The Union of 600

by Napoleon The 2nd

At the tale end of the Clone Wars, a small group assumed a rebellious position in the Jedi Order. Its actions were a bit sporadic, overthought. The unofficial 'Main Man' seemed to have conceived a larger scale plan. Still lacking cohesiveness as a unit, the normality's questioners fire would explode after one decisive act - the bombing of the Jedi Temple.

30. Chapter 30 (F)

Note: And so it has all come to this – the End. The 10 month journey of seeing the story roll out into the work of art that you've read, are reading or will read gives a sense of warmth. Alas, this is the Last Chapter.

Note #2: Since it is the End, a Special Chapter is required. Wouldn't you say?

THE FINALE. CHAPTER 30.

BIRTH OF THE UNION

Stage 1

9 o'clock, 1 day 9 hours till the Vote. To most societies in the Galaxy, organizing in groups supersedes organization as individuals. As time passes, this creates a custom in being surrounded by other similar beings. Such a tendency can prove to be detrimental to one's survival. Reason being – overdependence on others. If someone is constantly surrounded by others, live a large or exquisitely important portion of their lives within a specific society and then is cut off from it immediately, turbulence within the mind cannot be avoided. Of course, the last revelation was fairly smaller for one person. Honey yellow rock hills stood enigmatically on both sides for a group of beings.

"This is where her last attempt came from?"

"Yes. The General said that the signal originated from 200 meters (~656 feet) behind us."

"Which more than likely means that the Commander sprinted down this cut out."

"A logical assessment, soldier."

The concentrated quantity of subjects were Republic clone troopers. This fact was assured by someone, who didn't need to see it.

"They're not letting up yet."

Kelan was, literally, nailed to the ground of the honey yellow hills. Even though their appearance would be accurately defined as rock, the top's elevation had far less extremes. The 17 year old decided to make use of it. The undetailed black skirt had extracted some yellowness; as had the black high-tops.

"No more transmission attempts until one of two things happen. Either I leave this planet or Master Bangad, more notably – the Jedi Council, drop their obscenely unwarranted pursuit of Oswald."

She chuckles a bit.

"The first road almost doesn't possess any obstacles.

"Any news, Commander?"

"No, General. We still haven't found her."

"Maintain current orders for the next half an hour. If no progress is achieved, return to the Fortress."

"Understood."

Back on Coruscant. The Republic Senate was as busy as usual. To most senators, the walkability of the hallways was decent today. Some were rushing, others – slowly walking. To the inattentive ones, there were only 2 types of traversing within the building. The excluded beings picked up a third type. These were the ones that possessed a mixture of emotions; the most obvious one – tension. With that in mind, the rational one was to take the journey at a slow pace. Not surprisingly, the reality was different. To frame it, these beings were in between the 2 types – not so much rushing, nor so much sluggish.

"I've just received word of it." – one senator says.

"We should inform Avergreen of this." – another adds.

"If she hasn't gotten this information yet." – the third remarks.

The trio of senators walk for a couple minutes more before stopping at a door. The middle one presses a button on the right. Suddenly, the doors slide open. A person in the room raises her eyes, while leaving the head lowered.

"Senator."

A male nods; the door closes behind the trio.

"Good morning, Senators."

The females head raises up.

"I trust there is an important reason for your appearance."

"Definitely." – a female senator expresses confidently.

One of the anti-Palpatine movement's key members stops writing with a walnut brown fountain pen, graciously stands up from a chair behind a desk & begins a slow march to the left of the desk. The trio remain silent until she is marginally away from the mentioned furniture.

"Please explain."

"I've heard some chatter surrounding an important institution of the Republic."

"Alright. What's the institution?"

"The Jedi Order." – a senator says with a concerning look.

Avergreen takes some time to concentrate her attention on the conversation, since her anticipation of the organization was wrong.

"What about the Order?"

"There were some….Freaky happenings there."

"Define freaky."

The host tries to mimic the tone.

"Somebody oversaw a ship leaving the Temple and seeing several other ships rushing after it in a very short time." – says the other female guest.

"What is so strange about that?"

"The strange thing being their movement. It resembled… A chase." – the male guest answered.

Avergreen takes the last two words into account the most. They frame her vision of the most probable event scenario. About a minute later she states:

"Thank you. I'll see to the dissection of this… Situation."

"Understood."

"And everything remains on course?"

"Most certainly so. Any drastic change will be presented to you if any come about. Are we clear?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now let's get back to our prior occupations."

The quartet nod to each other. Soon, the trio leaves Avergreen's office. Several minutes had to pass for her mind to shift ideas into something that resembled an event scenario. There was other work for her, of course. Yet, to hear some kind of chatter of a friction within the Order would not leave her mind; consequently, forbidding her from shifting her attention from it. The Vote was already tomorrow. By her, this event posted a threat to it.

"I can't ignore it."

Though, quickly her mind brought something out that eased the emotional state. The SA hadn't contacted her about this, which meant two things. One – it did not stifle their chances of success; two – he was absent from the Temple.

"Shame I did not ask when it happened."

A little more thinking & a conclusion was made.

"I'm going to trust the Strategy Advisor. If he does not feel it needs mentioning, then that is how it is supposed be. I have my own front to work on."

The female senator takes some deep breaths & returns to her previous work.

On the lifeless blueish sand planes on Hermiona, 10:30 Coruscant Time.

"Is our deal still in play?"

"Yes. You will be presented with 500 000 gold coins if said person is brought to me."

Meanwhile, at the base.

"Commander John."

"Yes. What's the matter?"

"The transmission. It hasn't been received."

John's face immediately shows off concern, eyes widen.

"What time is it?"

The communications officer relays the current time.

"Understood."

John modifies something on his communicator.

"Urgent meeting! Now!"

Back on the bluish sand.

"What is that?"

"A transmission from my Commander."

"Better too not let him hear me."

The human male turns off a hollo-projector, drops it in his pocket. A bit of a brush up is conducted before the receiving of information.

"Jack here, Commander."

"I want you back at the base now. The preparations for a campaign are soon to begin."

"Which implies that Lord Shadow's transmission wasn't received."

"Precisely."

"I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Just avoid any detours."

While one conversation ends, another one resumes.

"You might have your wish after all."

"Is that so? Some news just came in?"

"Good news most of all."

"Please, continue."

"We'll be obtaining said person in less than… 14 hours from now."

The hollo-projected person presents a malicious smile.

"Excellent. In light of this information, I have a better offer for you."

"Really?"

"Yes. If you present him to me in 48 hours from this second, I'll pay you & your group 1… Million… Gold coins."

"Offer accepted."

"Then I await you arrival."

Soon. the hollo-projector disappears. A button is pressed on a module before the being gets on his speeder, propels his body back to where he came from.

The movement within the building rose to new heights after Commander John's speech. Everyone was working far quicker than before on their field; the anticipation of upcoming events shifted the outlooks of the beings. John, Theodor just entered the hangar.

"Fuel checks of the required fleet are already in motion." – Theodor states.

"Good. We must remain on schedule. As Lord Shadow said, the preparation for the journey towards Naboo must begin as quickly as possible."

"And the space battle?"

"Probable."

Another male figure approaches them from the front.

"Commander John, Vice-commander Theodor."

"Admiral Shtomer."

"The requested fleet should be completely prepared in 30 minutes."

"Coincidently, that is how much time it'll take Tactical Expert Jack to return to base."

"He's away? Why?"

"He made the case that there was some kind of interference somewhere to the East of the base." – John answers.

"And? What did he report?"

"That there is no threat there & he is returning back."

"His contributions…To the secrecy of this place is noted."

"ADMIRAL!"

The trio turn to two incoming males.

"Yes."

"The main cruiser is experiencing some difficulties."

"So you managed to find a fault and did not inform me prior to my conversation with the Commander?"

The two males felt the Admiral's voice change. It protruded at least some animosity towards them. Strangely, the other male took initiative.

"Our check was thorough enough. This problem just happened."

"Alright. Have you identified it?"

The animosity fades a bit.

"Yes. I just need your permission to fix it."

"You'll get that after you give me an estimate on the repair time."

"An hour." – the first one mentions.

"Splendid. Get right to it!"

"Yes, Admiral."

The two recently arrived ones run away; the trio shrinks the space between them, their voices become far more quiet.

"What are your suspicions?" – Theodor asks.

"Honestly? Sabotage." – the Admiral replies.

"Then all 3 of us are on the same page."

"Quite possible that there is a mole among us."

"That appears to be the most realistic scenario, since the chances of an unforeseen repair being required when the fleet is about to go after one of the Lords is extremely suspicious."

"Since you'll be leaving with the fleet, keep an eye on anyone, who is acting…Strangely."

"I'll see to that, Commander."

"Keep us posted on the fleet's preparation."

The trio give each other a stern look & dispense.

Around 6 o'clock Naboo Time. Through the Force, the 17 year old Togrutan had sensed Oswald's whereabouts. He had nestled himself on the outskirts of the town of Neeza. To Ahsoka, this was not very surprising; after all, she had no previous beliefs on the type of place, where her friend would vacation. The gravel road was being traversed right now. Miss Varna's one story house soon came into view.

"This must be the place."

The Former Padawan slowed down a bit; each step became far more pronounced than before. The host – Miss Varna – was not extremely used to long hours of sleep. She was the first of the five residents to wake up. Realizing that stay within the house could cause unwanted noise, the host went outside.

She was looking after her flowers, when a figure appeared over the horizon. Her left eye managed to notice this. Quickly, the distance between the two beings shrank to 10 meters (~32 feet). It is at that moment that the Togrutan female stopped and said:

"Good morning."

"Good morning."

Miss Varna leaves a small hoarder in the dirt, stands up to greet the being in a normal stance. She quickly notices the fact that she is neither Human, nor Gungan.

"I don't need to sound rude, but I'm looking for someone and I believe he resides in this house."

"Really? Do you, by any means, know his or her name?" – the owner asks in a warm tone.

"Luckily, I do. His name is Oswald Menson."

Miss Varna momentarily revisits a conversation she had with Oswald last evening. The pieces fit together well enough.

"Then your name, by any chance, wouldn't be Ahsoka, would it?"

The Force sensitive was a bit taken back by the mention of her name. It became obvious that Oswald had mentioned her true name to this elder Human female. To avoid a complicit look, she did not let the silence grow dangerous enough.

"Yes. That's my name."

"Glad to hear it, dear. Come on closer."

Ahsoka uses the Force to sense any danger around her; not a faintest of signals was relayed back. The distance shrinks to a distance of a step. Miss Varna felt that the arriver's confidence had not wavered. A good inkling told her that the arriver is trustworthy. Therefore, she extended her right arm, the Togrutan female slowly locked their palms.

"Nice to meet you, Ahsoka. I'm Miss Varna, owner of this small house."

"Nice to mee you also, Miss Varna."

Their palms separated.

"I'm guessing you want to meet Oswald as soon as you can."

"True."

She showed a small smile. A performance that had faded from her life in the past few days.

"That would be nice, but I have an urge that he is still sleeping."

"You are right there. Yet, he did let you come here. I believe it would be mostly rude for him not to welcome you into the house."

"If that is what you believe, I won't stop it."

Miss Varna constructed her own smile, bigger than Ahsoka's.

"Don't worry, dear. I'll get him for you. Just stand here for a bit."

"Alright, Miss Varna."

Oswald was sleeping comfortably in his bed, back against the mattress, head toward the ceiling. No one knew that his time for rejuvenation had been interrupted; moreover, its quantity was smaller. At least, that was the notion that the insightful one kept in his mind. All of a sudden, he was brought of his ambiguously conscious state by a shake of his right leg. Menson's right eye slowly opens up, Miss Varna sees that, then rapidly quietly states:

"Oswald. Your friend is waiting outside the house."

"Are you sure?"

"Certain. I just talked with her."

"Fine. I'm coming."

In less than a minute, Miss Varna leaves the room. The semi-toned build Human male in a lethargic manner shifts his body into a position, where his bare feet land on the admiral blue rug.

"I need to grab some type of robe."

A short look over to Katooni is performed. No suspicious or concerning movement is noticed. The half-naked male leaves his bed.

6 o'clock Naboo Time. When someone's waited so long for something, they can wait several minutes pretty easily. It was a custom at this point. She had closed her eyes, immersed herself in the Force. Any unwanted interjection was being monitored. Then, the familiar Force presence's vibrancy's growth pushed her out of the in-depth feel state.

"What a visit!"

Her blue eyes open. The friend, which she saw a few days ago, was wearing a cobalt blue bathrobe, lead grey slippers. A noticeable amount of flesh was visible in the upper section of the body, it resembled a downward triangle. In about a minute, the Togrutan female takes initiative & walks over to the house's entrance.

"It's good to see you, Oswald."

"Likewise, Ahsoka."

A not very appropriate yawn comes from the male; he quickly suppresses it with his right palm. She just smiles at this sequence of events.

"Early wake-up?"

"How perceptive." – Menson responds in a chucky way.

The smile continues to exist.

"So how about we continue our conversation in the house?"

"A great proposal. I'm all for it."

Oswald steps back to the side which allows Ahsoka to enter the one story village-type building. Due to circumstances, the 19 year old blonde male had to close the door. If two beings are not the hosts, then the less recently arrived one has to conduct the 'welcoming' act.

"I see that you've changed your physical appearance."

"Some sacrifices had to be made. I couldn't really go on with my previous complexion on Coruscant due to the whole 'Jedi Hunt'."

"Rational."

To the 19 year old, the newest guests most prominent change was the skin color; it changed from dark orange to ruby red. The latter color reminding him of a delicate manner; said manner was, coincidently, within the same building as he was.

"Is the red color of your skin permanent?"

"Not unless I spend half a day scrubbing myself."

"Strong paint."

"I trust there is no distaste in your mouth with my new appearance?" – the 17 year old asks in a compassionate voice.

"No, that is not the case. I'm just barely awake and require a bit of time to refocus my sight."

"Good. Because that would have made our time together more tense than it needed to be."

"Probably. Honestly, your outfit puzzled me maybe as much as your new skin color."

"We all make the best of our situation. I'm sure you'd agree, Oswald."

"Far too strongly, Ahsoka."

The Togrutan female subtly hints at a change of topic; the Human does not oppose such a change. Tano uses the Force to sense the quantity of beings residing within the house. It takes only seconds & the results is not shocking.

"There are people still sleeping here."

"Yes. 3 actually."

"Where can we go to continue our talk? Because…"

She points out with her eyes the area, in which they were standing in.

"I'm not sure it is good to do it in the corridor."

"I can suggest you the kitchen, Ahsoka."

Mensons stretches his arms in a jokingly apologetic unknowing fashion.

"Much better, Oswald."

Several minutes later in the kitchen. Miss Varna had been waiting for them there, she presented them with a plate of fried bread with spices, a jar of fig jam placed to the right of the plate. An instruction was given out to Oswald by the owner of the house; it, more or less, stated that their new guest should not be starving until everyone has breakfast together later in the morning. The farseeing one reassured the owner that such a chain of events will not come to fruition. As soon as that exchange was finished, Miss Varna went back outside. Tano slowly sat down at the end of the table with the bread, Menson – moderately faster to her left side.

"She does not want to be inhospitable, does she?"

"Well, you are her guest for now."

"An unintentional one, Oswald."

"Still, I did tell her that you were going to come tomorrow yesterday."

"I'm grateful for it. What I don't need is another false accusation."

"I sympathize with that."

She takes a bite of one of the bread slices.

"Crunchy, not a bad way to satisfy some hunger."

She leaves the remaining part in her right hand, rests her elbow on the table in a straight up position.

"So… I want to know, what you've been up to in the past few days?"

"The short version is that 3 noteworthy things happened."

"3?"

Ahsoka's intrigue in her friend's life since their last encounter almost doubled.

"You've remained productive after your victory?"

Oswald pieces together a safe response.

"Such were the circumstances."

"Would you mind expanding on the 3 things?"

This required a substantial amount of concentration. The entranced state from the early wake was close to complete extinction. He was happy to see her after a few days; he did worry to some extent about, how will she move on in life after the decision to leave the Jedi Order. Now to be so close was a cheerful sight. Yet, Tano's intentions were unclear. He was confident with the conclusion that harm wasn't the goal. Though, she did resurface at such a crucial time in the Galaxy. One way or another, the inevitability of figuring out her stance on the big picture vibrantly sparkled in his mind. Little did he know that Ahsoka was fully submerged into the moment; this meant she could pay more attention to the details of him more than the other way around. The reluctancy to relay the complete view – that was the thing the Togrutan female had postulated about the Human male. By her, this was the time to achieve a breakthrough on this aspect of his character.

"How much is it crucial to you?"

"Plenty, Oswald."

"Alright, Ahsoka. The first thing was a revelation on the War effort. I accidently found out something detrimental to it. The second thing was the realization I had to treat it away from Coruscant. It was too dangerous there. The third thing – a creation of chaos."

Tano takes all of the information in, process it. On the third attempt, her mind constructs the underlying message of this.

"Somehow I feel that all 3 things…"

Finished the bread slice.

"….Are just the aspects of one issue."

The 17 year old angles her upper body forward, making the face completely over the table.

"Am I right?"

"Not bad, Ahsoka. Good deduction."

"There are some aspects that I still remember of my Padawan life."

"Care to give an example?"

"You just saw it, Oswald. It took me some time to piece together a good enough frame of mind to have worthy conversations with you."

"It seems you got there at the end."

"Might be."

Their faces cut the space between them by half.

"What was the revelation?"

"That the War is not that simple."

A shift in his tone comes swiftly after.

"There is another player in the War."

The 17 year old nodded the cold-hearted voice.

"How important is he?"

"Essential. His actions could… Collapse the Galaxy."

Naturally, Tano was taken back after such a statement. By all means, the startling part was not the idea that Menson knew this; it was the concern level that he added to this idea.

"Is that a bit strong of a statement?"

"Not what I've sensed. No."

The last question provides him with the opportunity to change to rolls.

"What about you? What you've been doing for the past few days?"

"Nothing as gigantic as you. Pretty simple. Working things out while working at a restaurant."

"Fair enough, Ahsoka. Just… What are those things?"

His voice had changed again.

"The rethinking of my life choices. Also, future directions."

"Natural. Yet, if you're here, I'm assuming you know, in which direction you want to go?"

She nestles her back on the support of the chair.

"Not so much of the direction, Oswald, so much as the place, where I'll definitely decide on the path."

"Let me guess. The place is here?"

"Yes."

"And you want my input on your decision?"

"Your help on the matter is greatly welcomed."

Another change in the male's voice.

"We can settle that matter soon. But first I must ask you an… Unusual question."

Ahsoka felt that there was a growing dark side presence within the confides of the house; although, the nature of it was extraordinary. It…Appeared as if one dark side was trying to suffocate the other, which created inner turbulence on that side of the Force.

"Go on." – she states in a concerned tone.

"I'm sure that you've sensed the occupants within this house & found one… Intricate… Detail."

"Your referring to the other Force presence?"

"Correct. You know, who the being is?"

Suddenly, both sense a strong signal through the Force. Its nature – caution.

"Now she knows."

The two adolescent Force sensitives swiftly shift their sights on the origin of the voice. Turns out that the familiar presence that Tano felt & Menson knew was present within the edge of the kitchen, on the opposite side of Tano.

"Katooni."

"Good morning, Ahsoka."

Quite unconsciously, Oswald's fluctuating Force presence had its toll on his ability to be attentive to the ever changing surroundings. The light side was in a sort of tug of war with the dark side. Adding to the task of carefully handling one Force sensitive, was the literal doubling of it. A work centered morning indeed.

Later somewhere in Hyperspace. Most of the Freedom Savior League members were presently on a ship heading to Hector's put in destination. The atmosphere within the ship was unmistakably gloomy.

"Even though we've escaped, we'll have to face Tanlia at some point." – Orlana mentions.

"And tell her…The news." – Drazeena adds.

"However we're looking at it. There is no way of an easy transition into the next day after we tell her Calder's fate." – Awkan reluctantly gives a perspective on the upcoming matter.

"It went smoothly for so long. Was an ideal end really tangible?"

Back on Naboo.

"You know I must ask."

"Yeah."

"Why is Katooni with you on Naboo?"

Oswald both feared & anticipated this question. This detail was not mentioned in his transmission, the being is a Force sensitive, which creates an aura of intricacy around his journey to Naboo. Katooni was sitting on the opposite side of Oswald, diagonally to Ahsoka's left. Her eyes were dual colored, stance in the Force – dual. Despite these two observations, the Togrutan female remained calm. She unconditionally believed that the situation was overseen by Menson.

"Well… Remember the issue?"

"Of course."

"Said issue was causing enormous anxiety within her."

"So I said out to make myself available for the task."

Ahsoka looks at Katooni.

"What task?"

Then looks back at Oswald.

"The task of finding out the identity of said player of the War."

There was a smile after the words; though, one more of callousness than generosity.

"Were you successful?"

"To a certain extent, Ahsoka. There were…Some… Unforeseen events afterwards."

"Such as?"

"My eye color."

Ahsoka looks back at the Tholothian girl. Her eyes inner ring was almost perfectly separated by sapphire blue and amber yellow; the latter color designating a connection to the dark side, more accurately – the Sith. Although she did not possess a great deal of insightfulness, there was only one rational conclusion to the change in the girl's eyes. The girl that she saved first, later was saved by in their encounter with the pirate Hando.

"You tempted her with the dark side?"

The 19 year old Human male tenses his body, angles himself closer to the table.

"We've reached an unavoidable moment of decision making, Ahsoka. The amount that I've told you up until this point is not enough to get you or me, or Katooni into trouble. However,… Anything I say after this could drastically affect all of our lives. This is why… I need to know, what will you do when the situation is dire? Who will you stand with?"

Sometimes, reality is just that harsh. Basically, one hard decision is followed up by another one in the same week. What emotional torture the adolescent female felt after the Order's leave. It caused so much pain; to this day, the action still can be imagined with modest difficulty. Yet, that was the previous high stake decision. Right now, there was a new one. From the way that Oswald spoke, the Force signals that she sensed from him, an inner struggle between both sides of the Force was in full motion within her friend. It was horrific to think that less than a week could reshape a person's character this much. The care. The care that was a staple of Oswald's character for so long had remained; just its obviousness had shrank significantly. It seemed that there was a lot more mysteriousness around the desire to see the beings he loved succeed in life. It wasn't clear to Tano, which part was more enigmatic now: the radiancy of the desire or the number of people it pointed to. A quick Force scan of the kitchen reassured her of her dangerous suspicions. Both Force sensitives were not completely on the light side; their darkness was identifiable.

"Alright. I have to backtrack to my original propositions. They won't be patient for long."

Up till this moment the two other Force sensitives remained silent.

"I'm looking for a new path. The life in the restaurant? Not for me. I could be so much more, I could do so much more. And again. In terms of predicting the future, you're not finding another one like Oswald in the Galaxy. He and, I would add, Master Yoda are in a league of their own. Speaking of him, the path, which I'm seeking, might be the one he has. I have no doubt that he has a scenario laid out for me. In it, I could finally get the… 'atmospheric', for lack of a better word, understanding of whatever level Oswald possesses."

