I got a great review on AO3 this past week, offering a great series of critiques and recommendations. The gist was that the pacing of act two was slow, and, while part of that was intentional - in contrast to the activity of the Clone Wars - I recognize that it could come across as boring. Particularly if you're waiting two weeks in between these chapters. Well, I hope that with these last few chapters and with the next one, there has been more activity and action, with better pacing lately. I'm trying to both take my time and keep your interest, so, if you ever have any advice or critiques, feel free to share it either on AO3 or FFN.

Secrets of The Outer Rim.

Act II.

The Heart of Darkness.

Chapter XVIII.

The Last of The Separatists.


I groaned as I woke again again, trying to figure out where I was. My shoulder ached from hitting the seat belt I was wearing, my neck was sore from my head limply hanging forward, and, as I looked up, I saw a blinding white light. I panicked for a split second, my brain going to the foolish notion that this was the blinding white light of me becoming one with the Force, but, as I raised my hand to block the light, I realized where I was. I was in the cockpit of the Ultimate, the personal craft of Lady Attam, and, as I turned around, I saw the Nautolan woman laying there, still knocked out, but I sensed that she was fine. While I was turning over to see Phanza, I also saw Yevenna Aphlen - the younger Mandalorian who was forced to pilot the ship when Phanza and Ceyla needed a rapid extraction - her helmet was laying against the side of the cockpit, suggesting that it could have been a painful impact had the Mirialan not been wearing her helmet. I was also aware of Ceyla sitting next to Phanza, the silver armored Mandalorian not awake either.

"Ugh...what is that light?" Phanza asked, groggily, as she got up. I was worried for a second, thinking that Lady Attam wasn't nearly as okay after the accident as I was, but my fears were quickly assuaged. Phanza blinked her big black eyes a few times, looked around the room, and got her bearings, rising to her feet in the face of this mysterious light. I watched as Phanza stuck out her left hand without even looking, pulling her lightsaber to her hand, wanting to be prepared for whatever this was. My thoughts, briefly, turned back to the conversation we had while onboard the Imperial space station, where Phanza not only said that I was just as strong as she was, but potentially even stronger, and I just plain didn't agree with it. Lady Attam had all of this power: she could grab her lightsaber with her mind without looking, she could levitate over a deadly drop with confidence, and she released a massive lightning storm from her fingertips back during the Battle of Imperius Prime. Phanza was definitely stronger than me and that was simply a fact. Though, as the white light shifted away to reveal its source as a large cargo freighter, I realized that this was not the time to think about the Force or about power, not at all.

"Is it Imperial or are they scavengers?" Ceyla asked, the two Mandalorians suddenly awake and at attention, not a moment too soon either, as the cargo bay of the freighter opened as a tractor beam dragged us in, the damaged Ultimate lacking the power to escape. We were up against the clock with the Empire about to pursue us, the whole space station either had become aware of what we were doing or were about to, thus, as soon as she sensed we were safe, Phanza hit the detonator and blew the whole space station up, destroying it. Unfortunately for us, us being safe from the blast didn't include the ship, which was caught up in the explosion. The windows held, the life support systems were fully operational, and the hull integrity was sound, but our thrusters were incinerated and we were dead in the sky. There was nothing we could do about the freighter, nothing but waiting to see who we were going to encounter here over Loukhamii. Ceyla asked a very valid question but, as far as I could tell, this was not a Republic design. I couldn't say for sure, but I didn't think that the Empire was producing their own designs quite yet, not in large scale, nor did I think we would still be alive if the Empire caught us in this situation. Scavengers searching for wreckage amongst the ruins of the space station? Perhaps, but this seemed like a large operation for some petty scavengers.

"I don't mean to be disrespectful, sister, but I don't think that these are scavengers. This is something else." Yevenna pointed out, the younger Mandalorian echoing my thoughts. Yevenna addressed her as sister, which I assumed was a Mandalorian thing, but there was a lot I didn't know about Mandalorian culture quite yet. Yevenna wore a feminine style helmet with the curved design, but Ceyla, who was also female, identified as such, and was addressed as such - with Aphlen calling her sister just now - wore the more traditional type of visor, with the T-shape. Perhaps it was just a personal choice, I wasn't sure, but, despite these two different styles of helmet, I saw the same dead serious expression on both faces as we were finally bathed fully in the natural lighting of the cargo bay, the door sealing once we were let it. The four of us remained on our ship, waiting for the door to fully close and for the air vents to reactivate - thus making it hospitable again - but, even when the room was restored to its normal functionality, nobody came. Our ship was locked in some mysterious freighter, somewhere over Loukhamii, and nobody was even coming to see what they picked up. This was a strange experience on top of an already complicated mission.

"Get your lightsaber but conceal it Zaliza, we're going out to figure out what is going on." Phanza ordered, the Nautolan assumed leadership. I obeyed without question, lacking a better plan. I grabbed my lightsaber and I tried to figure out how to hide a double-bladed lightsaber - more easily said than done - but soon enough I found a hidden slit within my black and purple robes, large enough for my lightsaber, hiding it along my back. Along my spine up into my hood, I hid the weapon as I joined with Phanza, her own curved-hilt lightsaber hidden somewhere. We were still in Sith robes, though we did have our blaster pistols on our hips,, but there wasn't much we could do about that now, thus, the two of us stepped down the ramp and into the cargo bay itself, investigating this freighter. Ceyla and Yevenna stayed behind to protect the ship, knowing that plenty of possessions - including a pathfinder to Taaszon no less - were still in the ship, even if we couldn't necessarily fly it back out of this freighter. Thus, the two of us separated, trying to figure everything out.

