Shadow of the Jedi

This is just a filler chapter, cause I had nothing better to do, and that's why its short.

Also, a shout out to Callista 101 for being my hundredth reviewer. CONGRATULATIONS!

Chapter 12: The Reality of War

Jedi Master Fay, General of the Grand Army of the Republic, sighed, pushing aside a datapad of the civilian casualty figures from what was being called the Battle of Atraken. A group of Separatist extremists had refused to turn over the mines of the world and the Republic's Operation Katabatic was failing miserably. Over ninety percent of the civilians on the world were dead and the bio-weapon the Separatists had unleashed was having an equally devastating effect on the Republic ground forces on the planet.

Right now Fay, Nico and Aayla Secura were in a private chamber on a Republic Cruiser surrounding a holoprojector, where the holo of Grandmaster Yoda was standing

"Is there nothing we can do…?" Fay asked the Grandmaster of the Jedi order.

Yoda shook his head sadly, his ears drooping slightly as the weight of the deaths on Atraken weighed down on his tiny shoulders.

"Quarantined, the world will be, blockade you must enforce. Isolated this bio-weapon must remain…" Yoda's eyes were dull with pain, grief over the loss of over nine hundred thousand civilians, he then glanced at Nico, "Rendezvous with Master Kenobi on Mandalore, you will young Di Angelo, escort Duchess Satine to Coruscant, you must." That being said the blue hologram flickered before dying, leaving the room, Fay stood shrouded in darkness as the room's lighting adjusted, giving a better look at the rooms occupants.

Jedi Master Fay was clad in white and brown robes. Her species is unknown but people do describe her as a 'near-human' because of her pixie-like features. Her hair was a golden blonde and her eyes were almost impossibly blue. Cherub-like features mixed with angular yet soft beauty accentuated the woman's face. When Nico had first met her he was struck speechless for a moment by her beauty. Apparently, her Force connection is so strong that she doesn't even carry a lightsaber with her for defensive purposes.

Nico's features were grim, though a flicker of irritation burned in his near-black eyes as he uncrossed his arms from across his chest on his hips as he began pacing back and forth, gaining the attention of the other two Jedi in the room.

"We've denied the Separatists the resources of Atraken, and we've swayed sympathies in our favour." The two female Jedi glanced at each other, wondering where the Ghost King was going with this. "It is a harsh thing to say… but this can be used to our advantage. We can use this incident to gain support against the Separatists, perhaps even sew the seed of doubt in the minds of their people and leaders. Nearly one million people died down there because of a bio-weapon the Separatists created and unleashed. The simple fact that they have such weapons can be used to galvanize the Republic into action, into spending more on a defensive and offensive Starfleet and even recruiting soldiers. I don't like the idea of using Clones in a war for any extended period of time. Don't get me wrong, the Clones are great warriors, and are incredibly loyal, but not to us, they are loyal to the Supreme Chancellor or whoever acts as the voice of the Senate. That can become a very big problem, if we don't have non-Clone soldiers working alongside us." Nico finished.

It had been a month since the debacle with the Geonosian parasites and after that month Nico had recently turned sixteen, as soon as Ahsoka fell asleep Nico had been reassigned to the Atraken system, where he had been thinking about the video footage that he had found out, where the Clones were apparently being taught on how to take down Jedi, he had decided to keep this information to himself until he finds more solid evidence.

Fay stared at Nico with a frown, a flicker of nausea in her slightly less bright blue eyes, as he stared at the blank holoprojector. Aayla Secura stood stiffly at the end of the room, beside the doorway, her lips turned into a frown as her hazel eyes stared at Nico in uncertainty.

Fay opened her mouth to respond, but it came out less-confidant than she thought it would, "Y-you want to use th-the murder of those people down there as propaganda?" The Jedi Master questioned, horrified by the very thought. "We should leave them in peace. They've suffered enough, Nico… W-we can't ask the survivors t-to speak out against what was done to them, we don't have the right!"

