Chapter 8: Iridonia
Darth Sidious, Iridonia, the Zabrak homeworld:
On visiting the Zabrak homeworld Iridonia I came across a young 12-year old Mandalorian trainee called Kaihnar Sarin who was obviously a force sensitive. He was training with an electrostaff, which Mandalorians actually did not use much nowadays, which was almost like using a lightsabre with a 2-ended blade. The weapon was basically a long rod charged up with enough electrical energy that it could even be used against a lightsabre, but it didn't have quite the cutting or deflection power. It would be worth setting things up so that he could eventually become my new apprentice once I had overthrown Plagueis.
A young Jedi called Artin Kallas was already on his way to investigate this training facility n a stolen Mandalorian fighter, and this was where I would take my chance.
He arrived in the early hours of the morning and as I was about to sabre him in the back on his approach to the facility he turned round at the last minute but even then it was over in a few strokes. As he was making a slash from right to left I vaulted over him and sliced him down the middle.
My next step would be to modify his holographic transmitter to display an image of him saying what I was saying. Plagueis could probably have done this using his mind, but I could not let him in on this.
I convinced the Jedi that at this training facility they were developing all sorts of illegal biological weapons. To convince them of this I showed them video film of my own experiments on unfortunate victims on Wayland. I also advised it was occurring in a facility beneath the training ground (which was actually an underground bomb shelter) and that a bombardment would be the only way to destroy it.
And so they came, almost like lambs to the slaughter in reverse. In this case the Jedi would be the ones causing the slaughter. Normally the Jedi are able to sense life but my abilities in masking signs of the force have increased over the years and not only was I able to mask out the signs of the natives' life signs but I was even able to duplicate the life signs of Artin Kallas, but obviously make it seem like he was far away from where the destruction would take place.
Syfo-Dyas:
I had to take an unauthorised flight here. Several Jedi pilots had been sent to bombard a biological weapons facility at Iridonia but something told me that this was a trap of some kind. But this mission would be so short I was sure it would be over before I got there.
Darth Sidious:
The Jedi fleet descended into the atmosphere and were ready to let loose proton bombs onto the planet's surface, but before I could make any move my remote was picking up the Scimitar's tracking sensor, advising that Plagueis' starfighter was arriving through hyperspace. Surely my master could not have had the foresight to see through this plan? But I had to make haste, and hope that Kaihnar would survive the bombardment. As I boarded the Scimitar I engaged the cloak, then removed my blocking field so that the Jedi would now know there were life signs, and hold off the attack. I would also ensure that my block was still masking the sign that Kaihnar was a force-sensitive. As I took off and prepared to leave via the other side of Iridonia I realised that the bombardment had already begun, but I knew that Darth Maul was very resourceful and had survived.
Darth Plagueis:
The Jedi had been duped. There were no weapons of mass destruction being developed here at all and over three quarters of the city's population were wiped out. The Jedi offered to mount a rescue but the citizens demanded that we all leave. Before I left, however, I picked up on something no one else noticed. There was a force sensitive in the wreckage who I would find out was called Kaihnar Sarin. I was surprised none of the other Jedi seemed to pick up on him.
"Your Jedi killed thousands here, and all my family" he hissed, "go now before you get the rest of us all killed or before I get you killed."
At this he activated a double-ended electrostaff weapon and lunged at me, at which I ignited both my red lightsabres to block his attack.
"You are mistaken," I advised him, "I am no Jedi. I am a Sith, the ancient sworn enemies of the Jedi. I came here to try and stop the Jedi attack here, but I was too late. I can take you off this world and show you how to develop your potential".
After a few clashes of weapons he realised that despite his youthful abilities he could not best me on a one to one battle and so he disengaged and started listening. This boy would be dangerous but I needed a new apprentice who would replace Sidious as I knew Sidious was becoming dangerous, and wouldn't have put it past him to have been in some way behind today's disaster.
I took him in the starfighter to one of my hideouts on the planet Felucia. There I trained him for several days in his force abilities and combat techniques. He took two of my safety lightsabres and attached them end-to end so that he could use them as a two-ended weapon similar to the electrostaff.
After a few sessions however a familiar presence made itself felt. The Scimitar had its cloak on but there was no question for me that Sidious had found out about this hideout and had come to see what was going on. But this time I would need to remind who was master and who was apprentice.
