Apologies for the minor delay, lots was happening on post day and I spaced whether I had posted or not until today. but the chapter is here now, so all is well. Enjoy, ~F
Chapter Twenty Two
Underlying Conspiracy
Kelrek felt privileged to witness the creative mind of Darth Diábolis, and the sheer mountain of Dark Side knowledge being put to the test in traversing the dangers of the crumbling Jedi Great Library.
As they carefully made their way to the lowest sections, multiple times the Sith Lord stopped Kelrek and prevented him from some unseen danger that even the limited foresight that the Sorcerer held had not seen. It was a humbling experience, and showed how much he had to learn.
As they arrived in the lowest level of the ruin, Kelrek smiled to himself. He had definitely chosen the better side in the coming war between the Sith. As they approached the only seemingly whole chamber left this far down into the ruins of the old Jedi facility, Kelrek could sense something waiting for them.
"I knew the Force did not lie to me," Diábolis said, growing excited as he reached forward, forcing the unpowered and rusted door to open.
The chamber was small; a nearly forgotten vault deep in the crumbling part of the ruin, and even still nearly stripped of all items. Slipping inside after the Devaronian, Kelrek examined what was left.
It was clear that whoever had cleared this chamber previous had done so under duress and in a great hurry, as there were scattered items everywhere, well-worn by age and layers of grime from sitting in some forgotten nook of the ruin. Most of the vaults were opened, their contents removed, but the largest at the back of the room was still sealed, with the appearance of scorch marks around the edges.
"Apparently someone attempted to plunder this room once before," Kelrek mentioned indicating this large vault.
"Yes, and failed…" Diábolis agreed, moving closer, and running a hand over the material of the vault, "and no wonder, its make of cortosis…"
Kelrek's eyes widened. Cortosis, the single most energy resistance material known in the galaxy was able to deflect even the burning power of a Lightsaber, something within the ore even working to disrupt the subtle Force aura around the crystals used in the construction of the weapon.
"I expect the entire vault to be made of the same, leaving only one course of action to get it open," the Sith Lord concluded, and stretched out a hand, concentrating. Kelrek sensed the power of the Dark Side working on the door of the vault in question, trying to pry it from its place.
The room quaked momentarily as the Sith did so however, and the pair of them stepped back carefully. "No wonder it was left…" Kelrek surmised, "It likely is holding up the rest of the room, and it'll all come crashing down if we tamper with it too much."
"I did not come this far to turn back now…"Diábolis stated angrily, exerting the Force once again, stronger than before.
The room started to shake, and Kelrek backed toward the entrance cautiously, before extending a hand to aid the Sith Lord in prying the vault open. The room trembled, and the vault started to give way, creaking and groaning in complaint as their telekinesis slowly warped the metal and broke the seals that held in together.
Amid the entire chamber quaking, and seams appearing along the floor, the vault finally broken, falling open and displaying the contents: a single metal sword that held a faint aura of Force energy.
Diábolis yanked the weapon from the inside of the vault quickly with the Force, and leapt back toward the entrance as the floor started to crumble beneath them.
Kelrek was surprised to find that a deep fissure lay beneath this chamber, and turned to sprint from the chamber, Diábolis hot on his heels. Retracing their steps swiftly, even as the entire lower level of the library started to fall into the abyss below.
The lift had not worked on their trip down, but using the Force they were able to leap from handhold to handhold and climb their way back up to the upper levels. There they felt safe enough to pause and rest from the mad dash through the lower levels.
Kelrek took deep breaths as he tried to calm his racing heart, but as he turned to look at the Sith Lord, he was surprised to see that the Devaronian was not even winded, but was closely studying the blade in his hand.
Kelrek could understand why, now that he himself was paying attention as well. The blade was perfectly preserved, despite being left for untold amount of time as it languished in the depths of this ruin, but also the aura of the blade had changed, now fluctuating with the strength of the Sith Lord who wielded it.
"What is it?" Kelrek asked, trying to wrap his mind around what his eyes were telling him.
Diábolis glanced at him, before smirking toothily, "It is the key to the future…" he said cryptically.
