Chapter 38: Disclosure
It was a shame they moved her to another apartment in the Temple, Siri had preferred her destructive decor of her old one. Alas, not destroying temple property had been a rule added to her 'parole'. Such a shame. Oh well.
Siri hummed quietly to herself as she laid on the apartment's couch, levitating her datapad above her aimlessly browsing the holonet. The Jedi hadn't called her yet to try and pry into her knowledge. They were busy addressing the rest of the temple over the last few days. Fielding questions and explaining the situation on hand. Judging by the sensations she could detect, the vast majority of the Temple was not amused at a Sith being here, not to mention unbound. Not that she could go anywhere in the Temple unescorted, and anywhere she wanted to go would have to be approved beforehand. But again, where would she want to go in here?
The ground rules were mostly the same as before for when she was waiting for the questioning session and trial. Though with the addition of any breech in the rules resulting in revoking of what little freedoms she would be given or earned. She's not particularly threatened by that. She is also required to attend sessions either with Obi-Wan or a mind healer addressing her 'issues' (being a Sith, hah) as treatment, once a week at minimum. Which is a sour point and continuation of what occurred in the Cell. Its a small thing, relatively. It still pisses her off of course.
She is not concerned about the Jedi, even if she's going to be stuck with them for kriffing ten years (or until she gets sick of it and bails / Sidious finds a way to get at her). A ten year 'parole', its what she herself suggested, but... the reality of being stuck in the Temple, surrounding by so many scorching, scouring lights, is slow to set it. No, her real concern... is that Sidious did nothing. Aside from being sent to trial in the first place... nothing really happened. She had expected a violent reaction, that he'd try to kill her after she made her move in the trial. Reclaiming her wouldn't matter in the face of what she said. But he did nothing, and now she had a Jedi Temple full of meat shields between him and her for the next decade.
Did he not think she was serious about turning on him?
Or does he not take her seriously as a threat? As much as it grates... she's only twenty-three years old at this point, as a Jedi she most likely wouldn't have been a knight yet. As a Sith, she is on the cusp of becoming a Lord. Except, if the Sacrifice of Obi-Wan is truly required, if she can't find some other way to claim that power she had for so short a time on Naboo... she will never become a Lord. And even if she does... Obi-Wan's threat echoes in her head, that he will turn away from her if she 'becomes Darth Tyrosus' again. It is an impossible situation.
She's tired of being Sidious's apprentice, at his beck and call, his servant, his slave; she desires to become the Master, to have the power of the Dark Side at her command. She also wants Obi-Wan to live, and to be hers. She wants Sidious DEAD, and her other goals require Sidious dead anyway, but killing him is something she's not capable of without achieving her full power and improving upon it, which will lose her Obi-Wan. Damned no matter which way she turns unless she can either hide it from Obi-Wan, convince him to look past it... or she gives up on him becoming hers.
She growls with agitation. She's already stronger than almost any but the top percentage of Jedi, but that means nothing compared to Sidious. Even with ten years to hone and improve herself with a buffer of Jedi between her and Sidious, even with her information given to the Jedi to try and weaken Sidious's powerbase... she's not sure she can come close to killing him before he enacts the Grand Plan.
She's not sure she entirely wants to ruin the Grand Plan either. Obi-Wan is the only Jedi she truly cares for, the others are either irritations, enemies to be, or negligible losses. There are those she used to favor and like, such as Bant or Vos, but she could live without them. Those Obi-Wan favors she'd try to keep alive for him, but she thinks he could learn to live without most of them as well, save perhaps his direct lineage. The Jedi will tolerate her for only so long, and tolerate is a very strong word for what they are doing now, if by the end of this 'parole', if she hasn't shown any signs of turning away from the Dark Side, she doubts they will just let her walk away. Not to mention if she ever tries to go for the galactic domination route, they will get in her way.
About the only roundabout way she could see beating Sidious would be to figure out who he is, then go after him with the entire Jedi Council, kill him, and slip away in the chaos. Which is one, not very realistic, just a loose possibility, and two, extremely unsatisfying. She wants Sidious to SUFFER as he dies. If she just wanted a quick kill, she would have killed him over Plaguies during the Naboo incident. A better route would be *simply* to survive the Grand Plan with Obi-Wan alive, then perhaps after the death of the Jedi, he might not care about her achieving her full power, might even want her to in order to kill Sidious. Then she'd have more time to grow stronger and defeat her Master.
