AN: The second chapter introduces some new characters, new locations and is also the beginning of another storyline (all the storylines will combine towards the end of the Episode!)
Chapter II
The Deep Beyond
Aren couldn't remember anything from the last 2 weeks. All he saw was black - nothing - when he had tried to remember. But now, he saw red. Red, everywhere.
He had been lying down, trapped under a rock in an almost sleep-like state, for around an hour now, and could not remember how in Coruscant he had gotten there, wherever he was. It wasn't until a few minutes later, he heard a voice. "Ummm... Excuse me, are you alright?" It asked. The voice sounded like it was a droid. "Uhhhh" Aren simply groaned. His eyes began to focus and he saw something that he had only seen in history books - it was an ancient B1-Battle Droid, used by the Separatist Alliance during the Clone Wars. "I'll take that as a no. Here, let me help you." the droid said, before it put its hands under the rock and started to lift, but it was no use. The rock was too heavy for the skinny, antique droid. Aren was confused as to why the droid was helping - after all, he was a Jedi, which the droids had been programmed to attack and hate during the Clone Wars. Then it hit Aren - he could use the force to lift the rock! It was obvious, and he felt so idiotic for not realising that before. He told the droid to step back, and then used all of his effort to telepathically lift the rock off of himself, freeing him. The droid suddenly became aware of what happened, and shouted "STOP RIGHT THERE, JEDI SCUM!" Aren grabbed his lightsaber, a glowing yellow colour, and the droid trembled back in fear. "Wait! Wait!" He cried "I'm sorry! I can explain. You see, I'm a battle droid used in the Clone Wars, as you might have been able to tell, but a few months ago I was repurposed as an exhibit for the Clone Wars Museum. You know, the museum that is in the old Republic Battleship that still travels around the galaxy. Anyway they took me there, and the droids are supposed to be fully reprogrammed not to be hostile, but the guy obviously messed up my reprogramming, so I still say stuff like that when I see Force Sensitive people. It's just my programming I'm sorry mister!" The droid was cowering now, its knees shaking. Aren believed the droid, as it didn't even have a blaster with it, so it was really no threat anyway. He put his lightsaber away. "Alright. I believe you. Anyway I have so many questions. What am I doing here? In fact, what even is this place?" Aren quizzed. "Well, I can't tell you how you got here, as I have no idea, but some stupid little kid was messing around at the museum, and he threw me out of the windows, and well, here we are. I mean, you would think that people would obey the 'Do not touch signs', but people have no dignity anymore!" the droid ranted on. "Sorry. I got a bit off topic there. Anyway, this is the Deep Beyond." Now Aren realised where he was, and why recognised the red colours around him. The Deep Beyond was one of the most mysterious places in the galaxy. Blanketed by a completely pinky-reddish atmosphere, the Deep Beyond was sort of like... A Galactic Police Station almost. It had formed at the deepest known point in the galaxy gradually around 50 years ago. Nobody knew why, or even how, it had formed. There were creatures working in the Central Area that knew almost everything that was going on in the galaxy, and if someone was up to no good, they would usually find out and come after them. But Aren had no idea why he was here.
"I have no idea how I got here, or why... they can't have... arrested me for something I can't remember, have they?" Aren asked the droid. The droid shrugged. "I doubt it. I've seen the prison cells around here earlier, they look like tiny little boxes. You would definitely be in one of them by now if you were arrested." Aren thought hard for a second. "Do you need to get back to your museum?" he asked the droid. The droid shuddered. "No thank you! I know I was complaining but I'm kinda glad to be off that ship. It could have been done in a much more pleasant way than being thrown off by some kid but ya know... But siitting around all day as an exhibit was so boring. Mind you, this place gives me the creeps!" Aren thought again.
"Then let's find a way out of here. I remember someone... a... man, with brown hair, and he was wearing dark robes. I can't remember his name, but I have a vague image of him in my head. Maybe if I can find him, then I can find out what is going on..." Aren said. "You can be free to explore the galaxy if you wanted to, or just settle down and live the way you want to" he told the droid.
"Sounds good. But, to be honest... I have this feeling - I think you humans call it guilt - for everything I did during the Clone Wars. This might sound corny but I want to do something good for once. I will help you on your quest to restore your memory. Besides, I have nothing else to do really. At least this could be interesting." Aren didn't know droids had emotions, but nevertheless, he decided to accept the friendly droid's offer. "Alright, droid. You have a name?"
"RT-EX1" the droid replied.
"Hmm... Not very catchy. How about Artex?"
"Ooh. It sounds like a delivery company. I love it!" The droid cheered. Aren laughed. "I'm Aren." He shaked Artex's skinny metallic hand, and the two set off to find a way out.
