Chapter 5 - Meeting of the Dark Side

!FYI! The events in this story are taking place approximately one year before the events of the Phantom Menace !FYI!

Location: Coruscant

Honey stood restlessly at the window of a conference room somewhere in central Coruscant. The room was below most other buildings and badly illuminated, what made matters even worse the glowing lava underneath this building created an eerie feeling that made her very uncomfortable. The badger was dressed in her dark laboratory uniform and the typical white lab coat that she always wore.

They were not far away from the Jedi temple and the Senate or to make it more clear - enemy territory. Her eyes were hurting from staring down into the red glowing gap, where nothing existed but melting rocks and burning trash from the world above. It would have been completely silent if it wasn't for the badger nervously moving her feet, mostly to the annoyance of the second mammal in the room.

"Honey, my dear, could you please keep your claws under control? Your nerves are beginning to wreck mine too," Lord Ovis said from her small chair, placed on top of the conference table. Leaning back in it the Sith Lord had an amused smile on her face that was just as sweet as deadly.

"I...I'm sorry, ma'am...I mean, of course, my lady. B-but shouldn't we've waited for Darth Antila? Just in case?"

"Please, you know how much fun she has with her little concerts. To force her into this meeting would have been cruel. Also, you disappoint me, Honey. Is your trust in me so low that you think I couldn't handle two Siths who are nothing but children in comparison to me?" Lord Ovis said before cackling, amused by Honey's fear and the upcoming realization, what the badger had just said to the one person who decided about her life and even more dangerous – her death.

Terrified about her own insolence, Honey grabbed the metal ring around her neck to check if it was still blinking with a reassuring green light. It did and that calmed Honey's stressed nerves a lot.

"And thinking that I would kill you because of such a triviality, my dear? I don't know what hurts more, the feeling of being underestimated or the one of being seen as an ice-cold killer from my own subordinates," Lord Ovis continued to tease Honey to her own amusement.

"I-I'm sorry," Honey replied and bowed her head, fearing what would happen next.

"Forget it, my dear, and don't worry about those two, whom we will soon meet, they're no danger to me...but in case they become cocky...Well, I'm sure I can still teach them one thing or two," the Sith said, hidden by the shadows on her side of the table. Honey was sure that she was grinning. She enjoyed situations like this.

A jolly mood for the old Sith lady was always a good sign and Honey decided to use it for some small talk.

"Do you think they will come?"

"I'm sure that someone will come. The old, wise, Darth Plagueis? Probably not. But his younger and curious apprentice Darth Sidious? I would bet on it," Lord Ovis replied. Her gaze focused on the door behind the long conference table but nothing happened.

"May I ask you another question?"

"You may."

"Why did you give the lead of Charon's soldiers to Jack? Doesn't that create just unnecessary problems and tension? You know how jealous he can be," Honey said. For the first time since they arrived in this conference room, Lord Ovis looked directly at her. Honey's master had a grin on her face. Green eyes glowed behind large glasses, fakes to make her appear weaker in front of enemies.

"Oh Honey, how long have you served me for now?"

"Twenty-nine years, six months and two days," Honey replied without thinking another second about it and turned her own gaze to the ground. Of course, she knew how long she'd been her prisoner. Every morning, when she was looking in the mirror of her little room and saw the ring around her neck she was reminded of this fact. She counted every single day and hoped that all of this would be one day nothing more than a nightmare. Until then she had to endure this. Honey could no longer stand the Sith's stare and turned her own gaze to the ground.

"Shouldn't you know by now that I gave Darth Lepus this power because of the same reason I arranged this meeting today?"

Before Honey could even articulate her answer and apology to her master, the double-sided steel doors slid aside and a group stepped into the conference room. In front walked two dark hooded figures escorted by eight battle droids behind them, four of them behind each figure with loaded blasters in hand.

'Why are there droids here?' Honey thought, almost shouting the words in panic. She was a scientist through and through and numbers were her profession and, right now, those numbers were definitely against them. A quick look at her master and Honey recognized that Lord Ovis was totally calm. No signs of fear. She even seemed to enjoy what was happening in front of her.

