In orbit of Ponemah Terminal
19 BBY (16:05:18 GrS)
Four Days before Order 66…
Three hours ago, the Kestrel and its companion fleet had jumped into the Trilon Sector, on the edge of the Unknown Region. For the first hour, Kelia had kept the Kestrel on high alert, but then Morai suggested that the Separatist vessel carrying their quarry may not arrive for some time.
"How much time?" Kelia had asked, watching the Tector-class Star Destroyer Foretoken and the Victory II-class Star Destroyers Antarian Ranger and Derecho hum through the void. They floated ahead of her flagship alongside a handful of the flotilla's escorting Charger c70 frigates and a pair of Arquitens cruisers, forming a chevron around the spot they assumed the Separatist cruiser would be emerging through.
{"The exact amount of time I do not know,"} Morai had admitted. {"Through the Vergence Scatter, we could observe that Kix was being transported on Obrexta III, a cruiser of some variety, and we could see that the Obrexta III had crashed on the surface of Ponema Terminal by noon tomorrow due to damage sustained in a prior battle, and we could see where it had emerged before crashing. The exact time of its arrival is difficult for us to determine."}
At that, Kelia had left Captain Jural Dan'lya and Morai on the bridge, and retreated to her ready room. She received a tight-beam transmission from Lieutenant Commander Mornsted, stating that he had "field-demoted" Sey'les to Ensign for harassing another officer and for disrupting a briefing with inappropriate comments.
Given the pattern of complaints attached to Sey'les's personnel file, including multiple comments freshly added to it from one of the 608th's battalion commanders, Kelia did not find that surprising, and decided to allow it. Maybe giving her a reinstatement as a Lieutenant was too good for her. Hopefully, this will change Sey'les's behavior.
She stared at the file, still trying to process whether any of this was actually real. With the bulkhead now separating her from the constant reminder of time travel and talking animals, renewed doubts began to flood her thoughts.
Did I get hyper madness from staring out the viewports for too long? Am I just actually insane now? Talking wolves, owls, nearly being abducted by a kriffing rat.
A chime at the door surprised Kelia. She had been expecting the inevitable alarm to sound when the Obrexta-III finally jumped into the system. "Enter."
The doors hissed open, revealing one of Kelia's clone confidants, Vex, the commander of the ship's fleet security troopers.
"Good morning sir," Vex said, an unusual nervousness in his voice.
"Good morning and take a seat," Kelia instructed, steepling her hands. "I take it security's been informed about the time-traveling animals that appeared on the bridge, and our reasons for jumping into this system?"
"Not the reasons for our jump into this system," Vex admitted, "But sir—"
"Apparently there's a Clone aboard the Obrexta-III who discovered something or other, and we are supposed to find out about it from him."
"That's… Well, maybe—maybe I should just come out and say it," Vex stammered, sweat forming on his forehead.
"Come out and say what?" Kelia growled cautiously.
"Well… Let me put it this way," Vex sighed. Bafflingly, he began speaking to her in fluent Bothese. "Vi zrask mogith li woks erz, kapag ganawa ko yask sa kornan SpyNet? ["How angry would you be if I actually worked for the SpyNet?"]
I'm going insane. My chief of security is both claiming to be working for SpyNet and speaking Bothese more fluently than even Rider Squad, who my mother trained. But no, this is real…
Kelia laughed mirthlessly, drawing the WESTAR-35 stored under her desk. "So, what are you then? A traitor? Part of a secret batch ordered by Bothawui?" She pointed the blaster pistol at his face.
Vex exhaled, glancing around the room warily. The fact he seemed more concerned about surveillance devices than the blaster pistol pointed at his face caused Kelia's fur to stand on end. "Erz pan yask alij mo pan Novisk Sov'fal." ["My true name is Novisk Sov'fal."]
She stared at him, letting what he said sink in. How the kriff, an Afon…? Y'know what… I don't have time for this. Time travel first… Whatever this is second.
She pulled out her personal comlink and input a channel code. "Commander Kursk, come in."
