Chapter Forty Four

Pushing Against the Tide

Hermione watched dubiously as the massive Sith cruiser continued its course straight for their station, the Corellian ships around it being forced aside like vermin as the gargantuan beast pressed onward. Hermione knew that all along the station, their weapon emplacements were firing at full automatic, but quickly running out of ammunition. As much as she did not want to, it was drawing close to the time to abandon the station. But there were still questions plaguing her that prevent her from leaving just yet.

"The Sith cruiser is well within range to begin firing at us, but why hasn't it done so yet," she murmured to herself, "What are you up to Harry?"

"Regardless of what that monster is up to," Professor Snape said at her side, "it changes very little; we need to leave now, before he does choose to attack. Whether or not he's making a statement or wanting to unleash a new weapon is irrelevant if we cannot survive another day to fight that monstrosity of a ship."

Hermione sighed. Yes, the professor was correct as usual, but she didn't have to like it as she grudgingly turned from the viewport and made her way out of the command room to where the emergency shuttles were already ferrying many of her engineers to the planet below.

The professor led her to one the last preparing to take off, which held the majority of her high ranking staff. What surprised her even more than that, aside from her thought that they had scattered to different shuttles to prevent them all from getting killed if this one was shot down, was when the Professor took the controls at the pilot seat.

She was about to question his actions, when it dawned on her what he intended. They, as the lead researchers, wouldn't be safe on New Terra. The Sith would hunt them wherever they went, so likely the Professor was going to take them directly to Coruscant, probably even the Jedi Temple itself, where they would be safest.

The ship lurched off its landing gear, wobbled for only a few moments before steadying out of the hangar, and immediately turning away from the battle and the planet and starting to make a line for open space. Several Sith fighters immediately took up pursuit, firing their weapons and making the shuttle shake with the assault, but the customized shields held strong, and Hermione felt that it was likely that they'd make it to safety.

That was until they suddenly ground to a halt in mid flight. "Tractor Beam," the Professor called, as the ship started to inch its way backwards, toward the massive Sith cruiser, and what to Hermione felt like certain doom.

"Oh move over," she said to the people around her, storming to the controls and hitting a plethora of switches. There were ways for this class of ship to beat even a tractor beam, and all it took was a small rerouting of power as well as a huge dose of cleverness.

Momentarily all the lights in the ship went dark as power was transferred from auxiliary to the engines, supercharging them and they began to fight back against the pull with earnest. One of the Jedi cruisers lumbered by, somewhat damaged, and began another attack run on the massive warship, failing to impact any true or lasting damage to the vessel, but the distraction from the laser batteries was well received.

Hermione worked furiously, rerouting every system she could comfortably manage into both shields and engines, and they ever so slowly started to creep away from the hulking ship, perpendicular to its motion so it could not wheel about on them without breaking the tractor beam's hold.

"Punch in the coordinates for Coruscant," she recommended to the Professor, as it would save time and prevent the Sith from establishing another lock on them once they broke this one.

They strained to the very limits of the beam's range, even as another squad of Sith fighters buzzed by, their weapons reflecting harmlessly off the super charged shields, and soon they were free. The blast of acceleration was rather dramatic once the lock was gone. "Punch it!" Hermione cried, and the Professor hit the switch, causing all the stars to blur as they entered a Hyperspace wormhole.

Hermione breathed a small sigh of defeat, and relief. They had gotten away for now, but it wouldn't be long with what the Emperor had planned.

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Veneficus sensed the moment when Granger left the system, toward Coruscant, and frowned. He had hoped to take her back here, and it was what he had foreseen, but as of late his visions were becoming more and more volatile and equally less accurate. Oh to be sure they won the battle here, claimed the sector and drove away the Green Jedi with their proverbial tails between their legs, but his personal prize of the brilliant mind of Granger was denied him.

In the long run, it meant little, but he had truly liked her, as a wondrous tool to use time and again for her intelligence, and to lose that was a disappointment. All around him, the officers and other senior members of the fleet staff were congratulating each other on another victorious battle, but the Sith Emperor remained impassive and pensive.

There had been much lost in the push to gain this world, and while there was abundant recourses to be made use of, inevitably there was only one further purpose for the world of New Terra, and stationing a small fleet to guard the planet, Veneficus took his leave of the bridge, commanding them to prepare to move out back to Dromund Kaas.

