AN: Alright, my lovelies, it's late, but I got it done! There's a lot going on here, and if you were really paying attention, you should know exactly what's going to be happening in a few chapters. The next chapter will be up Sunday or Monday, if the writing is fast. Hopefully it will be. At the very least, I have the opening bit pretty clear in my brain. Enjoy, kids!
Chapter 40: The Next Phase
Agent Alexsandr Kallus squeezed his eyes tightly against the bright lights in the room in an attempt to stave off the pounding headache that grew worse with every passing second. His body felt sore and heavy, his throat raw and hoarse, his mouth unspeakably dry. He wasn't certain how long it had been since the rebels escaped him on Seelos with a small army of old Republic era clone soldiers by cleverly using a local sandstorm to scramble their sensors to cover their escape. Kallus hadn't arrived on the planet until after they had gone, leaving him with hundreds of reenforcements both on the ground and in the air to sweep through the scene of the first and only engagement with the rebels when the sandstorm had passed.
In their wake, the rebels left behind three completely destroyed AT-AT Walkers, each transport's crew of forty all killed in the destruction, and an abandoned, heavily modified AT-TE Republic tank. It was a worn vehicle, though clearly kept in fine working order by the crew of clones that had manned it. The entire tank had been stripped of valuable components, and by the time Kallus had set foot on the deck, the tank had stopped moving, though the engines still were hot from previous use. He had missed the rebels and the traitorous clones, but not by much, which wounded his pride even more than if they had been long gone.
But worse than all that was the evidence of the struggle on the deck of the ship. Long, black lines of burned and melted steel marred the deck and the walls of the tank, blood was smeared along the ground, and the three Inquisitors that were sent to apprehend the rebel Jedi were gone, not a single trace of them or their lightsabers found anywhere. After a closer examination of the tank, the stormtroopers had found two severed legs and the squished, gelatinous remains of what could have once been eyes, and the morbid discovery was enough to send the Imperials running back to their ship. Over a hundred men were dead, including the three very valuable Inquisitor that were sent to find the Jedi and ran into something much, much worse.
The Shadow King.
Kalus whimpered and shut his eyes tighter, shaking his head against the fearful thoughts that flooded his mind. No, it was far worse than merely the Shadow King, the rogue Mandalorian upstart that stood violently against the Empire. This was Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Negotiator, the former Separatist leader that was said to have been executed years ago. Not just said, Kallus had seen it, he had been present at the execution, had watched the brutal affair, had seen the man suffer and scream as he was made a very public example of before succumbing to the pain and finally dying. Hell, he had seen the body and was certain at the time that it was him. It had to be. But now this...
There was no doubt. The man he had spoken to was the Negotiator, hiding in plain sight by taking up the mantle of Shadow King, as he certainly believed was his right, given his previous attachments to Mandalore. That, and his prodigious connection to the Force made him a dangerous opponent, even for an Inquisitor and marked him for the man that he claimed to be. Kallus wasn't sure how he hadn't seen it before, how nobody had seen it before. It was so obvious now that he knew. The man that had been executed was obviously a fake, a hapless doppelganger sent to die in place of Kenobi so that he may live, so that he may continue to plot against the Empire in secret. The Emperor had to know. Everyone had to know.
Which was where the trouble started.
Kallus knew that his failure was catastrophic, both in terms of wasted lives and wasted resources, and he knew he could expect to be held accountable for the escape of not just the rebel forces, but for the deaths of the increasingly valuable Inquisitors. But still, regardless of his fallen esteem, they needed to know about the Negotiator, and the moment he returned to the Star Destroyer, he had spread the word, sent messages to Admiral Yularen at ISB headquarters, sent a missive to Darth Vader and the Inquisitorious, made certain that everyone on the ship knew that Obi-Wan Kenobi was alive and well and fighting with the rebels to destroy the Empire. He knew he sounded crazy, but he had proof, the Imperial communication protocols having saved a recording of his conversation with the Negotiator, which he was not shy about showing to the high command on the ship on their way back to Lothal.
The moment they arrived on Lothal Kallus hadn't just been reprimanded for his failure. He had been arrested by two very, very cross members of the Inquisitorious, and despite his protests and pleas for them to listen to his warnings of the danger they were in, they would hear none of it, instead spiriting him away as quickly as possible to an isolated cell deep in the Imperial compound. He hadn't been there long before they strapped him to a table and began torturing him, not for information, not to question him, not even for his failures. The Inquisitors inflicted pain to make him change his story, to alter what he believed, to make him think that Obi-Wan Kenobi was dead. They had known. They knew, and they were hiding the truth from those that went to fight this renegade, this...supposed Sith Lord, if the Jedi of old could be believed. Whatever that meant.
But Kallus clung to the truth, even through the pain and the forceful insistence that he was mistaken, that he leave and tell everyone that he was wrong, that he was paranoid and delusional, touched by the harsh climate and the blistering heat of Seelos. This wasn't some coverup on the part of the Negotiator, this was an Imperial plot, though Kallus didn't understand why, couldn't grasp through his pain-addled, deprived mind why the Empire would hide such a vital piece of information from the people responsible for fighting him. Knowing that the Shadow King was the Negotiator changed everything, not just the way the man was to be approached, but right down to his motivation. Understanding the enemy's motivation was a key component to defeating them, so why...
He felt...betrayed. He was being punished not just for his failure, which he understood, but for discovering the truth behind the dreaded Shadow King, and had he known before, his strategy would have been far, far different. His complete failure was partially his own, yes, but his lack of information had set him up for failure. And the Inquisitors knew. They knew...