Kelrek had several guesses what the Sith Lord might have meant, but the Devaronian did not elaborate as he led the way back out of the ruin. Several of the scavenging natives were trying to collect the bodies of their dead at the entrance, but they scattered as Diábolis approached, Kelrek in the Sith's wake.
The shuttle was untouched, and once they returned Diábolis recalled the elite Imperial troopers, planning to make a withdrawal from the planet as quickly as possible. "This is Lord Diábolis to all Imperial forces," he said over a communication devise keyed to every commander planet-side. "We are done here, report for departure, I repeat, our mission here is completed, withdraw."
Closing the communication, Diábolis boarded the shuttle, and Kelrek followed.
Sealing themselves in a private chamber in the shuttle, the Sith Lord took from his robes the sword, and placed it on a sectioned off surface, where it reflected the light in a strange manner. "This weapon can do so much if used properly," Diábolis said, after checking for listening bugs with a small devise. "The Emperor does not allow many to know this information, but he has taken control of several Force apparitions, which increase his power exponentially."
Kelrek was silent, awed at the notion that not just one, but multiple Force ghosts could be bound to a single Force user. The Emperor must have been extremely powerful to achieve such power.
"This sword can sever those Force bonds," Diábolis explained, tapping the blade, his eyes flashing crimson. "Doing that will weaken the Emperor and it is likely that it will disorient him enough to land a fatal blow…"
"The only problem would be getting close enough to the Emperor to do so…" Kelrek pointed out, and Diábolis nodded.
"As luck would have it, I have a plan for that, but it will take time, and I need more of your cooperation. We need to capture one of the rebels that possess the power of the Mageborn…"
Kelrek was surprised, "A Mageborn? But I thought they were all but wiped out, any that are among the rebels will be strongly guarded."
"This is true," Diábolis replied, "I have a spy in their ranks however, who is supposed to cause enough of a distraction at the first opportunity that one aware of where to be might acquire one of them for me."
"I understand, my Lord," Kelrek responded, eager to be of further assistance to the future Emperor, "what will you have me do?"
"For now, do nothing. Proceed with whatever missions you are given among the Trio, but be ready to depart on your own for my cause at a moment's notice."
There was a rapping sound at the door, indicating that they had arrived at the cruiser, and Diábolis hid the weapon once more before going to the door. Kelrek covered his emotions as he too departed, knowing that secrecy was their only shield against the Emperor learning too soon of their plot.
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Zhar landed with little fanfare in New Kaas City, sweeping into the Imperial palace like a shadow. With most of the Dark Adept leadership on the planet now dead at the hands of the Emperor, there would be few there to oppose him installing himself inside the palace, but the problems were likely to come later, once the populace knew that the enemy of their leader was now in charge.
Reaching the council chamber without meeting any resistance, Zhar almost thought that none were left. All those thoughts were dashed when the doors opened, and all remaining eleven of the lower council of Dromund Kaas were revealed in their seats, discussing quietly among themselves, before turning to view him with disdain.
"You have a great deal of nerve to show your face here, Zhar Quelmok," Prophet Snarlfang said, the goblin's haughty expression looking quite formidable. The others seemed to be on much the same opinion, but Zhar couldn't care any less about their displeasure. Marching forward with his head held high, Zhar approached the seat of the High Prophet of Dromund Kaas, and Supreme Prophet of the Dark Side, and sat to an audible gasp around the circle.
"You dare!" Snarlfang said, leaping to his feet and drawing the hilt of his Lightsaber Shoto, "you dare take the seat of Supreme Prophet Feyd!"
"Feyd is dead!" Zhar roared, silencing the gathering. Snarlfang froze, his eyes wide at the sudden explosion of rage in the Force that radiated from Zhar, and sat back down slowly in silence.
"Dead," Zhar repeated, "at the hands of the Emperor that he tried to betray… I have been singled out for the… glorious honor, of taking his place as ruler of Dromund Kaas and leader of the High Council, once reconstituted from the heavy losses from Feyd's faction."
All were silent, listening as Zhar said his piece regarding his appointment. Soon enough they asked their questions regarding details, and fell into a more natural discussion of what to do proceeding from the event.
Zhar was not fooled. These high-minded fools did not care for his presence any more than when he first arrived, and were even now plotting in their hearts to kill him, take his place, and rule the Empire themselves.