She takes a deep breath, shifts her eyes to both directions. They remain silent, real faces resembled rock chiseled ones.

"The question is – do I want to become involved with Oswald on the manner or path he has in store for me?"

She ways her options. A decision had to come soon.

5 minutes later.

"So? I sense you've reached a clear conclusion?" – Mundi's Padawan asks in a soft tone.

"Yes. I have an answer."

"Tell me then."

"I will stand with you, when the time comes."

"Strong words, Ahsoka. Are you ready to put your life on it?"

"Only if you are, who you are. That is you still seek the Galaxy as you've sought it from the first time we talked about this. I cannot stand with a dishonest person. Not even a close friend. Not even you."

The Human male felt no ambiguity in the Togrutan females words. Therefore, he takes his upper body back a bit.

"I've remained true to my goals from that day. The Galaxy will not be submerged in years of tyranny, slavery or authoritarian states. I fully intend to continue freedom's existence within it."

"Will you put your life on it?"

"For the continuation of freedom I'll do the best I can, Ahsoka."

"Then we can begin our joint venture into this Galaxy you seek."

"Yes. I do think that we should enact some preparations for an upcoming threat."

"What about me?"

Again, the adolescent Force sensitives turn their focus to the Jedi Youngling.

"What's my state in all of this?"

"Not to be disheartening, you really don't possess a lot of options, Katooni. I see only two."

"Which are?"

"One – you return to the Temple and continue your training to become a Jedi Padawan."

"With all due respect, Oswald, that does sound foolish. Did you forget what my condition is?"

"Not even close, Katooni. It is still probably the freshest thing in my mind."

"I'm with Katooni. That scenario almost spells disaster for her." – Ahsoka states.

The two elder Force sensitives rearrange their bodies into a more natural sitting position than before.

"By your first proposition, I would have to guess you don't intend to go back to Coruscant."

Menson knew there was no way of avoiding the upcoming sequence of events. He had reached such a conviction, when the 12 year old appeared in the kitchen. The Force's representative told her as a closing remark to: "Do not forget, what makes you, who you are." He cared about Katooni. No one sitting next to him, living with him for the past day would come to an opposite conclusion. With so much wishful thinking that he put into this subject, it proved to be useless. The foresight, instincts crushed them every time.

"You're correct I don't."

"That will automatically make you an enemy of the Order. Or at least – they will not leave you alone."

"I know, Ahsoka."

"Then take me along with Ahsoka to the place where you plan to go."

A malicious smile appears from the Tholothian girl.

"To be more direct, as you've thought from the start."

"Maybe I did develop strong reservations of going back to the Temple."

"And I know why."

The malicious smile disappears.

"Please. Elaborate."

"The player that you've found."

She turns to him with a concerned look.

"How powerful is he?"

The blonde haired male grinds his teeth for a few seconds before answering in a low tone:

"Extremely powerful, Ahsoka."

"How much, Oswald? Put it in perspective."

He gasps.

"Fine. You asked for this."

Takes a look at the entrances into the kitchen, no one is standing near either of them.

"If someone would take a look at his Midi-chlorian counter, they'd get a reading of…Somewhere close to… 20 000."

The other two Force sensitives were out of breath. The mere imagination that an enemy of theirs (even Ahsoka considered them all together now) was significantly stronger than Yoda could cause depression. Master Yoda was the strongest Force sensitive any of them knew; and this enemy outclassed him.

"That is absurd."

"I warned you of this knowledge. The both of us combined couldn't touch his feet with a saber."

"If that is the case, we must start training now."

Tano quickly remembered a harsh truth.

"It is just a great failure that I left my lightsabers at the Temple."

"I have an idea on that front."

She was a bit puzzled by Menson's latest comment.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Later."

He stands up from the chair.

"First, I suggest we rest for a couple of hours and have a truly delicious breakfast before continuing this ever so important matter."

"That is fine by me, Oswald, but where is Ahsoka going to lie down? Surely we can't leave her standing in our room or sitting here for 2 hours."

"Where were the both of you before my arrival?"

"In the guest room."

"How many beds are present in it?"

"2."

"The both of you could share a bed for a couple of hours."

Mundi's Padawan would most likely have to agree with that proposition. Both him & Ahsoka were adolescent, there was only a 2 year gap between them, their bodies were more or less fledged out. Was the decision and transition to the guest room smooth? Of course not. It all happened in a unmistakably awkward way. After their abandonment of the kitchen, Menson remembered the Force signals he received in the Nu-class transporter yesterday. They were on the outskirts of hind for a while; just now the inkling of incoming ferocious danger reinstated its presence within the insightful one's mind. The confrontation was all but set in stone.

On the yellow honey hills. Magnificent, luscious cider orange flames were elegantly flowing up into the atmosphere. At the same time, a chewing sound came from a place close to it.

"Sausages are pretty good."

The orange skinned Twi'lek just finished eating 3 cooked sausages.

"That'll suffice."

She stands up, stretches her limbs in different directions.

"One way or another, I've got to get off this planet as soon as possible."

Famine – one of the two motivators for such an approach; the other – the insecurity aimed at her friends life.

Out of sight, traversing the lifeless plains.

"Such a waste of effort."

"Do not beat yourself about it, soldier. Commander Elanesquil made her choice. However it panned out, it did. We've got repoint our focus towards the campaign against the Confederacy."

"Absolutely, Captain."

Heremona's surface. Intense movement was being enacted within the hangar of the building in the mountain.

"Admiral. We've fixed the issue. The Strider is ready to go." – a Human male engineer stated.

"Are you certain?"

"100%."

"Then we're ready to launch. Get onboard. I'll inform Commander John to open the hangar doors."

"Understood, sir."

Suddenly, orange lights lit up from the ground around a selected number of fighters and bombers.

"Commander John. We're ready to leave."

"Great news, Admiral. Initiating hangar happening."

At least 25 meters (~82 feet) high obsidian black steel doors started sliding to the sides.

"All designated pilots report to your ships. Military operation F.T.N. is in full motion. Make sure your ships are in working condition. Lord Mist does not have a lot of time remaining."

The Human female notified everyone in the hangar of this important information. On the vertically moving platform of the biggest ship within this building – called The Strider – stood the Admiral. He was eager to leave, but still had to oversee the last 3 tactical officers rushing towards his from the command center. To his relative unawareness, Jack jumped onto the platform from his blind side.

"Turret expert Jack reporting for duty, Admiral."

"Very good to see you, Jack. Move into your position."

"Yes, sir."

5 minutes later.

"Is everyone accounted for?"

"Yes, Commander. The 40/20/1 requested fleet has launched itself from the base."

"Very well, Admiral Shtomer. As soon as everyone is in a tight space away from the planet's atmosphere, jump to Hyperspace."

"By our experts calculations, you'll take 10 hours before you arrive in the space around Naboo. Keeping everything realistic, at best the fleet will arrive on Naboo at 16:00 its times." – Vice-commander Theodor adds.

"We'll just have to do our best and pray it will be enough."

"That is the maximum. Just don't forget – a space battle is more likely to happen than not."

"That fact is not leaving my mind, Vice-commander. This is what we've been preparing for."

Stage 2

Nearly 8 o'clock Naboo time, In Hyperspace.

"And he said nothing?" – Koth asks.

"No. It would appear that he learned a Force technique that clears the mind completely of any ideas."

"Most likely learned with the help of Padawan Menson."

"Probable the course of action is." – Master Yoda states.

"Where's Mundi?"

"Taking some time to clear his mind. I completely understand the unavoidable reality he's going to have to come to terms with."

"The capture of Padawan Menson is a top priority of the Jedi Order. His life is directly tied to the escaped group of Force sensitives and… Hah! I have difficulty comprehending what more."

"I empathize with your sentiment, Mace. To leave a group of Force sensitives governed by their own customs or rules, may lead to more conflict within the Galaxy."

"The worst scenario this is not."

"That is true."

"Don't be surprised, Master Koth."

"Of what? You've sensed something on Naboo?"

"Stronger Force signals radiating is the planet."

"Which can only mean 2 things: either one of the two Force sensitives has grown stronger in a miraculously short time or…"

"There is someone new there." – Windu finishes.

"I will keep that in mind, Master Yoda."

"May the Force be with you both."

The two hollo-projected figures of the Council members nod, swiftly vanish.

08:00.

"BREAKFEST!" – Alexander yells.

Oswald is the first wake up from his slumber.

"Did you really have to shout it out?"

"Of course, it wasn't necessary. Come over to the kitchen right away. Apart from eating, I am eager to meet the female friend you've brought here today."

"Yeah, yeah. Move."

Alexander dashes away from the doorway.

"Those 2 hours went buy so quickly." – a somewhat sluggish Katooni says.

"I agree."

The Togrutan female is the last person to open his eyes.

"Then we shouldn't keep them waiting."

"You don't feel sore, Ahsoka?"

"No."

She shifts around, sits up in her half-naked body.

"Actually, it went better than expected."

"Tell you what. You both get some clothes on top first, I'll hide my eyes behind the pillow and catch up to you to in the kitchen."

"We dress up first?"

"Exactly, Katooni."

"Sounds good to me."

"Did you rest a bit, Ahsoka?" – Miss Varna asks before taking a sip of her red tea.

"It was an action that the trio of us agreed upon."

"Well, good. No need to be walking in the house, while my two sons are in their dreams."

"Speaking of us…"

Jeremy chuckles.

"…I believe we haven't been properly introduced to each other."

"Really?"

The 17 year old raises her right eyebrow.

"I must have missed that section in the news."

All, except Jeremy, giggle a bit.

"So? Your name is Ahsoka?"

"Yes. And you two are?"

"I'm Jeremy, he's Alexander."

"Nice to meet you both."

"We had no idea that Oswald was bringing so much company with him to our home." – Alexander says.

"Let's say that I was a late edition."

"Still, you are our guest now." – Miss Varna jumps in.

"I don't want to spread misery, but I sense that our time at your mother's house will soon come to an end."

"What makes you say that, Oswald?" – Jeremy inquires.

"You say you sense something?"

"Yes, Alex. I'm anticipating a violent turn of events."

Suddenly, the air in the room began to thicken.

"When?" – Miss Varna asks.

"Today. Guaranteed."

"Then we should expect an early departure from you?"

"Something close. I just don't want you to think that we are happy to leave before the planned time had come."

"It is good to hear that you care, Oswald, but, rest assured, we understand. Some knowledge of the War reaches us, too. As far as I know, Jedi are important to the Republic's victory. So, we have no intention of forcing you to stay."

"It is good that we see the same picture."

"Then we should go play in the pool with Ahsoka?"

"I'm not sure that's wise, Jeremy."

"Come on, Oswald. It'll only take an hour. Then you can get back to your extremely demanding mind activities."

"I appreciate this joyful proposition, Jeremy. There is just the problem that I've not got a bathing suit."

"We can go with you to the Capital and buy one. It'll only take two hours."

"Around that." – Alexander adds.

"No, boys, I won't let you spend your money. If anyone is financing such an action, it's me. I know the prices in Theddes, so I'll fetch the correct amount."

The beings finished their breakfast and said out to conduct their own activities. Alexander began the arrangement of the pool, Jeremy & Ahsoka left for Theddes after Miss Varna presented the gold coins, while Katooni, Oswald went back to their room. The Togrutan female remembered Menson's face at the table after the group had decided to delve themselves in a relaxing activity.

"The threat definitely sounded imminent & worrying. The stakes might be… Extremely high."

But… All of that will have to wait.

About an hour later. Oswald, Katooni were sharing their meditation experiences in the guest room.

"The malicious side of you? Did you feel it present within you?"

The Tholothian girl's eyes showed a hint of sorrow.

"It is beating violently within me."

"Then there is only a matter of time before that side of you appears again."

"I fear that too, Oswald."

The older Force sensitive lifts up his brown robe, detaches his lightsaber from his belt and ignites it diagonally to the window with the blueberry blue curtains.

"You sensed danger?" – Katooni asks.

"As have you."

"Is it stronger than before?"

"Yes." – the 19 year old answers in a serious tone.

"How do you plan on stopping it?"

"The hazardous signal? There is no escaping its realization, Katooni."

"We could run before the enemy arrives."

"We could, but the way I've predicted the future outclasses that action."

In a few seconds, while Mundi's Padawan was overlooking his weapon, Katooni's head knocks back, body is shocked. The eye color changes – the blue sapphire is completely consumed by the yellow amber. His eyes relocate on the girl.

"Your disharmony's elimination will be difficult."

"As proficient as you are with the Force, you do not possess a tactic that can eliminate it."

The dark side entrenched Tholothian girl's face displays arrogancy.

"Yet, Sith. Yet."

He turns off the lightsaber, locks it back onto the belt.

"Turns out you have another friend that you want to include in this game."

"She volunteered. I did not force her to go along with my plan."

"That does sound like you, Young One. But… Your new… Associate… won't appreciate being in the unknown about me."

"You think I'm that foolish to inspire a conflict with her at such a crucial time?"

"That's not it. You'll have to present it in a shroud way."

"No doubt, Sith."

Suddenly, the 12 year old starts to grin, closes her eyes. Menson remains completely unfazed.

"Such instability. It truly looks to be a once in a millennium being."

Quickly, candy red eyes nestle themselves onto the Human male.

"I'm back, Feeble One."

"You're not welcome here, Destructive Robot."

The addressing of the 3rd state of Katooni was concentrated with vileness.

"Like it or not. One day I'll be strong enough to do… What is my calling."

"Your calling being the spread of misery throughout the Galaxy?"

"How clever of you. Yes, that is probably the best way to put it."

"Your amazingly naïve if you believe I'm going to let you accomplish that."

"Still so strong in you convictions. Pathetic."

Her eyebrows raise.

"The dark side within you is growing; soon you'll join me in my pursuit for sorrow. Not to mention your last…Victim. She was even more confident than you and what happened? She lost."

Oswald did not require a minute to piece everything together. Somehow, Katooni had seen at least some part of his duel with the Sith Acolyte. Automatically, it means that she knows about the red lightsaber on his right side. Moreover, it was highly possible that not only did the Destructive side of Katooni knew about this, but the other two sides as well. About a minute of silence was broken by the 19 year old with this:

"Sorry to tell you, my dear, but…"

In two seconds, the Jedi Youngling falls gracefully onto the bed, barely missing the wall with the top of her head.

"…I can foresee a lot."

As you probably have guessed, Oswald used the 'Mind Shock' technique once again. Just this time the preparation time was at least 3 times smaller; therefore, the previous successful effect should last 3 times less. That was the thinking behind his decision to knock her into an unconscious state once again. A grim idea came to his mind.

"It is not clear, how much you can use this ability before you cripple a Force sensitives mind completely. The 3rd time this happens, and it certainly will, a different solving mechanism is the goal. I'm just not sure… If I'll have found something else to stifle her Destructive Genes."

Around 11 o'clock Naboo time. The adventurous trio had returned from their trip to Theddes, the Capital of Naboo; they were greeted by Miss Varna & Oswald. Normally, Ahsoka asked about Katooni's absence. The male Force sensitive explained it as a 'unexpected need for recuperation' (yeah, that formal). Due to Jeremy's proposed schedule, Varna's feel of the situation, the pool's leisure had to be instigated without the Tholothian girl. The Togrutan female put on her new bathing suit – a significantly conservative both front & rear royal blue base with a white line running alongside all the outskirts. Caught in a joyous grasp, all of the four participants jumped in the pool at least once. Splashes, strokes, floating. Thankfully, the paint of the 17 year old's body did not color the water; it remained intact. The awkwardness of the opposite action would have been through the roof. Mundi's Padawan poured maximum effort into stifling the gruesome reality; especially, after receiving a hazardous signal to his communication module. The signal's type brought his attention to the FSL, he was confident of something drastic accruing on that front. The effort was successful enough; only in greatly short moments could someone notice his precariousness. Not truly so. The Force could accomplish the same thing as the eyes. The Former Padawan only needed one time to reconfirm that the seriousness is still well established.

Midday, exactly 24 hours to the Vote. Menson was patiently waiting for Tano at the back part of the house, intentionally or not, establishing oneself closest to the unconscious Force sensitive and furthest from any passing stranger. None of the three constant inhabitants peaked about their designated place. The male's back was brushing up against a tree, when the preferable person arrived from his left side. Said person's attire would soon be the first talked about point.

"Something has got you stuck, Oswald?"

"Stuck? No."

In a nonchalant way, the blonde haired Human moves, separates his back from the tree.

"A bit retrieved? Maybe."

"It's my clothes, isn't it?"

"True. You are wearing a 3rd set of clothes today."

She interprets her friend's stance on the manner almost perfectly. A critique of her attire was nowhere near the aim of the sentence.

"I believe it will not interfere with the activity you have foreseen."

"I don't envision being that too. It's just… Your change is obvious."

The Togurtan female cuts the gap between them in half.

"Well if we're going to work together, then we should align our wardrobes a bit. Especially the one look that we'll be protruding to others on special occasions."

"Quite wise, Ahsoka."

He chuckles.

"You've definitely grown as a person in so little time."

She merely shows off a wholehearted smile as a reply.

"I appreciate your compliments, Oswald, but we don't have time to waste today."

"Absolutely. That is the reason you should lose the brown robe for now."

"For now." – the 17 year old states in a brazen tone.

She walks past him, shrinks fold the brown robe into a decent enough shape and places it near the tree, which connected to the insightful one's back not so long ago. The light breeze of air was intimately felt on both adolescent Force sensitive faces, the sunshine made the surroundings as lively as imaginable.

"What have you in mind, Oswald?"

"Training, Ahsoka. What else."

"What type of training?"

He produces an enigmatic smile.

"Lightsaber training."

The Togrutan female is startled somewhat from the answer. A type of friendly furor was growing within her.

"How do you intend to achieve that, Oswald? As I've told you, I left my lightsabers at the Temple."

"I remember, Ahsoka."

He takes a step forward.

"Coincidently, I've recently moved beyond that aspect."

"Beyond? How?"

A tone shift.

"Don't tell me you've managed to split your green double lightsaber in two?"

"No. That's not it."

Menson slowly moves his left hand across his waist; Tano recognizes a signal from the Force. It was one of cautious nature.

"Catch."

A gigantic change in hand speed is followed up by a swift throw of an object. The adolescent female manages to grab the object with her right hand.

"Good to see you haven't lost your reflexes."

In seconds, there was no mistaking the object for anything else. It was a lightsaber, which, unintentionally, developed some questions for Ahsoka.

"Why does he have another lightsaber? Where did he get it? Why is it radiating signals of an… Unusual nature?"

Then a revelation came.

"I know this feeling."

Lusting for confirmation, she ignited the weapon. It glowed in crimson red. Since the throwing action, Mundi's Padawan maintained a miraculously silent, serene stance. From a far, someone could make the assumption that he was contempt with letting reality move forward without his interference.

"You know that I can't simply go along without asking questions."

"Too easy, Ahsoka. That much is too easy to predict."

"This is a Sith blade?"

"True."

"How did you become its owner?"

Strangely, the serene state did not diminish.

"Hmmm. Your actually asking me such an obvious aspect of this."

Tano had to reevaluate the turbulent, precarious Force state of her old friend. Both the dark and the light side were present within him. In addition, he did not hide any of it. The main negative trait of said friend was the unwillingness to explain everything to the fullest extent. Of course, there were plenty of reasons to keep this 'flaw' in place. Keeping that in mind, she swiftly rearranged her expectations, her attention's potency. The concerning unpredictability of Menson's actions went up a level within her subconsciousness.

"You had a fight with a Sith?"

The question had some caution intrenched in it.

"Quite logically."

Somewhat unusually, Ahsoka turned off the blade.

"I know your strong, Oswald, but you definitely did not fight Count Dooku."

He simply nodded.

"That means this was a less powerful Sith."

"More than likely, a Sith Acolyte of Dooku's."

"You realize what this means?"

"Oh yeah. That one of the Sith Lords knows something about me."

The nonchalant manner was still enacted. His friend notified two aspects of the last sentence.

"He said 'one of the Sith Lords'. That means… He is implying that there is more than one."

Tano's inner turbulence of this fact doesn't linger long.

"It is not that unbelievable. C'mon, Ahsoka."

The second aspect was that her friend said 'something'. That pondered her mind about how much did Dooku & Menson know about each other's existence. Wanting to push forward, the Human male takes another step forward the Togrutan female.

"You're getting puzzled, Ahsoka. I can see & sense that."

The conversation reestablished normal speed.

"You are pouring information at me."

"Possibly."

"My instincts tell me that there is more pretext to this event than just simple elimination."

"Rest assured. There is more, but you realize that I don't have time to tell you the intricate, complete version of the story."

Now the distance lessens to less of two steps.

"I know you've sensed my Force presence, Katooni's Force presence and… Most importantly, the soon to be visible threat that is getting closer to us by the minute."

"Amazing perception as always, Oswald."

"Now that I feel that you've gotten used to the current situation, we can move forward."

"Fine." – the 17 year old reluctantly mentions.

Soon, he slowly starts to walk in an arc shape, nearly missing his friend's body. She divulges a lot of her attention to reading the signals from the Force. Sometimes, your opponent forces you to choose between two dangerous tactics.

"I've studied at the Archives a technique, which can allow a Force sensitive to change the color of a lightsaber. Though it was not fairly recent, it will be worth trying… Later."

He passes to her right side, back turned.

"Then what is our current activity?"

A hidden happiness is treasured before a sudden stop.

"Well…"

Out of nowhere, in a staggering grace he picks up his lightsaber from his belt. Tano takes into account the shift in signals from the Force. In less than five seconds, a sparkling sound is heard.

"Tssssssssss!"

The friends' blades were locked.

"Before that can proceed, I should help you brush up on your lightsaber fighting skills."

By Ahsoka's initiative and Oswald's reluctancy to remain in a static stance, they break off each other. The Force helps the female to relax a bit more. Her friend's well-being seemed to increase. Consequently, this allowed said person to revisit a past talking manner.

"You're a bit humorous, Oswald."

He quickly picks up on his emboldened friend.

"Is it my reference to your fighting?"

"Correct."

She shifts her stance to a more confident one; the crimson red saber is now angled directly at the Padawan.

"You believe your abilities are still the same?"

"Just a bit lesser. My top game was good enough to beat you back then."

"True. Back then."

He circles his lightsaber around, she remains planted.

"You've not fought with one saber in years, Ahsoka. This will prove that."

"Then let's get heavy, Oswald. The enemy won't give us time to rest for our great confidence."

Both chuckle and in a few seconds start a proper sparring match.

Shortly later on a different planet. One of the most unique sights of the Galaxy is a person, whose conviction is as inflexible as osmium. A truly wonderful event to observe. The more passion there is behind it, the easier any obstacle falls. The orange skinned Twi'lek female marched with a seemingly unbreakable desire towards a staging area; one that was left behind by Master Bangad. The black high-top shoes were spotted with shades of brown, yellow, while the plain black skirt remained almost monotone, apart from a bit of fade from the dust in the atmosphere. The designated space was merely a few hundred meters from the Former Confederacy Fortress. While on the march, an idea just showed up.

