Alright guys, we're here with the ending of act one! This is admittedly going to be a bit of a downer ending - I mean, you guys read the last chapter, can't exactly turn that around - and I feel like this is a natural place to let the story sit for a little while. This is a result of me taking on a bit of a seasonal approach with my writing. I have decided that, two weeks after this posts, I will be starting a new story, after going some ways with that, I will return to The Armored Berserkers to pick up from the Prologue of that story, and then after that, I will pick up with act two of this story. I'll leave a bit of a hint as to what I'm gonna write next in the ending author's note of this chapter. And yes, this chapter's title is a blatant Knights of The Old Republic reference, deal with it.

I wish I didn't have to say this by the way, but I'm seeing the Star Wars fandom is going negative, again. I was really refreshed to see everyone enjoying Mandalorian for the most part and I felt happy to see positive hype going into Clone Wars season seven. Now, we're in the second arc of season seven and, from what I've seen is the reactions to "Gone with a Trace" and "Deal or No Deal" are pretty negative. People are calling these episodes filler and, quite frankly, I don't understand it - did you guys really want to see nothing of Ahsoka's life without the Jedi? Sure Trace's hair is utterly awful and Rafa's isn't much better, yes they've both mads awful decisions, but people make awful decisions all the time. Corona beer is literally seeing declining sales because of the pandemic, people are dumb, the fact that it's taken a deadly plague for people to stop drinking Corona is proof of that. Anyway, the point is that I'm glad to see what Ahsoka is doing and, while these episodes aren't the best, I don't think they deserve so much negativity. I am sick and tired of the negativity in this fandom. Rant over, sorry, here's the chapter.

Secrets of The Outer Rim.

Act I.

The Last Days of The Jedi Order.

Chapter X.

Nightfall of The Old Republic.


I crouched behind some crates near an outpost the Republic was setting up near the circular compound housing that Sith lair. An ARC-170 starfighter was fueled up and ready to go just a few feet away from me, but lifting off in a starfighter is hardly subtle and I'm not a very good pilot at all. R9 always did the piloting for me, but I didn't have the astromech with me, in fact, I don't think I'll ever see that little guy again. I needed to cause some sort of distraction, doing something that will draw the clones far enough away from that starfighter and their ships that I can be in orbit before they react. I peaked over the crates and searched for something that would really cause a distraction. I finally caught two carts of munitions, missiles that were meant to be transported to the gunships or starfighters. I rose a hand, ready to fling one of the wheeled carts into the other, causing a huge explosion and demanding an emergency response from the clones, however, the voice in my head, the voice of a Sith Lord interrupted me. Unfortunately, the voice was all the voice of the one person I had left now that the Jedi were purged.

Allow me. Lady Attam announced and I watched as two lightning bolts ripped from the skies, striking the munitions. The combined power of the lightning strikes and the explosive payloads of the missiles triggered two massive explosions. The clones rushed to grab hoses, move other munitions away from the now raging fire, and save their injured allies. I sat there, knelt behind a crate and observing the carnage in utter shock, just how much power did Phanza have? She wasn't even on Ypherro...perhaps she was using me as a conduit for her power, but she still tore lightning from the skies rather than generating it through my body. I never knew a Jedi with that much power, nor a Sith. I never heard of Count Dooku doing anything quite like that. Get out of here! They won't be distracted forever!

Phanza's order put me back into action. I sprang to my feet and ran over to the ARC fighter, activating it and taking off. I wasn't much of a pilot, but I was a rather crafty Jedi, so, as the Clones realized what I was up to, I decided to bring myself a little bit of extra time. I turned to fight ninety degrees to the right, angling my thrusters back at the clones and the raging fire they were facing. I hit the afterburners with full power and I launched the clones back, away from the rest of the fighters and the gunships. I relaxed the afterburners, not having the confidence to fly at full speed, before angling the nose up, gaining altitude. I was fully vertical soon enough and, gently, I added more power to the mix, breaking through the clouds of Ypherro and trying to break out of the atmosphere as quickly as possible.