Of course, its not a simple mater to survive if Sidious decides he wants her dead. She has to recognize that there is a very real possibility this will all fail someway and somehow. That Naboo and everything that happened since, will have very real consequences that might either kill or ruin her. Life was so much simpler before Naboo, it really was. She craves Obi-Wan, but her ascension would have been so much smoother had he not held onto that love, had killing him just been an easy path. Trying to have the Dark Side and Obi-Wan and turning on Sidious far to early...
She grumbled quietly. "It might destroy me."
There's also the problem of deciding what exactly to tell the Jedi that won't screw herself over in some way. She doesn't want to reveal her Sith Sorcery, or at least, only minor abilities and incantations that could just be attributed to normal use of the Dark Side, and not an overarching archetype of power. She's not turning on the Black Sun either, Alexi and Maghilla and Siri's relations to them won't be revealed. Each thing she told them, each criminal group she marked as Sith influenced, each corrupted, bought, or threatened political figure, each organization or trade conglomerate, each Dark Side ability, all of that and more, would either be lost to her or the Jedi would now know about it.
She scrubbed at her face with aggravation. "Sometimes I don't think I have any idea what I'm doing anymore. One boy shows up and says he loves me, I lose my shit, and then all of this happens."
There is a knock at the door, she looks up as it opens and Dooku invites himself into the room. "The Council has called for you, Sith."
She scrutinizes him for a moment, mostly calm, but there is an air of irritation and aggravation about him. "Well you're in a fine mood."
"It's not every week that a Sith gets off free from their sins," snubbed the man.
"Actually," she countered, "The Sith have been getting away with it for the last thousand years."
Dooku blinks at her once and then scowls. She grins in response. Messing with Jedi is one way to make her feel better, and she's going to get to do that for ten years. She gets up and follows him from the room, temple guards falling in behind her. "No Obi-Wan?"
"He is already in the council chambers discussing something with them," said Dooku.
Siri hummed as an answer, going silent after. She has to be mindful of how she interacts with Dooku. While he and the Jedi know she was Iris, she can't give any hint that could be recorded and re-taken to court. Since the Republic has the tendency to try people for the same crimes multiple times. The thought reminds her of a few worlds on the Outer Rim that have what they call 'Double Jeopardy' laws which make it a one trial and done thing, but the Republic apparently likes to waste time and money in courts over and over again, regardless of the person being tried being guilty or not (there are points for or against multiple trials either way she supposes). In fact... she needs to cut another deal with the Council now that she thinks on it.
She can't speak of over half the damn things she could tell them without ending up back in court real quick.
Exasperation briefly overtakes her. She's already tired of dealing with them. Might as well get started now. "Dooku."
The man turns his head slightly as they enter the lift for the Council Chambers, leaving the temple guards waiting outside for their eventual return.
"I can't reveal most of what I know without implicating myself," she said mildly, going for brutal honesty, "And I have very little intention of doing so."
Dooku narrowed his eyes for a moment. There is an air of puzzlement and wariness about him. "You agreed to provide information already."
"And then what, you toss me in jail afterwards?"
He scowls at her, puzzlement fading. "Did you not even read the plea agreement before you signed it?"
"Not really," her eyes had glazed over after the first page of a twenty page legal document, all too relieved that her plan hadn't gotten her killed.
He sighs and fishes through his robes, pulling out a datapad, briefly flicking through it, and handing it to her. "It is standard procedure for informants or witnesses to be granted immunity when providing information or evidence. You are far worse than the usual filth this deal is extended to, but, your master is worse, so the Jedi do what they must."
She took it and glanced over the section he had scrolled to, reading it over before nodding. "Well, excuse me if legality isn't my forte. Scrambling to brush up before a trial only covers so much."
She gave him a snide look. "And do get over yourself Dooku, if Sidious had his way, you would have ended up just as filthy as I am."
He glared at her, but before he could response, Siri grew a little puzzled. "Though, if I had killed Qui-Gon, I wonder who he would have had as your Sacrifice. I can only really remember you as a distant arrogant snob, I don't think you had friends or anyone else you'd care for."
