Many thanks to those who review, as it is most amusing to watch everyone speculate as to what will or won't happen later on in this trilogy. Just remember, there is much more yet to go in this story before I am satisfied with it, and I've already projected out well past the chapter 50 mark, so anything you may think is leading up to an end here presently, you may yet be surprised. Enjoy... ~F
Chapter Thirty Nine
Repulsing the Tide
Hermione stormed through the next set of doors, wielding her experimental blasters, knocking a pair of Sith troopers off their feet with the concussive blasts that perfectly imitated wand magic, especially since she had built the device to operate as a weaponized wand. The platoon that barred their way to her private hanger were dealt with when a massive droid, armed with similar weapons on each arm stormed through behind Hermione, firing waves of stunners, tripping jinxes and blasting curses at them, making the poor fools scatter.
"Go! We need to move now!" she commanded, and those few that were not injured, protected by the trio of Jedi, worked as quickly as they could to maneuver the injured across the corridor and toward the next room.
Professor Snape appeared as they were about to pierce through the next chamber, saying that he had bought them sufficient time and that Bellatrix was no longer a threat to them. Hermione wasn't sure if the man was indicating that she was dead or not, but it was irrelevant for the moment. The station was falling to the Sith, and she needed to get those injured off before she decide to take matters into her own hands.
She alone was master of this station, and had means and ways to protect her interests. Pulling out her master control datapad, which had functions as the prime console for the station, she began typing away, even as she sensed another Sith troop approaching. Casually she whirled and fired her weapon, tearing a hole straight through the grayish armor and dropping the attacker in one shot.
"Note to self," she said aloud, jotting the same into her pad, "design Republic armor that is actually protective…"
The droid, XV-008, barged ahead, twin cannons opening to full automatic fire as the entire hangar of enemy forces started to react to their advance. Several were backing away to her personal shuttle, and Hermione set her face as she remotely started the engine, the flares from the propulsion incinerating them instantly with the pungent smell of burning flesh and metal.
There was no remorse for her actions. These were cloned monsters, and servants of an even greater monster, which was set to destroy all that she had built for this world. It simply would not be tolerated in her small section of the Galaxy.
As they all hurried to load the wounded onto her shuttle, Hermione started the emergency countdown, which would slowly shut down everything on the station, except for the gravity fields keeping it in orbit. All pressurization would cease, and the air would quickly be vented out, leaving the cold of space to literally suck every Sith trooper off her station. Three and a half minutes of that, and she would return power, leaving her station clear of anyone that would dare oppose her control of this sector, and the work of building the Republic's fleets could continue.
Red lights flared as the system warned all remaining passengers of the danger, and advised them to get to the escape pods. Even the Jedi looked at her with a bit of fear as she had announced this plan, but her mind was made up. If this did not work, there was always the self destruct option, which would crash the entire station into the planet's most remote areas, where she had hopes to salvage as much as she could to start her work again.
But even as their shuttle plunged through the streaming firefight of Sith and Republic snub fighters, Hermione happened to look out in anger at the massive cruisers when the best circumstances occurred. She spotted the flash of light as new fleets exited Hyperspace from several directions, opening fire upon the Sith. Instantly Hermione recognized her children, the ships that she herself had designed, and in many cases helped build.
The Republic had come to their aid at last, at least four fleets worth of ships.
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Luna hadn't expected to return to New Terra so soon, but it was clear that the Emperor had decided that the planet was no longer worth his time to try and use, and was attempting to wipe it out before it grew to be a threat to him.
"Admiral Klergere," Luna said, looking over the heavy battle and scarred station, "Move all ships to intercept their fleet, I want all their attention on us rather than the station, shields double front, aim for their command vessels."
"Yes Ma'am," the Iradonian Female replied, commanding the crew of the Vindication expertly, in conjunction with the others that had most recently left from New Terra. Luna wondered how her allies were faring with the news that the planet they had just left was attacked so soon after their departure.
