Many thanks to those that keep bringing me feedback on this story, every scrap of insight or encouragement is appreciated. ~F

Chapter Twenty Six

A Subtle Change

Bellatrix was pleased to have finally moved on from Bandomeer and its worthless subservient people, and on to a new prize. The world of Halmad was a pivotal trade hub of the northern hyperlanes, as well as putting pressure on the Hutt Cartel and other black market groups by denying them the valuable Halmad Prime alcohol that was produced solely on the planet.

The one small issue with taking the planet was the numerous independent fleets that were busy guarding their own employer's interests on the world, whether commercial or private. They were all likely to take offense if the Sith Empire was to arrive suddenly and invade, but then… where would the fun in not doing that be?

Bellatrix surveyed the hordes of smaller freighters and escort ships that buzzed in a frenzy about the planet as they appeared, like flies swarming around a corpse when the lion approached.

"Commander, what are your orders?" Heb'Lolu asked from the helm, also observing all the panicking ships before them.

"Why beat around the bush here, let's plunge right into an all out attack…" Bellatrix said sinisterly, eyes gleaming over the consoles that detailed how many ships were arrayed against them.

"I must remind you that I will not needlessly endanger the lives of my soldiers, Commander, and an outright attack is not prudent for securing this world…" the Admiral said.

"I quite disagree, but let me allow this to play out a bit before I explain…" Bellatrix countered, "I assure you we will need to commit very little to this battle, but still have plenty of fun…"

The Twi'lek was clearly not impressed, but Bellatrix took command of the situation in her hesitation and ordered their ships forward into the fray, shields at maximum and weapons blazing. Naturally the various pirate and criminal fleets swarmed to attack, like a stirred nest of doxies, but their shields held well against everything.

"Focus our firepower on the leading ships and freighters, and watch…" Bellatrix ordered, and she observed with fascination as ship after ship was detonated by the highly turned and powerful weapons of the Sith Fleet.

What was more, with their command ships eliminated, rather quickly the criminal fleets either started to flee or in some cases turn on themselves or each other, paving the way for the Imperial fleet to smash through to inner orbit of the planet.

"You see, these weak beings are filled with far more concerns than just us taking this planet. How quickly they let those fears and betrayals out in a moment of panic and violence. I do not doubt that when we make planet fall there will be much of the same chaos going about, which will make our systematic attack all the more simple."

"I have to admit," Admiral Heb'Lolu said, "You plan paid off quite well, so far. But I think a different tactic will be needed for the ground assault, as only intense fools would fall for the same strategy twice."

"Naturally," Bellatrix agreed, "Which is why I will lead the attack myself, with only the most elite of our soldiers, while the rest wait here in orbit, for the right moment to strike. We shall plunge the knife deep, and remove their leadership, before letting the hammer fall and shatter the resolve of the rest, so that they abandon this world to us in droves."

The Admiral nodded, "I must relent, and allow you this mission with my blessing. I had no place in questioning the Emperor's reasoning in assigning our fleet to your command. We'll be here waiting to deliver the finishing attack to the ground forces, and mopping up those who remain in orbit until your signal."

Bellatrix smiled. She liked it when girls could work out their differences so easily and quickly, but now was not the time for those thoughts, Bellatrix had one very important route of thought ahead of her, murder and mayhem awaited, and she needed every ounce of her cunning to pull this off properly.

The landing craft took a short amount of time to prepare, and the two dozen troopers that comprised the most elite of her soldiers arrived in the amount of time it took for all to be made ready, so that they could set off with all haste once preparations were completed.

As soon as she was on board, the ship's interior lighting went dark, and with a jolt that shook the entire ship, they lifted off and launched into the vacuum of space. The temperature dropped suddenly as the ship rocketed through space toward the planet, and just as suddenly began to heat up dramatic as they entered the atmosphere of the temperate world.

There was no centralized government on the planet, more of a collection of the various pirate groups that used the hyperlane regularly to trade in the illicit goods and services, So Bellatrix had chosen for them to aim at the largest grouping of these outposts, which also happened to hold the one for the Hutt Cartel.

She wasn't sure as to the reason, but it felt that attacking the holdings of the overlarge slugs was the right thing for her to be doing. This was why, as their ships impacted the ground and the landing ramps exploded outward, they must have been hit marginally on the way down by some anti-air fire, she turned the attack group toward massive Hutt holdings, and had every soldier take cover as they made their way through the dense undergrowth toward the massive structures that had been placed to house one of the enormous slugs, the oblivious leader of this subsection of the Cartel.