He was practically radiating indignation and irritation, the beginnings of anger, oh how Sidious would have easily turned him given some quality alone time with a lost master if his old padawan had died. "In the interest of preserving their lives and not making future targets, I will refrain from naming them to you, but I do have friends, Sith, not that you would understand what it means to have them yourself, having spit in the face of everything you once were."
She stares at him silently for a long moment, even as the elevator dings open, she simply stands there, locking eyes with him. Her eyes are cold, and her presence icy. "Perhaps I do, perhaps I don't, but either way, I remember what it used to feel like, and know this Dooku: I understand I will never get that back."
She has a moment to watch Dooku appear taken aback, before she strides out of the elevator. Alexi and Mighella are her friends, yes, but nothing like what she used to have. They were kindred dark spirits, sinners as defiled as she was. They were hers, they belonged to her, she enjoyed their presence, but that did not mean she actually trusted them.
Trust.
She shook her head. "Trust in another sentient being doesn't survive Sith Training, and you cant have real friendship, any real relationship, without it."
She moves to sit down on a waiting bench outside the door.
Dooku stands in front of her, his face carefully guarded, yet very curious. "Then what is it exactly that you believe you have with my grandpadawan?"
Her face grew bitter. "An illusion that's going to end in nothing but misery and suffering before this is all said and done. The tighter I cling to it, the more painful it will be when it is eventually ripped away. Whether from my own actions, from Sidious, or something else."
"Yet still you cling," he commented.
"Yet still I cling," she agreed, lips peeling back in dark amusement, "The attachment you Jedi all so readily fear. It's not logical in the slightest."
Dooku slowly shook his head. "You make little sense to me, Sith. Am I to pity or abhor you?"
"I still vote on you running me through with a saber and being done with it," she mused.
He scoffed. "I gave you my answer to that in the cell."
"I'm aware," she said, a sinister chuckle escaping her lips, "I think I'm beginning to see what Sidious sees in you."
That puts him at edge, saying nothing, glowering at her.
"Do you understand the Sith concept of mercy?" she asked as the doors opened and Obi-Wan stepped out, pausing to stare at them.
"Sith have no mercy," said Dooku simply.
"Exactly," she answered, looking up at him smugly, "While we kill readily, and who we must, Sith believe that giving death is generally a mercy from prolonging and feeding off their victim's suffering. You're just a fall away from matching that belief."
Dooku's lips are pursed so tightly, his posture so rigid.
"Siri, what have I said about needling?" asked Obi-Wan with exasperation.
"It's not needling," she said flatly, forgoing her usual playful banter, eyes not leaving Dooku, "It's a warning. Sidious wont let go of what he wants easily, and if your Grandmaster doesn't want to end up exactly like me, he needs to take a good long look in the mirror and sort himself out."
There is the sound of a throat clearing, and her eyes flicker off the aged master to see a number of the council standing behind Obi-Wan, watching the scene warily.
Siri slowly stands, her back straight, glancing at Dooku as she moved to pass him. "Shall we?"
Dooku locked his shields down tight, glaring at her back, but fell in behind as the Council returned to their seats. Dooku and Obi-Wan stood near the door while Siri strode to the center of the room and waited.
"We will do ourselves all the favor of dispensing with pleasantries," began Master Windu, eying Siri warily, "What exactly can you tell us about Darth Sidious?"
"That he's most likely been doing potential damage control while you've been giving pretty speeches to all your poor upset Jedi these last few days," she answered back flatly.
Windu narrowed his eyes at her, but before he could speak, she continued harshly, "You've had me, open and ready, for almost half a week now, and rather than immediately taking advantage, you sit me in a room to wait. I made a choice to turn on Sidious, but each moment you've dwadled weakens the impact I could do to harm him and his plans. I don't care about you placating your Order, if they are the Jedi they are supposed to be, they'd deal with it."
Arrogant, complacent idiots.
Ki-Adi-Mundi spoke up, his tone careful, "You have been in Jedi custody for over two months now."
"And for over those two months, Sidious would not have know for certain what I was going to do or what I may or may not have revealed," she countered in a clipped tone, "Now, he does. That senate shake up I did was an initial blow, unimportant, mostly as an irritation, but to get him focused on controlling the potential damage there and involved so that he could not easily go elsewhere."
