Galactic Republic HoloNet News Bulletin: 2,088th Supreme Chancellor Bail Organa holds emergency senate meeting to address 'Ghost Nebula Crisis'
Only a week after Bail Organa had been signed into the office of Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, the Galactic Senate Building was in chaos. Politicians were in uproar over the callous betrayal of the Umbaran government, who had allowed General Grievous' fleet to bypass the Fourth Sector Army and attack Umbara's garrison directly.
An official statement came via holoprojection from the now ex-Senator of Umbara. "We the people of Umbara blame the negligence of the Galactic Republic for the death of the beloved Lady Moore. How can the Republic be expected to protect Umbara if the government cannot even protect one of our own from the safety of Coruscant? We hereby expel the Republic's weakness, and its ineffectual totalitarian garrison on our planet!"
"How dare he!" yelled the fat senator of Ryloth, Orn Free Taa. Thus, inciting a tidal wave of commotion within the Senate Halls. Questions of safety, demands for immediate justice, even a few senators began publicly reassessing their own loyalties to the Republic. This of course, only helped to turn the prestigious halls into a savage frenzy.
"My friends, please, calm yourselves!" insisted the Supreme Chancellor to a choir of those who would sooner ignore the words of the Alderaanian man. Organa turned to his Vice Chairperson for assistance, and with a nod of acknowledgment, Sweitt Concorkill let out a mighty Vurk roar that echoed through the chamber.
"WE WILL HAVE ORDER!" bellowed Concorkill. Few senators were used to the alien call to silence. But it was nonetheless effective, as whether out of respect, fear or simply shock, the Senate Building became silent. Sweitt folded his hands beneath his senatorial cloak with a pleased look on his face as he turned to face his Chancellor.
"Ahem, thank you my friend" Bail tried to stop himself from expressing his own amusement, it would not be a good look for the Chancellor's first crisis.
"My friends! Delegates of a thousand worlds! I speak to you as not just a Supreme Chancellor, but as a steadfast patriot of our beloved government! The Republic is only as strong as those who stand together to form it. We shall not give way to despair over this debasement of honour. This is just another example of the zealotry of the terrorist Grievous, who I will not grant the respect of referring to him by a title he does not deserve! He wants to strike fear into your hearts, but it will not work! The Galactic Republic has stood for a millennium and more. Our brave people, from all corners of the Galaxy has proven their mettle a thousand times over! Where were our forefathers and foremothers during the Butchery of the Eternal Empire? Or during the Seven Battles of Ruusaan? We will not surrender to terror, and we shall reclaim the Ghost Nebula in the name of those who were not given the chance to decide if they wanted to be citizens of their homeland, or servants of the Separatist Alliance."
The senate applauded their new Supreme Chancellor. Bail Organa had averted a potential mass schism. But in truth, his patriotic claptrap was just as much an attempt to comfort himself, as it was the other politicians. He did worry for the security of the Republic. How many other worlds could be swayed by Count Dooku into allowed the Separatists into Republic controlled space sectors? As much as he wanted to see an end for the Clone Wars, and the eventual decommission of the Clone Army, he was glad the Republic had them, they needed them now more than ever.
Traditionally, the Fourth Sector Army answered to Jedi High General Ki-Adi Mundi and the 21st Nova Corp. But with General Grievous' infiltration, the clone trooper corps was forced to spread itself too thin, fighting on several fronts, from Balmorra to Zeltros. Therefore, General Obi-Wan Kenobi and the 212th Attack Battalion have been called away from the Outer Rim Sieges so that they may link up with a detachment of the Fourth Sector Naval force amassing above Umbara.
Aboard the Venator Star Destroyer known as the Negotiator, Obi-Wan watched the planet Umbara reveal itself from behind the planet's outmost moon, where the Fourth Sector Fleet was now in sight. The Jedi Master did not relish the thought that General Mundi's army was so preoccupied that they had to pull Obi-Wan away from the Outer Rim. It was not long ago that he was forced to stamp out Separatist forces on Saleucamai and Skye. He could only imagine that with his absence, both of those worlds could fall under Dooku's thrall.