This personal battle had taken much precious time, and the Emperor had to return to take up the reins of the war yet again, as he was unable to trust another person in all the Empire to do anything for him.

"Your majesty," a junior officer said with a bow as he approached, "It seems that there was an illegal opening of your private medical wing, but when we sent troopers to investigate, there was no one to be found within or nearby."

Veneficus paused, knowing that there had been only one personal injured anywhere near that private facility, and leaned back in his throne-like seat to expand his senses to locate her. The officer was more than correct, as Bellatrix Black-Lestrange had escaped the ship in her little blast boat amid the chaos of the battle and was now far from them, speeding along toward a destination unknown. "It is of no consequence, she is long gone, and will be dealt with when the time is right," the Emperor said, nodding his gratitude to the young officer, who smiled feebly, still intimidated at the presence of the sole ruler of the Empire.

"What of the planet my Lord, and the station," Commander Jhetc questioned, even as the Apex started the arduous feat of turning to be in line for another Hyperspace jump back from whence they had come.

"We will continue to siphon all that we can from their remaining technology for the time being, but I have a use for our now hostage planet," Veneficus stated, "I will send word with what to do with it when it becomes necessary."

"As you command, your Majesty," was the reply, and Veneficus smirked to himself, he was growing accustomed to being regarded in such a manner at last.

Wheeling his powerful mind and clarity of vision forward, he sat back and allowed himself to glimpse the many possible futures of the infinite landscape of the Force. The decision of all things seemed to converge upon a few single points, and they all revolved around the oncoming battles that his invasion fleet needed to deal with, aside from one other anomaly. The Hutt Cartel…

While typically neutral, as they were wont to profit off any side that they could deal business with, it was a stain of the Galaxy that the Sith Empire would not tolerate. Thus far, their scare tactic seemed to have worked in keeping them from actively harassing Sith Fleets or hustling their soldiers, but it was not enough for the Empire to engage in open war with proper provocation. And those slimy slugs would be quick to point out any outright invasions of their worlds across all media channels, and potentially paint the Empire as a whole in the light that it truly was, shattering the rose colored lenses that he had painstakingly placed over his subjects' eyes.

Perhaps it was time for them to cause a little sabotage and incite some chaos into the worlds of these Hutts, and let they know that neutrality had no place in the Galaxy ruled by the Sith.

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Luna watched as the combined forces of the Republic, and their allies from all factions and races that had so far joined them, fanned out in the wide open areas surrounding the nearly empty planet of Tirahnn. Most of the citizens and visitors hadn't taken well to the orders to evacuate their world, but just a short glimpse of what was now called the second battle of Taanab were enough to turn even the staunchest of the citizens from their homes, fleeing toward the Core with everything they could carry in shuttles and personal star ships.

Even more however, especially those personal militia of various wealthy investors of the planet, had signed up either voluntarily or through their employers, to help the Republic fight against the oncoming Sith tide.

The Jedi had tried to explain that it was a losing fight, and that the entire job was delaying the Sith until everyone in the next system were safely evacuated as well, and so forth back to the Core proper, where the mainstay of their fleets were waiting for them to arrive, but none had cared, stating that it was an honor to fight alongside the Beacon of the Jedi.

Luna had been confused by the title, until she spotted the transmissions on the Holonet that had replayed the battle of Taanab in its fullest, and the defiant single Republic fleet that had held off the Sith armada until the planet was evacuated safely. Shaking her head at the now instant fame as a war hero, Luna returned her attention to what was yet to come.

They had be reinforced by a few extra fleets, each customized with new gadgets and armaments by the New Terrans, and from what she had learned, Hermione had had to withdraw to Coruscant herself, as New Terra had been taken by the Emperor personally, and that the brilliant mage-born was working overtime to upgrade every piece of tech she got her hands on.

"Sense them I do, coming they are…" Yoda said over the fleet communications, which frequency had been freely shared throughout all ships that had joined with them to defend the Republic.

This would be a far worse battle than over Taanab, as there were no places for them to secret extra arms or create chokepoints. They would be hit hard and fast, as the Sith had more opportunity to spread out their forces. But at the same time, it would give the defenders a chance to see exactly what they were up against, even though the numbers were clearly going to be overwhelming.

The first ships arrived at the very edge of the system, a half dozen of the large Sith command ships and their escorts, followed closely by another half dozen of their high powered battle cruiser, and more various ships that Luna was sure that they had not encountered before surging in on the flanks.