As they approached the outskirts of the Hutt citadel, they could see the flurry of activity from the nearby spaceport, as many fighters and other ships were launched up to join in the space battle above. It was most amusing to think that her tactic was a smashing success, allowing the fools here on the ground to think that the space battle was the main force they had to be worried about. It was natural, even with their scans, to presume as the majority of their ground forces were still on the ships that they were not preparing for any land offensive, and thus lowered their defenses around the physical base here on the ground.

This had been exactly what Bellatrix had counted on. Signaling for her warriors, and the handful of Dark Side Adepts that had joined them, to move on the heavily defended citadel of the Cartel, they moved cautious to the outer walls that had been constructed to protect the massive complex. The troopers immediately attached grappling hooks to their rifles, and the Force users drew their power around them to leap upward. Bellatrix waved her wand once, and like a torpedo she flew upward, bypassing even the Force users in speed to ascend the walls.

The sentries that were upon the wall there were more than surprised when the witch flew up onto the wall with them from the outside, but a trio of dark curses tore them limb from limb before they could even so much as cry out.

Once the others arrived, Bellatrix started issuing orders, splitting the Dark Adepts and the troopers into three groups, while retaining some troopers for herself, and directing them to each of the main systems of the complex, primarily the communications tower, the automated defense systems, the hangar bay controls, and finally the main worm in charge.

Bellatrix was making sure to take on that section of the operation personally, as she partially wanted to see if the Cruciatus worked on even the massive slugs as much as other beings.

What was even better, the moment they all descended into the main compound, there was a massive commotion on the outside of the walls, and the witch smiled, knowing that her elaborate plan of turning all the criminal organizations against each other was working swimmingly.

While the majority of the guards now concerned with the attacking forces outside the walls, it made their progress to the main build all the simpler, with only a handful of easily surprised and killed guards blocking their way inside.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the Hutt wasn't a complete fool, as from the moment they entered the main complex, Bellatrix and her troopers were placed under a hailstorm of blaster bolts. If not for their shielding and Bellatrix's quick wand work, they could have easily been torn apart, but with their quick reaction they managed to find cover and start a real firefight.

The rush of adrenaline was what Bellatrix had been waiting for, and she took great pleasure in lobbing her most painful and original curses down the corridor at those who would bar her way to the great slug. Grenades were sent flying back whenever the criminal forces would try to throw them into the Sith ranks, and slowly they started to gain ground into the complex.

Once their adversaries started to flee to another section of the complex, Bellatrix threw herself out from behind her cover, yanking a pair of them back with slashes of her wand, and bludgeoning in the head of one, while the other was simply encircled in chains and ropes to prevent any movement whatsoever.

That one would be kept for questioning later, but in the meantime, there was a citadel to sack, and a slug to squish. They came to an intersection in the corridor, and rather than send in another as she normally would have, Bellatrix cast a powerful shield around herself and leapt out, jinxes and curses flying in all directions as the intersection exploded in blaster fire.

A pitifully obvious tactic, but otherwise effective, had these fools not been against a witch as powerful as Bellatrix LeStrange. She felled three guards instantly with her counterattack and the troopers around her hurled grenades to force back the rest on all sides. But even with the criminal forces pushed back in all directions, they were still at a loss of where to proceed to next.

But once again, Bellatrix had ample experience from her days as the Dark Lords most trusted, and sent simple, flashy spells down each corridor. The tactic was rather simple. If any of these corridors were to take them further away from their target, why would the soldiers bother to protect it? Indeed they were highly likely to be banking on the attacking force going the wrong way and giving them more time to regroup and set up another ambush. But with these simple spells, Bellatrix might flush out the correct path early, from one jumpy trooper mistaking the light for an approaching enemy.

And indeed, she was rewarded for her effort as the right passage erupted with blaster fire, followed by a strangled cry in a nonhuman language. Bellatrix gestured, and her soldiers charged the corridor, flinging more grenades and activating shields as they rounded the corner to continue routing these fools before them, and following them to the den of their master.

And there it was once again, the familiar thrill of the hunt that she had loved so much in serving her lord. The heir was proving to be more than up to the challenge of surpassing Lord Voldemort, even with his somewhat, bizarre change of heart regarding the muggles, but in the end that made it all the more thrilling, did it not?