The disguised figure in the center flipped his hood back. An elderly human was underneath it. His hair was grey and already retreating to a point where it showed a high forehead. In Honey's eyes, he looked like a bureaucrat or a politician but not really like a dangerous Sith lord. He was in no way anything she had expected. When she took a look at her own Sith Lord she smiled a crooked smile and reminded her that she was in no position to mock others.

"What a dramatic appearance," Lord Ovis said amused and clapped slowly with her claws, "I love it."

The still hooded figure took a sudden step forward, almost as if the Sith underneath the cloak wanted to attack but was immediately stopped by the old man.

"Are you mocking us for coming here?" the old man asked.

"Oh, not at all," Lord Ovis reassured, "I just know to appreciate an entrance like that. A good show for your audience is so important especially to strike this extra bit of fear into their little hearts. Wouldn't you agree, Darth Sidious?"

"Indeed it is," Darth Sidious replied and waited. Silence filled the room during which Darth Sidious and Lord Ovis seemed to examine each other but not with their eyes. The beings of the dark side had the force to get their information about their opponent.

"Please, take a seat," Lord Ovis said, pointing with her left claw to the end of the long conference table that was right in front of the new guests. "We shouldn't forget our courtesies in these modern times or we're nothing else than savages. Wouldn't you also agree, senator of the planet Naboo and speaker of the house Palpatine?"

"You know," Darth Sidious remarked with suspicion in his eyes, when he heard his real name. Neither he nor his companion took the seats in front of them.

Giggling like a girl who'd just revealed the newest gossip to her friends, Lord Ovis replied. "Oh please, if you've lived as long as I did you would also have your trustful sources of information."

"I see."

"Oh, do you?"

Darth Sidious's face moved but Honey wasn't sure what he wanted to express. At first it seemed like disgust but it was very fast replaced by an emotion she knew just too well from her own master – annoyance.

"I don't want to be rude or disrespectful but I'm not here to have some small talk with an elderly Sith needing my help with whatever she wants me to do. I have a goal to achieve, so please tell me what you want, and maybe we can have an agreement, maybe even cooperation for future endeavors. I'm sure we can find a way to join forces and fight against our common enemy," Darth Sidious replied with a smile on his lips that was trained to the point of perfection. A politician through and through, Honey thought.

Lord Ovis didn't reply instantly but every eye in the room was locked at the small figure on top of the table. Her appearance hidden in the shadows.

Her laughter began slowly but rose quickly to a high pitched giggling that froze the blood in Honey's body. Lord Ovis stood up from her chair and walked towards the other end of the table and towards the point where the light would reveal her appearance.

"You would truly help an old biddy like me? Someone who's too weak to be of any use but who's still searching for an ally to assist her?" Lord Ovis asked, the sarcasm in her voice so strong that even an idiot would understand it. She stepped out of the shadows and into the light. A small female sheep with white wool stood there in the middle of the table. She was dressed in a black dress that looked heavy on her and went down to her ankles. Only her small hooves were showing. The big glasses in front of her eyes reinforced the impression of a small and weak prey mammal, but Honey knew that it was a mistake to categorize her as weak. She was an apex predator. Ready to kill at any given time.

"Let me ask you one question...why the hell do you think you are here, boy?"

"Pardon?" Darth Sidious asked, confused by the sudden change of tone he received from the meek-looking creature in front of him.

Lord Ovis laughed again, this time holding her tummy as she tried to contain it all. "You really...hahaha...you really think I would arrange this meeting because I would need help? From you? That's cute."

"Then why are we here?" Darth Sidious asked impatiently.

For a moment, Lord Ovis looked at her meeting partner. The room was once again quiet and just some vehicles could be heard flying by.

"Let me tell you a story, boy, to make you understand who I am," Lord Ovis said but there was no reaction from Darth Sidious. He remained silent and took in every word she said, "I'm old...very old in fact even for my own species. I was there when the old Sith Order still existed. I saw and joined the last wars between the Jedi Order and the Sith Brotherhood during the ending times of the old republic and I can tell you, they were magnificent. Chaos and fear in every star system from Coruscant to the edges of our known galaxy. Hundreds and hundreds of Sith fought against the Jedi who were just as strong in numbers and casualties on both sides were high after all, it was war? The weak died and the strong survived, just as it has ever been. It was what it was until…"

Lord Ovis was looking at Honey, her back turned to Darth Sidious, his mysterious companion and his guards. The old Sith looked weary talking about her past. Honey had never heard the full story, always just bits and snippets but it was enough to get at least a glimpse of understanding about her.

