Chapter 4
A medic droid was checking stock quietly, unaware that in one of the three bacta tanks behind the droid patient 626, was stirring. Patient 626's body was having multiple muscle spasms, after violently moving about for a minute his eye's opened revealing a seemingly glowing blue color. 626 panicked for a moment till he realized he was in a bacta tank, and it was at this moment that the medical droid started to notice 626's actions. The Droid looked at patient 626 unsure if Dooku wanted the patient to be released now since it was fully awake. The droid did an analyses check on the patient, vitals good heart rate good, mid chloride count perfect. The Patient seemed perfectly fine, just then 626 banged on the glass with his hands. The droid noticed the patient's left hand was working perfectly fine, as if it was there since 626 were born.
Cloud awakened in a bacta tank and the first thinking he realized after a small panic attack was he was alive, and since he felt brand knew he tried to get the droids attention so he could be released. He then heard a voice on what seemed to be the droids intercom, it was muffled due to the fact he was under water so to speak, but being Gaian gives you better hearing and it doesn't hurt to use the force to help hear.
The droid notice 626 calm down, "Yes lord patient 626 is alive and stable, would you like for me to release him?" the droid asked failing to notice that patient 626 could hear it clearly. "Yes, release 626 now, get him ready for a chat, I'll be down in a moment. "Yes mi' lord." The droid then walked up to 626 and typed in the code to release him.
Cloud waited as the Bacta tank opened allowing his half naked form to finally stand; it took him less than a second to handle the light gravity of the planet, well light for Gaian standards. "Patient 626, if you would follow me, we shall get you fed and dressed. Cloud didn't hear very well from the intercom all he knew was that the droids master, somehow found him and saved his life. He scratched the back of his head with his left hand and then paused. He had a left hand! Cloud instantly brought his hand down and looked at it, imagine his surprise to see his hand back there as if it wasn't cut off.
The droid noticed Cloud's wonder, "The master wasn't able to reattach your real hand, but he made the deals so we can give you a robotic replacement, and since my master is generous he through in the extra credits to make the hand as realistic as plausible.
Cloud couldn't help but agree with that as he followed the droid down the white halls, till he found a room, where the droid pointed out a queen size bed along with a personal wardrobe, a small fancy dining table. Cloud took a moment to enjoy the scenery of the room, but his eye's widened when he realized that his room had a window, with a view of nothing but the deep vast ocean that is space. Cloud realized he was on a ship. "626 if you could get dressed a service droid will be along shortly with some behemoth steak and some Chocobo weed salad. Cloud eye's widened at the food choice, all Gaian delicacies that only a Gaian can digest. Chocobo weed being a very nutrient based vegetation on Gaia that most species can't handle, and behemoth a native beast of burden witch meat is so tender and lean it's probably the healthiest meat out there, but the dextro-amino acids it has is poisonous to most species.
The droid left leaving Cloud to his temporary room, opening the wardrobe he found his Jedi robes and surprisingly everything he brought with him on the other ship. Quickly getting dressed, he realized his sabers weren't there, that was when Cloud's internal alarms went off. He didn't have much time to panic as there was a knock on the door. Cloud calmed his nerves and opened the door to see…Mattie?!
"Hello master, I have brought your food." Sure enough Cloud's service droid had a plate of Behemoth steak and Chocobo weed salad, along with a bottle of wine. Cloud let the droid place the food on the table, what was Mattie doing on this ship? Cloud had questions and he needed answers. "Mattie what happened when I left the ship?"
The droid was about to reply until a voice that Cloud now hated with every fiber of his being reached his ears, "Why I brought you to life." Count Dooku stood there in his Sith robes flanked by two huge droids that where gray in color, they had some similarity to the confederate battle droids, but these look super-sized. But Cloud didn't care as soon as his eyes saw Dooku he blurred into movement, he would have decked the count across the face if his ex-master didn't expect such movement. Dooku pinned his apprentice with the force on the wall, as the droids flanking him raised and pointed their arms at him.
"Oh dear, I fear that's no way you should treat the one who saved your life." "I'll fucking murder you, you old cocky son of a fucking bitch!" Cloud's eyes flared brightly and Dooku was struggling to hold back his enraged apprentice. Dooku sighed mentally, "626 listen,"
"My name's not 626 you batha fodder."
"You have to understand that I have to say 626 instead of your real name to protect you, it's best if the galaxy thinks Cloud strife simply disappeared. Might as well get you used to being called something."