With reckless abandon, Bellatrix threw herself into the chase, batting aside the attacks of her foes and unleashing the chaos that would soon be feared throughout the Galaxy as it had been in the wizarding world, for she was a force to be reckoned with, and not even Jedi would be able to stand up to her, when she faced them on the field of battle.

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Lord Anguis stood tall and proud on the promenade balcony that overlooked the wide ceremonial plaza where hundreds of republic veterans, and many new recruits as well, stood at attention as all observed the introduction of the newest fleet of the Republic navy. He had gone over each vessel in thorough detail, as Chancellor's rights of inspection, but secretly he was gauging if they would hold up to the basic Sith attack fleet, which was all they needed to be able to contend with at the present time.

His sources in the Sith Empire, both known to Darth Veneficus and unknown, had forewarned him that their ships were due for a crucial update, reinforcing hulls and firepower to combat the Republics new ships, but those wouldn't be unveiled for at least a couple of years yet. The Sith Emperor wanted to make a wonderful game of it, and that required a show of possible victory on the side of the Republic.

A simple enough ploy, if rather hard to conceive by the unwary bystander, but Anguis was already pushing for Hermione to improve anything new that they came out with, even if they ended up giving the Republic several prototypes to field test before mass production. They were in a losing arms race with the Sith, and only Anguis knew it.

But still, this was an excellent day for the Republic, and worth the momentary pause of his plotting to endear himself all the more to the people he governed over, especially when he eventually made his move to extend his position in office. "People of the Republic," he said loudly, holding his arms wide for the billions of people watched, both in the nearby buildings of the square and all over the galaxy via the holonet, "Today is a glorious new dawn for the Republic. Thanks to the matchless speed of our allies on New Terra we at last have the means to fight back against the rampaging Sith Empire. This fleet of ships, aptly named the Harbinger, is but the first of many newly upgraded and revolutionized ships that will be brought to bear in the coming months."

The crowd in the plaza cheered, and a vanguard of troopers fired several volleys into the air as a military salute to their commander in chief. "I must tell you all now, that I indeed love this Republic, with all my heart," Anguis said falsely, knowing that everyone watching would be moved regardless, "and I wish for nothing more than this crisis to have never happened. But sadly that is not the fate of the Galaxy, and we are once again put on the brink of war. But I tell you that this is a war that we will win! For the protection of Democracy, and for the Republic!"

The crowd went mad, the sheep of the galaxy eating his words up like miraculous bread from the sky, and Anguis turned to the Jedi commander and the Admiral of the new Harbinger Fleet, giving them the stage to issue the command for their troops to board the ships and prepare for departure.

Idly Anguis wondered, as he retired to his own seat on the balcony, whether Veneficus would allow this new Republic fleet to see some victories before crushing it utterly. Personally he hoped so, as it would be necessary to increase his own image in the Republic, cementing him as the symbol for all the free people of the Galaxy to rally behind.

From what he had gathered, it seemed that, just as planned, Veneficus was going after the criminal organizations, especially the Hutt Cartel, to prompt them into forming an alliance with one side or the other, something that the giant slugs would be very wroth to do, but Veneficus wasn't about to give them any choice in the matter.

Anguis just hoped that his message had gotten through some of the thick skulls before this began, and that they would join with the Republic instead of allying with the Sith to end the aggression. It was all the more reason for this new fleet to see immediate victory in several battles, to prove to the Galaxy that the Republic was not out of the fight just yet.

Once the ceremony was finished, and he had returned to the Chancellor's office, Anguis was rather annoyed to have someone there waiting for him already.

While he had never taken her class in Hogwarts, Professor Trelawney was something of a running joke throughout his Hogwart's years, the batty old woman seeing death omens in every class and usually drunk off of cooking sherry, but for some reason this was not the same woman that he had heard of from so many.

The woman who turned to him, while wearing the strange assortment of shawls and overlarge glasses that magnified her eyes about three sizes seemed to scrutinize him with a keen understanding that the Dark Acolyte simply did not like.

"Greetings Chancellor…" she said, the normally airy tone that was part of every description of her notably absent.

"Hello," he responded, refusing to acknowledge that he did in fact recognize her.