The cell door hissed open, the low hum of the energy wall shutting off, and Kallus wearily looked up at the sound of heavy footsteps clanging against the floor with the ringing clang of striking metal. Kallus' hazy eyes slowly focused on the black clad man before him, his disdainful red face looking down on him with eyes that glowed red and yellow. He knew this man from somewhere, but he simply couldn't place it, his thoughts running slow and thick and heavy, and Kallus briefly wondered if he had been drugged in the course of everything else inflicted upon him.
With a soft groan, the agent's head dropped to his chest, too weak and hazy to keep it up any longer, and a firm grip on his chin almost gently forced him to look up, the yellow eyes piercing right through him as they examined him. Kallus was certain he could feel everything in his mind shift and yield under the man's scrutiny, as if he had his hands in his head as he sifted through everything within. It felt much like the pain inflicted upon him by the Inquisitors, but this man had greater control, a finesse the others lacked that not only spared him from pain, but seemed to ease the dull throb as well. With a hiss of frustration and a bitter, angry sneer, his new interrogator let go of his chin and reeled around to face someone behind him, and with a grunt of effort, Kallus looked up to survey his surroundings, and he gasped in sudden fear when he saw his two Inquisitor torturers standing on the far side of the room, a towering man and a slight woman, their heads bowed in what almost looked like repentance.
"You idiots..." Maul hissed, his features contorting in rage, and the Inquisitors quickly dropped to their knees, by their own will or by the will of the Zabrak, Kallus couldn't tell. "What point was there in torturing this man?!"
"His orders saw three of our siblings to their deaths!" the woman said desperately, her frantic explanation cut short when the back of Maul's hand was brought hard across her face, sending the woman sprawling to the ground and spitting blood upon the floor.
"They are dead because they were fools!" Maul snapped, looming over the cowering Inquisitors. "They are dead because the looked a Lord of the Sith in the eye and didn't run! They knew the present danger when they heard the name Negotiator, a thing that the agent never knew!" he growled, pointing back at the restrained Kallus. "And yet, they still chose to engage him. Why?" Maul shrugged. "Who cares, they are dead."
"We were promised to be Sith!" the imposing male snapped, his temper flaring as he looked up at the indifferent Zabrak. "For killing Darth Lumis, we'd have proven our worth to the Emperor and would be made true Sith apprentices!"
"And you believed that?" Maul asked, laughing harshly when the man's jaw tightened in anger. "Oh, you poor, ambitious idiot, you are not Sith. None of you are Sith. Do you truly believe that any of you stand a chance against Darth Lumis, a true Sith Master? If that is what your Brother and Sisters believed, they deserved to die." Maul shrugged indifferently, sighing heavily when he looked over the two Inquisitors before him. "The offer wasn't genuine, of course, it was a warning from my Master to me and Vader."
"So what would you have us do?" the woman asked, frowning as she gingerly rubbed her cheek, her hand slicking with blood from the split in her pale yellow skin.
"I would have you run," Maul hissed dangerously, the woman shrinking back slightly from the intensity of her Master. "My precious students, you and your kind are becoming rare, valuable resources!" the Zabrak said sweetly. "Since Vader and I had to purge the Temple on Dromund Kaas from Lumis' influence all those years ago, you and your surviving Brothers and Sisters are all we have left! My Fifth Brother and Seventh Sister, we need to repopulate."
"So..." the Fifth Brother said, leaning in toward the woman. "How do you suppose we should go about doing that?"
"In a way that doesn't involve you," she snapped, putting her hand on his face and pushing him away.
"We could make our own acolytes," Maul hissed bitterly, his cybernetic foot tapping impatiently upon the ground. "But I believe it will be a better use of our time to simply locate and corrupt children born with a talent in the Force, as we have been doing. There is no shortage of Force sensitive children born into this galaxy, and I want you to find them. Redouble your efforts. We need to replace the Inquisitors we have lost and will continue to lose, and the children we do have are still too young to serve the Empire."
"We'll begin right away, Master..." the Fifth Brother said, standing and bowing to the man, and Maul rolled his eyes.
"Be warned, if you see Darth Lumis, you run. His defeat is already in motion, and I will not have you unnecessarily killed when my Master has already guaranteed his capture." A sly, cruel smirk pulled at the Zabrak's lips, his eyes running over the Seventh Sister, and she slowly took a step back, her chest tightening in apprehension. "When my Master has Lumis in his possession, you may very well be called upon to make a Force sensitive child of your own. Your Brothers are hardly worthy, but Darth Lumis himself would make that particular inconvenience very worthwhile." When the woman drew back, disgust written upon her face, Maul laughed maliciously and swiftly grabbed her chin, his thumb running over the red tattoos on her cheeks. "That's a Sith Master we're talking about. You should be honored."
"A-as you say, Master..." she said, looking away from the Zabrak's hungry, longing gaze, and before he had a chance to say a word more, she turned and left, followed closely behind by the jeering Fifth Brother. With a sigh of frustration, Maul moved his hand through the air and the restraints holding Kallus to the cold, steel table released, leaving the man to drop unceremoniously to the ground in a heap.
"You have caused me a fair bit of trouble, Agent Kallus," Maul growled softly, his hand gently tugging on his cranial horns. "The Emperor was very unpleased by the size of your mouth, and when the Emperor is displeased, I suffer for it."
"You knew!" Kallus spat. "The Shadow King-" He stopped himself quickly, his teeth clenched tightly in anger. "Kenobi said that there were those in the Empire that knew, that I wasn't important enough! I didn't want to believe that was true, I thought he was lying to me!"
"He wasn't," Maul said, a sinister grin on his face as he watched disbelief and anger flew across Kallus' face.
"N-no..." Kallus said, shaking his head and biting back his fury as he stared at the Zabrak. "I am Admiral Yularen's most promising agent! I-I am leading the defense of Lothal, I am hunting the kriffing Shadow King! I needed to know this information! Everyone needed to know!"
"Why's that?" Maul asked, and Kallus laughed in disbelief.