"Why would you protect me?"
"Because in republic space you are wanted from stealing a Consular class cruiser, which by the way I hope you don't mind the remolding."
Cloud stopped raging as what he said hit him, he was a wanted criminal for stealing a consular class ship; which is a sure way to be noticed as no small time thief, not to mention he shot down and killed security. Then he remembered Dooku said remodeled, "What do you mean, what did you do to my ship?"
"Nothing too bad, I manage to upgrade it make it bigger, I gave you a full staff, all droids, your HK-B droids are still hear along with your Astromech droids, I also donated 20 battle droids and 5 destroyers, along with 10 super battle droids. The ship is now more hollowed out getting rid of the useless cargo and manages to make the captains quarters, nicer." Dooku smirked. "And imported better food."
Cloud no longer was trying to kill Dooku so he was released, taking his chance he sat down to try and enjoy his meal, he still wanted to tear the count limb from limb but then what will he do. "Ok why did you lure me out to Serenno nearly kill me bring me back and remodel my ship, you're a Sith now so there has to be a catch." The 19 year old looking Gaian said.
Dooku sighed visibly, dismissing all the droids in the room he sat at the other end of the table, not caring about the death glare Cloud gives him, "626, I know I am a horrible master, but I didn't join the Sith because I was evil, I planned on discovering the true darth lord, and soon kill him myself." Of course I just want to kill him so I could rule in his place but Cloud doesn't need to know that. "I had you come to Serenno so I can properly, "eliminate" you so, you can be safe."
"So let me get this straight the galaxy thinks I'm dead now?" Dooku nodded. "The republic and the Jedi think your dead, and darth Sidious thinks you're no longer a threat, at the moment your current existence is patient 626 on the Serenno private royal consular ship, Fission."
Cloud chewed down a piece of his stake and drank some wine to wash it down. "Why call me to Serenno I was just fine in the temple without you turning me rouge." Cloud went back to eating his steak and salad.
"Like I said Darth Sidious and his confederate army, assassins, and bounty hunters will be sent to ravish republic planets, and eventually wipe out the Jedi. If he wanted to he could easily wipe out the republic, the problem is he is waiting for the right moment to set his trap. Cloud the republic is doomed, Darth Sidious has the confederacy under him he manipulated the huts with ease and he has several high positioned senators with in the senate. He just needs a few more pieces to fall in place, and a few obstacles to be subtracted and the republic, along with the Jedi will be no more. Cloud I was ordered to kill and dispose of your body, and my master thinks you're dead."
"Why does this darth Sidious want me dead?" Cloud finished the stake and was working on the salad. "Why am I so important?"
"Sidious thinks that a Gaian Jedi would be to powerful, considering they out class human physically everywhere in combat, faster stronger, better vision at night and distance, and not to mention you last twice as long. That's without being a Jedi, with the force making you more aware in combat and training from the Jedi to be more observant and political, not to mention the strongest of force users can survive longer than the normal species of their race. A Jedi Gaian is a wild card, and since your one of the two only Gaian that are Jedi."
"Zack!" Cloud stood up so fast that the table flipped on Dooku, luckily the master used the force to put everything back into place, "I got to go warn him." Cloud said in worry for his brother. Dooku stood up and got in cloud's way, "You can't all you would do is put him in more danger, the only way you can help your brother, is from interfering with Sidious's plans. Your brother has morned your death it has been a month since you were last awake. The Jedi moved on, and so did your brother." Dooku didn't know if they moved on or not but now was his chance to convince Cloud to be his secret apprentice, and eventually use him to over through Sidious.
Cloud felt a wave hit him, he didn't know what happened but suddenly, tears filled his eyes. "No, Zack, Obi-Wan, Shaak-TI, I'm not dead." Cloud felt hurt how Cloud they moved on so quickly, he was their brother and dear friend. Shouldn't there be a bond that will let them know he's alive. Cloud cried silently not sure on how he should react to the fact his brother doesn't know he is alive anymore. Out of everything in his life, Zack was with him from the beginning, now 38 years later Zack doesn't know Cloud's alive.
Dooku since the emotions in Cloud and preyed on the vulnerable Gaian. "Sidious soon plans to kill them to, and no one can stop him. No one but a certain person who is out of the Sith's galactic equation." Cloud turned to face Dooku, the adolescence Gaian's face saying it all, what should I do. Dooku smirked mentally, "If only I can have a secret apprentice to send out to meddle and sabotage his plans, someone who he considered a threat."