"So I see you have taken on a new apprentice without telling me." He observed "Do you not realise that this goes against the Sith strategy that there must only ever be two at any one time".
This time I would need to remind him who was master and who was apprentice. "But our time will be coming son. Once we have control of the Republic and the Jedi order we will have nothing to lose by adding numbers to our ranks."
"I cannot let you do this", Palpatine replied. "It is time to ascertain who the master and apprentice will be".
He ignited his sabre and flew at me in a stabbing motion but I was able to ignite mine and knock his sabre, and Palpatine himself, out of the way before he knew it.
I grabbed my other red sabre off the shelf and swung them both in a scissors motion towards him but before the impact he made one of blue sabre float into his hand off the self and blocked both swords.
All the while Sarin was taking no sides. He was simply observing us, perhaps seeing who was stringer or who had the greater vision for the future.
Sidious put up a good fight but simply wasn't adapted to using two swords and I managed to inflict a couple of flesh wounds. Finally he resorted to using force lightning against me and I blocked it with both sabres crossed, forming a shield. I then fired my own force lighting into his, so it became a contest as to whose power would break through the other's. Eventually the unstoppable force hit the seemingly unmovable object, and Sidious few across the room severely weakened into the wall. I would kill him but not now – I needed to wait until he has risen in the Senate high enough to bring them under control, and then I would take him out when he was no longer needed. I held a sabre to his throat and told him he must never again question my motives, but we compromised and agreed that we would together train Sarin and wait until we had more control on Coruscant before taking on any further adepts.
He would never know however until it was too late, of a time bomb I had set within him. As he slept that night, I manipulated his DNA using the power of thought alone, and arranged it so that if he ever again attempted to use his force lightning ability in strength sufficient enough to kill me, the midichlorians would react in his cells and make his flesh shrivel and burn.
Chapter 9: A New Creation
Darth Plagueis:
Over the next months I went back to focusing my abilities on life as well as death. I wondered about the possibility about not only saving life using the force but using the midi-chlorians to create life as well. My first step to find willing hosts for such a project would be a stop-off on the planet Kamino, where all sorts of illegal cloning and other reproductive experiments were taking place. I as able to take from one of their project scientists a list of women making all sorts of requests for various types of non-sexual reproduction. The majority of requests were from infertile women, or women with infertile partners, from the planet Tronalisk, on which many types of medical technology including all forms of fertility treatment were illegal. In return I agreed to delete their planet from the Jedi records to prevent any unwanted visitors making enquiries. At first I tried using a Jedi mind trick to make them forget who I was, but they didn't seem to be very susceptible. Despite seeming at first weak minded, they are very dedicated to their own system of ethics.
I spent the weeks after this visit dropping in on some of the candidates from the list. In each case I wore a hooded top so they would not recognise me and advised them their request had been granted. Nine months later every single one gave birth to a healthy child, and made no enquiries, simply grateful that their request had been granted.
My next step would be the creation of a force-sensitive, with the view to create a race of super soldiers dedicated to the Sith cause, so that we would no longer be hindered by the law of there being only two at any one time. I had also planned to use the technology on Kamino to create the clones of this supersoldier. As far as any of the top scientists on Kamino knew, no one had ever tried cloning a Jedi or a Sith to see if the force ability would be passed from the Jedi to the clones.
One name on the list of candidates that stood out was a Miss Shmi Skywalker, who I would guess had split from a violent partner and who had decided to go it alone. She came from a family of explorers, and I thought would have the sense of adventure necessary to bring up a future Sith warrior.
Once again, I invited her anonymously advising her request had been granted and on leaving her home I visualised the midicholrians multiplying relentlessly and eventually occupying a huge amount of the resulting DNA strand.
The division of cells as the boy's embryo developed, as always, a miracle to me. It was so similar to the original creation of the universe, where it would start as a simple cell or a concentration of energy whose destiny was at first unrecognisable until over time would lose it symmetry until it became the miracle creation.
It was disappointing that in the interest of secrecy I could never be present at the birth, but soon after I found out the name of the boy… Anakin.
Chapter 10: Severed Ties
Darth Plagueis:
I knew now there was more than one life in danger. I have been monitoring Sidious' activities in the Scimitar and I managed to track his course to the planet Tronalisk. He must obviously know about my latest creation. I had simply told him so far that I knew I had the ability to create a force sensitive from the midi-chlorians, not that I actually had done.