"Are you serious?! You...pretend to kill Obi-Wan Kenobi and all you've done is give him a way to hide from the Empire! He is invisible when the entire galaxy should be hunting him instead of a handful of assholes who think they're special because they can use the Force!" When Maul said nothing, only stared at him with a slight, amused look on his face, Kallus ground his teeth together and jumped to his feet, wincing as his leg buckled and he slammed hard to the floor. "Why! What is the point of hiding this?!"
"You short-sighted fool..." Maul drawled softly, slowly pacing back and forth before the injured man, his gait predatory and his eyes feral and hungry, enough to chase away Kallus' anger and fill him with apprehension. "There is power in a name, and Obi-Wan Kenobi carries a great amount of weight..." the Zabrak growled, his tone strained with a rage that penetrated the deepest parts of him. "The Sithkiller, the Jedi Martyr, the Lost One, the Negotiator, the Shadow King, Darth Lumis..." He laughed, deep and low, a hand swiftly reaching out to take hold of Kallus' copper hair. "One person with many names, and each one means something different to different people. Were the galaxy to know, the name could be used to unite our enemies."
"If that were true, Kenobi would have done exactly that by now! He would have revealed himself, he would have-"
"Would that he could," Maul interrupted with a soft, dismissive chuckle. "As you know, he is Force sensitive and has a particular talent that we are using to our advantage." Maul grinned wolfishly at the agent, his hand tightening in his hair. "You see, he can use the Force to steal the life out of a person. It makes him eternally young, but in a galaxy that ages, we have used that to our advantage. He cannot reveal himself because nobody would believe it, and if the Empire thinks Obi-Wan Kenobi is dead, he may as well be." He released his grip on Kallus, the man collapsing to the floor with a hiss of pain. "And it is done. In an instant, his old allies fall away, because nobody would believe him to be the legendary Negotiator when he looks to be younger than the Empire." Maul flashed Kallus a smile. "Understand?"
"H-he...makes himself younger?" Kallus muttered, shutting his eyes tight and trying to think back to the man he had seen on the holoprojector when he had spoken to him, but his thought still ran slowly and he couldn't remember any details about the man's face, only that he knew he was Obi-Wan Kenobi. "How is that possible..."
"Through the Force, all things are possible," Maul said with a roll of his eyes. "This is why we, the children of the Force, will be the ones to put him down, we understand the..." He stopped, his eyes cast at the ground as he cleared his throat. "We understand the things he is capable of..." With a shaking breath, Maul ground his teeth together, his focus drifting from Lumis to the troubles before him. "Which is why now I must clean up your mess, Kallus. Do you know how hard it is to convince an entire Star Destroyer filled with nervous Imperials that their ISB commander contracted Sand Fever on Seelos?" He hissed between his teeth, his foot tapping rapidly on the ground. "Forget about that, do you know how difficult it is to infect the commanders that had seen your recording with Sand Fever? Quite difficult, if you must know."
"You...infected the bridge crew?" Kallus asked incredulously, his eyes wide and his jaw slack as he watched the irritated man.
"I most certainly did, the entire ship is in quarantine," Maul muttered. "It makes it easier to scrub the datalogs clean so we can be rid of the recording you have of Lumis. Which is another nightmare, since I need to track down every copy you sent to officers in the Imperial command. You see how much trouble you have caused, Kallus?" Maul asked, kneeling before him and hooking his fingers under the agent's chin. "By the time I am through, I may have to dirty my hands. It's simply easier to kill those that don't agree that you were mistaken."
"But I wasn't," Kallus growled, shaking his head away from Maul's grasp, and the Zabrak chuckled, a slight, cruel smile on his lips as he patted the Imperial's cheek.
"Agent Kallus, we can do this the easy way, and you can simply accept that you were wrong and tell all those who ask that you were delirious with fever, or we can do this the hard way." The Zabrak swiftly grabbed a handful of Kallus' hair, the agent hissing in pain as Maul yanked his head back, the yellow eyes seeming to bore through him in their intensity. "I learned a great deal watching Darth Lumis work, and there has never, ever been a man more skilled at mental manipulation than him. But I lack his finesse and his skill. I do not manipulate minds, I break them." He smiled again, letting go of the terrified agent's hair and smoothing it back. "Am I understood?"
"P-perfectly..."
"A wise choice..." Maul said, rising to his feet and clasping his hands behind his back as he looked down at Kallus, the man trying to hide his shaking hands. "I need to know what he told you," Maul said almost gently. "I haven't seen this recording because I destroyed it before it could further infect the Imperial ranks, but I have to know."
"Why..." Kallus asked, swallowing hard as he looked up at the intimidating Zabrak. "Are you going to kill me if I know too much?"
"No," Maul responded quickly. "If I was going to kill you, I would have done so days ago when you returned to Lothal. Now, are you going to tell me, or must I pull what I need from your mind? You don't need those memories, do you?" Maul asked sweetly. "You could be doomed to repeat all the same mistakes over and over again, and I don't think your record could take another failure, Agent Kallus..."
"He didn't say much..." Kallus muttered, swallowing hard as he gathered his thoughts. "He didn't see me as...important enough," he growled, shutting his eyes tightly as he tried to bite back the swell of emotion, the Negotiator's words echoing in his mind. Obi-Wan wasn't the one that deemed him unimportant. The Empire did. Kenobi simply pointed it out. "He was insulted we only sent three Inquisitors after him." Kallus looked up to evenly meet Maul's stare, the Zabrak drawing back slightly at the calm within this man that should have been afraid. "He said he was hoping for you."