"Why would he want a supply drop to be enacted in the outskirts of the Fortress?"

The desire to aid Oswald in whatever way possible in his current or soon to be confrontation with the Council overshadowed the critical aspect of the mind.

"Well, it's his inability to oversee that will leave to my success."

The change in pace & tactics happened when the Padawan shortened the distance to a Republic transport ship within 100 meters (~330 feet). Around the nearest travel vehicle stood 4 clone troopers; two were separated by a lightsaber length of particles, the other two – more spread out further along.

"Is it done?"

"One more create, sir."

"Hurry up. We'll soon be a great deal away from the General."

"Yes, sir."

The 17 year old sneaked up to the clones, snuggled up to a favorable placed rock. Even though she did mismanage the situation in grasping, how many opponents were present, the Force's signals of danger were acted upon. One of the two close proximity clones extremely swiftly angled his head to the direction where the Twi'lek was present just moments before.

"What's wrong?"

"I didn't see anything, but…"

Takes a step forward.

"But What?"

A 180 degree examination of the view in front of him.

"My instincts tell me that there was movement."

"Are you sure?"

"Certain."

"How far was it?"

"A big jump away from us."

The leading member of the army notices the buzz.

"What is going own on your side?"

"There was movement, sir."

The higher ranking one adopts a face of curiosity.

"Movement? What type of movement?"

The desire burning within Kelan started to torment her; a decisive action came rushing into her mind.

"I've got to attempt it. Otherwise, I might me stuck on this planet forever."

That was a grim reality, which with the fact that it had such a strong emotional connection behind it and that she harbored an inflexible conviction, disrupted the female's ability to accurately process Force signals. Therefore, a crucial blow could be landed.

Suddenly, a clone trooper lifts his lightsaber from the first impression dirt spread around everyone.

"Hah?!"

The speed and the position would suffice for the clone to accomplish his feet. A blue circle came at the Padawan.

"No!"

Struck her down & left her unconscious. Soon, the clone trooper got up, contacted his superior.

"She's been caught, sir."

"Very well. I'll inform the General of our progress. Here's how we're going to do everything."

By this point, no one, who could present the threat to Menson, was in position to act in such a way. Kelan was captured by her Master, while the FSL were in hyperspace. In that transversal space, sending a signal and receiving one was nowhere near the same difficulty level. Of course,… The entire 'surprise' of this play is also predicated on the belief that the insightful one has not anticipated a somewhat similar play.

Back on Naboo. Tree leaves were graciously, elegantly swinging back and forth through the air; the wind elevated had elevated the atmosphere at the back end of the house from a typical calm one to a sublimely harmonious one. Anyone would be hard to press to find a sound that seemed out of line. The two adolescent Force sensitives had shifted their bodies into normal meditating positions on the shamrock green grass; the main difference being the sunlight reception. Ahsoka's whole body was being layered by ultraviolet rays, while Oswald's body hit mostly from them in she shade of the same tree, on which branch he sat on recently. Their most imminent goal was the same, just, the tactic split off into two. From the sideview, Menson's posture portrayed a more in spacious submergence within the Force; as if his magnitude could not be compared to Tano's. Speaking of the Former Padawan, she had deconstructed Chariza's crimson red lightsaber to the point where the crystal became unconcealed. It was now floating in the air, held most likely by the outstretched right hand.

"This is not going to be easy."

She scoffed at herself.

"Understatement of the day. Bravo, Ahsoka."

The technique that her friend spoke of was laid out not so long ago. He immediately voiced the amount of displeasure he would feel towards her if she'd fight with the crimson colored saber. Not surprisingly, it was bizarrely small. Did he want her to succeed? Of course. A rational & natural wish of any true friend. The main aspect he wanted to get across was to not be overbearing on oneself if failure is the result. This factor removed at least some of the tension that the red skinned female was feeling.

"Not all crystals can be healed."

During the next several minutes a fact became completely clear; it being – this was not Tano's first attempt. She had been entranced with this tactic for some time. To her credit, the sublime harmonious state around the two was maintained throughout the struggle. That is, until…

Suddenly, a female voice speaks out:

"Ahsoka."

The Togrutan's reaction was one of eyelids shooting back against the face's flesh.

"Katooni."

The right hand lowers; moreover, the crystal falls to the shamrock green grass. A new player enters the field. As a result, the extremely balanced atmosphere experiences a decline in its strength.

"I thought you were resting."

The Tholothian girl show off a noticeable quantity of sadness.

"You could say that."

She takes a couple of steps forward. By doing so, places herself within an effortless arm extension from Tano's body.

"I can sense sorrow within you, Katooni."

"Well,…"

A false joyful smile is shown.

"…As Oswald would say, circumstances dictate change."

The girl's eyes point to the grass in front of her fellow Force sensitive.

"Can I sit in front of you?"

"If that is what you wish, then I go ahead."

The unknowingly tricolored eyed person mimics Ahsoka's sitting position. Now, the lightsaber parts were acting as a divider between two Force sensitives. Both were eager and a bit deterrent of pursuing this encounter forward. The Force was not sending anything other than a mixture of positive & negative signals.

"That is something I could imagine him saying."

"Not impossible."

"Not at all, Katooni."

An unorthodox sight – a transition in tone between both parties in precisely the same moment.

"Why did you reply so… Vaguely to my statement about where you've been."

"I'll only tell you if we swear to be honest to each other from this moment."

Ahsoka quickly picks up the direction of the conversation.

"This means we're going on an uncomfortable trip?"

"Without a doubt, Ahsoka. So? Do you swear?"

The presence of the dark side was already moderately strong on Naboo. To allow an easy growth of it would be detrimental to anybody, who was pro-light.

"I swear I'll be as honest as possible, Katooni."

"Same here, Ahsoka."

They lock their eyes at each other; blue sapphire against blue sapphire.

"How best you would describe your absence then?"

"A necessary put down." – the 12 year old swiftly answers.

Hazardous ideas emerge within the adolescence's mind.

"Why was it necessary?"

"Well,…"

Her voice adds a new layer of sorrow on top of the current emotional foundation.

"… How much has he told you about my condition?"

"Nothing disturbing."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Then I should warn you about the thing you're going to be seeing very soon. Just remember – Oswald had no idea this would happen to me."

Dangerous ideas develop a growth of a parable.

"Wait? What do you mean 'happen to you'?"

Without getting a cohesive reply, Katooni's head whiplashes backwards, in a couple of seconds retracts to its normal state. Tano is already braces for an unseen sight. Her expectations are met when the 12 year old's eyes reappear. The unexpectedness, the prior eye lock force the Former Padawan to be retrieved by the amber yellow, blue sapphire 50-50 circle split. During all of this, the insightful one remains seated, not even a finger moves.

"Nice to meet another… Young One."

The addressing was engulfed in arrogance & sadism.

"So… An alter ego? Not a normal sight in life."

"How amusing… You've known the Master of Intrusion for quite a while and yet you're still surprised by the nuances that come with being acquainted with him."

A trounce moment like no other. Yet, Ahsoka was mentored by Anakin Skywalker. Quitting is not a character trait that he would have instilled in her.

"Everyone is allowed to have shortcomings from time to time."

"A setback is a setback. Just be prepared not to falter in the coming months. They are crucial for all our fates."

"A Sith concerned? A truly baffling moment."

"I like the smug outlook, Young One."

"Whether right or wrong, I'll take it as a compliment."

"You'll need all the strength that you've got for what's to come. I'm almost out of time, so I've got to make it quick."

"Go on."

"There is a third part of me that values, craves and is geared only towards destruction. Even though I distaste my light side, the destructive one's stifling is dependent on both of our combined efforts. We'll do our best, but this is not a complete solution."

"How am I supposed to help?"

"The Master of Intrusion knows more about the enormous dark side around than he has let on to you up to this point. The initiator of the this triple personality, the Sith's appearance and the encroaching threat from off world is all tied to an object."

"What is it?"

"I don't know, but what I do know is that that object with the destructive side of me might the greatest plague on the Galaxy. You already know, how powerful I am sometimes."

"You're not proposing an easy task."

"You'll need to draw all of your experience, Young One. With any luck, you & him might just prevent a catastrophe like no other."

A recurring sequence of actions takes place; the usual Katooni returns.

"Did it work? Did you get enough useful information about the future?"

The Togrutan female simply exhales a lot of air, lowers her head a bit to the grass.

"I can sense a bit of fear within you now, Ahsoka."

"The last several minutes…"

"Yes?"

The grim voice actually proved helpful for a more balanced emotional state from the adolescent.

"…Have a lot to take in."

"We must stick together, Ahsoka. Only if all three of us are present within the same area can we face the greatest threats."

Ahsoka returns her eyes back on the troubled 12 year old girl. When someone goes up one complexity level within a day, it is manageable. Two? That is far less common. But a third elevation? On the same day? Extremely hard to deal with, especially if you're emotional state is unbalanced. Add the dark side lingering on Naboo to the equation and the chances of making through the day become hazardously sparse. Katooni's words of a united trio hold some value. The only question is – will the 3 of them be able to agree on a tactic that could get them past the deeply concerning confrontation?

Close to 14:00 Naboo time. A specific ignition sound was heard behind the village type house of Miss Varna. An examination of work was being conducted. Soon, the silence of the zone is shattered.

"This will have to do." – the 17 year old says.

"Never could have I imagined to see such a technique."

She shows a warm smile to the Tholothian girl. Her outlook on the situation was so nice, heart-warming, gladdening that it could not be met with anything other than joy.

"Hard to see a lesson of such at the Temple."

The lightsaber was shining in a unalike hue; the crimson red had been displaced by blush pink. One could see a little bit more effort resulting in a completely white saber.

"Master Yoda would more than likely forbid such an action because it would be considered by him as being too sacrilegious."

"That does sound like him. As much as I recall the meetings with him, very rarely he would state that a lightsaber belongs to only one person."

"That is his point of view, Katooni. Survival is our goal of the day."

The Tholothian girl wasn't blind; the defensiveness alluded to a past conflict with Master Yoda. This puzzled her. So much so that she decided to pursue the truth.

"It sound to me that you had a falling out with Master Yoda, Ahsoka."

The adolescent female is fairly retracted by the direction of the conversation. Instinctively, she shuts off the lightsaber and places it on a belt, vertically to her right hip. There was a deep delve into the Force, an attempt to sense the strength of signals coming from it.

"The threat is even more closer."

"It won't be long."

"No, it won't, Katooni."

The inner turbulence darkened her mind a bit, which led to her forgetting about Oswald's technique. Quickly, she turned around to come face to face with the Jedi Youngling.

"Don't you worry about it. Remember, Oswald will pick up any intrusion into the planet's atmosphere that is Force related."

"If his technique has worked."

"There is no reason to doubt it. If it was failing, he would be up from the grass doing something."

"Logically."

The 12 year old takes a step forward.

"Now lets get back to your confrontation with Master Yoda."

"Who told you that I had a confrontation with him?"

The reluctancy to share in the interpretable as rhetorical question was hard to overlook. Due to the experience Katooni had on Naboo as of right now, this reluctancy did not push her away the slightest. A change in the approach was the rational move.

"I didn't see you in the hallways of the Temple for a week. Come to think about it, I've not noticed you since the day of the mourning. Am I wrong?"

"No."

"Then the conflict with Master Yoda happened recently?"

The red skinned female came to the realization that the younger Force sensitive was going to seek the truth no matter how uncomfortable it made her. An authoritarian shut down of it could not truly stop the questioning, since the dark side was present all around and her Force presence radiance was ferociously inconsistent.

"Yes."

"What happened?"

She bit her lip. The truth was painful, no dressing up that fact.

"The Jedi Council made an… Unwise decision about my status in the Order."

"Status? Did they relegate you to a Youngling, Ahsoka?"

The girl had taken some hints from Menson. It was proving to be worthy investment.

"Worse than that, Katooni."

"There's only one thing that can be worse."

"Then you know what happened."

"I'll voice it just for confirmation."

Tano nodded.

"A wrong expulsion from the Order."

"Direct hit, Katooni."

"That explains more than enough."

"Then we can stop revisiting the past?"

Now the Youngling nods.

"Sir. We're one minute away from leaving Hyperspace."

"Finally. We've waited patiently long enough." – Mundi states on the bridge of a Venator.

"Then let's get moving to the hangar." – Koth mentions.

Two Force sensitives and a Human male made their way off the bridge and into the hallways of the ship.

"Admiral. Remember your task."

"I do, Generals. My goal is to make sure that the Padawan does not leave the planet."

"Correct. If you see a Nu-class transporter flying at high speeds away from Naboo, you do your best to tractor beam it to this or the other ship."

"Also, be prepared for any…And I mean ANY unforeseen ships entering here."

"General, are we expecting a rescue expedition from him?"

"Anything is possible with him, Admiral. There is no way to be certain about the amount of events he has placed in motion."

"Which is why his quick capture is all the more rewarding."

Several minutes past 14:00. Suddenly, two Venator class star ships jump out of Hyperspace in the space around Naboo. Astoundingly quickly, Menson's eyes open up.

"They're here." – the insightful one says in a serious tone.

The other two Force sensitives take notice of this.

"So it begins." – Tano thinks to herself.

A standard Nu-class transporter leaves one of the Venator's hangars.

"Time to pinpoint his location."

Mundi stretches out his hand, peers into the Force. Master & Padawan were extremely familiar with each other's Force presence; the longer the relationship lasted, the further away they could be still found. About a minute passes before the Cerean male states:

"I've located him."

Koth simply nods with a stern face.

Six beings were standing at the front of Miss Varna's house; 3 of them had different types of luggage on them and were, strangely, clothed in a similar hue.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Miss Varna. It has been a treat to spend some time here."

"Your more than welcome, Ahsoka."

"It is sad that we've to leave right now."

"Such is your occupation, Oswald. Do you regret the way you ended up here?"

"Honestly, Jeremy. It did not all depend on my actions."

"Nor is that the way reality works. Actions and reactions are made simultaneously." – Alexander steps in.

"For your own good, you should try to forget as much of me as possible. The enemies that I've made could lead to your demise far sooner than you would like."

All 3 constant Human inhabitants understood the precautionary nature of the insightful one's view. He wanted to preserve their friendship, just not to the detriment of their existence. Miss Varna was the one to counter his position.

"We will do no such thing, Oswald. We've developed a bond from our first meeting, even though the time we spent together seems small, it affects more of our well-being than you fathom."

"It is your choice. I merely present the harsh reality of being associated with a Force sensitive."

"We'll take our chances, Oswald."

"Jeremy's right. Even if it comes down to our extinction from the hands of your enemies, I will keep a place in my heart just for you. The day we first met has shown me a lot, the later times proved that and elevated it."

"Take care, you three."

"And you too, Katooni." – Miss Varna states.

The six beings nod to each other in appreciation and the three Force sensitives make their way away from the one story building.

Less than an hour later near the space port of Neeza. Less than 200 meters (~660 feet) remained to the arc shaped doors of the space port. The main street of the town was not crowded with a lot of beings; only several of them passed the trio before they arrived at the steps of the space port. All of the Force sensitives were not the calmest beings around; curiosity, caution, sadness, eagerness – all of it pulled the emotional state of them to every side. They walked in a line: Oswald held the middle, Katooni – the left flank & Ahsoka – the right flank. Their attire was conservative, reserved, colored in a similar shade of brown (probably, on purpose). The sun was still dominant in the sky.

As they made their way in an immaculate coordination up the stairs, a conversation broke out. However, the tone was oh so specific.

"You feel it?" – the blonde haired male asks.

"Definitely." – Ahsoka answers.

"They are close by."

"I'm picking up two beings."

"As am I."

"Me too."

Soon, the trio was close to the top. Two chiffon white columns were more visibly presented, standing tidy away from one another and the incoming Force sensitives. The huge arc shaped doors also increased in presence with every step, a moderately long plaque with lamps, presumably for the night period, rested above the door. With every step, the air around them seemed to thicken, time – to slow down. Reality was slipping into an unconscious state in the town of Neeza.

When the trio finally reached the top, they stopped moving. The wind startled a bit of their brown outfits, but they did not pay attention to it. The something that was anticipated through the day… Had… Come… True. The scope of the trio enlarged. Then again. And again. When all of a sudden, the farseeing one says in a relaxing tone:

"You can come out now. We know you're here."

With that, from the previously mentioned blind side of the chiffon white columns appeared two beings in grey cloaks. The duo slowly walked to the center; in doing so, placed themselves 3 meters (~10 feet) away from the young trio.

"Time to be reacquainted." – one of the two says.

All 3 quickly connect the voice to the person. After which, the hoods of the grey cloaks come down.

"Good day, my Padawan. It's time we had a talk."

"Couldn't agree more, Master."

A minute of silence happened. The wind continued to wave some part of the brown robes from time to time. Every single one of the Force sensitives looked to be in tune with the Force; therefore, the knowledge of allies & opponents was common. Such a reality made the Zabrak male Jedi Master break the silence around them.

"You can also show your faces, Young Ones. We know your identities."

The trio whisper to each other, come to a joint conclusion.

"Alright, Master Koth."

Each member of the younger group reached with the right palm for the hood. A sequential showing of faces was performed.

"Feeling better?"

"More respected, Padawan Menson."

The tension, arguably – the animosity, between the two was unhidden. Yet, it was the Togrutan female that shot back at the older Zabrak male.

"I've got no respect left for you. Either of you."

"Former Padawan Tano. What a strange sight seeing you present on Naboo with Padawan Menson." – Koth mentions in a calm tone.

"Trust me. Me seeing you is no pleasure."

"If you're looking for an apology, then you're wasting your time, Miss Tano."

"Like it would be ever genuine, Master Mundi."

"And there is also the presence of you, Youngling Katooni. Have you forgotten that Younglings can't leave the Temple without the permission and supervision of the Council?"

"That might be written as a rule, though…"

"…It is hard to believe that two Jedi Masters, even more – Council members, would appear on a planet in the Mid Rim just for that lone reason." – Oswald finished Katooni's sentence.

The 19 year old's tone was the most relaxing out of the arrived ones.

"Fine, Padawan. It's highly important that we inform you of the reason for our arrival."

"Which is what, Master Koth?"

"You're presence is requested at the Temple effective immediately."

"For what purpose?"

He notices their hesitancy to continue. That was highly unlikely to see, but the pursuit of the truth (which might have already been conjured up) remained.

"Surely you don't expect me of all Padawans to take in such ambiguity? You're going to have to complete the picture, Masters."

Due to the inherent bond Mundi & Menson, Koth was the one to retort.

"Alright, Padawan. The Jedi Council has decided that a trial is in order for you."

"Trial for what?"

"Unwillingness to share vital information with the Council that could prove to be disastrous to the War effort." – Mundi answers.

"As I recall, we had a conversation not to long ago about the dark side's presence on Naboo."

"That we did."

Koth's eyes narrowed in on the Padawan.

"Yet, we believe that you withheld some crucial information."

"As of which, you and the other Council members decided to bring me back to Coruscant with the aim of finding out everything."

"Don't tell me it was that difficult to figure out."

The Human male just chuckled.

"Not at all, Master Koth."

Ki-Adi-Mundi did not let up and pushed the conversation to the crossroad.

"You've been briefed of the situation. Now you'll return with us to Coruscant, Padawan."

Oswald not only didn't lose his somewhat alleviated nature, but grew in confidence. He believed that when it'll come to the dying end of the conflict the Force will remain strong with him. Up until now, no one had moved any leg. It continued.

"I'm sorry to say, Masters, but I'm declining your offer. The whole Galaxy's future rests on my availability at a special place. I will not sacrifice that for your lack of insight."

Were the Jedi Masters shocked? Not even slightly. Both were familiar with the apparent leader of the trio, especially his character traits. With all this in mind, Koth still filled the upcoming statement with disappointment and displeasure, not to mention taking a step with his feet.

"You mistake the nature of the statement, Padawan Menson. It is not an offer. It is an order."

"That doesn't change my decision, Master Koth."

"That we are at an impasse, my Padawan."

"Probably."

The tension in the are was soaring up. More than likely, every single Force sensitive knew what was on the horizon. Koth being not greatly eager to participate in an adverse environment attempted a shrinkage of opponents.

"Former Padawan Tano, the Council will forget your involvement in this… Shady business if you quickly abandon your current position to a point where you're not visible by us."

"I will not." – she confidently states.

Upcoming statement is higher in brashness with the addition of cold-heartedness.

"Neither you, nor Master Mundi hold any sway on my decisions anymore. I will act based on my interests, regardless of either of your positions."

The Zabrak male turns his attention over to the last member of the trio.

"And you, Katooni. Think very hard about your next move. If you leave us be & wait after we've sorted out this standoff, then we'll look past your unallowed trip here."

"I've thought about it long enough, Master Koth."

"And what conclusion did you arrive at?"

"That my future will be better if I align myself with Oswald."

"You realize that your enrollment in the Order will be more or less over if you chose that way." – Mundi interjects.

"I'll take my chances, Masters."

A moment of silence appears once again. Mundi processed the encounter up to this point; one takeaway stood out more than others.

"They are all united, unwilling to change their convictions."

Normally, this would be treated as a beautiful, worth remembering moment by a Jedi Master. To see three adolescent or younger Force sensitives graciously in tune together towards a joint goal would be a treat. That is – if they weren't in opposition to them. As soon as Koth retreats back so to align his body with Mundi, the latter says:

"Unfortunately, Padawan, if you won't willingly come with us back to Coruscant, then…"

"…We won't allow you to pursue your goal." – the fellow Council member finishes.

The blonde haired male reads the Force signals. A substantial amount of them are of hazardous, grim origin. Then swiftly says with relaxation, confidence and callousness:

"Then the time for talking is over."

He quickly moves his right hand to his belt, takes his weapon form it and ignites it forward. Ahsoka follows him up a couple seconds later with her blush pink lightsaber; another interval of that before the blue saber is shinning in the hands of Katooni. The elder duo come back with their own weapons ignition. The trio revisit their strategy in the previous specific sound.

"Remember the plan?" – Menson asks.

"Yes." – Katooni answers.

"Good."

"I'll take Koth."

"Then I'll take my Master."

The sparkling sound of the sabers, the focused eyes of the opposing sides expressed the conflictual space around the entrance of the space port. All of a sudden, Katooni jumps forward, Mundi & Koth are more than ready for her attack; they focus in on her more than the two relatively immobile adolescent ones. Unorthodoxly, her pace is not high, which forces a second of confusion from the Jedi Masters. That second proves vital for the opposing side. Oswald, Ahsoka use their left hands to Force push her way up in the air.

"What?" – Mundi questions.

Sublimely from the side, it appears that she will beautifully soar through the air in an arc form; therefore, landing confidently in the space port. The duo did not know this, so their concentration on the Tholothian girl left them decently vulnerable to a Force push to the wall from their opponents. Since the Masters are more powerful than them, they quickly use the Force to stop their backwards movement.