Cloud listened to the old human's words, putting aside the emotions that told him to kill Dooku, and the emotions that wanted to cry at being forgotten. Cloud kneeled to the Dark lord, suddenly he felt nothing but pure anger at the Sith, "What must I do, my master." Cloud rage boiled beneath his skin, and Dooku could feel it, so the new Sith was taking caution. "What must I do to kill Sidious?" The moment the name came out of Cloud's throat he wanted to rip his own tongue out. That sick twisted bastard took everything from him. Cloud realized it is not Dooku's fault but Sidious, Sidious is going to try and kill his brother and friends, Sidious is the one that made his master leave the Jedi order, and Sidious is the reason why Cloud is dead. Cloud now had a goal in his life, all he wants to do now is kill Sidious.
"First I must train you in the dark side, the best way to defend against fire, is learning fire's weakness and strength. Cloud didn't care right now he was releasing the emotions that he held back as a Jedi, the betrayal of Dooku, being held back by the Jedi, loosing constantly to Obi-Wan, and all the whispers that he ignored whenever he walked passed fellow Jedi, and now the new hatred knowing half of his grief was the cause of one man.
"For the next few years I will drill into you the Sith code and Sith training. But a word of caution, this will be more difficult and painful than anything you every tried." Dooku said but soon smirk watching how his apprentice merely smiled, "It better be hard cause if I can still move, I will hunt down Sidious before were done."
Because I'm lazy I'm going to do a time skip of 2 years…..quit bitching you find out about his training little by little when flashbacks will appear through out the story. Any way's Two years later a little before episode 2
A large Private Ship was slowly making its way through the Tatoo system, The ship seems to be larger than the consular class ship's but the odd feature on the ship was that it's weapons were far too heavy for a simple civilian ship. The ship was shaped like a giant T, and down in the main hall, you can notice that the 200 yard hall was several doors leading to a medical room, barracks, storage, life support, restrooms, captain's quarters and the other important parts to the ship. Marching up and down the halls were many confederate droids doing their business of maintaining the ship and monitoring the auto turrets, and Cannons. Overall the inside looked like military regulations except for the Luxurious bedrooms and the living room that worked as the CIC. The cockpit of the ship was being handled by other confederate droid, and two Astromech currently recharging. It seemed that the ship had nothing but droids.
One particular droid, a server droid, made its way to one of the doors which happened to be a meditation room. The droid held a platter that had a small silver dome concealing its contents from view, as it knocked then entered the room. The mediation room only had a table of to the side that was nailed down to the floor; the room was also dark unlike the rest of the ship. The droid made its way to the table and placed the platter right next to build in holo-terminal, which had a hooded figure staring intensely towards the center of the room where the only organic life form on the ship was meditating.
The figure in the middle wore black and silver robes, and has Spiky blonde hair, "Peace is a lie," the blonde spoke, The droid made its way out as it didn't want to disrupt her master's training. "There is only passion," The figure muttered again as there was a tension in the air around him. "Through passion I gain strength." Static electricity was becoming visible around the young man. "Through strength I gain power," The air around smelled like ozone as the static electricity grew into a constant current. "Through power I gain victory," the table started to shutter as if it was afraid. "Through victory my Chains are broken," The figure slowly lifted his head from its bowed position to where it angled directly to the figure on the holo-terminal. The Man opened his eyes to reveal sulfur yellow eyes, and then the electricity stopped, and the room was dead silent, as if he were in the vacuum of space. The Man whispered softly, "The force shall free me." Even though he said the words quietly they sounded as if they came from all directions of the ship. The man looked at his master awaiting his next order. "Good, Fenrir, you seem to have complete mastery of using your emotions. It will come as use in the battlefield."
The man, known as Fenrir waited nothing the yellow eyes still glowing. "I taught you, you learned, there is nothing I can do to help you grow. Your time of training is done; it is now time for you to reveal your existence. Go to the planet of Tatooine, go to the cantina and meet up with one of my contacts."
Fenrir nodded and the holo-terminal faded away, shortly after another image but this one coming from the Holocron that seemed to appear on the table. The image was that of a cryptic woman, "You done well apprentice, Darth Tyranus is as ignorant as ever." The old woman said.