The cockpit and the wings were covered in rain and I understood that, gaining altitude this quickly and heading off into space, the water would turn to ice. Not knowing how to use the controls of the starfighter to clear the liquid, I took one hand off of the controls and used the Force to fling the water off. The fighter was clear and ice free by the time I left the atmosphere, coming out into orbit. I looked behind me and even checked the ship's sensors, none of the clones were pursuing just yet, distracted by the fire and the blowback from my take off. At least, that's what I thought it was, the truth ended up behind more sinister than that. The controls started shaking and they grew entirely unresponsive as I realized what had happened - the clones weren't pursuing because they reported my escape to the Venator-class Star Destroyers in orbit. I escaped the surface, but now a tractor beam was pulling me onto the Sage. I was going to get pulled onto a ship full of hostile clone troopers.

I tried to amplify my strength with the Force to twist the controls away by Force but that did nothing more than change the angle of the ship as the tractor beam continued to overpower it. I knew I had laser guns and some missiles on this starship, but one starfighter against three Star Destroyers with their own full compliments of clone pilots wasn't exactly a winnable fight. Of course, the alternative is getting pulled inside a ship full of clones. I can't possibly fight an entire Star Destroyer's worth of clones, but I can't win the star battle either, and that's assuming I can even get out of this tractor beam. I needed help. I tapped into the Force Bond and, once again, I begged Lady Attam for help. I couldn't do this alone.

I can't get you out of the tractor beam, but once you're in that hanger, I can cause a distraction for you. Then it's up to you to sneak through that ship and find out how you're going to get away from the blockade. All the while the Clones will be looking for you. Good luck Zaliza, it would be a pity to lose you so early in my plans. Lady Attam smirked once again through our bond. She wasn't being particularly helpful, not that I expected anything different from a Sith Lord, though at least, based on what happened down on the surface, I could depend on Phanza for a good distraction. A good distraction that surely delighted her given that she got to slaughter dozens of clones in the process, but after Witchcraft murdered by master, it's hard to have sympathy for those traitors.

The ship passed through the hanger and I set it down smoothly, trying not to draw any extra attention to myself. That didn't seem to have much effect whatsoever as the clones were already surrounding the ARC fighter, aiming their guns and even setting up a few EWHB-12 automatic cannons. I wasn't sure what kind of distraction was going to save me now, Lady Attam is going to need some real lightning tricks to get me out of this one. Her solution, however, turned out to be far more simple than I had been expecting - she used the Force to deactivate the rayshield around the hanger. I watched, from the pressurized cockpit of the ARC fighter, as every single clone in the hanger was jettisoned into the vacuum of space. The effect was so great that even some crates, munitions, and starfighters got loose, though nothing beyond the clones and some light equipment was actually blown out into space before Phanza reactivated the rayshield. I got off the ARC fighter in a now empty hanger and rushed to the other end, hiding in an alcove as an investigating party of clones entered the hanger.

I held my breath, silently using the Force to cycle air through my nostrils manually, a task which took excruciating focus, but one which made it so that the clones wouldn't hear a sound. I waited there for perhaps five minutes, but those five minutes felt like an eternity as I waited for the clones to fan out and searching distant corners of the hanger. This was how it was going to be on the Sage, the clones knew I was here and they would constantly be hunting for me. I needed to get off this ship as quickly as possible, but there was a tractor beam on this ship and, because the Tython and the Coruscant Temple had tractor beams as well, I couldn't just disable the one on this ship. No, I needed to give them a reason to let me off this ship. Unfortunately, giving a legion of bloodthirsty clones programmed to kill Jedi a reason to let a Jedi Padawan off their ship is easier said than done. In any case, I knew I had to get out of this hanger before those clones searching for me turn around and find me. Sneaking slowly and silently, I slipped out of the hanger and into the familiar halls outside, halls I knew thought would become hostile territory.

