Here comes the next chapter! Enjoy! By the way, thank you all for reading!

Chapter 10

After a long time of avoiding stepping into the detecting range of the Zephyrene's eyes, Qui-Gon finally got into the hidden laboratory behind the throne hall without being noticed by the guards. He knew the location of the lab because he had eavesdropped a brief conversation between two soldiers with Force-enhanced hearing.

He hid himself on a large piping hanging over the entire lab. From there, he could see a huge complex machine below, the united Reine Crystals he saw in he dungeon were placed in a large pit on the machine.

So they were building this machine all these twenty years, he thought inwardly.

Many Zephyrenes were working beside the complicated mechanism, others were walking around to exchange or report data and information.

The Rulers of Zephyrann was standing on a higher ground, watching the process carefully. Darth Sidious stood next to him, a satisfied smile crossed his wrinkled face.

Qui-Gon contemplated the situation for a moment, and decided to use the electrostaff he'd acquired from the dungeon to shatter the crystals from the piping since they were obviously the heart of the whole mechanism.

He held up the electrostaff, pointing the tip of it at the now faintly glowing Reine Crystals on the machine. The crystals were glowing with white light as they were in his memory.

Qui-Gon gathered the Force in his right hand, his eyes narrowed when his mind focused on the electrostaff and its target –

The staff was yanked out of his grasp abruptly from above. Before he could turn to see who it was, Roga had kicked him down onto the piping and stepped once booted foot on his chest.

Roga pointed the tip of the electrostaff which was supposed to be in Qui-Gon's hand to Qui-Gon's bare neck, and said smilingly, "Well, well, well, what do we have here? A sneaking Jedi prisoner. Have your life with the Rancor been enjoyable?"

"Why don't you get another one and lock yourself with it to find out?" Qui-Gon said coldly.

The corners of Roga's mouth twisted into a smile, "Thank you for the kindness, but I'm afraid I am quite busy at the moment." His smile deepened as he looked at Qui-Gon with amusement.

Qui-Gon sneered, "You really think Darth Sidious will let your Ruler dominate the galaxy after your plan succeeds?"

"No, of course not." Roga said calmly, "As a matter of fact, we are using each other. He needs our technologies while we need his influence in the Senate to ensure the plan won't be discovered before it is carried out." His voice shifted a bit, and Qui-Gon saw there was sadness in his glassy eyes, "Though we don't really need it to come true."

"So he is Senator Palpatine." Qui-Gon stated – his suspect was right.

"Precisely." Roga nodded, "He has come to us and expressed his thoughts, and those thoughts happened to fascinate our Majesty…" his convex eyes narrowed with a faint regret, "Then we made his thoughts into this magnificent scheme." He gestured the whole laboratory, and continued vacantly, "Although that Sith promised that all he wants is the purge of the Jedi Order and we can have the Republic, we suspect he has much desire in taking over the Republic himself as well, such as changing it into an empire and make himself the emperor. We will terminate him if he dares to not keep his words – he is powerful, indeed, but he won't be a match for the entire Zephyrene army. However, we must not let him wield the mind-control ray to create an army of his own."

Qui-Gon's eyes widened slightly, "The mind-control ray? You use the united Reine Crystals to generate something that can control other's mind?"

"A fascinating weapon, isn't it?" Roga's sneered, "We've spent twenty years to build the ray generator, and now…"

"You're going to aim the ray at Coruscant." Qui-Gon finished his sentence.

Roga was slightly surprised, "I see you have remembered most of the plan you've overheard now."

"Except I didn't know the weapon will be the mind-control ray."

"You can't blame yourself," Roga mock-comforted, "you've never reached that point after all – you were captured by me earlier than you could finish eavesdropping the whole scheme."

"Then what do you mean by 'most of the plan'?" Qui-Gon frowned.

"Let's see…" Roga spoke as if he was explaining something extremely easy, "By now, you recall the talk with the Sith, the united Reine Crystals, the target: Coruscant. Well…I'm afraid you still miss one thing –"

Roga leaped aside quickly, just in time to avoid the falling pipe from above, which was directed by Qui-Gon with the Force suddenly.

Roga's Zephyrene eyes had detected the pipe falling but Qui-Gon was fast enough to jump to kick him down as he jumped from the falling pipe, before he had time to react to Qui-Gon's attack.

Qui-Gon swiftly took the electrostaff back from Roga's hands as the Zephyrene's back hit the piping. Roga leaped back to his feet and pulled out his own electrostaff which had been carried on his back, and started to fight Qui-Gon with electrostaffs.

Roga was a skillful electrostaff user and his speed and attacks were unpredictable.

Mostly, Qui-Gon was only parrying, and with a fierce kick, Roga knocked him off the piping. The Zephyrene leaped down as well, ready to use the staff to stab through the Jedi on the metal floor.

Qui-Gon rolled over immediately, narrowly evading the stab and the tip of Roga's staff thrust into the metal floor, produced a hole.

Qui-Gon jumped back to his feet and continued the duel with his opponent.

The Ruler had noticed the fight, even since Roga took away the Jedi's electrostaff from above on the piping. But he decided they would not suspend the plan because of the escaped Jedi. And he also stopped the other soldiers to reinforce Roga – he knew Roga never liked other's interference with his own battle.

Darth Sidious watched their duel closely: it was apparent that the Jedi wouldn't win through the electrostaff.

