I believe I have the ending of story well in sight, approximately three more chapters to write and the Veneficus Trilogy will be completed. Granted, that is still a ways off you all of you, who are I presume eagerly waiting for the rest of the story as it cranks out methodically. Many thanks to those who've reviewed the previous chapter, and I hope you all enjoy the next! R&R, and TTY next time!
Chapter Nineteen
Secret Weapons
Veneficus turned from watching the blur of stars passing in the wormhole of Hyperspace as his personal comlink started to chime. An extremely select number of individuals knew the required frequency to contact him directly like this, and then only a pair of individuals would dare contact him with it, and then only if the case was drastic in nature.
Turning from the rest of the bridge for a brief respite of privacy, he activated it, gazing curiously at Zhar Quelmok as the High Prophet sighed in relief.
"Your Majesty, I am pleased to have finally been able to contact you," he said, which was rather odd for the man to say. Veneficus was quite aware of the man's fear and distrust of him as the war progressed and ended. For him to willing contact Veneficus and draw attention to himself spoke volumes regarding the seriousness of the man's message.
"Lord Zhar, why are you contacting me so eagerly?" Veneficus asked, genuinely curious now at the man's behavior.
"Your Majesty, I regret to inform you of treachery at the highest levels of the Empire's hierarchy," Zhar said quickly, "Supreme Prophet Feyd has been building a faction of his own forces in the shadows, with desires to overthrow your rule and take command of the Empire himself, and in the process he has been attempting to pressure fellow High Prophets into his ranks."
Veneficus frowned. He was well aware of the young leader's desire to overthrow him and rule in Veneficus' place, but he had not gleaned a whiff of the full extent of the man's planning. This disturbed him greatly, for such a great threat to have gone on unnoticed was very telling of his overwhelming focus on his own goals and lack of attention being given to the rest of the Empire, and specifically the base of power that had placed him upon the throne in the first place.
"In the process of this, Feyd has invaded Korriban and ousted myself and my apprentice from governorship of the planet," Zhar continued as Veneficus thought, "and I believe strongly that Feyd suspects that there may be some sort of weapon or source of power that he could collect to use against you. I would not doubt he has made or will yet make contact with you to tell you another tale, of my own treatchery, but that will be a lie."
"I will be the judge of that," Veneficus replied, enjoying silently the shudder of fear that shot through his most loyal High Prophet. Oh, Veneficus trusted that Zhar was telling him nothing but the truth, filtered by the man's own viewpoint of course, but nothing that was an outright falsehood. The man was too frightened of Veneficus' power to do that. It was one of the things that Veneficus greatly appreciated in Zhar. The man put his own survival above all else, and in doing so he was willing to submit completely to the will of his Emperor.
"Still, your Majesty, I have done nothing that Feyd will attempt to tell you, and I advise that you cease to trust him. He is amassing against you, and once he has the majority of the High Prophets under his sway he will attempt to turn on you." Zhar continued after a moment, and Veneficus silenced him at last with a raised hand.
"I appreciate your forthrightness in bringing this to me as swiftly as you could. Where are you and your apprentice now?" Veneficus asked.
"With Lady Nuhok on Khar Shian," Zhar replied. Veneficus nodded, understanding that if his life was on the line, Zhar would have gone to the only other High Prophet that would side with him over all others.
"Remain there until I summon you. I will take care of the Supreme Prophet and this supposed treachery personally." Veneficus said.
"Yes, your Majesty," Zhar replied, bowing his head and submitting once more to the will of Veneficus.
Dismissing the communication, Veneficus started to plan, casting his view into the Force to see what he had previously been blind to. Looking toward the Core of the Sith Empire, he saw it immediately, and cursed himself for his complacency.
Feyd had already taken control of half of the high council, now minus one from the loss of Dathomir, which now removed all consideration of loss from Veneficus on the desolation of the planet to eliminate his hated rival once and for all.
So many insurgents, even now, were hurriedly searching through the Empire, gathering together all those that would fight against Veneficus, and the fact that so many willingly wanted to change the leadership of the Empire was very telling.
"What is the point of ruling an Empire that does not support you…" Naga Sadow said, the shades of the other Sith appearing all around him.