The man known as Fenrir released a breath and blinked his eye's where now blue and he took a relaxed stance. "It's not that hard to fool the old man, just dip yourself in the dark side long enough to become his emotionless killer." The Blonde spoke, his tone a lot more energetic than his dark tone he used to recite the Sith code.
The Hologram shook her head, "Careful, the dark side is addicting and can hold you in longer than you want Cloud." Cloud smirked, "I know that's why I have you teaching me to keep balance with the light and dark side of the force, Kreia." Cloud walked up to the table and took the dome of the platter to reveal Leviathan soup, another but rare Gaian food, for Leviathans are hard to hunt down and are even harder to kill.
"Be careful on your mission, Dooku is using you. Remember to make sure you can benefit from this." Kreia warned. "Oh relaxed you trained me for two years, I know what to do; besides Reaper will be with me." Rave was one of the HKB-3 droids Cloud used to have, Cloud used to have five but with the resources he had through his "Master" he manage to make a new model which cloud called the GHK-1, Gaia's hunter killer. It was as fast as Cloud was and probably even stronger, it has magnetic feet, sound silencers, and a cloaking device that lasted 10 minutes, and not to mention the fact it had its own personality and was smart enough to beat Cloud in a game of galactic chess. Cloud called the droid Reaper, as its nickname.
"Another thing, you need more companions, having a droid as your only friend isn't mentally healthy."
"Weren't you the one that said allies won't always be there in battle that I need to make up for my own weakness." Cloud said between mouthfuls.
"Yes, but only a full plans to overcome the Sith empire without allies."
Cloud continued his meal accepting and agreeing with his master. Even though Reaper was a damn good droid that was probably one of the best shot's out there, it wouldn't hurt to have a few more commando's under his command, the confederate droids that he personalized aren't good enough to help much, Sure they only listen to him and are easily distinguishable from the other confederate droids thanks to their sliver and black paint jobs. That's right Cloud was in charge of his own giant ship that housed 35 confederate droids under his command only.
Cloud pressed a button under the table, "Spark set a course to Tatooine." The droid stopped charging itself in the cockpit and made a route for the pilot droids to follow, then quickly went back to charging after giving a few beeps to let Cloud know there on route. Cloud walked out of the meditation room where Reaper stood in front of him. Reaper looked like a humanoid droid, his paint job was jet-black and he had silver streaks going down his arms and legs. The droids eyes where glowing red, "Master, shall we wait inside the drop pod or the shuttle." The droid asked the cargo hold which the two were walking to have been remodeled to hold a small intercepting ship, similar to a republic interceptor, a shuttle and had 50 pods that can hold up to 32 people or 5 compacted droids, to be dropped from orbit and land safely and quickly on and planet's surface.
"As much as I like going into the drop pods and being launched at the planet's surface at 600 m/s I think a shuttle ride will be more appropriate for this mission."
"So who cares if a few civilians shit themselves from being near the crash site, the ride will be so much faster, and we might get a chance to "accidently squish a few of those meat bags." Cloud ignored the Droids complaint, he thought of changing the droids personality, but Reaper was a special droid to him, even if the constant reference to other organics as meat bags does get annoying a bit.
The Shuttle had room for 10 people and was auto piloted by a program similar to droids, meaning it was self-aware and can do anything a normal pilot can do. After reaching Tatooine's orbit the shuttle descended to the surface, landing at one if it's many settlements. When the shuttle landed, Cloud took the time to switch from his Jedi robes to a casual smuggler garb with a blaster pistol on his hip. Reaper was the same only with a blaster rifle on the small of his back, and a sniper over his shoulder, the droid also had two blaster pistols on his hips and a vibro- dagger magnetically attached to his chest. Basically Reaper looked like a custom war droid, and would no doubt be recognizable.
"Reaper follow me down the streets but don't let anyone see you, and if anyone seems to bother me wait for my signal then you can shoot them." Cloud started to walk ahead as Reaper activated his cloaking device.
Cloud noticed that not many people pay attention to a simple smuggler, in Mos Espa. After walking around Cloud decided the best way to find the informant he should go to the cantina. 'At least finding this contact will be easier than finding that one Kaleesh, grievous. Cloud remembered having to board the ship Martyr, and sabotage the ship so The Kaleesh warlord would be the only survivor, his timing was a little late but nothing a quick Sith force trick to stun the heart and a bunch of medical droids can do. A few weeks later Dooku started to fix up the fallen warlord into a cyborg and in return for giving Dooku a new acolyte Clod got more funding which he used to make Reaper.