Maul's chest tightened, his lungs burning as he found he couldn't breathe, the sudden trembling in his hand quickly spreading up his arm and through the rest of his body, his vision narrowing until black encroached upon the edge of his periphery, a dull ringing in his ears growing louder and louder until he could hear nothing save for the sweet, cruel sound of soft, amused laughter. Maul could feel himself shiver, a sudden cold chill running through him despite the flames that licked at him just under his skin, the very Force surrounding him becoming sharp and painful as it rapidly froze. He felt sick, hot and cold all at once, intense nausea and searing pleasure raging through him, leaving his senses in confused disarray, and despite the fear making his heart race, he couldn't find it within himself to want it to stop.
"Master..." the Zabrak whimpered, swallowing hard as he began to hyperventilate, and he gave Kallus a weak, unsteady smile when he felt the agent's eyes on him. "Thank you, Kallus," Maul whispered, his shaking hands behind his back as he drew up tall, though his shoulders remained hunched. "You may go." Casting one final look at confusion at the man, Kallus didn't need to be told twice, and he slowly shuffled out of the cell, leaving Maul alone to drop to his knees, whimpering as his hands tightly grasped his cranial horns. With panic and longing quickly rising within him, Maul grasped for salvation from the burning fires of his Master's madness that had never, ever left the hapless man, and with comlink in hand, he put in the call to Thrawn.
The Admiral did not answer immediately, the time only to stretch longer and longer to restless man, and with a high, frantic laugh, Maul began pacing, his heavy steps sending a harsh, metallic ring through the air with each strike of his boot upon the ground. The Chiss did not usually answer right away, the business of the Empire keeping him almost consistently busy, which Maul knew was by design. Thrawn was, first and foremost, frighteningly good at his job, perhaps a touch too good at it, and keeping him busy not only served the Empire by keeping pirates and rebels at bay, but also kept the perceptive Chiss too busy to look further into information he determined to be suspicious. Sidious had a great many secrets, and given the proper time for study and analysis, there was little doubt that Thrawn would eventually piece together information he stumbled upon in order to form a more complete picture of things that the Emperor had no intention of becoming known to the Admiral.
More than that, however, was the openly intense interest that Lumis had taken in the Admiral, which was a dangerous thing even in the best of circumstances. In order to keep Thrawn as far away from the renegade Sith as possible, Sidious deemed it necessary to keep the Admiral as busy as he could, never giving him the chance to turn his interests on the openly flirtatious Obi-Wan. The more the Chiss moved across the galaxy, the harder it would be for Obi-Wan to find him, and the less likely it would be that the two would be given the opportunity to engage each other. An occupied Thrawn was what was best for the Empire, but at this moment, Maul was not a fan of the arrangement since the man wasn't answering the call.
He was uncertain of how much time had passed since he had begun pacing, but Thrawn eventually did answer, the Zabrak jumping at the burst of static and nearly dropping the comlink in the process, cursing loudly as he fumbled the device where the Admiral was projected, the man looking as amused as Maul had ever seen him. For the typical flat affect of the Chiss, it came across as almost giddy, and Maul felt his defenses fly up, his chest tightening as he became immediately guarded against the atypical behavior.
"Lord Maul," the Chiss said, his monotone just as unsettling as it always was. "How goes your investigation?" Stuttering for a moment, Maul started to answer, but stopped quickly when Thrawn raised a hand. "Wait, allow me to venture a guess. I suspect the Inquisitors are dead, as are the Imperial troops that were sent in pursuit of the rebels."
"Uh...y-yes," Maul muttered, looking curiously at the projected image. "How did you know?"
"As it so happens, I received a datafile from Agent Kallus containing a holorecording of a call between him and Obi-Wan Kenobi." With a soft groan, Maul shut his eyes and shivered. Of course Kallus would send Thrawn a copy. At least the Chiss already knew. "I found it terribly informative."
"It wasn't informative, sir!" a tense, youthful voice said from just out of frame, a voice Maul recognized as belonging to Lieutenant Commander Eli Vanto, Thrawn's personal aide. The strange, glowing red eyes flicked toward the other man, the slight smirk on his lips growing slightly.
"I disagree," Thrawn said softly, his even voice now carrying with it the undercurrent of excitement. "For the first time since my hunt for him began, I see him as he is. No showmanship, no need to impress. No...courtship, if you will. No, he made himself known to Agent Kallus because he was offended. Insulted. This was honest, emotional, a true picture of the man."
"And what does he do?" Eli asked in a voice laced with frustration. "Nothing much, sir, only threatens to ravish you when you meet!"
"Yes..." Thrawn slowly drawled. "Tell me, Commander, do you suppose that was meant to be taken literally, or metaphorically? It is important to distinguish which, it will determine in what way I must prepare for our eventual meeting."
"I'm sure I don't know..." Eli muttered, and Maul cringed, his teeth grinding together as he focused on the image of the Chiss before him.
"Knowing my Master, it's both," Maul growled, the man swiftly shutting his eyes and whimpering wen he realized what he had unintentionally said, and when he looked back at the projection, he could see Eli Vanto gazing at him over the Chiss' shoulder with horrified interest, as if trying to discern if he had actually heard what he thought he did. Thrawn, predictably, looked unsurprised, almost as if he had expected this outcome, which was the most likely scenario, given how the Admiral was very often correct about...basically everything.
"Regardless of his intentions in regards to me, this message provides me with vital information about Obi-Wan Kenobi that I have been missing," Thrawn said after a moment, his eerie, glowing eyes never ceasing their examination of Maul's face, and the Zabrak found he couldn't meet the Chiss' exacting gaze. It felt...invasive. "Tell me, have we found the bodies of the Inquisitors? I suspect we have not." In the beat of silence, Maul's eyes quickly flicked up to find Thrawn waiting, the question he posed expected to be answered despite the fact he already knew the answer.
"We haven't found them," Maul said, his voice flat and defeated, and Thrawn nodded slightly, his eyes narrowing as he swiftly incorporated the confirmation into what he already predicted.