And then the behemoth arrived. A gargantuan ship, like the Apex of the Emperor, but sleeker and darker in coloration, and possibly slightly smaller, cut into space like a powerful blade of some ancient weapon, followed by even more ships behind it.

"Stand your ground," Luna said over the intercom, knowing that many of their allies would be tempted to flee at such an opposing force.

If she had expected some form of communication from the armada before they attacked, she would have been disappointed. "Raise Prismatic Barrier!"

The frontline Republic cruisers, all arrayed with the customized defense system, flared their shields to life, protecting the entire line of ships from the barrage of attacks from the Sith ships. Luna had learned from their previous engagement that the barriers could take an incredible amount of damage before failing, and had specifically overlapped them with the system of their deployment; it magnified the barrier by a factor equal to the number of ships. Meaning, they were perfectly protected from the frontline barrage.

"Return fire, all long range missiles and arc lances at the leading capital ship, I want that thing reduced to scrap and in the way of their largest vessel." She commanded, watching as all ships obeyed, unloading a powerful barrage at a single ship.

The personal shield of the ship they targeted illuminated as it started absorbing the barrage of long range ordinance for several moments before, to the Republic force's mutual joy, it overloaded. This allowed them to score several strong and powerful hits across its hull, crippling the ship and making it list to a slow halt in space as the rest of the Sith front line advanced.

Fighters were starting to be launched from the Sith armada, swarming like a black tide toward them. "Launch fighters and activate the point defense systems, keep the prismatic barrier on standby for the next salvo from the Sith capital ships," Luna ordered, moving from the observation portion of the bridge to the thick of the command deck, shifting her vision from the reality outside to the holographic display of the oncoming horde of ships.

There was already somewhere in the realm of fifty ships in real space, minus the one they disabled, and still more signatures entering from Hyperspace. "Thrusters full reverse, all ships, we need to back away or we'll be overrun!"

"General, we only have so much room before the planet cuts off any possible escape!" the officer in charge of navigation reported, and Luna nodded, encouraging him to continue anyway, and that she acknowledged his concern.

Another barrage came at them from the armada, caught by the barriers, but Luna's engineer reported that several ships on the edge had overloaded their barrier, and were falling behind the others to maintain cover. Another pair of Sith ships were targeted by their fleet, and disabled with salvos of lances and missiles.

"The fighters have engaged in dogfights all along the mid ground General," another officer reported.

"Deploy mines from our fighters, I want heavy damage among their fighter escorts. And fire the rail guns at the nearest capital ships. We will hold them off as long as we can!" Luna commanded.

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Diábolis watched the battle unfurling before him, from the meditation chair at the forefront of the bridge. While he lacked his master's supreme command of the Force to utilize the all powerful battle meditation, it was still the most advantageous seat to watch the progress of his armada.

He could sense his master's most hated enemy, the Jedi Knight Lovegood, leading the resistance, and she was performing marvelously as the stalwart defender of the Light that her name and titles supplied.

Thrice full salvos of the forward ships of the armada were deflected without damage, and thrice again handfuls of his frontline cruisers were disabled, and two even destroyed utterly, from the returned fire. And the carnage that occurred in the middle between the fleets was such that they might actually have to request more fighters from the factory worlds to resupply before they could move on.

Diábolis was not worried however; as he knew that it was inevitable that they would be victorious. Lovegood's ragtag defenders had pulled back throughout the invasion, and were now pitted with the choice of entering the planet's gravitational pull, which would cripple their ability to retreat, or jumping to hyperspace now, which would force them to break ranks and open them to another salvo from the armada they faced.

"And now, little Jedi, what will you do?" Diábolis asked himself, even as Lord Fury came to stand beside his seat and watch the battle.

"I feel that I've seen such a tactic somewhere before…" the Marauder said, eyeing the formation and progress of the battle, "she is planning something drastic and downright clever…"

"I agree," Diábolis purred, relishing the power that he held this moment, fingering a switch that opened communication directly to the lower portions of the ship; he addressed the engineers over the engines, "Full speed ahead,"

"Yes, my Lord," the engineers replied, even as their ship started to accelerate, pushing past the smaller craft that surrounded them, which executed varying tactics to avoid collision and destruct by contact with the much larger vessel.