A deep sigh escaped Lord Ovis muzzle before she continued to talk.

"...Until our leader, Darth Bane, decided to change the course of the Sith forever. We had just lost an important battle against the Jedi in the Mid Rim section. Our last great battle. Not knowing what would happen, we all came together on the cursed planet of Moraband, where he explained this new path he had chosen for us. The rule of two he called it. We listened and agreed that this plan...this idea would be the best for the Sith in the long run. One vision, that one day the Sith would rule once again over the republic. It sounded too good to be true," Lord Ovis said, her eyes still fixed on Honey and filled with grief about her former life. The badger had never seen her like this and it made her almost feel something like empathy for the old hag. Almost.

"And I have to admit that I was at first for this idea. Keep the numbers small. Train, grow, and pass your knowledge on to the next generation until their power is enough to take over the Galaxy. Sounds simple, doesn't it?"

"It does and it works perfectly if you ask me," Darth Sidious replied.

"You're right. It does work and Darth Bane knew that. So he moved on, executed his plan and…, " Lord Ovis made a break. Her face distorted in annoyance, while she turned back to Darth Sidious, "...Everything became so boring! No more fights, no more battles, or in other words the chaos ended. Ugh, it was terrible. Peace became the default in the whole Galaxy. With every passing day, I realized more and more that this was a mistake but it was too late to revert it. Sooner rather than later, what had to happen happened. The remaining Siths got killed one by one until only a handful of us remained and I understood what Bane didn't or couldn't."

"And that is?" Darth Sidious asked. He had finally taken his seat to be on eye level with Lord Ovis.

"We're not meant to rule anything."

Sidious chuckled about this absurd answer from Lord Ovis and replied, "That sounds to me like the realization of a sore loser, who wasn't picked as the one to continue the legacy of the Sith Order. I expected more from someone experienced as you, Lord Ovis."

Just for a moment, Honey believed to see the beginning of an emotional outburst from her master. An outburst in which she would kill those two instantly and without any regret. Honey knew that Lord Ovis had killed other enemies and allies for much less but she kept her nerves much to the badger's surprise. At least for the moment.

"You think you can compete with me, boy? A Sith Lord over 1200-year-old?"

Calm and collected, Lord Ovis folded her arms on her back, right above her small white, tail, and began to walk in small steps towards the other two Sith. A meter away from them, when she did her last step, two objects fell from underneath the left and right side of her skirt and swirled into the air. Except for Honey who hid herself behind a chair, nobody in the room was ready for what was coming for them.

Darth Sidious and his apprentice had just enough time to draw their lightsabers and parry the attack. Their attempt was weak at best and forced them to stand back to back not even a second later, red lightsaber against red lightsaber. The pressure from the saber and the force which was in control of it was immense.

Sidious's droids reacted immediately and stepped around the table to lock their aim onto the small Sith Lord, who was grinning at Darth Sidious and his apprentice. Lord Ovis didn't even seem to be aware of the threat that was surrounding her while eight heavy blasters were pointing at her.

"Stop the attack or my droids will fire! You may have the advantage over me and my apprentice but you're out of options!" Sidious shouted while he tried to push back the lightsaber in front of him. The screeching of clashing plasma filled the air.

The sound of loading blasters echoed through the room and struck even more fear into Honey, who was cowering behind a chair, trying her best to keep herself out of the conflict.

"Out of options? Oh boy, you should have done your homework. Because if you had done it, you would know that I'm the only Sith who had perfected fighting with four lightsabers. This technique is one of the reasons why I received my special little nickname," Lord Ovis explained while two more cylindric, metal objects swirled from under skirt towards the high ceiling of the room, where they circled for a moment like hawks in the sky before throwing themselves down onto the droids.

Red plasma began to cut through metal as if it was butter and sparks flew through the air of the conference room. One after another fell to the ground without even firing a shot. In the end, it took her just a mere handful of seconds to reduce Sidious' droids to nothing more than rubble. Lord Ovis had even destroyed the blaster just to be sure that they couldn't be used as a weapon against her.