There was also no doubt in Zhar's mind that they didn't stand a chance against him, unless they acted as one cohesive unit, which was highly unlikely. No, there would be the rebellions that he had expected to come, and these eleven others would be the ringleaders, if he was able to prove the connection.
But what they lacked in strength in the Force, the eleven lesser prophets of Dromund Kaas had ample amounts of cunning, patience, and influence in the city. Zhar would have his work cut out for him until Euka returned with his second apprentice, who would take on the brunt of these problems, leaving the new Supreme Prophet and his apprentice to further their own goals unmolested.
Sitting through the irritating meeting of doubletalk and veiled threats, Zhar wasn't sure how he survived not taking up his saber and killing the lot of them immediately.
Still, once they all departed from his sight, he was able to travel down to the massive achieve of the Imperial Palace, which held significantly more records and texts than the one on Korriban. It would take a great deal of time to sort through what there was that was new versus what was already looked through on the tomb-world.
Still, with his new authority, Zhar could take whatever he wanted from the archive here and view it at his leisure, which would be far easier than lingering around constantly like he was forced to on Korriban. Even High Prophets had had their limits.
Choosing a selection, Zhar had them sent to the Supreme Prophet's quarters, and made his way there, wondering what articles were left by his predecessor that he would find.
The space was not as grand as he suspected it would be, but judging from the only other two Supreme Prophets, it shouldn't have surprised him. Dass'in was more of a mystic than anything else, and would not have clung to material possessions, and his apprentice was more concerned with power than the same.
Zhar cared not for the items of the physical world either, not since joining the Sith so long ago, but there were a few creature comforts that he had grown fond of. Acquiring those would be something that he would be looking into in due time, but for now he was concerned primarily with the personal console in the chambers.
It was pass-coded, but using a small amount of the skills Zhar had obtained through the years in hacking he was able to bypass and reset the password to one of his own choosing, giving him full access to whatever the previous Supreme Prophets had recorded.
Most of these from Dass'in Zhar ignored, as they were likely fanatically loyal to the Sith and their ideals, but instead focused primarily on what Feyd had been up to, as the traitor would likely have something that might be used against the Emperor in a pinch.
The other human had been quite thorough on keeping records, and still somewhat naive regarding the security of his systems. It was a surprise that no one had already attempted to steal from the younger man, but Zhar presumed that Feyd had kept a close following of loyalists around him to prevent any such intrusion into his personal chambers.
Zhar considered following the same route, but he was very much a loner among the Empire. Aside from his apprentice, there were none that he trusted, and while he was greatly respected for his achievements, there was no way he was going to allow some unknown entity guard anything of his that might prove to be his downfall.
So instead, using a combination of his terminal skills, he heavily locked down the console so that none other than himself would be able to easily gain access, and in addition he used the Dark Side to place a protective aura around the chamber, making it seem to always be occupied and locked, which would cause any attempted intruder to give pause.
That accomplished, and new research loaded and prepared for him to browse at the earliest opportunity, Zhar decided it would be best to take a long tour of New Kaas City, and take stock of the goings on around the system, so that he had something to measure against when the inevitable sabotage from the lower council began.
Not even trusting another to fly the speeder he was in, Zhar took the wheel himself, piloting the speeder over the traffic of the rest of the city, and circled the areas slowly, getting a feel for the flow of the Force over the capital of the Sith Empire.
It was surprising how many non-Force-sensitives actually lived in the city, members of the upper class, relatives of high ranking officials or Dark Adepts and the like, and Zhar found the entire political game disgusting. However, it was the role that he was assigned, and by the will of the Emperor he was forced to fulfill it, with results.
Although truthfully, Zhar knew that this was a delay, putting Zhar in the situation that he liked least in order to prevent him from maintaining any semblance of free time to research weaknesses in the Emperor.
As he flew, there was a sudden explosion in the industrial district of the city, and Zhar sighed loudly, knowing he was alone, "They didn't waste any time getting started," he grumbled, turning in the direction of the fire as it started in earnest from the section of the city that had ruptured. The only question was who was really behind this, Zhar rationalized as he punched the accelerator to get to the location of the disturbance as quickly as possible.