"Now."

Oswald, Ahsoka follow a similar pattern of travel to Katooni. Quickly, the regrouped duo notice their tactic and rush after them. While Katooni lands as one would think, her allies land on top of the space port's wall. Sequentially, both bounce from the structure with their bent right leg.

"Ready, Ahsoka?"

"Definitely, Oswald."

They turn around, angle their lightsabers forward. In a few seconds, Koth, Mundi come flying through the air and lock blades with the younger duo. Two to three swipes and blocks later, they break off each of their opponents. 5 meters (~16 feet) of air encroach in between the pairs. The adolescent Force sensitives got the match up they wanted: to the left side of the entrance stood Oswald with Mundi, while to the right – Koth with Tano.

"I've got to hurry. They're outmatched."

The 12 year old starts to run towards Menson's special Nu-class transporter.

"They won't last long."

On top of Neeza's space port wall. For a couple of minutes already, the two 'partnerships' were dueling it out, slowly growing their distance from one another. That might have been the tactic of Menson & Tano. Regardless if it was, it had two clear disadvantages. The first – the power level difference. In both instances, the Midichlorian counter created a gap of around 2000. Mundi's counter was at 10 100 to Menson's 8100; Koth's 10 300 outclassed Tano's 8000. Given the fact that it was major to some degree, a longer battle in the current state absolutely favored the Jedi Masters. The second disadvantage – hard to lend assistance to one another. The ability disadvantage would imply a need to step in from one fight to the other. With a widening gap, that could prove to be too dangerous of a move. Whatever the trio had planned out, the execution part of it might be too unrealistic. For their sake, that better not be the case.

Mundi locks his blue saber in an 'X' shape with Menson's green one.

"With all your insight, Padawan, this was the best possible choice of action?"

The Human male takes issue with that boastingly condescending inquiry. He places his second hand on the handle and with increased energy breaks the 'X', then retreats a couple of steps.

"Whatever I'd had chosen, Master, there was no easy path out of this."

The Cerean male swirls his lightsaber in a circle, takes a step forward to the left side of Oswald.

"An accurate assessment, Padawan."

Soon, their saber tips start to rub together.

"Though, I'm still disappointed."

"Of what precisely?"

"Your inability to keep the dark side out of yourself."

The Padawan's eyes develop a more serious image.

"Are you truly, though?"

He breaks the tip rub, tries to slash his Master across the chest. Said person vertically angles his saber; thereby blocking the attack and locking sabers together once again.

"Because you of all Masters should know that one's ability to resist the allure of the dark side is greatly dependent on the surroundings."

At Mundi's initiative, they break apart.

"I'm confident in saying that you sensed the enormous dark side eruption on Naboo. Also, it was far more major than any you've sensed in your entire life."

"Those two aspects might be true, but are you using them as an excuse?"

"Not at all."

He takes a deep breath.

"I'm just trying to give to you a different outlook. Your lying to yourself, Master, if you believe the chances of resisting its pull for long was anything other than slim."

"Let that be as it may."

He takes a swipe at Oswald, he deflects it & they get back to their back and forth battle.

Simultaneously. Koth & Tano were constantly clashing their lightsabers on the right side of the wall. Even though the practice session with Menson was beneficial, the extent of it wasn't miraculous. It helped her to be competitive in the fight, not the dominant one. With that said, a fully remastered fighter Tano was probably not sufficient to be the dominating participant in this clash either.

"Always wanting to exceed expectation, I see."

Another two green slashes were blocked by a blush pink line.

"I don't give up easily."

"A trait of your Former Master no doubt."

More deflected attacks.

"I won't submit!" – the Togrutan female shouted.

"That is your problem, Tano. You were never wise enough to know when your outmatched." – the Zabrak male proclaimed confidently.

It was a deliberate sting at her self-confidence. Ahsoka understood that, tried to just brush it off as 'unnecessary information'. Although, it did not seem to work particularly well. At the end of the day, there was some truth behind it.

Both lethal confrontations hadn't even lasted 5 minutes, but the toll of them was felt for all four of them. Unsurprisingly, the depletion of energy was more prominent with the adolescent Force sensitives. The Jedi Masters were stronger, had more experience, more training. Oswald, Ahsoka were most of the time on the defensive, trying to land significant blows to their opponents on opportune moments. Such were a luxury rather than a standard. Ahsoka had lost the greatest sum of energy out of them all. At the current rate, she won't last much longer. And if she's put down, there is no fathomable way that the insightful one, with his 'pace dictating' VI fighting form, even – double edged saber, would hold off both Mundi & Koth. Safe to say, Katooni's input was the key to their success.

Seconds later. The platform of the transporter was lowering; before it reached the ground, the Tholothian girl jumped onto to it and rushed inside. The grimace on her face screamed nervousness; the signals from the Force were as far from inspiring as the Youngling could have visualized.

"I must hurry!"

Rapidly, her allies confrontations became not the only danger in this situation. Deep within Katooni's mind, well-being or soul, whichever you prefer, a spark ignited; said spark… Had a… Egregious,… Treacherous,… Malevolent intent. Consequently, her Midichlorian counter started to waver; the future of the trio, larger – the Alliance, was looking more ambiguous by the second.

At the exact moment the Tholothian girl entered the cockpit, her heart was struck from the… Inside.

"Ahhh!" – she exclaimed.

Immediately, she crossed her arms around her waist, hoping to ease the pain. It had no such effect. Quickly, the 12 year old fell to the ground, knees being the part of the lower body to take the greatest impact.

"No! No!"

The inner suffering was growing, forcing the heart to beat faster. The malevolence was skyrocketing.

"Not now! Not now!"

A person close by would hear the disparity in the voice coming from the Force sensitive. More than likely, a transformative event had achieved unavoidability.

Back on the wall.

"Dz! Dz! Dz! Tsssh!"

Lightsaber collides remained in motion; the fatigue continued to grow. The adolescent ones possibilities of triumphing consistently shrank. Koth's supremacy in his battle with Tano appeared to be coming to a decisive junction, while Menson stood his ground proudly against his Master.

"He's still repelling my attacks." – Mundi thought.

The confrontation left no room in the Cerean male's mind that his Padawan was in any way shape or form an idler. Not that he actually doubt it such a reality. Their relatively long bond through the Force created axioms; the type of axioms that were not brittle.

The Human male attempted a 'check symbol' type of slash across the upper body of his opponent. Sadly, his opponent horizontally blocked it.

"You ought to surrender, Padawan. We both know you won't be able to keep this up for long." – Mundi stated in a calm, confident tone.

The Master broke the saber lock; a meter (~3 feet) stood between them now. Mundi angled his weapon in a way that the hilt was over his head and the blue line went moderately downward. Menson rearranged his stance, so that his green saber went across his upper body from the left eye down to the lower right of the waist. Also, he narrowed his right eye.

"That it might be, Master. However, I still revel in a form that controls the tone of this fight."

The Master didn't even flinch after that statement.

"It's a fainting sight."

The 19 year old begrudgingly knew where the battle was heading; most clearly, it wasn't paradise.

Seconds later. Eeth & Ahsoka come into an extremely close saber lock, the saber clash sound completely smothers the sound of the wind. The Togrutan female's struggle to be competitive is felt by the Zabrak male. And it is at this point that he tilts his head & states:

"You're done,… Miss Tano."

She felt a staggering amount of danger coming from the Force. Yet, that did not allow her to evade what came next. Koth forces the blades to separate and in a bizarrely fast rearrangement pours substantial strength in a downward slash. Ahsoka repels it at a great cost; her stance becomes shaky. Therefore, the vulnerability to a strike explodes. In a few seconds, the Jedi Master swiftly moves his feat, comes into striking range with them and in a spiral manner kicks Tano at the lowest part of the neck. With the increased force behind the hit, it manages to send the female combatant 5 meters (~16 feet) back.

A collision sound is heard.

"Ahhhhh!"

Ahsoka felt that her bone, which represented a similarity to the Human's clavicle bone, was fractured. Adding to that suffering was the part of her landing on her back unintentionally.

Seeing his opponent down, Koth angled his weapon downward and slowly made his way forward. A severely crucial move, given the fact that the 17 year old was not getting off the ground.

At the same time.

"You will not keep me from control this time, Feeble One."

The Tholothian girl's eyes start to change – the candy red dilutes itself in the sapphire blue hue.

"No! I must save my friends! You will only prevent that!"

The fear, the disparity was too much to ignore. It had established itself on her emotional state.

"You fool! They are in a losing fight. Plus, you do not have the power to save them. Only.. I do."

Sublimely, Katooni renders the information and gambles on a way out of this predicament.

"Then I'll FORCE YOU to help me!" – she screams.

Somehow, the candy red hue stops engulfing the sapphire blue and both colors begin to produce waves within her eyes. In doing so, producing constant fluctuation within the frame of the vision organs. Everything surrounding the 12 year old was outstandingly chaotic. In a half staggered manner, she exits the cockpit & makes her way back to the platform. To gamble on an occasion, where the precision in execution is so crucial, is nothing other than lethally consequential.

A few seconds later. The astonishingly major sorrow wave coupled with a, more or less, same gravity of a hazardous wave from the Force could not be untreated by the farseeing one.

"I need to dissect the situation. Right now!"

That was the reason for a prolonged saber clash with his Master; unsurprisingly, it provided the required time. The blonde haired male's initial guess of the origin of sorrow was Ahsoka. In the saber lock, he managed to turns his head just enough to identify with his left eye what had transpired in her battle with Master Koth. The view and understanding of what's to come seemed to produce an adrenaline shot to Oswald's vein. In an instant, his eyes widen to the maximum extent and he thinks:

"I'm going to do the… Outlandish act."

He pours in a dangerous quantity of energy into the saber separation. It catches the Jedi Master barely off guard. That split second is enough for him to get out of normal reach of his master and attempt a… Force induced jump over the full diameter of the space port. Mundi quickly identifies all other combatants status, makes a definitive conclusion and follows his Padawan.

On the other side of the wall. Koth's traversing eliminates most of the space between him and Tano. He decides to stop, when the striking distance with his saber is… Lethal. Honestly, Ahsoka was tormented by the though of this being The End. She had lost a significant amount of energy up to this point; the kick to the upper chest are only enlarged that factor.

"I'm not surrendering. I've made my decision." – she thinks to herself in a confident manner.

After the evaluation of the situation, she makes a move. A bit of a body lift to rest on the left elbow, the right hand coming up with the blush pink saber, orientating itself in a direction that prevents the opponent from easily attacking the her head. The stronger Force sensitive raises his lightsaber upwards, angles it a bit down so to position it in a opposite diagonal way to the lying opponent.

"Any last words?"

"This was what I chose." – Ahsoka answered a little begrudgingly.

Just when he started to move his saber, the Force startled his mind with a threat wave. A souring sound is identified by him, a sharp turn to his right and…

"Tssssssssss!"

The miraculously recently appeared Menson locks sabers with Koth.

"That's not happening, Koth." – the adolescent state in a spiteful voice.

"Grave misevaluation, Padawan."

His focus was so… Impeccable that the arrival of Mundi right after him did not catch him off guard. In a few seconds, the blonde haired Human retreated, pressed forward, blocked several attacks from both Masters. Very soon, he activated his saber's other end.

At least a dozen more clashes of lightsaber were enacted before the trio in sequence decided to take a breather. There were beads of sweat traversing each one's face, most prominently – on Menson. Said person was quite proud of his fighting after engaging both Mundi & Koth. He had achieved his goal – get the duo away from Ahsoka as far as possible; there was hope that she would recuperate in time to help him before it was too late. The distance to Tano was at least 20 meters (~66 feet). The trio's body's were orientated this way: Koth stood the furthest from Tano, Menson held the middle between the Masters. He couldn't really be anywhere else. If the farseeing one stood on either side, the opposing side would again too major of an advantage over him. Imagine repelling to formidable opponents strikes from the same side. Now, the fight was dementedly disproportionate in the Midichlorian counter; 20 400 to 8 100.

On the lower level. Katooni had finally arrived at the tip of the platform. Extraordinarily, the duality's struggle was still in action. Neither the 'Normal' side, nor the Destructive side had triumphed over the other. The Force informed her of her allies' well-being.

"They're in serious danger."

"Then allow me to take control for just a bit. You know… That only I can help your friend from here. Getting even closer, would prove catastrophic for both of us."

The Tholothian girl greatly understood the repercussions of this gamble backfiring. Yet, their situation was severely dire and extremely sensitive to time. So, the gamble achieved its final form – Katooni relinquished control to the Destructive part of her.

"Yes."

A sadistic smile appeared before her head rapidly shot up, the red overflowed the blue and her whole body tensed up, began to shiver. She even reluctantly tilted her body downwards a bit. It looked to be a transformation of a grandiose nature. Soon, the veins of her limbs rose to the surface, became more distinct, vibrant, the beads from her head started to waver and arrange themselves in an upward 'U' shape. Finally, her Midichlorian counter started to grow… In an exceptionally fast rate. 4300… 4500… 5000.

The standoff hadn't yet been broken.

"You're pushing yourself to the limit, Menson."

Out of the ordinary, he retorts in a quite cheerful way.

"A Padawan showing great commitment to his actions is a positive, Koth."

"As you may know, my dear Padawan, that is not the end all end be all."

"Agreed."

5000… 5500… 6000.

"A bold move to resort to fighting on two sides."

"I possess a weapon for such an occasion."

The Human male tries to project an illusion of confidence in the way the battle has transpired. Understandably, the Zabrak male sees right through it.

"But do you possess the strength to maintain it?"

"Guess we'll see." – Oswald replies in a vile tone.

6000… 6500… 7000. The veins on the girl's face become even more distinctive. At the same time, the trio take a glimpse at each other's eyes one more time before…The battle resumes.

Oswald lunges after Koth, parries him with downward slashes over the chest, horizontal slashes over the torso, piercing hits aimed at the legs. Koth uses his experience, draws on the Force to dodge or block the barrage of attacks from the adolescent Force sensitive. Then Mundi lunges at his blindsided back, aiming to remove him from fighting condition. The insightful one had prepared his mindset the best he could for this fight; completely submerged his whole emotional state into the Force. In his belief, anything more than full commitment could have been The End. So, his Masters attack is blocked by a small dive down and a swirl of his double edged saber over his head. This action prevents his back from being harmed & stops Koth from adding a surprise additional attack on his blindside. Then he pushes up; consequently, knocks them back a few steps. They recover and the fight continues.

7000… 7500… 8000. That's almost Oswald's counter.

First, the eldest of the trio attempted two more swipes at Koth before another blade spiral ends with a change in the direction of attack. Now Mundi became the primary focus. His strength was continuously fading, the breathing was becoming far more disharmonic, heavy. At this point, Ahsoka was in the motion of getting back on her feet. Koth's successful blow was proving to be more hard to recuperate from than expected.

"I've got to hurry. Oswald is a skilled fighter, but they outnumber and outclass him."

A grim face shows up.

"I can sense his strength fading."

She was beginning to unravel emotionally.

"He will not last another couple of minutes."

8000… 8500… 9000 (Beginner Jedi Knight level).

Mundi's Padawan was trying to keep a decently unpredictable sequence of attacks against both Masters. It did merit defensive solidity, but, attacking wise, it was proving more and more… Hopeless. He couldn't see neither of them even being fazed by one of his attacks. And the mentioned defensive solidity was wavering. They were getting closer and closer to hitting Menson. Given everything leading up to this point, that one successful hit from either Koth or Mundi would be the end of this fight, larger – the trio's escape, even larger – the Alliance.

9000… 9500… 10 000 (Beginner Jedi Master level). Also, the ground around the red eyed Youngling started to shake.

About 5 centimeters (~2 inches) – that was the gap from the tip of Mundi's blue lightsaber to his Padawan's neck. As a reaction, the latter pulls his double edged green saber back towards him. It is blocked; the Cerean male spins around and returns to his barrage of strikes. By this point, the blonde haired male's face was completely covered in sweat. You could say the liquid had stuck itself to it.

10 000… 10500… 11000 (Upper echelon of Jedi Masters, border of the Ordinary & the Elite). The beings that were present around the girl in the space port decided it was time to leave. No shouting, no feeble attempt at reasoning. It became clear to every intelligent being, not named the five Force sensitives, that there was only chaos up ahead. The rumbling of the ground grew.

The coordination of Menson had reached its peak; keeping in mind the exhaustion's constant enlargement, that aspect of the fight started to decrease. The unpredictability was tilting from the rational end to the irrational end.

"Ts! Ts! Ts!"

More lightsaber clashes enacted. A couple of centimeters, that minuscule gap, was beneficial enough for Menson to keep his right shoulder uninjured by Koth.

"I can't… Maintain this… For much too long." – a disjointed train of thought within Oswald's mind.

Tano was submerging herself ferociously into the Force; she had one goal in mind – gaining just enough strength from the Force at the just the right moment. Since the light side's emotions were faint, a natural increase in Force presence within the dark side came to fruition. Clearly, this wasn't the time to be overthinking anything.

11000… 11500… 12000 (the Elite level of Force sensitivity, an inexplicably sparce collective). Katooni's heart beating achieved a sound that was similar to a cannon firing.

"I crave… I crave… I crave."

The recurring, continuous expression of words grew in harshness and callousness… Every… Time. An eruption of unforeseen gravity could be sensed by any Order member watching from the side.

Suddenly, the trio of fighters are locked in a standoff once again. Mundi coming in forward from the left, Koth slashing backward from the right and Menson thrusting his weapon forward; consequently, this interlocks their opponents' attacks. Said beings noticed with both their eyes and their Force sense the remaining energy of the insightful one.

"What a shame this has come to this. You could have done so well in the future, Menson."

"Probably, Koth. But… I couldn't ignore the findings."

"What you've found will be eventually identified by the Order."

"Hah!" – Oswald stated in a soothing voice.

This…Was almost certainly the last attack by him. The seemingly joyful warrior that captures the essence of his or her dire reality was fully pinpointable.

"By then… The knowledge… Might not be… Sufficient."

12000… 12500… 13000. With such a staggering growth in Force ability, the nature of it, alluding to the dark side, created a unseeable mist of enormous traction. The inviting dark side surrounding the Tholothian girl on all sides appeared to be a sight of the ages.

"I crave it… I crave it… I crave it."

Her tendrils were starting to shift their ends from the sky to the part of the wall where the trio were standing on top of.

"That power… That strength…"

The Togrutan female's voice had a mixture of fear and, not so orthodox, great anticipation. The overview was directly tied to the inner clash of light and dark within her.

"I could use some of it. She… Is…Now the most powerful one here."

A crucial detail of the battle had presented itself – Oswald's grip on his hilt was wavering; moreover, the two one ended blades started to created motion in their respective directions.

13000… 13500… 14000 (Almost at Windu's counter). A drastic shift in tendencies – the body descended into a quick shivering elimination; the tendrils changed their direction once again, now they were lowering themselves graciously down, to their usual place behind her back. One thing hadn't changed – the grumbling all around.

What came next in the following seconds was… Extraordinarily rare.

Try as he might, Oswald did not possess enough energy to break the, honestly, lethal trend of the standoff.

"I gave it my all."

The adolescent combatant was contempt with that being his probable last words. In a last resort, he closed his eyes, latched on to the remaining energy source, closed his eyes and poured all of it into the attempt of stopping the blade slippage. Mundi, Koth took this last chain of actions from the Padawan as a message that the fight was nearly done. In a miraculous fashion, Ahsoka somehow got the same message.

"It'll do!"

She brough her head up, ignited the blush pink lightsaber and threw herself forward as a rocket to the aid of Menson. Would it be in time?

Bizarrely so, that was not the only decisive alteration. Finally, the Tholothian girl's Midichlorian counter had plateaued. 14 100 – Mace's strength – almost 4000 more than the next Force sensitive below her. The vein distinct, astonishingly elegant and hazardous tendril bearer, candy red eyed 12 year old took a two steps forward. Out of nowhere, the shaking of the ground ceased in a split second.

"I! WANT! DESTRUCTIOOOOON!" – Katooni shouted fiercely.

The right leg and both hands lifts up and come crushing down to the surface.

An explosion…

Suddenly, massive, unforeseen to possibly anybody, ruby red hazardous diagonal bolts erupted from said movement. They went at all sides, increasing in speed in milliseconds.

"DRRRRRRRRRRSHHHHH!"

A major shift – Katooni's appearance completely changes course; the candy red hue begins to exceptionally fade with the sapphire blue growing in size.

Back on the wall.

"Dzzzzzzzz!"

The blades were a few seconds away from breaking the lock; the victory of the Order over the insubordinate ones was on the cusp. But then…

Koth reads a deeply severe signal from the Force. Very briefly, he rearranges a bit of his sight to the located creator. A seconds' view was enough for the Zabrak male to shout:

"KI!"

In a split seconds, this happens: Koth adds more power to his slashing move, this forces Menson to distastefully dilute his grip disproportionally, so to stop Koth; logically, that would prove to be The End of the fight, because Mundi would break his saber's lock with Menson's & could strike at an undefended area of his body. On the contrary, the Cerean male pulls his weapon back, dodges the shifting green blade, turns around to block a skydiving cut from Ahsoka.

"Tsssss!"

"Just in time."

An ultra-relief from the adolescent male. Unusually, this was not the end with grandiose changes.

The ruby red diagonal bolts come crushing into the wall; in doing so, causing the whole structure under the quartet's feet to break apart at an extremely fast rate.

"It worked!" – says the 'normal' Katooni.

Reading the upcoming events immaculately, she dashes as a complete wildcard to the cockpit.

To Oswald, the standoff had ended in unreachable favorability. For an exceptionally brief moment, the adolescent duo had switched partners – Tano handled Mundi, while Menson clashed with Koth. The Cerean male was annoyed at how the odds of winning had shrunk; he let it be known.

"Your reluctancy to accept defeat is disgusting me."

"That's just the start, Mundi." – Ahsoka stated brashly.

At this point, the four Force sensitives sense the collapsing of the wall. In a few seconds, it reaches the top and cracks the whole ground on which they stood on.

"How did this occur?" – the Human male thought to himself.

"Unbelievable. Someone had demolished a structure." – Koth viewed.

"More unwanted effects."

"She accomplished… THIS?!"

Each one knew that their stable surface was on an unavoidable path to disappearance. The question was now – what kind of reaction to take?

Not immensely shocking to see Menson reacting first to the cracking of the surface. Their was no way of avoiding the inevitable demolishment of this part of the wall. Oswald at an insane speed recalled the very beginning of this confrontation and rearranged many aspects of his output strategy. Time was finite; if wrong moves weren't worth diamonds before, they were most certainly that now. Therefore, a proven tactic would be performed. The blonde haired male, who is at extremely close to the brink of collapse, started a trend of lower blade upward vertical slashes. His opponent chose to more or less diagonally counter them downward. A bit worrisome for him was the reality that his attunement with the Force had been marginally distraught from the ground cracking. Concluding in a much more balanced fight between the two than the previous two on one was. Even better was Ahsoka's performance with her opponent. The drawn up strength, short rejuvenation had aided her in shifting the balance of her fight to a point, where she was more the attacker than the defender.

