I keep getting surprised how quickly this story is moving along, over 30 chapters already... that YOU all know of... bwahaha... ahem, anyway... Many thanks to the reviewers! please keep up the support, as there is a touch of a block that I am having with my current section of writing, although I doubt it'll last long with how great you are all to me! ~F
Chapter Thirty One
Out of Shadow
Bellatrix relished in the success of a hunt, as she and her team stood inside the chamber of the Hutt who ruled over Halmad. Time and again she had pressed the slug's forces back to their master, and even if they managed to slip around and counterattack once in a while, she and her warriors were more than equipped to handle these weak fools.
Just as they reached the final door separating them from the leader, there was a pair of shuddering explosions, and the power cut momentarily. In that instant, Bellatrix cast her most powerful bombardment curse, blasting the door open and wrenching it wide with grand sweeps of her wand. The troopers poured in, cutting down the last of the guards as Bellatrix herself entered, casually tapping her wand on her other hand, and relishing the imposing image she no doubt created.
She had done something very important, and upgraded her wardrobe to match her status as a commander in the Sith Armada. While she still wore traditional robes, secretly imported from the world of New Terra where the Emperor had smuggled refugees from the old earth, she had added several important modifications that made it far more intimidating. In Pureblood fashion, there had been items specifically enchanted to prevent people from gazing too long at one person, literally inciting fear to those who gazed at them, and Bellatrix had taken the concept and modified it.
While enemies would receive that dosage of fear at the sight of her, allies or those who had no hostile feelings toward her would feel more of an inspiring urge to fight harder. Adding several important defensive weavings of her own, having been taught the arts of a Pureblood witch by her mother, which included stitching and sewing, but only for the purposes of enchanting premade garments for the specific purposes that no one would trust to a basic tailor.
Bellatrix was pleased that, even as she turned to face the hideous creature known as a Hutt, that the robe's magic even affected it, and wondered if her beauty mixed with the fear was enough of a conflict that the creature was stunned into the gurgling silence that it had fallen into since they arrived.
"Well, well," she said coldly, letting all the venom drip from her words as she walked confidently toward the great worm. "It seems that your little party on this world is ended."
The creature was still silent, unable to even retort, although the look of anger and resentment was obvious on the bloated face.
"Tut, tut… apparently you've gone and lost your voice…" Bellatrix said, pouting slightly, and the troopers around her tensed, knowing what was coming. "Let me help you find it… Crucio!"
The torture curse struck the great beast in the overfilled gullet, and it began to spasm, a gurgling roar of pain sounding from the massive creature. Time seemed to slow as the mad witch enjoyed every last moment of the creature's agony. There was little point in this, she knew, as the Hutt had nothing to offer them, but there was an impression to make on the Cartel for ignoring her master, the Emperor, and his demands for the Hutts to choose a side and fight.
Nodding at the communication device in the corner, she ordered one of her troopers, "Turn it on."
The armored soldier hastened to obey, and soon the blue light shimmered to life, actively seeking out the rest of the Hutt Cartel, just as Bellatrix had guessed that the slimy Hutt had been contacting before they burst in.
The slug that appeared immediately started to speak in their abhorrent language, apparently thinking that the Hutt that Bella had under her wand was contacting them after victory, but immediately gasped when he spotted the situation.
"Greetings honorable members of the Hutt Cartel," Bellatrix said, knowing that there would be others listening in or spying from elsewhere, "Commander Bellatrix Black-LeStrange of the Neo-Sith Empire at your service... or I would have been if you had chosen wisely and allied with us when you had the chance."
The slug she was torturing convulsed again, spitting up some green slime upon itself as it writhed in agony. "The Halmad system has just been incorporated into our Empire, and I have been instructed to show you the ramifications of your choices." She said, indicating the slowly dying Hutt. "Observe… AVADA KEDAVERA!"