There was a moment before the Clone Commander answered. "Reporting, sir."
She kept the pistol trained on Vex, Novisk if he was telling the truth. "Send a section up to my office. I want them to detain Commander Vex, take him to a secure cell, no personnel are to access him under any circumstances without my personal authorization."
"Sir?" The 608th's commander asked, surprised at her request.
"NOW COMMANDER!" She barked, blonde fur roiling like a stormy sea.
"Yes sir… Lieutenant Sabre is bringing a squad up now…"
"Good…" She sighed as she clicked the comlink transmitter off, staring at Vex. The distant but rapid footfalls of Clone boots hitting the deckplates caused her ears to twitch nervously as she watched him sigh in resignation.
Two clone troopers with violet-painted armor and the sky dragon decorations of the 608th Regiment entered the room, locking his hands in binders.
"This is a mistake," Vex hissed. "Commodore, every Clone has a chip in their brain! If Morai is right—"
"Get him out of here!" Kelia ordered, prompting the infantry troopers to pick Vex up by his elbows and carry him out.
Time travel first, she thought again after the doors hissed shut, leaving her alone in the ready room. Whatever this is second. Time travel first—
Chips in the brain. I wonder if that's how the SpyNet is—
No. Time travel first, Whatever this is second. Time travel first—
If this is real, how many of my personnel could be SpyNet operatives? I literally cannot trust anyone I haven't personally vetted.
Time travel first—No, I need answers. Her finger drifted to her comm button to ask the brig where they would be keeping Vex, but she stopped herself. I can't leave this deck. The Separatist fleet could arrive at any second.
And I need them from someone who's not going to lie to me… Kriff…
o.o.o.o.o
"Pardon me, Commodore," Chalcedona Vra'tis said, spinning away from the bridge's astrometric and science station. "I did not expect you to…" For a wild moment Kelia expected Vra'tis to say 'interrupt me,' but her voice trailed off.
With yellow eyes and a bareskin pink snout shaped like a traffic cone poking out of a mess of fluffy tan fur, Chalcedona Vra'tis was a Caamasi. She was also uncannily intelligent, but blunt, rude, and arrogant to the point of being insubordinate. Kelia suspected that Lieutenant Vra'tis, like many Caamasi, must have a problem with Bothans in general—their interactions had been so infrequent that there was no way Kelia had possibly caused offense.
But it was fortunate their interactions were infrequent, as it was not often in war that Kelia had questions that required a scientist to answer. In any case, their interactions were often so strained and awkward that Kelia was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that this Caamasi was who she said she was. There was no way a secret agent or infiltrator could possibly be as blunt, irksome, and difficult as this Caamasi.
"I have a question I hope you'd be willing to answer," Kelia said.
The Caamasi's eyes went wide, pupils dilating slightly. She took a sharp inhalation of breath, as if afraid Kelia might slap her.
"Hypothetically," Kelia said slowly, then went right into her question, "Is it possible for a being to transfer their consciousness to another body?"
Vra'tis blinked in surprise, gasping. "Oh! Sorry, sir, I thought you were going to ask something personal. What, praytell, prompted such an unexpected question? Does it have anything to do with the Convors and Lothwolves loose on the ship?"
Kelia frowned. "A few minutes ago a Clone trooper approached me, speaking fluent Bothese, claiming that he had additional information that had something to do with the time-traveling Veil Dwellers—only he also claimed to be a Bothan in a human Clone's body. I've been thinking about it for years… Our species is known for Spycraft—besides signals intelligence, how do we spy when everyone thinks we're spies?"
"Well, it couldn't be done digitally," Vra'tis said nonchalantly.
"I—uh… What?!" Kelia snarled, thinking the Caamasi was making a joke about a serious matter. "Explain."
The Caamasi shrugged. "Essence transfer is something I've often thought of, when I was pondering the afterlife. It could not be done digitally though—and I mean that literally. At least it couldn't be done digitally if we're talking about biological consciousness. The brain of every species I know of works by firing neurons, which are either active or not, a bit binary like a machine—but unlike a machine it also has hormones, elevated and decreased non-binary states of activity, and it can never shut down and simply be restarted. No, you would need analog tech to transfer one person's consciousness into a fresh body."
