorway behind me. It's not that I necessarily doubted the humans and the Chiss, I just wanted to hear from the ones suffering the most that Senphtos truly was the main problem, or if they were trying to scapegoat him. They could blame things on Senphtos and improve their situation for the voyage while leaving the Zabraks in the same position, if not in a worse one. I also took note that, with two women and three kids, whatever their exact relationship was, this was an unconventional family, and that added another layer of potential discrimination to all of this. Basically, with these people being pushed to the breaking point, I wanted to be as informed as possible before acting, because these things were complicated, and trying to act with too broad of a brush could have consequences. Innocent families could be forced to give up rooms because they happen to be associated with the administrator, even if they didn't actually engage in any of the corruption that is being alleged here. I wanted as much context as possible before any meddling.
"Yes. We wanted two rooms between us, one for one of us and the two boys, and another for the other and the daughter, but we're still cramped into one block with people who don't like us and aren't like us." the taller one replied, getting bolder as she spoke. She had a point about what she said and, while I didn't think that I could necessarily do anything about putting them in a block with people like them, I could at least try and improve things and remove the source of the corruption and the problems all of these people were facing. I could only hope that, the next time I took a sweep of this area, these people would at least be somewhat happier and living in somewhat better conditions. Thus, with that, I left the block and headed off to see the section administrator. Each section administrator had their own office at the center of the residential blocks, and Senphtos was no exception to this. It was one of the methods we developed to try and keep optimal control of the situation but, obviously, even this system is having its hiccups. Fortunately for me, I found Senphtos in his office.
"Yes, my Lord?" he asked about seeing me, Senphtos was a large man with cybernetics along his jaw, the side of his face, and even up to his eyebrows, making him look rather ridiculous, all things considered. I also had to wonder how many of those cybernetics were strictly necessary, but I wasn't going to ask about that now, no, this wasn't the purpose of this meeting. I thought for a moment how I was going to approach this, was I going to try and manipulate him into giving a confession, was I just going to come out and accuse him, or was I just going to straight up remove him from the post? If I did remove Senphtos from his post, what was going to happen next? Who was going to appoint his successor? Did I even have the authority to remove him from his position? I didn't know, but, I knew I had to say something otherwise I was just standing here like an idiot over his desk, so i went with my instincts.
"Hello Senphtos, my name is Zaliza Vyvan, I'm an apprentice of Lady Attam. I was doing a security sweep on this section of the ship and I have received alarming news. The blocks are unevenly distributed. My understanding is that you, your family, and your political friends and allies have been boarding blocks of rooms while the civilians of this section are forced into overcrowded and unsanitary blocks. I have seen a block containing multiple families from three different species who do not want to be together, and my witnesses for this include a Chiss clan leader, two soldiers, one of which seems to be a officer, and a number of civilians. What do you have to say for yourself?" I acted rather methodically, presenting who I was and pointing to Lady Attam as the source of my authority, as if the mention of her justified my presence here. Next, I presented the case, and pointed out that I had witnesses to corroborate all of this, pointing to the Chiss patriarch and the father and son soldiers I encountered, as well as the two Zabrak women and their families. Finally, I gave him the chance to explain himself and defend himself, effectively allowing him to present his side of the story but, to my surprise, he didn't.
"I...I apologize, my Lord, I will get to fixing this at once. Have mercy on me and my friends, we will limit ourselves to one or two blocks and allow the others to fill the open spaces. Everything will be fixed by the next sweep, I promise!" Senphtos rambled out quickly and, to be honest, I was a bit caught off-guard by this immediate and rapid capitulation. My first instinct was to assume that he was lying, that this was an attempt to throw security off his tail so that he and his friends could continue their corrupt and selfish practices, but that overly simplistic explanation didn't stand up to much scrutiny. No, this was driven by fear, fear for the Sith, and fear for myself on the assumption that I was a Sith and that I was more than willing to act as one. Senphtos was perfectly willing to act like this when he thought no one would notice a corrupt minister on a ship on a flight that listed a little over a week or so, but now, being caught, there was no way that he was going to risk messing with the Sith, especially with someone who is, ostensibly, a Sith apprentice right in front of him.