The jet of death struck the great worm with force, and he flailed once before slumping over his girth, dead. "Make your choices carefully, Hutts…" Bellatrix warned, blinking her heavily lidded eyes slowly, "lest we need to turn our attention to the corner of the Galaxy that you've infested with your great hides…" and before a single one of the Hutts on the other end could contend with her, she snapped a spell at the holoprojector, destroying it.
"Dispose of that… thing…" she said, disgust in her voice as she waved at the enormous corpse, "And prepare for the rest of the army to begin their attack, we take this planet tonight!"
The soldiers rallied, and even the Dark Side Adepts seemed pleased by her words as they all set about their tasks of contacting the orbiting fleet and repurposing the palace-like chamber into their command center. Just because the Hutt presence on this world was eliminated, didn't mean that the rest of the criminal groups would back down either. If anything, they'd fight harder to try and take more of the percentage of this world from the Sith, not that it would do them much good in the long run.
Bellatrix had plenty of tools at her disposal, including the automated defenses of this palatial fortress now, the Sith would not be leaving this world for some time, even after she and her fleet moved on.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~line break~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fae Coven was unsure of what exact madness this representation of her mind was about, but she knew that her answers were to be found in the Great Holocron, and the figment of Darth Veneficus was preventing her access to it.
"The repository of knowledge…" the Sith Lord crooned, running a hand gently along the walls of the Holocron vault, "a likely place that one would hide their secrets… what is it that you've hidden from my sight I wonder."
"What is he talking about?" Severus Snape asked from behind the Jenet Grand Master.
But the Jedi had little time to answer the wizard's questions, her mind racing with the how and why. Of course, she knew exactly what the Sith sought. He was power hungry, and the thought of seeing her fully absorb and use a manifestation of the Light Side of the Force was a prize too tempting for him to not want to achieve with the Dark.
"Darkness cannot comprehend the ways of the Light, and we both know that to be the truth. Even if you learned the techniques I used, you cannot twist them to your will." Fae challenged, pointing her weapon threateningly at Veneficus.
"I highly doubt that to be the case, little Jedi… my power is absolute, and any aspect of the Force is there for me to command, I only need time and knowledge. I lack only one of those things right now. And if what you seek is what I believe it to be, I have the advantage in waiting here, preventing you from returning to your precious order."
The figment knew too much about what was going on for Coven to believe that it was part of her own memory, this figure was a manifestation of the Emperor himself, trying to prevent her from rejoining the fight against his Empire. "Then I can tell you that the secrets will never be yours," she declared, and in a rush of power, she drew strength from all the Holocrons present, light and dark, balanced by the majesty of the Great Holocron, and flung the combined power at the Sith Lord's shade.
Caught off guard, the figment of the Emperor was blasted from her mind with a roar of rage, and the chamber fell silent. "He sought to learn knowledge of abilities within the Force that I used to combat him to a standstill, for all his power he lacks in wisdom yet, and that is his greatest weakness. Now Professor, the Great Holocron awaits."
And without pausing more for the wizard to keep up, Fae ambled toward the massive Holocron, which split open as she approached, humming with knowledge and power, "What does this one, guided by the Ashla, seek of us?" one of the mysterious gatekeepers spoke, their voice radiant and feminine.
"Only that which is needful to protect the legacy of the Jedi…" Fae replied, knowing that the Great Holocron held many secrets, but would only grant that which was needful.
The Holocron seemed to consider the worthiness of her request, before flashing brightly, and pulling several Jedi and Sith Holocrons from the walls, and activating each in turn with itself, the smaller pieces detaching and orbiting around the half dozen Holocrons as they merged together.
Fae had heard of the phenomenon occurring in legends past, but normally they were included in tales of Sith and Jedi coming together to defeat a Galaxy threatening entity or catastrophe, each bringing a Holocron of their order to activate their powers to answer important questions regarding the will of the Force, potentially at a terrible price.