Docking the Negotiator with to the Secutor-class flagship known as the Virdugo Plunge, Obi-Wan boarded the command bridge of the Secutor Star Destroyer. There, staring out of the central blast-window, Obi-Wan was shocked to recognise the Fourth Sector Admiral he had been assigned to. He was older than when the Jedi last met him, but there was no mistaking his old ally.
"Is this Admiral Quarsh Panaka I have the pleasure of addressing?" coyly asked Obi-Wan. He had not seen the old Captain of the Naboo Royal Guard since the conclusion of the Naboo Crisis nearly 11 years ago. He had heard from Padmé that Panaka had retired from the Royal Guardsmen, but Obi-Wan has no idea that he had been recruited by the Grand Navy of the Republic. Though the name of Panaka's Secutor should have given it away to Obi-Wan. The 'Virdugo Plunge'. The mighty waterfall that cut through the Naboo capital city of Theed. Obi-Wan remembered that the Naboo Representative Jar Jar Binks had nearly fallen to his death when he attempted to help both Obi-Wan and his master Qui-Gon Jinn sneak into Theed during the Trade Federation's hostile takeover of the capital.
"General Kenobi" the Admiral said as he saluted the arrival of the Council Member.
Kenobi bowed before his old ally "it is good to see you, my old friend" the Jedi smiled; he was glad to see Panaka had decided to join the Republic Navy. His dedication to his queen was a rare sight amongst the traditional glory-hogging Admiral of the Republic. Obi-Wan speculated that had they met, Panaka and Yularen would have gotten along famously.
Panaka's formality broke with the faintest twinkle in his eye before he startled the old master with a hug, much to the shock of his clone deck officers. "Sorry" Panaka relinquished Obi-Wan from his grasp "you don't see many familiar faces this far out- well, not unless they're clone troopers."
"That's fine Admiral."
"And how is Little Ani?" asked the Admiral "Not so little anymore, I imagine."
Obi-Wan held back his laughter at the reminder of Anakin's old nickname "he is well, Admiral, though the death of Chancellor Palpatine was quite a shock to him, he was a close friend of his."
"I understand, his death shocked the entire Galaxy" said Panaka "I hear they'll be holding a state funeral in Naboo's Lake Country, House Palpatine's ancestral home."
"I'm glad that Queen Neeyutnee plans to honour him, I was never at liberty to discuss his home planet, but I know that Palpatine loved Naboo."
"That he did" agreed Panaka with a solemn smile "but enough reminiscing, we have a planet to retake."
"Indeed we do, how exactly are we planning to make our approach to Umbara's upper atmosphere?" asked Obi-Wan.
"Our plan is to navigate our fleet through the wreckage of General Pablo-Jill's cruiser, the scattered electronics and doonium scrap will help shield our ships from Separatist detection until we're right on top of them."
"A bold plan, Admiral" said Obi-Wan "space debris is not exactly easy to navigate, much less for our cruisers."
"I understand your concern Kenobi, but I've sent several scout ships up ahead to map out several viable routes, I can assure you, the fleet will make it with minimal damage at worst."
"Very well, Admiral, you may proceed." Despite Obi-Wan's acceptance of Panaka's plan to use the wreckage as camouflage, the Jedi Master stroked his beard to hide a hint of nervousness. Panaka had earned Obi-Wan's trust during the Naboo Crisis, but without friction or gravity, space debris could be altered by the slightest tremor caused by the thrusters of a mere interceptor. He wondered how viable Panaka's route would remain when a fleet of Star Destroyers began traversing the starship graveyard.
The Republic fleet made its approach to the planet Umbara, keeping a long-ranged proximity scanner running for when the Separatist warships undoubtably jump them. The Virdugo Plunge was the first to begin crossing into the debris left behind from General Pablo-Jill's destroyed Venator cruiser.
"Um, sir, our scanners are detecting something strange amassed within the debris" reported one of the clone deck officers
"Strange how?" asked Admiral Panaka as he attempted to pick out from the debris what the scanner was seeing with his naked eye.
"It seems like something organic, I dunno, perhaps the instruments are suffering a hardware glitch" guessed the officer.