"The door is the only way in or out. There can't be many openings considering that they open this to the vacuum of space." I observed, Phanza and I thus headed to the door. It wasn't exactly ideal, we would prefer something that was unexpected, rather than marching directly where the ship owner expects us to, though it's clear that we don't have much choice. I stood watch at the door, my fingers twitching just inches away from my blaster as Phanza inserted a security spike - I suppose she must have grabbed it off the ship whilst I was getting my lightsaber - and hacked the door open. I wasn't sure what I had been expecting when the door opened, but I have to admit that I was surprised by the results. In contrast to the cold, utilitarian part of the freighter, the part of the freighter that was actually in use was a large open floor plan, and it was very warm and colorful no less. Faux hardwood flooring covered what was once a simple metal floor, a beautiful kitchen with an island counter took part of what seemed to have once been an austere, almost military kitchen. A living room with plenty of pieces of furniture - furniture that roughly matched, but clearly wasn't of the same set - suggesting that this was once a mundane cargo freighter, perhaps even a military vessel, but, between renovations and scavenging, this place was transformed into a proper home.

"Follow me, the cockpit is at the front of the ship." Phanza used our mental connection to communicate, being very careful to remain silent and get the drop on whoever was piloting the ship. The path to bridge exposed some of the less homely parts of the ship, as the design converged into a narrow hallway with a staircase in the middle - leading up to the bridge, which was located high up in the freighter - but even here, a number of odd paintings and posters filled the walls. Esoteric paintings of alien women, contrasting landscapes of barren deserts and opulent cities, and even an artistic representation of the Separatist Parliament of all things. I took notice of that painting and made sure Phanza did too before the both of us headed up the stairs. We had no idea what this person could be or who they were affiliated, with this interior and these paintings asking more questions than they answered.

"You can stop sneaking, I know you're there." a female voice spoke out and, out of anything I could have expected, it certainly wasn't this. Sitting crosslegged in the swiveling pilot seat was a barefooted dark-green skinned Togruta with white facial markings and blue stripes on her head tails and horns. Unlike the Togruta Jedi I knew - Shaak Ti and Padawan...well, former Padawan Tano - she didn't have the Akul-teeth headdress, rather, a set of goggles were clipped to a metal ring that filled the same space. Presumably her lekku meant that she couldn't wear conventional goggles, thus, she made this headpiece. I checked to see if this young woman was armed, but I didn't find any weapon, instead, I just noticed the fact that she was barely dressed. On closer inspection, she was not only barefooted but almost entirely barelegged, only wearing a pair of black shorts with red stripes on the side, then, after an exposed midriff, she wore a little tank top that matched. This left her arms, leg, and midriff exposed in an outfit that showed more skin than some of the things that Phanza would wear. I eased my posture, this woman rescued us from the wreckage of the space station and was clearly not going to fight us dressed like that.

"Right, my apologies. Why did you tractor beam our ship from the wreckage?" Phanza asked, making peace with the woman, making it clear that she wasn't going to harm her. I saw her narrow her eyes and take us both in, the blue eyes of the young alien darting between Phanza and I as her red-tinted goggles rested on her forehead. The two of us stood passively, my hands no longer itching to grab the two blaster pistols that, for the sake of secrecy, had become mine over time, and Phanza crossing her arms well away from her own deadly pistol. The young Togruta - quite possibly a teenager, not that I'm any older myself - accepted this gesture and would explain what was going on.

"Well, you two don't exactly strike me as Imperials and you were in the wreckage of one of their space stations so, what the hell, I'll tell you. I'm a scavenger for the Loukhamii Resistance, when the space station and the three star destroyers blew up, I was hoping to find something for us to use against the Imps on the ground. Instead, I found a ship that didn't look Republic/Imperial/Separatist/whatever, so, I investigated. I saw that you were alive in there, so I brought you into my ship. You're welcome by the way." the girl revealed. Apparently, when she was glancing between us, she wasn't just trying to gauge our intentions, she was trying to figure out whether or not we were some sort of secret Imperial operatives. Seeing two red-skinned aliens, one a Nautolan, the other, ostensibly, a Zeltron, in strange robes, and using custom blaster pistols rather than anything Republic or Imperial issue, she rightfully decided we weren't with Palpatine. Then, knowing we were in the wreckage of an Imperial space station, she figured she could tell us she was working with the separatist holdouts. That explained the painting of the Parliament, but, given that she saved us, I wasn't considering her a threat either.

"Thank you." I said, she obviously didn't know that I was once a Jedi, but I still wanted to voice the lack of hostilities. I had a feeling that we were going to spend some time here - the Ultimate clearly wasn't in any condition to fly us back to Taaszon - perhaps the resistance could help us fix the ship, but it would come with a price, and that price was, no doubt, going to be helping the resistance in some way. No one in the galaxy expects anything for free - no one smart anyway - and, once upon a time, that fact is what made the Jedi so unique. The Jedi were willing to help and bring peace without a price, but, overtime, we became intertwined with the Republic, thus, sometimes, our aid was withheld for political reasons, then, we were unable to help because we were preoccupied with the Clone Wars, and finally, the only Jedi still surviving are in hiding. Our order has been whittled down to a shell of its former self and then destroyed, the galaxy is back to being a place of favors and greed, where everything has a price. Though I wasn't exactly mad, because perhaps this was the Force doing its work.

Phanza wouldn't agree, she made it clear that she viewed the Force as something to wield, as a source of power, but I did believe that the Force had a way of influencing events and there was merit to the idea of fate. Phanza, the Mandalorians, and I, came here to blow up a space station and make it seem like an attack by the Loukhamii Resistance, but now, we were indebted to that resistance. Now, we were in a position to help them survive the Imperial reprisals that we have very likely just brought upon them. This was the Force influencing events, this was the Force seeing that we did something that was perhaps immoral, and now giving us the chance to make it right, Phanza may disagree, but I couldn't help but see things this way.