Even as she looked into the blinding light of the Great Holocron, she started to receive information directly into her mind, things that must be done and people that needed special training, much of which she alone could not accomplish. Above all, she was imparted the knowledge that even this wasn't guaranteed to protect the Jedi Order, merely give it the best chance of survival if the worst was indeed to come.
Riding above all the things that needed to fall into place for this destiny to come forth, many details which the Jenet knew she would forget, there was one face that remained constant, and this Jedi Knight must be protected for the future to have any chance.
Soon enough the Holocrons power subsided, and the room grew exceedingly dim, far dimmer than she remembered actually. "I have found what I sought, and the power of the Dark Side is banished from my mind. Professor, I believe I am ready for you to lead me out." she said, reaching for the sallow man's hand to guide her.
"Are you sure…" Snape asked only once, and Fae nodded, closing her eyes, even as she felt a strange sensation, and was suddenly lying on her back.
It was oddly dark for the medical center, she thought, sitting up and opening her eyes. Then she realized the problem. "Master Coven!" one of the Jedi Healers exclaimed, rushing to her side, but the Grand Master could do little but reach out a furred hand to grasp the others.
She could no longer see. Whether it was the infliction of the Emperor or a price for the knowledge she had gained, Fae Coven didn't know. But she would endure, for the sake of the Jedi, and overcome this new challenge.
"Master, your eyes…" the healer said concernedly.
"My sight may be gone," Coven responded, her voice suddenly dry and cracking slightly, "but through the Force, I will never be blind." She them opened herself up to the majestic power around them in the temple, feeling the very heartbeat of the home of the Jedi Order.
And suddenly she could see again, after a fashion. The room was clear in her mind and to her senses, including the pair of droids watching over her, Professor Snape in the back of the room, casually trying to make himself not appear interested, and the young healer, barely out of the trials that had come to check on her.
Fae smiled, "Remember, that the Force will never desert us so long as we remain in the Light."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~line break~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Darth Veneficus frowned as a tiny fragment of his magic faded into the Galaxy. So the Jedi Grand Master had finally succeeded in throwing off his delicate curse upon her mind, set to try and worm out her secrets and prevent her from assisting the Jedi in battle.
A pity that he had learned nothing out of it, but the delay in the Jenet's guidance was useful at the least. Imperial Intelligence had come and gone, with orders to begin making important events for the Nobles and allies of the Empire to come and mingle with their Emperor, as well as other things to by and large get Veneficus to be seen by as many of his citizens as possible underway.
Meanwhile, Veneficus had secretly departed from Dromund Kaas, for only a short trip, off to his secret training facility of the Arcanamach. He had need of more to return to the full complement of one hundred, and he had heard that there were a number of candidates that were ready for his personal inspection.
Even from his personal ship, the Sith Meditation Sphere that he had been gifted so long ago by Darth Millennial, he had full access to all his coming and going communications, and could act as though he were still in the Imperial Palace, all aside from the physical presence therein.
Those who wished to do harm to the Empire wouldn't be capable of much for the short term, not without perfect knowledge that he himself was not on the capital world, waiting for one mistake to pounce upon them and destroy any who thought their ideas better than the clarity of the Force.
Still, even as his ship made the jump to its secret location, hidden from even the Dark Council, the Sith Lord fiddled slightly with the old and tarnished ring upon his finger, enchanted so that none paid the little thing any mind. The old worn stone would have been a mystery to them anyway, but even as Veneficus spun it around his finger three times, he doubted that any would understand its true value even if they were told.
Appearing from the shadows of the small ship, a phantom figure appeared, three eyes seeming to gleam with a faded purple energy. "So my apprentice returns for more training from his old Master…" said the wizened voice of Darth Millennial.
"Think of it what you will, but I am surrounded by fools and traitors and have none that see the clarity of my visions. You, though dead, are at least able to appreciate what I am trying to accomplish and will give me honesty." Veneficus retorted to the shade of the human mutant.
"Perhaps, but then again how can you trust what I would say either?" Millennial countered.