"And we will not find them," the Chiss said clinically. "Call off whatever search we are conducting, it is a waste of resources we could be allocating elsewhere. The bodies will turn up on their own very soon and very publically, if my suspicions are correct. Judging by Kenobi's past pattern of behavior, we are far too close to Empire Day for there to be any other logical conclusion."
"Ooooh, the Emperor is not going to like that..." Maul said with a shiver. Thrawn was right. Of course he was right, and Maul felt foolish for not having thought of this himself.
"This presents us with a rare opportunity," Thrawn said, his hands folding behind his back as he stood up, tall and commanding. "By following his established pattern, we may be able to intercept him, and with the information I have gained from Agent Kallus' verbal confrontation with the man, I feel we have a fair chance to finally catch him. My trap is ready, and I will not even have to bait it." The excited anticipation in the Chiss' red eyes seemed to harden, his mouth pressing into a thin line in a muted approximation of irritation. "The Emperor has forbid me from engaging with Kenobi. I must have this rescinded."
"Admiral, we can't go after the Shadow King..." Eli whispered to the Chiss. "What about Nightswan? We're getting so close to finding him, we can't divert our attention from him now, not when he'd disappear the moment we look away.
"The Emperor forbid you for a reason, Admiral," Maul said in a low growl, his chest tightening with each breath he took. "The matter of Obi-Wan Kenobi has already been resolved. My Master has seen it in the Force. Lumis will be defeated. For all his strength in the Force, my Master is still stronger."
"Yes, the Force..." Thrawn said, his monotone voice laced with the slightest hints of dismissal and disdain. "I feel you all put too much stock into the power of the Force."
"And you do not put enough stock in it," Maul growled. "Your inability to understand the Force is exactly why the Emperor forbid you from confronting Darth Lumis! Without the power to command the Force, without the strength it can give you, you are as nothing to him." He drew up tall, a sudden surge of confidence filling his chest.
"And for all that strength, it has done you very little good against him," Thrawn said flatly, and Maul felt the surge of confidence swiftly sucked out of him, his face flushing with anger and embarrassment.
"I am...not so powerful as Mas-...a-as Darth Lumis," the Zabrak said between clenched teeth. "But my Master is. He can overpower Lumis, he can bring him to heel!"
"With all due respect to you and your Master, Lord Maul," Thrawn said softly, "but I have found that no weapon, no matter how powerful, cannot drive back a storm. Nothing can control a force of nature, but the clever man can protect himself against it and weather the storm."
"And you think Lumis is this storm?" Maul said, a nervous laugh escaping his throat which he tried to swallow back. "My Master is stronger than you know. He will endure, and he will come out triumphant. He always does."
"Ask yourself this, Maul..." Thrawn said softly, leaning in slightly, and Maul's breath hitched and unintentionally drew back as the Chiss suddenly seemed to exude menace. "Exactly who is your Master? You seem very uncertain about that, and all it took was the mention of a name to undo you."
"There is no shelter from the Force, Thrawn..." Maul said in a shaking voice, pressing aside his swiftly rising panic and doing all he could to ignore the Chiss' pointed question. "It is not an advantage you can simply remove, you cannot even this battleground in your favor!"
"We shall see about that..." Thrawn said in a soft, chilling voice, his flat monotone laced with menace, and the hologram flickered off, leaving Maul huddled alone in a darkened room to quietly whimper for his Master.
"Are you sure Kenobi approved of this?" Kanan whispered to Cody as the two men walked at a pace that was far, far too slow and meandering for the Jedi's taste. Hera's Phoenix Squadron was moving out of the Dantooine Base, and the moment they arrived from Seelos, they began their preparations to leave, the small rebel cell cut loose to find their own base of operations as part of Ahsoka's plan to keep the different factions separate in the event of Imperial discovery. With Admiral Thrawn actively hunting rebel cells, keeping the bulk of the fleet together simply was not possible. A bigger fleet meant greater activity and a greater chance of discovery, and such a thing could spell doom for the entire rebellion, over fifteen years of tireless work wiped out in an instant were they to be discovered. Smaller cells all across the galaxy not only made their presence seem larger than it was, thereby sparking other rebel movements, but kept the Imperials spread thin on the hunt for them.
"We've been over this, Jarrus..." Cody sighed, his eyes fixed on the datapad before him as he took stock of Phoenix Squadron's assets. "Kenobi was in favor of this from the beginning, and while he's having his nap, I am the purveyor of his will."
"...it's been three days."
"It's a very serious nap," Cody grumbled.
"...are you sure he's still alive?" Kanan asked, peering over the clone's shoulder at the datapd and rolling his eyes when he found the inventory list minimized in favor of a game featuring a digital representation of an X-Wing shooting down rows and rows of TIE Fighters. "I mean, he was really sick."
"Do you want to go in his room and find out?" Cody asked in a flat tone, his look challenging the Jedi to do exactly that. "His hot Chiss personal sex assistant has been tending to him, and she occasionally resurfaces for food before she disappears again, so yes, it's a good assumption he's still alive. You couldn't pay me enough to go in there and check, though, not after yesterday. K2 is still trying to work the dent out of the wall..." He growled in irritation when he failed to evade the TIE Fighters' lasers on his game, the tiny X-Wing exploding in a shower of tiny pixels, and with a swipe of his hand across the screen, he closed the game and brought up the inventory list once again. "And even if he objected, it wouldn't matter. He doesn't have final say in matters pertaining to the rebellion, and this happens to be Ahsoka's call."
"From the way he talks-"
"I know he wants you to believe that he controls everything, but he isn't Emperor yet," Cody quickly interrupted. "Kenobi trusts the clones, and more importantly, so does Ahsoka. The matter is done."