Soon Qui-Gon's staff flew from his grasp and Roga caught it with agility. Now the Zephyrene general had two electrostaffs in his hands and he twirled them momentarily to get the best holds of the staffs. He cornered Qui-Gon to the wall but didn't show the triumphant smile as he did last time, when he seized the three Jedi. His wounded glassy eyes were flashing with wariness dangerously.

"Master, catch!"

They both looked back and saw Obi-Wan, along with Virgille, standing before the ventilation vent with severed pieces of grate on the floor. Obi-Wan threw Qui-Gon's lightsaber to its owner and Qui-Gon caught it swiftly.

"Seems the true duel begins." Roga sneered coldly and started to attack more severely than earlier with dual electrostaffs.

Obi-Wan and Virgille didn't have spare time to help Qui-Gon for guards also with electrostaffs were attempting to kill them.

"This is intolerable!" Virgille yelled angrily as they found out that elctrostaffs are resistant to lightsabers.

"Shut up and fight, Grandma!"

"That's what I'm doing, Grandson!"

"You're NOT fighting enemies!" Obi-Wan beheaded on soldier as he found out Virgille was only parrying and avoiding.

"Of course I'm not – I haven't learned yet." Virgille replied boldly.

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes and pierced his blade through one enemy's chest, "Fine! Just don't get yourself killed!"

The Ruler glanced at the battle in the lab briefly, eyes narrowed with anger when he saw Obi-Wan cut off one soldier's hands and kicked him to the floor. However, he returned his focus to the ray generator – despite the ruckus, their scheme would soon be carried out.

Another painful scream reached his ears, he closed his eyes, not wanting the watch his soldiers suffering.

The thought of ruling the entire galaxy was tempting, but not at the cost of his soldiers' lives needlessly.

Darth Sidious observed the Ruler's determination began to shake ambiguously, and said to the Ruler, "No need to mourn for the loss, your Majesty, no war wins without sacrifice."

The Ruler's eyes narrowed coldly, "Why, I am afraid there seems to be some differences between our notions, my ally – we Zephyrenes grieve for every loss of life amongst us. We, too, know that each war brings deaths, but it depends on the worthiness." He looked around, "At the moment, their blood are spilling for my personal desire."

Darth Sidious' soothing voice suddenly turned intimidating, "You cannot abandon the plan now, or the Republic and the Jedi would know our attempt and destroy us all. You said you don't want your people to suffer worthlessly – if you give up, only more Zephyrenes will be killed; those Jedi might even take over your power to rule your own planet. We've been working for this plan for twenty years, it's already too late to turn back."

The Ruler's facial expression didn't change a slightest bit under his words, instead, he arched an eyebrow, "Are you threatening me, my ally? I always doubt the Jedi would be affected by the mind-control ray."

Darth Sidious' voice grew wilder, "Then control the soldiers on Coruscant to attack them – the number of the Jedi is not competitive to all those soldiers we will control. And after we took hold of the Senate, the Republic will be ours."

"Regardless of my own fantasy, the conquest of the Republic does no good to the Zephyrenes – Zephyrann is already enough for our needs. And there will also be numerous rebellions if we succeed, does that mean the Zephyrenes will never have rests?"

Darth Sidious was preparing to give him an inspiring lecture, though it seemed hard to change the Ruler's opinion – the Ruler didn't realize the enormity of loss their scheme might cause in the past twenty years because other than Qui-Gon, there was no other investigators. And now he had witnessed the unneeded pains and deaths his soldiers was already tolerating even before their success, and those soldiers' further suffering in the future would be too fearsome to imagine. His desire of ruling dimmed instantly – this was not to say he hadn't assumed the consequence before, but he thought he might be able to accept their deaths or injuries for him. But while he was facing the real scene, he found those losses nearly unbearable.

The united Reine Crystals suddenly beamed with strong white light, and the Zephyrenes working around the generator began to whisper with excitement.

"The generator will soon be ready." Darth Sidious smiled with satisfaction.

The Ruler nodded briefly and turned his gaze to the battling Jedi and Zephyrenes.

Qui-Gon finally knocked off one of Roga's electrostaffs, but Roga didn't seem to mind at all.

"Obi-Wan, destroy the crystals!" he shouted as the generator's engine was slowly beginning to run.

Obi-Wan looked at the united beaming crystals quickly after he heard his Master's shout, and hurriedly use his lightsaber hilt to hit another enemy to the metal floor. He knew he didn't have the chance to get to the crystals in time, so he decided to use the only-avoiding youngling to fulfill the task.

"Virgule, you'll have to destroy the crystals!" he said as he picked Virgille up without getting her approval.

"What do you mean by I'll have to destroy them?" Virgille asked with fluster when Obi-Wan already made a clear posture to toss her.

"Just smash them!" said Obi-Wan hastily, tossing Virgille over the soldiers to the ray generator, along with Virgille's "Whooooa ­­­­­­­­­­—".

"Ouch!" Virgille landed on the hard floor beside the crystals. She looked up at the gigantic beaming crystals in awe: "Oh my goodness…" she gasped grandmaly.

She hadn't been noticed by the Zephyrenes around the machine yet, so she took the chance to get up and held her lightsaber high over her head. As she stabbed down to the crystals, before her blade could touch their surface, bolts of lightning struck her and cast her off her feet to hit the cold surface of the generator hard.

Virgille fell to the metal floor on her stomach, panting violently. She opened her aching eyes, expected to see the Sith Lord standing before her – but all she saw was only a new arriver, whose head hidden under the brown hood.

To be continued…

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