"You could not bring yourself to outright lie to me, and there is nothing for you to gain from it now…" Veneficus objected, finally winning over the specter of his old mentor.
"What is it you seek of me, then?" the voice of the dead Sith Lord echoed, the question bouncing in the stillness of the small ship.
"Could there be any power in the Light Side of the Force that we are unaware or incapable of using?" Veneficus asked, eyes narrowing at the weakness he showed, even to one that was dead.
"There are many mysteries to the Force, my old apprentice, as you well know," Millennial said unhelpfully, "and not all of them lie in the shadows of the Dark Side, but as to what lies in the brightest Light I cannot tell you, for I do not know."
Veneficus slumped back, preparing to see about summoning another shade of the Dark Side for more information, but his old master hadn't finished yet, "However I can say that for every abilities or manifestation of the Force that the Jedi produce, that I have seen, we of the Dark Side can mirror perfectly."
That was the theory that Veneficus had believed up until this point, and he went on to explain what he had witnessed the Jedi Grand Master accomplish in the space of one battle, from merging the minds of many Jedi all at once, and some core of power that surged across space and time from he guessed the Jedi Temple, infusing the Grandmaster with power to nearly challenge he himself, in all his dark power.
Millennial was silent as Veneficus concluded for a short time, before offering his advice, "I understand what confusion you face, as these manifestations of the Force are not known to me either, but I would say that challenging this Grand Master of the Jedi Order would not be wise until you know how to counter her power in the Force."
Veneficus merely nodded, dismissing the shade of his Master, irritated that the man had let him down with how little he truly knew of their enemy. To say that Veneficus was worried about the little Jenet, and about fighting her again was something he was not willing to walk blindly into. Whatever she had managed to do, in absorbing so much Light Side energy had swelled her power to rival his own, and if not for the timely intervention of his apprentice, the other Jedi with her would have turned the tide, possibly defeating him far sooner than he was willing to give up.
Thankfully, he had plenty of time with all these new plots and strategies before he had to even think of going into the Galactic Core again, and it was unlikely that the little Jedi Master would be leaving their Temple for a time, least of all to fool heartedly try to hunt him actively again.
Soon enough, his ship exited Hyperspace at the end of its journey, revealing the serenely uninhabited world of Ruusan, hidden location of the powerful Valley of the Jedi. The power of that place was needed every time Veneficus sought to train his new Arcanamach, and he could already sense the current batch being delivered to the set place that he had prepared.
With practiced ease, he settled the ship down in the wide flatlands before the cave and tomb network of the Valley, where a pair of nondescript Sith transports waited, the grey armored troopers standing guard at the cavern entrance.
They stood far straighter and saluted as Veneficus appeared from his ship. "They are already inside, your Majesty, awaiting your arrival." One said sharply, but Veneficus merely walked past him, into the network that housed the powerful nexus of Force energy, having performing this ritual many times.
The Force guided him, along with memory, through the well traveled and familiar location, until the great glowing crystal that formed the central feature of the ruins. Surrounding it, but standing well away from the stone were somewhere around twenty figures, all identical in body size and shape. These men were the core of his army and even more so his personal guard, even if they did not realize it as of yet.
As Veneficus approached, they all turned, and the same face was reflected twenty times at the Sith Lord. Blaise Zabini's features, still as aristocratic as they were back in Hogwarts, set as the each clone felt the malevolent aura of their master.
It was still highly amusing for Veneficus, knowing that Blaise had wanted nothing more than to be close to him, and now, through the miraculous power of the cloning process, he had accomplished that goal, but would never know or remember that it had occurred. While each copy had the same strength, and the same connection to the Wild Force, through clever usage of magical and Force abilities by Veneficus himself, only the original would ever hold the memories or desires that he had as a child.
These were blank slates, free of opinions or other ideas aside from the conditioning that they were place rigorously through as they trained to fill the ranks of the Imperial army. And from those tens of thousands of warriors, these select few were set aside; their personal DNA mutated just enough from the original host to be accepting of a touch of the Force, and could be improved upon to wield it in addition to their abilities.