That was precisely why I could never fully commit to being a Sith. Everything Phanza has done, everything she believes in, her pragmatism, her mercy, and her liberal interpretation of the Sith Code doesn't change what the Sith are to so many people across the galaxy. Even here, even in Taaszon, where the people are born and raised in a Sith state and seem to, broadly, enjoy it, people still fear the consequences of crossing a Sith and, even the greediest, most despicable character will bow before a Sith, for self-preservation is the most one could hope for in their presence. Senphtos gave up because his life is more important to him than these rooms or the gratitude of his allies, he gave up because he feared what I would do if I didn't, and, even after thousands of years of relatively practical and reasonable Sith, the common people still fear the evil and the horrors of the old Sith. I hardly think that it helps matters that the people just saw the brutality of Palpatine and his Sith. Taaszon fears the Sith and, as I look like a Sith, learn from a Sith, and currently represent a Sith state, they fear me too. I don't want to be feared, I don't walk people to do things for me just because they're scared that I'll hurt them, and I don't want to live by intimidation and theatrics.
"Good, good. Thank you." I responded, numbly, not wanting to be here any longer. Strictly speaking, I did a good thing, I got things to be better for those families and clamped down on the excesses and corruption of a greedy administrator, but I didn't feel like I just did a good deed. I felt like I was abusing my authority. I felt like I was taking advantage of the fact that I was a Force user and flaunting my power to get what I wanted. I felt like I only got my way with Senphtos because he feared the consequences of disagreeing with me or saying no. I don't think I'll ever get the full story of what happened here or what motivated Senphtos to do what he did, any picture I'll get will always be clouded by the fact that, in this Sith state, when a Sith interacts with a common person, the Sith has all of the power. It didn't feel right, and I didn't feel like myself. So, I got away from the office and these blocks as quickly as I could, heading to the large cafeteria linking this section of the ship with the next one down the route of the ship.
These massive mess halls were where the population of these ships were fed, another massively difficult logistical task. The ships were filled with enough food for a full capacity pilgrimage lasting several months, so, somewhat below capacity and with the voyage not expected to last more than a week or so, we're fine with that part. The water systems are also helpful, with the ships water supply constantly being recycled and purified, waste products and contaminants ejected into space, solving another issue. The real problem, however, is the distribution of the food and water. The amount of people on these ships, different dining habits, and significant backlash when we tried to establish a schedule means these cafeterias need to be staffed practically 24/7, primarily with droids, but needing a few people always on staff just for the jobs that the kitchen droids can't handle. Naturally, this means multiple shifts, it means having mechanics on staff in case anything goes wrong with the machines or with the droids, and it means doing so across all the mess halls on all the levels of all these Silent Fleet ships.
As for the people in this room, that was also somewhat disappointing. There were a few cases of diverse tables or even just people socializing with other species and other social classes, but, by and large, the tolerance and the diversity that impressed me when I first came to Taaszon seems to be breaking down. People were sitting by their respective group, usually within their family, clan, or circle of friends, almost always within one species. There were even divisions within species, as not all humans sat together, not all Chiss, and the same thing trickled down to other species. People were scared and uncertain, and they wanted to make sure that the people closest to them got the best of whatever was coming, even if its at the expense of other people, former neighbors, and former friends. I have to admit that it's disheartening, and it's removing one of the things that impressed me about Taaszon, one of the things that convinced me that this wasn't just a typical Sith state with all the expected pain and suffering that came with that.
I can't necessarily blame the Sith though, not for everything. The cold, hard truth is that this kind of selfishness and evil is within all of is. It's only natural to default to archaic and tribal lines when confronted with extreme difficulty and challenges, but that didn't make it any less heartbreaking. This was a society that was once healthy and vibrant, and now it was falling apart, becoming divided, perhaps irreversibly so, and this wasn't something that was just going to end when we landed on Dromund Kaas, if anything, it was going to get worse. We didn't know what awaited us on that planet, but I knew that everyone would be trying to get the best position possible and those people aren't likely to just turn around and help everyone else reach that same level. No, if people have been cutthroat, selfish, and exclusionary now, they're going to continue being cutthroat, selfish, and exclusionary when confronted with the one the ground realities awaiting us. Even if things aren't all that bad on Dromund Kaas, which I think is rather unlikely, I doubt that people like the two Zabrak women are going to forget what it was like to be on these ships and facing the tension and the exclusion. In the short amount of time since this voyage began, there have already been deep wounds that won't just heal easily.