Loyal like dogs, her two blades returned to their master and began to hover around her, still glowing red and ready to strike again.

"Almost six hundred years have passed since I wielded my own lightsabers in a battle with my own claws. By now, this technique you see here is so common for me that I don't even have to think about it. It's like breathing or drinking water, you know?" Lord Ovis explained, pretending to wipe some dirt off her dress. "Now, where were we? Oh, yes! My nickname! You surely heard of it. The one my enemies gave me over the centuries and which I wear with some pride."

"Yes!" Darth Sidious replied.

"Good," Lord Ovis said amused, while she levitated the head of a destroyed droid over to her, planning to use it as a chair. Ladylike, she sat down on the droid's head, crossed one leg over the other and folded her claws around her knee. When she was done, she grinned like the devil himself while the small sheep ordered Sidious, "Say it."

"What?" Darth Sidious replied, stressed by the lightsaber, shifting its pressure and angle as if it was wielded by a real invisible swordsman.

"You heard me. Say. My. Name."

"If you want an apology for the things I had said, then just say it! Now stop your attack! I'm not here to fight or to attract any attention from the nearby Jedi!" Sidious replied, but Lord Ovis didn't even think about stopping her current action. Instead, she continued to put some more pressure onto him and his apprentice.

"Please, what should I do with the useless apology of a politician? No, I want you to say my name. Nothing more and nothing less."

"That's insane!" Sidious protested with so much anger in his voice that Honey pressed her nails deeper into the backrest of the chair she clasped to keep her safe.

Lord Ovis chuckled about the remark and began to inspect if her claws had any dirt on them, "Yeah, that could be...but to my defense hundreds of years of consciousness can take a heavy price on your sanity. Well, you know what I want to hear, right?"

Sidious stayed angry and it was obvious for every remaining person in the room that he was trying to find a solution to his problem through the pure force of his emotions. His anger was almost visible but he was not able to focus it on the task to fight back. Something or someone was hindering him.

In the end, it was the pleading of his apprentice that began to change his mind, "Master! I don't know what's wrong with you but we don't have to fight this battle. Just say her name!" A dark and deep voice replied from under the hood that made Honey curious what for an alien he could be.

Despite the demand from his apprentice, it took Darth Sidious at least another minute to find the strength to end the fight and let go of his emotions.

"Fine. I yield," Darth Sidious said, exhaling deeply before he gave his answer. The male human looked confused when he turned his head towards the old Sith lord but it seemed as if he had no idea what just happened. Honey, however, knew exactly what had happened and looked at the sheep on the table.

"Crimson Witch. That's what they call you and when I look at what you and what you just did...I understand why."

The last two lightsabers returned to their master. All four of them gathered behind her like an outspread hand fan, illuminating her in a blood-red color that gave her an almost demonic aura. Even Honey who knew her for a long time began to shiver when she saw this.

"Good boy." Lord Ovis said and continued, "And now, I want to see your apprentice."

"Why?"

"Sheer interest," Ovis replied with a smile. Without a direct order from his master, the apprentice took down his hood. Black and red skin with yellow eyes were the first things that Honey and Lord Ovis saw, as well as a number of horns which grew from his bald head.

"Well, well, well, now what do we have here? Isn't that a male Zabrak from the planet Dathomir? How did you manage to break him free from the Nightsisters? I thought they had fanatic control over every male that lives on Dathomir?" Lord Ovis asked, interested and for the first time even a little bit impressed by Darth Sidious's accomplishment.

"Let's say I have my own ways to get what I want, even if it means to deal with a matriarchal priest who wanted to kill me in the end," Sidious replied with some audible aversion and put out his lightsaber. It disappeared with a discreet move of his right hand into the long sleeve of his robe.

"I see," Lord Ovis replied and turned to the apprentice, "But please tell me your name, boy. And don't worry you don't have to be afraid of the little witch in front of you."

The young Sith apprentice could have just let go of the remark from the old Sith but there was something in the patronizing smile of Lord Ovis that provoked him to his core. In an instant, his cool-headed behavior from the lightsaber duel was gone and he snapped at her, his dual bladed lightsaber still in hand.

"My name is Darth Maul and I'm not afraid of a meek, little creature like you," Maul replied with disgust. He kept a constant eye on the lightsabers that were still floating in mid-air behind their Sith master.