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Fury knew something was up. The hasty calling off of their assignments on the planet, in combination with the secrecy that both Lord Diábolis and Sorcerer Kelrek were keeping regarding their activities in the library guaranteed that, but without proof the Marauder did not wish to try and bring anything to the mind of the Emperor, for fear of punishment and the off chance that he was just paranoid.
Still, there was a different aura in the air when he saw the Sith Lord next. Diábolis was giving out commands to the various fleets, returning them to their normal duties and preparing to return to their task of hunting the rebels.
This was good, Fury thought. They had wasted much time here, and clearly it had not yielded much in the way of results. Granted, they had had an obligation to respond to such sightings, even if they proved fruitless, but Fury felt that something else was at play here, and he wanted to find out what.
Therefore, he waited until the meeting between Diábolis and the other leaders ended, and moved forward. "Ah, Lord Fury… excellent," the Sith said turning to face him, "I was just about to go search for you myself…" Fury didn't believe that for a second, but said nothing.
Even as the Devaronian started to explain the technical and categorical victor that they had on the planet of Ossus, Fury was busy reading through the pretext into what the Force was telling him. Diábolis was far too pleased with the results of their mission, and it clearly had nothing to do with any supposed rebel activity, of which Fury highly doubted that there was any.
The fact that they would be heading back into the fray toward the southern part of the Galaxy also wasn't of interest to him either, rather it was the fact that they would be far closer to the core of the Galaxy in that location. He knew he was speculating, but there seemed enough of a feeling in the Force to confirm what he felt as true.
The Sith apprentice was planning something against the Emperor, just as he suspected, and he would need to find proof to bring before the Emperor, and quickly.
"…and that is why I am returning you to your own fleet," Diábolis said, catching Fury off guard and returning him to the conversation that he had been ignoring.
"What?" Fury asked, blinking at the words.
"You've been requested elsewhere, and thus I am returning you from my service, so that you can better serve the rest of the Empire," Diábolis stated, smirking in a way that Fury was sure meant that the Sith was aware of what Fury was up to.
"I… understand. We'll prepare immediately to depart." Fury said after a long moment, silently fuming at his missed opportunity.
"Good, we'll be stopping off at your rendezvous point soon…" Diábolis said as Fury turned away.
But even as he departed the bridge, Fury was already forming a new plan. Sending a coded message to his forces and Calamity to gather their things and be ready to leave, he started toward the Sith Lord's private quarters immediately. If he was being sent away, then he was leaving with information of what the Devaronian wanted to hide from the Emperor.
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Yoda knew that they were winning, as with every additional pod that was destroyed around the control room of the Star Forge, the centaur Dark Adept went into a greater fury. But with the added strength that the Dark Side gave the creature, it stole from his ability to think clearly, and soon sloppy mistakes started to show themselves.
By the time they had cleared out half of the pods in the chamber, the horse-man was taking to charging the troopers and completely abandoning his duel with the goblin Jedi Master. In these strange lulls, Yoda would work just as swiftly to plant more explosives himself, which meant that no matter what the High Prophet did, pods would be destroyed.
As the creature lumbered back to their fight once more after scattering the rebel troopers, but failing to slay any of them because of the magic in their armor protecting them from the more severe attack that the centaur threw at them, Yoda was ready.
Throwing himself backward, he lured the centaur forward several steps, right into a patch of explosives that he had placed. The floor detonated, forcing the Dark Adept to leap into the air and expose himself.
Yoda reached deep into the Force, bypassing the natural shielding that all Force user's had to protect themselves from telekinesis, and grabbed the creature, slamming him back to the ground with the groan of metal.
The horse legs kicked and flailed, even as the Dark Adept struggled to escape the clutches of the Force, but Yoda held him fast. This allowed the rest of the pods to be wired for destruction, which would cut the power of the station completely and deny the Emperor a powerful resource.
The centaur managed to break free for a moment, long enough to throw his saber at the goblin. Yoda was forced to release his hold on the Force in order to dodge the massive blade. The centaur leapt to its hooves and recalled the weapon, ready to continue the duel, just as the rest of pods were destroyed. The power in the facility fluctuated, and emergency lighting turned on.