"My apprentice, this must not be allowed to stand," Millennial advised, for the first time in a long while being in complete agreement with Veneficus' thought process.
"You must win back the adoration and fear of your people, so that your path to your goals is once more clear and unobstructed." Ludo Kreesh added.
"Or else burn it all to the ground and disappear into the shadows with the collection of holocrons, find the answers you seek and allow the Galaxy to think you dead…" Bane suggested, but Veneficus frowned at the progenitor of the Rule of Two.
Bane had never fully supported Veneficus' path of reestablishing the Empire under the rule of a pair of true Sith, and lesser Dark Adepts beneath them. Bane had often spoken this annoyance that clashed to strongly against the Rule he had established, and long had the debates gone between the two regarding the philosophy and how it could be adapted once the Sith had won.
"I will crush this rebellion in my own ranks and from there march onward to cease all dissention in my Empire…" Veneficus said, dismissing the specters of the past. "Leave Hyperspace here…" he demanded, and the rest of the bridge leapt to action, cutting the engines prematurely from their intended destination.
There were no systems nearby where they had stopped, but the open space was what was needed for them to change course and prepare for what was yet to come. Veneficus could sense through the Force that Feyd was still lauding his victory over Korriban, and it was there that he would sever the head of the snake from its body.
"Open communication to Korriban," he commanded, and the officer obeyed, within moments having the holographic display activated as the Emperor stepped into the prime viewing position.
Feyd appeared before him, looking particularly surprised; if not smug about whatever it was that was being plotted in his twisted mind. "My Lord, how good of you to call, I've been trying to reach you for a while now."
"I was otherwise occupied with another task, Supreme Prophet…" Veneficus said, already sensing the lies building up inside the man.
"I regret to inform you of terrible news, Your Majesty." Feyd started, "Zhar Quelmok has betrayed us, and tried to put together a faction of his own to attempt to desert from the Empire and found his own kingdom on the fringe worlds of known space."
"Hmm... A disturbing accusation, you have proof I presume…" Veneficus replied, playing the man's gamer for a brief moment.
"Of course, my Lord," Feyd quickly replied, "when I confronted him, the traitor fled with his apprentice and flagship, leaving his world abandoned and unguarded. For the safety of the Empire I had to take control of the world and make sure that none of his insurgents remained behind."
"I find that very difficult to believe, Supreme Prophet," Veneficus countered, nipping the lies before they had the chance to be built upon, "I sense the falsehood in your voice, the slight quiver of a fearful and powerless mind that seeks above his station. Because of this betrayal, I am coming personally to remove you from your power, and all those that you've turned against me…"
The face of the Supreme Prophet warped immediately, transforming from groveling and servile to hostile and sneering, "I see that you are not as blind as I had hoped, your Majesty," he taunted, "If you wish to bring war to the Empire, we will gladly meet you in battle, but I fear that you've lost what power you had in the political scheme, and will be thoroughly outgunned and outnumbered…"
"You've underestimated me for the last time, Feyd…" Veneficus said solemnly. "Your forces and your ship are as nothing compared to the raw power of the Force…"
"We shall see…" Feyd countered, supremely confident in his abilities and forces.
Shutting down the communication, Veneficus smirked. He would enjoy showing that the Supreme Prophet was vastly overestimating his capabilities.
"Set course for Korriban…" he ordered.
"Shall we signal other fleets to converge on the location, my Lord?" an officer asked.
"I see no reason to trouble any other part of the Empire with this insurrection. We are more than strong enough to see it through whatever Feyd can throw at us. Proceed to jump." Veneficus overruled the suggestion.
"As you command, your Majesty," the man replied, backing down against the will of the Sith Master.
Slowly, the Terrasque turned to its new bearing, and Veneficus watched as they lined up for the new jump. Once the stars blurred once more into the lines of Hyperspace, he turned back to his throne. There would be a great deal of Force related combat occurring when they arrived, and it would be best if he meditated in preparation for the coming conflict.
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Fury was somewhat interesting to try and find out what Diábolis was up to. The Sith Lord had frequently departed from his fleet as they were traveling on long patrols through controlled and suppressed systems. There was clearly something up, and they were being kept in the dark about the Sith Lord's real motives.