"Why is it that young people always have so little respect for their elders?" Lord Ovis joked, but Honey could already hear the annoyed undertone in her voice.

"I do respect my elders but I don't respect you! The ultimate goal of a Sith should always be to rule about others! "

"Watch out what you say, boy." Lord Ovis replied, standing up from the droid's head. The gaze of the sheep and the Zabrak were locked onto each other. But while Lord Ovis's eyes were calm and searching, Darth Maul's yellow eyes began to twitch and tried to escape the gaze of his opponent. Darth Sidious, who stood beside his apprentice, just watched what was happening with great interest but didn't intervene. He had never seen what the old Sith lady was truly capable of and was curious about it. Honey wasn't. She knew what her master was doing with Darth Sidious apprentice because she had experienced it once by herself. In contrast to other Siths, she didn't attack the body of her opponent, no that would be too easy for her. She attacked their mind, searched for their greatest fear, and multiplied those fears by a thousand. Over the years, Honey had seen a lot of people after this torture, broken inside and without the smallest spark of life left in their eyes.

"Stop it! Stay out of my head, Witch!" Darth Maul squealed through clenched teeth, slowly going down on his knees. It was just as Honey expected, as soon as you experienced her power by yourself, you knew what she could do.

"So...your Brother, ey? Let me give you a little 'mind' challenge and see if you will succeed with it or go mad."

"Stop it...please," Maul began to plead but Honey knew it was much too late for something like empathy from her master, probably several hundred years too late. His whole body began to tremble so much so that he dropped his double-bladed lightsaber. Honey pitied him with every second more in which Lord Ovis continued to roam through his mind in search of some usable thoughts and memories. She bet he was no saint but nobody deserved such horrible treatment.

"So, you can read the mind of your enemies and toy with their emotions...You did the same to me. You tempted me to give in to my anger. Am I right?" Darth Sidious asked.

"Maybe," Lord Ovis replied grinning and obviously amused about the moaning Zabrak on the ground. If agony had a face it would be the one of Darth Maul who was rolling in the dirt, fighting his own battle in his mind.

"I must say you're truly a terrifying being." Darth Sidious stated, watching nervously as his apprentice crouched down in absolute pain.

"Oh please, stop the flattering. I might blush if you continue like this."

"Before this all went wrong you wanted to tell me something and maybe I was too quick on judging you. Maybe I should've listened." Darth Sidious said.

"Still a maybe? You disappoint me Sidious. Also, is this the politician Palpatine sweet talking to me right now or is it the Sith who still wants to expand his own little universe?"

"The latter and even so I'm sure that you don't believe me...I'm willing to listen."

"You're right, I don't believe you but I guess that's a common problem between Sith. We simply know what we are too well ."

Lord Ovis gave him a small smile before she returned to the droids head, on which she placed herself. Darth Maul who still laid on the ground seemed mostly unconscious except for some twitches and moans here and there. Sidious's dominance with which he had arrived was gone and all he had left was to listen to someone who was in his eyes inferior but still proved to be more powerful. He didn't have to speak it out loud, his eyes gave away this secret.

"As I told you, Sidious, I'm old. Very old. 1263 years to be precise. Some of this age is due to my species but I'm well aware that the force and my knowledge about it is the bigger part. In all these years, I traveled countless times through the entire galaxy, became a member of the Sith, fought battles against thousands of enemies, was for a while the Queen of a whole solar system, created my own army...and at one point even joined, at least for a while, the Jedi Order. And do you know why? Because that's the very nature of the Sith." Lord Ovis said and watched carefully for the reaction on Sidious's face. What he showed was clear, unfiltered disgust.

"The...Jedi? I never thought you would have gone so far...You truly hold no honor in the Sith principles. Abandoning them just like this...It's a shame and a disgrace." Sidious said, staring at the sheep. From below the table came a series of grunts that indicated that Darth Maul's mind wasn't broken. He forced himself back on his own two feet. His stand was shaky but he stood.

"Are you still sane? What happened?" Sidious asked his apprentice.

"I...I don't know...not for sure. I was on Dathomir...at home at the temple and witnessed the death of my brother over and over again. There was...was no escape in sight and no way to save him." Maul explained and stared with blank eyes to the ground in front of him that turned furious as soon as he raised his head and looked at the innocent smiling sheep.