I thought about my options. I couldn't disguise myself because I look nothing like a clone trooper, the uniforms are just that, uniform, completely and utterly. I'm not the right size or shape to fit into an armor custom made specifically for copies of Jango Fett. I couldn't hide in the ventilation system because this is a spaceship, the ventilation system is only as large as it needs to be and no larger - it makes absolutely no sense for a ventilation system larger enough for someone to crawl through would be on any form of spacecraft - air is a gas, it doesn't need a giant vent system, giant vent systems are just good for infiltration by an enemy force and no one wants to build a ship that can be easily infiltrated by an enemy force...unfortunately, that bit of logic is what's making my job harder, given that I am infiltrating a ship and, despite fighting alongside me for the entire war, these clones now consider me an enemy force. I decided that, what I needed to do is get to another hanger - one which is still operating business as usual - and sneak into its command center. I'll take care of the clones inside and then I'll enter the system and give ships permission to leave this hanger. With any luck, I'll be out of the hanger and in hyperspace before the bridge figures out what's going on and overrides everything.

Ready to enact my plan, giving the Star Destroyers a reason not to use their tractor beams on me, I started moving towards the hanger on the opposite end of the ship. I couldn't go to the main hangers running across the length of the Venators because those are the largest and most guarded of hangers, additionally, once I left those hangers, I would be deposited directly in the line of site of the bridge. I needed as much time as possible without the command structure of the three ships realizing what I was up to so that wasn't an option. Thus, I was popping in and out of hallways, taking wild turns whenever I heard a group of clone troopers approaching, and heading through hallways which I knew were seldom used. I avoided entering rooms and I avoided busy corridors, I knew that, if I found anyone, there would be a fight. Fights are slow and nosy, trying to take down a pair of clone troopers could result in me being boxed in by half the troops on this vessel. I had to be careful and I had to be patient, every move I made was a calculated risk and every clone I tried to sneak past was a potential opportunity for being killed. I fought with these men, I trained with these men, I talked with these men, I knew that they were infinitely more of a threat than any battle droid because they were, fundamentally, people.

These clones, brainwashed by Palpatine or not, had something that no droid could ever have, intuition. The clones had the sense that I was there when they got close to me, they visible slowed and grew jittery, just waiting for any and every sound. A few of these close calls later and I found myself sneaking past walls of clone troopers as I got close to the hanger - the individual clones were reporting to their allies where they thought I was and they were figuring out my plan, the fact that I wanted to escape through this hanger anyway - the longer I spent on board the Sage, the more likely I was to get caught. I knew I was getting closer to the hanger and part of me felt it would just be safer to ignite both blades of my lightsaber and get through as fast as possible, however, that meant all focus would come on this section of the ship. There is no way the bridge would overlook the starboard hanger lifting its quarantine if there was a confirmed sighting of me anywhere near it. The whole point of this plan was to avoid being detected and avoid drawing attention to myself, I needed to get out of here instantly and I needed to do it without the bridge realizing what I was up to. In short, the longer I take, the greater chance I have of getting caught, the faster I rush, the greater the chance of all of this failing. I survived the initial attack of Order 66, I knew exactly where I had to go for sanctuary, and I had managed to slip past the Republic ground forces on Ypherro, but all it took to unravel my escape plan was a tractor bream, a tractor beam which has left me trapped and alone on a Republic vessel.

I sat crouched in the shadow of an alcove as twelve clones in two lines of six marched past me, clearly a grand search party. I hadn't paid much attention to it during the war, but the clones armor has, slowly but surely, grown more menacing. Visors used to be taller, with a thicker bridge between the visor and the mouth, and the fin on the top of the helmet was thinner and taller, now, the visors slope upwards from the eyes towards a thinner nose bridge, the V-shaped mouths are now flatter, and the fin on the top of the heads are lower, thicker, and less pronounced. The stylized and perhaps even idealistic armor of the beginning of the war has become more militarized, more aggressive, and more rugged. Perhaps that was a sign that they had been consumed by war, or perhaps that was their fate from the beginning, after all, for all intents and purposes, the clones are child soldiers who happen to look twice their age. The accelerated aging means we have sent thousands of ten year olds to their deaths all around the galaxy, their betrayal is completely inexcusable, I cannot believe that Warlock would go from saving my life to trying to take it with just a message on a holocommunicator, there must be brainwashing or some Dark Side magic involved, but the Jedi Order had fallen long before Order 66. We weren't peacekeepers, we were generals and murderers, leading the galaxy deeper into the cesspit of war rather than trying to guide it out. We lost our values, we lost our morality, and, unfortunately, we lost our lives before anyone could actually try and save the Jedi.