"I doubt that you have much memory of me, as you never studied that art of Divination, but I was a professor at Hogwarts up until recently…" she continued, taking a seat opposite his desk without permission. Anguis wondered why the guards to his office even allowed her inside, but pushed it aside, she probably used magic to bypass the weak minded fools. He would have to make a memo to find better replacements for his security forces.

"Ah, yes, I think I recall hearing something about you from time to time Professor…" he let the statement hang, knowing that the woman would fill it in for him.

"…Trelawney." She predictably filled in, "but you knew that already. You have quite a few tells for when one is lying, if one was to look extremely carefully to find them…"

Anguis stiffened. What was this woman playing at? If she knew he was lying about something, why did she come to him directly? Was it to make some sort of deal? He doubted it, the Professors were allied with the Jedi, where were Anguis' enemies. "And what, pray tell, am I lying about?" he asked, keeping his face controlled and icy, like he had long practiced under his father's domineering hand.

"Well, you feigned love of this Republic, for one, although that could easily be said about most politicians if I do say so myself…" the infuriating woman continued, "Naturally you are frustrated with the lack of power and ability that you possess to right the wrongs that are plaguing your people, regardless of the sources. Not to mention all the voting over every little change. I mean, the sheer amount of cajoling that you must have gone through to push the bill legalizing the making of this new fleet, as well as the many yet to come must have been strenuous."

"Perhaps you are right…" Anguis said neutrally, making a note to have the woman eliminated. She presumed far too much and was all too frighteningly close to the truth; if she dug just a bit deeper, or found just the right people. And who knew what else she had indeed discovered but wasn't about to disclose to him in person. "As enlightening as this has been however, I do have a lot of work to accomplish, not to mention a war to run. Was there some matter of importance that you or the Jedi had need of me for?" he added, hoping to find some legitimate reason for her being here, or more accurately to find that there was no reason, so that she might just disappear on the way back to the Jedi Temple...

"Actually, there was something, let me think… ah yes, the Council wanted to know the scheduling of the next several fleets so that they had time to prepare and recall Jedi Knights and Master to run them, and I volunteered for the opportunity as I do not get out of the Temple very often…"

And there it was again, the woman taunting him, completely bluntly but at the same time with a subtle edge, as though she knew something but at the same time almost seeming to just blunder into the right words to say to the wrong person. Were the older Slytherins wrong and the woman was indeed a true Seer like she had claimed?

"Yes, I have the manifest from New Terra right here." He responded, still pondering over her veiled threats as he pulled out a spare, blank datapad and copied the information onto it, before sliding it gently across the desk.

While it would be an easy matter to slay her here and now, the fact that she was on official business hindered it, as she would highly likely be sought for after going missing, and if her words about rarely leaving the temple were also true, then getting access to eliminate her would prove difficult.

There was still a minor amount of doubt though, even as the woman stood, thanked him and left, as to whether the old Divination Professor was actually aware of the things she had spoken, as she did not act as one who knew such dark and foreboding secrets about the Chancellor of the Republic. Could it simple be the auras of magic interacting between each other, heightened by the intense levels of the Force emanating from the Jedi Temple? Anguis knew that their wizard magic was merely a bastardized offshoot of the Force, mutated and changed through some cosmic accident with the Midichlorians, but still.

Could there truly be a mind and will of the Force, just as Lord Veneficus, and the late Darth Millennial always seemed to believe and attribute their great success to? Surely not, Anguis mused, the Force was an energy field projected by living things, it was not in and of itself a living thing, was it?

There were too many questions forming over this thing, and the Dark Adept had to will them to the side so that he could focus on more pressing matters of state. Philosophizing about the Force could wait until he was Lord of the entire Galaxy, with minions to do his will running throughout the cosmos to gather every scrap of knowledge for him to study, and then all things would become clear at last.

Until then however, he had to work difficultly to reach that lofty position. One goal lead to the next, and his passion was the fuel that was needed to drive him forward.

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Veneficus was pleased with the quick work that the Apex was making through the sector. After the Jedi defeat over Rodia, and the simultaneous subjugation of the planet, it was easy pickings to simply dart at random from world to world, intimidating those too weak to fight, and crushing those to foolish not to.

Of course, one did not simply conquer nine separate systems in such a short amount of time without some sort of assistance, and indeed Veneficus had many tricks hidden up the colossal warships' preverbal sleeves, which would once again come into play as they took out the two biggest targets left in the cluster, Christophsis and Ryloth.