Some seconds later. Another positive shift for the adolescent combatants occurred. Both of them overheard a sound that was clearly of a ship's engine. Due to their submergence in the Force, their sense placed a familiar presence at the same location where the ship was. That quickly brought joy to Oswald & Ahsoka. Mundi & Koth sensed the presence a few seconds later. That miniscule time gap was enough for Menson to enact a risky maneuver – he changed the lower blade upward vertical slashes to a Force enhanced upper blade downward slash coupled with a leg slide. The result? The 19 year old had finally laid a significant blow against his stronger opponent. Soon, a yell came from the hovering ship above their heads.

"COME ON! JUMP HERE NOW!"

Simultaneously, Neeza's space port's wall started to disintegrate. Oswald and Ahsoka gave each other a half-glance, seemingly exchanged vital information. In quick succession, he switched off his lightsaber and darted to Koth's right. A few steps before a Force induced jump occurred.

"So far, a tragedy avoided."

Mundi managed to understand their tactic faster than Koth, but not fast enough to deny Tano the pleasure of knocking him backwards and mimicking his Padawan's actions.

The Nu-class transporter ship lowest part was 25 meters (~82 feet) from the structure. Logically, the space between the adolescent ones began to shrink the longer they were in the air. Understandable, one had a break, one did not.

"We have to make it, Oswald!"

"Definitely, Ahsoka! Going down is not an option."

The Zabrak male had dashed towards Mundi; it was clear he had something to say.

"We cannot allow them to escape."

The fellow Jedi Master had a different outlook on the situation.

"Think clearly, Koth. We have to get down from here, first. They still have to escape the blockade."

The Zabrak male heeded the threat surrounding their current situation, but still chose to intervene on the adolescents' escape attempt.

"They are not getting away unscathed." – he stated in a harsh tone.

Rapidly, he threw his green lightsaber in a propeller motion towards the fleeing duo.

"Wuwuwuwu!"

In the Naboo air. They were less than 5 meters (~16 feet) from the tip of the platform; Ahsoka was almost completely above Oswald. Victory on their part seemed imminent. That is – before a severe warning signal came from the Force. At that moment, the insightful one heard a lightsaber swinging sound. The exhaustion from the battle had left no place for an attempt at eliminating the threat. So, the 19 year old's noticed lightsaber did not succeed in its owner's goal, which was quite obviously the severing of one of his legs, but only slashed several millimeters of flesh from his right foot. Yet, that created enough of a pain effect that encumbered his chances of reaching the ship. Luckily, the Togrutan female's Force signal understanding ability superseded his friend's one; this fact allowed her to react in a stupendous manner.

"Grab my hand!"

In a mere second, she not only latched on to the platform with her right hand, but grabbed the encumbered friend with her left hand. Loosely, one could say they had won the battle against the Jedi Masters.

There was one problem though – both adolescent Force sensitives weren't fully rested; therefore, they could not eliminate their current precarious position. To their unknowing, Katooni's strength was not the same as before the confrontation. Now, it was on a downward trend. Though, it still maintained the highest level of the trio (acknowledging in this instance, that the Midichlorian counter is the sole factor of one's strength). The first contribution to the threat's disappearance was the 12 year old's decision to angle the ship downwards. The change was swiftly noted by the struggling, hanging duo.

Menson weighed more than Tano; consequently, this would lead to their demise faster than their exhaustion. Mundi's Padawan realized the fragileness of their current situation, possible escapes from it.

"This is probably the best." – he reluctantly, in displeasure thought.

He knew that this was his last maneuver. It had to pay off; otherwise, the descent to the ground would be fatal without a doubt.

"We won't last long!"

"I know! Ahsoka, you're going to have to Force push me inside."

She placed the dynamic parts of the situation into a cohesive design.

"Alright, but it might knock you out!"

"I'll take my chances!"

When the ship's trajectory reached 60 degrees, the duo nodded to each other. The implementation of their move followed suit. With the high speed, manageable angle, trust of each other, Oswald used Ahsoka's left hand as a scalable point & with the last amount of energy thrusted himself towards the platform. As soon as he let go off her hand and was past her shoulders, she used the Force to shove him inside. Their plan had worked, but not without harm. They both overestimated the required energy to achieve their goal, which led to the 19 year old slamming into the ceiling of the transporter ship. Also, two broken ribs. On the other hand, he was safe from falling to his demise.

"YESSS!"

Ahsoka swiftly placed the other hand on the platform & pulled herself onto it. Her immediate reaction was to check on her injured friend.

"Oswald! Are you alright?"

"Get the ship onto a normal trajectory right now, Ahsoka. My health… Will come after."

The pain in his voice, the slow head tilt backwards were enough to confirm the female's suspicions.

"I'm on it."

Soon, they were flying on a 0 degree angle over the lust landscape of Naboo. Now, the trio were the definite victors in their battle against the Jedi Masters.

Back on the surface. Mundi & Koth were standing on a paved ground next to an enormous amount of rubble. The latter's green lightsaber had returned to him; both were inactive right now. The duo were disappointed in the sight of their opponents flying away.

"At least two facts are obvious, my friend."

"And they are?"

"First, the Jedi Youngling has done something to herself. The demolition of the wall was not done by a bomb."

"Agreed."

Mundi then shifted his head.

"And the second one?"

"The whole group of them is more dangerous to the War effort than previously thought."

The Cerean male takes that as a hint to call someone.

"Admiral."

"Yes, General."

"Our first attempt of capture has failed. They are flying a special Nu-class transporter near our position in an every so growing gap. Send in a squadron of fighters. Their goal is to make them crash land the ship."

"Understood, General. It will be done."

The transmission goes dead.

Up in the air. Since Human's were bipeds, their preferred way of moving was by foot. Alas, sometimes the preferred action is unachievable. Having a wounded foot and two broken ribs the 19 year old pulled himself to his bed in a stroking motion with his hands. Through it all, there were chaotic head shakes & teeth grinding. A person's suffering was evident.

He barely managed to put his lower body on the bed sheet. There he shimmied to the wall and finally took a deep breath.

"That was… So exhausting."

The foot, the ribs, the hands – all not even slightly eager to move about. Oswald's eyes lowered, a recurring cycle of deep breaths began. As time went on, his view on what had transpired recently grew in positivity. Suddenly, his adolescent friend came from the cockpit.

"You look…Drained, Oswald."

Ahsoka walked over to his bed, sat on it. The gap between their bodies was less than 2 centimeters (~1 inch).

"This work…This lifestyle…It takes a toll on you. This one being gigantic."

The Togrutan female's eyes showed a layer of sympathy.

"We should cleanse your foot of bacteria and patch it up with a bandage."

She slowly grabs his left hand; no resistance is shown.

"You'll need to walk sooner or later."

He could not resist a small smile.

"Hah! Definitely, Ahsoka."

Then another person enters the room.

"What's our next course of action, Oswald?"

He glimpsed at the Tholothian girl; her appearance seemed to be the usual one.

"We must land the ship somewhere. Preferably,… In a dense forest."

"To avoid easy detection."

"Correct, Katooni."

"I've looked at the ships data centered around Naboo. There is a record about a forest 800 kilometers (~500 miles) from us."

"Is it dense?" – Mensons inquired in a relaxed voice.

"It appears to be massive." – Katooni replies with a soothing voice.

"Good enough. Set the course for it."

She nods and goes back to the cockpit.

"Won't we be sitting ducks out there?"

"We might be, Ahsoka. But there is sufficient backing behind this move."

In a sense, Tano quickly purified the wordage of her friend.

"You put something into motion, didn't you?"

"Some signs allude to that."

Ahsoka wasn't going to be satisfied with these enigmatic, cryptic answers. Nor should she be; especially, after what she had to do.

"If we're going to be allies, you're going to have to be more willing to share your knowledge, Oswald. I think I made that clear back at Miss Varna's house."

"Alright. Let me tend to my foot, us land & then we can discuss the upcoming events."

"Much better, Oswald."

He shakes his head, while she just giggles a bit. Even with all of this peril surrounding them, they still found time to be cheerful. Their friendship bond might squash some natural reactions that one or both of them would experience separately.

10 minutes to 4 o'clock. The Nu-class transport ship had landed at the assigned place. Within the different races of trees, shades of green, vibrancy of wind, hid the trio of Force sensitives, who were, strangely, relatively far from their vehicle. There had been no attempt to start a new conversation up until Oswald walked over to one of the trees and stated:

"This a good spot."

A pain shock rocked his mind a bit, so he decided to rest right arm on the tree. His whole body tilted towards it.

"You should walk only when needed." – said a concerned Ahsoka.

"Well,… This is one of those times."

She just rolled her eyes. The trio was positioned in such an order: Oswald stood first, diagonally backward stood Ahsoka & Katooni – directly behind the insightful one about 6 meters (~20 feet) away. Each of them wore their similar shade of brown robes. At this point, Katooni's Midichlorian counter had returned to its original state (4100), but her Force presence substance was far from clear. Honestly, that was the case with the adolescent ones too. Tano needed to draw on strength and was not adverse to constructing a bridge to the dark side, when it looked that Oswald might be silenced forever in less than a minute. Menson had his goals, motives, reasons, tactics, approaches intermixed in both sides of the Force; this was one of the main contributors to him being tired so frequently.

"How is this our best course of action, Oswald? They could locate the ship and destroy it quickly."

"That is entirely possible,…"

As soon as the pain aftershock faded, he turned around to his fellow Force sensitives.

"…Yet we can't really outrun a whole squad of Republic fighters, let alone – the Venator's around the planet."

Katooni took a step forward.

"Our goal was to escape the planet, was it not, Oswald?"

"Yes, it was, Katooni."

"That really can't happen if we're going to stroll around the forest."

"I agree with her. Sooner or later, they will find us."

The Togrutan females crossed her arms, positioned herself in a way that would force the Human male to reveal his plan to her & Katooni.

"And what is our move then?"

"I foresee us leaving Naboo by that point, Ahsoka."

She was piecing the facts together; so was the Tholothian girl. Not even a minute later, the former had an idea what is in motion right now.

"You anticipated such an action by the Council before I arrived here?"

"Since you've agreed to partake in the ordeals that I've volunteered for, than I can answer you that question."

"So the answer?" – the Youngling inquired.

"Yes. I foresaw that they would send someone to bring me back to Coruscant."

"Then the next logical question would be – how did you counter it?"

He smiled; his friend was cultivating her insightfulness right now, before his very own eyes.

"As you may soon come to see, I've established some 'pieces' within the 'Great Game' that had a specific sphere of expertise. One of said pieces was centered around military operations."

"In short, you're predicting an arrival of a fleet that is loyal to you?"

"Yes. With the way I informed them of a need to intervene if something had grounded me to this planet, said fleet should arrive in 9 hours."

"That's a long time, Oswald."

"I know, Katooni, but someone can't really position an unauthorized fleet in the Republic's Mid Rim section."

"That means our goal is to remain uncaptured with the things that we have right now until then."

"Exactly, Ahsoka."

"Then we have to decide on one aspect right now – do we leave the ship to be destroyed? Because if we journey long enough from it, then there will be no point in going back to it."

Oswald quickly regenerated his previous dissection of their situation.

"We leave it be. Our lives and the things we possess are what is irreplaceable, not the transport ship."

"Then let's get moving. They more than likely will be sending gunships down with clones very soon."

Oswald, Katooni nod. The trio would restart their journey through the forest in the coming minute. Aligning herself with her friend, his goals, came with a need to subdue some parts of her personality. Mainly – being surprised. The mentioned aspect was the way that almost everyone reacted to Menson's statements. You did not even have to take a large sample to prove such a point. Within the last conversation, most adolescent Force sensitives that had never met him would have been surprised that he had a personal fleet, to some degree. Even though they were friends, during the Clone Wars, there weren't a lot of opportunities to socialize between peers. That being said, any rational Jedi Padawan or Master had to adjust their expectations when it came to Mundi's Padawan. Now, she was committed to developing her own ability to anticipate, predict the future. Before today there was never enough of a strong motivator to pursue such a goal.

"The path with I chose is interlocked with him. As long as he maintains the goals he set out back then, I will be spending a lot of time with him. I do not believe someone can reach the level he is at, he is just – unique. Though, that doesn't mean I won't try and lessen the gap between us. This will only be beneficial in the long run."

In the last sentence Ahsoka noticed a peculiar part of it. That part being the irreplaceable things. Most would treat this as just an exaggeration of his outfit's value. She saw it differently; there was a hidden layer. One she confidently believed existed. Alas, the contemplation of it would have to wait. Right now the most important aspect is avoiding capture by the Republic.

"So far my scans aren't picking up any ships in the near vicinity."

"My neither."

"Keep looking. There still on the planet."

"Yes, sir."

16:00 Naboo time, 20 hours till the Vote.

"The squadron have scoured the logical area in which they should have been present."

"And they didn't find the ship?" – Koth asks.

"No, General."

The Jedi Master duo were flying in a gunship across the Naboo air.

"Then that only means they have landed and gone hiding."

"In that case, we need more clones down here if we're to find them as quickly as possible."

"Agreed. Admiral, send down two gunships to our location. We'll be landing soon to regroup and go over our next maneuver."

"Very well, Generals."

The hollo projection disappears.

Several minutes later, above Naboo's atmosphere. The Admiral looked over to two officers near the hollo projector.

"I need two squads present in the hangar bay immediately. They will be descending to the planet at the Generals' coordinates. Am I clear?"

"Yes."

"Then get to it."

Out of nowhere, an officer shouted:

"ADMIRAL!"

The Human male darted closer to the voiceful person.

"What is it?"

"Scanners are picking up a large amount of small ships coming from 2 o'clock."

"Small ships?"

"Yes, Admiral."

"That means they are not Republic reinforcements!"

The leader swiftly evaluated the status change.

"Inform the other Venator of this immediately!"

"Yes, sir."

The Admiral stood in the middle of the Bridge, raised his chin and spoke:

"THE REST – BATTLE POSITIONS! POSSIBLE ATTACK!"

To the mentioned direction of the Venator class ships, a sizeable quantity of fighters and bombers appear from out of Hyperspace coupled with a larger ship, most likely – the Command ship.

"Sir. We've arrived in Naboo space."

"Alright. Radio in all pilots." – Admiral Shtomer ordered in his normal tone.

The fleet's orientation was a dense, wide arrow. In general, the fighters overran the bombers. Near the end of the arrow flew a ship that was about a 1/10 of the size of the Republic command ship; all fighters were in front of it, only several bombers flew in a same line as said ship. While at the front of the fleet, most would point to the two fighters that stretched the arrow shape. Extremely simple explanation – the beings within those fighters had a more significant role in the upcoming battle (which was viewed as inevitable as soon as the scans picked up the Venators). Back on the Command ship, the design was similar to the one of Skywalker's hammerhead shaped stealth ship, which was used at the battle of Christophsis. Key differences: the command station on it was at least 3 times bigger; it was wider; there was interesting sort of carve on the top of the ship that signalized a chance of that part being vertically adjustable. The Command station symbolized the unnatural leader of this 'Navy'. Throughout the Galaxy's history, the traditional decorum of a ship inspired a cold feeling; logical, when you consider that the coloring was a shade of black or grey. Also, a slight brightening of the Command station was usual. Taking a look around this ships station's coloring, it was fabulous. Fabulous in the sense that the coloring was extraordinary; nowhere close to tradition. It wasn't dual colored or tri colored. No – the Command station had 4 distinct hues present: green, brown, yellow & white. In consequence, the overall feeling of the beings residing within it encouraged warmth, not cold. This alluded to a leader that respectably cared for the emotional well-being of his men. When viewing the layout, it was mostly two distinct areas: 'The Officers' trench' & 'The Admiral's overview'. The former being reserved for at least 5 competent, verbally communicative beings with the usual screens; the latter was a chalk white multifunctional projector. At the furthest from the front of the ship end rested 3 brown chairs, of which one was occupied at this moment in time. Finishing off, the vehicle had defensive or offensive fire power; some parts of the ship were more layered with metal than others. A traditional action was enacted soon – the analysis of the battlefield followed by movement by the ships in response to it. Therefore, every single ship had an open line to the Command ship. Soon, the highest ranking officer stood up.

"What's the status of our opposition?"

"We have 2 Venator class ships positioned directly in front of us."

"Distance to targets?"

"About 3000 kilometers (~1900 miles), Admiral."

"You heard the officer. Remind me, Ace pilot Ezden, what is our tactic of extracting the Lord?"

"Go on the offensive & quickly penetrate through the Venators' blockade."

"Quite right, Ace pilot. Did everyone receive the information?!"

"LOUD & CLEAR, SIR!"

"Then let the battle begin. Admiral out."

The link between the Strider and the rest of the fleet was cut off. Though, it did not stop the Admiral from contacting someone else.

"Are you ready Gerald?"

"Ready, Admiral."

"Remember, the Lord's safety hinges as much on Ezden's fortunes as yours."

"I've cemented it into my conscious, Admiral. My group is aware of the task at hand."

"Then get to it."

A transport ship swiftly detached from the bottom of the ship & soared after the fighters, bombers that had a head start on it. Being so eager to succeed in this operation, the highest ranking officer relayed to two people different orders.

"You… I want a constant, 30 second update on the Venators' distance to our ship."

The he looked at the second officer, who was strangely – a female one.

"While you ready the P.E.C. for fire."

"Of course, Admiral."

The whole Shadow's relayed brigade was focused on the task at hand; no one possessed any major illusion at the possible repercussions of this mission. They were of the highest order. Reassuring himself the Admiral sat down onto his chair in front of a digital lay out of their current battle. An officer had programmed in the Strider, which was their Command ship, and, importantly, the ship were Lord Mist was supposed to be brought to alive; later followed it up by the Venators. He cautiously put together the time interval in which the fleet has to achieve their goal.

"The distance is around 3000. With their front not directly pointed at us, it gives us more time not to be in effective ranged of their cannons."

A conclusion was soon laid out in his mind.

"We have 30 minutes. Let's hope that will be enough."

He sighed extremely silently; a leader showing disbelief in a crucial battle is ultra-detrimental to it. Oh, and there was one bizarre sighting within the Command station. There were 2 deactivated Magna guards within the 'Admiral's overview' area. It was obvious that someone had got them there on purpose, yet it wasn't clear – who or why?

Several minutes later, at the Masters' position. The Republic's Admiral contacted the EML's Admiral; there was no response. Then swiftly the former ordered 3 things: first, all fighters to engage the incoming fighter and bomber fleet; second, to turn both command ships towards the opposing command ship; third, a connection to Mundi & Koth on the surface. At this moment, he was relaying the news to them, while the duo were waiting for a couple of gunships to assist them in their pursuit for the Force sensitives.

"Clearly, whatever is Menson's intent, he has more backing than previously realized."

"Can I recall the fighters to assist me in the space battle?"

"By all means, General. It is clear to me that the fleet that has arrived is orientated at extracting my Padawan off of Naboo."

"Thank you for you good will, General Mundi. Admiral out."

Eeth Koth showed a stern face to his fellow Council member.

"It is pure madness, how much chaos one unique Padawan can cause."

"All the more motivation to find him before he gets away."

From the side, it was clear that Mundi had accepted the reality of his relationship with his Padawan. They were at a crossroad; either had chosen a path that obviously opposed the other. One way or the other, impossible was a return to the ways of the past. Mundi enlarged his sense of duty with the Order; so much so that it stifled any remaining sympathy or empathy towards Menson.

In space.

"We'll be encountering the Republic fighters in a minute's time."

"Understood, Valtra."

"We have to focus on the breakthrough, not the demolishment of the pilots."

"Everyone has the same thoughts as you, Ace bomber Torgan."

Ezden deeply exhaled.

"Finally we will contribute to the Alliance."

The space battle had begun between the Navy of the Galactic Republic and the Navy of the Extra Military League. Extremely varying degrees, angles, evasive maneuvers – all of this was on full display from the deck of the Venators'. Admiral Shtomer waited patiently for the charge of the P.E.C.

"Tshuuuuum!"

A fighter explodes.

"Hahhh! That was close. That debris almost hit me."

"We've got him in our sights, General."

"Good. Dispense with him quickly. His skill could be vital to their mission."

Two republic fighters closed in on Ezden's back, one came from above, the other – from below.

"They must really want me gone."

The clone pilots launched three waves of blaster fire at the ship's rear end; miraculously, he evaded all of them.

"Ezden! We must break through now!"

"I'd like too, but two clones are hot on my tail, Valtra. Some help would be nice."

"On it."

Just as the two clone pilots were getting ready to fire another wave of blasters, a fighter went directly down from up above them and shot them to pieces.

"Whooo!"

The recently chatted duo achieve a relative bond, by which their ships are extremely close as they get near the Venators.

"Thanks for the help."

"No problem. We don't need any more casualties."

"We're close to the right side Venator."

"Let's call in the Strider."

EML's command ship.

"Admiral."

"Yes?"

"How far away are we from the right sided command ship?"

He quickly looked at one of the officers.

"500 kilometers."

"That's great. We can charge past them!" – Valtra voiced.

"Only if we go under them." – Ezden warned.

"I'll create the diversion, pilots. The P.E.C. is ready to fire. Gerald, get into a line after Varla & Ezden immediately. We are going to make a run for the ground."

"Will do."

This entire turn of events was causing a substantial stir within the Republic officer's heads. A noteworthy strike was anticipated in the near future. Of course, no one voiced this feeling on the main deck for a simple reason; no one wanted to destabilize the situation even further.

"SIR! Two fighters and what looks to be a transporter ship are closing on the left ship!"

"Intensify blaster fire on that trio! NOW!"

The Republic's Admiral knew that this was an attempt at breaking through the blockade. He viewed that the more frequent barrage of fire at the trio would be enough to eliminate them. Alas, Admiral Shtomer had a trick up his sleeve.

"The cannon is ready to fire, Admiral."

"Good. Aim at the main deck of the right Venator. Full capacity."

"Sir, it is near the edge of our range. Should we risk such an inaccurate attempt?"

Rather than shouting at the questioning officer, the Admiral calmly with a cold-hearted look answered:

"It won't be if it is the move that lets us retrieve Lord Mist."

"Of course, sir."

300… 250… 200.

"They're still going."

"That won't last."

The Admiral was getting tensed. Only 200 kilometers (~120 miles) remained between the opposition & of his two command ships.

Suddenly, an officer screamed:

"ADMIRAL! INCOMING PURPLE LAZER BLASTS!"

Without any time to react, the highest ranking official on-board the ship saw massive purple jolts come crushing in to the mentioned Venator, ripping the sheet metal of a substantial area of the command post.

"Now's our chance! Follow my lead!" – Torgan shouted.

To compile misery, a line of about ten bombers decimated the whole hangar bay of the same ship.

"STATUS REPORT!"

"The ship has sustained a large amount of damage to both the main hangar & the main deck."