I tried not to dwell on that as I left the cafeteria and continued my sweep, coming out of the cafeteria into a hallway on the other side, this one leading towards the bridge of the ship. Well, it would lead to the bridge if I was on that level of the ship, right now it's just leading to the level below that. Ships big enough to move entire populations between planets are going to need multiple levels, that's just the only way to deal with hosting this many people without having such a giant footprint that landing seven of these ships would be possible. The valley holding them on Taaszon was already one of the larger ones in the mountains of Taaszon, and finding a landing site on Dromund Kaas would also be a difficult one. We have no idea if the original take-off site of these ships is even still around now. Four thousand years of geological events, plant growth, and infrastructure decline isn't exactly the ideal conditions for a landing site, especially not one big enough for all these ships and the secondary vessels that joined us after leaving Taaszon. Anyway, I reached the room below the bridge.
I was rather surprised to see the cloaking devices were down here, along with an express elevator that lead to the bridge, but I was also rather surprised to see Lady Attam here, the Nautolan speaking with a seemingly female human doctor wearing some sort of face mask. The two of them were analyzing one of the cloaking devices, trying to piece together some sort of understanding of them, despite the fact that some of Taaszon's best scientists have tried before and failed. I understood why they were still trying anyway, after all, if we could figure out these cloaking devices, the benefits would be massive. Especially from a military perspective, because practically undetectable ships could finally give us an advantage over the Empire. That being said, as I approached my master and this woman that she was talking to, they didn't seem to have made much progress figuring this stuff out.
"They respond to the Force, they definitely use the Force, but they can also operative completely independently of the Force. From what Admiral Wurra'thuundo'oma has told me, these devices were turned on by ordinary naval engineers, not Sith. As for whether they are alive or not, the short answer is that we can't tell. The long answer is that, while these devices are all definitely machines and we have no evidence of sentient thought, but we've also never seen machines like these being capable of using the Force." the doctor woman reported and, on closer examination, she wasn't just wearing an ordinary face mask. The ornate black fabric covered her eyes, or at least where her eyes would be, implying that the brunette woman was blonde, yet she just gave accurate and detailed descriptions of the device, something which indicated detailed observation.
"What about the dating?" Phanza asked, still conversing with this woman about the cloaking devices. Phanza did look over at me and nod, acknowledging my presence, but she wasn't going to interrupt the conversation for me, not yet anyway. I could understand that too, this was obviously more important, and I wanted to know about what was going on too. The Sith seemed pretty well aware of what their civilization was like four thousand years ago, yet this particular bit of technology was lost to them, and that was weird. The cloaking devices didn't even look particularly like the architecture of Taaszon, they were this curved black and silver design, almost looking like a warped and bent metal ribcage. A strange and foreign design, and I wasn't sure how old it was.
"I'm going to have to do another test, the first seemed way off. I was seeing figures dating back to 25,000 years ago. I'm going to do another test, taking potential contaminates into account, and, well, if I get the same result, then we have something big here." the blind woman replied, noting something that was very, very weird. 25,000 years would make these cloaking devices older than the Republic itself, older than the galaxy as we know it really, because 25,000 years ago puts it before most species discovered hyperspace. 25,000 years ago brings us back to the Rakatan era. I can see why this woman wants to do another test. In any case, the woman now turned to me and moved to introduce herself. She was a bit flustered as she began "Oh, my apologies, my name is Doctor Oljena Daiyor, the Grand Duchy's principal expert in Antiquities, Relics, Holocrons, Ancient Armaments, and Curiosities."
"Zaliza Vyvan, I'm an apprentice of Lady Attam," I replied, introducing myself. Antiquities, Relics, Holocrons, Ancient Armaments, and Curiosities, an impressive and rather varied list, containing multiple different kinds of specialties and research, but the blind woman seemed capable of doing it from everything that I've seen, though I must admit that my sample size is relatively limited. I noticed something was wrong when a silence sunk over us with the introductions, and I turned to see that Phanza was pulling some sort of device off her belt, something which seemed to be a small box with a screen on it at first. It was proven to be more than that when, from the top of the device, Phanza pulled out a long antenna of sorts, or maybe it was more accurate to call it a stick, as inelegant a term as that was. I watched as Phanza stuck the rod between the rids of the cloaking device and waited for it to pick up a reading, eyes focused on the little screen. Time practically ground to a halt as she waited for a result and the two of us waited to see what this was all about.