Cloud eventually stopped outside the cantina and took a quick glance around, noticing Reaper with his cloak off on top of a building a few hundred yards away. Reaper made a reflection symbol, letting Cloud know that the droid was covering his position via sniper. Cloud nodded to Reaper's direction and walked into the cantina. The cantina was full of smoke and the smell of hard liquor. Cloud noticed a few humans in the back tables along with a few other species, one even being Gaian. Normally you couldn't tell the difference between human and Gaian but the fact that this "human was arm wrestling against a Wookie and doesn't even look tired while the Wookie kept trying it's hardest to win.
"Hurry up Barret, stop humiliating the Wookie." Some human said. The man named Barret shrugged and easily forced the Wookie down, earning a cheer of whoops and cries celebrating the Gaian's win while the Wookie stormed of in anger. Cloud took a look at Barret, noticing the man was probably in his 60's by how young he looked, and was big; he looked to be 6 foot 7 and was just as dark as the Wookie's fur. The man also was ripped to the core.
Cloud felt a mind trick trying to work on him, but instead of playing dumb, the Young Sith turned and saw a Chiss Woman 'Wait a minute, that's Sev'rance Tann." Sev'rance Tann was one of Dooku's acolytes and was a commander of the confederate droid army, a little surprise for Cloud since Dooku never used someone from the Sith or confederacy to be a contact, she must have Dooku's trust. Cloud walked up to her and secretly admired her beauty, her flawless blue skin and perfect black hair, and even the red eye's that had the same shade of his saber. What Cloud is not racist, he can like other species, plus he never was allowed to appreciate a woman's appearance before, so in his mind why not do it.
"So your agent 626, surprised you managed to resist the mind trick, just thought you were the wrong smuggler, since you look to young to be 40." Cloud sat across from her, "I'm a Gaian I get that a lot," Cloud guess Dooku didn't give away the Sith's cover but merely gave him a cover up name and background. Agent 626 smuggler for the confederacy, Cloud now appreciated the blaster training he received from his master, seems Kreia knows what she is doing.
"I bet you do, anyways I got something for you a gift for your services to my master." The Chiss reached into a bag she had next to her. Cloud never received a gift from his "Master" before so maybe that explains what an acolyte is doing here. "Here handsome," The Chiss winked as she gave him, a data pad, "That's the paper's you'll need to claim owner ship of the dwarf planet Xeon, it was recently discovered with in the Tatoo system and Guess who bought you a new strong hold."
Cloud smirked, so he no longer has to be confined to a ship, he can now build and store stuff on his own little planet, the force truly was in his favor, that or some dude with a computer decided to add in more original content to this galaxy, but the force seems more likely. "Send the Count my regards, and anytime he needs an extra blaster." The Chiss Stood up and left the room without another word, Cloud stayed seated, 'So now I have my own ship, a small army and a stronghold. I wonder if I can get more droids under my control, and or gain the loyalty to a mercenary group.' Cloud was trying to think up his next move until he heard a commotion; it seems some masked bounty hunter working for the local Hutt is trying to harass the dark skinned Gaian.
"Rufus the greedy wants you dead for stealing his merchandise." The bounty hunter than raised his blaster at the Gaian's head but when he pulled the trigger, the Gaian flipped the table tearing it from the Ground and blocked the bolt with the table. The bounty hunter was stunned with shock for a second, and it was enough for the Gaian to punch the masked man so hard that not only was there a sickening crack as the mask broke and probably the man's nose, but the fact that the bounty hunter flew like he was pushed by the force, is what got Cloud's attention.
"Tell that useless Hutt to cut down on the spice, cause Avalanche takes what we want, when we want it." Two humans and three Twi'leks and one Rodian stood up behind the Gaian all having there blaster's pointed at the bounty hunter. The bounty hunter immediately ran off a trail of blood following him. "Punk ass, Hutt thinks he can threaten me and Avalanche, bastard must be higher than a mother fucker." Barret said. "No body messes with Barret and his band of pirates." The small gang of people soon went back to their drinks at the bar since the table they occupied is now broken.
Cloud walked out of the cantina and made his way back to Reaper, A plan forming in his mind, this Barret, has caught his attention. 'With that man on my team he could be a valuable member.'