"You fools! You have no idea what you've done!" the High Prophet rages, even as the station shuddered. Yoda could sense that the entire station was moving; being pulled into the sun that it was leeching energy from.
They had won, "fall back we must!" he called out, and the troopers started to scramble for the door, even as Yoda continued to fight with the centaur, green and crimson sabers clashing in the darkness. Yoda tried multiple times to break off the duel and slip away, but the centaur now had the singular goal of preventing his escape so that they would both be destroyed in the ruin of the station.
Dodging out of the way of the trampling hooves as the centaur cut him off again, Yoda flipped backward, trying to put distance between them so that he could plan another route of escape. The various exits of the chamber were flashing with the warning lights and sirens regarding their loss of orbit around the sun, but every time he started toward one of these exits, the High Prophet would move to place himself between Yoda and the door he started toward.
"If I am to be disgraced and slain by the Emperor, or else in the fall of my station, then I will take the delight of taking the esteemed Master Yoda with me into the void beyond this life!" the centaur raged, stamping forward and swinging the saberpike with expertise at the goblin.
Yoda parried quickly, falling back into the defensive, and striving to find an opening in the centaur's attacks. It seemed that the cold fury of losing the station had refined his rage into a singular beam of destructive fury, and sharpened the edges that had been growing lax as they fought earlier.
If Yoda didn't change the flow of battle quickly, then he would be either overwhelmed or otherwise hindered and perish in the crash of the station. Leaping back from a downward stab of the overlarge saberpike, Yoda noticed the grating that they were standing on, and the small ducts that tunneled their way around underneath. They were far too small for the standard human, but just right for the much smaller body of a goblin.
Putting on a new burst of speed, Yoda spun in a circle and cut the grating away, dropping down into the underlying network of ventilation. Scrambling through the metal tunnel, Yoda had to dodge several times as the centaur tried to impale him as he navigated the shafts blindly.
But in the end, there was little that the High Prophet could do to stop Yoda from finally escaping the chamber and cutting his way back to the corridor beyond the sealed blast doors.
Racing through the corridors, Yoda sensed when the Dark Adept blasted his way through the door and began the pursuit. Yoda luckily had a decent head start, and through some careful maneuvering he was able to take shorter routes that would trip up the much larger centaur, and thereby slow down the chase even further.
Through this method of doubling back and slipping through tighter spaces, Yoda was able to reach the hangar long before the Dark Adept, and just in time, as the last of the troopers had already boarded, and the entire station was starting to quake is a drew nearer the sun it had been harvesting, the pressure starting to heat and buckle weaker portions of the station.
The centaur burst through the doors by the time Yoda made it most of the way to the shuttle, and charge while bellowing a roar of rage. Yoda turned, catching the threatening point of the crimson blade with his own, leaping out of the way as the massive body hurtled past him.
Knowing that he had no other alternative but to fight for his life, Yoda sprung into action, refusing to continue relying on pure defense. Ataru sequences flowed from his body and blade, unleashing a flurry of strike on every available part of his opponent, flowing freely with the Force as his strikes were blocked or parried and continuing to press his attack.
The centaur fell back, the sudden reversal surprising for the Dark Side adept. As parts of the hangar started to rupture, the outside area buckling from the pressure as the entire station started to implode. Several fuel canisters next to the dueling pair already seemed ready to burst.
Yoda channeled the Force and threw his opponent backward, directly into the strained and hissing tanks. The resulting explosion threw Yoda back, but he landed on his feet and immediately turned to flee to the shuttle. Whether the centaur survived or not was irrelevant, as the crashing station would take care of that just as quickly.
The pilot was ready for Yoda to get on board, and took off immediately; rocketing out of the station and fighting the gravitational pull of the sun. Luckily they were not nearly close enough that their engines couldn't fight and get them away, but it took a significantly longer time than typically acceptable.
From the rear viewing port, Yoda watched as the station slowly buckled as it fell into the sun, eventually becoming incinerated and unable to be viewed beyond the blinding flare that accompanied contact between the station and the surface of the sun.
Letting out a sigh as the explosion in the Force died away from the powerful factory's destruction, Yoda turned away from the viewport, allowing himself to slip temporarily into a healing trance. They had some time before they arrived at the withdrawn fleet, and then from the fleet rendezvous point to return back to Bakura.