"So, what are you going to do with us now?" Phanza asked, still not entirely sure about the green Togruta woman. I didn't think that it was anything particular about this woman, more that Phanza, who is standing here in her Sith robes with her tattoos completely exposed, is generally rather paranoid and careful, as our experiences on Cipher-9 proved. Phanza knows that it's pretty clear that she's a Sith and that I am a Force user as well and, unlike the clones on the space station, we're not planning on killing this green, white, and blue-skinned woman. A woman whose name we didn't even know at this stage, all we really knew was what she told us, about being a scavenger and working on behalf of the Loukhamii resistance. I could sense that we were the only ones on this freighter - not counting Ceyla and Yevenna, of course - and that she wasn't a Force-sensitive, but, with the Force, I couldn't tell much more either. Operating on Nar Shaddaa has been easy - trust no one but try and get their information - and, while I didn't exactly like clones, this last mission was simple enough too, but getting involved with these separatist holdouts? That was a more complex matter. The idealistic side of me definitely wants to help them, and I think that it would be the Jedi thing to do, but the more cynical side of me can't help but remember the Clone Wars. All of it was under the orders of Palpatine, but how many crimes against the Republic have these Loukhamii separatists committed? I couldn't say, I didn't know much about this planet. I knew it wasn't one of the major separatist planets, for what that's worth.

"Well, you need repairs, don't you?" the Togruta asked. Phanza glanced at me and I nodded, showing her that I trusted the green-skinned alien. Lady Attam considered her actions for a moment, but then she decided that she was going to trust my judgement. Phanza nodded and the Togruta shrugged and continued "I can take you to a resistance controlled spaceport, but you need to keep it a secret. If you start talking about our operations to anyone, I'll start talking about whatever it is you two got going on in this wreckage."

"A fair ultimatum, I suppose." Phanza replied, agreeing to keep it a secret. The Togruta didn't say it, but there was also the implication that she had her own suspicion about the robes and the fact we were clearly hiding exactly who we were. Speaking of, there was the matter of introductions, we had to get some basis of trust going, but I wanted to leave that to Phanza. I didn't want to slip up and reveal something I wasn't supposed to, so, I was going to let her introduce us and I was going to work from there. I wondered what the Nautolan was going to say when she began speaking "My name is Phanza, this is my friend Zaliza. We, along with our Mandalorian allies, just escaped the space station before it blew."

"Pleasure to meet you, my name is Aela." the Togruta shared, we were on a first name basis then. Phanza told Aela who we were and about our mission, but kept it as vague as she could, not that it would do any good against the Empire. If they Empire so much as found out a Nautolan was involved in this mission, they would suspect Phanza, especially given that I doubt Vader has forgotten about the Nar Shaddaa business. My guess it that the former Jedi turned evil executioner knows that something is suspicious about the Star Cluster casino, all he needs is proof. That being said, considering that Aela literally just admitted to working with a resistance fighting against the Empire, I doubted that she would was about to tell the Imperials anything. There was a certain solidarity in that respect, we were both enemies of the Empire and, even though we didn't exactly trust each other, we were both far more distrustful of the Empire. A common enemy to unite the most unlikeliest of allies: a former Jedi, a separatist collaborator, a Sith Lord, and two Mandalorians, all brought together against the Imperials. Though, then again, perhaps I'm the odd one out, considering Count Dooku's company during the First Battle of Geonosis.


Loukhamii was a somewhat rugged planet, as it turns out. It was not quite a desert, more of a shrubland, a chaparral, with slight hills and mountains in the distance. In some ways, it reminded me of many of the battlefields of the Clone Wars. Barren worlds shelled to nothingness, once lush planets were turned into bleak, brown battlefields with tanks, walkers, and troop transports crushing any vegetation that managed to survive. Even Felucia, with its thick, exotic jungles of colorful, brilliant massive plants, was criss-crossed with worn down, barren roads, destroyed tanks and vehicles, and bombed out bases. Planets were completely destroyed by the Clone Wars and, while this one may have been spared from the war, it doesn't seem to have been particularly productive. That was another one of the disadvantages that the separatists had in the Clone Wars, the Confederacy of Independent Systems had some industrial worlds, some highly populated worlds, but, mostly, it was a series of barren, low population Outer Rim worlds.

"Here, they'll tow your ship to Hangar S9-C and repair it. They won't go inside unless they have to do repairs on the inside." Aela promised, after speaking to the harbormaster and getting us a reasonable rate, with some conditions Phanza wanted. The Nautolan nodded and agreed as I looked over to see which hangar bay we were currently in - S2-A/B - a combined bay for this larger freighter. Phanza's ship, the Ultimate, was a fairly big craft, but it was a different kind of ship to this massive freighter. Lady Attam's vessel was a personal craft, a small yacht, and a warship all at once. The Chancellery was a similar craft in that respect, though it played more into the luxury craft aspect and the weapons were even more hidden. The Ultimate can hide weapons, with the sleek stealth panels, but it was clear that it was a military vessel, whereas the Chancellery's weapons and true nature was meant to be hidden. In any case, it seemed that the ship wouldn't be too far from here, though the implication is that this is a very, very larger spaceport - probably the main one of the planet.