Sith Council Battleship
Prince Thomaniuss and his royal guard trooper, known as Lieutenant FEARFUL, were cruising along the space in the Rishi Maze with his other droid troopers in the F-Fighters which they had stolen from Onasius and his troops. The Sith Council Battleship was not far away now - the Sith Council, or the Sith Triad, had been created around 30 years ago, 31 years to be precise. It was now comprised of two sith lords, one of whom was Thomanius, and a figure that aligned with the dark side who had a high political and economic power, but was not force sensitive. Baroness Cotorinah, was the latter - a powerful woman, married to the leader of the Vanquisher political party. The Baroness also ruled over the tropical moon known as Karanda, whose inhabitants were forced to be loyal to the Vanquisher Party. The other member was Darth Sihlo. Darth Sihlo was an ancient Sith Lord, who was defeated by a Jedi in a battle on Hoth that took place a very, very long time ago. However, the Baroness was able to locate and steal the ashes of Darth Sihlo, and she revived him using an ancient ritual which involved sacrificing many Jedi for their blood, bringing the evil Sith Lord back to life. Darth Sihlo was, in a word, terrifying, even to Thomanius and the Baroness. The ritual had brought his spirit back, but not his complete body, so he appeared almost as a cloud of ash and smoke with a face.
Thomanius did not speak on his journey to the battleship. He rarely spoke at all outside of the Sith Council Meetings or battle. He was constantly serious, and he always had a stony, still expression on his face. It wasn't until Fearful, his right-hand droid, spoke that he said anything. "My Prince, I have received a message from Colonel PETRIFY, his troops are severely in need of some repairs to their circuit boards after that battle" Fearful worries. Thomanius did care about his troops, even if they were all droids. He wanted to make sure they were always prepared to fight too. He wouldn't let them have heavily damaged circuit boards with the possibility of another battle. "Send them back to Kamino, and have Korrina Foto and her team repair them, and make sure it is quick. I'm gonna need all hands on deck to manufacture the world-splitter bomb over the next few days. I want my droids repaired by the time I get back." the Prince ordered. Fearful nodded. "Roger Roger, my lord." Colonel Petrify's ship could be seen turning behind them, heading to Kamino, which wasn't far from here. But Thomanius headed into the Sith Council Battleship.
The Battleship's corridors were long, and lined with Nightmare Troopers. The halls were decorated with maroon banners, a Sith Council symbol plastered on each one. After a long, brisk walk down the halls, Thomanius and his Lieutenant finally reached the meeting room. "Good luck." Fearful said. Thomanius thanked him. Fearful was not allowed in the meeting room after an incident involving him threatening Darth Sihlo - whilst the council members all had the same goal, to achieve Universal domination and to wipe out the Jedi, they commonly had disagreements on how to go about their plans. Thomanius especially was sneered at by the other two members, who believed his heart was not truly committed to their cause as a result of the relationship he had with his Jedi brother. This prejudice had come out in a meeting once, and because of his sworn loyalty to his Prince, Fearful became extremely irritated and had pointed his blaster at Sihlo. All that Fearful said about the incident now was that he was lucky to still have his life after Sihlo's reaction.
Thomanius entered the meeting room. The Baroness and Darth Sihlo were already sat at their table. Thomanius joined them and took a seat. "Have you got them?" The Baroness asked immediately. "Yes. It was no problem. My idiot of a brother fell straight into my trap." Thomanius snickered. "Good. You've finally done something right for once." commented the Baroness. Thomanius nearly snapped in anger, he was sick of comments like this being made about him by his fellow members, but he managed to rane it in. "Enough." Darth Sihlo butted in. "You have done well, Thomanius. Take the plans to your lab on Kamino and have it manufactured as soon as possible. Once we use it on your brother's planet, the whole galaxy will see and they will have no choice but to bow down in terror to us, and we will reign supreme!" He laughed snidely. Thomanius' heart skipped for a second - for a moment, he felt a great sadness, fear, and rage simultaneously at the idea of his brother's and indeed, his own home planet being the first target for the bomb. But that feeling vanished swiftly, and his mind reset back to trying to perform his Council duties. At that moment, the Prince received a video call on his DCS, from Vice Admiral DREAD. "Excuse me." Thomanius got up and moved himself to the other side of the room to accept the call.
"My Prince, we have just seen two of your brother's dreamtroopers land here, on Fortralin. What should we do?" the Vice Admiral asked. Thomanius realised what Onasius was up to almost instantly. He had sent two of his pet troopers to talk to Scald, who could perform a locator spell to find where Thomanius was. Luckily for him, he had predicted that his brother might do this, and so he had bribed Scald with the promise of money and power, and so the dark warlock was at Thomanius' fingertips. "Do nothing." Thomanius told his trooper. "Leave this to me."
AN: Thanks for reading!I hope you enjoyed. Xx