"How did you solve your predicament, boy?" Ovis asked with a smile on her muzzle.

Pulled back into the dark of his own memories where he relived it again, Maul closed his eyes and began to speak.

"I...I killed him myself and ended his suffering before mine could begin but that didn't end the cycle. No, it went on, same as before. So, I killed him again...and again...and again. Until there was nothing left to fear or feel." Maul said in a devastating voice.

"And then?" Sidious asked and with his question returned a short silence in which Maul tried to concentrate.

"It ended...and I awoke here."

"Do you understand what I did, boy? Do you understand what a gift I gave you?" Ovis asked.

"Gift? You tortured me, you damned, Witch," Maul replied as he grabbed for his lightsaber on the ground. His movement was fast but not fast enough. Two lightsabers from Lord Ovis blocked one side of his double-sided weapon in midair and let sparks of red plasma fly through the room.

"You don't get it and neither does your master!" Ovis said, her smile slowly vanishing from her face.

"Oh, don't worry, I understand it very well. You're a traitor! And because of that, I'll treat you like any other traitor!" Maul shouted, pushing his saber harder against the two of Lord Ovis. But the old Sith Lord had enough of this conversation. Sidious stepped back from the table and turned to his apprentice, "It's enough! Don't take it too far!"

The command of his master forbade any objection but there was no time to do anything. Even defending was no option. With the small gesture of her left claw, Lord Ovis produced a force push that knocked Maul from his feet and slammed him right into the wall that stood several meters behind him. Instead of dropping him to the ground, the old Sith lord held Maul in place and gave him just enough air to stay conscious.

"You two call me a traitor or someone who abandoned the basic rules of the Sith? I live every second of my life to those core beliefs, you fools. More than you ever could!"

With a choked voice, Darth Maul continued to speak his mind, the warning of his master long forgotten. "Liar! You joined the enemy and refused to hold power! You're nothing but a failure!"

A chuckle came from the small sheep on the edge of the table, hiding her face behind her claws as she laughed. The high pitched voice sounded eerie in the conference room and it didn't take long until Lord Ovis chuckle rose to mad laughter.

"Let me remind you of our core principals, Darth Maul." Lord Ovis said, grinning and pointing her left claw in his direction. Blue lightning began to gather around the claw until the old master decided that it was enough. The concentrated energy made its way to Maul and hit him directly in the chest. He yelled in pain, while Lord Ovis began to recite the Sith codex in a loud voice that still managed to be louder than his screams.

"Peace is a lie, there is only passion! Through passion I gain Strength! Through strength I gain power! Through power I gain victory!"

The lightning ended and Maul slammed to the ground with dull sound. Sidious came closer. He tried to intervene and shouted at her, "That's enough, Lord Ovis! I'm sure he has learned his lesson."

"Maybe he has...but just to help him remember it forever, I will finish this little lecture." Lord Ovis jumped from the edge of the table and landed gracefully on the ground, her lightsabers following her wherever she went. She stopped right in front of Maul who was hurt but in no critical danger. Hate spread from his yellow eyes as he watched her.

"Now, boy. Please finish for me the recitation of our Codex. I'll wait."

"Through victory...my chains are broken. The force shall free me." Maul said under great pain and Lord Ovis repeated with spread out arms.

"The force shall free me. That's it! That's what truly matters! I am free and that's why I ruled over my own solar system or joined the Jedi or even destroyed a whole planet. I did this because I could and because I'm free. Nothing binds me to any rules and that's what differs us from the Jedi, who are bound by countless rules and obligations. We are what they can never be."

Maul and Sidious became silent and watched Lord Ovis, while she continued to explain her beliefs.

"Do you understand what that means in regards to everything? No? Well, of course not. You're just blinded by the rule of two and the possibility to rule over the galaxy through your little schemes which you planned over the years. For what? To rule over the people in this galaxy like the Jedi did in the past? Where's your freedom, I ask you? It's gone! All the years of work just to become what you fought before, a creature enslaved by rules and obligations. And one day everything dies." Lord Ovis explained, her grin and the good mood were gone.

"What do you mean when you say that everything dies?"