If not for swiftness on the communication to them from the offices of the Chancellor, they would have been too far to turn back and make a difference, but even now Pheonix Fleet, under Professor McGonagall was advancing along the eastern front, to hem in the fighters trying to cycle around to the planet below, while Flitwick's Pursuit of Justice assaulted the west with deadly accuracy, sniping fighters from the melee and jabbing fiercely at the cruisers there.
With Luna barreling down the center toward the command ships of the Sith fleet, she hoped that Yoda would take her initiative and follow suit, plunging like a knife directly into the heart of the beast and hopefully dividing their forces between the four smaller forces.
"Launch fighters," she commanded, watching a holographic display of the battle, and the individual cruisers and swarms of fighters moving in real time. She sank into the Force, allowing it to give her insight to the flow of battle, and began making her predictions of where their ships needed to move, like a massive game of dejarik.
"Squadron Gamma, move to sector G6-03, and attack the light cruiser there, it's trying to cut off the advance of the Pheonix," she ordered, and the tiny blips of light hurried to obey, trusting in her ability to see the entire battle at once. "Alpha, Sigma, Kappa, and Epsilon push forward, clear the way for our cruisers to devastate their command structure."
"Understood General!" they replied, and Luna looked up to see the Sith capital ship looming before them, attempting to punch through their shields with its heavy weaponry, but their shields held.
"Open fire with all forward facing batteries, before turning broadside, redirecting shields to double port and opening fire with the missile launchers. I want their shields down after the third salvo, so the bombers can cripple their engines." Luna commanded, watching as the streams of light launched from their ship, flashing and sparking over the Sith command vessel like fireworks.
She would show these Dark Side villains what it meant to fight with the strength of the Force at your side.
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Bellatrix stumbled as she ran, several burns and cuts along her body from the various warriors, both Republic and Sith, that she had butchered along the way. Betrayal and anger pounded in her skull, knowing now that the Sith Lords had played her for a fool through trickery and guile.
Her left arm was braced against her body, where the upper bone was fractured, but the pain did nothing to stop her as she ran, crimson lights flashing and sirens blaring that soon this place would be depressurized, killing everything and everyone within.
Much as she was loath to do so, now that she knew the truth, she had to reach the Death Eater and escape from this station. Let the Sith fight their battle with the remnants of the New Terran people, Bellatrix Black LeStrange had a larger fish to fry. Emperor Veneficus was a fraud, and none other than he who was prophesized to slay her Lord, and the pathetic boy would die by her hand, in retribution for the death of the Dark Lord.
Then Bellatrix would take command of his Empire, and reform the Galaxy in a vision that would have made Lord Voldemort proud, and set her at his side for all time. Even still, there was a wrenching pain in her heart, knowing that her Lord was gone, and she had never seen him again after that Halloween night. Even ruling as Empress would not soften the blow, but she hoped that in time she would learn to move on from the pain.
Dashing into the hangar where her blast boat waited for her, Bellatrix leapt over the first few troopers that ran at her, having already been warned that she had turned on her own troops, and leveled a powerful explosive curse at their feet. The metal floor of this mechanical monstrosity ripped upward, sending the armored soldiers flying.
She did not even pause as she rolled on her bad arm, and sprang to her feet, continuing for her ship, even as the field for the hangar bay started to dim. Lashing with her wand, Bellatrix knocked the remaining fools from the ramp to her ship, and slammed her hand on the button to raise the ramp and pressurize the ship, even as the field suddenly ended, and with a great rushing of wind sucked nearly everything into the empty vacuum.
Breathing heavily, Bellatrix stumbled to the cockpit, and started the ignition sequence. There was still a chance of danger if the Mudblood Granger decided to destroy the entire station, and Bellatrix needed to get into Hyperspace back toward the Imperial Capital before she could start treating her wounds. Dodging around the oncoming Republic fighters, while four newly arrived fleets of their cruisers bore down on her former forces, Bellatrix did everything in her power to evade them, plotting a course back to the Imperial Core.