But the cause of the perplexing readouts became obvious to the crew when a splodge of crimson liquid smears itself on the bridge's windows. "What was that?" asked Panaka. But the question was answered almost immediately when the red cleared and all present on the bridge were treated to the sight of thousands of floating corpses in their path. The crew of Pablo-Jill's Venator, his marines, deck officers, all of them floating in the vacuum of space. The bodies could not have been the remnants of the destroyed ship. No. General Grievous had jettisoned whatever prisoners he took as a gruesome warning to any Republic force that tried to reclaim Umbara.
Admiral Panaka held his hand over his mouth in horror "by the queen" he said under breath. Even Obi-Wan, who had witnessed Grievous' brutality a hundred times over throughout the Clone Wars, had to momentarily avert his eyes from the unwarranted carnage of the cyborg general's horrific message. The crew of the Virdugo Plunge were so distracted by this depraved display of a massacre, that no one noticed the vulture droid deployment station camouflaged amongst the space debris. As soon as the cruiser's scanner were finally able to detect the Separatist transponders amongst the interference, a squad of vulture droid starfighters were already swooping up the bow of the cruiser in attack position.
It had been several months since the machinations of Jedi Knights Anakin Skywalker and Halagad Ventor forced ex-Magistrate Zeta Magnus to flee the planet of Skye. After a failed gambit with the Sith Lord Darth Sidious to capture Anakin Skywalker in exchange to the secret to keeping his genetically altered body from dying. With his laboratory on Skye all but destroyed, the once renowned and feared genetics terrorist has now been forced to make refuge aboard his mobile command cruiser known as Annihilator. The galactic terrorist who once crippled the Republic's Katana Fleet with a mere virus, now a wandering vagabond. An embarrassment the cloner did not take likely. But fortune found him in the form of the forsaken planet Lotho Minor, a dusty junkyard planet the Annihilator was currently orbiting.
Rumour had begun to circulate through the Galaxy about a mysterious horned monstrosity that wanders the great trash mountains of Lotho Minor. While Zeta Magnus was not one to give much interest to local myths, he did have a keen interest in zoological findings, especially in researching species that have earned the moniker of 'monster'. In the case of this horned beast from Lotho Minor, if it exists, Zeta Magnus would love to dissect the creature and uncover its genetic makeup. With the death of Lord Sidious ending with fealty to the Sith Order, he was free to do as he pleased.
"Blue-Four, do we have a landing zone?" asked the armoured scientist to his Tactical Droid assistant.
"Yes Magister Magnus" spoke the droid in a purposefully monotoned voice. The droid still referred to its master as 'Magister', despite the title being robbed from him by the Jedi. "The local myth puts the entity on the south-eastern axis of Lotho Minor's equator."
Magnus nodded "inform the S'kytri, the hunt begins" he said with a cackle.
Boarding his personal attack shuttle, the Skyriver Invader, with six S'kytri warriors from the Outland Clans of Skye, Zeta Magnus landed on the grimy surface of the planet. A thick dust cloud immediately began hammering at Zeta's armoured body, made up of substances the geneticist did not dare guess. The S'kytri unfolded their wings and immediately began circumnavigating the area, looking for prey. Meanwhile, Zeta Magnus approached what appeared to be a small but built into the side of a mountainous trash heap "where are you hiding me horned friend? What secrets do you hold?"
As his S'kytri warriors continued to fly above the planet, Zeta Magnus examined the nearby hut, perhaps a local would be able to paint a clearer picture of where this horned creature dwelled. Entering the residence, Zeta was disappointed to see that building looked abandon, it had not been lived in for years. The rust-coloured grime that made up Lotho Minor's acidic excuse for soil had seeped into the metal floor of the hut, leaving what appeared to be a set of footprints entering the building, but not leaving it. With his curiosity now peaked, the cloner knelt down to examine them. They appeared to be that of a typical humanoid creature, but what perplexed Zeta, was that the building was too small for anyone to be hiding, and yet, the footprints did not lead out of the hut, they simply stopped.
Little did the ex-Magister of Skye know, the snake-like form of Morley was slinking his way through the ceiling of the hut, slithering through the rebar wires that sewed the building together. Without warning, the stalking Anacondan wrapped his tail around a lever that activated a trap door beneath his feet, causing the geneticist to crash into the junk catacombs below. Grabbing his communicator, he tried to contact his warriors, but the signal was dead, too much damaged electronics in the trash heap made it impossible to carry a signal. "Hnh, irritants, filthy vermin, but a clever one, I will reward that kind of brain with a neat dissection with my axe" he declared to himself. With nothing left to do, Zeta Magnus began traversing the catacombs, searching for either a way out, or his quarry.