I could still save myself though, it is neither a selfless or a magnanimous act, but hopefully, by surviving, by escaping Palpatine's grasp, perhaps I can reform some version of the Jedi Order - who knows how such an Order would look, who knows if Lady Attam or the other Sith in Taaszon would meddle with our Order, who knows if reforming it is even possible, the point is...I have to try - I can live on do to selfless and magnanimous acts. I may die without being able to actually accomplish anything, but even that would be better than dying here. I slipped out of the alcove and took advantage of a clear corridor to cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time, ending up just outside the hanger. Unfortunately, there was an obstacle between me and actually getting into the hanger. Six clones of the 1204th battalion stood blocking the way into the hanger, keeping me away from its command center. My plan for escape was compromised, if I couldn't get into there, climb the steps to the command center, and let ships get out, then I was as good as dead. I thought about reaching out with the Force and mind-tricking the guards, but them leaving for no explainable reason would be suspicious and attract further clones to investigate, clones which I wouldn't have gotten in my initial mind trick. I could also use the Force to push something in the distance, making a noise for the clones to investigate, but these clones know that they are up against a Jedi, they wouldn't fall for such a textbook trick. I was running out of time and options when a forgotten friend intervened.

I watched, with incredulous shock, as R9-W3 rolled into a clone at full speed, knocking him over. I listened as R9 whizzed and whined about some utter nonsense, demanding the clones' attention. My jaw practically dropped when the clones actually ran off down the opposite end of the hallway, acting on R9's trumped up story. The red and purple astromech, seeing the coast was clear, rolled over to me. I completely forgot where the droid was or that he even existed, yet here he was, saving me and...if he was here, then that had to mean my ship was here. I didn't know if stealing back my fighter was necessarily the best idea, but if I could get it back, with R9 helping me fly it, I could at least maneuver and fight properly if I needed to, though I intended to escape this blockade around Ypherro without fighting, after all, I stood no change against the power that decimated the jungles of Ypherro during the separatist counterattack. That awesome power would tear my dinky little Delta 7B apart in mere seconds, not to mention all the fighters, bombers, and gunships still on-board these three Venator-class Star Destroyers. I wanted to be able to fight if I needed to, that didn't mean I was going to put myself up against suicidal odds.

"R9!" I whispered a thankful greeting to the droid "Thank the Force you're alright. Listen, I need to get out of here, can you go and convince the clones you need to fly out of the hanger while I go lift the lockdown on this hanger? If you can get my starfighter and hyperspace ring, slip a reason past the clones - they won't care, you're just an astromech to them - then we can both get out of here. Can you help me out?"

The droid responded to my question with positive and affirmative whirls, I cringed at the amount of noise he made, but then I remembered that the droid does this all the time and the clones of the 1204th have become accustomed to ignoring it. I remained in the shadows as R9 rolled away, going up to some clones and hollering out a rushed and tangential speech about how he needed to get out of the hanger and he needed my ship to do it. If the clones actually stopped to listen and think about what the droid was saying, they probably would have found it suspicious, instead, the unfortunate clone trooper just stared at the droid, dumbly, and eventually said that he can go once the lockdown was over. I waited until the clone turned around and, rather quickly, got as far away from the annoying droid as quickly as possible. Smirking at his success, I sprung into action, my job rendered significantly easier with the help of my astromech.

The droid proved an excellent distraction, amusing some clones and utterly annoying others, drawing attention well away from me. I took advantage and climbed up the steps to the command center over the hanger, finding a group of clones in uniforms rather than armor, these were clones tasked with utility, engineering, and administrative roles rather than serving as combat units. These clones were overseen by Republic officers on the bridge, ultimately answering to an admiral, though luckily, I wasn't confronted with any actual officers, no one with families or lives, that might make this somewhat easier. I used the Force to pull the clones towards the middle of the room, well away from any of the consoles they could alert the bridge from, and I put them down with my lightsaber. I had no other choice, this was the only way to end the lockdown. I couldn't sneak past a room full of clones programmed to kill me to end the lockdown, they would either attack me themselves or sound every alarm they had, flooding this command center with clones. They may share a face with the clone who sniped my master dead, but I couldn't help but know I was murdering innocent clones as I slashed through them, stabbed them, and hacked them apart. I deactivated my lightsaber in disgust once the act was done, silently observing what I had just done. I shook the bad thoughts away and moved to end the lockdown in the hanger before anyone noticed something was wrong. I input the correct sequence and watched as the clones cleared R9 for take off.