The fleet of the Emperor had already set course for the neutral system, Christophsis, which would be less likely to call out for aid from the Republic, less being a slim word to fill the space, and then they would attack Ryloth at the same moment shortly afterward.

Watching the stream of fighters and shuttles launching downward to the massive manufacturing world, Veneficus idly wondered if this time would be the time that some 'terrible' thing would happen when he used the most powerful of the Apex's arsenal.

Smiling at the long and complicated way he had engineered this moment, he recalled perfectly how he had tricked old McGonagall into allowing him to keep that very first Time Turner so long ago. He had said it then and would stick to that thought, that that event alone had sealed the fate of so many to death and destruction, and the foolish wizards of earth time and again had handed the tools of great power and great destruction literally into the hands of children as mere playthings and items of novelty, not considering the breadth of their possible use.

But then again, he supposed that was the limit of their understanding, when that had so sheltered themselves from the concepts of the world around them; let alone what may lie outside their little sphere of a planet. But look what had sprung from it…

"Our forces are returning to the fleet, your Majesty," Commander Jhetc reported, even as the tiny, almost insignificant Force signatures appeared at the edge of Veneficus' awareness, so small and pitiful in the grand scheme of things, but useful tools nonetheless.

"Good," he responded, pressing the communication button imbedded in the meditation chamber of his personal quarters of the ship, "begin the energy transfer to the transdimensional warp system, and enter Hyperspace toward Ryloth."

"As you command, my Lord."

That was the key. With a single time turner, you could transport a person, or a small group of people, back in time a matter of hours, maybe even a day if you timed it right, but through sheer determination and extensive study, the Dark Lord of the Sith found a better use for the item. By channeling a massive amount of magic, in addition to the force caused by the wormhole created by entering and traveling through Hyperspace, the limits of the Time Turner devise could be dramatically expanded, to encompass an entire ship, or several ships, or in this particular case one absolutely massive ship and its escorts, to literally allow it to fight two battles at once.

Dangerous and mad, the wizards of old Earth might have argued, but then they never took the time to understand the methods of that which they used, let alone the sciences they considered inferior.

Once traveling faster than light, channeling magic power into such a devise to slow down time further allowed a much larger window of action, meaning that their fleet arrived at the least hours, if not days, before the light it left with actually arrived, and due to the warped Force construct that generated the projection of one's self, the same theory held true for the entire encapsulation within the Hyperspace channel.

It was remarkably simple, once all the calibrations had been made and the timing was set for each event. The star lines took on a golden hue as the entire conduit of energy was infused with warped Force energy. By the time they arrived, all time calibration devises had slid back well over six hours before the time that they had initially left, around the same moment that they initially arrived at Christophsis.

Because of the fleet's immense firepower and shields, it would always be hard for their victims, if they survived, to tell which place had been attacked first, and added to the Sith Lord's mystique. Even the foolish Lovegood girl and her earthborn allies wouldn't dream of guessing that a Time Turner was being used in such a fashion, even if they did figure out how easy it was to merge magic with machine.

The massive arid planet of the Twi'lek race loomed before them now, set squarely in the sights of him, the apex predator himself, Darth Veneficus the Eternal. "We are within range of the system, your majesty," came the communication through the private link to the bridge.

"Begin the attack commander…" The Emperor commanded, and his will came in a volley of plasma bombarding down onto the staunchly Republic world.

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Lord Fury felt a great swelling of pride as he overlooked the galactic map of what he and his fleet had accomplished. The entire sector, from Ossus and Rhen Var all the way into deep Sith space had been formally claimed or conquered. All that remained out of their grasp was the tiny side hyper lane that led to the heavy republic allied world of Mon Calamari. With such a powerful world under their control, there would be no race left in the sector that could challenge the might of the Empire.

Personally, Septin looked forward to matching his strategic and martial might with the primarily aquatic world and their races, but before they had departed, a communication from Imperial Central had come, recalling them back to the main command space station, which was positioned in the heart of the Empire, between Korriban and Ziost, nearest to the capital world of Dromund Kaas.

Now as he stalked the steel corridors of the station, with his personal guard and Admiral Odjek, passing troopers and Dark Adepts alike as they walked, Fury couldn't help but wonder why they were recalled just before the point of total victory in consolidating the sector of the Empire's core.