"My Lord, is this course wise?" Fury asked, and even Diábolis was confused to hear the man who prided himself on personal combat question a direct assault.

"I do not understand what you mean, I would have thought you of all Dark Adepts would support this move…" the Sith apprentice countered, but Fury shook his head, "I normally would, but there is something here that bothers me greatly, call it experience or a warning in the Force, but something is not right."

Rather than scoff at the man, Diábolis thought about the notion, even as the Dauntless itself entered the no man's land that was now a graveyard of fighters and bombers.

"I sense a trap…" Fury said suddenly, turning to yell at those on the bridge, "Shields full on all sides!"

The crew obeyed not a moment too soon, as powerful explosions started to erupt on all around them, battering the shields of the Dauntless, causing the bridge to rock precariously, but no lasting harm came of it. Diábolis was not even remotely in doubt of what had happened. The Republic had deployed a multitude of mines throughout the debris of fighters, not only to cause so much damage to the Sith escorts, but to lay a massive trap for the capital ships as they closed in.

Their poor fortune that it was the Super-class cruiser that had moved in first, with its superior armor and shielding, rather than any of the other capital ships. Albeit, their miscalculation turned out to work in their favor, for as Diábolis called for them to push forward to intercept the Republic fleet, they were already breaking ranks, skimming the very edge of the planet's gravitational point as they circled around to the opposite side, and started to flee.

"Open fire, knock out their rear guard." Diábolis commanded, watching as the hailstorm of projectiles bombarded those ships too slow to turn about or otherwise were last to depart. Many of these ships, smaller than the average Republic cruiser, were torn apart under the devastation of the Dauntless, looking at the now undefended planet before them, Diábolis didn't need the ships scanners to tell him that it was devoid of most intelligent life, and that once again the Republic had played for time and succeeded against him.

"Devastate the planet; reduce its cities to glass and rubble." He ordered, standing from his seat and stalking away, leaving Fury to be in command and the silent witness as a torrent of energy lanced across the surface of the unoccupied world, charring it and leaving horrid scars upon its surface. Given enough time, Diábolis knew that their ships could set fire to even the very atmosphere, but unfortunately they lacked the time for such a ruinous assault.

They had to give chase to the Republic soon, and try once again to thin their steadily growing numbers. It was a horrid disadvantage, and one that make the Sith apprentice furious with the absurdity that such a small and weak Jedi could stand against their superior firepower not one, but twice.

Diábolis understood why his master hated the Lovegood woman so much, and relished the opportunity to kill her in Veneficus' stead, proving that he was superior to his master, and placing him once step closer to taking control of the Empire for himself.

After about ten minutes of bombarding the planet, Diábolis ordered the armada to set course for the next system. Hopefully they hadn't given the Republic enough time to prepare again for their next attack, and would catch them off guard, obliterating a few of their command ships before they had chance to react accordingly.

Force willing, it would be the chance they needed to eliminate the tenacious commander once and for all.

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Lord Anguis sat uncomfortably in his chair, despite the luxury of the Chancellor's office in the Senate Rotunda. With the combination of the Sith Empire closing in for the final kill, and the knowledge that his rebellious intentions were clear to the Emperor on the one side, as well as the constant watching and irritating questioning from the Senate and the Jedi on the other, the Dark Adept knew that eventually he might be found out.

First thing was first of what he had to take care of. Terrance Boot was still firmly, and unwillingly, loyal to the Emperor through the magic that had entrapped both him and Nott so many decades ago. It was almost a simply matter to call him to the Chancellor's private residence and dispose of him. The Ravenclaw had always been far too trusting, and the blaster shot between the eyes had probably been the lowest possibility that he had considered when walking into the private residence that Drakis owned.

It was a pity, as the man had been resourceful and quite helpful in running the day-to-day events of the Chancellor of the Republic, allowing Anguis free reign over his unused time, but now he either had to hire someone else, which would raise questions, or do all that extra work himself, which was tedious and unwanted, but needful to not arouse awareness of Boot's mysterious disappearance.

It would be better to save that little mystery for if the Jedi came snooping around him once again, as they had already, leading to the revelation about the true purpose of New Terra. Anguis had been furious to learn that the system had fallen, taken by the Emperor himself no less. It seemed that Veneficus was growing tired of their little chess game, and wanted to move on to the next phase of his plan. A plan that Anguis had helped him formulate he wanted to add to no one in particular, but was still being tossed aside in the midst of it.