"Okay," Phanza sighed with relief when her device beeped and she finally got a reading. She turned to us, first explaining the reading that she got, and then what the device was and why she had it with me "If it's Rakata, it has to be early Infinite Empire, because I'm not picking up the telltale corrupt Dark Side energies associated with the Star Forge, the Belsavis sites, and other late Rakatan era archaeological records. Whatever the energy radiating off these machines and letting them use the Force is, it's not actively harmful. Voytana provided me with one of these devices after I had to put down a Sith Lord who was corrupted after too much direct exposure to a Belsavis site. I brought it with me to Manaan to scan the cybernetic factory for any Rakata technology, but I never got the chance to get down there. Fortunately for us, I still happened to have the device on me."
There was a lot to unpack there, mainly the fact that the Sith seemed to have a lot more research into the Rakata and their technology than the Republic did. We had next to know information about a Dark Side presence in Rakatan technology that almost seemed to behave like radiation, spreading outwards from its source and corrupting anything that it touches. The second thing is that Phanza had reason to suspect that Rakatan technology could be involved in the cybernetic factory that she and Rahlkann had feuded over, something that she had never mentioned. I also took note of the fact that Phanza so casually mentioned that she had to murder one of her counterparts, killing a Sith Lord who was driven rabid by this Rakatan Dark Side energy she was worried about. I had to admit that bothered me, not just because of how she was so nonchalant about murdering a former ally, but because her tone did nothing to indicate any remorse or guilt over it. Perhaps she saw it in a different way than I did, but, to me, that meant there was no real companionship or loyalty between the Sith of Taaszon.
"Hmm. I'm going to date these one more time and report back. We're dealing with something here, I just don't know what." Doctor Daiyor replied, possessing a familiarity with Rakatan technology as well. This certainly could be Rakata, especially if the date turned out to be true, but they weren't sure yet, and, well, if it was something else, then that would just flip our whole understanding of the history of the galaxy on its head. For now though, there was little use speculating, we would have to wait and see where the evidence points. Daiyor left and that left me and Phanza alone in this cloaking device room. I was about to leave and continue on my security sweep of the ship when my master stopped me, not quite finished.
"Come, walk with me," Phanza simply requested, walking in the direction that I was going to go anyway, put at a slower, less methodical rate. The message was obvious, the sweep was going to take a backseat for a moment while the master and the apprentice talked. I didn't have a problem with that, at least not yet anyway, because we were only heading down a straight hallway, it would be a little while before another block or a cafeteria or anything like that came up. An uneventful part of the sweep gave me the opportunity to talk with Lady Attam without really missing anything of any importance. Phanza was the one to speak first, telling me more about Doctor Daiyor "Oljena really is the best in her field, if anyone is going to figure out these cloaking devices, it's going to be her. Young and energetic but with years of study and experience, combined with a small amount of Force sensitivity makes her the ideal candidate for something like this."
"She's Force sensitive?" I asked, not having sensed any particular amount of power coming off of her. Granted, I hadn't exactly been looking, but I felt Phanza's presence as I entered the room. Now, one could argue that I've been around Phanza a lot since I first met her on Coruscant and that I've grown a lot more used to her presence than a random stranger's, and there was also the fact of the Force bond between us to consider, but it's still weird that I didn't notice anything. I know that Phanza said Daiyor only had a small amount of Force sensitivity, but it is weird that I didn't notice anything coming off of her. I didn't really notice much from the machines either, but, to be fair, I think that was more like the kind of energy I would feel if I was meditating. Sort of like how I can feel the grass or the people near me when tapped into the Force but, when I'm not focusing on it, it sort of fades into an almost invisible, undetectable presence at the back of my mind. Still though, devices powerful enough to cloak a ship of this scale seemed like they would have more of a presence than a mere blade of grass.
"Yes, she's a Miraluka. All the members of her species are, they see through the Force. You know those little training exercises where you close your eyes and block blaster bolts with just your lightsaber? Well Miraluka practically live like that. Their senses are so tuned by the Force that they can literally feel vivid colors, energies, and presences around them. Being that tuned in and honed, Daiyor can feel the energy in these machines better than you or I could. Like I said, she's almost like the perfect person for the job." Phanza explained, also indicating that she didn't really feel much from the cloaking devices, making me feel better about my own condition. As for the species, I've heard about the Miraluka before, an ancient species of Force users who were almost entirely human, save for a complete lack of eyes, but I thought that they were extinct. At least, I thought if there were any Miraluka left, they would be members of the Jedi Order, not out here in Sith space of all places, but, well, Taaszon keeps surprising me. Even if we're not on Taaszon anymore...