I rushed back down the steps and into the hanger proper. The hyperspace ring was released out into space and R9 was ready to go in the fighter, I just needed to get into the cockpit without any clones catching me, and I was working on borrowed time to begin with. The longer the lockdown remained down, the more likely the bridge was to notice something was wrong in this hanger and, on a smaller scale, the longer R9 sat here idly in his fighter, the more likely the clones here were to grow suspicious of the little droid. I waited until the clones were all facing away and, using the Force to accelerate my movements, I rushed with impossible speed to the fighter, hopping into the cockpit. Once I was sat inside, I knew I was pretty much safe, the clones, unless they were specifically paying attention, would probably completely overlook me sitting inside the cockpit. They may have intuition and they may be far more adaptable than droids, but they are human, and being human comes with a handful of setbacks. The human mind can overlook something out of place if it doesn't seem out of place, these clones know this is my fighter and, even if they see me in the fighter, they may take a moment to realize that they shouldn't be seeing that. The critical moment which makes the difference between me getting killed and me getting away completely unharmed.

The ship slipped out of the hanger and soon docked with the hyperspace ring. I took a hyperspace jump to Nar Shaddaa - it was the most recent set of coordinates on my starfighter that was outside of Republic space - simply because i wanted to get away from the Republic fleet. Taking a jump to Coruscant was a death sentence, if the clones betrayed us here, they would be all over Coruscant. I tapped into my Force bond with Lady Attam to get the coordinates for Imperius Prime, knowing that the Sith would help me. Sure, most would think that the Sith Lord would simply stab me in the back and take the Sith device for herself, but I know that Lady Attam is too greedy for that, she wants me as an apprentice. The fall of the Jedi Order and my dependence on her leaves me vulnerable, for an opportunistic Sith like Phanza, this is the perfect time to strike, the perfect time to attempt making me her Sith apprentice, therefore, I know I will be safe. The red-skinned Nautolan with her black tattoos gave me her word that I would be safe there and she has her own selfish motivations for keeping me safe, so, I plugged the coordinates for Imperius Prime into my ship's navigational computer. My fighter exited hyperspace and reoriented itself before jumping back in, making a flight plan for The Grand Duchy of Taaszon. I probably shouldn't trust the Sith so much, but right now, Taaszon is my only chance for survival.

Suddenly, R9 started on about a distress signal calling all Jedi to return to the Jedi Temple. The astromech droid, in his naivety, wanted me to turn back and journey to the Temple, right back to Coruscant and right into Palpatine's grasp. This distress signal was a blatant trap, I saw Order 66 with my own eyes, I even saw Palpatine give the order directly to Commander Warlock, there was no chance that I was now going to turn back, going to the Republic homeworld where Palpatine had absolute control, going to the place with more clones than anywhere else in the galaxy. Any Jedi who goes to Coruscant is going to be killed. I wish I could do something about it, but I was too far away and too weak, I couldn't beat Palpatine and stop the distress signal. I had to live on, I had a greater purpose in mind after all, I was intent on reforming the Jedi. The Jedi Order has already fallen, it was deeply flawed and consumed by hypocrisy long before the mass execution, trying to save the stragglers would only lead to more pain and suffering, and it could potentially undermine my new order from the very beginning, what is the point of reforming the Jedi only for them to make the very same mistakes they made before the Clone Wars? I was a weak Jedi, a mere Padawan, I couldn't save the others and I wasn't even sure if I wanted to. I was determined to do the greater good, therefore, I told R9 to disregard the distress signal from Coruscant and I continued on my path to Imperius Prime. I would deal with the Sith and I would rebuild the Jedi, rebuilding them the right way.