No, Anguis had chosen that he would prevail, and despite the drastic difference in numbers of soldiers and other arms, he had several ideas of ways to turn the war around. If he could without the negative connotation, he would have suggested to the Republic military to consider another assassination attempt on the Emperor, but he knew that the Jedi advisors would consider that an act of dishonor and refuse outright to commit to it.

Which lead to the next issue, Lovegood and Trelawney. Lovegood was as good as dead, sent to the front lines to endure wave after wave of Sith fighters and cruiser trying to kill her, but the batty old Seer was ever persistently present, either when the Jedi Council met with him to discuss their losing side of the war, or else assisting the Jedi with this or that thing.

There was already a score of droids that Anguis had reprogrammed scouting out the interior of the Temple. Normally, he could have used a plethora of bounty hunters and others that owned debts to the office of Chancellor, but somehow the Force warned Anguis that such would fail where Colin had succeeded.

The Jedi were simply too powerful for anyone short of a Mage-born to contend with, and would not only sense the intent of anyone he sent, but potentially capture them and make them talk about their employer, which would not go over well once they attempted to corner Anguis in either his private residence or here in the Chancellor's office.

By now he had several highly detailed maps of the interior, and where his targets were residing, all that he had left to do was wait for the right opportunity to strike, and luckily the Sith were providing the perfect, if not slow moving, target of opportunity for him. Anguis figured it was unlikely that many of those at the temple would leave their sanctuary during a time of crisis, much like the majority of the Senate gathering in the Rotunda in days long past when they felt threatened.

Their place of power could become their tomb, as far as Anguis was concerned. While he lacked the ability to level the entire structure, even with magic, there was still a serious amount of damage he could do through the astromechs that he had slowly been hijacking, hacking to serve him and upgrading with magic to be deadly weapons against those he despised.

None would suspect once he struck, and the Chancellor of the Republic was above such petty reproach even if charges were laid against him. The Jedi would not dare try to remove him from power, unless his affinity for the Force was discovered, and he had no intentions of that happening.

That plot firmly established, Anguis could turn to his other, and suitable larger problem, the Empire itself. he had heard that Hermione had been moved to the capital once New Terra had been taken, and naturally he had done everything in his power to make sure that she and her staff had all the accommodations they needed to continue their work of devising more armaments for their war machine to continue fighting back, but if something wasn't done soon, Anguis felt assured that the Sith would be pushing onto their very doorstep within the month.

There didn't seem to be any way for the Republic to counter their threat, as much as Veneficus had designed it to be so no doubt, but Anguis was growing desperate for anything that might stem the flow of warriors.

Glancing at one of the small cleaning droids that scuttled about his office, the Chancellor received a powerful spike of inspiration. If he recalled correctly, one of Hermione's other colleagues had designed and build a magically powered war droid, which had done terrible damage to a group of Imperial soldiers. If one had done so much damage to their ranks, why not a battalion of them, or an army of them?

A quick message was sent to Granger, pitching the idea with a haste and excitement that he was sure would spark her imagination. If this worked out, it might be the point that turned this war around, or at least brought it to a grinding stalemate until new developments were made.

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Johell thought he might just be losing his mind. He had heard from various sources that a powerful armada of ships was already heading for the Core worlds, destroying and burning everything as they went, and that the Republic was at their wits end in trying to put a stop to the carnage, and he wanted desperately to help, but knew that if he went to engage the Empire now, he would fall fully and truly to the Dark Side.

The maddening whispers of the Emperor were almost a nightly occurrence now, and despite being declared rehabilitated by the mind healers and returned to normal quarters in the temple, as well as their reassurances that through meditation and discipline the rest of the side effects would fade away, the temptations of the Dark Side artifact in the vaults seemed to grow stronger.

Yes, Johell knew exactly what was calling to him: Veneficus' Holocron. It wanted… no, needed him for something, but the newly reformed Jedi Knight wanted nothing more to do with the cursed object than he had to, which was currently just having the knowledge that it existed and was locked away in the vault attached to the archive.

Still, there were moments where even he yearned to simply hold the powerful repository of knowledge again, just to see if he had indeed conquered its lure to darkness, even though he knew it was folly to even think that. No Jedi was above falling to the Dark Side, that much he had learned through painful experience, and he would not allow himself to fall victim to that again.

