Chapter 10. Tin'sar Demask
Before he became Darth Plagueis, he was known as just Tin'sar. Tin'sar's mother was Matriarch wife of Hugo Demask the founder of Demask savings and loan corpoaration. The corporation was small and lent credits to middle and small businesses throughout the republic. Hugo's first wife had an affair with another Muun of lower standing. When he found out he had the Muun killed and demoted Taasla to 7th servile wife. In Muun society males were allowed to have up to seven wives. Sometimes the females were born of such high rank among the males that they had seven husbands.
Taasla was demoted to seventh wife, but she was pregnant and only the first and second wife were allowed to have children. She was allowed to name the boy and when he was born Hugo took him from her and had the boy sent to an orphanage on Dantooine.
Tin'sar grew up bullied and made fun of by the other children, because Muuns rarely left their home world of Muunilist except for business. His elongated features kept him isolated from the rest of the children until he turned eight. When Tin'sar turned eight, he discovered that he had a special power. He could see things before they happened and he could sense and manipulate the feelings of others, especially when he was angry. Tin'sar could also move objects with his mind by focusing on them. When he managed a small amount of control the taunts stopped and the other children began to fear him. The headmistress of the orphanage recognized the force in him and tried to alert the Jedi, but he manipulated her into not doing it. It was when Tin'sar turned thirteen that the orphanage was visited by two Jedi, but by now Plagueis had learned to hide his power. The orphanage received another visitor that day, a Bith by the name of Logo Sard. Sard had another name he went by and it was Darth Omni. He recognized the force in the orphaned Muun despite his ability to hide it. Darth Omni unleashed his power killing the Jedi and everyone in the Orphanage.
That day Tin'sar received the sith name Darth Plagueis his new life as a sith began. When Plagueis turned twenty-five it was Omni who encouraged the boy to seek out his past. Taking his master's advice Tin'sar traveled to his home world of Muunilist, where he his mother died in his arms after falling sick. He registered the name Tin'sar Demask, taking on his mother's married name. This angered Hugo Demask who took Tin'sar to court as bastards in Muun society weren't allowed last names, but Tin'sar was no ordinary Muun. Plagueis manipulated the courts into allowing him to keep the name. Hugo was forced to pay Tin'sar five million credits.
While Hugo appealed the decision in court, Tin'sar borrowed credits to start his own company which was a front to buy out Demask Savings and loans. Within three years Tin'sar controlled Demask holdings and year after that he bought out Cerka Corporation. His deals and financial advice became legendary among the Muuns of the banking clan. Aside from his business deals Tin'sar spent a lot of time eliminating his mother's sister wives and stepchildren. Through accidents, poisoning, and suicide, Tinsar became the sole heir of the Demask fortune. By the time Tin'sar was thirty-one he was made Chief Magister of the Banking Clan.
Whenever Palgueis traveled as Tin'sar Demask he did in style, aboard his luxury star liner Infinite Wealth. The ship was a remodeled Mon Calamari star cruiser, equipped with private casino, holo-theater, droid boxing ring, massage parlor, art museum, and holo-deck. The ship had an operating crew of five hundred, not including the droids and the sun guards that lived on board.
The ship came out of hyperspace and pulled into a stationary orbit around Muunilist. Because of the Nature edict on the planet surface star ships weren't aloud to land planet side. Tin'sar had to shuttle down to the planet via a skyhook. When he got planet side a private speeder car took him to his lavish estate on Demask Island. He bought the island and built his house after selling Hugo's house for less than market value. Officially Tin'sar was worth over seven hundred million credits. Unofficially he was worth Eighteen trillion credits.
When he entered his estate via the lobby area Tin'sar was greeted by his chief steward and house droid. "Welcome home sir…" The Muun said taking Tin'sar's cloak.
"It is good to be home…"
"You were gone for so long master we thought you might never return…" the elderly Muun was dressed in a simple red and gold tunic with a gold studded belt that marked him as the chief steward.
"Where is Farmer?" Tin'sar asked.
"He is in the private study sir… Forgive me sir I know Farmer is valuable to you and conducts business on your behalf, but why not hire a Muun of reputable standing.
They walked through the plush mansion on their way to his master bedroom. Tin'sar smiled, "What has Farmer done now?"
The doors swooshed open and several server droids began undressing Tin'sar. "He had some rather questionable guests here for a rather loud and vulgar party…"
Tin'sar was now dressed in his robes of state that signified he was a member of the circle of nine. It was after the great hyperspace war that the banking clan came to power. The Muuns joined the Republic on the condition that all financial wealth of the Republic be handled by them and thus was formed the banking clan. The circle of nine replaced the monarchy of Muunilist and the Muuns saved the Republic from bankruptcy.