But in order for Veneficus to trust them to actually serve under him, they had to be tested thoroughly. "You twenty men have been chosen for your great abilities, and special genetics," he said without preamble, having used this speech dozens of times, the benefits of delivering it to the same audience over and over. "And have been found potentially worthy to become the newest members of the Arcanamach, honor guard of the Emperor."
Veneficus waited, as the ever present interruption was coming, "Potentially?" one of the Zabini's asked credulously; "You're saying it is possible for us to fail yet, my Lord?"
"Well, I only have need of twelve of you for this task, as there are certain limits to the sizing of my guard…" Veneficus countered, knowing what the effect his words would produce. The group of men started eyeing each other, wondering which eight among their twenty would be eliminated.
"But first, a test, to weed out those who are too weak to protect me…" Veneficus announced, throwing back his cloak to reveal himself, bare above the waist and wielding nothing but a pair of stun sticks. "Whoever can actually defeat me in combat, solo or as a group, will automatically be qualified to join my guard."
He only had to wait half a moment before the first set of Zabini clone lunged at him. It was always amusing to see how predictable the clones were, even with small variations in their DNA that could, if not ought to, have made for different reactions to his proposal. Dodging to the left, and then ducking the next clone that attacked, Veneficus wondered how long it would take for the first bit of treason within their ranks.
He spent some time just dodging their clumsy attacks, keeping an eye out for any that seemed to be perform particularly bad, or particularly well, as he knew there was little to no chance of any of them actually defeating him. Soon enough he had to add pressure to the fight by actually using the stun sticks, laying out the first Zabini clone on the ground in a twitching mass.
Seeing that, the rest of the clones knew that they had to actually work harder to beat him, and started attacking in waves, consisting of groups of three to four at a time, and the Sith Emperor increased the violence in which he incapacitated the future Arcanamach, even to the point of breaking bones to make sure they did not get back up any time soon. Soon he had half of the clones on the ground, and the remaining clones started to relax, thinking that all was done.
Not allowing that impression to take hold, Veneficus started using the Force, grabbing one that had not as of yet attacked him and throttling the clone to death, before throwing the corpse far from the others. "Weakness will not be tolerated. You fight or you die." Veneficus said sternly, shattering the rest of the clones' beliefs that they were done with this test.
Those that actually fought he incapacitated, littering the ground with their injured bodies. Two attempted to run, and were electrocuted to death for cowardice, while two others actually managed to injure themselves, which Veneficus pounced upon, bludgeoning them both to death with the stun sticks. Another one he killed because he could sense through the Force that he wasn't prepared for the trials that awaited them all after this test, which left only four. That was when it finally happened. One of the Zabini's grabbed the head of another and twisted sharply, snapping the neck of a comrade.
The others all paused, and Veneficus smirked. This would be a good generation of guards, to have such a long bout before betrayal interfered. "Clever, but I believe you miscounted…" Veneficus said, before grabbing the traitor by the throat with the Force, strangling him to death, "and I do not work with traitors…"
With a panicked glare in his eyes, the dying Zabini struggled in the unknown bonds that held him, until he finally died; body dropping like a sack of weights.
"And that is eight weeded out as not belonging." Veneficus said, more to himself than the remaining pair of future Arcanamach, dropping the stun sticks and drawing his wand. A casual wave had the entire injured group healed and able to stand before him, victors as they willingly fought for their own lives.
When the group was finally assembled before him, Veneficus congratulated them all, "You all performed as well as I expected you to. The intent was not for you to actually defeat me, but to see if you would give your all to a cause, and those that failed that test are now dead at your feet. I am pleased to call you the newest set of Arcanamach Royal Guards. Step forward to receive your rewards."
One by one the Zabini clones approached, and after having them in turn kneel before him, Veneficus drew pure power from the Valley of the Jedi, and poured the undiluted Force energy into his willing servants, transforming them into something more than mortal wizards. Each one grew to their perfect stature, tall and imposing, and clasped their heads as the awareness of the Force surged into them.