"How's the security sweep going?" Phanza asked, changing the subject. I couldn't exactly blame her for doing so, she pretty much answered all the questions I had about Doctor Daiyor, and asking more would feel unnecessary and obtrusive. I could ask how they know each other or how long they've worked together, but what would be the point? I didn't need to know right now and I should be used to Phanza knowing people I don't by now. Of course she does, this is the Grand Duchy of Taaszon, her home, I've only been here since Order 66. Voytana, Wurrathu, Daiyor, even Lord Korzytkos and the other Taaszon elites, I had no connection to them, but Phanza knew all of these people, and that meant that she had a whole different context than I did. That isn't entirely good though, because that also means that she lost more during the Battle of Taaszon and, while she is trying to remain professional and strong despite that, there's no way all that death and loss hasn't affected her. The loss of Voytana in particular. Whenever Phanza mentions her now, it's almost like she still thinks the Grand Duchess is alive before catching herself. I noticed it when she mentioned the device. That also brought up the other thing about Voytana...
"The sweep is going fine. I had to deal with a corrupt administrator though, but he gave up as soon as I called him on his behavior." I summed up the events almost automatically, but my mind was elsewhere. My mind was on the Force bond that Voytana created, the thing that left Phanza and I forever linked since that first encounter, and the thing that saved my life after the clones turned on me...on us...on Ypherro. This bond had seemed like such a good thing for so long, and it was at least a contributing factor to why I'm alive, why I'm here, and why I'm not Phanza's apprentice, but now it's forever soured by the fact that it was created by someone else for the express purpose of turning me to the Dark Side. Not only did Voytana do that, but she did that without telling Phanza, side-stepping her apprentice. Now, I had to talk to Phanza about this, but, now that the moment is actually upon me, I don't really want to do it. Voytana was Phanza's master, mentor, and, in many ways, her hero, how do I now tell her what Voytana did?
"Which one was it?" Phanza asked, apparently more interested in the words I was saying than I was. Now, in my head I've already moved on and I've already been thinking of how to approach this topic was Phanza. I have no idea if Voytana even told her anything before she died, let alone the whole story, because it wasn't all that long after the revelation that the attack happened. I don't think that Phanza has the full context, even in the best case scenario, so that meant that, no matter what, I was going to have to share something very negative about her late master to Phanza. I thought back to when Voytana and Phanza revealed my true species to me, and how I was affected by the fact that Ullara had held something from me, and how hurt and confused I was by that. Now I had to share something similar to Phanza. This all came with the fact that, at least in my case, Ullara did what she did to protect me, there is no inherit justification to what Voytana did. Voytana wanted to turn me into a Sith and she was willing to be ruthless when Phanza was not, so she lied to her own apprentice and went around her. That wasn't the kind of thing Phanza would want to hear. Despite all of this, I managed to answer Phanza's question.
"Oh...it was Senphtos, a human Cyborg working for Lord Korzytkos." I answered, hoping that would be enough detail. I could tell that Phanza noticed my behavior, she saw that I was flustered and that my mind was on something else, and I knew that she was trying to decide how to proceed. Phanza wanted to intervene, to ask me what was going on, but she also wasn't certain if that was the right way to push. Phanza knew that there were things I had to handle myself, even if she was my master and, beyond that, my friend, and she knew that this might be one of those things. Having come to that decision, Phanza decided to let it be, moving on and addressing what I actually said, rather than how I felt.
"Very well. I'll have someone monitor the situation and, if Senphtos goes back to his corrupt ways, we'll put an end to it." Phanza replied, nonchalant, as if it was a simple fact of how she was going to run this voyage. Maybe that was all it was, a methodical, realistic, and authoritative way of ruling over people, but it wasn't all that simple for me. I didn't want to be threatening, I didn't want to live by fear or intimidation, that wasn't me, that wasn't who I was, and that wasn't who I wanted to be. It's not just a Jedi thing, it's my own morals. I didn't feel good when I saw Senphtos squirming in front of me. I don't even think that's a Dark Side thing either, because I didn't have the same reaction to what I did to Vader on Taaszon. I don't regret Force pushing him over the ledge, I don't regret almost killing him, and, if anything, the only thing I regret is that he's still alive now, so that he can harm other people. That wasn't all that important though, right now, what was important was the matter of Grand Duchess Voytana and the Force bond, something that Phanza and I needed to talk about sooner rather than later.