To that end, he was waiting in the hangar for Diábolis to return from his latest venture off of the ship. Even as the black robed Devaronian disembarked from his personal ship, Fury approached. "So," he began, sensing the stiffening of the Sith from being addressed, "What is going on…"
Sith Lord and Marauder locked eyes, and Fury could tell that Diábolis was judging whether he was worthy to actually be let into the know of the being's innermost plans and thoughts.
"I am seeking a weapon to change the course of the Galaxy…" the Sith finally said.
Whether that was the truth or close to it, Fury couldn't tell for sure, but it was something that he could latch on to and grasp in his mind, rather than listing through space with no particular goal or motivation.
"Then what is the next move, I presume you were out gathering information on the location of this weapon…" Fury said.
"We have to wait to be summoned," Diábolis replied, "as the Emperor's command has us searching the southern regions for rebel activities. But I have people checking the location of this weapon, and they will report rebel activity so that we can officially investigate."
"I understand," Fury replied, satisfied that there was a plan for them to proceed. While the Marauder definitely suspected what the plan afterward for this weapon was, and how the Emperor might view the notion of Diábolis owning such an item.
Still, there was time between now and when they found this weapon for Fury to decide what he was going to do regarding the situation afterward. But for now, with him and his entire force serving under the Sith Apprentice, Fury would do all he could in order to achieve the goals that Diábolis held, so long as they corresponded with the will of the Emperor.
"Do not try to leave me out when the time comes for this weapon to be retrieved." Fury said, turning away to attend to other matters.
"I had little desire to do so…" Diábolis responded, but Fury wasn't sure if that was truthful either.
Leaving the hangar swiftly, Fury made his way to the training chambers that his Wrathguard, and specifically his apprentice Calamity, had all but taken for themselves to use. Finding the massive, Force-sensitive Troll was not difficult, and Fury beckoned for his apprentice to join him in a private room.
"I have discovered what Diábolis is up to, and secured his momentary trust in acquiring the item he seeks for." Fury explained swiftly, "but I am concerned that such a thing can only be for dethroning the Emperor."
"What shall we do Master?" the troll responded, his grasp over language growing with aid from the Dark Side.
"We wait, aid him in what he seeks, and if it turns out to be for the purpose of threatening the Emperor, I fear we might have to betray Diábolis in order to protect the sanctity of the Empire." Fury affirmed.
Calamity nodded, understanding what level that betrayal might entail. Fury did not want to think that they might be forced to test their skill against the apprentice of the Emperor himself, but if it came down to it, he would not betray Lord Veneficus for any reason. And if that loyalty ended up costing him his life, by fighting the very apprentice of the Emperor, trained as a killing machine for the express purpose of following in the footsteps of Veneficus, then so be it.
"We will do what is required to protect the Emperor," Calamity responded, slowly pounding one massive fist into another. The solidarity between them was near perfect, in that the troll trusted his master and would follow every command he was given, learning and growing more powerful in the process.
Up to this point, the troll had been practicing hard to crush opposition of either rebels or other blaster wielding foes that would easily be overpowered by the sheer strength of the troll. But now, with this potential threat impending before them, Calamity's training needed to change and focus on confrontations with a significantly more skilled warrior in both the Force and the art of the blade.
"We have a great deal of work to do in preparation for such an outcome…" Fury said to this effect, drawing both hilts of his weapons. Calamity seemed to understand where his master was going with this line of training, and pulled forth the massive club-like hilt.
Three blades of crimson light activated, and Fury charged forward, unwilling to hold much back if he was to train his apprentice to aid him in facing off against the Sith Apprentice in the future. Even still, they might not succeed, he admitted, but it was a fight that he relished the opportunity for, one that might at last silence the nagging voice of the Jedi Battlemaster in the back of his mind, telling him that he was not strong enough despite all his training and sacrifice.
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Feyd couldn't help but be somewhat concerned. How Zhar had managed to reach the Emperor first and tell his version of the story over what happened still confused him. And the clear bias of the Emperor toward his favored member of the High Council over the one that led the same group was another thing that sent the Supreme Prophet's blood boiling.