I wasn't sure if I was the right person to rebuild the Jedi though. I've been under the influence of a Sith Lord ever since Master Avdune and I got back from Felucia and encounter Phanza for the first time, I used Force Lightning to devastating effect on Dxun, and now I slaughtered a room full of innocent clones just so that I could escape the Sage. Now, I was going to try and rebuild the Jedi on Taaszon, but how could I do that if I was already starting to slip? I couldn't deny that Lady Attam was starting to get to me, I was falling to the Dark Side, I couldn't deny that. I had been attached with Master Avdune, too attached, that night we shared a bed and that final kiss we shared was proof of that, now, I had to live in a world without Master Avdune, in a world without the one person anchoring me to the light. If Master Yoda is right about attachment leading to fear and suffering, I will be in the midst of that while surrounded by Dark Side users and their disciples, how could I possibly resist the Dark Side in that environment? I was confused and filled with self doubt as my fighter continued to fly monotonously through the streaking blue lights of hyperspace, flying closer and closer to Sith space, my future very much uncertain.


The chaotic nature of Imperius Prime revealed itself to me once again as snow fell on the top of my starfighter as the lava from the streams below heated the bottom. Tightly backed jungles filled with the scavenged ruins of Republic and separatist tanks soon gave way to an urban cityscape as my fighter came in for a landing at Zavros City. R9 used his thrusters to fly out of his cavity and land while I climbed out of the cockpit and touched down on the ground, facing an approaching Sith Lord. I watched as Lady Attam, this time in a black, red, and gold robe, strutted down a bridge linking this landing pad to a tower, flanked by Ruumshi and Avoine. The red-skinned Nautolan strutted confidently near me, her tattooed head-tails resting up over the front of her shoulders and down her chest, her large black eyes and her arrogant smirk filling up her face. The orange-skinned Zabrak to her right and the pale, blonde human to her left carried their deactivated lightsaber pikes, impressive weapons for a pair of non-Force users, but weapons they certainly knew how to use. The three of them seemed powerful enough to me, but apparently, it wasn't enough for Phanza, Lady Attam wanted an overwhelming welcome. Lined up on either end of the bridge were the black and purple armored Taaszon troopers, the Sith infantry standing at attention for their leader. I scanned the rooftops of nearby towers, finding Ceyla and HK-107 on two separate overlooking areas. The Mandalorian Echani gave me a nod, but the droid was even less receptive than that. Lady Attam, with this welcome, was making things abundantly clear, I was entering her domain and things were going to happen her way. I gulped but stood strong, there was no turning back now.

I did, however, turn around when I heard a formation of starfighters flying by. Six Bisector-class Starfighters led by a Devastator-class Super Starfighter fly by the outskirts of the city in a V-formation, yet another display of the power of The Grand Duchy of Taaszon by Lady Attam. War is a purely destructive force, it is a force which has corrupted the Jedi, taken millions of lives throughout the war, and it is the force which robbed me of my master, but I couldn't deny being impressed. If this show of force is indicative of what the Grand Duchy can do, then perhaps I will be safe here. If the only way to guarantee peace in the galaxy is by confronting Palpatine with Margraviate-class Dreadnoughts and Sith apprentices, then perhaps that false peace is better than yet another war. The power-hungry Chancellor has revealed himself as a Sith Lord, the master of Count Dooku, the leader of this pretender faction that has been in a secret war against Taaszon. The separatist attack had been an attempt for Palpatine to clean up loose ends before Order 66, but, when it stalled and the Sith asked the Republic for help to turn back the separatists, the Chancellor changed tactics. The Chancellor wanted the Republic, his favorite executioners, to possess a map of all of Taaszon, Phanza, out of either a retroactively justifiable paranoia or out of knowing more than we did, refused, giving only what was absolutely necessary to the Republic. Now, Taaszon is arming up these border worlds and keeping their true heartlands in the shadows. If war is coming, Taaszon knows exactly what Palpatine can wield against them, but Palpatine cannot truly predict what the Grand Duchy can wield against him. Peace through fear is hardly an ideal, but, with the Jedi Order eradicated and the Republic now in the hands of a mad dictator, I cannot afford to be idealistic, I have to be pragmatic, I have to settle for any kind of peace.