I sent a transition to Shmi, claiming to be from the unknown company that supplied her with the unexplained birthing technology, advising her someone had been on the case and that the lives of her and her son were in danger, and she had to leave. Unfortunately I knew this would only be a temporary escape. Sidious would pursue them endlessly until he had found Anakin and carried out whatever fate he believed Anakin should face.
Sidious had also taken Sarin with him, who he had now given the title Darth Maul, and to hide his identity he had convinced him to sport a red and black tattoo pattern on his face so that he could hardly even be identified with his Zabrak origins.
There was no civilized way I could do what I had to do next. At least for now I had to make Anakin disappear. There was no safe haven I could grant him. 2 days after Shmi and her son departed Tronalisk I sent a Rodian bounty hunter off on a quest to capture the two of them and make it seem like they had been killed. I was aware how the slaves in planets such as Tattooine were some of the few citizens who were not officially registered, so I had no choice but to have the two of them handed over to slave traders. At least I was aware of some of the more humane slavemasters, who would rule over them until such time it was safe for me to free them, and show Anakin his destiny.
There was now no question though. Soon Darth Sidious would outlive his usefulness, and would have to go.
Chapter 11: The Clone Genesis
Darth Plagueis
Regrettably I had still never had chance to pursue the course of creating a clone army of force sensitives, but we had found a template for a very formidable army. Sidious had embezzled funds from Naboo and from the Senate to finance the creation of a clone army using the former Mandalorian Jango Fett, who had now turned bounty hunter. He was a formidable warrior who had even killed Jedi in the past. We would also be experimenting with some other former Mandalorians but for now Fett would be sufficient. I accompanied him to Kamino and he was quite happy to be left there. After all, with Kamino being wiped form all the astronomical archives he could return there from all his missions and not risk being discovered, because as far as anyone was concerned there was no planet there.
Sidious' latest plan was that the army would be ready for some time in the future when we both had high positions within the Republic. Whilst I would become head of the Jedi council Sidious seemed to think he could create a political situation that would see him rise to power as the Republic's Supreme Chancellor. This was really proving how delusional he was becoming, and I would make sure he would never see the day when he could become Supreme Chancellor.
Another interesting development was that the Kaminoans were also able to develop new types of armour derived from Jango Fett's Mandalorian suit. We stuck with a design that looked almost like a white version of Fett's suit but two that we decided to leave for now were a blood red outfit that looked across between the Senate guard uniform and the suits worn by the ancient Mandalorians from thousands of years ago, and an intimidating looking black uniform with a skull-like helmet. These two uniforms we had planned to use for our inner circle of our most loyal followers when the time was right.
Darth Sidious:
I had agreed to meet Plagueis on Korriban after he had competed our arrangements with the Kaminoans. Morale was high, as we had taken the first steps in our rise towards complete control of the Republic. But as Sith tradition has always been, the apprentice must take over from the master, and only one of us would survive to see the day. I could not hope to defeat him in open combat, probably not even with the help of Darth Maul. Neither would I wish to have Syfo Dyas either disappearing or being left with a wound that was obviously inflicted by a force-sensitive.
So as he slept that night I enter his room with Darth Maul's old electrostaff and stabbed Plagueis straight through the heart. His sleep was uninterrupted, and he would never wake again, now being no more than a piece of evidence in a murder investigation that would keep the Jedi perplexed for years.
I brought my apprentice Darth Maul the news and as he headed to our hideout on Coruscant, I left for Nemoidia, the core world of the Trade Federation, where I would I begin my task of bringing down the Republic.
Chapter 12: Voices From the ShadowsI only became aware of who I was when hundreds of large disturbances in the force tore into the realm I occupied. I knew that virtually every force-sensitive was being killed at this point. I knew I had to do something to keep the force as a creator of life and not some abstract concept that would sustain some completely symbolic form of existence, which would mean much symbolically, but would be ultimately useless.
There was one who for some time who had so far developed some kind of flattened intelligence, one who was still part of the stream of particles that pervaded this shadow universe, but who had to a certain level kept his coherence – But he was more than this. He was the one who Katana's prophecy realised would bring balance to the force – Master Qui-Gon Jinn. At this stage it seemed I was but a mere machine, trying to remember who I was and what I lived for, but Qui-Gon almost seemed like he had always been here, and knew low this shadow universe worked, and how it would finally influence the world we left behind.