How dare he be so easily passed over? He had all the political power in the Empire to crush even Veneficus himself. And now that the man was daring to come directly to fight him, Feyd had no qualms in calling upon all his favors and allies to rally around the tomb world and fight against whatever force the Emperor mustered against them.
Feyd was more than certain that this would be the civil war that would fracture the Empire completely, and from what work he had done, he knew that those more neutral systems would turn on the Emperor immediately, joining Feyd in his assault to claim the throne of the Empire for himself.
Meanwhile, on the surface of Korriban, Ekitc was rapidly searching for whatever tool or knowledge that Zhar had found that made the man so bold in his desire to flee from the control of the Emperor. If it was that powerful, then Feyd would be Able to use it to destroy the Emperor directly.
"My Lord, sensors indicate that the Terrasque is approaching from Hyperspace," a nearby trooper stated.
"Odd," Feyd replied, more to himself than to any other, "I would have expected the Emperor to start by throwing other, useless forces at us to soften us up before coming himself."
But lo and behold, out of Hyperspace, and rather closer than Feyd would have expected it to stop, the flagship of the Emperor erupted into existence, already firing and launching fighters into real space.
"Scramble fighters and prepare our defenses, I want everything we have thrown at that ship!" Feyd commanded, glaring through the viewscreen at the Emperor's ship.
How the man thought that his one ship, even with all its weapons and abilities, could stand up to nearby half the fleets of the Empire, Feyd did not understand, but if Veneficus wanted to make it easier for Feyd to win, then so be it.
"Reinforcements arriving from other sectors, my Lord," the same officer in charge of the long range sensors declared.
"Good, so begins the end of the Emperor…" Feyd said to himself, watching as more ships appeared at the edge of the system. His eyes widened however, as the ships suddenly flooded with explosions as they ran into some unseen web of mines and explosives.
"My Lord, the fleet is being destroyed, we cannot pinpoint any direct source!" the officer shouted.
But Feyd could sense the reasoning. The Force was screaming as some powerful entity reached through to literally tear the ships apart. "It's the Emperor…" he growled, standing from his chair to reach into the Force himself.
There would be only one means to prevent his advantage, the fleets of the Empire, from being attacked; he would have to wrestle with the Force presence of the Emperor himself. Somehow he had overlooked the fact that the Emperor would immediately use his greatest advantage to tear away, literally, at the strength of Feyd's forces, and strong arm the Supreme Prophet into an arena of the Emperor's own choosing.
Surging into the Force with his own anger and hatred of the man, Feyd send the force of his presence at the massive attacks of the Emperor, which felt like massive tendrils of some mythical beast rending apart the ships.
Taking the attacks head on, Feyd grunted and was forced back into his seat as the crashing waves of complete blackness washed over him. He knew, as much as anyone else could, that the Emperor was effectively the Dark Side incarnate, and more powerful than any Force user alive, but Feyd had supposed that these were merely superstition and exaggeration given to the man for his achievements.
But this… he had never before understood that anyone could be so strong in the Force. Feyd's own ability in the Force was little more than that of a child in comparison. Every feeble attack he managed to form was slapped aside, almost with an air of disappointment and boredom, before more pressure was thrust down upon him.
"How… how can one man be so powerful?!" he said, feeling his body creak in response to the quite physical assault that he was experiencing. His back was being forcefully bent forward, as though shouldering a great weight.
"Now now, destroying you this way would be much too easy…" the voice of the Emperor came floating into Feyd's mind, grating the insides of his brain like rank claws on stone. "I want you to watch as all your allies are destroyed, and you will know that there is nothing that you can do to save them!"
Slowly, Feyd was forced, painfully, to stand, and move toward the nearest viewport, which gave the perfect vantage to see the oncoming fleets all around the approaching Terrasque, and the devastation as they were annihilated one by one through either pure Dark Side energy, or else torn apart by the superior firepower of the Emperor's Flagship.
"My Lord, what are your orders?" the admiral in charge asked desperately, looking toward Feyd for guidance, but the Supreme Prophet's tongue was bound, and he had no means to fight off the overpowering will of the Emperor.