Slamming the controls once she was clear, the ship lurched forward into the starlines of Hyperspace, and Bellatrix allowed herself to relax the tiniest bit, hissing in pain as her arm throbbed in protest.
She would attend to it in a moment, before starting to build herself up for the fight of her life. The Emperor, while a diabolical child in comparison to the Dark Lord, was still supremely strong, and Bellatrix would have to employ all her skills and knowledge to slay him, especially of he was surrounded by his guards and an entire city that would sacrifice all to protect him.
But Bellatrix was a master assassin, and would uphold her Lord's agenda to the very end. Potter must die, and perhaps there would be some fragment of the Dark Lord left for her to perform a ritual to restore him to the physical world. It was a tiny chance, but one that she would gladly shoot for in her own way, to restore the golden era that had be so thoroughly destroyed by the coming of the Sith to their world.
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Yoda watched as the battle started to scatter into several pockets of pitched combat. The Sith fleet was quickly falling into disarray, even as shuttles flew from the orbital space station over the planet, which suddenly had all power shut down, aside from the propulsion keeping it from crashing into the planet below.
Following after Luna and her Vindication fleet, Yoda had ordered the Terran's Fury to swerve to the left of the battle, pinching half of the Sith forces between his and Professor Flitwick's fleet. "Around the survivors, a perimeter create," he suggested, and the officers hurried to follow his advice, causing the ships that support his main cruiser to form a long picket line, and start to slowly circle the limping and heavily damaged Sith vessels.
They had taken quite a beating from the space station alone before their fleets arrived, and despite being still outnumbered, it seemed that the gap in technology had finally been breached, and the Republic vessels had traded blow for blow with the Sith, superior strategy winning out in the end, and causing more casualties to the invaders of the system.
"General Yoda," the Admiral said, turning to face the goblin and his Padawan. Edwtys Shobran was a thin man, not very muscular, but Yoda had quickly learned to respect the man's brilliant strategic mind. "The holdouts are fighting to the death, might I suggest rotating the ships and putting shields double top so that all our cannons can fire freely upon them, while out fighters have safety to launch without interference."
Yoda nodded, seeing the tactic quickly, "The other light cruisers, do this also they should," he added.
Even as their view of the battle outside the viewing windows changed, their footing remained steadily on the deck. Although it was slightly disorienting, it offered a perfectly wide open target to bombard this half of the Sith armada's capital ships, which were already reeling and attempting to align themselves away from the planet, possible to escape into Hyperspace.
"Fire!" the admiral ordered, and with a concussive blast of light, a storm of blazing bolts flew from across their ship, lancing through and into dozens of small fighters and picket ships, before splashing over the already failing shields of the hulking Sith cruiser.
Many of the smaller ships, able to turn far more quickly than their larger command ships, started jumping immediately, going in as many directions as would return them to Sith space, but Yoda determinedly kept attacking, hoping that they could disable or destroy the massive capital ship so that they at last could study the Sith technology.
With a brilliant series of explosions along the side of the ship once the shields failed, and the Sith cruiser ground to a halt, floating aimlessly in space. "Send out shuttles, we need to take the cruiser before they have a chance to self destruct." Admiral Shobran commanded, and both Jedi and Padawan turned to join in the assault. Regardless of who might have been in charge of this ship, there was a high likelihood that they would be extremely needful to bypass many of the remaining Sith soldiers that would try to defend their last secrets to the death.
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Hermione was quick to reactivate power to her space station once she was sure that the entire place had depressurized. It would still take a significant amount of time before anyone could safely inhabit it again.
Until then, Hermione led her shuttle around the battle, picking off fighters and disabling slightly larger ships with the refurbished batteries and shields that she had personally installed upon this shuttle, making it equal to most light corvettes in firepower, although far smaller and more manuverable.
That was, until she spotted the disabled Sith cruiser that was being blocked off from escaping into Hyperspace on the western flank.