"I shall deal with Farmer… Is there anything of note that needs my attention?"
"Actually yes there is sir… Prince Taunmeth would like to see you…"
Tin'sar sighed in aggravation, Prince Taunmeth was Muun who lived well beyond his means, so much so that his family cut him off. "Does he want another loan?"
"I don't think so my lord… He says he has a business proposition for you…"
"I will meet with him in one week for lunch… anything else?"
"Yes Council Vaed wanted to be informed the minute you returned, he wants to call an emergency meeting of the nine…"
"Call him and let him know that I have returned and that the nine can meet in three days… There are things I must attend to…" They left his room via a private elevator to the first floor.
"Very good sir and these need to be signed…"
Before signing them Tin'sar gave it a quick scan over the papers. One of the papers he signed was an extension for a loan. Another was to approve the funds to remodel the house. "Unless I say otherwise Ven I do not wish to be disturbed…"
"Very well sir…"
When Ven and the droid left the study, Tin'sar pulled on a book that caused the shelf to part left and right. He entered his private study used to keep track and communicate with sith spies. Farmer sat at the main control hub online with a underworld enforcer.
"The pirates have agreed to a meeting within two months time Coruscant calendar…"
"We can meet on Kato Neimodia…"
"My payment…"
Farmer smiled, "Be at the meeting and I shall pay you…" He switched off the monitor and swiveled around in the chair to face Darth Plagueis. Farmer stood and dropped to one knee, "Welcome home milord…"
Plagueis grunted and dropped into the chair activating the screen, "Ven tells me you have been giving parties…"
He was still on his knee with his head down, "Apologies my lord… but you employed me to maintain connections with disreputable elements and from time to time I must patronize them… to remain in their good graces…"
Plagueis grunted, "Even so try not to draw attention to yourself… You may rise…"
"Thank you…"
"Has there been any word from the Kaminoans?"
"Yes… Koran Su says that they have narrowed down the selection to at least five candidates… he wants you to choose from the following…" Farmer read from a datapad he pulled out of his pocket. "Wookies…"
Plagueis laughed, "Ha! An army of wookies is impractical…"
Farmer smiled, "That was my feelings as well my lord… The real wookies would go to war if they discovered that their race was cloned… Anyway the second choice was Barabels, but Su said that in the simulations for growth acceleration process is useless… They could however clone the females and make them reproduce at an astonishing rate…"
Plagueis scratched his chin, "Wouldn't there be a problem in programming and individuality?"
"Yes there would be…The next was the Echani… The problem too high of a medichlorian count…" As he spoke Plagueis thought the Echani would be perfect weapons against the Jedi. "Then Su suggested the Verpine, the hive mentality would make it easier to program the cloned aliens."
Plagueis liked that idea, the Verpine would be easier to control, but they would also be easier to destroy with a bio-weapon. He finally noticed that Farmer had grown quiet. He looked at him, "I thought you said there were five choices…"
He hesitated, "I did and I am loath to mention the last… Mandelorians…"
Plagueis beamed, the Mandelorians almost leveled the Republic during their crusade to conquer the galaxy, but they fell to Revan and his Jedi. He looked at Farmer sensing his mood, "Why didn't you want to mention them?"
"Because my ancestors were destroyed by those animals… I am a Jerocan human…"
"In deed… Be that as it may this my affair not yours… In any case I think the Mandelorians are perfect…"
"Su thought you would say that… He is looking for a pure blood source… that will take time…"
"What about the acceleration technology…"
"They have hit a road block with that but he believes it will be easier with humans…"
"Tell them to run all the simulations they need and to prepare their combat and military training programs…"
"I will send the message right away…"
"You were talking about the pirates when I came in how is that going?"
"Well I will meet with them in two months on Kato Neimodia…"
Plagueis raised an eyebrow, "Don't you think it precocious to meet on the trade federation home world…"
"Ironic and thought they could use some irony in their lives…"
"If you are caught I will end you personally…"
Farmer bowed, "Have I ever been caught…"
Plagueis stood up to go to his private lab adjacent to the study, "Is there anything else before I leave…"
"No milord…"
"Welcome back oh mighty Plagueis…" The droid N21-B4 said.
"How are the experiments doing?"
The lab was one hundred by one hundred feet and it had six surgery tables, fifty bacta tanks, and two lab tables. It also housed a sophisticated med-droid brain that monitored the entire room.