"Tse...can't you see it? Look at the current state of the republic, crowded with politicians like yourself. All talk and no action. The whole Galaxy is dying in stagnation and peace...and the Jedi? They're doing nothing because they are the peacekeeper of the current order but we, the Sith, on the other hand were once the force who brought change! We are the chaos that challenges the order. One side of the same coin. Intended to fight an eternal fight to keep the balance of the force." The sheep in her black dress finished her explanation and folded her arms behind her back.

"What if we bring balance to the force by defeating the Jedi and remain as the only force in the galaxy? Wouldn't that end the conflict as well?" Sidious asked. Honey couldn't decide if he was mocking Lord Ovis or if that was an honest question from him.

"You don't get it, boy?" Lord Ovis said and shook her head in disbelief, "Even if you're able to destroy the Jedi. Kill them one by one and make yourself the new Emperor of your galactic Empire, even then it wouldn't end because nothing ever ends. All you would become is the new order that replaces the old one. But don't worry, I know the force long enough to be sure that it will bring forward someone to fight you. A new chaos to challenge your order. That's why the Je'daii order of the old days, the first user of the force, drew their power from the light and the dark side. They lived in a perfect balance without preferring one side over the other. Unfortunately all we know today is how to live in one extreme or the other and, to make matters even worse, their old teachings are long gone."

"If you don't believe in the rule of two or don't have the will to rule... what do you want to do?" Sidious asked. He looked at her with a curious face that was waiting for more information, like a thirsty man who's on the edge of dehydration.

"Me? Oh, I'm a simple girl, you see? I know I can't restore the balance in the force and I don't even want to... what I want to do is to have fun. And if you ask I would say there exists an awful large amount of Jedi, nowadays. So, what I'll do is I'll play my games with them and enjoy myself. Nothing more." Lord Ovis replied with a new gained smile on her face.

"You truly deserve the name Crimson Witch...but why have you invited me?"

"Two reasons. First of all, I was curious what the rule of two would create for a Sith after all those centuries and honestly, I'm pretty disappointed. Nine hundred years of training and passed on knowledge and all it could bring forth was a politician like you? Even your own apprentice has more boldness in his bones than you." Ovis mocked but Sidious's face didn't move an inch.

"And second?"

Ovis sighed and her lightsaber turned off and hovered back to her. One after the other disappeared shortly after underneath her long, black skirt, where they waited for their next surprise attack.

"Isn't it obvious? I wanted to warn you. So listen, If you should interfere with my plans in any way, then I will cut you down like your useless droids. And I don't care if the rule of two would end because of me, I've spent too much time bothering about its end. It's my time to step out of the shadows, shake this Galaxy awake and have some fun. Do you understand me, boy?" Ovis asked and looked up to him, directly into his eyes.

"Yes...There will be no problems."

"Perfect!" Lord Ovis said and smiled brightly at him. "Honey, we're done here."

"Yes, Ma'am." Honey replied obediently, walking past the destroyed bodys of the battle droids. Each cut down in seconds with no chance of victory. When Honey had reached Lord Ovis, the sheep turned for a last time to Darth Sidious, who still looked down at her with a neutral expression on his face. The politician in him was undeniable.

"A last tip, boy. Don't wait too long to kill your old master Plagueis. He's no longer at the heights of his potential but still way too dangerous to be taken lightly by someone like you." Lord Ovis said, leaving the room with her arms folded on her back. When they exited the door, Darth Maul's gaze was on her but there were no last words for him. Just a stare full of hatred.

The metal doors closed and Lord Ovis exhaled deeply, relieved how well the meeting went down for her.

"What a nice get-together. I think we delivered our message properly and now we can fly towards Naboo and watch how the events will unfold there. What do you say, Honey? Wanna bet that someone will die?" Lord Ovis asked the slightly taller badger, who tried to avoid her gaze.

"I...I don't like to bet on lives."

"Killjoy...Well, I hope that Darth Antila likes to bet with me back on the ship," Lord Ovis replied, chuckling. Honey had never thought that her mood could become even better but it did. In a strange way, her master loved it when events didn't unfold how they should. It made the old Sith lady excited for the unexpected. Whatever would happen, Honey had a bad feeling about the events to come.

A/N: Many thanks to TheNightManager and J Shute Norway for the editing and beta reading. I really appreciate it.