Veneficus finished by knocking each unconscious with a wave of his wand, allowing them, in a small act of pity or mercy, to ride out the pounding waves of pain in black oblivion, although that was only a small benefit of what was to cone next.
When the last clone had received the gift of the Force, and was lying before him, Veneficus began his rituals. Using a combination of mind magic and a great many runes that he personally carved into the flesh of each clone, the Lord of the Sith drew upon the Force power of the Valley and the magic within each clone to bend each of the clone's minds to his own, connecting them to their Emperor by their force of will.
The Arcanamach were incapable of disobeying the wishes of their Emperor, even unconsciously. It was as though placing each under an unbreakable vow, without the hassle of actually casing the spell and having each one agree to their assigned duty. There were also spells of protection, strengthening and reflex honing, imitating a lifetime of training in the same arts of the Force that Veneficus required of each of these guards, that they would naturally train in over the course of their service.
In essence, he was building the perfect Force wielding warrior over and over again. Thankfully, that would occur less and less, as the surviving Arcanamach had learned from the mistakes that cost the lives of their companions, especially in battling Jedi. Those same survivors would, in turn, train the others so that they all improved from this weakness. He would not tolerate his personal guard to possess such a fatal flaw as to not be able to handle Jedi, even if their presence was a formality at best.
Once he was finished, and the living Arcanamach starting to awaken, Veneficus left, relinquishing their care back to the troopers that had brought them to Ruusan in the first place. "Return those who are alive to the training facility, and dispose of the corpses." He ordered.
"Yes your Majesty," the senior trooper responded, even as the troopers turned to enter the cave network. Meanwhile the Lord of the Sith boarded his meditation sphere, keying in the coordinates of Dromund Kaas. With things here in hand, his time for distraction from the new goal between the Emperor and his people was not to be ignored any longer.
As much as he would rather be doing anything else regarding his founding of a glorious Empire, there was an annoying speech that needed his attention, to be soon delivered to the entirely to the Empire's citizens, as well as all the Republic spies that would no doubt be in attendance.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~line break~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If she hadn't been so already, Luna was now immensely grateful to Professor Snape, along with every other Jedi in the Temple. Not only had the man managed to shed some more light on the how and why of Colin's death through the curses of a dark amulet, but he had gone above and beyond need in rescuing Grand Master Coven from her coma. Jedi Healers had said that nothing could be done to save the Jedi Master's eyes, as the nerves connecting them had more or less stopped functioning, and as Master Coven was at peace with the event, there was little that they, through the Force or otherwise, ought to do about it.
But it was still the fact that their leader had been returned to them, at the time that the Jedi Order needed her guidance the most. She wasn't sure, but Luna felt that perhaps the once dour man was starting at last to warm from being here at the Temple, especially with all the Padawans now looking at him with a mixture of awe and respect, something that she was sure the Potions Master was not used to receiving from youth of any kind.
Luna wasted no time, once she learned the news, from going to her old master and informing her of all the events that had occurred since her fall into her comatose state, including a piece of new information that had finally been decrypted. Someone had used old Jedi codes to send out a distress call from deep within the Sith controlled territory, namely the planet Korriban.
Luna was well aware of what most people thought, that it was some sort of trap for the Jedi, but she herself wasn't so sure. It would be a great long shot to call attention to that deep of a Sith world, especially as it was forbidden for Jedi to go there, due to the powerful Dark Side Aura of the planet. She felt it more likely that it was a true call for help, from either a jedi that had been captured, or someone who had discovered the codes from a fallen Jedi that was on that planet.
Either way, it wasn't something that could easily be ignored, not with the possibility of someone that had spent time behind enemy lines, and all the knowledge that could help the Jedi Order win this war and end the bloodshed.
So she had done the sensible thing and brought the matter to the Grand Master, seeking her blessing to undertake such a dangerous mission.