"Well well, did they finally decide to bring the great war-dog back home and muzzle him once and for all?" said a taunting voice off to the side as Fury passed an intersection. Grimacing in suppressed rage, Fury turned to address the smart mouth Sith Pureblood Zoilot, who was also trained in the ways of a Marauder, and thought himself so superior to all others due to his heritage.

"And you are under this assumption for what reason?" he snarled in return, stepping right up to the tentacle-faced being.

"That would be, because I was given the duty of finished your work here." He retorted, standing his ground and adopting a condescending look that made Septin want to challenge him to a death duel right on the spot. "Apparently you victories were so minor that they felt you were best used elsewhere in the galaxy. Who'd have thought you could sink lower than fighting on the rearmost lines of the war…"

"My Lord, the commanders are still expecting us," Odjek interrupted, which Fury was secretly pleased for, as it gave him the reason to abruptly turn and 'accidentally' jab the other Dark Adept in the chest with his mechanical arm.

"Let's go and see what this madness is about…" he sneered, and they left the other Force user's presence. Mercifully they were not followed, as it seemed that the Pureblood was already briefed on what was going to be happening.

The high command of the Imperial war effort was run in a strikingly odd fashion compared to the primary ruling system of councils of Force users. For one thing, there was only one Darksider on this body. The other three were all high ranking military leaders, Generals, Field Commanders and Grand Admirals, and what was more, the positions were up for election from within the officer body every number of years, almost as a mockery of Democracy, but yet the system had worked throughout the rise of the Empire and well into the war as of now, so Fury had nowhere to complain.

"As yes, Lord Fury of the Manticore and Admiral Careth Odjek," the Darksider said as they entered, "we are pleased with your punctuality for this meeting…"

Fury was not familiar with this particular Darksider's name, and the other human did not seem to be of a mind to give it, so he nodded respectfully all the same. "What are the commands of the Emperor, my Lord?"

"Not from the Emperor himself, as his Majesty is off fighting the southern front on his own, but under his authority we have come to the conclusion that it would be in the war effort's best interest for you to be reassigned to the front." One of the commanders replied.

"But the Emperor has been conducting the entirety of the war effort, regardless of where he went himself…" Fury said, suspicion rising in him. He was told that this sector was to be his responsibility to conquer, and he was rather reluctant to give it up regardless of the prospects of going to the front lines.

"Apparently he felt that this was an effort he needed to devote more of his energies to, as he delegated the running of the war as a whole to us for a time, so you must respect our decision. You are too valuable of a warrior to waste on the rear part of this front, especially if the rumors of a Republic counterattack are true." The Dark Adept on the war council replied, growing visibly annoyed at Fury's lack of agreement.

"As you command then…" Fury said, backing down for the moment. He would accept these new orders from command to their face, but he fully planned on having his personal connections pave a way up to the Emperor to confirm if these were in any way in accordance with his grand design. Dealing with Zhar again might be an irritant, but going against the Emperor's will would be suicide.

"Good," the third commander replied, smiling as she took her seat once again. "Then you will take your fleet to the frontward system of Trogan, and from there push to our outlying worlds and claim every system in a line to Taanab. The Empire suffered a humiliating defeat there early in the war, and we will have our revenge on that world, and claim the rich resources of that world for ourselves."

"Then the fleet of the Manticore shall see it done." Fury said with finality, turning and accepting a datapad from one of the council's aides, and departing the chambers immediately with Admiral Odjek and his bodyguard.

Fury was silent until they were safely back on their own shuttle, sailing through space back to their fleet. "I do not fully trust this new war council… they may be performing actions that are against the Emperor's plans…" Fury said to Odjek, "Something seems off about their sudden veering from the original plans…"

"You have a plan to bring light to this potential miscarriage of the Emperor's commands, I presume…" the good Admiral replied, reading the thoughts of Lord Fury as well as any Force Adept.

"Indeed I do… but it will require patience for a time, and for us to be well away from Domuns Kaas to do so, so we will launch for Trogan as intended, before sending communication back to Korriban."

"Korriban, my Lord?" Odjek said, confused.

"There is one, loath though I am to speak with him, that will help us unfailingly if anything amiss is going on. High Prophet Zhar of Korriban, my old master…" Fury admitted.

"Desperate measures for desperate times." The admiral agreed, even as their shuttle began making docking procedures as it arrived back inside the Manticore.