Yoda looked at her thoughtfully. "Intentional, it was, not spur of the moment."
"Yes," she answered, "Sidious knows me well, but not all of me."
The sexist bastard had little to no idea what she had become under Zannah's dark tutelage, so arrogantly underestimating the Holocron. Siri wasn't on Sidious's level, not even close, but she was capable of being calculated to a degree more than he would have expected, well, when her emotions didn't get in the way anyway. "You should have had me in here the day the plea bargain was struck, your Jedi Shadows already out there undermining his power base."
Her lips peeled back in distaste. "That's if they and you had the will and drive to do what needed to be done."
"And what, exactly, Sith, is that?" said Master Rancisis, leaning forward.
"What do you think? Do you think the scum Sidious owns will go down quietly?" she said, eyebrow raised, "I can name you so many major criminal groups across the galaxy Sidious has his fingers in, and that's only the ones he's had me influence or mentioned his own control over. None of them will play nice with the Jedi."
She doesn't let them respond, once again, "I can name so many Senators or politicians or royalty that he has power over. I can give you corporations he has power in, conflicts he's had me influence for him, or that hes mentioned controlling..."
She pauses to consider perhaps one of the more important ones he told her of. "The Stark Hyperspace War was entirely manipulated by Sidious as an example."
The uproar that suddenly went through the Council Chamber made Siri raise an unimpressed eyebrow. She also felt a shocked reaction from Obi-Wan, and... wait... hadn't he and his Master been involved in that as well? There is a tint of rising anger that she quickly controls despite how it inflames her fury. Obi-Wan could have died in that war.
Yoda rapped his gimmer stick on the floor several times for silence, but it isn't him who questions Siri, it's Plo-Koon, and she feels the intensity behind his gaze. "Why?"
She studied him for a moment. She reflexively goes through her knowledge of the council, Sidious made it a point that she should know her enemies. Ah, Plo-Koon was also involved, and lost his former Master during the war. He had a vested interest. "Perhaps you didn't notice that in a conflict that lasted less than a year, the near thousand years of Republic non-militarization took one hell of a blow, that many in the senate lobbied for, are still lobbying for the Republic to have a standing army and navy again. Not to mention its the event which really kick-started the Trade Federation ramping up their droid armies."
"The Sith would destroy the Republic, why would they want it militarized?" posed Master Windu.
"Silly Jedi," she said, sneering at him, "Why destroy and build a government from the ground up, when you could corrupt and take over the current one?"
There is dead, stunned silence in the room.
"In war, morals fade, concessions are made, and in their aftermaths, so much can be remade, all for the greater good," said Siri mockingly, "The Republic is already corrupt enough as it is. It's one war away from being turned into a Sith Empire."
Well, one war and the extinction of the Jedi away.
"So the Sith would act as a disease," spat Windu, "Infecting the Republic and..."
Siri laughed. "Jedi. Do you really hear yourself? You act as if your precious Republic is perfect, pure, and innocent. The Sith could not thrive if it were anything remotely like that. We aren't the source of the Republic's corruption, our line has encouraged it, yes, inflamed it perhaps, and definitely take advantage, but we did not create it."
She shook her head, and she let a ripple of mocking-pity ripple out from her, delighting in the scowl it got from several Jedi. "The stagnation in the Senate, in the Republic, made it so easy for the Sith to manipulate. The complacency and arrogance in the Jedi made it so easy to get away with it."
She crossed her arms. "Perhaps its true the Republic wouldn't be as far into its death throes as it is now without the Sith, but at best, we sped it along a few hundred years."
Well, perhaps not entirely true. The Sith nipped most competitors to the Republic in the bud before they could become a threat that forced the Republic to change and adapt. Without the Sith, who knows, maybe the Republic would have lasted another five hundred, or even a thousand years, maybe they could have changed enough to survive. It's hard to say honestly. The Republic post the Ruusan Reformation was a vastly different beast from the Old Republic that had lasted over twenty-thousand years through many devastating wars after all. That Republic had, admittedly, been far more than the current one, what with the Sith repeatedly forcing it to evolve. Yes... without the Sith she wondered how long the Old Republic would have lasted before collapsing on itself. Conflict was truth after all, and peace was so very much a lie. Look at what the last thousand years of 'peace' had done to the Jedi and the Republic after all.