There was little light to guide his way through the elaborate cave system. Unfortunately, the Arkanian scientists responsible for Zeta Magnus' birth did not see fit to grant him the genetic makeup of a creature that could see through such darkness. The geneticist did come prepared however, unsheathing his stout vibro-axe, Zeta coated the blade head with finely powdered kyber crystals from a compartment within his belt. The dust was not made using real kyber crystals -as the regions where one would find such a rare mineral were closely guarded by the Jedi—instead he utilised lab-grown synthetic kyber crystals.
Once he had coated his vibro-axe with the crystal dust, Zeta activated the blade. An electrical field began rapidly heating the blade, causing it to buzz like all vibro-weapons did. But with the dust coated on the blade, the vibro-axe began glowing a deep red light, thanks the blade energising the properties of the synthetic kyber.
Zeta continued on through the tunnels, knowing full well that while he has granted himself the ability to see once more, other creatures dwelling in the catacombs will be drawn to him. True enough, as he ventured deeper into the cave, Zeta Magnus was being stalked. Moving like a spider watching its prey, the demented Dathomirian Zabrak once known as Maul was looming over Zeta.
Wandering deeper into the catacombs it became clear to Zeta Magnus that he alone would not be able to find an exit, he would require sensory antennas, or perhaps a hound nostril, he made a note of that for later. The geneticist did however have the sensory glands of a dianoga fixed into his body, and he detected that he was being followed, it was him, the horned creature, within his helmet, Magnus smiled. Zeta Magnus span around and faced the creature with his duel axes ready at hand and he immediately tried to strike as the stalking entity.
Maul's reactions were quick, and he lurched backwards, his surprisingly large body moving quickly away from the weapon. He let out an insane laughter as he retreated to the main part of his cave, where there was a dimly lit fire. The light from the fire illuminated his face, revealing the full extent of his madness and ruined body. All the while, Maul kept his eyes on the being, but he was also muttering to himself about Kenobi and the Sith code.
"MAGNIFICENT!" Roared Magnus as the spider legged creature climbed over him. The geneticist began running after him with great haste, all the while hearing all too familiar chant of the Sith Code. Zeta Magnus slowed down, he was not aware that the creature was sentient, not that it had any inkling of the Sith Order, Magnus was even more curious than before.
Maul paced back and forth, his mind racing as he tried to make sense of the situation. He had been so close to finally having a meal, and now it had been taken away from him. The maddened Zabrak had though Morley lured another one of those armoured Junker tribalists from the surface down to his lair. But no Junker was so quick and so well armed. He didn't understand why the being would try to give chase when it could try and flee, but Zeta did not retreat. Scared by the lack of cowardness, Maul concluded that this being must think there is a meal to to be had. He shook his head and mumbled to himself, unable to make sense of the situation. Maul moved around, using his unique legs to crawl up the side of walls to evade the geneticist's approach.
"Peace is a lie, passion- my passion- k-kill Kenobi… My rage, give me strength, m-my hate- I HATE HIM! Rage give power and power lets hurt him!" Words such as these echoed throughout the catacombs.
Despite Maul's attempted evasion of his quarry, Zeta Magnus had caught his sent using the Rakghoul nose he had genetically built into his face by his creators. Years of living in a trash heap made Maul especially pungent, all the better to track him down like a blood hound.
When the echo of the creature cursing out the name of Kenobi, Zeta was in disbelief, surely this creature did not mean Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Master of Skywalker, the one who chased him off Skye. "CREATURE! Do you speak of the Jedi? Of Obi-Wan? What do you know of him?"
As Maul heard the being say Kenobi's name, it sent him into a frenzy of mutterings and anger. "Jedi… Jedi! He took everything from me! I- I must have revenge!" he cried out, his voice filled with rage.
With Maul exchanging in dialogue with Zeta, the former apprentice of Darth Sidious finally stopped evading the geneticist and approached him from the shadows. The two had reached some form of den within the catacombs, a rudimentary fireplace laid unlit at the centre.