"It's about time that I had a chance to study what the Sith have done, and how I can start to counter their fleets." She said, directing her ship full speed toward it. There were only a few people with her that she could count on to fight, namely Professor Snape and the three Jedi, so Hermione knew that her infiltration team would be significantly diminished than what would be reasonable acceptable.
"Hermione, I have to advise again this course of action," Theodore said hesitantly, putting his hand on her arm.
"I have to see what these monsters are capable of." She snapped back, unrelentingly steering them toward one of the open hangars of the capital ship, "If we can get even a small amount of their technology, it would give the Republic a major advantage toward winning this war."
"But Hermione," Theodore started, but sudden turbulence knocked him from his seat and caused Hermione to wrench back on the controls. Apparently there was still some Sith at the controls of their guns, trying to prevent boarders from landing.
"Oh I don't think so!" Hermione said sternly, flipping a pair of switches on the control board in front of her and taking aim, even as she started another run for the hangar. Squeezing the triggers on top of the controls, she fired several torpedoes at the gun placements, which detonated just before impact, spraying fluorescent potion contents all over the weapons, which started to eat away at the heavy durasteel. She had specially prepared such acid to work perfectly in a zero oxygen environment, just for such an occasion.
Pulling into the hangar and wheeling the ship in a tight turn, she landed facing back outward, if they needed a quick escape. Leaving the shields on and the ship ready to take off at a moment's notice, Hermione stood and started gathering equipment to hack into the ship, as well as deal with anything that might try to stop her.
"Hermione, I cannot allow you to do something so dangerous as this," her husband tried again, but she was more than determined, bypassing him with no response, and heading for the landing ramp, where a trio of her engineers waited with one of the massive combat droids that they had been perfecting when the battle started.
Nodding at them all, although finding it rather disturbing that they were so very alike in face and mannerisms, she started to descend to the deck of the Sith cruiser. "Find me a console to hack into," she ordered, even as she started toward the door that led out of the hangar. It was highly unlikely that they were simply be ignored here, especially if the Sith expected to be boarded by the Republic at any time.
Glancing over the controls to the heavy blast doors, Hermione drew her wand. While her blaster could mimic several spells, it was for more blunt force repeating of the same attacks, while the wand itself was more of a versatile tool for her, and took much longer to chain combat spells together into a powerful combination, especially to merely waste on foot soldiers. A wizarding duel was a different matter altogether as far as Hermione was concerned, but still, a quick couple of charms made the door significantly harder for anyone to open it who lacked the magical arts, and would afford them a bit more protection than otherwise.
"Director, over here," one of the engineers called, and Hermione hurried to the source of the voice, smiling as she spotted the large terminal that would give her access to the Imperial network. Pulling out several small devices and untangling some wires, she began hooking up her system, muttering charms over the electronics in a quick fashion, finally jabbing her wand at the entire console with a final flourish.
At once, it came to life, recognizing her as a high ranking authority, and began downloading every scrap of data it could find into her extensively expanded datapad. She doubted that even with its charms it would be able to hold everything, which was why she prioritized the download toward military secrets and tech first and foremost, and then everything else.
With that started, she placed light wards around the console, even as angry shouts came from the direction of the door she enchanted. "Right on time," she muttered, finishing her preparations for the console's defense, before motioning the others to cover her as she returned to the door and found defendable locations from which to hold off the Sith until the download filled the datapad.
It took the Sith a short while to break the spells holding the door shut, far longer than she expected frankly, but soon enough they swarmed in, around a dozen troopers or so, into the arms of Hermione's weapon, along with the droid rampaging toward them, arms swinging dangerously. Two were down before the droid even reached them, Hermione's aim having improved drastically during the course of the battle on her station.
The troopers yelled in surprise, and opened fire themselves, but the droid's chassis was protected by powerful shield spells, and the bolts ricocheted in every direction as it stormed toward the knot of soldiers.