Another fleet arrived, and Feyd could recognize the symbols of the flagship of his closest ally on the Dark Council: Armadon Jaccam, High Prophet of Krayiss Two.
"Ah, another traitor… well, see what awaits you all for opposing my rule…" Veneficus' voice rang into Feyd's mind.
The Terrasque started to glow, shields dropping and the main cannon in the center of the ship starting to power up. Feyd tried to close his eyes, knowing what would come next. The ships just exiting from Hyperspace would have no time to dodge, and the beam was meant to devastate portions of a planet. The damage done to any other ship in the imperial fleet would be completely devastating.
"Feel the taste of true despair," Veneficus taunted as the cannon fired. The flagship of High Prophet Jaccam was more or less instantly vaporized, leaving nothing but a particle cloud of dust in space, before being blown to all directions as the shockwave ran through afterward.
"My Lord!" the admiral shouted, possibly thinking that Feyd could not hear him. How the Supreme Prophet wanted to turn and command him to flee, but the will of the Emperor held him in a vice. Additionally, to their unfortunate state, the admiralty of the Imperial Navy was so bound to obeying the commands of their Dark Side masters, and those that Feyd had surrounded himself with were heavily of the same mind. They would not act unless he himself commanded them to do so.
And thusly, they were all doomed, by Feyd's own machinations. The Emperor had all but won.
"That is right," Veneficus replied, sinisterly, "now we merely wait for all of your allies to arrive, and destroy them all one by one, while you watch helplessly… then, and only then, you will finally die for your betrayal."
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Euka had been quite amazed at the scale of the operation that Lady Nuhok had on Khar Shian with respect to the war beasts that had been used across the outermost battles of the Neo-Sith War. For a leader that was so clearly unhinged as the Togruta to have such as well oiled and flowing operation was impressive, and their work in blending Sith magic as well as selective breeding of their beasts was of interest to the young apprentice.
However, in the midst of watching as several of the Dark Adepts helped deliver a newborn beast from its mother, there was a great burst of power in the Force, cold and deadly in nature. All the Force users in the base had to have felt it, and Euka felt a sheer terror that could only be attributed to one individual. Veneficus had struck at the Supreme Prophet, there was no doubt that this was what had occurred.
Abandoning the birthing ritual before her, Euka ran for where he knew her master would be, keeping well away from his old acquaintance. Whatever had happened between them before, Euka was not aware of, but the off putting nature of the leader of this system was enough for her to have an idea of the nature of it.
Zhar opened the door even as she approached, "You sensed it as well," he asked, and Euka nodded. Beckoning her inside, Zhar looked about out in the corridor once before closing the door completely and locking it from the inside.
"This is what I feared might happen, and why I've worked so hard to find a way to escape from the madman…" Zhar said, turning back to face Euka.
"That was all his power, then?" Euka asked, seeking affirmation for her own fears.
"Yes, in all its glory, the strength to tear capital ships from the sky and crush an individual where they stand. That is the power that that fool Feyd has put himself against." Zhar confirmed, looking greatly disturbed that such power had actually be used.
"And he seeks to live forever, wielding that power over the entire Galaxy, and do what exactly after that?" Euka asked, not understanding the end goal of such a plan.
"Euka, you know I was once a Jedi, and you know that I have much of their knowledge still within me…" Zhar began, and Euka nodded. She had listened clearly to the stories that Zhar had shared, of how he had been one of the Jedi order and his path toward the Dark Side and joining the Sith under the rule of Millennial, back when Veneficus was only a child.
"The Sith have no end goal in mind. They only seek for power, and after that greater power. Once he attains immortality, there will be no stopping him…" Zhar said, his voice growing rather strained in his intensity, "he will seek to burn his way through the universe, galaxy by galaxy, star by star, until he controls everything that ever existed, or will exist."
"So what can we do?" Euka asked, "Fleeing won't matter, if he seeks to control everything…"
"There is no choice but to find a weakness, some flaw that the Emperor possesses, and use that to force him to leave us be, once we depart from him." Zhar explained, "It is not safe to proceed on that particular line here, as our hosts are particular fanatical in their loyalty to the Emperor and his plans."