"So you think he's telling the truth?" Kelia croaked in horror. "That he killed a human and put his mind in the human's body?"
"I didn't say that sir. He could be… Well, he says he's Bothan?" Vra'tis snorted, then smirked, stifling a laugh. She shook her head and ran her hand over her snout as if literally wiping the grin away. "Well sir," she finally managed in a deadpan, "I don't know why anyone would lie about this. Your Clone is either insane, or he's telling the truth."
"Shab… Shab. SHAB!" Kelia snarled, slamming herself into a neighboring science station chair and putting her hands over her snout as she squeezed her eyes shut.
She wanted to scream until she went hoarse. Every bit of normalcy in the Galaxy, such as it could be in the middle of a war, was falling apart by the second and she didn't know if she could take much more.
"I'm sorry Commodore," Vra'tis said uncomfortably, fiddling with the sleeve of her uniform. "I didn't mean to frighten you. Actually, it is possible he's lying. If that makes you feel better, it's fully possible—"
"Detecting a hyperspace window emerging in grid nine!" yelled the one of the officers from the crew pits.
"All hands, battlestations!" Jural barked, prompting the ship's alarms to sound.
Kelia turned expectantly to the viewports, which Morai was now fluttering in front of. Sure enough, a smoking Bulwark-class battlecruiser, the Obrexta III, emerged from hyperspace; right into a torrent of ion cannon fire from the fleet that knew it would be coming.
o.o.o.o.o
Dooku
Aboard the Invisible Hand, in Hyperspace
In his ready room, Dooku assumed the position of a polite bow, bathed in the blue glow of a holoprojector. Sidious was calling at a most unexpected time.
"My Lord, we are less than six hours from Coruscant. Everything is proceeding as you have planned."
"Drop out of hyperspace, immediately," Sidious hissed.
Standing up straight, Dooku looked up with incredulity.
"The Obrexta III has sent another level zero distress call; the vessel has been intercepted by a Republic fleet, already lying in wait, in orbit of Ponemah Terminal and they are preparing to board. We must assume Order 66 has been compromised."
Dooku shuddered. "We must execute the order at once then! Strike the Jedi before they can retaliate."
Sidious sighed. "We cannot. Skywalker has not yet been swayed—"
Dooku's voice rose. "You mean you have failed in your part, Master! Skywalker is of no consequence when compared to the importance of the entire Grand Plan. He must be simply swept away, like any other Jedi who refuses to join us. It is the only—Ack!" The Serennian felt his throat constrict. He coughed, sputtering apologies.
"It is you who has no idea of the Chosen One's significance!" Sidious spat, his right hand clawed in a Force choke. "I have foreseen that should we fail to recruit Skywalker, the Jedi will prevail. The plan cannot succeed with Skywalker still in the ranks of the Jedi Order." He released Dooku from his grip. "Is that understood?"
"I—I did not mean that we should ignore Skywalker, my Lord," Dooku croaked, massaging his neck. "I meant that we should end him. I have operatives on Coruscant—"
"Who would fail again and again, just as you and Grievous have," Sidious scowled angrily. "No, I need you to contain this. Drop out of hyperspace and send a portion of your main fleet, as many as possible, to rendezvous with an interdiction craft I have waiting in deep space. Instructions for the latter stages of the mission are aboard the interdiction craft, already formatted for a tactical droid to download. They are to intercept the Kestrel and any other Republic vessels which may have been involved in boarding the Obrexta III."
"An interdiction craft?" Dooku asked curiously.
"Experimental technology which does not concern you yet," Sidious spat.
Dooku narrowed his eyes. "If I send too many vessels out on this errand, it will take away from the reserves I have to strike at Coruscant. The dynamics of the battle may change slightly—"
"We shall cross that bridge when we come to it."