Swinging its massive arms, the droid knocked troopers flying, two or three at a time, as it wheeled about, creating as much chaos in their ranks as possible for Hermione and the other engineers to pick them off in small amounts with carefully aimed shots.
The next wave was far more cautious, even as the last of the first rush of troopers fell, they charged, flinging grenades in the direction of the wizards behind the droid. A flick of her wand sent the explosives back the way they came however, as Hermione had anticipated that such a tactic would be used. The concussive blasts ripped small holes in the deck, and sprayed the troopers with shrapnel.
Even still, another wave, and a third behind it, were already on their way down the long corridor, and Hermione knew it was a matter of time before they four tired and had to fall back, but even as she thought this, the sound of blasting engine was heard behind her, and she momentarily turned, before being forced to duck a stray blaster shot from the advancing troopers.
A pair of shuttles, with the Republic emblem blazoned upon them, touched down on either side of her ship, spilling out more soldiers, who charged to their front lines, rifles leveled and a steady stream of bolts flying into the oncoming Sith ranks.
"Well, the cavalry certainly took their time," she said to the officer in charge, who smiled widely at her.
"Blame the locals; they aren't taking too kindly to us being here at the moment." The man replied smoothly, almost humorous enough to make Hermione smile, but she was focused on staying alive at the moment, and dodged around another bolt as it came toward her.
"I take it that droid out there is one of yours?" the officer asked, leveling his own pistol and sniping down two troopers trying to flank said droid.
"Yes," Hermione replied, "currently the last experimental model we built before the attack."
The officer nodded, "You've done well securing this hangar, but we'll take it from here, Director Granger. I'm sure your people down on the planet are frightened at the chaos and lack of news on what's transpired up here. It would be most beneficial if you returned to the planet and organized your citizens, perhaps see if there is any aid that we need to send down once we drive off the remaining stragglers from your system."
Hermione most assuredly did not want to do anything of the sort, but from the glint of steel in the man's voice, realized that she was dealing with a military professional, who was not taking anything but yes as an answer. "As you wish," she relented, "but I have something I need to retrieve from here before I go."
"Of course," the man said, returning his attention to the subtly slowing tide of enemy soldiers that were trying to push back into the hangar. Signaling for the droid to fall back, Hermione withdrew to the consol that she had commandeered. As they retreated, the officer ordered his men to bring up repeater cannons, and Hermione understood why they wanted her engineers and droid to fall back. Soon the air was filled with the sound of the heavy repeating weapons firing as maximum speed, mowing down trooper after trooper that dared to show their masked and helmeted faces.
The consol had finished what it could, a staggering sixty-two percent download of the massive numbers of files on this ship, from both the network of Imperial intelligence and other things specific to this warship. But she would need a great deal of time, and several droids, to analysis it all effectively, which would be easiest back down on the planet. So Hermione grudgingly did as the soldier requested, and led the way back to their shuttle.
The three Jedi were waiting for them, the pair of knights looking like they desired to join in the pitched battle over the hangar entrance, but the crimson eyes of Master Tega'oven'remou showed nothing but the calm serenity that Hermione had learned to associate with the highest ranked members of the Order.
"Shall we depart then?" the Chiss Jedi asked, inclining his head slightly as Hermione boarded her shuttle.
"Yes," Hermione said, only slightly wistful that she could not aid in pushing to the bridge and take all of the data that the ship had to offer. "We have most of what we came for," she added, holding aloft the datapad, and the Jedi Master nodded, falling into step behind her as the landing ramp ascended back into position and the shuttle lifted off, bound for New Terra.
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Anguis watched the chaos from his protected suite in the wealthy sector of New Terra's capital city. He had conveniently been trapped here when the battle started, so very soon before his own departure from the system, which played into his hand of several fleets rushing to his aid to protect the leader of the Republic, and by extension their most important planet.
Somehow, Anguis had not been terribly surprised that Veneficus launched a counterattack at the world so quickly after his dark secrets here had been revealed. It was clear that without those, this planet had no further uses for him, and the Sith Lord felt that he was closing in on his own endgame.