"I suspect that the Emperor will be selecting me to replace Feyd as Supreme Prophet," Zhar continued, looking unhappy about it. Euka knew the reason, as having those added responsibilities would put more of the burden of research and locating such a weakness in the Emperor squarely on Euka's shoulders, and Zhar did not want to sit back and have someone else do the work of this alone.
It was an odd sort of caring about her wellbeing, as Euka was under no ideas that the man actually cared for her, at least not completely, but more wanting to make sure he was involved to not get betrayed. "I will do whatsoever you command of me, if the need arises," she affirmed, answering the unspoken request that Zhar had made with his pronouncement.
"I know, and I trust you to take on the added tasks that will undoubtedly come as the Emperor attempts to chain us closer to him, and prevent us in the task that we have set for ourselves." Zhar replied. "I just wish that anyone else would be selected, but I can't see another suitable candidate that the Emperor would choose, and I can't imagine him calling another to the Dark Council just to make the leader of the entire body."
"Perhaps, it is time to try and find another to envelope into our circle…" Euka suggested, and when Zhar started to object she pressed onward, "Think of it, you will be Supreme Prophet of Dromund Kaas, as well as High Prophet of Korriban… you can't expect one apprentice to take on both systems, you'll need to take another to handle the Dromund Kaas side of your will, and that will allow you to groom another to see our side of the issue, and convince them the need to gather some leverage over the Emperor so that we can just leave and go about on our own."
"That… actually might work," Zhar admitted, scratching his short beard, "the Emperor won't imagine that we would immediately replace those lost in his sweep of those attempting to eliminate him completely, and for the time being it would be wise for the remaining High Prophets to take on the other duties."
He thought a moment longer, "But if we are to get this to work, it will take a great deal of patience, and careful selection of the potential candidates. Can I trust that finding of a suitable third party to you?" he requested.
"I will consider it my first duty to the furthering of our goals." Euka replied smartly, having already presumed that she would be heavily involved in this plan, as it had been her idea.
"Excellent. For the time being, we will proceed with this as part of our plan, and slowly move on to our original goals, which might be simpler with no others outranking me…" Zhar replied, before chuckling to himself, "Ironic, isn't it… the exact thing that Feyd feared of us is what now is about to happen…"
Euka also laughed, wondering what her rival, Ekitc Batoi, would think when his precious power was all but dust crumbling around his feet because of his and his master's foolishness.
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Ist paused as she left the shuttle, having just landed on Bakura, and turned to look into the sky. She had come to collect the Mage-born leaders, including Director Granger and Commander Flitwick in order to meet with Professor Snape and discuss what to do with the Seer's Stone. What had distracted her only cemented her desire to get them back to Hoth and figure out their goal, as the sheer blast of Dark Side energy sent shudders down her back.
How the Emperor has such strength to routinely send tremors of power through the entire Galaxy, she would never understand, but the evil in the action was as clear as the malicious intent. Some poor soul was feeling the wrath of the Emperor firsthand, and no being in existence ought to suffer the way that the sheer strength of the Dark Side suggested that they were suffering.
Forcefully turning away from the horrific sensation in the Force, Ist moved as quickly as she could from the hangar to the main complex. She was amazed to see how much had been completed since she had left some time ago. The entire main complex of buildings was completed, and even more buildings and dormitories were still being built. Clearly there had been far more recruits than had been expected.
Still, the central plan was the same, and Ist had spent some time memorizing the layout before she had left, even offering a few changes that she saw that they had been taken into account and used.
It took no more than a few minutes to get to the main command center, and the magic-tech cooperation outpost that were operating therein. While normally she would want to investigate all the usage of the Wild Force that these people were able to do with little to no training in the Force as a Jedi, she was on a mission, and focused herself to locating the commander in chief of the Rebellion.
Who she found at the main command room however, did surprise her. "Master Yoda…" she said, stopping at the door and bowing to her old master, who turned at the sounds of her voice.
"Knight Ist! How good of you to return so swiftly," Director Granger said, who had been speaking with the small goblin Jedi. Commander Flitwick was there, along with Sergeant Romacor Stecale, as well as some other of the Republic military leaders.
"Director," Ist replied, glad to see that all those she needed to speak with were together.