"Welcome back to The Grand Duchy of Taaszon dear Zaliza, I trust you have the device?" Lady Attam asked, the Sith Lord and aristocrat was keeping up her usual bemused, affable, and polite disguise, however, her evil, her greed, and her impatience revealed themselves over this Sith device. I'm not sure if it was Count Dooku or Chancellor Palpatine, but one of those Sith Lords had been hiding this Sith device under separatist guard on Ypherro, hiding it in the vault where my master sacrificed herself. That alone showed that this device was significant, but why wasn't it hidden on Coruscant with Palpatine or on Socorro with Dooku? Unless, of course, one of the Sith wanted to hide it from the other. This was going into the domain of Sith power games, the domain that I figured that Lady Attam flourished in. Perhaps that is why Phanza wanted this device so badly, but I felt that it was more than that. This was some sort of powerful device...I wanted to get my hands off of it as soon as possible, and I figured that giving it to Phanza rather than letting Palpatine's clones come across it was the lesser of two evils. I didn't dare try and destroy it, who knows what Sith powers destroying this device may unleash?

"I do," I pulled the Sith device out and I was about to hand it over to the Sith Lady when I stopped. I feared this device, I feared Phanza Attam to an extent, therefore, I couldn't just give it to her in good conscience without at least knowing what it is. Yes, Lady Attam was offering me a place to live and survive openly as a Jedi where I could try and do some good for the galaxy rather than waiting around to die, but that didn't mean I wasn't going to question her when I felt that it was right to do so. Phanza had reached for the device but, seeing my pull it back, she rose a brow in a silent question - not an actual eyebrow, given that she doesn't have those, but the physical brow - to which, I finally replied "But first, What is it?"

"Ah ha, this," Phanza said before pulling the device out of my hands with the Force, grabbing it for herself. The woman was powerful and she enjoyed flaunting her power, however, the Sith did seem to have some twisted sense of morality as she did tell me all about it. Additionally, the fact that I'm still alive despite Phanza having two lines of guards, a pair of more than capable bodyguards, two snipers positioned overhead, and her own awesome power to tap into, suggests that she is going to keep her word and give me a place to live, peacefully. Phanza turned around and started to walk back to the central tower, me walking alongside her with Ruumshi and Avoine trailing behind, Ceyla and HK-107 following on the rooftops from a distance. Lady Attam began explaining the device as we traveled down the bridge overlooking Zavros City "This device is a Sith Wayfinder. In ancient times, they were created to guide the Sith to a new homeworld after The Great Hyperspace War, leading to the lost world of Dromund Kaas where Emperor Vitiate rebuilt Sith civilization. Once The Sith Empire was defeated, the fractured remains would repurpose these Wayfinders. Taaszon itself can only be reached by using our Wayfinders, publishing our hyperspace coordinates is punishable by death, hence, I directed you here rather than to our homeworld. Palpatine's faction presumably has Wayfinders leading to the origin of these pretenders, the world where they first bastardized the Sith with the rule of two, reducing themselves from a force that could conquer the galaxy openly to a force that had to subvert it. If we can find this planet, if this Wayfinder is truly what I think it is, we may be able to do to Palpatine what he has done to the whole galaxy."