"I just don't like it..." Kanan muttered, his hand running through his hair. After they had escaped from the engagement on Seelos with the clones in tow, Rex and his men seemed to suddenly remember what it was they were made for, how much they missed the field of battle, how badly they craved a good fight. They were tired of sitting around and growing older, lost and forgotten on a world nobody cared about, their own purposes lost to them after the Republic betrayed them and fell. If they were going to die, and they were, faster than most men, then they were going to die doing what they were born to do. On the field of battle like soldiers, not of old age like some relic, and to fight beside Ahsoka Tano again was something worth dying for. The Togruta was quick to accept the help of the clones that had saved her life so long ago, and was even faster to assign them to rebel cells as combat specialists, both as acting commanders on the field of battle and as instructors to train the new recruits and forge them into skilled soldiers.
Kanan was uncomfortable with the arrangement from the beginning. He understood the rebellion was a military, but to him, it had never been, and he wasn't ready for another war. Even now, the things he and the Spectres did wasn't war, it was helping people who could not help themselves, it was standing against the Empire because others couldn't, because it was the right thing to do. But now, with the clones involved, with them training young men and women to fight and die, it felt too much like a war that Kanan had already fought in, one he had already lost, one that everyone lost, even their Sith ally, a man poised to win no matter what.
Hera had helped ease him into the idea, had very gently soothed his frayed nerves when he had returned panic-stricken and in the frightful claws of his past, had calmly and patiently understood everything he was going through when nobody else could. It was a simple thing for her to care for her lover, and though it took some time for the Twl'lek to wear the Jedi down, she eventually had him laying in bed next to her, more himself then he had been since the mission to Seelos began. He never liked the idea, but as with most things, Hera got her way with Kanan, and though the Jedi refused to commit to a war, he did commit to her, which was enough until he was able to face his demons. Whenever he was ready, Kanan and Hera would face them together.
And then Ahsoka assigned a clone to the Phoenix Squadron.
"I just don't understand why we need another clone!" Kanan continued, following Cody as the man examined one of the A-Wing fighters that made up Phoenix Squadron. "We already have you!"
"I don't belong to Phoenix Squadron, I belong to Obi-Wan Kenobi," Cody said with a roll of his eyes. "He doesn't like sharing."
"But you two are a part of Phoenix Squadron, aren't you?" Kanan asked desperately, and Cody sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"No, the Umbra isn't part of your little rebel cell, Jarrus..." Cody muttered, tucking his datapad away and crossing his arms over his chest. "Don't mistake Kenobi's fondness for you as being a part of your little club. Phoenix Squadron is a very small part of a very big picture, and Obi-Wan's...always been part of the big picture."
"...but you're taking inventory," Kanan said, pointing to the datapad on Cody's hip. "K2 said you guys are preparing to leave, and when Ahsoka and Hera were making the plans, they figured Obi-Wan into them!"
"Well, yeah, we're going with you guys," Cody said with a roll of his eyes. "That wasn't the issue at hand, the issue was if we belong to Phoenix Squadron so you don't need to learn to deal with another kriffing clone. We're still going to be working with you. Kenobi's work going forward is rooted heavily in the Force, and you are an important part of that." The clone walked toward one of the re-purposed freighters on the other side of the hangar, the repair crew surrounding it finishing up on the final repairs from the damages sustained in the fighting over Lothal. "I'm none too happy about the arrangement either, Jarrus, but these are Kenobi's orders. He doesn't need me to like it, he just needs me to obey."
"Well Obi-Wan isn't my Master..." Kanan muttered. "With all that happened after the Jedi were betrayed, it just isn't easy to overcome, and now that I know what happened to General Skywalker...to have his clone serving with us..."
"Ahsoka vouched for Rex, which is good enough for me," Cody grumbled, his finger quickly swiping over the datapad to download the repair report from the freighter. "And that dumb bastard has already agreed to work with us, despite our history, and I'll be damned if that Republic slave outdoes me in anything..."
"Rex isn't a slave, Cody," Ahsoka said from behind them, the pair quickly spinning to meet the Togruta as she approached, Hera walking by her side with her arms crossed over her chest and a look that bordered on disappointed. Kanan quickly averted his eyes, his lip caught between his teeth as he tried to bite back the reluctance he felt to work with the clone that helped them escape Seelos. Reason told him that Rex hadn't done anything to him or any other Jedi, but his past experience kept him guarded and cautious. It was a difficult issue, one with no easy resolution, and thankfully, the people around him understood and had been more than patient, but he knew his lover wouldn't tolerate something like this getting in the way of the rebellion, of what she saw as her duty, the thing she had always been aiming for and now suddenly had.
"I am...aware that CT-7567 and the others we recovered all had their biochips removed," Cody grumbled between clenched teeth. "But that doesn't mean we can trust them."
"I agree," Kanan said quickly. "Let's not forget that one of them already betrayed us down on Seelos"
"A mistake he is now working to atone for," Ahsoka said with a small smile. "I believe we can trust them. They did help save me when the clones were ordered to execute the Jedi. Even Wolffe."
"Y-yeah, but-" Kanan began, and was quickly silenced when Hera gently took his hand in hers and gave it a loving squeeze."
"I remember that night as well, Kanan," Ahsoka said quietly. "I can never forget it. I watched the Jedi Temple Guards be slaughtered by Darth Vader when he still wore the face of Anakin Skywalker. I saw clones sweeping the streets of Coruscant as they hunted and executed any Jedi they found escaping the Temple. I was chased down around every turn, through every alleyway knowing that there was no escape and that I was going to die. And I remember running into Rex and his company, soldiers I knew well, and when I thought the end had come, they surrounded me and took me to safety." When Ahsoka saw the corner of Kanan's lip tremble, she gently took his other hand. "I can't imagine what it was like for you, Kanan. But not everyone that night betrayed the Jedi."