Nico's features remained thoughtful, a complete and total separation from the victims apparent as he responded to Fay's horrified statement, his voice sounding almost eager. "This war is unpopular within the Republic. Many want the option of secession to remain in the hands of their world's governments and rightly so. The problem is the corruption of those leaders. The Separatists have been preaching to the Republic eloquent cries of freedom of choice and democracy when they've established nothing more than a militant body of dictators. Their armies are replaceable, merely a set number of credits. The same can be said of the Clone armies the Republic is using. The ones who pay the price for this war, the ones weakened are the Jedi, not the Clones or the droids or the Separatists or the Republic. Their resources, their soldiers are expendable and can be replaced while the Jedi are suffering greatly from the loss of two hundred at the start of the war on Geonosis. How many hours did it take for the droid army on that world to tear apart two hundred lifetimes of training in each of those Jedi as they fell? A mere five years is required to grow, train and equip the Clones while it takes Jedi five times as long and we don't have the luxury of ordering a new batch of Knights to replace the ones we've lost. The only purpose I see in this war, from my perspective, is to weaken the Jedi Order. We've scarcely six-thousand battle-able Jedi to fight this war and only a scarce dozen will be ready within the next five years. All the Sith have to do is wait until the Jedi are killed off by the Separatists to obtain dominance in the Force."

No one wanted to believe Nico's argument, but it was painfully obvious that the Jedi's numbers were lowering more and more throughout this war.

"We cannot rely on the Clones." Nico continues, "Regardless of how able they are, or how available, we cannot trust them, nor the Jedi you fight alongside. Dooku was once a Jedi Master, a member of the High Council. What greater weapon is there than to turn an enemy to your cause? To turn their own knowledge against them? Be wary, or you will share the fate of those on that world. We should use this to spur action within the Republic, to make people want to fight this war. Down there in the corpses of a million innocents is the face of the enemy, down there is the reason they should put aside peace and take up their blades to fight. Peace and justice comes with a price and thus far, the price is being paid in Jedi blood and the blood of innocents. Give the victims a face, give them a voice and use it. Do that, or the deaths of those on this world will remain meaningless."

Fay rose a brow, her expression still pained, though a flicker of respect showed through her pixie-like features. Pressing her lips together slowly, Fay nodded reluctantly to the wisdom of Nico's argument. She could see the wisdom in Nico's words, and she knew that while her heart protested using the deaths of those on the world beneath them, it would serve a greater purpose to make those deaths meaningful. She also knew the Republic would have brushed aside the deaths, afraid they would increase the resistance to the war by depicting the deaths as a result of the Clone and Jedi's intervention. They had to act quickly if they were to turn the public opinion in their favour.

"Nico is right," General Secura started, breaking Fay's train of thought, "Loathe as I am to say this or go along with it. Those deaths will be hidden or used against us unless we take action now. I doubt I would have seen this had he not said what I was afraid to, my thanks, Nico, for your wise words."

The Twi'lek Jedi bowed her head in respect to Nico, her eyes glimmering slightly with tears as she watched the teenage warrior. He wasn't even eighteen years old and he'd already done so much, seen so much and here he would take the moral fallout of the atrocity on the world below them, he would carry the guilt for the Jedi who refused to look past the tragedy to mould it in their favour. A chill passed through the young Twi'lek's spine as she realised that this was not the first time Nico had used such a strategy and she stared at him in mute horror, unable to comprehend the desperation it must have taken to turn to such heartless tactics.

Fay and Aayla stared at Nico silently, their features troubled as they studied the teenage boy before them. While he was not a total slave to the dark side, he wasn't a servant of the light either. He was somewhere in the middle, the compassion and honour of a Jedi, and the ruthless tactics and cunning of a Sith

Nico suddenly flinched and closed his eyes as another one of his random flashbacks came to him. The flashbacks have become less painful since his first one on the Malevolence, Nico had soon realised that the more painful the flashbacks were, the longer they would be, while the shorter ones were less painful.

"You're a monster!"

"Only a son of Hades would come up with a plan like that!"

"You don't belong in this camp, monster!"

The flashback ended abruptly and Nico's eye snapped open and he glared at the deactivated holoprojector, How was that even relevant!?

A wave of darkness settled over the room as Nico turned on his heel and stalked away, leaving Fay and Aayla to stare at his retreating form in shock. The potency of the darkness, the hatred within Nico at that very moment was beyond anything they could understand and neither knew what to do. Fay and Aayla's eyes met, both Jedi looking troubled as they struggled to maintain control. Nico's emotions, his thoughts were chaotic, primal and powerful. When Aayla went up against him as Reaper she had not felt any anger within him, but just this moment she caught a glimpse of his hatred for…someone or more than one person.

"I will send word to the Council of Nico's plan," Fay said slowly, "It will be… difficult to convince them but I see it is necessary if this war is to amount to anything other than the death of the Jedi Order." Fay's words were slow, but sure, steadily growing stronger as she pushed aside her concern for Nico. People died in war, innocents suffered. Theirs were the faces that the galaxy needed to see to remind them of who was paying the price and if the Jedi Order was to survive the Clone Wars, they needed to show that they suffered with those innocents, that they would fight to protect them for as long as it took, until the last of them fell and became one with the Force.