"We?" I asked. I came here to escape Palpatine and to rebuild my way of life, I came here hoping for a peaceful existence rather than one of suffering and being hunted, I came here because of the enforced neutrality that Taaszon can provide, I did not come here to engage in a hopeless war between evil factions. I hated seeing Palpatine reigning over the galaxy, ruling from Coruscant and possessing the largest and most populated planets in the galaxy - worlds like Corellia, Alderaan, and Naboo - but that didn't mean I was willing to put millions, perhaps even billions, of lives in danger just to leave another faction of Sith in control of the whole galaxy. I knew Phanza, perhaps I even trusted her, but that didn't mean I was willing to let her take over everything. Even if I was willing to fight, we had to face reality, The Grand Duchy of Taaszon is a minuscule rump state at the edge of the galaxy, it was a large military for its size, but Palpatine has the combined resources of both the Republic and the separatists, he has Kamino constantly producing droids, and, if need be, he probably has a way of reactivating all those battle droids he had deactivated. We were outnumbered, possessing only a tiny fraction of the population of the Republic, we were up against virtually unlimited resources, and our enforced neutrality would only work if we didn't make it worthwhile for Palpatine to destroy us. Right now, Palpatine doesn't know what Taaszon has and, according to the Wayfinders, he has no way of getting to Taaszon, however, if we reveal all our resources in an open war, we will give Palpatine a reason to destroy us and, sooner rather than later, a Sith with a Wayfinder will be killed in battle. It's simple, neutrality represents life and prosperity for Taaszon, war represented guaranteed destruction. I wanted to undermine Palpatine just as much as anyone else, but we have to be realistic here.

"Yes, we," Phanza said ominously as we entered the tower in the center of Zavros City, the tallest and largest building revealing itself to be some sort of Sith Citadel. We entered the gigantic main hall, a huge open room with a glowing red pyramid in the center, an object that was absolutely radiant with the Dark Side of the Force. All around this room, various Sith walked around, openly and knowingly flaunting their power. There didn't seem to be a uniform for these Sith, they were able to personalize their robes and armor, though some things seemed to reign in common between them. Black and purple was the most common color combination, but black and red was common as well, many wore gold and silver trim. Most wore hooded robes, though some wore armor, some even wearing capes, some of the high ranking Sith wore rather ridiculous pointed pauldrons on their shoulders, but this was not an ubiquitous practice, after all, Phanza was a Sith Lord and the apprentice of Grand Duchess Voytana, yet she didn't wear pauldrons. These Sith were various races, humans were the most common, naturally, however, aliens were present at every level of the Sith ranks, Chiss being particularly common amongst aliens. The blue skinned, red-eyed, isolationist race seemed to have a significant presence on Taaszon, rather strange for a race almost never seen in the galaxy outside of Chiss space. I believe Phanza mentioned at one point or another that several Chiss worlds are under Taaszon's full control. The tolerance for aliens was so clear in Taaszon that, despite her exotic race, the other Sith showed deference to Lady Attam, some going so far as to bow before her as we walked by. This deference even extended to me...it was as if the Sith already thought of me as Phanza's corrupted Jedi turned apprentice, knowing that I was off limits to anyone but her. I wasn't that though, I was still a Jedi, the last one perhaps.

We circled around the pyramid and exited out the other end of the citadel - I think guiding me through this building was yet another show of force, showing that she had far more Sith than the mere two of the so-called pretenders - coming out to a bridge and, at the end of it, a familiar Ravager-class Sith Interceptor. I heard a jetpack fire up and I looked over my shoulder to see Ceyla hover down to the ground, then, on the other end, HK-107 leaped down from the rooftops and touched down. Ceyla, HK-107, Ruumshi, Avoine, R9-W3, and I all followed Lady Attam on board the Ultimate. I took a deep breath before boarding the ramp onto the ship, boarding a ramp leading onto my new future. The Jedi were gone, Master Avdune was sniped down by a treacherous clones and then she finally sacrificed herself in battle against those clones to let me get away, and now, now I was in a Sith state, dreading that war was perhaps on the horizon once again.


Alright guys, the end of an era and the end of act one. This story will return at some point within the next year I think, however, if you want superpowers and lightning, you won't have to wait too long, stay tuned. Hints aside, I will have a new story coming two weeks after this posts and I hope you guys will check it out, meanwhile, I'm also coming onto the last ten chapters of my Europa Universalis inspired alt-history story, The Legacy of The Romans, so check that out if you want 17th century warfare, lesbian romance, and monarchism.

I was worried at one point that I wouldn't have much free time going forward, though then I got the news that my classes will be online for the rest of the semester, therefore, I'm gonna have a lot more time for writing than I thought. I won't be writing this story for awhile, but I will be writing for those two other stories I mentioned, so please, check it out, maybe you'll enjoy!