Chapter 1: Bad Luck Can Save Your Life

Admiral Mar Tuuk sat on the bridge of the CNS (Confederate Navy Ship) Unendurable, his personal Providence-class destroyer, and gazed moodily out into space. He was in a very bad mood; it was horrifically early in the morning (as far as time had any meaning onboard a spaceship, especially a droid one) and he was contemplating the looks on the faces of San Hill and Nute Gunray when he arrived for the top priority meeting on Mustafar five hours late. All thanks to some gun-ho Republic frigate captain with more guts than brains who'd launched a pathetic attack against him, got in a couple of broadsides, and then he and his ships had been reduced to floating ash and wreckage. Unfortunately one of those damnable broadsides had, by some maddening fluke, disabled the Unendurable's main starboard engine, temporarily making a jump to hyperspace impossible and meaning that until it was repaired, the rest of the voyage to Mustafar would be conducted at a snail's pace! He could just hear Hill's snide voice now, "attacked Admiral Tuuk? Oh I do hope they didn't try to ram you, I hear you're rather susceptible to that tactic. That was how Skywalker got the better of you over Ryloth, wasn't it"? It made his blood boil just to think of it, it didn't matter how many battles he won, to the rest of the Separatist leaders he would always be remembered for his humiliating defeat at the hands of that impudent, cheating...

"Penny fur yer thoots Mar?"

Mar Tuuk couldn't help but smile, the Unendurable was playing host to his old friend General Whorm Loathsom and his droid army at the present time, and the Kerkoiden had always been able to force a grin on to the old admiral's otherwise permanently austere face. Most of the confederate leaders found the friendship between Admiral Mar Tuuk and General Whorm Loathsom difficult to fathom, they were after all in almost every respect polar opposites. Tuuk was a cold, calculating tactician, with a mind like a scalpel, stern, cunning, with a poker face that a card sharp would have sold his soul for. Loathsom, although a competent enough general, was loud, brash and as subtle as a Wampa's table manners. However, as unlikely as they're friendship might seem, it was strong and genuine. Each Separatist had suffered a defeat at the hands of a Jedi, in which his opponent had used trickery to claim victory; it also happened that the two Jedi's which had got the better of them were themselves close friends, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. It was only natural that they should drift together.

Mar Tuuk turned his gaze from the view from the Unendurable's bridge windows to his friend standing beside his command chair. He was a typical Kerkoiden, broad shoulders, a long snout ending in powerful jaws and intimidating tusks (slightly longer than was common for his kind and a source of great pride for their owner), head and shoulders shorter than his Neimoidian friend, but twice as broad. "I was thinking that we shall be fortunate to arrive on Mustafar by the end of the century, let alone in time for the council meeting".

Whorm nodded "Ay ay, yer proobably reet, steel, we have ay fayer enoof excuuse". He grinned "Ay, theer wear thoosands oof um" he said waving his arms dramatically "theey swarrmd oop by thee hoondroods, boot we geev theem the reet aboot and hade theem cloon's rooning fur theer leaves befoor ya co'see Jeedeye scoom"!

Mar Tuuk, who through long association with Whorm rarely if ever had to get a translator droid to tell him what the hell his friend had just said, laughed "I suppose, but I cannot imagine the good Wat Tamboor for one swallowing a war story as tall as that one any time soon".

"Ay perhoops yer reet" admitted Whorm in mock regret.

The smile left Mar Tuuk's face as he turned to one of the droids manning one of the bridges many computer stations "any further progress on repairing the starboard engine?" he enquired with not a little irritation, he disliked the common battle droid, they were weak, poorly armed and armored, shockingly badly programmed and it took a battalion of them to change a light bulb.

"Yes sir" replied the droid "the starboard engine is now functioning at 42.6%, meaning that we can increase our speed to -"and without the slightest warning the droid and all the others on the bridge collapsed to the floor motionless.

Mar Tuuk and Whorm Loathsom simply stared in amazement for a full ten seconds, expecting at any moment life to be restored to their mechanical crewmen, but nothing happened.

"Errh" said Whorm eventually "deed ay tooch soomin?"

Without answering his friend Mar Tuuk quickly rose from his seat, walked over to one of the computer terminals, removed the motionless droid from its chair, and began feverishly tapping the keyboard. Talking more to himself than the Kerkoiden beside him, Mar Tuuk began to mutter "no sign of electromagnetic pulse...no, course not...would have deactivated everything...must be a blocking signal...not a local source".