Regardless, she watches the Jedi with cold eyes. She's not expecting them to fully believe her, even if it is mostly the truth that spills from her mouth. She has little to no belief in them saving themselves or their Republic. They may hear, they may act, but they do not understand. Neither how truly massive and far reaching the influence of the Sith is, nor their own failings. Unless they accept both, they don't have the slightest chance, even with her pointing them in the right direction.
"Dead, the Republic is not," said Yaddle firmly.
"Not yet," agreed Siri, "But on its way out the door."
There was an air of heavy disagreement from everyone present, save for a flicker of the opposite from one behind her. Dooku agreed, he hid it behind his shields, but the Dark thrived on emotions, it was not so easy to hind them from a Sith as it was a Jedi. Of course, Dooku would probably rather die than admit aloud he agreed with a Sith. The rest of the Jedi would disagree primarily on principle alone, and their own arrogance.
"Careful not to let that door hit you on the way out," said Siri mockingly, "Sidious intends it to be a fatal impact."
Master Piell's ears flickered as he spoke, "And how exactly does he plan to drag the Republic into a war?"
At that, Siri gave a lazy smile. "Unfortunately for you, he never gave me the gritty details. I know what he wants, but how exactly he plans on getting it he never enlightened me on."
Siri's vision blurred for a moment, a heavy scorching against her mind as the entire council reflexively made to check for the truth with the Force, all their scouring lights a pained intensity directed towards her, it's all she can do to slam her shields up and rebuff them not-so-gently, snarling out, "DON'T do that again."
The council is tensed at the dark rebuffing, a number of hands on their lightsabers, she just glares, "Yoda alone is like a damn sunburn, I will not tolerate all of you doing that at once."
The Council collectively glowered at her before Yoda grunted and made a pass for the truth by himself, nodding after she let him in enough to sample. "The truth, she speaks."
Siri rolled her shoulders for a moment, drawing the dark carefully trying to sooth away the lingering intense light on her shields with very little success, to much blasted light in this damn temple. "I'm going to have a headache. If you don't mind, I'm going tell you a bunch of shit you need to look into that you Jedi in your vaunted wisdom shouldn't have needed me to point out, then I'm going to go nap your light off like the bad hangover it is."
Yoda looks distinctly unimpressed.
That look steadily begins to morph, along with the rest of the Council, into quiet alarm as Siri begins to enlighten them on the pure vast web of influence Sidious has over the criminal underworld, whether that underworld knows it or not. In this, she is rather free with the information she gives, aside from the Black Sun of course. She doesn't care if some of the underworld is going to get a rough wake up call of Jedi and Republic authorities getting nosy. She's not expecting them to be able to deal with most anyway, the scope is too massive. Because realistically, what does this change? The Jedi and various Law Enforcement Agencies across the Republic try to handle crime as it is, does it truly change anything if Sidious is encouraging and promoting certain groups or not? Maybe. Maybe not. It might punch a few minor holes in the web of the Grand Plan that Sidious has to reweave, but it will hardly stop him.
Her words might encourage the Jedi to deal with a few with higher priority, but little do the Jedi know, every group they might take down, is one less rival the Black Sun has to deal with, and another power vacuum they can slide into. The Black Sun is hers, and if she ever needs to fallback or escape, it will be to them. The more powerful they grow, the more powerful she grows in turn. Because that is what she has to turn this ten year parole into.
Weakening Sidious while trying to prop herself up, she'd have to do that with everything she revealed.
Truth be told, she gives herself a few months before she goes stir crazy or the Jedi drive her up a wall enough for something to happen that makes her bail. Who knows. Because the start and end of her own personal involvement in weakening Sidious is roughly a week's timeframe to tell them what she chooses to reveal, maybe a little more, maybe a little less, until the end of her parole (or slips away). Once she's done telling them what she knows, it's all in their hands while she sits on her own for the time being. They better take her up on her offer to actually teach them how to fight a Sith (more like give her time to smack around Jedi for amusement, nothing she could teach them would do more than buy them a few more seconds to live against Sidious). Because if she can't even get any time in a training room, then her skills are going to deteriorate.