"Thank you, what's the price then?" Phanza asked, finally getting down to business. Ceyla and Yevenna came over and joined us, the Echani and the Mirialan holding their helmets under their arms, all four of us knew that this wasn't about credits. This was going to be what the Loukhamii separatists wanted in exchange for fixing our ship - if this was about credits, Phanza would have spoken to the harbormaster directly - the hangar workers were affiliated with the resistance and they were going to fix our ship as a favor to the resistance. That, of course, meant that Aela's superiors were going to use us against the Empire, which could be an advantage in a way. We wanted to fight the Empire just as much as Loukhamii did and, if we managed to harm the Imperial presence here, they would need to send reinforcements here, reinforcements which then couldn't be used against the Grand Duchy. Not only did we destroy the space station, but now we were going to, most likely, draw more attention to Loukhamii, and this time, we were gonna do it with their permission.

"Well, your ship is a really high quality vessel. We need pretty exotic materials for the thrusters, the lightweight carbon-infused alloy for the armor at the rear, and the shield anchors for the overlapping rayshielding you want. It's all going to be really expensive." Aela explained, doing two things here. One: the green-skinned Togruta was beginning to work us over to gain our help, and two: it spelled out just how impressive the Ultimate really was. The official name may have been the Ravager-class Sith Interceptor, but the title of Ultimate was no exaggeration for this kind of ship. The speed of the ship was thanks to the powerful thrusters, the armor was incredibly protective but still lightweight, and, on top of that, it had the unique system of shields. Rather than one large rayshield over the whole ship, there were overlapping shields based off of these anchors. It was an incredibly impressive vessel, and a good justification for whatever it is that these separatists want "Look, we need a favor and you're in debt to us. You're heavily armed and armored, so please, follow me and I'm going to introduce you to some very important people in the Loukhamii resistance. You'll help us out and, by the time you're done, your ship should be fixed."

"Yes, yes, I know how these things work." Phanza responded, a bit rudely, but I could kind of understand why she was like that. We were, essentially, being extorted by a half-naked alien scavenger - though, to be fair, Aela did put some black boots on before leaving the ship, so she was ever so slightly more dressed than she was beforehand - and the Nautolan didn't like that. If there was one thing that our mission on Cipher-9 confirmed to me, it was that Phanza Attam loved being in control, and she hated when things were out of her control. Phanza didn't like that Operator Rahlkann was able to get information out of her and now she didn't like that Aela was making us work for the Loukhamii separatists. There wasn't really an ideological component to this - yes, Lady Attam fought against the separatists when they tried to invade the Grand Duchy, but her anger didn't come from that place - her anger came from the fact that she wasn't the one in control here. Lady Attam was being forced to do favors and work off debts here, and that is not what the Sith Lord wanted. To her credit though, any other Sith would have simply threatened Aela to get what they want, but Phanza has proven herself to be different. It may be a stretch to say that Phanza is a good person, because she's not, at least not entirely, but, on the other hand, she certainly wasn't evil.

We left the open hangar bay and entered the interior of the spaceport, where the brown decor conveyed the feeling of a modern and rather rich city in this semi-arid biome. I suppose that this meant that Loukhamii was a relatively wealthy world, just one that was somewhat lacking in terms of population and strategic resources - though, on the other hand, it was equally possible that this was a world of immense inequality where wealth and resources was accumulated in the capital city at the expense of the rest of the planet - for, if there was much strategic significant to this world, we would have taken it during the Clone Wars. The fact that the world lacked major separatist resources, nor was it located on a major hyperspace route, meant that Loukhamii was not significant to the galaxy. Would it have suffered shortages and harsh taxation during the Clone Wars? Absolutely, all worlds did, even ones in the Republic, but it wasn't a battlefield like so many similar worlds. Loukhamii is only relevant now because Palpatine wants to form his Empire and reign over the entire galaxy. That includes every world that was once part of the Republic and every world that was part of the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

Soon enough, we emerged out of the space port, emerging on one of the major avenues of this city. The large buildings along this wide metal street were in the same shade of brown as the interior of the hangar, forming a consistent look for the world. Brown certainly wasn't my favorite color, but it kind of worked in this circumstance, these buildings certainly looked nice and the dark, rich shade made these buildings look new while not garish, belonging while not too simple, earthy but still luxurious and fancy. Aela led us down this street, past the tall streetlights - it was still day time right now, but I would imagine that they did an excellent job of illuminating the area at night - and into the main square of the city. A central open forum of the square was devoted to a marketplace, with stalls selling a variety of goods. There was a fair amount of stalls and activity here, but it was clear that this space used to host far larger amounts of activity. The Clone Wars and now the Imperial attempts to subjugate the world have clearly reduced the amount of trade going on. I would imagine that even the goods that were sold here were thanks to smugglers and to scavengers like Aela herself. It was an interesting sight, but the marketplace was not our destination.

Our destination was the large, wide building at the other end of the square. It looked almost like two particularly large versions of the usual buildings of this city - roughly a square floor plan with a slight slope of their walls, tapering in just a bit, with a short, straight-walled section within, the small sloping walls coming in to form a bit of a balcony around that top floor - joined by a straight walled section with a grand entrance way in the center. I suppose that the best way to describe it would be as a palace, though, in present circumstances, it would much like a fortress as well. Militiamen patrolled that upper balcony, armed with heavy blasters and sniper rifles - it seems that the Loukhamii resistance was forced to rely on these men when the droids were deactivated by Palpatine - and, at the door, two particularly burly men stood, armed with assault cannons and vibropikes. Aela walked right past them and we were allowed in as well, the men - one a Kaleesh and the other a particularly towering Rattataki - clearly trusted the Togruta woman's judgement.

