Chapter Eighteen
The act of sex had never felt so good to Governor Pre Vizsla before he did it with Bo-Katan. Even when he had raped the women of Carlac, that had never really been for love or any other good reason so much as to establish his dominance over the people. It was never for any love, whether real or professed, that he had for any of those dozen or so women he had taken for himself. And while Bo herself had no involvement in his actions on that account, he did wonder how she felt when he did that.
When he did, she said that while she confessed feeling a little saddened and even burdened by it, she didn't let it get in the way of her duties. "I think that's what's been drawing me to you all along: you love me but you know better than to let it get in the way of our goals. But when it suits the times, you let them envelope and consume you as I've let mine do," he replied. "I learned from a good father before Jango Fett killed him, making me glad he was taken care of at Geonosis," she said.
"Jango Fett was killed at Geonosis?" Vizsla asked. "Yeah, didn't you hear about it on the news? A Jedi Master named Mace Windu beheaded him during the first hours of the battle when it was just the Jedi against the droids," she answered as she lied on her side. "No, you know we don't pay attention to the news much when we're making military plans for planetary takeover," he stated, smiling.
He found it difficult to hide his anxiety at being naked in front of Bo though she was also nude in front of him and they had made love mere minutes before. Probably because I've never been in a passionate love with anyone before. Has she ever had any experiences like this with me before? he thought but didn't ask. "Well you know now and to think it would take you acting on your feelings for me to find out, hmmm," she said rhetorically.
"How long have you known that I had feelings for you that would accumulate into this?" he asked. She paused at that one, thinking about whether or not she even had known of his feelings or her own before tonight. Then her eyes lit up in remembrance and she smiled, giggling as she told him when she had realized it. "Shortly after we were forced out of Carlac, I realized that I had been upset by you taking the women because I was myself infatuated with you," she answered.
She immediately added that the moment she knew her own feelings for him, she had also understood why he looked at her differently from when he did with other women. "The look, particularly the spark I saw in your eyes, was more than enough to make me blush beneath my helmet. I haven't felt like this for anyone since I was before I became a teenager and it was for Jango. Then I was heartbroken by his desire to be a bounty hunter and his betrayal of Mandalorian ways," she admitted.
"How ironic, you fall in love with the man who killed my father and then, you fall in love with the son of the victim. Did you ever have any romantic ties with Jango or no?" he inquired rather anxiously. "No, it was never romantic: he was handsome, kind, and gentle but we were both very young," she replied, shaking her head. So what we have is as horrifying for her as it is for me he thought but didn't say aloud.
He merely looked down at the pillow they shared, his expression glum thanks to the implications of that thought. "Do not worry about the past now and let the future take care itself as I'm sure it will. For now, only worry for the present moment and consider that it is a good moment," she said, noticing this and caressing his face. Then she gave herself to him once more and vice versa, surrendering to the lust of their passionate love once more and allowing it to continue throughout the night.
When Lom Pyke returned home, he immediately began making arrangements for the transfer of powers to Mon Calamari. Maul, Savage, and Death Watch would stay in his personal underwater pleasure home there. Meanwhile, Xizor took Black Sun's troops and secured all acquired properties of the Shadow Collective, including the Kuat foundry. The purpose of this was so that even if the organization fell under for any reason, Black Sun would not lose its newly gained assets.
Last arrangement on the agenda: Pyke would offer his wealth to insure that the droids ready to fight for Death Watch received quality transportation to Mandalore when the time came. After he made sure all this was set in stone, he could relax and watch as the events of the riot he created unfolded. He had to admit that while there had not yet been any major acts of violence, the riot was holding out well. His expectation had been that they would be crushed before the first three days especially with Kenobi and Skywalker on the premise, only for neither to be capable of anything of the sort.
Instead, both Masters and the rest of the Order were counting on Anakin's Padawan Ahsoka to get the job they needed done. And when Ventress disconnected her comlink to him, he wondered if she somehow sensed who he was, having mastery of the Force herself. Then, yet again, the Jedi had not sensed his handiwork in this riot and they were some of the most powerful beings in the galaxy. Truly a sign that the Dark Side will aid those who wield it to a victory above and beyond anything before he observed.
And as unexpected as it was, a hologram of Maul formed after he answered the beeping of his comlink. "Have the necessary preparations been set in motion?" he asked immediately. "I've sent out the memo to my secretaries on Mon Calamari and here on Coruscant. They'll have the place ready for your use in no more than another standard day or so," Pyke answered.