Simultaneously. Ezden, Valtra & Gerald fly under, then past the damaged Venator.

"Whooooo! We're past the blockade, Admiral."

"Good. Lock onto Lord Mist's signal and retrieve him as soon as possible."

Shtomer knew that the tipping point of the battle was reached. Seeing what had just been done to one of his prized ships, the Admiral will rationally fear a similar blow being dealt to the one that he is on.

"They will start their disengagement momentarily. I'm certain of it."

A quick idea appeared in his mind; he acted on it quickly.

"Officer. Lower the cannon down, set up the recharge sequence."

"It will be done, Admiral."

On Naboo. Mundi & Koth were using the Force to pick up on the trio's presence. Logically, they only needed one of them to be found and almost certainly the other two would be nearby. No sane person would split up at such an extremely dire time.

"They might be closer than we think."

"Entirely possible, Katooni, but we've got to be proactive."

"If they find us, there won't be any doubt of it."

The trio were pacing through at the maximum speed, given Ahsoka's tiredness, Oswald's injury plus tiredness. Due to the nature of their surrounding environment, some gaps of sunshine penetrated to the ground; otherwise, there would be no grass. This fact had a merit on the best tracking tactic – hovering barely above the green leaf tops. Although, it did provide a substantial disadvantage. The tree tops were, naturally, uneven; therefore, if a high speed vehicle encounters a significant rise in elevation, then a collision will be highly probable. These aspects were part of the force that kept the trio away from the duo. Unfortunately for the former, they were going nearer the end of the forest.

This could have tilted the odds of victory back to the Republic's favor. That was true until the Admiral made a dissatisfying call to the Council members.

"I'm sorry to say, Generals, but the opposition have broken through our defenses and will soon be on the ground."

"What's your status?"

"One of our Venators is severely damaged. They used some type of a high power, long range cannon. Couple that with a bomb strike on the main hangar and it is in less than optimum state."

"How many ships have gotten through?"

"At least 3. I remember that another 3 went in not far behind."

"I assume you are taking the Venator's away from the battle."

"Yes, General Koth. That's precisely our current tactic."

"With any luck, they will halt their attack and fall back to their Command ship."

At that moment, Mundi picked up his Padawan's sense. They were close, but they were also at a disadvantage. Say, the Admiral is right & 6 ships will soon be at their position. Their 3 gunships don't stand a good chance of victory against his Padawan's fleet; especially, after what they did to a grand ship of the Republic.

"We'll join as swiftly as possible, Admiral. Tend to the casualties, repairs of the ship & set a course for Coruscant."

"Will do, General."

The transmission ends.

"It is a pain."

"Yes. Such a tragedy to be beaten by younger Order members." – Koth added.

"But we must look after our own safety."

Koth looked to the direction, where the trio were standing not so far away.

"They have won this battle, but we'll meet again. That is what the Force is telling me. I will not doubt it this time."

In a minute, the Republic forces close to the ground turned around and sat a course for the remaining fleet. At this moment in time, one side was only concerned with minimizing loses. The battle… Appeared to be over.

In less than 5 minutes. The trio overheard engine sounds while they exited the forest. Oswald stopped first.

"Someone's here."

"I feel it too." – Ahsoka mentioned.

Out of nowhere at a low speed, a transporter ship appeared to their left. Hydraulic doors shot open; out from beyond them stood a young Human male. The distance to the ship was small, only 30 meters (~100 feet).

"Lord Mist. Make for the ship."

In a fast sequence of events, the Force sensitive trio rushed over to the transporter ship. Due to the foot injury, the person, who Gerald wanted to see come to the ship first, came last.

"Lord Mist. Who are they?"

"New allies of the cause, Gerald. Let's get back to the Command ship & I'll explain the rest."

"Alright."

He pushed a button; the hydraulic doors shot back closed.

Later. At this point, the Republic was in retreat, Admiral Shtomer was happy to let his opposition leave the space surrounding Naboo.

"Admiral. The transporter ship has just past the Republic's forces."

"No attempt to stop them?"

"No."

"That's great. Begin the pullback of the fleet. We'll arrange in our formation & await Lord Mist's orders."

He was looking forward to meeting the founder of the EML. It had been a year since they last saw each other face to face. With the news from Lord Shadow and his instructions, it was clear that a major shift in their occupation or its direction was imminent. Turret expert Jack also lusted for the reacquaintance with Lord Mist, the reasons – nowhere near filled with such warmth.

In Hyperspace, 16:30 Naboo time. Beside the main deck, the sleeping quarters, the kitchen, the bathroom, there was also a space that resembled a living room. It was a trapezoid carved outward from a hallway. Two simple, sphere shaped lamps hung at the trapezoid's inclines' area. The longer wall had a hickory brown bench with a same colored back cushion line; a chocolate brown table stood parallel to the shorter base. The walls were colored in butter yellow. The only traditional military aspect of the space were two hydraulic sliding doors on the longer base's edges. Suddenly, one of them slides open, Gerald, Oswald, Ahsoka & Katooni walk in.

"I will inform the Admiral of your stay here."

"I anticipate an exchange of words."

"Correct you are."

Gerald gives a moderate smile.

"Get comfortable. You are not a 100%."

Menson just nods, the male, who showed himself to the trio on Naboo, leaves the living room through the other door. The ambience of the room was one of longing; it engulfed the farseeing one the least. Said person took initiative in being the first one to sit down on the hickory brown bench. The Togrutan female scootched over to his left side, the Youngling – to her left. Oswald put the cacao brown duffel bag under the table.

"So, Oswald? You're a Lord now?" – Tano asks in a bright, nonchalant way.

"Mmmmm… That was a code, Ahsoka."

"A code? Or a precaution?"

"Precautionary measure."

"You thought it suited the situation the best?"

"I had my reasons for choosing such a title."

"Of course you did. But what I want to know is what were they?"

The doors on further side of the trio open once again; this time – a different Human male stood in front of them, one that was undoubtedly older than the last.

"Lord Mist."

He steps into the room; the door closes behind him.

"It is a pleasure to see you after all this time."

Ahsoka, Katooni noticed the quick glance that he gave them right before transitioning from his point to the brown bench, on the right side of Oswald. Mundi's Padawan stands up, shakes the man's hand and they drop down.

"New allies to the cause?"

"Yes. Time for an introduction."

"A smart move."

The blonde haired male turns to his left.

"Ahsoka, Katooni, meet Admiral Shtomer of the EML.

He completely turns around his head.

"Admiral Shtomer, meet Ahsoka & Katooni."

"Ahsoka? Ahsoka Tano? The Commander that broke through the blockade over Ryloth?"

"That's me."

The oldest person in the room extends his hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Tano."

"Good to meet a fellow… Experienced Commander of the War."

"And you are?"

"Katooni."

"What is your occupation?"

"Currently, I've aligned myself with Oswald and his goals circled around the Galaxy's future." – the Tholothian girl calmly answers.

"Good to hear. You're going to have to keep that same calm manner throughout the coming days, Young one."

"That is a great moment to transition to the information I must present you."

"I'm listening."

"We have to inform the whole EML of a special journey."

"You sure your healthy enough for it?"

"I'll manage."

"Alright. Let's make our way to the bridge."

As soon as they come out of the living room, Turret Expert Jack comes rushing forward from their back.

"Lord Mist."

"Turret Expert Jack. What is the matter?"

"I was hoping to speak to you of an impending matter."

"It will have to wait, Jack. He has to make a transmission to Base right now."

"Understood, Admiral. But then can I accompany all of you to the bridge?"

"I don't see why not. Unless they won't be enough space there."

"One person isn't going to make it completely cramped."

In a joint effort, all five beings walk steadily to their discussed location.

The main deck of the Strider. Doors slide open, they enter the room and they close back up again. As soon as the Admiral had both feet within the room, every officer who was sitting immediately shot up. 'The Admiral's overview' area was significantly more vacant on their arrival than 'The Officers' trench'. Oswald was reading the room with the Force; hidden anxiety, anticipation of coming events was clearly present. Oddly, there was a faint signal of caution from the Force. He took a balanced perspective on the matter.

"Something is brewing here."

Soon, Shtomer brakes the silence.

"I'll confirm the settings to be able to send the signal."

The 19 year old simply nods in agreement. The Admiral positions himself near the multifunctional projector, Lord Mist walks closer to it, but not as close as the Admiral. Yet, the gap was extremely tiny. One of the bizarre to most placed Magna Guard was less than 2 meters (~7 feet) from the younger Human. Ahsoka, Katooni remained still.

In the motion of programming something, a jolt of hazardousness from the Force captured the attention of Oswald. At great speed with precise motion, Turret Expert Jack darts to the right of Oswald, just behind the Admiral, in between him & the Magna Guard, and pulls out a rifle straight at his face. In quick succession, 3 other officers point their weapons at either the Admiral or Menson (not easy to tell because of their close proximity); Ahsoka, Katooni ignite their lightsabers, other officers take their pistols and aim. Remarkably, in less than 10 seconds everything had changed unmistakably. A minute of silence is enacted before Oswald inclines:

"What are you doing, Jack?"

"Changing course, Mist."

A happy, ambiguous, might be malicious smile shows itself. At that exact moment Ahsoka embraced a fragile, hopeful or trustworthy idea.

"He has anticipated this."

She was far more confident at a positive outcome than a minute ago.

"Is that so?"

He turns his face so that their eyes are in line.

"Well then. Where are we going?"

"Somewhere were I can gather my due."

"You did this all for money?" – Oswald asks cold-heartedly.

"Is it really that surprising?"

"No."

Jack quickly remembers not to stall this sequence longer than needed; the risk of the whole plan being thwarted grew exponentially bigger with every second.

"Enough, Mist. I deliver you to my 'employer' quicker, I get paid more."

"I see. He want me that badly. Well, said person absolutely…Code C… has reason to do that."

The phrase 'Code C' was said with an unprecedently stern tone. It isn't easily detected by Jack, due to the flowing adrenaline in his veins.

"Wait…"

He feels a bit distracted by it.

"…What did you say?!"

Out of nowhere, a sizzling sound of lightning is heard. Also, purple lightning penetrates every part of Jack's body. The pain proves to be so brutal that he drops his blaster. Rapidly, Oswald takes his lightsaber and ignites it upward.

"My, my,…How the tides have changed."

The 3 other officers shock of seeing their leader being beaten left them vulnerable to attack. Ahsoka Force pushed one away, while the other two got tackled by their fellow officers. Menson lets the Force flow threw him for a short period of time. Any signal of harm or loss wasn't picked up.

A couple of minutes later. The 3 officers, who drew pistols against Admiral Shtomer or Lord Mist, were handcuffed, on their knees, face forward to the multifunctional projector, to the back of Oswald. The other Magna Guard was extremely close to the trio of traitors with his purple electricity double edged staff. Rationally, now everyone else was, more or less, around that projector. While Jack was handcuffed, on his knees, with a Magna Guard behind him, a displeased adolescent Force sensitive stood in front of him with his green saber in a diagonal downward motion that coupled with the lack of air between them could be easily maneuvered into landing a final blow. The blonde haired male was a bit lost with what reaction was the best to take against the traitor before him.

"Your desire to become rich was almost the downfall of the Alliance. As one of the main figures of it, I'm… Extremely keen on punishing such pursuits. The question is…"

He slowly lifts his lightsaber, moves it to about 10 centimeters (~4 inches) from the Turret Expert's neck.

"…Does such an egregious act deserve the ultimate price?"

"No." – Ahsoka quickly answers.

Oswald makes an enigmatic glance at the Togrutan female. For him, it was a breath of fresh air to be intrigued by someone's perception of a matter, where he was contempt with both outcomes.

"Why not, Ahsoka?"

"He is not worth it."

"I'm inclined to disagree."

"Eliminating him completely might catapult you to the side of your enemies. Being in a tiltable scale is not the same as one beginning to quickly tilt over to one side & neglect the other."

"Your concern is my health?"

"And with it – whatever you wish to achieve. The same thing by the same person with a different preset outlook could create two unimaginably distinct, incomparable worlds."

"There is truth in Miss Tano's words." – Admiral Shtomer adds.

"Showing a restraint to malevolence adds to your character, not – detracts from it." – Katooni states.

The foresightful one quickly leverages both scenarios in his mind. On one hand, eliminating Jack from the equation also vanquishes any chance of relieving precious information to his opposition. On the other hand, imprisoning Jack earns him more respect from the Admiral, both Ahsoka & Katooni; not to mention, their appeal of the cause grows substantially. Third positive – it leaves his Force presence balanced, which could prove to be vital in the aftermath of the Vote.

"I've done all I could to provide the least amount of damaging information to him. If it wasn't enough, than the Force was never with me."

A bit of fatality in that thinking. Yet, there was no more thinking after that.

"Alright."

He shuts off his green lightsaber; much to the relieve of his allies.

"Carlos. They'll soon be at the detention center. I want you to stand guard there until I say otherwise."

"Understood." – the closer Magna Guard voices.

The lightsaber is rested on the belt.

Five minutes later.

"Now. I do believe a call to the Base is required."

"Sending signal now." – says the lone female officer.

The six non-artificial beings shift their attention to the screen.

Heremona's surface.

"Commander, incoming transmission from the Strider."

"Put it through."

A holographic image of Oswald soon appears.

"Commander John, Vice-commander Theodor."

"Lord Mist. Should we brush aside our traditional inquiries?"

"I believe they have no merit in this situation."

"Good."

"Since your contacting us, I strongly assume your extortion from Naboo was a success?"

"Correct, Theodor. More has transpired than previously thought, but that will be discussed after the Crucial Stage."

"Noted."

"Anyhow, ready everybody for immediate evacuation of the Base. I want you take everything that you need; anything, which has to be left behind for any reason, must be dealt with in a way that it can't be traced back to the EML, me or Lord Shadow. Am I clear?"

"Yes. But we need a place to journey too then."

"Obviously, Commander. The remaining fleet must make a Hyperspace jump to Point C."

"Are you sure of this?"

"Yes. The recently mentioned time to bring the EML into the complete structure of the grander organization is now."

"Alright, Lord Mist. Anything else?"

"Just a wish for a safe travel to said planet. We'll meet there."

The trio nods and the transmission ends.

Close to 23:00 Coruscant Time, Senate Building. Senators Raich & Avergreen were discussing, what looked from the side, to be the final details of a bill of some sorts at the female senator's office.

"So we agree on the finer details?"

"Yes. I do not see anything else that can be treated to our benefit." – Raich answers.

"Then our meeting is over."

Raich nods, stand up and shows off a look of nervousness.

"What's the matter?"

"I know it mind sound weak, but I would appreciate it if you could send someone of your security brigade with me to the hangar?"

"What happened to yours?" – asks a not startled, warmth encouraging Avergreen.

"One is sick, the other I let go home early today."

"Fine. I'll inform Marshall Sezk of this change of plans. Just wait outside my office, Raich."

"Thank you, Avergreen. Until tomorrow then."

"Goodbye."

The room's capacity shrinks in half. The disparity within the air grows larger; the anxiety of the Senator also increases. That is – until an incoming transmission present itself. She swiftly establishes the connection. Who appeared before her? The person she wanted to hear from the most today.

"Strategy Advisor. I'm thrilled to hear from you."

"Then I'm happy to keep your confidence level high."

"Now then. What is the reason for your call?"

"I envision that a run-through through tomorrow is much needed."

"That we can agree on."

"From my side, the members of the affiliated organizations will be present at Point C during the Vote."

"Are you certain of this?"

"Yes."

"From my side, everyone has been informed to send a representative to Point C."

"Will they have the same requirements that we agreed upon previously?"

"Yes. They will have the ability to speak instead of us."

"Then…It… Can achieve the next stage."

"Correct. And your view, how he'll act has not altered?"

"No. Not even slightly."

"Another positive. There is also the matter of… The Presence."

"When will you move It to position?"

"I speculated on the best moment."

"And what did you decide on?"

"6 hours till the Vote."

"That's fine. For me, it is more essential to have security present at The Site as soon as possible."

"Then you'll be happy to hear it has already arrived there."

Menson shows a moderately sized smile; his eyes seem to relax.

"Fantastic. All the pieces will converge at the precise time when needed. I'll reiterate – this is not the time to turn back. Time to follow suit on our agreement, Senator."

"I fully agree, SA."

"Tomorrow the Galaxy will unmistakably change."

"For better or for worse."

"We're on the brink of an enormous shift."

He lowers his head.

"Farewell, Senator."

"Good luck, SA."

"Same to you."

Stage 3

Sometime later in Hyperspace. Lord Shadow's arranged fleet was making its way towards its end goal – Point C. Due to the nature of the evacuation's circumstances, Admiral Shtomer decided to order the fleet to appear in a neutral system, which was somewhere in between Naboo & Heremona. The main reason being an inkling that Lord Mist would appeal the trip back to Heremona; moreover, choose a different planet to journey to. Fortunately, it panned out the way the Admiral had envisioned. Adding to all of this, he and Menson had a private conversation about the new allies that were on the Strider. Was he overprotective? Greatly cautious? Suspicious? To an extent, all 3. It was up to the insightful one to calm him down and still enough trust centered around Ahsoka, Katooni that would lead them without animosity to Point C. While those two were preoccupied with each other, Ahsoka, Katooni went back to the living room of the ship. The adolescent female appeared more nervous than usual; the pacing back and forth parallel to the chocolate brown table presented clear evidence of it. The situation pushed the Tholothian girl to a choice between 2 paths – both quite traveled by others. One was to let Ahsoka wrestle with her emotions in silence on her part. The other path was addressing her well-being with the hope that an exchange of words can produce a positive effect. After a couple minutes of thinking, she came to a conclusion.

"Calm down, Ahsoka. We've survived an insurgency already."

Her ominousness stifled a bit at the break of silence. Reflecting on her past, Tano realized that keeping the emotional turbulence to oneself might easily lead to a catastrophe. One of her close friend proved that quite spectacularly.

"You're right, Katooni. But I still have reservations about all of this."

"Me too, Ahsoka."

"Then why aren't you reveling in them like I am?"

She raises both of her shoulders, shrugs them.

"Well,… I just don't believe it's the best tactic right now."

"Really?"

"Yeah." – Katooni swiftly answers.

The 17 year old was pleasantly captivated by the forthcomingness of the younger Force sensitive.

"Then is it safe to assume you possess a better one?"

She stops her routine walk, crosses her arms & rests them against her upper waist.

"I don't know of better, but it is definitely distinct from yours."

"Please elaborate on it."

Just as Katooni was getting ready to present her chosen pathway to dealing with the current situation, she senses a Force sensitive closing in on their location.

"He's coming."

"I've feel it too."

Tens of seconds later Oswald enters the living room through the same door as Shtomer did before. The two females were on the further side of the confined space with the elder standing and the younger sitting on the hickory brown bench.

"I predict that your emotions are in a chaotic spiral."

"Something similar, Oswald."

"A predictable sequence of events."

"That is not saying much by your standards."

"True, but I come baring good news."

"Them being what?" – Katooni asks.

"The alleviation of tension between you two & the Admiral."

"I'm not sure."

"Why not?"

"When we met for the first time, he brought up my military achievement in the Ryloth campaign. Now he just guesses my intentions with every minute."

Menson takes a deep breath. Work seemed endless to him.

"Even with his experience, new allies to the cause are not going to achieve the same level of trust as ones that have been with him longer. There's nothing unnatural here."

"That might be true, but as I stated back on Naboo. I cannot stand with a dishonest person. Not even a close friend."

"I remember that statement vividly, Ahsoka."

He walks over to the bench, sits at the exact opposite end of it as Katooni. The red skinned female remains, astonishingly, composed, silent through this motion. This move gave even more backing to the fact that she had grown once again as a person.

"I can assure you that both you & the Admiral are aiding me in the same goal."

Tano rapidly releases her hands, lowers them to her sides.

"In that case, I want to know more about, how this military… Corporation came to be."

"Same with me, Oswald."

Several seconds pass.

"Alright, you two. Time for some catch up on my fronts."

Ahsoka felt victorious because of how everything had transpired. She was cracking her friend's wall of unwillingness to share crucial, large encompassing knowledge.

Soon, the trio got cozy on the bench, in a uniquely synchronized manner, rested their backs on the pillows.

"Since we are going to travel for a while, I perceive this as a good opportunity to maintain your expectations surrounding the upcoming event relatively realistic."

"I want to start."

"Fine by me, Ahsoka."

"How did you come up with the title Lord Mist?"

"Back when this organization was being established, we were all aware of the certain framework that was needed for its success. One of the aspect was the secrecy of identities, in case someone ever got hold of a transmission. With fictional titles, their gain would diminish significantly. A quick thought later I came up with the title Lord Mist. The 'Lord' part being tied to a Sith, which was far rarer than a Jedi Master and commanded more respect or fear. The 'Mist' part was what I perceived myself as in the big picture."

"That sounds realistic, Oswald."

"Alright. My turn."

The adolescent male just giggles a bit. All of this appeared from the side as a classic case of 'teenage gossip'.

9 o'clock in the morning on Coruscant. The Day. The Day that Senators Main, Hefyra & Avergreen had discussed with Menson would come on the day, when Tano escaped from her jail cell for the bombing of the Jedi Temple, had finally come. The Chancellor's supremacy over the Courts will be put forward today, in exactly 9 hours from now. Hefyra presented them with the short version of the proposition, it sounded like this: "A veto for Palpatine if he feels the Courts' decision is incorrect". The feel by the dominant trio of Senators warned the Jedi Padawan of the brittle situation of their Alliance. If the bill passes with no reaction from them, especially him, it would fall apart. Reluctantly, the dominant figures had to be proactive. Preparations were made, the course of actions was instilled into every that needed to know, to a certain degree and with a certain overview. All of this bet on Menson's exquisite envisioning of Palpatine's goals. He had to be right that the most powerful person within the Galactic Republic would treat their ultimatum after a successful vote as a case of deranged hubris. With the first session only commencing in half an hour, the trio decided to talk for the last time about the Grand Event.

"When?" – Main inquires.

"Yesterday. Somewhere around 11 o'clock."

"A fairly preferable time." – Hefyra states.

"More so than not. What is essential is what the Joker relayed to you."

"Two aspects. First – he assured me that all of his affiliated organizations will be present at Point C. Second – his take on our opponent's anticipated moves did not dwindle."

"Not even slightly?"

"No."

"We will soon see, my friends, can he really disprove my concerns, suspicions over the society that he is a part of."

"I'm not sure he is focused on that, Hefyra, but his conviction will certainly be tested."

"By the end of today, our fate, our represented planet's and, in the most extreme sense, the Galaxy's fate will be sealed."

A minute of silence settles in. Afterwards, Senator Main gives a closing remark.

"We must march to the great crossroad with courage. This is, after all, the path that we chose."