"Right, right...listen, master...there is something I want to ta - " I was awkwardly beginning to transition into the topic, still not quite mentally prepared for broaching this topic, but, suddenly, we were interrupted by a blaring alarm. Klaxons sounded all down the length of the ship, red sirens drowned out the white lights of the hallway and filled the corridors with a terrifying sight. The imagine of panic was finally completed when the intercom came on, announcing what the emergency was. There is a fire in Hangar-13, I repeat, a fire in Hanger-13. All voyagers report to your blocks and lock your doors. All voyagers report to your blocks and lock your doors. The announcement continued from there, deporting the incident. I looked over at Phanza and she nodded, both of us running off towards the hangar, heading to confront the incident head on and see what this fire was all about.
Two sets of boots wrapped in the hem of a pair of robes ran down the hall, before Phanza suddenly veered off when we reached a platform for one of the express trams for traversing the length of the ships. I followed Phanza and we boarded the highest speed method of moving through the ship, the tram car shooting down the ship to the area above hangar-13. We would still need to take an elevator down a level or two when we got off, but we would have had to do that anyway, so doing something faster than running was always going to preferable. Thus, we got off the tram and rode the elevator down, the alarms still blaring all the way there. The tension that's been building all this voyage is finally going to be released somewhere, the adrenaline is coming out, and I felt my foot tapping on the way down the elevator, growing restless as we stood there doing nothing, waiting for the elevator to get there. Then the door finally opened and we rushed off to the hangar, getting out of the little transit niche, and taking a quick left as we rushed there, finally emerging on an elevated balcony looking over the hangar.
The cause of the fire was revealed to be a refueling accident on one of the Bisector starfighters, a fire that was threatening to spread to the fuel tank itself, something which would have disastrous results for the whole hangar and beyond, which could blow up a whole section of the ship. That include the two of us two, because, at the rate the fire was spreading, if it was going to explode, there's no way that we would get clear of the blast range in time. Not to mention any of the other guards, fire units, and anyone else rushing over here to respond to those crisis.
"Take a step back before you breath." Phanza ordered. I didn't understand what the Nautolan was getting at, but I followed along, watching as she raised her hand. Covering her mouth with the other arm, Phanza used her hand to pull with the Force, and it took me a moment to realize she was trying to pull the oxygen out of the fire itself, drowning it out without its source. That didn't seem to be the most effective though, because she couldn't really pull all the oxygen out of the hangar and, even as powerful as Phanza was, it wasn't exactly easy to isolate the air itself in the Force. The Force works best when acting on real, visible, tangible objects, like a crate, a heavy metal girder, or even just a person, it doesn't work quite as well when acting on something like oxygen. Eventually, Phanza gave up and dropped her hands with a huff "It's not working, we're going to need to try something else."
Pulling didn't work, and I thought about pushing instead, hoping that a strong Force push could extinguish the flames, however, on the other hand, if I was wrong, then I could just send the flames onto the other fighters and create a bigger problem. That option was off the table. A better way of getting the oxygen out could be dropping the rayshield on the hangar, but then, anyone who enters would be exposed to the vacuum of space, our fighters could get sucked out, and opening the hangar while within hyperspace could also be very, very dangerous as it changes the profile of the ship. Phanza and I stood there, trying to come up with a better solution, while, from the far side of the hangar, Schweva arrived, showing up on a ground level entrance with a fire crew. I took a sigh of relief as they used hoses and suppression systems to quench the fire in a way that Phanza and I simply weren't able to manage. Maybe the Chiss was just in a better position to find the fire units, or maybe she took more time and developed a plan before responding, but, in any case, she seemed to have dealt with the crisis.
Phanza climbed down the steps and went to speak with Schweva, likely to congratulate her other apprentice on responding well to this situation. I stayed on the balcony though, watching as the alarms were brought down, and thinking about what I was going to tell Phanza before all this broke out. I was ready to talk to her about Voytana then, but I don't think I'm ready now. I think the moment's passed and I'll have to approach this again at another time. As for the fire, I only sighed, just the latest in a series of minor crises and issues as we went through the monumental task of moving a whole civilization between worlds. A task which wouldn't get any easier once we arrived, because we would need to rebuild that civilization on Dromund Kaas, trying to get the best for everyone while having no idea what we were going to be confronted with. All I knew is that, all the while, the rest of the galaxy would suffer under Palpatine.
It wouldn't be easy.
Alright, ciao everyone!