"...I-I know..." Kanan whispered, squeezing the two hands he held to hide the fact he was trembling. "You're right, I know. I'm...trying. I am."
"We know you are, love..." Hera said, standing up on her toes and pressing a swift, chaste kiss to the Jedi's lips, and she glared at Cody when the clone gagged. "If it helps at all, Rex never killed any Jedi like Cody has..."
"That just makes me a superior warrior!" Cody said defensively. "Do you know how hard it is to kill a Jedi?"
"Not terribly difficult, it would seem, or they'd still be around..." Kanan said bitterly, his eyes fixed on the clone and eyeing him, more curious than suspicious. "Have you killed many Jedi, Cody?"
"More than my share..." the clone muttered, taking a step back and his hand unconsciously drifting to the lightsaber at his belt. "Not so many as I'm certain little Miss Fulcrum believes." He started saying something and then quickly stopped himself and pointed a questioning finger at the Jedi. "When you ask if I have killed Jedi, do you mean me personally? Because personally, I have only killed one Jedi, but the Shadow Legion as a team has killed several."
"Alright, alright, I get your point..." Kanan mumbled when Hera looked at him pointedly. "I'll...give Rex a chance."
"It'll help you too, love," Hera said with a sigh of relief, smiling and kissing the Jedi's palm when he cupped her cheek. "And we need Rex. Ahsoka thinks he can help us find a base for Phoenix Squadron to operate out of so we can help Lothal."
"...I didn't just kill Jedi, you know," Cody said quietly before Kanan could answer, his lightsaber in hand and his fingers lovingly running over the golden rings near where the blade extended. "Obi-Wan helped save a great many of them at the end, and I...Shaak Ti, we..." He snarled in frustration, his hand running through his graying hair and swiftly looking away when he felt the eyes on him soften. "Just forget it..."
"Your loyalty was never being called into question, Cody," Hera said, taking a small step toward the sullen man. "I apologize if it came across that way. If the rebellion were made only of people without a past, we wouldn't have anyone."
"I certainly wouldn't be here," Kanan said with a sigh, and Cody scoffed, though a slight smile tugged at the edge of his lips.
"Kriffing hell, you bastards, I told you to forget it. I don't want or need your pity, you Jedi filth." Clearing his throat and looking away when Kanan began grinning like an idiot, Cody swiftly replaced the lightsaber on his belt and took the datapad in his hand again. "We're ready to leave. Do you have a plan? The supplies we are taking with us won't last us long, and we need a way to restock."
"We have a plan for that," Ahsoka said swiftly. "Some leads on old abandoned military bases and Imperial shipment schedules we can intercept for fuel and medical supplies we will need while we search for a base." She pointed at the datapad. "Why are you managing our fleet? Does Obi-Wan have plans for Phoenix Squadron that I'm unaware of?"
"Not at all," Cody muttered, drawing up taller as he faced the Togruta. "As you know, Kenobi plans to go after the Inquisitors, and the best way to do that is to stay very, very close to the only known active Jedi in the galaxy," he said as he looked at Kanan, and Hera defensively stepped in front of him, her arms crossed in front of her chest. "After Seelos, they're going to be much more cautious, but there will be more after us, and my brother means to slay them all."
"So let him slay them," Hera said firmly. "Kenobi doesn't need Kanan for that."
"Hera, dear, Obi-Wan's a part of our team..." Kanan said gently, slowly dragging the Twi'lek back against him and running his hands over her tense shoulders.
"No," she said, her voice trembling slightly as she turned in his grasp. "No, Kanan, I can't allow you to be used as bait! I came so close to losing you on Lothal. I won't allow it to happen again."
"The Inquisitors aren't after him, Hera, they're afraid of him. They're after me, and they're after Ezra, and if they knew Ahsoka was alive, they'd be after her too." When the woman looked down at the floor, Kanan very gently slid his fingers under her chin and tilted her head back. "He's not using me as bait, we're targets already, and when he calls on me to help him trap the Inquisitors, I will be there for him." Kanan hesitated for a moment, his eyes locked with hers as he leaned down, and carefully kissed the top of her head. "None of us are safe until the Empire is gone, you have always said that, and if we can clear out the Inquisitors, it's just one less thing hunting us. We have to do this. We're the only ones who can."
"I know," Hera whispered, letting out a long, slow breath as she gently pulled out of Kanan's embrace, quickly shedding her face as his lover and donning the face of their leader once again. You're right, I know. Just don't forget that Obi-Wan Kenobi isn't the only one that needs you. You were Spectre One before you were ever training with Darth Lumis."
"Oh, I could never forget that, babe," Kanan said, winking at the Twi'lek and flashing her a wolfish grin, which she met with a sigh and a shake of her head. "So what's the plan? We're out of here today and then what? Looking for a base? Securing those resources?"
"With any luck, we'll be doing all the above," Ahsoka said, her shoulders drawing back as she looked immensely pleased with herself. Before she could elaborate, the Togruta's head quickly whipped around to look behind her, her breath catching and her chest tight as her senses sharpened, and less than a second later, Kanan staggered backwards with a gasp of pain and dropped to his knees, his eyes wide and wild and staring intently in the direction that Ahsoka was looking. As fast as he was able, Cody grabbed Hera's arm and pulled her behind him as he pushed forward, lightsaber in hand and hissing to life as he stood defensively before the group. He was silent, daring not to breathe lest he miss what the other two had heard, but there was nothing. No unusual movement, no out of place sounds, no danger to be seen at all.
"It's the Force, Cody," Ahsoka explained, her voice tense and tight, her own hand upon the weapon at her hip, Kanan gasping in relief when her hand brushed his shoulder, her own presence strengthening his own.
"Is it the Inquisitors?" Hera whispered, sidling up beside the Togruta and helping Kanan to his feet when he reached for her hand. "Did the Empire find us?"