This was about as incomprehensible to Whorm as his own accent was to most of the people he met. He could do nothing but stare as his comrade's fingers flew across the keyboard at lightning speed, the screen flashing from the blueprints of a battle droid, to a readout from the ships power core, to a chart covered in wavy lines...

"Ah ha" exclaimed Mar Tuuk in triumph "here we are! This shows all incoming and outgoing signals to and from the ship, and here" he pointed to an unobtrusive squiggle running along the bottom of the screen "is a deactivation signal, designed to disable all battle droids, supers, commandos, droidekas you name it".

Whorm frowned "yer meen ooll thee droyds? Everywheer!"

It was Mar Tuuk's turn to frown "I recognize this; it's the master control signal, an emergency protocol to be used in the event of the droids being somehow reprogrammed and turned against us. Only the Separatist council has the authority to authorize its broadcast". Mar Tuuk looked up at his friend from the computer "this is impossible, why in the name of Neimoidia would the council deactivate the army"?

Whorm couldn't think of any possible reason why, however as far he was concerned the 'why' could wait until after the 'what can we do about it'. "Cane yer fex eet" he said nudging a fallen droid with his boot "weer seeting dooks heer weeth no droyds".

Mar Tuuk returned his attention to the computer "I can't cancel out the deactivation signal, but I can block it locally" seeing his friends mystified expression he added "I mean I think I can get ours back online, but I can't do anything about droids elsewhere".

Whorm grinned "ay thaat will aboot do eet, droyds eelsewheer can'abe soomwoon eelse's prooblam!"

Mar Tuuk tapped away for a few more seconds and then straightened up "I've blocked the signal, either we've got our droids back or we need to work out how to fly a Providence-class destroyer with a considerably smaller crew".

Both the Separatist waited, seconds ticked by, and just when Whorm had been on the point of unleashing a flood of traditional Kerkoiden profanity, the droid lying at their feet stirred feebly. Next the two battle droids slumped at their posts by the bridges door began to twitch, and suddenly the admiral and general were surrounded by droids climbing hesitantly to their feet, uttering the occasional bemused "roger roger?"

Whorm gave a roar of triumph and embracing the nearest battle droid as though it was his long lost brother, while Mar Tuuk allowed himself a self satisfied smile before returning to the problem at hand. Activating his com-link he wasted no time in contacting the ships small group of non-droid crewmembers, his personal Neimoidian bodyguard from the Neimoidian Gunnery Battalion. "This is Admiral Tuuk, I want all NGB guardsmen on the bridge immediately, this is not a drill, repeat this is not a drill". Mar Tuuk turned to Whorm and smiled ruefully "I fear that my guards may even now as we speak be cursing my name, after all it is four in the morning, and they were up only two hours ago manning battle stations against possible clone boarding parties. Still, it cannot be helped".

Four in the morning it may have been, but the Neimoidian soldiers were up on the bridge in double quick time, the twenty of them standing smartly to attention before their commander, bronze armour and helmets polished to perfection, blaster rifles held firmly by their sides, displaying parade ground discipline that would have been the envy of any clone drill sergeant. Neimoidians are not natural soldiers; in fact their kind generally tend to be cowardly, greedy and untrustworthy, but as a Greek playwright would one day say, a long time in the future, in a galaxy far far away, 'courage may be taught as a child is taught to speak'. So it was so with the Neimoidians, with training and good officers to lead them, they could be a match for any clones in battle, with perhaps the exception of ARC troopers.

Mar Tuuk explained the situation without preamble "A few moments ago gentlemen our droids were deactivated by the master control signal which as I'm sure you know can only be dispatched by the Separatist council. I have succeeded in blocking the signal and consequently reactivating the droid crew of this ship, and the good General Loathsom's army. I intend now to contact Mustafar and ascertain the reason for the signals broadcast, I wished you my loyal guardsmen to be present at this time". Less disciplined troops would have reacted to such startling news, whispering amongst themselves, or maybe even questioning their commanding officer, but the Neimoidians did neither.

Mar Tuuk suddenly hesitated, just as he was on the point of opening up a line to the Separatist council, as though an unpleasant thought had just occurred to him. Whorm was no Jedi, and so couldn't read his friends mind, but had known his friend long enough to know that when Admiral Tuuk became worried about something, odds on, it was something worth worrying about. "Whoots oop Mar?" asked the Kerkoiden general.