Well, two strategists could play at that game, and Anguis planned that the Sith Forces would pay dearly for every world in both the Inner Rim and Galactic Core that they tried to conquer. There were still thousands of reserves that he could call upon, and a great deal of Jedi that would willingly fight to defend the worlds of the Republic. And with New Terra safely protected at this time, and Hermione's brilliant mind, they would have ships and armaments to spare for this oncoming thickening of the war.
Lovegood and her immediate allies would have to be dealt with in the meantime however, as they were simply too effective and powerful when together, hence why Anguis had arranged it so that each took a separate fleet, and were assigned to far corners of the front lines, but with the recent turn of events he wondered if he could possibly put them far enough from each other to achieve his designs.
It was true that their playing field to keep out the Sith was shrinking, with every system the Sith conquered, the Republic would be forced into a tiny nook at the center of the Galaxy. Some sort of counteroffensive would be needed, to push back the war to the mid or outer rims. Perhaps a direct push back to the beginning of this war, at Umbara where it all started, would send a message to the people of the Republic and Sith worlds, that they were not done fighting just yet, but had only begun to give it their all.
A shuttle started descending from the battle overhead, and Anguis recognized it as Director Granger's personal modified transport. That was good that she survived, not that Anguis had any doubt of that with three Jedi and Severus Snape there with her. It would have taken a very strong opponent to defeat all of those guardians, and even if that was managed they'd have to fight Hermione herself; no easy task.
Exiting his suite in a fancy hotel that was permanently set aside for his use if and when he chose to visit, the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic walked down to his ground transport, with Senate guards escorting him the entire way. Not that there was likely to be any threats from these people, as they were all cloned to be perfectly docile as the sheep that the originals were.
But appearances needed to be made, and Drakis was one for a bit of the theatrics. They made their way over to the main administration building for the global Magi-Tech business, and requested to meet with the newly returned Director as soon as possible.
The secretary recognized who Drakis was instantly, and waved him through to approach the lifts that would carry him up to the private offices and living quarters for his old college back on earth.
He arrived at the private hangar just as the last remaining injured were helped down the landing ramp of Granger's personal shuttle. The woman herself was already at a console, plugging away with a high powered datapad, sorting through what looked like a mountain of information, "I want fifteen astromechs to start sorting through this Imperial data immediately." She ordered her husband, "if there's anything here we can use against them, I want to know."
"I feel this is most unwise," Nott spluttered, and Drakis knew the true reason. Briefly he considered if it was time to break the collar and chain that held back Mrs. Granger, and allow her full wrathful anger be directed at Veneficus and the Sith Empire. The Chancellor knew that if she learned the full and horrid truth, that this world had been built as a prison for her, and a lab for her brilliant mind, she would unleash all manner of chaotic and destructive weaponry the likes of which neither Drakis, nor Veneficus, nor even Granger herself would have ever considered using in this war.
The art of destruction was perfected by the Muggle world of old Earth, Drakis had learned this frightful truth while at the knee of the Sith Lord Veneficus, and he was most eager to flee from such a place. But if he did this now, would he win the war, or destroy the Galaxy forever with the destructive powers that this one woman could unleash for their use? Could he indeed ride the waves of fire and vapor that could obliterate worlds, and make them seas of glass and unlivable husks, and yet still be retained as Chancellor of the Republic?
Not yet… he concluded, it was far too soon before the Senate would even consider such highly volatile and destructive weaponry. One side or the other must be close to their total destruction before such tactics would be allowed. But that didn't mean he could set a timer on when the frightful revelation could be revealed.
Spotting Professor Snape among the crowd, Drakis went over to him, still accompanied by the blue robed Senate guards. "Professor, I'm so glad to learn that you all escaped that battle safely. I've been calling for reinforcements for us for hours, and only once I saw the Republic fleets enter the system did I hope for any chance of victory."