"Here you are, because of the surge of the Dark Side you felt?" Yoda asked, which told Ist the reason that all the leaders were together.
"Well no, there is something else that I came regarding," Ist said, and while she had presumed that she would have to wait till the current topic was exhausted, she suddenly found herself the center of attention.
Slowly, she told her tale of Dathomir once more, and explained what Professor Snape had said regarding the Stone. When she mentioned the terrible powers that it possessed, the other started to share glances with each other.
"The possibilities that we could discover with such a device…" one of the republic commanders said, "We could find a weakness of the Emperor, or else a store of weapons that could defeat their fleets. We could learn anything we wished."
"I am concerned about this price that Professor Snape mentioned," Commander Flitwick said, "It sounded particularly terrible…"
"I agree, on both points," Director Granger replied, "We will confer with Professor Snape, and discuss as a group what is to be done with such a powerful artifact. If there is a danger, we need to make sure that the reward is worth whatever price is demanded."
Ist nodded, accepting that her mission was completed. "Now however, with the recent showing of the power of the Emperor, would not such an item be of great importance to us?" the Military officer continued.
"Yes, there is a level of urgency for us to find a direction and pursue it to defeat the Empire, but at the same time we don't want to risk something just as terrible happening in exchange for that information." Flitwick replied.
"Go we shall immediately, to Sanctuary and decide on how to proceed…" Master Yoda added.
"Yes, I cannot help but think that we have found quite a boon in this Seer's Stone, and that we need to make use of it in the wisest, and swiftest manner." Hermione agreed, "We will be departing therefore as soon as we can."
"We will work toward that end then, Director, and make sure that everything runs smoothly here while you are gone," The Republic commander replied, turning and nodding at Sergeant Stecale. The human nodded in recognition to Ist as he passed and departed.
"We will work to get the rest of the structures for our current population here, and then we will go back for more supplies and make our inquiry to Professor Snape at that time." Director Granger said with finality, before turning and walking back to the series of workbenches that lined the inside of the command center.
Ist had to suppress a small smile, recognizing that Ms. Granger had not quite let go of the topic, but was distracting herself so that she could freely think as she worked on some gadget or whatnot.
"Go we will, and inform Professor Snape of the plan," Master Yoda said, beckoning for Ist to some with him.
Together they departed from the room, heading for the large communication tower that would allow them to make contact throughout the Galaxy to those that knew the frequency.
"Pleased I am, that survived your journey you did…" Yoda said as they walked.
Sensing the small tinge of regret in her old master, Ist understood the reasoning behind his comment. "I am sorry about Luna, Master. I tried to bring her back safely, but she was very adamant about her destiny…" Ist replied.
Yoda smiled somewhat as they walked, "Understand that, I do. Headstrong she was, and very confident in her abilities."
"She was amazing to work beside, even for the small amount that we did." Ist said, remembering the sensation of the Light that wafted off the Jedi Master.
"Powerful in the Force, she was," Yoda agreed, "As you are as well…"
Ist blushed at the praise from her old Master, "I didn't feel very powerful in comparison, I wasn't strong enough to help her against Gor-lak, or even the Emperor."
"Did what you had to, you did," Yoda countered, clearly sensing the shame that Ist carried for fleeing the battle when the Emperor arrived. "Few there are, that could stand up to the Emperor. Doubt yourself you shall not. Jedi Knight you are, and the Force your guide is…"
"I understand Master." Ist replied, smiling in spite of the memories. Yoda had always had that effect on her, in being able to lighten her spirit and point out things about herself that she had long forgotten, or else was ignoring in favor of more negative aspects.
They arrived at the tower, and started up one of the lifts to the communication array in silence. As they arrived in the communication array, Ist stopped as the masked figure of Shade appeared around one of the corners of the private lines were.
"Ah, Knight Ist, you've returned. I am glad for that." The masked being said, "I trust that your trip to Dathomir was productive for the Rebellion as a whole?"
"One could say that," Ist replied, feeling somewhat off about the man, who had apparently lowered his shields that blocked the Force for the time being. The strange part about it was, with them down, Ist could sense a strange cold sensation that lingered on the man. It was rather unpleasant, and had her wondering momentarily at just who was behind the mask.