"Excellent and how has the riot been going so far?" Maul inquired. Should I admit the full details to him or should I just tell him that it's holding well? he asked himself silently. Then he decided, in order to keep Maul from waiting too long, to just go with the latter choice. "To my surprise, it's holding out well and may hold out until we're ready to launch the final assault," he said aloud.
"Excellent, I shall communicate with you when we arrive at your pleasure house and I will be sure to be back with details of your involvement in the assault. That is, if you're still interested by the time I'm through explaining," Maul said. "Milord, I am on the winning side, why would I want to divert now?" Pyke asked rhetorically. Maul smiled and bade him farewell after complimenting the docile nature of his comment.
Then he disconnected communications with Pyke, who then took a deep breath and sipped at the wine in his glass. It was the finest legal quality that he could find in the galaxy and even so, it was still very good for when one was deep in thought. If the riot ends prematurely, I may have the Jedi knocking on my door especially if they trace communications to my quarters he thought. The Jedi could do it since they had droids who'd navigate channels in nanoseconds.
What happened when they did? Would he be arrested and forced to tell why he did it? Or would they blatantly kill him in cold blood despite the need to adhere to their ways about that? They did sometimes deem war criminals too dangerous to be kept alive and would disobey conduct for that.
He knew his wealth would be all channeled at helping the Shadow Collective if that did happen but how would it be spent? Maul, Xizor, and Vizsla would have undenied access to so much more than they had probably ever seen in their lives. Would they use it to satisfy the aims of the Collective or would they divide it with the spoils of war? He decided he didn't need to worry about any of that until the day came when the riot was dispersed; a decision he would regret making.
Ahsoka was making her way along the tunnel when suddenly, from the shadows, two red beams of energy hissed to life and a dark form jumped at her. She ignited her own blades just in time to intercept the blow and even planned it so that she rolled on her back and threw her assailant off her feet. "I don't want to fight you, please let me go and I will be certain to overlook this!" she warned just before the masked assailant got back on their feet. "You don't remember me, do you youngling?" the masked woman, judging by the voice, asked.
"Have we met before?" Ahsoka asked, not observing the hilts of the lightsabers. "We fought before, only you had the aid of Jedi Master Luminara Unduli then. And I was on a mission to rescue Nute Gunray from Republic clutches when we met that time," the masked woman replied as she pressed a button that peeled it back. The face beneath was one that Ahsoka did know: that of Asajj Ventress, an old enemy from another time.
"Working for someone to prevent me from delivering what I have to Senator Amidala?" Ahsoka asked. "Oh yes and they're paying me a handsome two million credits to ensure the riot lasts at least a week. Half if it fails beforehand but I manage to kill an escaping Jedi, a win for me either way," Asajj answered. Then she suddenly threw out black balls of energy that Ahsoka only knew to deflect with her lightsaber.
Luckily, they did not explode upon contact but were destroyed instead. However, when Ventress attacked her again, she was barely ready for it. For several long minutes, the two of them exchanged blows with Ahsoka occasionally grazing a surprised Ventress with her shoto. "You've gotten better since we last met but you're still not putting up a good fight like one you once offered Grievous," Ventress mocked.
"I'm hardly using my full ability, I'm just stalling," Ahsoka replied. Before Ventress could ask what she was stalling for, a battalion of red painted clones appeared from nowhere and shot at her. During this chaos, Ahsoka slipped away and managed to do so long enough for Ventress to peel her mask back on and slash out the barrels of their rifles. "Now stay here or I'll kill you!" Ventress hissed at them before continuing her pursuit of Ahsoka.
So far, the new morality check is working out good. Let's just hope it keeps that way while I'm in pursuit of this young brat she thought as she threw a thermal detonator at the Padawan. Ahsoka turned to see it when she heard the beeping and immediately found a piece of junk big enough to shield her and raised it in front of her. It was long enough for Ventress to get close to her though Ahsoka then turned the piece of metal plating on Ventress' side and fled once more.
She knows she's not powerful enough to defeat me on my ground and is trying to move me to hers. Skywalker's little pet has learned a couple of his tricks and has learned them very well Ventress thought as she threw the plate aside and continued pursuit. But then, using a burst of Force energy, Ventress caught up with Ahsoka and shot her with Force lightning to slow her down. "You're not getting away from me this time, you little brat!" Ventress said, thinking aloud angrily.