But the desire to help those, especially Luna who even now was fighting on the front lines, was great, and Johell knew he wasn't strong enough on his own to make much of a difference. Still, he strove to not dwell on those thoughts, and worked extra hard on reestablishing himself to a connection to the Force that was wholesome and not self destructive.

Meditating in the Room of a Thousand Fountains, so that the mad whispers were drowned out by the torrents of water, Johell felt the most amount of peace that he had experienced since leaving Korriban for good.

Yet even still, the seeds of doubt and worry still gnawed at him, slow and painful in his chest, until his thoughts could not deny them any longer. Oft times he would go and speak with the Grandmaster, conveying his fears and worries regarding the Order, but never mentioning the voices he heard inside his own mind.

Johell feared that he might still be irredeemably corrupted by the Dark Side, and that there was nothing he could do to stop or fix it, and it wasn't something he was willing to place as a burden on the already tired and weighted down shoulders of Master Coven.

Her advice, which was always enlightening, or at least thought provoking, was extremely desirable to his wracked mind, giving him plenty to do and think about in effort to starve off the whispers, but eventually, even if it was not until he rested at night, they would return, calling… beckoning…

Once, Johell woke with a start, wondering where he was, and looking around he shuddered in horror as he realized that he had wandered in his sleep to the very door of the Holocron Vault, mercifully locked to all those who weren't on the Council. Curiously, the guard that normally was posted around the clock outside was nowhere to be found, but Johell was only in the mood to get away from that place as fast as possible.

'What is going on with me?' he'd asked himself in his mind as he quickly return to his room, but unfortunately there was rarely an answer waiting for him at these sorts of times. He had had a very difficult time sleeping after that, and was shaking for most of the following day, which generated several curious glances from those who saw him, but otherwise he suffered in silence.

There were times that he was grateful for the anonymity that his sudden reappearance gave him, but still, companionship would have been preferable to being left alone with his thoughts. Johell was just returning from another less than relaxing meditation session in the Room of a Thousand Fountains when one of the strangers, Mage-born they were called, approached him in a corridor.

"My dear, I can sense that your aura is greatly disturbed," the older woman said in a blunt and direct tone, which surprised the redeemed Jedi.

He had no idea how to respond to this, and simply stood there with a look of surprise. He had not heard of any of these people being Force sensitive, but the woman seemed to be capable of looking right through him. "Ah yes, you must come with me, so that we can see what troubles you, and what can be done to steer you from the destructive path that awaits…" she said mysteriously, taking him by the hand and leading him, not terribly gently, from the corridor and into a private dormitory.

The window that would typically look out over the city was covered with a heavy cloth curtain, and there were candles scattered throughout the room that gave off various smells, some sweet while others more pungent, as well as several large and rather antique looking chairs surrounding a circular table in the center of the room.

"The others of your Order do not seem to put much stock in the things I have foreseen regarding their timelines, or read upon their palms," the woman was saying conversationally, "But I can sense through the trembling of your aura that you are in need of some direction, and will provide what I can to assist you."

She directed him to sit across from her at the table, and still highly confused, Johell did so, nervously fidgeting despite his training.

The woman seated herself, pulling a large teapot toward her as well as a single china cup with saucer, still speaking as she poured some of the liquid into the cup. "Yes, even Jedi Master Coven came to visit here once, but I do not think that the Jedi place much stock in the Inner Eye, or at least not in the same fashion that our own people do. You trust in your abilities with the Force, and that is all well and good, but what is wrong with a little extra guidance and counsel, another viewpoint of what lies beyond I ask?"

To Johell's surprise, the woman did not drink from the cup herself, but passed it to him. "Drink it all to the dregs if you please my dear, so we may begin." She urged, and Johell hesitated for a long couple of moments, before obeying. The liquid was not terrible, but certainly not like his favored cup of café.

Once the last of the liquid was drunk, the woman accepted the cup, swirled the remnants three times and placing the cup face down on the saucer, allowing the remnant liquid that was in the cup to drain away. Only then did she right the cup and look at it, twisting it this way and that, as though trying to see pictures in the lumps of brownish mush that were left behind.