Yes, yes, I know, I said that I wouldn't update on my story for a while, but I was just bored and was taking a break from revision and came up with this. This isn't part of The Clone Wars TV show, its from an old novel that I forgot all about.

I know this is a short chapter but it is after all a filler.

Anyway, the next chapter will involve the Duchess of Mandalore and Nico having a...um...conversation on the war.

Now, onto the reviews...

Airanger78 chapter 11 . Mar 16

Wow I really thought they were gonna be together...I like this story...
Ooh! And Goodluck to your testings!

Yeah, I thought about putting them together, but then again, I'm not one for clichés, that's the one rule I go by, no clichés.

king of nightmares and dragons chapter 11 . Mar 16

nice chapter loved when nico went ghost king and took his rage out on the poggle to get the information he want

Thanks for the compliments, and I had fun writing the part with Poggle.

Lightningscar chapter 11 . Mar 17

Great chapter.
Was very surprised by the fact that Nico's midichloirian count showed zero... would have guessed with his godly parent, the his midichlorian count would be near Anakin's. But that was an interesting twist to say the least. Liked that the Jedi was a bit underhanded... and their reasos for being so. Poor Padawan Medic.
Really loved the fact that you made Ahsoka so realistic and that she wouldn't just abandon what has been taught to her since coming to the Temple. It wouldn't be realistic. Plus, it was a good way to bring up some typical teenage reactions from Nico.
Lol at HK-47... gotta love his way of speaking... plus Nico trying to explain the meaning of the f-word and getting a definition on love. HK's definition definitely made me laugh. Heh, HK seemed almost concerned when telling Nico to go to bed.
BWAHAAHA. Yeah, I can totally see all being alarmed by Nico being respectful towards Anakin... calling him Master Skywalker instead of idiot or Skywalker.
Heh, Poggle was not very lucky. He didn't seem aware of who Nico used to be. And with Nico worrying about Ahsoka, provoking him was definitely not the smartest move. Liked the fact that Nico told the clones to leave them alone and resorted to some less than clean methods.
Liked the scene with Nico talking to Ahsoka in the Medical Bay... but most interesting was the fact that Nico seems to be on the trail of Order 66. Wonder where you will go with that.
Thank you for the read.
Yours sincerely,
Lightningscar
PS: Once again, good luck with your exams. :)

Thanks for the compliments, and yeah Nico is on the trail, this chapter shows that he is suspicious and that he's trying to do something to prevent it.

aoe123 chapter 11 . Mar 21

Good job, vorns gonna die

Maybe, maybe not, you never know.

7 chapter 11 . Mar 21

I like where your going with this story its an interesting twist, though i was wondering why Nico doesn't use his demigod abilities more or more specifically shadow travel just a little more than he has? Good luck with the exams

I think I explained this a few chapters ago when Nico saved the Senators from the Bounty Hunters, his powers revolve around the dark side and if the Jedi see him using powers like raising the dead or controlling shadows they wouldn't exactly except him into the Jedi order.

dddstuff19 chapter 3 . 7h ago

I don't ever expect an answer but is Nico more powerful than Percy or is the simulation weaker then real Percy (Even if Nico is force sensitive I don't think that Nico would have beaten Percy since Percy is just as skilled) I also think that someday you should write a Percy is a Jedi coz you've got 2 be one of the most amazing authors ever!

Ah, someone finally asks me this question, well Nico is more powerful than demigod Percy because of his Force abilities, but I'm pretty sure that the Godly version of Percy would kick his ass, seeing the fact that he has had over three thousand years of experience. Writing a story about Percy being a Jedi? Well, um, I'm not entirely sure, maybe someday, but its not a guarantee. And thank you for the compliments.

WomanOfTheWind chapter 11 . 7h ago

For his nickname, I was thinking something that has to do with the light, because that would probably REALLY irk him.
You are an amazing writer, one of the best on fanfic! I would hate to see you go and abandon this story. PLEASE don't!
WomanOfTheWind

I ain't going to abandon this story, don't worry, and thanks for the compliments.

I'd like to show you all some great stories that I have read on Fanfiction:

'Dark Phoenix'. Author: Lightningscar. Crossover: PJO x Harry Potter.

'Death's Avenger'. Author: SinSidhe. Crossover: PJO x Avengers.

'Everlasting Promises' Author: Starblade176. Story: PJO

Anaklusmos14 is a great author and all his stories are amazing. So is TheseusLives.

Thank you for reading and if you have any questions just ask them in the reviewers box or PM me. Please review.