"All are fine milord except J-3… It died a week ago…"
"Why didn't you contact me?"
"I did, but you couldn't be reached… It is just impossible to clone a Jedi… The medi-chlorians are there, but not what you call the force…"
They walked over to one of the cold storage units used to house dead test subjects. Plagueis had another droid remove the dead body from the cooler and place on the table. He did a microscopic scan of the body and found that all the medi-chlorians wer dead. ("If the Jedi can heal their bodies through the force then one should be able to regenerate the body with the force…") He also thought of Yoda the Grand Jedi Master and how he was over seven hundred years old. Whether this was due to the force or the inherit longevity of his race was a big question. There were no records as to the origin of Yoda's species. Even the legendary archives of Obra Skai didn't have any records on Yoda's people. All that was known in history that there have been four others besides Yoda that have played major roles in history and they all have been very powerful Jedi.
Plagueis began dissecting the body of the human Jedi and after several hours he found nothing to point him in the direction of immortality. "N21 expound on the following theory… Life creates the force and it manifests in life via medichlorians… take into consideration all you know about medi-chlorians… Can life be cloned without them…"
"Extrapolating… one moment please… No life cannot be cloned without the medichlorians…"
Plagueis sanitized his hand s and ordered another droid to dispose of the corpse on the table. "N21 begin extracting DNA for cloning process on subject J3…"
"Yes master…"
As the droid got the sample ready for cloning Plagueis checked his other experiments. They were doing well as he checked each of the read outs on the tanks. He finally went to the last tank which carried a Ysalamri in it. It was his master who discovered the creatures on an outer rim world. Darth Omni was trying to find a way to use them against the Jedi, but Plagueis was more interested in where they came from. The lizard like creatures had the unique ability to push back the force.
"DNA sample is ready for cloning process master…"
"Begin incubation and pause process at embryo stage… lock in on all medi-chlorian cells and calculate how many will be produced in the life form… Let me know when the process is complete…"
"Yes master…"
While N12 followed his instructions Plagueis took out his med journal to update it on the progress of all his experiments. Then Plagueis busied himself with cataloging his cross breeding experiments. When N12 was done he ordered the droid to record the medi-chlorians as he drained them of force energy. Droids didn't have the knowledge of how the force worked, but they could understand the basics of medichlorians. So when Plagueis had the droid watch the medichlorians it noted the difference between them after they were changed by whatever N12's master was doing to them.
"Do you see the difference N12?"
"Yes master though I have no idea how you did it…"
"Theorize will the life form live with its medichlorians the way they are?"
The droid remained silent as it calculated all the possibilities from every angle. "Why yes master the host will still live…"
"Continue cloning process until subject is fully grown…"
While the clone grew over the next few days Plagueis toyed with other experiments then he got ready for his meeting with the circle of nine as Tin'sar Demask. They met in high tower castle the seat of power for Muunilist. The castle wasn't like any in the galaxy for it was the tallest one on Muunilist and went strait up and down. The very top of the building was a sphere where the nine met together. The meeting was about the trade federation and the banking clan lords wanting a piece of the pie. Tin'sar informed them that the trade federation had paid off all its loans, but that he would speak to the new viceroy of the trade federation about selling shares of the company.
Two weeks had passed when Tin'sar met with Prince Taunmeth who wanted Tin'sar to invest in his new idea about collecting photons from a star and turning them into plasma energy. He came with a human scientist and a well laid out plan. Tin'sar said yes, but they to prove that it worked and before he would fund their project.
"The clone is ready Master…" N12 said after Plagueis returned home.
"Good now record the medichlorians…" Plagueis thought N12 would blow a circuit as he energized the cells with the force. The clone lived and through studying it Plagueis discovered a way to successfully clone a Jedi without it going insane. He also learned how to manipulate the medi-chlorians and finally how to regenerate his body through what he called force regeneration. After his first successful force sleep Plagueis had the body of an eighteen year old Muun. He walked taller and his body didn't require sleep at all. In some cases he didn't even need to eat, he tested his new power by cutting his skin. There was no scratch or cut from the blade, he had achieved what he wanted immortality, but Plagueis' studies didn't stop there he also experimented with the mind transfer technique. He learned that the mind being transferred retained its power, but if the mind transferred into a body that was not force sensitive or a body of the same force conditioning that power was lost. Meaning that if a darkside mid left its body and transferred to another darksider he or she would loose their power.
"N12 expound on the following… If life creates the force can the force create life?"
"In theory yes… when one takes into account what I have seen you do with our recent experiments…"
("I will have to study this further…") Plagueis said to himself.