Meanwhile. As of the Chancellor's request, Mas Amedda had ordered the red guards to stop their secret investigations of the anti-Palpatine core members. He reasoned that a slip up today can shift the moderates, who were the biggest of the 3 groups, towards them. Since Amedda had the best interests of Sheev Palpatine as his primary axiom, reluctancy hadn't even showed a teardrop. For the Human male, the opponent, who remained out of easy sight, required more attention than the Senators. Where he knew what the latter can accomplish, the former could produce a threat that is unforeseen.

"I'm so close to victory. I mustn't allow him to stop me."

Just before the meeting that Avergreen alluded to, Palpatine submerged his mind in the dark side with the attempt of peering into his current future. In a dissatisfying way, the vision was not only less bombastic, but it did not resemble the same fluidity. On a day like today such negative changes were not going to be left untreated.

"I'll inform Tyrannus of the task at hand."

Somewhere in the Galaxy. 8 large scale command ships were orbiting a planet; the Confederacy's leader – Count Dooku – sat on the bridge of one of them. They were at least 20 battle droids, 4 super battle droids, 2 command droids, 1 distinct droid along with him at one moment in time. The Sith Lord was meditating in his seat when the distinct droid uttered:

"Sir. Darth Sidious is contacting us."

The lone non-artificial being's eyes opened up in an instant.

"Put him through, General."

He stood up from his chair; amazingly, at the exact moment that Dooku walked over to the hollo projector the person appeared on it.

"Yes, my Master. What is the reason for your call?"

"I have a task for you."

"I'm listening."

"Very good. I want you to deeply meditate on the explosion of dark side energy from Naboo. As I'm sure your aware, there is a new player in the War. Through what I've been able to gather, his allegiance is neither Republic, nor Confederacy."

"That makes him a wild card within it, Master."

"That it does. This is why it is crucial that you figure out, how the future that we both long for will play out with his or her interjection."

"I understand. I'll attend to it right away."

"As you should."

The line is cut off, the figure has disappeared.

"General Dorlan, you are in command of the fleet while I'm absent in my quarters."

"Yes, Count Dooku."

The Sith Lord turns around with his cape and walking towards the exit adds:

"If we are surprised attack by the Republic, you are to engage them & inform me of it immediately."

Seconds later, he disappears from the bridge.

15:00 Coruscant Time, 3 hours till the Vote. The crew of the Strider enters their selected planet's atmosphere; the rest of the fleet position themselves around the Command ship according to Admiral Shtomer's orders.

"It is time that you inform me and every one of the landing location."

"Quite right, Admiral."

On the projected topographical map of their current planet a red flashing circle was found. No doubt, it represented the fleet's current position. Menson stood up from his chair and entered specific three dimensional coordinates. An indigo blue dot surfaced on the map.

"There you go, Admiral. As we agreed."

The 19 year old sat back on his chair. The Admiral's overview was now more dense with furniture than before. Such a change occurred because of a Force sensitives want to be present on the bridge of the Strider. There were 3 brown chairs, one – clearly collectively agreed upon to be for the Admiral, second one – for Lord Mist, since he was the co-founder of the whole league. This left one seat for both Ahsoka & Katooni. Neither of the females wanted to leave Oswald alone in The Admiral's overview; either one was concerned about the tiltable Force 'signature' of their friend. At some point, Shtomer took initiative and got a chair from his quarters.

"I've just seen, how nasty Lord Mist can be if greatly disappointed. His two new allies, probably longtime friends due to the nature of their vocal exchanges, are helpful in making the future less chaotic & damaging to those around him."

Tano felt a growing desire to see, what has Menson managed to build, accomplish or establish secretly, unknown to the Jedi Order. The gift of insight that he possessed, cultivated through the years, had led her to view their current relationship in an increasingly delightful, but dangerous way. In short, she was reminiscing of the past.

"Throughout all my time at the Temple, my entire adolescence up to now, no one…No one gets close to being so massively unique as Oswald. Hah! Even when I go back to that tragic day, he approached me & the Admiral quite relaxed. Not a lot of Padawans would act that way at the presence of such a high ranking Republic Military officer."

The desire had doubled from the level that was tangible at the exit of Hyperspace.

"He's a friend. One of the few that I can still without a doubt consider as such. How he manages to shift his mind, attention, tactical approach so quickly is extraordinary. Hah! I must remain realistic of the future. Our bond is strong & I would love to see it continue forever. Sadly,… His actions are unwanted by possibly the Jedi and the Sith. With his mentioning of a Sith Lord that both of us as a duo couldn't even get to show off his or her true power, sooner or later, he will become such a high priority target that the chances of dying will massively increase."

This reminiscence succeeded in instilling a stride to be a better 'Force Fighter' in her subconscious.

When it came to Katooni, she was also eager to see, how will her next life chapter appear before her. The time to turn back had disappeared way back at Miss Varna's house; she was not going back to the Jedi Temple, in large – the Jedi Order.

"I trust Oswald more than any other member of the Order. He was the one that encouraged me to pursue my beliefs on a dark side presence on Coruscant. Through some miracle,… We arrived at the same conclusion, dedication and goal. Even with all my doubts, he had achieved success in showing me, what was spreading the dark side on the Republic Capital."

The Sith side of her was contempt in the light side being detectable to the outer world. Only two beings on the ship new of her…Chaotic existence. Don't get it wrong, the 12 year old's heart was still in turmoil, extruding some amount of pain from time to time. After the silencing of the insurgency, especially the way it panned out, the sadistic nature waited with substantial pleasure for the next moves of Oswald. Moreover, he was not dismissive of the dark side all the time. The last part – the Destructive side – was, bizarrely, dormant for now. To a truly high understanding Force sensitive, this revelation might have appeared because of the amount of energy that the red lightning attack drained of her. Could be.

About 20 minutes later.

"Grand Marshall speaking. Who is this?"

"The Strategy Advisor & his allies."

"Is that so? Please send your confirmation code."

"The outer fleet already checked it, Grand Marshall."

"Well then, you'll have no problem repeating it then."

Menson decides to stop all of these charades; after all, the fate of the Galaxy is at stake here.

"Very well. Sending it now."

Seconds later a distinct sound is heard in the Marshall's room. He looks to an officer over to his right; said officer informs him of the computer's result.

"So you are the Strategy Advisor. Welcome to Tragonia. Your landing strip should be coming up in less than 5 minutes on your current trajectory. High red lamps will illuminate the dimensions of it. Hope to see you safely on the ground. Grand Marshall out."

Back on the Strider.

"So many safeguards." – one of the two remaining officers exclaims.

"A much welcomed approached to such a sensitive matter."

"Everybody should do well to get their emotions in order. There will be many exchanges with new people on the ground."

"That is what you foresaw, Lord Mist?"

"That I did, Admiral. Though, seeing it all coming together is a different type of sensation for me."

Tragonia – another planet in the Galaxy's Mid Rim. Similarly to Heremona, it was dominated by the solid state of matter, fairly mountainous, uninhabitable by verbally communicative species; other aspects were of branching nature. Tragonia had a far more preferable gas (more precisely, air) mixture on the surface, which allowed a great sum of species to partake in exchanges on it without a need for an air filtered base. The planet also had a very small percentage (1%) of water running within caves and forming only a handful of obscured lakes. Still, around these mountainous regions several species of plants, insects, definitively small animals & birds existed. So in short, Tragonia did possess an ecosystem of sorts. The elevations contained minerals, which chemical composition had widely accepted worth. The top 3 were: Scheelite, Cervantite, Brookite. By mass, they combined for 80%. What's worth mining? Titanium, Calcium, Tungsten. Their dominance contributed to the mountainous regions gaining a orange with yellow to deep orange color spectra.

Suddenly, the Extra Military League's Command ship got within 50 kilometers (~31 miles) to the alluded landing strip.

"Reduce engine power output by 50%."

"Yes, Admiral."

"We should enlarge the view up in front of us."

An image shot up in front of them on the multifunctional projector. Beyond the obvious, voiced, two lines of red shine stood an intriguing structure. It looked to be half natural & half artificial, altered. Oswald knew all to well what building was on the screen right now. Admiral Shtomer quickly noted an ascent, on which there were several large caliber, anti-air cannons.

10 kilometers (~6 miles) to the structure signalized an upward diagonal, slow descend by the Strider. Now, the ship was effortlessly noticeable by anyone at the bottom of the structure. There was a group of beings coming down stairs towards the landing lane.

"That must be the ship."

"It would be hard to miss it now." – the Grand Marshall states.

"If we're being realistic, the last major player of the Alliance has arrived."

"As for the ones, who are available, yes."

"Where is the Temple Guard & his colleagues?"

"The same place, where we last saw them. At the landing zone."

"It is a tad crazy to be that obsessed with waiting for His arrival."

"I would assume they treat it as a fever."

"A fever of anticipation?"

The person analyzes such a state of mind.

"Entirely possible, Grand Marshall."

Later, on the ground of Tragonia. Admiral Shtomer, Oswald, Ahsoka, Katooni, the other Magna Guard walked off the platform in a harmonic, seemingly perfectly aligned manner. With just the smallest of gaps to the outside, one could capture the seriousness of the arrival within a second. The sight of beings in armor, helmets on, blasters hanging diagonally down, standing in a row on each sides of the platform's dimensions thrusted that thought outwards. Each of the natural quartet felt a mixture of emotions rush over them in the descent to the ground; out of all of them, the oldest one kept them under control the most. No surprises on that front. The previously mentioned group was standing around 5 meters (~16 feet) from the mechanism's end. There was silence up until the point the five newest arrivals closed within a step of the group.

"Strategy Advisor, welcome to Trigonia. It is nice to finally be acquainted with the person, whose work for the Cause is substantially less political than others."

"I suspect I'm listening to the Grand Marshall."

"Your suspicions are correct. But,…Before we continue…"

The distinctly armored, respected person pulls out a hollo projector from his right pocket.

"…There is someone else that wishes to speak first."

Menson nods; the Marshall turns on the device. A male figure appears before the newest arrivals.

"Strategy Advisor. I'm the Supreme Admiral of the Alliance. I'm pleased to see you arrive at Point C healthy."

"Thank you, Supreme Admiral. Currently, I'm healthy enough for the upcoming long haul."

"That is to be commended, SA. The task up ahead is grueling."

"So are most of high responsibility as I'm sure you would agree, Admiral."

"I certainly would. Anyway,…"

The holographic male takes in the beings surrounding Menson.

"…I still have some questions."

"As I anticipated."

"Yet, they can wait. I just wanted for us to have our first meeting of sorts before the Event takes place and to inform you that the fleet is positioned to make an entrance in the system if opposition forces make an appearance."

"Noted, Supreme Admiral."

He nods and then fizzles out.

"As I can see, you've brought quite a fleet here."

"Well, there official inclusion into the Alliance will take place today."

"As I've heard from the Senator, everything should coincide into one definitive organization."

"That is the plan, Grand Marshall."

The Human male shows a faint, but, surprisingly, long smile.

"Care to introduce me to the people that accompany you?"

"Gladly. After all, we are all striding for the same goals."

The adolescent male starts from the Admiral & ends with his Magna Guard. The most interesting exchange happened with Admiral Shtomer. He walked over to him, stared to his eyes. Both voiced their ideas in a stern manner; at the end, looked to come out pleased from it. Expectably, neither flinched. Their first meeting might have also been a test of each other's strength. Back at his original welcoming position, he looked back at Oswald.

"The Temple Guard & his company are waiting for you on the left side of the building."

"At the landing area?"

"Correct."

The 19 year old uses the Force to better understand, how to change their current course. He does this without movement from his eyes.

"Did they seem particularly lustful for my appearance?"

"Dangerously so, SA."

"In that case, I believe you should inform the Admiral, where to move this ship and lead him to the Command Post afterwards."

"We're on the same page."

"Fantastic." – Oswald expresses with more warmth behind it than any previous time here.

The five break apart.

Where there are mountains, there are valleys. When it comes to this specific location, it becomes much more intriguing than a random location. This can be treated as such from the upper view. Looking down, one could see a 'Y' shape on the ground; admittedly, a large scale one. The structure acted as the divergence part of the 'Y', while two perceivably linear valleys branched to both sides of the structure. Following the Marshal's directions, the trio of Force sensitives marched to the left of the Strider. There were several fighters, bombers, light cruisers positioned all around them; the same red lamp posts spread in between them. Soon, their eyes locked to a group of beings standing and sitting on, weirdly, a couple of couches close to the structure's wall. When the distance diminished to a point, where the contours of the trio bodies were fully fledged out, one person spoke:

"Here we meet, Oswald."

"That we do, Hector."

The solely facially unidentifiable being in the whole concentrated area shifted his body a bit.

"As good it is to see you, Oswald, I did not foresee you bringing so much company with you." – Awkan stated.

The blonde hair male tilted his head to both sides before an explanation.

"There were some…Late additions to the equation." – the words following the pause contained distinct cheerfulness & liveliness.

"It is wonderful to see you, Ahsoka." – the Rodian female Padawan mentioned, while walking close to the newly appeared trio.

The Togrutan female in spectacularly fast way read the Rodian's face expression, even – pinpointed the cause.

"I'm happy that we meet again, Orlana,…"

They shook hands.

"…Even though your taken back by my new skin."

"It definitely is bold, Ahsoka." – Drazeena voiced.

"I see even Katooni has joined your cause."

"I wayed the options and felt it was the best way forward."

"Good. It is important to not harbor any false hopes within oneself."

"Rational, Arnold. Insightful even."

The Human male crafted a fairly smug half smile. The trio get more intermixed in the other group; now they appear as one, big, happy family. It did not take a long time for Mundi's Padawan to address the quantity of beings present here.

"I can't find Calder or Tanlia. Are they somewhere else?"

The air surrounding them got incredibly thick insanely fast.

"Tanlia is." – Hector answered in an overly serious tone.

Menson adjusted his expectations immediately.

"And what of Calder?"

"His fate is far less… Great." – Awkan replied.

"You had an altercation?" – Tano implied.

"With the Jedi?" – Katooni added a fast inquiry.

"Both correct." – Hector replied in a less serious voice.

"I predict it did not go as smoothly as hoped for."

"An understandable trajectory, wasn't it, Oswald?"

"That it was, Arnold."

"Should we really be talking about this near Katooni? She is, after all, still a Youngling." – Drazeena voiced her concerns on taking this conversation forward at this current path.

"She…"

"I have already witnessed & experienced greatly troubling things, Drazeena."

"I might have to agree with Katooni. She must gain as much experience as she can about the cruelty of the World."

The breeze at which Awkan said the word 'cruelty' was noticed by everyone.

"Very well. He did not make it."

The Temple Guard started motioning his right hand.

"On route to our escape, Calder made the quick decision of allowing Awkan to retreat to our ship and frying the door that led to it; consequently, preventing the Jedi Council members of stopping our escape. However, it came at the cost of his life."

"Tanlia knows this?" – Tano questioned.

"Yeah." – Arnold answered.

Oswald aimed his face at Hector.

"So I'm safe in assuming she is now recuperating from the news?"

A Force signal struck everybody; in a few seconds, a Human female landed roughly near one of the couches.

"Was, Oswald."

She quickly walked extremely close to them.

"But now I'm here."

"With quite an entrance."

"The stairs would have taken too long."

No retort. In this case, obvious sign of agreement. The blonde haired female's Force presence was indecisive, constantly changing. With every second it became all the more evident that she wasn't fine yet; not that anyone blamed her for that. Suddenly, Ahsoka looked at Oswald, they exchanged something with their eyes. Then she spoke:

"I believe we need to chat about our lives a bit, Tanlia. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Honestly, Ahsoka,… I grudgingly have to agree with you. We've hardly spoken for over months. Though, do you truly want to do it or is Oswald forcing you to do it?"

"Just because I'm insightful does not make me Yoda or, in this case, Dooku."

She chuckled at that. A pleasing side for everyone else.

"It is not beyond the realm of possibility."

"Maybe not."

"But what about the Alliance's conference?"

"That? That is not due to start at least for a couple of hours."

"Which gives us far enough time together. We just need a secluded place to be alone together."

"How crazy is that my room, where I was minutes ago, provides us with the needed space."

"A coincidence."

"Like no other." – Oswald added.

"Or one that would be beaten today." – Katooni also voiced.

Within a minute, Tanlia led Tano to the stairs going up to the upper levels of the structure.

The remaining ones shifted their focus to the event.

"There are still more member of the EML to arrive?"

"Right, Hector. The Commander, Vice-commander and a similar fleet."

"Then will have all entities in place here."

"Also true. I believe I should get comfortable with my seat on the bench in the arena. No hiding from the noise, is there?"

"No." – Awkan answered.

"Especially when the Senators' delegates get into a heated exchange." – Arnold pointed out.

"But going back to your statement, Oswald, I do not see it going the way you think."

"Which part, Drazeena?"

"The bench part."

"She's onto something, Oswald. I do remember hearing the Grand Marshall speak of a special seat for you and all of us."

"A special seat? Doesn't that create an unwanted disbalance?"

"I do not see, how you were planning to avoid it." – Orlana replied.

"By being in a row with some delegates. A quite simple action."

"Unfortunately, I do not think that is how the senators, the Admiral or the Marshall see it as."

"It is highly possible that they need you in a pronounced position to attract everyone's attention when needed."

"That is how they though, Awkan."

"Plus, Oswald, it is not like you were not going to voice a grandiose motion throughout the whole Event."

Menson shows off a lively smile.

"The entire Event? No way."

"Than we should put our trust in the main Senators."

"If that is the plan, then I wouldn't mind taking a look at it."

"I believe we should all go." – Orlana stated.

"I mean, we've already experience relaxation down here."

"Then let's move."

Eight figures started to stroll upstairs.

18:00 Coruscant Time, 0 hours till the Vote. Anybody would be labelled a fool for the proposition that such a crucial bill in the Senate will just pass without much noise. The reality – a complete opposite. Even though the Republic Senate had to vote on it at this minute, there were still intense shouting duels everywhere. The 'gasoline to the already existing fire' was Senator Amidala's voiced concern on what the bill means for further judicial cases. Her proponents had a moderately harsh reaction to the Palpatine allied senators counterarguments. Through all this, Main was standing calmly in his designated pod, just observing the chaos around him. The male senator's mind had moved past the part of convincing the 'emergency power' fanatics of the implications of such a path. Organa got that across his mind after their last private talk.

Suddenly, Mas Amedda shouted:

"ORDER! ORDER NOW!"

Slowly, but in a downward trajectory descended the number of shouting duels. When the blue skinned male had finally heard something through his ears that resembled silence, he spoke again.

"The Time for debating has passed. We must know vote on the bill."

"Amedda is right, fellow senators. We due have a War to end." – Sheev added.

The upcoming 10 minutes were dedicated to voicing one's position on the matter & adding the voices into a collective.

20 minutes later. Senator Avergreen walks back to one of the oval shaped hallways of the Senate building. Quickly, the presence of both Hefyra & Main come into frame.

"The Senate has decided."

"And the course was as perceived by the SA."

"We move to His Excellency's office." – Main states with much disdain.

The trio, accompanied by Marshall Sezk, each Senate Guard that oversaw Menson's transition on the day after the bombing, made their way to the most important person in the Galactic Republic.

Simultaneously on Trigonia.

"Avergreen has just informed me of the bill's passing." – her delegate voices.

Similarly to the Senate voting area, the inner arrangement of the structure also possessed several levels. On each level there were about 60 senator delegates; except – the top one. On the top row there was an arc shaped, chalk white marble base with rectangle partitions on it. They were all evenly separated from one another. Fluffy pillows existed in between the partitions. Who sat on the bench? The Freedoms Savior League's members & the Grand Marshall. Since there was an even amount of seats, quite unsurprisingly to most, the two beings within the middle were Oswald and the Marshall, the latter sitting to his right. Shtomer was standing behind them, a step from the bench. Katooni had placed her body on a chair to the farthest right of the insightful one, while Ahsoka was nowhere in the vicinity of them.

"Then we can commence on decerning the finer details of our new society."

"Yes, let us." – Raich's delegate motions.

Palpatine's office.

"Sorry to intrude on such a time, Chancellor, but the circumstances are to dire to wait any longer."

"Think nothing of it, Senator Avergreen. Serious questions pertaining to the future of the Republic should not be ignored."

"Glad we agree, Chancellor." – Hefyra states.

The most powerful person within the Galactic Republic, secretly – the whole Galaxy, was not expecting three of his staunch opposers to appear before him so quickly after the Vote. Of course, he would meditate, pierce into events of the Future through the Force. Largely though, the envisioning of interference to his Master Plan was of Force sensitive nature. A trio of senators causing a collapse felt absurd; which is what a specific person anticipated to be the case.

"So? What is troubling all of you?"

"The Vote's conclusion."

The Chancellor's degree of intrigue rises.

"What of it?"

"We are not satisfied with it."

A rise in callous joy.

"I can see your reservations on the matter, Senator Main, but the matter is over. The Vote is in; so is the decision."

"He is quite right. The Senate has already decided to grant the Chancellor emergency powers that will grant him to overturn any decision that the Courts make."

"That is where we are at an impasse, Mas. This will not continue." – Avergreen retorts.

Palpatine was not yet concerned, but certainly more invested in the current moment.

"What is it you that you are implying, Senator?"

"This is the short version, Chancellor."

She takes a step forward, cements herself as the dominant figure of the group.

"Either you relinquish your new emergency powers or in exactly 2 hours from now we will secede from the Galactic Republic."

The astonishingly bold proclamation by the female senator did not remove the comfort aspect from Palpatine. He still though that he had won today; not – his opposition.

"As deranged as your ultimatum sounds, Senator Avergreen, I will answer respectfully to it, because I am a man of class."

"You still have 2 hours to think about it."

"Thank you, Senator Main, but I do not wish to waste anymore of your time."

"You wish to reply at this exact moment, Chancellor?"

"That I do."

Avergreen takes a step back.

"Let it be. What is your decision?"

"I will kindly… recline the notion of relinquishing my new emergency powers, Senators."

Out of nowhere, he stands up from behind his desk.

"My decision will not change. Now…if you don't have anything other important to discuss, I suggest you leave."

"Alright, Chancellor. Have a good evening."

He just nods; the trio and their guards leave the room. A couple of minutes of thinking on the event that just happened were present. Was it obviously bold? Yes. Did Avergreen have more supporters of her notion than just Main & Hefyra? Certainly. The part that displeased Palpatine was the time frame.

"They were willing to secede so swiftly. Very peculiar by the female senator. She must have known that such a task is unrealistic."

Unless…Unless… This was all preplanned in an extremely impeccable manner. The more he thought of this, the more the idea became acceptable.

"If they knew I would reply negatively from even before the Vote, then the time frame had to be so precise to achieve the desirable result that…"

A realization comes to his mind.

"…That she could not have done this by herself."

A very rare emotion affects his well-being; that being – danger.

"Neither Main, nor Hefyra suffice for the 'Grand Scheme'."

In the next few seconds, the pondering abruptly stopped. Palpatine had pinpointed, who had stringed this elaborate plan together.

"No doubt. It was the Padawan that sensed me on Coruscant recently. He…Played in the dark…Out of sight…Carefully strategizing…Anticipating his opponents moves by the 'Most Possible' rule."