Master Coven's eyes may have been dimmed, but her heart and mind were as strong as ever. "I can sense your great urgency to investigate this matter, dearest Luna." The Genet said, taking her old Padawan's hand, "and I to sense that there is more to this matter than a simple trap, but great care must be taken to not allow it to turn into a trap. The Dark Side is strong on Korriban, overwhelming even, and to walk that planet's surface as a dedicated follower of the Light takes a great amount of trust in the Force. A trust that I believe you alone cannot achieve."
Luna started to feel disheartened, but Fae patted her hand gently, "That is why you must take your Padawan, Leon, with you. The Master-Padawan bond is a powerful anchor to both teacher and student, and together you both will do things that neither can alone. I give you my blessing. Go and discover the truth of this message, and be careful of the perils of that world. Just promise that you will indeed come back to us."
That was a promise that Luna had no issue striving to keep. Hastily, she had gone and collected what she thought they would need, along with Leon, and took the most nondescript ship in the Jedi Temple that could still fly, carefully plotting their course to not appear to direct to the Sith tomb-world. Every step would potentially be fraught with peril, and she made this abundantly clear to Leon. They would have the whole of the Empire down upon them in moments if they were discovered as Jedi, so they had to do everything in their power to remain unnoticed and still discover who they needed to find.
For his part, Leon had merely nodded and dove headlong into his training in stealth and protective measures, channeling the Force as a cloak to hide his aura of purity that came with the abundant Light Side use.
At the same time, Luna decided it was high time she start practicing with her witch's magic once again, and having brought several datapads filled with notes of spells to cast, their function and their techniques, all supplied by the combined efforts of Professors McGonagall and Flitwick, along with the work of Padawan Nanraah, who had compiled everything she could about the earth wizards and their culture.
Several powerful jinxes and curses would be highly useful, along with a myriad of charms for stealth and detection. There were a cascade of potential problems with their plan, and so Luna felt that they needed every resource advantage possible to be able to deal with whatever contingency they were forced to deal with once they reached the heart of the Sith Empire.
What Luna worried about most of all, however, was the fact that the Emperor himself was still out there, and would stop at nothing to hunt her down for her multiple escapes from him now. It was nearly repulsive to think of the Darkness as Harry Potter anymore, as the boy-who-lived had clearly died before making it back to the Wizarding World all those years ago, and some dark monster had taken the boy's body, and was not committing such injustice with it upon the entire Galaxy.
Yet unlike her fairy tales of mythical beasts that truly did not exist, this monster had been and still was very real, and the pair of Jedi was venturing frightfully close to the mouth of its den. If they went completely unnoticed by him, barring anyone else, Luna would consider this mission a success even if they didn't find anything. But somehow Luna knew that that just wasn't going to happen, in either regard.
They would find something of value on Korriban, she knew it just as surely as the fact that the Sith Emperor would become aware of their presence on one of his stronghold worlds, and either come after them himself, or sent his armies to crush them. They would need to constantly keep an open route back to their ship, in case of the need of a quick and decisive retreat.
With luck, their protections would guarantee their safe passage out of the system, along with whomever or whatever they were meant to bring back with them, so long as the Force willed it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~line break~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anguis was rapidly growing impatient with the constant blathering of the Senate. It couldn't be more obvious that these politicians were more interested in hearing themselves speak rather than actually achieving anything of importance. The initial fleet out of New Terra was busy patrolling the outer reached of the Colonies, even as another was requesting crews and other personnel to be ready to depart into action.
Even still, the pathetic senators were not prepared to actually test their fleet against the Sith Empire in a direct confrontation, which Anguis knew would only hinder their ability to actually fight. And convincing the doddering old fools that their only option to even have a chance at stopping the Empire was to attack back and forcefully drive them out.
But the same idiots with their comfortable lives and posh apartments in Coruscant were content to merely keep their enemies at arm's length. Not that this was true for every senator, merely the still very powerful majority.