Their objective was complete, and a decisive blow struck against the Emperor.
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Diábolis smirked as he watched Fury and his forces departing his ship for good. It was too bad that the Marauder didn't find anything when he searched through the Sith Lord's private chamber, nor gleaned anything from Diábolis himself in the pathetic attempts to interrogate the Sith Lord for information.
The cyborg human was clearly decided that he was on the side of the Emperor, and therefore Diábolis' enemy. To that end, he hid any sense of the blade he had taken from Ossus, and chose to forward Fury to the most likely point that the rebels would attack, using the Marauder as bait for luring out a Mage-born into the open.
Meanwhile, the Trio, specifically Kelrek, would be on the lookout for when this trap would be sprung, and Diábolis would at last have the next piece of the puzzle to eliminate Veneficus for good.
Having given only some of the details to Kelrek, Diábolis returned to his chambers and withdrew the blade from his robes. The weapon was more extravagant than simply severing the connection between force spirits and their possessed host. It actually passively absorbed Force energy, much as the Emperor's scepter did, and therefore it grew in strength when in a powerful charged area, or wielded by a particularly strong Force user, or even when used against a powerful Force user.
Since all three events were likely to come together when the final confrontation occurred, Diábolis had a fair amount of certainty that he would end up wielding the superior weapon, one that would be more than able to kill the old man at long last.
The only issue remaining was depriving Veneficus of his magic, and making sure that there was a large enough distraction in the Coruscant Palace to let Diábolis get close to the Emperor to strike once more.
Despite no official mandate given, the Sith Apprentice could tell that he was not welcome on the central planet of the Galaxy any longer, and to attempt to set foot there would cause many bounty hunters and assassins to have free reign to attempt to kill him.
He had to force a situation where the Emperor summoned him back, and then he would be able to act without worry of outside interference. Through careful manufacturing of the success of the rebels, he would make that situation happen.
The destruction of the Star Forge would be the first step. If he knew, through his infiltrator and spy, that they had assaulted the facility already, it might be gone even now. This move would certainly grab the attention of the Emperor, as he now had no secret place to store his artifacts and build their ships without sharing the secrets of Magi-technology with the rest of the Galaxy.
Diábolis knew that the Sith Lord had no desire to share his power or knowledge with anyone, and it was his guess that the madman would simply allow the flow of their powerful ships to just cease, allowing weaker ships to be substituted in for those he did not trust, hording all the massive and powerful ships that were part Wild Force for himself and the most important of the upper class of the Empire.
That would allow the rebels prime targets to slowly eliminate those fleets one by one, securing their power and superiority in space combat, while pressing on the Empire from any direction they so wished.
Meanwhile, Diábolis had seen to it that the fringe worlds of the Empire were well oppressed and ripe for defection to the rebellion, in both small insurrections and full blown withdrawal from the Empire, which would succeed in spreading out the imperial navy throughout the Outer Rim.
That, combined with betrayal and assassination within the Empire, would weaken the structure enough to Force Veneficus back into the light of the Galaxy, removing him from his source of power and influence in the Force at Coruscant.
It was a plan that had to be taken very slowly, so as to not make waves enough to alert the Emperor to their movements in the Force. Diábolis had spent many years studying the power of foresight, and he know felt that he knew more regarding it than even his Master, although his skill with the ability was far weaker. If he moved slow enough and gradually, then there would be no more than a whisper of his desire in the Force for the Emperor to pick up on.
That was the mistake that many made in trying to defeat the Emperor. Move too fast, act too rashly, and you would cause a ripple in space, time, and the Force that were alert the man to your actions. The bigger the ripple, the more he would learn and understand. The strike on the Star Forge only worked because of the careful timing that Diábolis had enacted for it, coinciding with Supreme Prophet Feyd's rebellion and outright attack on the system of Korriban, urged and abetted by Diábolis' minions in the former Supreme Prophet's camp.
Even the appointment of Zhar Quelmok to the station in the aftermath was guessed and predicted by Diábolis, and his infiltrators on the Imperial Capital were already hard at work to prevent a full reorganization of the Dark Council, as well as keeping the place a hotbed of contention and therefore at the forefront of the Emperor's mind.