"We have victory all right," the Potions Master said, eyeing Drakis cautiously, and Anguis knew the reason. The man still suspected him of his true allegiance to the Sith, which at one time would have been well founded, but the die had been cast, and Lord Anguis was his own faction now, set to propel the Republic to victory over the invading Empire and be heralded a hero.
Turing to look at the ensuing shouting match between the two Grangers, Anguis said softly, "Isn't it odd how a man could be so worried about his wife's safety that he would hinder her work to protect not only themselves, but the rest of the Galaxy as well?"
"If I do recall correctly, Nott was one of a pair, along with Boot, that would occasionally meet with you and Potter in secret…" Snape replied, his eyes narrowing drastically. "Are you implying to know what might be going on, as he has been acting strange since the battle started…?"
"I confess that I do not know full details of all that occurred between those two and Harry," Anguis said, "as there were plenty of times that he met alone with them, without me, but that was why I kept the pair of them separated, and Boot under my watchful eyes on Coruscant, while Nott remained here with Granger. If he is doing harm to her, whether magically or just in hindering her, I worry for the safety of the Republic, and what might he, along with the Emperor might be up to."
"I'll keep an eye on them," Snape said, "and if anything reveals itself, I will make certain that it is stopped."
"Thank you Professor," Anguis said, this triumph welling up in his chest. Two birds with one carefully placed stone. "Perhaps I have been away from the Senate too long, and who knows what Boot might be up to as well, or who he may be contacting without my knowledge… I'll take my leave after I speak with Hermione directly."
"Go with all haste, Chancellor," the Professor replied respectfully, which Anguis appreciated. If anything, the dour man had an air of propriety around him, knowing just what to say and do to get his way. Alas that it was nowhere near the skill that a master of deception such as Anguis or Veneficus had grown to.
Crossing to Hermione, who was now pouring over the data as it steamed from the pad to the console, Nott long gone to obey his wife's demands, Anguis approached her and lightly touched her shoulder. "You look mightily tired Director Granger."
She jumped slightly, surprised at his stealth in approaching her, "Oh my, Draco, I thought you had left ages ago…" she said, giving his hand a quick squeeze with one of her own before looking back at the uploading data stream.
"I was going to, but became blocked when the battle started. I'm sure that at least one of our mutual distress calls made it out, and that's why so many fleets appeared at once. But I have been away from the capital for too long, and must return to announce the attack here, and the victory we managed." He said, starting to turn away, before looking back at the data.
"Is that stolen from an Imperial cruiser?" he asked, allowing some measure of awe to enter his voice.
"Yes, downloaded directly from their network." She replied, not taking her eyes off of the lines of code and other information as it drifted lazily through the screen.
"Then this is a most important find, I daresay this would constitute priority one to learn all we can about the Empire's weapons, and how to counter their threat. The Senate will be most pleased with this news. You've done the entire Galaxy a great service today Mrs. Hermione Granger. I expect great things to come from your factories in the future, and hope that we can marshal something to stop Veneficus and his hordes before we are all destroyed." Anguis urged, knowing the reaction that would happen.
She stiffened, her anger at the Sith Emperor clearly visible, and turned from her data to look directly at Anguis. "We will defeat him, if it's the last thing that I do. He will not get away with all he has done to us…"
"Of that, I have no doubts my dear," Anguis said as he turned and started away, his job here finished. It was time to return to his seat of power and continue the long hard work of stringing along the senators of the ever dwindling Republic to rally together and fight against the Sith in earnest.
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Veneficus fumed as the visions of the Dark Side washed over him once more. He had already seen the report of the failure to destroy Granger and her rebellious little world, one that he himself had designed and made into the perfect prison for his little genius, but now she was almost completely free of him, and that was a danger to the Empire. Not a major one, and the currents of the Force were already shifting to show him the new path to victory, but one that would have been far more difficult that before if Bellatrix had managed to do her job and eliminate the witch-scientist.