"Welcome to the former Presidential Palace of Loukhamii, now the headquarters of the resistance. Our last President went to negotiate terms with the Empire, wanting to protect the interests of this planet. We thought that, maybe, if the Empire could address the very issues that led to us joining the separatist alliance, we could accept joining the Empire. There was no negotiating for us, our President...well, he was imprisoned and we were given an ultimatum. Surrender and accept Imperial control or be occupied. We refused and, under the provisional leadership of Senator Cenetta, we have been fighting to keep our homeworld." Aela explained, guiding us through the building which I rightfully guessed was a palace. It seemed then, rather than for corporate reasons like the Trade Federation and Techno Union worlds, Loukhamii joined the Confederacy of Independent Systems for just reasons. They legitimately believed that their needs were being misrepresented and mishandled by the Galactic Republic, thus, they were open to trying something new. Then, perhaps naively, or perhaps out of pragmatism, they approached the Empire and tried to get some of what they originally wanted, instead, Palpatine gave them an ultimatum. Thus, the Sith Lord posing as the Chancellor turned Emperor of the galaxy demonstrated that he is ruthless and uncompromising: you will obey him or you will be crushed.

"I'm sorry this has happened. Your peoples intentions seemed noble." I replied. I still hadn't revealed to Aela that I was once a Jedi and that I fought against the separatists in the Clone Wars, but I still hoped that she appreciated that there was meaning behind my words. The fact that we were fighting droids desensitized some Jedi to the violence we experienced, but it still hurt me. I hated the fact that I had to slaughter countless droids in a conflict that made no sense for the Jedi to even be involved in. This was a conflict over secession rights and, essentially, we were fighting to assert Republic dominance over these worlds that wanted to leave. Yes, the separatists were supported by the Sith and by corrupt corporate interests, but, with the revelation that Palpatine was Darth Sidious, and with the corrupt interests in the Senate as well, the Republic can't claim to be any better. In the end, we were fighting a war of aggression against people with good interests who were just as mislead as we were, and the only winner of the Clone Wars was Darth Sidious himself.

"Thank you." Aela said before opening the door to the Senator's office. The Togruta's presence kept from causing a panicked reaction, but things got tense as we entered the office. The Senator herself, Cenetta, was an elegant young woman, a blue-skinned Twi'lek wearing a fine headdress, a tight dark blue and white outfit covered her body while, on her thigh, sat a scoped blaster pistol, meanwhile, covering her left arm, was a short black cape. The outfit definitely seemed like something that I would have seen on some of the younger female senators on Coruscant, such as Padme Amidala or Riyo Chuchi - though again, I didn't want to think about them too much given that these two very well may have been killed by Palpatine for being threats to his authority - but that wasn't even the most surprising part. Standing just behind the Senator, serving as bodyguards, were two elite, specialized battle droids, somehow not deactivating. I saw Phanza throw a concerned glance at me as my breathing grew heavier, scared to be in the same room as battle droids after the whole war I experienced. I knew I could defeat them, I knew I had my lightsaber as well as these two pistols I was starting to get used to, and I knew that I was among friends, but I was incredibly unsettled to encounter them again. I never thought I would see active battle droids again, and I was certainly not prepared for it.

"These are the survivors you found?" Cenetta asked Aela, addressing the Togruta first. Aela nodded "Good, thanks babe." I glanced at Phanza as the Senator gave the scavenger a kiss before letting her go, surprised by the unlikely pair. The display of affection seemed odd to me, certainly not because it was between two women - my experiences with Ullara have moved me way beyond such prejudices - but I didn't have the context of their full relationship. Perhaps Cenetta and Aela have been comfortable and domestic around each other for years, we didn't know. In any case, Cenetta clearly didn't want this to be about her personal life, because she cleared her throat and spoke again "I'm not stupid. I know that you destroyed an Imperial space station over our planet because you wanted to fight the Empire without the risks. Instead, you want the risks to fall on us, on my people, on my world."

"You say that as if it's a bad thing. Attacking and not getting caught is rather standard fair, isn't it?" Phanza coldly responded with yet another reminded that she is a Sith Lord. Pragmatism, pragmatism, pragmatism, that defined much of how Phanza operated and how the Grand Duchy operated, and it resulted in some good things, but here, it's also manifesting in a bad way. Lady Attam knew we needed to hit the Empire, especially these cruisers with the tactical data that seemed to be based off of the armies of Taaszon, however, she also didn't want to provoke an Imperial invasion. Loukhamii provided Phanza with the perfect opportunity and she took it, we all took it, and now, we were face to face with the leader of the resistance with a debt to them. Phanza was being flippant about all of this, she didn't want to be under anyone else's control, but we should cooperate. We did something very unjust to the Loukhamii resistance, now, we had the chance to help them and maybe fix things, stopping the Imperial reprisals. I wanted this, even if Phanza was being difficult about this.

"It is a bad thing, because, last I checked, until your ship is fixed, you're stuck here too." Senator Cenetta countered, as predicted, she was leveraging the ship to get our aid. Now, I wanted to help and, looking at the Mirialan Mandalorian, I got the sense that she wanted to help as well, but I also didn't want to force Phanza's hand in all of this. That made everything rather difficult, but the Twi'lek continued before I could dwell on it too much, the blue-skinned woman having no such reservations about forcing Phanza's hands "Now, I don't know what you have going on here with these robes and that armor, but I know that you're at least good enough to blow up an Imperial space station. That means that you're good enough to help us against the Empire. The troops on the surface are going to come here and they'll come for blood, and you're going to help us fight. Considering this is all your fault, it's the least you can do."