There were still no guarantees that Avergreen's motion would thrive, but, if transpired, it would benefit him in one particular way.

"If she is right and they succeed, he will become visible to the Galaxy."

A malevolent smile appeared.

"Visibility will eliminate your advantage, Young One. We shall see, are you ready to play in the biggest game ever to be conceived?"

Soon, Palpatine came up with his next 2 moves. Firstly, he wanted to eat something very pleasant to his mouth. Secondly, a deep immersion in the Force with sights set on understanding the Future's landscape.

10 minutes later. The marble bench occupiers are treated to an unexpectedly early, even for the farseeing one, call from Avergreen. Menson's curiosity is noticeable by the surrounding beings.

"He did not even take time to assess it?"

"No. I quote him saying: "My decision will not change"."

For about a minute, the adolescent male rearranges his pieces in his mind, changes the perception, approach accordingly to the unprecedented event. Right on schedule, the Grand Marshall gets the conversation over the hurdle.

"I'm not sure it's a bad thing, Strategy Advisor. The inaugural event would have happened with or without the 2 hour passing, right?"

"That's what I anticipated, Grand Marshall."

"Your work has paid dividends towards the Alliance. We can now move swiftly to the crucial aspects that need to be discussed at Point C."

"The Senator is right. There is no time to waste. Just because the threat is over from Coruscant does not guarantee that there are no more threats left for today." – Hector immerses himself in the conversation.

"Fair enough. I will present the discussed aspect to the delegates right after this call ends, Senator."

She nods and cuts the line. Quickly, the blonde haired male takes a look at his brown outfit with the downward yellow lines on the shoulders.

"Alright."

He stands up from the bench; the delegates on the same level as him take notice of this occurrence. The microphone is taken from the arced table in front of the marble bench.

"My fellow delegates, I've just received word from Avergreen that the Chancellor has declined the ultimatum. With this news, we can confidently proceed to establishing a functioning enough organization for the upcoming weeks or months."

There were more than a 100 yells of: "That's true!" or "Carry on!". The Freedom Savior League members, the Extra Military League leaders & the Grand Marshall all awaited the upcoming proposition by Menson with delight.

As Mundi's Padawan stood from the bench.

"The Strategy Advisor has got off the bench."

"Copy that."

"All teams be on high alert."

"We understand the implications of such a change, Miss Tano."

"Yes. He is now more visible to being targeted."

"And if he is to be eliminated, now is the best time to do it."

"All in agreeance?"

"Yes, sir."

The adolescent female was receiving faint signals of hazardousness from the Force. More than likely, there is a mole present among them.

"By examination, it…Seems…"

She takes a look at the top level, does not latch on to anything glaringly suspicious, cryptic.

"…That the mole is moving into position."

A millisecond passes before a realization thrusts forward.

"He is going to the dome."

With that, Ahsoka dashed.

A couple of minutes passed the body position change. The entire senator delegation, which had every intent of seceding from the Republic, in consequence, shrinking its size, were locked onto Menson with their eyes.

"It is greatly possible that we will be engaged in a War quite soon. To combat such a revelation, we need a clear military course from this point forward."

Everyone stayed silent; Mundi's Padawan spoke in a calm, confident tone. An all to rational choice.

"In order to secure our Alliance future and to be the most effective in accomplishing such a task, I nominate myself as candidate for the Grand General of the Alliance. Said position would be the ultimate one in the military. Therefore, I call for a Vote on this motion."

Afterwards, he goes back to sitting on the arc shaped furniture.

"I pleasantly welcome such a proposition." – one delegate voices.

"I second it."

"Third."

"Understood. Since most want to discuss it, we will now commence a 30 minute debate on the matter." – Avergreen's delegate proposes.

"Why such a timeframe?" – Main's delegate questions.

"We can't just be rushing into another immobile, insufficient organization. This requires a thorough overlook." – Raich's delegate counters.

"I can see the need for everyone to prosses such a motion."

"Then we can start the timer?"

"By all means."

"Good."

Sometime later. Mysteriously, somebody had arrived at the outer dome circle. A design of this structure was having a narrow, small angled (only 20 centimeters (~8 inches)) line running across the dome resembling ceiling. It wasn't an extremely preferable place for visually taking in the every level. Unsurprisingly, this was not the newcomer's intent. The Grand Marshall had forbade anyone, not named the security personnel, from going up there.

"He sat down to quick. I won't be able to hit him until next time."

The person smiles.

"However, he will stand back up again and then it'll be curtains for him."

From out of nowhere, a being rushes up from behind him & jumps over him. He barely has time to react to this shift in reality. The recently landed being slowly begins to turn around.

"You are not permitted to be here, sir."

The brown attire wearing being comes face to face with the mysterious arriver. He was indeed of male sex. Soon, the baffled person regained his composure. Moreover, questioned the opposing figure.

"You are a bold one for coming in here alone."

He swiftly pulls out a blaster pistol with his right hand.

"Too bad, that boldness won't guarantee a win."

"I suggest surrendering, while I'm feeling… Lenient."

The male had a rush of opposing emotions. On one hand, his confidence grew; on the other hand, a certain fear also emerged.

"Enough talk."

In a split second, a miraculous action is executed. A blush pink lightsaber is seen pointed forward.

"Fine by me."

The male realizes his finite timeline & tries to shoot as fast as he could. Sadly, even his fastest possible effort proved futile. Tano launched herself forward, easily deflected the first shot, did not allow a second one to even appear. In a few seconds, the adolescent female was standing over the male trespasser with her saber barely separated from his neck.

"Drop…Your…Weapon…Now."

Those words were said with elegant viciousness and confidence. Another few seconds passed before the pistol was thrown away from the duo.

"You yield?"

"Yes."

"Glad to hear it. I really did not want to end this… Harshly."

Ahsoka pushes a button on her ear nestled communicating device.

"I've apprehended a male trespasser, who intended to eliminate the SA."

"Very well, Miss Tano. Two guards will soon arrive to take him to his cell."

"Understood. I'm holding my position."

"Alright. It's time to Vote."

"Do you believe they will appoint you as the leader of the Military force?"

"It would be in their best interest to do so, Grand Marshall."

"I might have to agree, Strategy Advisor."

Up to 5 minutes passed before the Votes were counted.

"The result is in." – the Grand Marshall spoke.

"And what is it?"

"There were 427 delegates that supported the motion. That's 71,5% of the total amount of delegates. The minimum requirement is met."

"So the proposal is excepted by the Alliance. From the signing of the new treaty, the Strategy Advisor will become the Grand General of the Alliance."

There were numerous screams of joy, pleasure & excitement across each level of the building. Oswald accessed the results implication on further events.

"Wonderful. It is probably the best statement I've heard in a long time. With them making me the highest ranking person in the military, I can use my insight with seemingly unnoticeable intrusion to allow for the Alliance to live on."

Through the next half an hour. The future political aspect of the Alliance, which basically comes down to international public affairs & their handling of them, was being discussed from different angles. Each person on the marble bench paid, to some extent, attention to these talks. The most invested being the ones that had the most experience in large scales apparatuses. This included: the Grand Marshall, Admiral Shtomer, Oswald Menson. Closely behind the trio in scale – Arnold. The adolescent Human male dedicated the time to piecing together a preferable behavior, view of character in the public eye of the Alliance. There was little doubt in his mind that the FSL will be enthralled in a large scale conflict quite soon; the reason for this – Menson's implications. By this point, the trespasser had been transported to a holding cell and security with Ahsoka had resumed surveillance of everything. The Supreme Admiral stood like an immovable stone on the bridge of his ship, calmingly getting a positive signal from Trigonia.

Suddenly, a delegate proposes something extraordinary.

"I believe I have a way of ensuring our relative stability through the coming weeks or months."

Avergreen's, Main's, Hefyra's, Raich's delegates all shifted their eyes to the proclaimer. Astoundingly to them, the delegate was of Senator Garnoa. Senator Garnoa – a fairly old Human male representative of a planet in the Southwest Region of the Mid Rim. Through the last couple of years of the Clone Wars, said person had gained the reputation of being staunchly conservative and less expressive than most other senators. So to hear his delegate make, to be assumed, a breakthrough of a motion at this crucial time shot the interest level of all delegates to new heights.

"Alright, delegate of Garnoa. Please present it."

"I've listened to all of you talk about what kind of approach we take on the political aspect of our Alliance. It is good that we agree that a wholesome Parliament as a legislative organ, a singular High Court as a juridical organ, the Police and Military as an executive organ. Two of them I have no disagreements with."

"Which is the one you have reservations about?" – Main's delegate inquires.

"The legislative aspect. A Parliament is good, but,…As everyone has come to witness, it could egregiously end in tyranny without much notice for change."

"This might not be the fault of the system. It might be the fact that a lot of senators just take the occupation to lightly." – one delegate counters.

"She is right. Maybe it's our lack of diligence that creates this and not the systems core traits." – another one adds."

"That position is valid, but we must decide on a concrete way of organizing all 3 branches before day's end. Am I right?"

"That you are. Therefore, present us with your proposal to solve this trouble around the legislative branch." – Avergreen's delegate states.

"Understood, fellow delegate. So…My position is as follows – I nominate the recently agreed upon Grand General an oversight based role over the Parliament of the Alliance. Which would include an ability to veto a certain amount of times any new law implemented by the Parliament."

The proposition encroached into almost everyone's emotional state, brought it a major liveliness boost.

"To be honest, I did not foresee such a development, Grand Marshall."

"This appears to similar to the Galactic Republic structure, where one person has to much control over everything."

"There are similarities, don't get me wrong, Grand Marshall. Though, it is different."

"Elaborate, Temple Guard."

"What the delegate proposed was only an oversight role in the legislative branch. Nothing more."

"Not to sound cataclysmic or cynical here, but this is a fine line we'll be walking if the vote is in favor of it." – Awkan points the obvious concerning aspect of the proposition.

"Palpatine and Menson are not the same." – Orlana counters.

"Then we come back to the question, who is more liable to fail – the mechanism or the operator?" – Arnold expresses, siding with Awkan.

"Well, we have to ask ourselves this then. Would we have achieved our current state with anyone else's input other than Menson?" – Drazeena voices.

"There are some positive aspects to it. It might allow less political scheming on the Military's part."

"Which would make our work much easier, Temple Guard. Good point."

"Will you object to it, Menson?"

"No, Akwan. It is, by all means, a gigantically harder position to hold than the current one assigned to me."

"You are going to be scrutinized by the beings of most planets constantly."

"That is to be expected, Arnold."

"For me, it is essential that we preserve the freedom of the Galaxy. If a necessary action is to enable Menson to undo any passed law for whatever reason detrimental to a possible Galactic wide conflict, which we will be immersed in, then I'm certainly more for it than against it." – Tanlia gives her take on the matter at hand.

The blonde haired female's word happened to be the last; soon, the talks on the bench disappeared.

Same transition as last time: Avergreen's delegate pushed for the moment to vote, 10 minutes passed before the Grand Marshall announced the results. Inexplicably, the collective delegation showed more support for the insightful one securing a diligent role in the legislative branch than allowing him to be the highest ranking person in the Alliance's Military.

"Then it is settled. The Grand General of the Alliance also secures the position of Grand Consul of the Alliance."

Feeling the emotional state of the building, Oswald took initiative & stood up for the second time.

"Fellow delegates. Thank you for showing support and entrusting me with the task of preserving a quality, freedom centered, fulfilling life for everyone in the Alliance. Now I believe I can voice the closing remark."

The delegates remain silent; he takes it as a hint to continue.

"With the knowledge that there are 597 planets within our organization, I declare from this moment forward that it will be renamed… From the Alliance… To the Union of 600. Let us rejoice and continue on with the same intentions that we withhold in ourselves on this day. Thank you very much for your time."

The 19 year old male sits down; as soon as he does, Avergreen's delegate says:

"That is all for today, fellow delegates. The meeting over the Alliance's future is over. The Treaty of Trigonia will be published on every planet in the upcoming 24 hours. Have a good day!"

Then the whole building went wild; there was an uncountable quantity of emotion spilling from each living soul. It truly symbolized something that everyone can relate to & hold dear. The feeling of pleasure when accomplishing anything singular that was: long, grueling, exhausting, of high value. With the announced end, the power scale of the Galaxy, the existed duality within it was going to have to be transformed. A return to the means was past its possibility date.

Back at the landing zone in front of the structure. There was an easily noticeable movement of transporter ships from the landing zone. As widely known, the delegates were sent here by their Senators, which each represent a singular planet. With the meeting being closed, the former had to report back to those particular planets. There wasn't much fear of an invasion by anyone; primarily – the Confederacy had no idea of the Union's existence as of right now. What of the Republic? With Amidala's unrelenting pursuit of less clones, the Galactic Republic launching a massive fleet on several possible planets would be undoubtedly be classified as both irrational & too costly. Through all of this leave, every significant figure, either physically or digitally, of the former Alliance, present Union was grounded not too far from the Strider. Right now, Ahsoka was just finishing her report on the trespasser.

"Did my men find anything on his communicator?"

"Sadly, it was wiped clean."

"Not an insurmountable detail."

"Let me guess. You have already identified the customer?" – Tano asks in a brazen way.

"I would say I've settled on the most likely one." – Menson answers quite relaxingly.

"Then it'll probably turn out to be true." – Hector gives a take on the response.

"Who do you think it is?" – Senator Avergreen inquires.

"Count Dooku. I'm especially deeply confident in my assessment after the insurgency onboard the EML's Command ship."

"So would I be safe in assuming that a War with the confederacy is imminent?"

"Definitely safe, Grand Marshall."

"My delegate says that you've been named Grand General & Consul of the Union."

"True, Main."

"I'll be the first to say that I'm not overly happy with such a decision."

"I assume that everyone has balanced perspective on the matter at hand." – Shtomer points out.

"I second that notion."

Avergreen's eyes concentrate on Oswald.

"The delegate also mentioned that you agree on the Capital of the Union."

"True. Which means…"

The 19 year old turns to the Supreme Admiral's hologram.

"Supreme Admiral. You can bring your ships to Trigonia. We'll be journeying to the new Capital as a collective as soon as you arrive."

"A rational move, Grand General."

He shows a faint smile.

"We're on our way."

Rapidly, he leaves the conversation.

"We hope to be working together quite closely and quite smoothly over the coming weeks to come."

"I'm expecting that, Avergreen. I'm just not sure, how frequent that will happen due to the possible threat of the Confederacy."

"We have to keep an open mind."

"Be willing to adapt to current affairs."

"Yet, most of all, remain to true to what we sat out to do."

"Then until next time."

The Senators holograms disappear; their delegates say goodbye, transition to their transport ships.

"Should we start our leave as well?" – Hector inquires.

"Soon. I just have to send a message with Katooni."

"What kind of message?"

"A warning type of message, Awkan."

Menson turns to the Grand Marshall.

"Your transmitter is strong enough to reach an Inner Rim planet."

"So long it is not the furthest one in the Rim."

"No."

"Then it'll reach."

"Splendid. Then let's go send it now and make our way off of Tragonia."

Immediately, the blonde haired male stretches out his right hand, shapes a fist.

"To the prosperity of the Union."

One after the other, everybody connects their fists into a spiral, even the Tholothian girl. A spectacular sight of transcendent warmth.

Late evening at the Jedi Temple. 2/3 of the Council were present in their Chamber, when a unplanned officer appeared on their hollo projector.

"Excuse the interruption, Master Windu. We've received a message from off world."

"What is so special about it that you needed to inform the Council?"

"Because, sir, it was sent from one of the banned designated frequencies of today."

In a split second the Jedi Master first, the remaining present Masters – later, knew the identity of the sender.

"Well done, officer. Please send us the recorded message right away."

"Will do, Master Windu."

A knew topic came to the stage after the officer's leave.

"Unprecedented this reaction is."

"I agree. There was far too much evidence that pointed to him not reestablishing a similar relationship with people that betrayed his trust." – Plo Koon explained.

"Then there must be a sufficient reason for Mister Menson changing his approach."

"I guess we'll see, what that reason is, Master Undhuli."

"Yes, we shall, Mace." – Obi Wan added.

Quickly, two figures appeared before them. There was no mistaking, who they were, from the minute they saw them.

"Hello, Masters. I know you're surprised to see me reach out to you after your attempt at imprisoning me…"

"…And me."

The two Force sensitives make a half glance at each other.

"As much as I would welcome your scolding of my life choices, I don't have a lot of time & neither do you. So I'll keep this short. With a special technique I've stumbled upon news of unimaginable worth."

He gaged the Chamber; automatically, most intelligent beings would imply that he knew they would react to the message this way.

"The War has become far more ambiguous than I've previously conceived."

The Council members were quick to pick up the facial expression change. It went from calm to a mixture of calmness and grimness.

"There is another Sith Lord alive. With the guidance of the Force, I managed to evaluate his Midichlorian counter. Do… Not… Underestimate… Him. He is significantly more stronger than Count Dooku. Which, as you can easily conjugate, means he is not the Master. No – Dooku's the apprentice. Now… Going back to the new Sith Lord. I inform you of him not because I harbor any ill will towards you as of now, but rather to warn you of his existence. I might not care for your lives, but the Padawans & Younglings, who you protect within the Temple's walls, deserve my care."

Menson's face lost the severity.

"I will also provide you with a hint. That being – he is extremely close by."

He gaged the Chamber again.

"All… Of… You have met him."

"At least 10 times." – Katooni added.

"He has a somewhat Force façade hovering over his essence. So he would appear differently than Dooku with his malicious smile and arrogant walk."

"Yet, make no mistake."

"He is a danger to all of you and your time is ticking. I foresee that the ending that he has planned for you is closer than any of you might be able to grasp. So,…"

"…As a closing remark."

"For the Jedi's survival, find out, who the Sith Lord is, before a catastrophe sneaks up on the Jedi Order. Farewell, my former Masters."

The message ended. A veil of silence lowered on the chamber.

Several minutes later. The Jedi Masters were finally ready to review the most recent news.

"That was not even close to the topic I had envisioned him presenting." – Undhuli begrudgingly started first.

"His demeanor through the recording was highly amazing. He presented such an unorthodox viewpoint so calmly." – Kit Fisto voiced.

"Could it be a trick?" – Secura inquired the others.

"Highly unlikely. Mundi's Former Padawan is not known for making unfathomably bold statements."

"Agreeing in with Padawan Menson? Hmmm, Plo?"

"Not entirely, Master Yoda. I'm simply saying that to treat this message from him as a means to frighten us is either ludicrous or paranoid."

"Then what is it your saying?"

"I'm constituting that the theory of there being another Sith Lord, one more powerful than Dooku, is completely possible, Obi Wan. Yet, that is not the only aspect I wanted to present."

"What else do you want to add?" – Fisto asked.

"If Menson is right about what he has found, then he may not realize it, but…"

Plo Koon moved within his chair; the others noticed. For Yoda & Windu, this was an obvious signal of a dangerous upcoming proclamation.

"…the Sith Lord, which he mentioned, might have already figured out his knowledge of his existence."

"What gives you that impression?"

"The calmness in which he spoke about him, Luminara. I'm fairly confident that he knows the person by name. Keeping that in mind with the fact of his mentioned strength,…"

His tone lowered more than usual.

"…the other Sith Lord will not just watch him thrive with such impeccably crucial information. That is why,… I hope with all my heart that Menson truly understands the game that he is partaking in. Without the solitude of the Order to back him, he becomes extremely vulnerable. He might be more insightful, but experience is undoubtedly on the Sith's side. Even as we speak right now, it is quite possible that a theoretical Sith duo is already planning a counterattack."

Several hours later on Serenno. In one of the mountainous regions of the planet stood an oval shaped building, which had a certain mystique around it. Most would attribute it as cautious, misleading; the area around the structure only contributed to such a notion. The leader of the Confederacy – Count Dooku – was looking threw a massive chartreuse green glass piece at his preciously maintained backyard. Said person's eyes were closed; the facial expression alluding to a diligent wait.

All of a sudden, a beeping noise is heard from his desk. Swiftly the Sith Lord opens his eyes and marches to a communication board, which was located on his desk. A face concealed figure appears in the classic hollo projector blue hue.

"Lord Tyrannus."

"Master."

"I do not need to remind you what a setback is this new emerging power's creation."

"Of course not, Master."

"Good. Than we can discuss, what type of counter measure you have in place for this new, so called Union of 600?"

"As we've discussed previously, your plans were not ready for their final implication for at least 2 weeks."

"Correct, Tyrannus."

"This unforeseen event only pushes the deadline by a month."

The elder Sith Lord took time in assessing the emotional state of his Apprentice. There was no ambiguity present within him.

"A brash statement. I hope you've prepared an explanation, on how you plan to accomplish this."

"Not the hardest of schemes, Master. The Union of 600 has just been officially created, right?"

"Yes."

"So it is at the infancy stage at its existence. So…"

A malevolent smug face is formed.

"…We just need to cut the main figure from it & it will crumble."

"Alright. I understand your tactic, but I do possess a question about it."

"Anything, my Master."

"With all the tasks you've on your mind already, how are you going to prepare to tackle someone, who is extremely gifted at anticipation of people and sequences of events."

"That task…"

Suddenly, two medium height figures with cloaks drop down 3 meters (~10 feet) away from Dooku's back.

"This is the great Dark Lord. Show your respect."

The two beings peel back the hoods of their cloaks.

"We are ready to serve our passions aligned with the guidance of the Sith." – both beings say at the same time.

Darth Sidious took less than a minute to examine the physical appearance of the newly arrived beings. They were almost certainly of female sex, their skin resembled on of a fish's scale, a standard four limb biped, teal blue eyes, unique heads.

"If I'm not mistaken, the last Acolyte you sent after our primary target ended in failure. You believe two will be enough this time round?" – the Sith Lord questions in a disgruntled tone.

"My Master, these two sisters have a larger raw potential than Chariza."

"And with all due respect, Great Sith Lord, she was an extremely poor tactician, when it came to types of confrontations."

"She was too arrogant to adapt to a tactic, which best suited her at the current time."

"Adding to this, Chariza was sent to apprehend an unknown enemy. This we'll know, who he is. And finally,…"

Dooku's eyes widen to the maximum.

"…The trap, which I fully intend to set for him, will be to great, precise, immaculate to overcome. He has no idea the bond that any of us posses us with dark side, my Master."

This was enough to please the elder Sith Lord; therefore, there was no reason to keep the line open.

"Good. Good, Tyrannus. Maintain your current attention level on the Union's special figure. Do not let it waver, not even a bit. Do you understand?"

"Completely, Master."

"Then farewell."

THE END

In closing: Thank you to everyone for taking the time to immerse oneself in this story. It has been a long journey; coincidently, almost exactly a year has passed from the 1st chapter's publishing. I hope you enjoyed the story (even with the grammar mistakes still lurking somewhere throughout the story); really do. I know from time to time, it might have been an exhausting time. Honestly, you would not be alone in that camp. Will there be a new story? Maybe. We'll just have to wait and see, how the future unfolds. Goodbye for now.