Now there would be a long and bloody conflict as the Empire pushed through to the Galactic Core, but there was still a steady pace toward victory, and Veneficus could see everything that was required of his soldiers and ships.
Let them build weapons, allow them to see if they could countermand his armada, they would realize soon that they had no hope of defeating him through strength of arms alone. Veneficus was Eternal; there was no destroying him, in any sense of the word.
Calling upon his private communicator, Veneficus summoned his most loyal servant. Soon the doors of the private Imperial meditation chamber opened, and the fiery red skin of his apprentice, Darth Diábolis appeared, as the Devaronian knelt before his Lord and Emperor.
"What is thy bidding, my master?" he inquired, ever the obedient learner of the powers of the Dark Side. Quite unlike the traitorous Malfoy, whom had now cut all communication with the Sith, thinking that he could lead the failing Republic to victory on his own through guile and manipulation.
How the weak so quickly thought themselves stronger than the mighty. "I require you to lead my armies into battle," Veneficus said, knowing that it would please his apprentice to no end to finally see open battle again. The Devaronian had been secluded here on Dromund Kaas, attending to political matters and other things that the craver of the Dark Side clearly found unappealing and dreadfully dull, but they were essential things for the Sith Apprentice to learn if he was to truly ever hope to succeed his Master.
Not that Veneficus intended to pass the torch on to another Sith, when he was so close to achieving the goal set by Darth Bane so long ago. He had even conversed with the ancient Sith'ari, and spoke at length about his Empire that functioned under the Rule of Two that the man had established, and Bane had indeed been pleased with the progress that had been made since his death and banishment when he failed to possess his apprentice, Darth Zannah.
"Go and take the most powerful fleet in our armada, aside from my personal ships, and lead our great campaign to crush the last remnants of the frightened Republic, plunging the knife deep into the Core world's heart. Any world that does not submit, destroy. I want nothing for those cowards to run to when we take the capital world. Contact me when you are poised over the last remaining hold outs, so that I may come and attend to the final attacks personally." Emperor Veneficus commanded.
"As you wish, my Master," Diábolis replied, standing and departing immediately to fulfill his new charge. Veneficus laughed high and cold as his apprentice vanished from sight. Soon the Republic would fall, and the Empire would rise from its ashes to rule the Galaxy once again. Then in the darkness of their new order, the Sith would know true peace…
Turning in his meditative sphere, Veneficus activate a holo-camera, which showed him a projection of his favorite captive, even as the boy was starting to become delusional from lack of sustenance, as well as daily bouts of torture. Soon, so very soon everything would fall into place, and the Emperor of the Galaxy would take his Eternal throne.
Settling back into the flows of the Force, Veneficus watched in his mind's eye as events started to unfurl before him, the ramification of his actions being added to the maelstrom that composed the future, altering events and returning with a clearer picture of what could be, with the right prodding in this or that direction.
The future was indeed always in motion, but that did not stop one highly trained in the Force from manipulating events to their desire and whims. Still, there were unknown variables. Bellatrix had not been reported dead or captured, and there was still the Jedi Lovegood and her allies to be concerned about.
Veneficus knew that he would have to wipe the Galaxy clean of the mutated Force energy soon, as it posed too much of a threat to his Empire with its vast abilities, especially with so many skill teachers of those arts still alive and wandering the Galaxy actively fighting him.
They would be high priority targets, like any Jedi, which Diábolis would have the pleasure of hunting down and slaying them, personally if need be. Only then would Veneficus sit contentedly upon his throne, ruling over the Galaxy for his extremely long, and powerful, lifetime.
The Dark Lord of the Sith felt the mirth of his powerful decision well up inside him, and decided to allow himself to be amused by them. Relishing the humor of such death and destruction of lesser beings, he laughed again. it was by the Force that he attained this power, and by the Force he would use it to conquer, as was his given right. None would dare to challenge him again after this campaign. And for those fools who did try, their deaths would serve as examples for others.