Veneficus thought that he saw all things, but Diábolis knew better. The Emperor only saw what his apprentice wanted him to see. And until the last moment, when he placed this blade into the old man's body, it would continue thusly.
For now however, it mattered very little where Diábolis went and what his fleet did, so he ordered them to sweep the southeast portion of the Galaxy, where he knew that the rebels were not located, although many of their allies would be present to report back the presence of an Imperial fleet.
Diábolis smirked as he returned to his chambers. There was little to do but wait for the time being, and thus he would do.
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Filius was concerned at how straight forward and downright simple it had been to infiltrate, assault, and destroy such an important and powerful station. The Jedi had reported that this particular station had significant meaning in their history, and while they refused to say much beyond that, it still told that half-goblin Charms Master that there would be a terrible reprisal from the Emperor for destroying it.
With all speed they returned to Bakura, and while there was a great deal of celebration among the lower ranked officers and volunteer troopers, the upper echelon of leadership held a solemn meeting, between both Bakura and Hoth.
"This place, the Star Forge, should have not existed," Jedi Lord Berethon said, "The only known factory like this was destroyed in that very place by the Redeemed Jedi Knight Revan. I cannot fathom how the Emperor found another."
"Another Star Forge, I doubt that it was," Master Yoda commented, standing beside Filius as they held this conference.
"That's impossible, isn't it?" Knight Ist replied, looking at her former master with concern. "the Star Forge was shattered and destroyed. There is no possible way that it could be repaired…"
"Magic…" Director Granger said seriously, drawing all their attention. The woman's image shimmered as she spoke, still on Hoth among her equipment and gadgets, "If the Emperor used all the tools at his disposal early on before the war started, he would have had an excessive amount of magical power… it's something that had had me concerned for a long time. He never delved too far into magical combat during the war, and I always wondered why."
"So you think he used up all the power he siphoned from the Dark Lord, the Headmaster, and other items and relics he acquired to forcefully restore and rebuild this battlestation…" Professor Snape added from his own potion lab.
"There is little other explanation." Ms. Granger replied, visibly repressing a shudder, "to even imagine the amount of magic that required, tells us a great deal about how powerful the madman truly is."
"At least he cannot repeat that feat…" Filius chimed in, "now that the station has fallen into the heart of a sun and been completely annihilated. He would need ten times that amount of magic to restore it now."
"The real question," Berethon continued, nodding in agreement with all that was said, "is how do we proceed? The Emperor is sure to attempt to redress this attack, but at the same time we cannot allow the opportunity to take to the offensive depart from us."
Ms. Granger looked thoughtful, "if we have eliminated their center for creating magi-tech based ships, then we ought to target each of their fleets as quickly. We can take command of the space battles if we ambush and destroy or hijack their ships to strip the last ones with any true strength in comparison…"
"I agree, that would be an effective follow up strategy, and we do severely need more ships." Filius added, to which Granger smiled at him gratefully.
"It's settled then," the former Republic commander, called only by the call-sign Meteor, affirmed. "Havoc squad will gladly lead the charge alongside whoever will aid us in seizing as many ships as possible from Imperial shipyards and in transit."
"I believe Operative Shade will be most helpful in locating where and what vessels will be easy targets for us to acquire," Filius added, looking toward his fellow Mage-born, who exchanged a curious glance before agreeing.
"I will make the necessary contact with Shade," Severus said, "We will have the information swiftly."
"Until that time, may the Force be with us…" Berethon said in conclusion, and the holocommunications ended alongside the meeting being adjourned. "That went far better than I expected," Filius said to Yoda as they turned to depart.
"Indeed, but worried I am, regarding the sense of dread in the Force I feel." The Jedi Master responded.
Filius did not even attempt to understand what the Jedi was referring to, but just nodded. There were indeed a few things off about the meeting. The hesitation to implement Shade was strange, and the willingness of Havoc Squad to leap into action so quickly again after their victory over the Star Forge was equally strange.
"We will need to act swiftly, but cautiously." Filius said, in response more to his thoughts than what the Jedi had said, "Something feels somewhat off about all of this."