She knows she's not going to be allowed to practice with the Dark Side and grow stronger in that way. If she can't do that, or keep honing her lightsaber skills, then she will leave. Even if it risks her exposure to Sidious. Because she needs to grow stronger over time, not weaker. Otherwise she is definitely dead.
The Jedi dismiss her after her criminal reveal. Dooku and Obi-Wan both 'accompany' her to the elevator and back down.
"I could not help but notice, Sith," said Dooku crisply, "That you failed to mention one criminal organization that I am fairly certain you were involved with."
Siri keeps her face plain. "Oh?"
"In my last lead investigating you before I was recalled to the temple, I was rather surprised when a Nightsister pulled a lightsaber and used Force Lightning on me, she was abke to buy time for an escape," commented Dooku mildly, "Would you by chance know anything about that?"
Mighella was officially her favorite Nightsister.
Siri didn't even bother trying to hide the pure smugness on her face. "Not a thing."
"You're not even hiding it well," deadpanned Obi-Wan, "Siri, you agreed to..."
"I agreed to disclose things about Sidious," she said flatly, an edge entering her voice, "Not myself."
There is a calculating look on Dooku's face. "I see."
They are silent on the way back to Siri's room, she pauses in the doorway as Dooku clears his throat. "I think I understand what game you are playing Sith, and forgive the insult, but I don't think you are capable of winning it."
Obi-Wan frowns a little at Dooku, but says nothing.
Siri smiles grimly. "Neither do I, but like with what we discussed on the way to the chamber, I'll try anyway, because there is nothing else to be done."
She turns and closes the door behind her and laid on her couch, sighing and grabbing her datapad to wait for the next disclosure session...
Sidious slowly read over the report the Jedi had sent to him in silence. So this was it then, Tachi really was going through with this foolishness. He chuckled to himself, such an arrogant, insolent little thing his apprentice was. Here she thought she was striking out at him, when instead, she had merely given him a new hand to play. Because it would be HE who decided which of these criminal groups were to be investigated. He could pick and choose which to sacrifice, which to warn to hide...
His lips peeled back into a smile; and which to inform of Jedi or SBI infiltrators and investigators. Oh yes, his foolish apprentice had just handed him a perfect way to start picking off Jedi Shadows and weed out SBI agents with integrity. He'd let her play this silly little game, and take her for all her worth. There were some hands in this game that would be, by default, more difficult to manage. The notes implied that she would be disclosing much of the influence in the senate, and through several corporations. He already had his tools across the galaxy investigating potential replacement puppets for the greedy businesses, looking into those who could replace the senators Sidious was sure would be removed in the corruption probe.
Out with the old corruption, in with the new corruption.
So long as his chosen replacements ended up in their proper locations, and the entire corporations his influence went through weren't completely taken apart, he would manage this. The thing that would not be so easily managed however was her revelation of old plays in the Grand Plan. The Jedi knew of the Sith's orchestration of the Stark Hyperspace War, and there was more she could reveal. It might make the Jedi more watchful of the events they could get dragged into, might make them more cautious and less likely to simply nod their head and get into whatever the senate orders them to.
Or they might become more arrogant than they already are, thinking they've started to rout out the influence of the Sith.
He leaned back in his chair and mused, "I suppose I'll have to wait and see."
Meanwhile, once he was done his duties for the day, he had a crash course in Sith Training to give one partially insane Komari Vosa...
Review Responses:
Nerdman3000: Still going to be a little while on Siri and Anakin. I *think* within the next 5~ chapters or so. Maybe more, maybe less. As for what Siri's doing, even Siri doesn't know what she's doing anymore. She's trying to grasp for too many things, chances are, she might end up losing what she wants most in the end.
Eclipse: Nope. Wrote them separately, though certain section in the chapters were written in advance when I initially thought of them. Sidious still wants Dooku, yes, but it's been delayed for the time being.
1saaa: The beginnings of what lead to that 'reinventing' will occur during this section of the story, you'll know it the moment it comes up, but the actual effort, and whether she succeeds or not, will be a long time away. I have some plans for Leia, its far out in the story, but I will say something Leia will eventually do at the end of the conflict with Sidious will be heartbreaking, she wont side with Sidious that I will confirm, but... well, you'll see in time.