Mar Tuuk was silent for a moment and then said "it is most strange that the council should decide to deactivate the droids, but is it not still stranger that they should not then contact us to explain the situation? Why have they not done so"? Mar Tuuk had a horrible sinking feeling that something was most defiantly not right on the volcanic world now playing host to the remaining Separatist leaders.

Still, it most likely some terrible mistake, perhaps that clumsy fool senator Tikkes had sent the signal thinking he was ordering coffee or some such idiocy! Mar Tuuk typed in the code for the Mutafar council chamber holo-projector and waited. After a few seconds the bridges own projector flickered to life and showed the assembled Neimoidians, droids and Kerkoiden a view of the Mutafar control bunker, the long table at which the Separatist council members should be seated at, discussing the extortionate price of producing battle droids and other such trivialities, was completely deserted.

Whorm glared at the empty table "weer thee deevle arrre theey?" he scowled.

Mar Tuuk suddenly felt as though his stomach had been filled with ice cold water "tell me general" he said quietly "what is that?"

Whorm looked were his friend was pointing, at a dark stain on the table "ay doont knoow, soom darmned fool spoolt hees dreenk?"

Mar Tuuk nodded "very well, if that is a spilt drink, then what is that resting in it?"

Whorm peered at the dark blue, or so it was rendered by the hologram, puddle on the table. In it was what he had first thought to be a communicator, and then wondered if it could be a large spider, and finally, with a whispered oath, he realized what it truly was, a severed hand.

Mar Tuuk rose and walked towards the projector before saying loudly and clearly "this is Admiral Tuuk of the CNS Unendurable, can anyone hear me, please respond".

At first there was silence, but then Mar Tuuk thought he could hear the sound of somebody dragging themselves along the floor, and a moment later a Neimoidian, with great difficulty, pulled himself into one of the chairs lining the council table. He wasn't one of the Separatist leaders, but instead a soldier of the Neimoidian Gunnery Battalion, his bronze armour drenched in blood and his right arm missing below the shoulder. It seemed to take him a moment to focus on the holo-projector, but once he had done so the guard managed a weak left handed salute and said "Captain Zan Keen, commanding officer of the bodyguard of the late Rune Haako".

"What has happened captain?" said Mar Tuuk urgently, for the admiral knew a dying man when he saw one, and realized that he must have the soldier tell him all he could before it was too late.

Captain Zan Keen gasped out his story; his breath coming in short gasps "was a set up, Sidious betrayed us, new apprentice, slaughtered the council, all dead".

Mar Tuuk and Whorm stared in horrified amazement "all dead? The council are all dead?" Mar Tuuk murmured in disbelief.

"Ay, and why whood Sydeoos betree oos?" asked Whorm "eet meeks noo seense?"

The Neimoidian gave several hard coughs and tried to shrug "don't know, but the new, apprentice" he gasped for breath "it was a Jedi".

Mar Tuuk and Whorm glanced at each other "you mean a Sith?" asked Mar Tuuk after a moment's pause.

Captain Keen grunted in irritation "no, not Sith, Jedi, Skywalker, it was Anakin Skywalker". Mar Tuuk and Whorm simply starred incredulously at the stricken captain, unable to belief their ears. "It was him; I swear it, blue lightsabrer, not Jedi no more though, no mercy, just cut us down, like animals, now Sith". The Neimoidian captain shook his head "we tried to, make a stand, with Tambor and Haako, didn't have a chance, we couldn't even slow him down" suddenly he began to violently convulse, gave one more chocking cough, and collapsed into his seat and moved no more.

There was silence on the bridge as Mar Tuuk, Whorm and the Neimoidian guardsmen stood rooted to the spot, finally Mar Tuuk leaned forward and disconnected the transmission. It was impossible, unbelievable, a Jedi working for a Sith lord? He shook his head, the Neimoidian soldier must have been delirious he reasoned, Anakin Skywalker was one of the Republics most prominent Jedi knights, how could he join the Sith? Turning to face the Unendurable's navigation droid Mar Tuuk said "turn the ship around, set a course for Republic space".

"Roger roger" answered the droid "engines now sufficiently repaired to make the jump to hyperspace sir".

Mar Tuuk turned to look at Whorm and his bodyguards "whatever is happening gentlemen, I feel sure that the murder of the Separatist council is just the tip of the iceberg. I for one would like to get to the bottom of this business. We shall make for Republic space, capture a Republic vessel, and extract some answers from its crew". The Neimoidian admiral glared out into space, his face set in steely determination "this isn't over yet" he whispered.