Now, one of the things that I told myself to justify that mission for myself, was that the Empire wasn't going to let Loukhamii resist for long anyway. Sooner rather than later, Palpatine was going to have Senator Cenetta and all of these rebels killed, it didn't matter whether or not they destroyed the space station and it didn't matter whether or not we stood by their side. That was a justification for myself, but that didn't make it any less true. I did want to help the separatists and I didn't want to see these people hurt, but the former separatist senator was being a bit high and mighty about all this. Did we force the Empire's hand sooner than expected? Perhaps, but they were certainly going to come. Thus, Cenetta was being unnecessarily forceful about this.

"Very well then. What are we going to do?" Phanza acquiesced with a sigh, perhaps the Nautolan could feel my feelings through the Force, perhaps Phanza Attam was not quite as hardline about this issue as she was making herself seem, or perhaps she simply knew when she was beaten, it didn't really matter, because Senator Cenetta was already moving on. A 3D holoprojection of the city and the surrounding areas was activated over the Twi'lek Senator's desk. The city was like a fortress from this view, surrounded by thick, towering walls on favoring ground - the city was not at the top of one of the large hills, but the land around the city did slope up towards it, meaning that we did have the high ground - but the wide, subtle expanse of land in front of the city could be a disadvantage as well. If this city was surrounded with rockier, hillier, less even terrain, then that would hamper the Empire's ability to use combined arms, but, as the situation as, Imperial tanks and walkers have nothing but a slight incline to traverse...not exactly an obstacle. There is shrubland in the way, but, given than I've seen Republic AT-TE walkers and A6 Juggernaut tanks in action on Felucia, I doubted that some shrubbery was going to be much of an obstacle. On the other hand, given that the space station is destroyed and reinforcements have not yet arrived, it's possible that the Imperial presence on Loukhamii doesn't include such heavy vehicles.

"Glad you asked." Cenetta began, explaining her plan to weather any Imperial reprisals.


"...I'm just saying that not all Mandalorians are bounty hunters, it's kind of an offensive stereotype." Yevenna complained to Ceyla as we began carrying out Cenetta's plan. There was, evidently, a bounty out for the leaders of the Loukhamii resistance, thus, the plan was to use that as a ruse to get into the Imperial command center, then, with the element of surprise, we were going to take it over. The specifics of the plan were that Ceyla and Yevenna were going to pose as Mandalorian bounty hunters - despite the Mirialan's objections - and bring in a roughed up Cenetta. The Senator, insisting this had to be believable, and suggesting that she had an image to maintain - her surrendering to two Mandalorians peacefully would apparently hurt her reputation as the capable and uncompromising leader of the Loukhamii separatists - had Aela apply apply some false bruisers with make-up and, somehow, even produced an artificially swollen lip, making it appear as if Ceyla and Yevenna took the Twi'lek Senator by surprise and by force. Phanza and I, meanwhile, were hidden in the back of the speeder we were provided, ready to jump out and help the Senator and our Mandalorian comrades at a moment's notice. Aela would take a back-up position on a nearby ridge with some Loukhamii soldiers in case anything went wrong. Then, in case things went very, very wrong, the capital city and its walls were our fall back point. We were hoping it didn't have to come to that though.

"Don't worry, if they buy into it, you'll get to shoot them." Ceyla replied, the combination of a dry voice dripping with dark humor and the mechanical tinge of her helmet came together to produce an interestingly threatening tone. I was, surprisingly, unphased, and I couldn't help but wonder why as the speeder rode from the capital city to the Imperial headquarters, there wasn't much for Phanza and I to see back here in the sealed rear container of the speeder. As a Jedi, I think that I would have been more offended by that remark, but now? Not so much. Perhaps my time on Taaszon desensitized me to these little kinds of threats, these little moments of bloodlust, and this casual nature of violence, but I couldn't say for sure. The reason why is that I've seen tremendous violence on the part of the Republic - battle droids being cut apart without a second thought, bombing and artillery strike against droids dangerously close to civilians, and the orbital bombardment on Ypherro - and I was fourteen, fifteen, sixteen when I experienced these. No, if I was going to be desensitized to violence, it would have happened a long time ago. Instead, maybe it's a result of the circumstances around me. I know that, whatever Phanza, Ceyla, or Yevenna may say, the Grand Duchy of Taaszon is a better option that the Galactic Empire and, while going for the lesser of two evils isn't always the best move, I know that this is my best option right now and I know that I'm glad to be here.

"Do you want to meditate?" Phanza asked, knowing that there wasn't much to do on the drive and that leaving me with my own thoughts hasn't tended to go well recently. I looked at the Nautolan for a moment, her red-skinned, big black eyes, and black tattoos identifiable even in the dark - I think that, after all this time together lately, I could make out Phanza's appearance in the worst of circumstances - and I tried to think of a reason to say no. I still haven't been meditating lately, but I remembered that day in the library, where Phanza offered to teach me the Sith language. I reached into the Force and, despite my fears, I wasn't struck by anything, I wasn't hurt, and I wasn't haunted by anything, I could tap into the Force without a risk. I tried to think why I wasn't doing it anymore, after all, when I was a Jedi, I did it everyday. Why am I even speaking of being a Jedi as a past tense thing? I can still rebuild the Jedi, I can still help fix things. I could meditate everyday, I could stay devoted to the Jedi teachings, and I could even find a way to spread the Jedi way. Why, then, was I so willing to let it all go? Honestly, it felt easier to say that I wasn't a Jedi anymore, it was easier to toss off the burden of rebuilding the Jedi. Easiness was never the path though, not when Ullara died for me.