"I am not going to want to at this point," Ahsoka replied before bravely preparing herself to face Ventress. The explosion had damaged one of the pipes surrounding them and it was now leaking oil that soon created a fire that formed a wall behind Ventress as she walked closer to the Togruta. "When we fought before, you had the help of a Jedi Master, who could possibly help you now?" Ventress asked. Ahsoka said nothing at first and only ignited her lightsabers as Ventress continued to approach her with hungry desire for blood in her hidden eyes.
"I have nothing that could prove to be an advantage against you, so I'm making a brave sacrifice for the relief of the Jedi Temple," Tano said after a while of thought. "Brave sacrifice, last time I remember using that combination of words, it was shortly before Dooku betrayed me. More like a stupid sacrifice in your case, surrender now and I'll spare your life. Fight against me and you will surely die," Ventress warned.
"Don't worry bog witch, I won't be surrendering. By the way, my offer for a merciful death is still open," Ahsoka snapped with a smile. Asajj shook her head then proceeded to attack the youngling who dared to defy her now as she had when they first fought one another. Another brief exchange of blows followed and Ventress decided to reintroduce the magnetism of her blades' hilts.
Because she had not been taught anything about it, Ahsoka suddenly found herself being overwhelmed by Ventress' proficiency with a double-sided blade. It was worse when Ventress also switch between usage of Jar'Kai and S-shaped saberstaff she held when she magnetized the pommels. The duel was going sour fast but Ahsoka did manage to throw her enemy off with kicks and parries that were unexpected every now and then. But Ventress was proving superior and Ahsoka knew that if she didn't hold out until Senator Amidala's maid arrived, which would be any minute, she had failed the mission.
Then it appeared to fail when Ventress destroyed the shoto, hacked her lightsaber out of her hand, and kicked her to the ground. Ahsoka knew she would never be able to fight again when Ventress then stood over her stomach and chest and crossed her lightsabers over her neck. "Surrender, much as I hate saying it, you've been a good fight!" Ventress demanded. At that moment, Ahsoka heard a speeder and knew the maiden had arrived, her mission completed with what she did next.
Using the Force, she opened her pocket (which was not blocked by Ventress' body) levitated the chip out of it, and gave it to the maiden. "Go now while you still can, Handmaiden Dorme! Get that to Padme and have her give it to the Chancellor!" she said after using Ventress' disorientation to her advantage. Dorme said nothing but nodded as she took the chip from in the air and took off, having not even dismounted the speeder when she saw what was happening.
Angered and even growling beneath her mask, Ventress demanded to know what was in the chip that was so important. "Orders the Chancellor can implement for martial law against the riot which will then be forcibly removed from the Temple, even if it means killing the rioters. You've failed again Ventress and whoever is paying you will not be pleased!" Ahsoka exclaimed in reply. Thanks to Embo, there's still time to salvage what I can from this even if it means killing Amidala Ventress thought silently.
Despite that thought, she was too angry to not do something in the meantime and so she scissored off Ahsoka's head in frustration. The severed head of the young Padawan rolled away from the stump a little ways until the top was facing it as if to show proof of the successful decapitation. Sighing in disappointment, Ventress turned on her comlink and decided to immediately send a message out to Embo. "Hey Embo, Ahsoka sacrificed herself and delivered something of significance to Senator Amidala's maid who will give it to her Mistress; I need the delivery stopped by any means!" she said before disconnecting once more.
When Embo got Ventress' one-way message, he knew what to do and where to go immediately. Using his incredible leaping and running abilities, he covered ground quicker than most types of speeders and arrived at the Amidala residence in minutes. He realized that he probably hadn't beaten the maid to the place but that didn't matter so long as he could get to the Senator herself. Besides, the credits spent on this are coming out of someone else's pocket and not mine he reminded himself.
After having his pet Anooba sniff the air to confirm his suspicions, he readied himself to use the ion grenade-launching upgrade again. It had worked before and he had the feeling it would work again, a feeling confirmed when it not only launched and hit the building but also knocked out all the power. Even the speeders wouldn't work now that the damage was done at this magnitude, something that pleased Embo even more about the upgrade. One thing was for certain, it was going to be one crazy bantha chase before this was over, even if he did fail to catch the Senator.
Debating whether or not he should fire any shots when Amidala showed herself, he had his Anooba sniff around yet again. When it returned, it confirmed to him that his targets were trapped and any shots he fired off could be warning ones. Ones that told the Senator to stay where she was or else she ran the risk of being gunned down and killed instantly. And if she were wise, she would at least wait until she could receive Jedi assistance before she tried such a folly move. In fact, unlike most bounty hunters who might be faced with this sort of situation, Embo was counting on her to wait.