I would come to learn that this realm was a universe that existed alongside, and was in a way part of, the universe we called real. It is a set of extra dimensions separated by a distance of only an atom from the "real" universe. It only became closed off from the universe we were familiar with seconds after the universe's creation, at a time when there were simply too many dimensions in space and time to exist on top of each other. It exchanges forces with the other universe, and it is a place where gravity is stronger, the nuclear forces are weaker, and the living Force is FAR stronger. Despite their separation, each universe exchanged substance with each other and could not exist without the other.
Qui-Gon:
We were advanced, in our own way, but we were young, and inexperienced, like the ones who first attempted to form the original Republic. If I would do things better I would. If I could have turned the tide of the Jedi purge at this stage I would have done, but all I can do is make things right from here on. Unfortunately my own awareness cannot move at this stage on the same rate as someone living in the space that we call real.
I was first able to connect to Yoda, and convince him that despite Obi-Wan's failure, he would have to play a part in the Jedi's future return to power. One of the hardest decisions I had to make was on the redemption of the converted Sith Lords. Darth Plagius had already redeemed himself. His own value of Mind had overridden any hatred of life he had. But took a great risk by accepting the engrams of both my old master, Count Dooku, and the one who would have been my student, Anakin Skywalker, who I learned was in a certain way the orphaned son of Plagueis. Frighteningly, my first memory of any conscience after death was when I sensed the hatred in Anakin as he slaughtered the Tusken Raiders in vengeance for the death of his mother.
I was so glad that my own obsession with the preservation of intelligence was valued greater than any revenge against the ones who wronged us.
However, it's said that we sow, we reap, and sometimes, dispassionately, we have to weed, and this is where I leave the final, unpleasant task to our host, Darth Plagius the Wise.
Darth Plagius:
If I could only have experienced pleasure this way, maybe my life would have gone differently. They were all celebrating in the forest but my focus was driven in towards on individual, who was still wondering if there was something he could have done sooner or differently, to save his own father. I knew I had to stay out of this celebration, as I felt I'd caused a lot the problems, which they fought against.
The greater problem with the celebration was that there was one individual who had not turned up for any celebration or commiseration. Even though my mind was able to go back and effectively see through his eyes and sense the malice in him as he plotted my downfall and that of the Republic and the Jedi, there no sense of him being here and now. Beyond any logic, it seemed that Cosan Palpatine had disappeared, to terrorise the world of the living once again.
Anakin's son Luke kept in touch with his father but he never did heal the rift between his sister Leia and Anakin.
In the shadow world, even we should not appreciate the return of the dark Lord. Even in death he was able to corrupt the son of Skywalker. But Luke was stronger, he was able to not only defy Palpatine's calling, but to destroy every resurrected clone of Palpatine in the galaxy, and finally bring that shrivelled monster to us.
I could have done anything I wanted with that scum. He betrayed all of us and anyone I ever loved or who was my friend. There was a theory developed from a previous Sith Lord Darth Raltar that if the Netherworld was ever mastered by the Sith it should be used as a permanent place of punishment and torture to anyone they felt deserved it. But it was now my chance to destroy that possibility forever. Like all individuals, Palpatine's personality was a creation of a series of one-dimensional strings. The only merciful thing I could do was to unravel all the strings into a straight line and delete his personality forever.
This was never the way I wanted it. The one thing I ever lived for was to stop the ones close to me from dying, and now here I was erasing my former friend's mind from existence.
As the years went by more and more lost Jedi souls materialise and regained their integrity. The possibilities for the future were something even I could not grasp yet. It was not known whether we could reincarnate ourselves back into the work of the living, or into a different world. Someone though, who may answer those questions was the son that I failed, who turned to the dark side effectively because of the legacy I left behind, from being manipulated by Palpatine into thinking he could learn my ability to prevent his wife Padme from dying.
Over a hundred years after the final death of Palpatine, there were still only Jedi, Krelli, and former Sith. There were no ordinary souls amongst us, but now I would grant Anakin his wish by working with him to bring back the first ever non-Force-sensitive human. For years he concentrated on the movements in the force all around him. Until finally, a voice that had long been silent started speaking once again. A voice that had not spoken since giving birth to two fateful twins, and spoke what she thought would be her last words:
That there was still good in him.
THE END