"Yes." I accepted, realizing that I was quickly getting trapped into my own head again. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and focused on the Force, trying to drown out the cacophony of thoughts flowing endlessly through my head. I felt the Force coming off of me like a wave of energy, slowly spreading across the surroundings, feeling Phanza, feeling our Mandalorian friends, feeling Senator Cenetta, and feeling the abundant plant life and shrubbery of the planet. I felt the plants, alive and vibrant despite the dry, seemingly harsh environment, I could sense the water molecules held in the planets - even the smallest of molecules containing life, containing midichlorians, and being present in the Force - and I felt the rays of light warmly coming down onto the planet. I concentrated on a bush we were passing feeling the light hitting it and bouncing off, and, just like that, we passed it, leaving the bush in the distance. All of these contained midichlorians, all of this contained the Force. That, of course, didn't stop us from drinking the water, from cutting down trees for wood, and from eating animals for their meat. I wasn't suggesting that we should stop either. The Force didn't seem to care that we did all that, but, on the other hand, the Force did seem to care about fate. We were here, after all, having to help the Loukhamii resistance after trying to blame the space station explosion on them. I guess, in that way, both Phanza and I were right.

Phanza was right in that we could use and manipulate the Force, relatively, without consequence. She was, however, wrong in thinking that the Force was completely inert, because I believe that there is fate, and I believe that it is the Force itself that influences those things. The Force is everything, the Force is life itself, and, while the Force does not necessarily have intentions and morals, it does influence trends and even specific events. Phanza is not going to be punished for using Force Lightning in a fight, however, if she constantly devotes herself to the Dark Side and the endless hunt for power, embracing greed and personal advancement above friendship, above nourishment, and above human decency, it will have consequences. I am not going to be rewarded for every little act of meditation, however, being connected to the Force can provide clarity and focus that I need sometimes. The fact is, meditation is a healthy exercise, and, while it's never going to actually fix any of the problems in my life or how I feel, it can help alleviate the burdens placed on myself.

Slowly but surely, I began to feel the presence of the clone troopers in the distance, knowing that we were getting closer to the Imperial headquarters. I began to pull back, beginning to come out of the meditation, but, before I fully did, I took note of Phanza. The Nautolan woman's appearance was still purple, that odd, eccentric mixture of both light and dark, and I figured that it was no coincidence that this color matched the typical color of the Grand Duchy of Taaszon. I also took note of the fact that she could send me strong messages and contact me through the Force back then, so, tapped into the Force, so close to her, and with her meditating as well, I thought about trying to reach out to her. Then, I thought about it. I thought about how Phanza reacted to Operator Rahlkann fishing for information or Senator Cenetta outmaneuvering Phanza and forcing her to work for the Loukhamii resistance, and I decided that this wasn't the best time to intrude on Phanza's privacy. I didn't think that Lady Attam was going to hurt me if I tried, especially not because she's done this to be before, but I figured that this wasn't the best time to test her. Phanza was about to murder clone troopers and, even though she's a Sith, I think that she needs to psyche herself up for such a task. Now wasn't the best time to try such things.

I exited the meditation just as the speeder stopped. I took a deep breath. We were going to wait for the Mandalorians and Senator Cenetta to take control of the command tower before leaping out and taking control of the ground part of the compound. I suppose that Senator Cenetta fought that destroying the Imperial presence on the surface would save them from reprisals, but, honestly, I thought that the opposite was true. Three star destroyers and a space station, sent here to crush the Loukhamii resistance, were just destroyed, and now, just a day later, the Imperial headquarters on this planet is being attacked in a surgical strike. This wasn't a good way of ending reprisals, instead, this was a way to draw more Imperial attention to the world. I don't see how this is supposed to erase the harm we did to Loukhamii, if anything, this is making it worse, and the only consolation is that we're doing what the Senator wants. I didn't know, something was suspicious about this, and I'm thinking that perhaps Senator Cenetta is up to something else here. I wasn't going to go so far as to suggest that she's an Imperial agent - I don't see how an Imperial agent leads a resistance movement, that's far-fetched for even Palpatine - but I did think that she had an ulterior motive here. Not ulterior against Loukhamii, whatever this was, it was probably going to help the separatists, but perhaps it was ulterior against us.

"I sense Ceyla and Yevenna in the elevator with Cenetta. They just loosened her cuffs and slipped her a blaster. Once the elevator door opens at the top of the tower, they'll be opening fire." Phanza told me through our mental connection. I silently nodded and grabbed my two blaster pistols, ready for action. I didn't need Phanza to tell me when the blaster fire started in the tower, because I heard it myself. I watched as Phanza immediately hit the Empire hard, using the Force to blow the doors at the rear of this speeder open. Phanza's unique blaster pistol put two black and white laser bolts into the clones that had positioned themselves behind our speeders. At the same time, I lined up a number of shots with the Force, trying to either hit or at least suppress the clones at the main gate of this compound - I didn't want them to lock us in here if things went poorly - and I managed to gun one down while putting the other in cover. Realizing that we weren't exactly leaving witnesses here, I used the Force to pull the clone out of cover with one hand while shooting him with the other. Satisfied with our work, Phanza and I hopped out of the back of the speeder. She would go right and I would go left, taking this compound.

I held both of my blaster pistols as I rounded the corner of the speeder, unloading into the clones coming at us from that side, trying not to think of the fact that these men were once my allies. The men of W squadron had even let me call them my brothers, becoming part of the companionship and camaraderie that the clones shared, but that didn't stop them from trying to kill me and Ullara on Ypherro. It wasn't going to stop me now either. I saw a collection of explosives in the distance - likely supplies they were massing for an assault on the separatists - and I curved a blaster bolt at it with the Force, watching the munitions go up in flames, disorienting the clones near the explosion. Seeing an opening, I ran forward to a piece of cover, shooting my left-handed blaster to suppress the Imperials. At the same time, I saw Phanza confidently stroll out of cover, taking down clones with a single shot if they so much as exposed a single bit of white armor to her sight. I saw a wounded clone - one I shot - manage to get up behind Phanza, preparing to gun butt her. I wanted to shoot him, to save the Sith Lord, but before I could, Phanza used the Force to pull a baton to her free hand, using it to strike down the Imperial clone without even looking.