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Padawan Ist felt quite at a loss of what she, and by extension her master, Jedi Knight Yoda, ought to be doing while at the Temple on Coruscant. With Knight Luna and Padawan Leon off on another mission to track down the mysterious infiltrator that had cause so much damage in and out of the temple, they had all but been left behind to help keep the Order running without the leadership of Grand Master Coven.

As a Bothan, Ist always had a rather inquisitive nature, and so she found herself more than once in the grand achieves of the Jedi Library, searching for… well, most of the time she wasn't exactly sure what. Perhaps she hoped that she might run into something that would help solve their many problems with the attacking Sith Empire, or some lost piece of history that would make the wizard-born magic make more sense to the Order, as even with the great assistance of the Hogwarts Professors, there was only so much that they could learn.

Professor Flitwick often accompanied her, stating something strange about how, if Ist had gone to their school, she would have easily found herself sorted into the House called Ravenclaw, and flourished there with how studious she was. But something about that didn't sit right with the Jedi learner, why would one be studious for its own merit? There had to be a reason, a purpose for learning, or it was just time taken away from objectives that could more productively be worked on.

The small part human had laughed when she told him that, and said that Lady Hermione Granger, whom Ist remembered meeting on New Terra, would have agreed with her explicitly, as she had been very much of the same mind when she was young and attending the school. This made Ist wonder about the strange woman and their world, especially why there was only so much recent history about it since the planet entered the Republic, and nothing about where they had come from. The Jedi grand Archive was supposedly the largest repository of knowledge in the galaxy, and yet they did not have any information regarding the origin of the New Terrans until after they founded their new world. That seemed rather, coincidental, if she was honest with herself.

Rather than wonder why, Ist decide that she might take action. Receiving permission from Master Restelly Quist, the Chief Librarian of the Temple, she took to occasionally interviewing the refugees of the origin world, or Old Terra as she was taking to call it, about what their world was like, its history and much more. What she learned was fascinating, if not high confusing as well. It seemed that two main races commanded the vast amounts of varied terrain on the planet, the non-gifted Humans which were referred often to by the term Muggles, and the gifted humans which were called witches and wizards respectfully, whom were variants of standard Force users, and wielding their arts through the small wands that all the Professors, and Knight Luna, possessed.

It also seemed that those that had the gift of magic, or the Force or however one wished to classify it, had secreted themselves away from the rest of the population, seemingly out of fear from persecution from the much larger non-gifted population. There were accounts in their history of the terror and pain as many were attempted to be hunted down and killed for their differences, and rather than risk it again and be open in their gifts, they chose to hide and keep it to themselves.

A worrisome scenario, and Ist had to wonder if that was not part of the cause of their great tragedy that led to their people journeying to New Terra. It made her wonder how different the Galaxy might be if the Jedi had chosen that route of secrecy for their Order rather than to become the beacon of light for all to be sheltered by.

But even still, there were many questions left unanswered, and even fewer answers that really resonated between both what she learned of Old Terra and what she had seen in New Terra.

She was just documenting another account from Professor Flitwick in the archive, regarding the typical day in the life of a student at Hogwarts, and the classes they had, when another Padawan appeared at their side.

"Professor Flitwick, Padawan Ist, excuse me for interrupting…"

"It is no problem, is there some need for me, young one?" Flitwick said with a warm smile. Ist had to admit that the small man had that effect on the younger denizens of the Temple, appearing as a very warm and approachable person if they had questions regarding the wizards, much more so than the rather odd Trelawney or the very serious McGonagall.

"Yes, Knight Yoda, as well as yourself, and the other Hogwarts Professors are being asked for by the Jedi Council. Apparently there is someone here that you all need to meet."

"Really, would it happen to be anyone that I know?" the Professor asked, jokingly as per his usual carefree attitude, but the Padawan was most serious in his duties.

"According to the Council, you actually might. The man claims to know you all at least, with the exception of Knight Yoda, and calls himself Professor Snape."

"Severus is here?" Professor Flitwick said, halting completely in surprise.

But if Ist or the other Padawan expected anymore information regarding the mysterious visitor, they would be disappointed, as the next moment the diminutive man literally flew from their side, moving at such a speed that they almost lost sight of him as he bolted from the archive.

"Are you sure that they aren't Force users?" the Padawan asked Ist, who had to repress herself from an undignified laugh at the expense of her fellow Jedi.