Maul began to move around the cave, destroying some of the trash and debris that littered the den. "It's been so many years… so long yet he still haunts me on that planet of green and blue with those DISGUSTING fish people… the planet where my master abandoned me to rot!" Maul roared, his anger and hatred for Obi-Wan Kenobi consuming him.
Zeta Magnus sheathed one of his axes, but kept his second on hand as he slowly approached the creature "Cleary I was misinformed, you are no mindless creature, aren't you?" Zeta kneeled by the fireplace that divided himself from his quarry "who are you that has been wronged by the Jedi?"
Maul leaned towards the fireplace and huddled by it as if it were lit. There was no doubt in Zeta Magnus' mind that this creature was clearly deranged, but there was a semblance of a truly fascinating man hidden within this tortured soul.
"Always remember, I am fear. Always remember, I am the hunter. Always remember, I am filth... Always remember, I am nothing!" Maul moaned out, grabbing his head in pain. The years on Lotho Minor had taken a toll on him, both physically and mentally. He had been reduced to nothing more than a crazed, wild animal, surviving on the fringes of society.
"Years, and years, and years... my chains are broken, the chains... the chains are the easy part. It's what goes on in here that's hard..." Maul muttered to himself as he tapped the side of his head. He knew that he was not the same person he used to be, and that he had been changed by the years of isolation and starvation.
He span around and glared at the being with insane eyes, Maul's mind was consumed by thoughts of revenge. "To the filth, to the grief... Jedi! Revenge. I must have revenge... For how he cut me down, all those years ago on Naboo," he said, his voice filled with anger and hatred.
Zeta Magnus' eyes go wide as the light illuminates the creatures form, there was no mistaking the monster before him was Lord Sidious' former apprentice. "By the Six Sisters! It's you! The lost one, Darth Maul."
Zeta wanted so badly to know how the Sith Assassin had survived, yet alone managed to find his way to Lotho Minor, but even a neophyte could see that the Zabrak was ill equipped to do anything but scream and mutter in his own filth. The Geneticist held out his hand as if to touch Maul, only for a non-lethal saberdart to be launched from his gauntlet and into Maul's neck, rendering the Sith unconscious. Zeta Magnus counted his blessings that Maul was barely lucid enough to converse with him, let alone react to the saberdart until it was firmly in the Zabrak's neck.
Ecstasy rattled through Zeta's head. He had found something insurmountably more special than some mere creature on a backwater planet. Ideas about what the geneticist could do with this abandoned Sith Lord tantalised Zeta, the possibilities were nearly endless. However, before he could act upon any one of these twisted fantasies, the mad cloner needed to find his way out of the catacombs.
"Master?" a squeaky voice yelled from across the other side of the alcove "Morley is ready for his leftovers!"
The weaselly Anacondan that had trapped Zeta Magnus emerged from a narrow pipe protruding from the scrap-pilled walls. Morley was expecting to find the disembowelled carcase of the armoured alien he had dumped in the catacombs, with his Zabrak master leaving spare chunks of meat as a reward for the serpent luring his meal here. He did not expect to lock eyes with the very much alive armoured alien standing triumphantly over his unconscious master.
"Uh oh" Morley said before trying to race back up into the pipe. But Zeta Magnus' enhanced reflexes allowed him to grab the wiggling tail of his trapper and pulled Morley from the pipe and on to the grimy floor.
"Hello, my friend" greeted Zeta as he stepped on Morley's neck "I seem to have lost my way, could you per chance help me find my way?" As he spoke, the geneticist pressed his boot hard on Morley's neck, causing the snake-like alien to choke and gag for air.
"Puh- please! S- s- spare Morley!" pleaded the squirming Anacondan "know the way out! Wuh- will help you, Morley promises!"
Satisfied with the response, Zeta Magnus released his foot from Morley's throat and hauled Maul's unconscious body over his shoulder. "Lead on my fine gentlebeing, and for both our sakes, don't try to run, my armour is dirty enough from his accursed planet."
Morley winced at the threat and nodded nervously as he began to guide his new master through the winding tunnels of junk. All the while, Zeta Magnus' mind is fixed on how dramatically the Galaxy will be changed thanks to his discovery, he will not soon be cast aside by the annals of history. No, his place in the future of Galactic affairs was all but assured now.