"She's a Jedi! Open fire!" one of the clones shouted, having realized how Phanza did it. I was both relieved and terrified that they turned their attention to Phanza. Relieved because the focus was off me and I could now accurately pick off the clones, but worried because Phanza was now fully out in the open and identified as a high priority target by the Empire. These were clones, they had the same DNA as the men who gunned down and killed Master Avdune, now, they could do the same thing to Lady Attam, and I wasn't going to let it happen. I took a deep breath before retrieving my lightsaber from the hidden slit in the back of my robe, then, I stood up and made myself known to the Imperial clone troopers.

"You want a former Jedi? There's one right here!" I declared before activating my double-bladed purple lightsaber, drawing all the attention away from the Phanza and on to me. The clones immediately opened fire, but I was able to deflect them back with the twin blades of my lightsaber, some of the bolts even bouncing back and hitting the clones who shot them. At this point, knowing that our cover was blown as they we were going to be leaving behind witnesses anyway, Phanza activated her own lightsaber. The now familiar black and red blade ignited and, with a Force-enhanced roar, the Nautolan took a spinning leap at one of the clones, killing one of them before she landed between two others. I watched as two clean, one-handed swings expertly executed them both. Lady Attam assumed an elegant Makashi pose before bringing her lightsaber down and striking at yet another clone. The attention was divided and their numbers were reduced, therefore, rather than continuing to play defense and deflect blaster bolts, I leapt into the fray and cut down a number of clones, relishing the feeling that I was using a familiar weapon again. I was getting better with the blasters and I knew why we had to use them, but nothing compares to the feeling of a Jedi and her lightsaber being perfectly in sync, fighting together, the blades like extensions of myself, going exactly where I envision.

A number of clones, which had retreated earlier, were assembling an E-WHB-12 heavy repeating blaster in an attempt to fight us - only a weapon that strong and that rapid could stand against a Force user deflecting lasers with their lightsaber - and I knew we had to respond. Realizing that we wouldn't be able to close the distance in time and accepting that it was already well established that we were Force users, Phanza decided to go all the way with revealing her power. I watched as red lightning shot from her fingertips, electrocuting the clones and, as if that wasn't enough, short-circuiting the blaster cannon as well. Phanza lingered on her hand for a moment, as if the Sith Lord was relishing the use of her power in the same way I appreciated being able to use my lightsaber again, but, soon enough, she dropped it and focused on our surroundings. The clones were defeated and the compound was clear.

"We need to dispose of these bodies. They have lightsaber wounds on them." Phanza decided, realizing that the evidence was pretty damming. It wasn't pleasant, but Phanza and I gathered the bodies in a single pile in the corner of the base and, grabbing a separatist explosive from her belt - likely a leftover from our mission on the space station - Phanza placed the explosive on the bodies, looking to eliminate the evidence. We walked back to the speeder, detonated the explosive, and I tried not to think about the fact that those were my former allies, former members of the Grand Army of the Republic, lying in that pile of burnt ash and scorched armor. There wasn't enough left of the clones to identify exactly what happened. There would be suspicions of course - especially if they piece together the shattered chunks of armor and begin seeing clean cuts from the lightsabers - but by the time anything is concrete, we'll be long gone. This was all necessary to fight the Empire I told myself, we were doing the greater good here, liberating the world of Loukhamii from Imperial control, if only temporarily. As I tried to make my peace with the mission, Phanza called Ceyla on her holocommunicator.

"I assume those explosions were you?" the Mandalorian asked, referencing both the munitions I blew up and the explosion just now.

"Yes, we're clear down here, how is it going up there?" Phanza asked, the Nautolan Sith Lord clearly still somewhat suspicious and mistrustful of Twi'lek Senator. I didn't think that it had much to do with her being a member of the Separatist Parliament, I think it had more to do with their personal interactions. Phanza loved being in control, the only person she was willing to take orders from was Grand Duchess Voytana herself, and she certainly wasn't in control here. I took note of Phanza's tattoos, originating in slave culture in the old Sith Empire, first worn by Lord Kallig as she went from a mere Twi'lek slave to a Sith Lord and, finally, to a Dark Councilor under the name of Darth Imperius. Phanza's line of masters and apprentices originates with a former slave, in her way of life, in everything that she has ever known, resisting servitude was paramount. Now, she's in debt to some Senator on a no-name world in the Outer Rim.

"I don't know, Cenetta is activating something on the - wait, we're picking up an Imperial ship entering orbit." Ceyla reported as two shocking sights suddenly revealed themselves to Phanza and I. First of all, directly in front of us, a building on the compound opened to reveal a room full of deactivated, war ready battle droids - B1s, B2, Commando Droids, even droidekas - Cenetta's true target. As if that wasn't bad enough, coming down from the skies over Loukhamii were two LAAT gunships - gone was the colorful, white, red, and gold Republic livery, replaced with a sterile Imperial gray - flanking a sleek and modern black craft. I wasn't sure what exactly this was, but it didn't look like anything good. The Loukhamii separatists were after a cache of deactivated battle droids, it seemed that an important Imperial figure was arriving on Loukhamii, and Phanza, Ceyla, Yevenna, and I were all caught up in the middle of it.


This has been chapter eighteen! By the way, the latest episode of the Mandalorian was fantastic!