"No..." Kanan said, his eyes closed as he reached out through the Force and shivered. "It's not a person, it's just the Force, it's cold." The Jedi lightly punched Cody's arm. "Feels like your boyfriend's up, you clone idiot. Nobody pulls on the Force like he does."
"He's not my boyfriend..." Cody said with a roll of his eyes. "I feel like it's called something else when the bastard won't kiss me while he's inside me."
"Really?" Kanan asked, a sly, devious smirk on his face as he patted the clone on the back. "He kisses me all the time." Spinning the hilt of his lightsaber in his hand, he sauntered past the glaring, quietly cursing Cody. "Come on, let's go see him. Make sure he's not doing something stupid like having sex on the Umbra."
"We have one rule that keeps our lives together, if he broke it, so help me, I'll kill him..." Cody growled, pushing past the laughing Jedi and stomping ahead toward the hangar partition where the Umbra sat isolated and safely tucked away, repaired and ready for the next mission. They walked one after the other through the door and into the private space, the Force sensitives keeping their hands on their sabers and their attention rooted in the Force. When they drew closer to the sleek, black ship, their guards slowly relaxed when they saw a single figure outside standing at a repair station, long, thick cables running out from the monitor and connecting to an open panel underneath one of the wings.
When they drew closer, Kanan could make out the thin, lithe form of a blue skinned woman, her long, black hair draped over her shoulder in a loose braid, her glowing red eyes noticeable the second she looked up from her work and spotted them. She quickly moved away from the workstation and jogged up the ship's open ramp and emerged a moment later holding something in her hands as she swiftly moved to meet them. When the woman stopped, the group slowed their pace and casually walked to meet the woman, the Chiss bowing respectfully when they drew close enough, and Kanan recognized the black item in her hands as an Inquisitor helmet.
"Tocu'ren'mur Jarrus," the Chiss said, looking up at the Jedi with eyes that glowed with intelligence, and Kanan couldn't help but feel a tug of sympathy for this creature that he knew to be a slave of the Sith she served, even if she were past the point of believing she ever wanted anything else. "Ch'ittoci'ren'musi ect'asearcsi wishes for you to have this." A slight, enigmatic smile danced across the Chiss' lips when Kanan, Hera, and Ahsoka stared at her with wide, surprised eyes. "Apologies, my understanding of Basic is incomplete. Ch'ittoci'ren'musi ect'asearcsi has yet to complete my instruction."
"Chi..what?" Kanan asked with a nervous laugh. "That Kenobi?" The Chiss nodded and extended the helmet out toward him, and Kanan delicately took it from her hands. "I...don't know that we've ever really spoken before. Kenobi is awfully greedy when it comes to you."
"Yes..." she said with a small smile, her head tilting as she observed the Jedi, and she almost cautiously extended a hand to him. "I am called Seg'rotth'uruodo."
"Oh, that's a mouthful..." Kanan muttered, taking her hand and smiling when he felt how strong her grip was. "Is there something...shorter we could call you? A nick name or something?" She stared at him for a moment, her gaze drifting periodically as she thought, and after a moment, she shook her head.
"No."
"Ah..." Kanan said awkwardly, shooting Hera a quick glare when he heard the Twi'lek snickering behind him. "And Kenobi wanted me to have this?"
"No," she said swiftly, reaching out and touching the visor on the sleek black helmet. "I had spoken wrongly. It is a gift for Bazehn rcoban't Bridger. My instructions were to give it to you so that you might see it taken safely to him."
"Well, Ezra's certainly going to be thrilled about this..." Kanan muttered, holding the helmet up and examining it.
"Speaking of Kenobi, how's the bastard doing?" Cody drawled, his hand resting on the woman's thin shoulder. "He awake? Doing alright?"
"My examination of him showed him to be in good health," she said, folding her hands behind her back and standing up straight. "He was awake for a moment, but he has since..." She stopped, her eyes narrowing in thought for a moment before she looked almost pleadingly at Cody. "I have not learned the word in Basic. Tah ch'islah ch'at Bazehn. Bazehn. His...power."
"The Force," Ahsoka said quietly, and the Chiss nodded, her eyes lighting up.
"Yes, thank you. He sleeps in the Force. He says he has...felt something."
"Something?" Ahsoka asked, taking a small step toward the woman, and Kanan could feel her defenses rise as she reached out through the Force to touch the chill that ran through it. "Or someone?"
"I do not know, but it seemed very important," the Chiss said as she glanced over her shoulder back toward the Umbra. "He said he is not to be disturbed, and until the time he returns, command has been given to you, Cody."
"Of course it has," the clone said, reaching up and patting Kanan's cheek as he passed. "That's how we know he loves me best."
"Say what you need to convince yourself of that, you clone bastard," Kanan said with a roll of his eyes, and Cody unceremoniously shoved him to the side as he passed.
"Be ready to leave within the hour, Spectres. Until Obi-Wan has a mission for us, the Umbra and her assets are yours." Cody grinned broadly at the group, his arm sliding casually over the Chiss' shoulders. "War is coming, and we're going to be ready for it."
"We certainly will," Ahsoka said, inclining her head toward Cody. "I'll send the rendevous coordinates to K2, along with the information I have on the Nightswan and all the information we've collected on the Empire's secret project. All I have are dead ends, maybe Kenobi can see something I don't."
"I'll be sure to pass it along when he surfaces for food," Cody said, saluting briefly to the Togruta before shaking his head and rolling his eyes. "I'll see you and the Phoenix Squadron soon. May the Force be with you...or whatever." With a roll of his eyes, Cody and the Chiss turned toward the Umbra, leaving Hera and the Jedi to quietly speculate about the path laid out before them. Things were falling into place, and when the war was upon them, they would be ready.