Those in the grand Senate hall that were working for his agendas were hard pressed to argue back the point of fighting, but Anguis was forced to remain neutral, as Chancellor his opinion was only required in the situations of a formal tie, and the body had yet to actually vote on anything.
Anguis made a special note to disband the Senate when he took to full and permanent office, especially as the blasted Senator of Alderaan rose, yet again, to waffle on about nothing at all, and continue wasting the time the Senate could spend better actually passing amendments to the law.
It was terribly frustrating, and Anguis was certain that his master had known this going into their plans for the war to come, and intentionally given Anguis the run of the corrupt Republic.
Fortunately, he had just been given some information that could shake them all free of their stupidity and laziness, he hoped. The Republic spymasters had uncovered some of the goings on of the Empire, and how Veneficus was planning to speak with the entire Empire this same day, which they were going to record and allow broadcasted before the full Senate.
That was why they were all present, even though there was nothing left to vote upon between them all. Soon enough the blue light on the console before Anguis flashed, accompanied with a chime that was heard throughout the rather silent hall, interrupting even the old Alderaanian mid speech.
"It is time," Anguis announced, activating the communication, and revealing the face of one of their operatives, or at least the mask covered head of said operative. "Senators of the Republic," he said silently and quickly, "I bring news from the Sith Capitol of Dromund Kaas."
"Well, speak up man, what have you found?" a senator declared, causing a smattering of murmuring to surge around the Hall.
"It's easier, Senator, if I simply show you." The operative said, and soon their view turned, revealing beyond a seeming alleyway between buildings an immense crowd gathered before what seemed to be the Royal palace of the Sith Emperor. Beyond the crowd was a large podium, at which stood the Dark Lord of the Sith himself. Anguis easily recognized Veneficus, but most of the senators hadn't a clue what they were looking at, and voiced this loudly, only to be shushed by those smart enough to be in the know.
"Greetings citizens of the Empire," Veneficus said, his red eyes searing over the crowd before him, "I am your Emperor, Veneficus the Eternal. This day marks the beginning of our glorious rise out of the ashes of obscurity and into the dawn of a new Galactic era. The bleating Republic, with their corrupt Senate and ineffective leaders cower at the mere sightings of our fleets. The Jedi are overwhelmed in trying to stop our advance, and with every passing day, more systems are added to our growing sphere of influence, joining us in the bright dawn of a better tomorrow."
Anguis could sense the magical aura leaking off of Veneficus through the holoprojector, and the sickly sweet drawing of attention was clearly used to great effect. There wasn't a single murmur running through what they could see of the crowd.
Even as Veneficus continued to speak, highlighting the bloodless victories of the Empire, while glossing over their violent conflicts, Anguis could start to hear the anger surging through the Republic Senate. Insulting them so directly was indeed the one thing that either Anguis or Veneficus had to do to motivate these people, and the Chancellor of the Republic was glad that it had not boiled down to him to make this happen.
Losing public favor in the Senate as Chancellor was akin to political suicide, and a surefire way to lose his position as soon as possible. But now, he had the favor of the Senate, and a credible outlet for their aggression, that would assuredly cumulate in the commissioning of their new magical fleets to attack and try to push back the Sith from their advances toward the Colonies, possible well into the Mid-Rim even.
So, Anguis decided to just let his rival and former master speak, and let the anger of the Republic bubble for a time, so that they would have all the motivation they wanted to see this man and his Empire in ruins.
It was only a shame that such a ploy would also probably, due to the heavy use of magic in the speech, directly influence those of the conquered worlds to fight alongside their new masters, thinking themselves truly free of the Republic, and thus prepared to turn and fight back against the injustices that they saw in the corruption of the politics of the Galaxy.
Things were about to get much harder for the Republic, even at the same time that they employed their greatest weapon for fighting against their enemies. Granger would probably have a field day with the number of volunteers to fight in the Navy that would be flocking to her now.