"This is most assuredly not a happy cup…" the woman said somberly, "Look here, the alligator… yes, you are disturbed by worries and terrors of the mind, and these will cause you great peril if you do not tread lightly…"

She turned the cup a quarter degree in her hands and continued, "the cobra… danger will come to all those you care for, and look here, its head is raised, ready to strike. The enemy of your friends is even at the doors…"

Another turn, "the sword, and look at the break through the middle here. A dire foe will triumph over you, dear me dear me, such an unhappy cup."

The woman turned one final time, before sorrowfully placing the cup down, inverting it so Johell, who was wide eyed at this point, could not see.

"The gravestone, an omen of death, whether your own or of those you are around, I cannot say. Events come straight to a head here, and something great and powerful is focused on you during this horrid time of war and deceit." She paused, withdrawing one of the wooden wands that the Mage-born always carried, and waved it a few times, murmuring words in a language that Johell did not recognize.

"Yes, you've met him, then… the one that they call the Sith Emperor…" she said somberly, almost mournfully, "once when he was a little boy I taught him these things, the art of Divination… and the boy had great talent for foresight. Never had I seen an inner eye so finely tuned, yet later when I learned the blackness of his heart I mourned the destruction that would follow him. I can detent his power on you, in a form and fashion that I cannot control or break. I urge you to tread most carefully. Consult your fears with those you trust, and make certain that you are alone as little as possible."

She leaned forward, adding in a hushed voice, "The Emperor is one of us, a Mage-born… his powers are vast, and I fear he may have enchanted you in some fashion. If you are feeling controlled or tempted to do something, I implore you to fight it with all the fiber of your being, as it might be the ruin of many."

Johell didn't dare even breathe, even as the woman sighed heavily and sat back in her chair. "I am wearied from what I read in your cup. Thank you for allowing me to assist you with this knowledge, whatever good it may or may not do for you my boy. I need to rest for the moment, but if you wish to learn more, return later on and we shall delve deeper into your aura and perhaps the future, and see what many others may not be able to."

Suddenly aware that he had permission to depart, Johell took it, almost fleeing from the woman's presence. Whatever the other Jedi said regarding this fortunetelling of the woman, Professor Trelawney, Johell would not believe them, as he had seen for himself that she could indeed see things that she ought to not know about.

He would assuredly return, and Force willing, the woman might prove the key of understanding just what was going on with him from the Emperor's torture that caused his night terrors.

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Gor-lak smirked at the latest news that had been forwarded to fleet of the Dread Seeker. Due to their recent losses, Lord Diábolis was continuing to shuffle the fleet's formation and place fresh and ready to fight ships at the front lines, and it was finally the hour of the Ork warlord to take command of the forward assault forces.

Standing tall among his devoted soldiers, who were just a proud as their commander, Gor-lak ordered them to take to the front of the formation, and lead the jump into Hyperspace toward the next system that they were set to conquer.

"Expect some sort of ploy, as well as heavy resistance when we arrive," he informed the helmsmen, "prepared shields to cover the entire front half of the ship as strongly as possible and prep fighters for launch immediately upon exit from Hyperspace. We will catch them off guard by being the first to strike, rather than lumbering into view like some massive icon of terror. The Emperor wants results, not casualties…"

"Yes, my Lord!" the crew responded, hurrying to their various assigned tasks. Gor-lak stood just behind the holographic display, which was set to immediately scan the area upon their arrival, and display the relevant battle information of their surroundings so that he had every tool needed to formulate a strategy of how to break whatever Republic defenses would be waiting for them.

They knew from their long range scans that the Republic fleets had fled to the surrounding systems of Colla, Berchest, and primarily Chazwa, which lay in and close to the hyperlane they were following. A planet of no terribly great strategic importance, Gor-lak presumed that the Jedi and their forces would be hard at work evacuating the civilians as they had the previous two systems, and smirked as he considered the most demoralizing plan possible.

"Prepare all long range missile batteries and order the rest of the forward fleet to do likewise. It's time to send a message to the Republic that they cannot toy with us for long and now expect to suffer for it." he commanded, already envisioning the world burning as the Republic fleet sat in orbit, unable to rescue their precious people.

That would send a clear enough message for the Republic to fight them, or they would indeed lose everything they hold dear. The master of Cruelty chuckled darkly to himself as he began making preparations based on what reports small scouting fighters had relayed back before they made their jump.

It never hurt to be extra prepared, and if there was a retaliatory conflict for devastating the system, Gor-lak wanted the advantage in this fight. The Emperor would have his results.