The Ascendancy fleet sent from Csilla dropped out of hyperspace and ended up in the Tenupe system, where the various Star Destroyers, clawcraft, and other vessels now manned by the Killik nest of Thuruht hung over the system's titular planet in high orbit. And without offering the enemy a chance to sue for peace, as the Chiss would normally allow, the Star Destroyers in the fleet commanded by General Soontir Fel opened fire on the opposing fleet.
Naturally, the Killiks also began firing back with their own Destroyers. Within seconds, the shields of the capital ships of both fleets were emblazoned by projectiles of all kinds, and it wasn't long before clawcraft squadrons launched out of their Destroyers' hangar bays to engage each other in wild dogfights.
Among the Chiss pilots battling the Killiks was Ralan, one of the many survivors from when Thuruht took Tenupe mere days earlier. With fierce determination as one of the first pilots to engage the Killiks in this battle, he lead two fellow pilots into the fray of combat as part of a unit split off from a larger squadron. They fired lasers for the incoming Killik clawcraft, blowing more than a dozen of the enemy away in the initial moments of battle while also dodging opposing projectiles.
When the clawcraft from both sides finally intermingled and the dogfights actually began, one would think that both Chiss and Killiks would end up confused in the midst of combat, unsure of whether or not they killed a friend or foe. Fortunately for the Killiks, they had their hive mind to keep them in from blowing away their fellow insectoids. The Chiss, on the other hand, had already labeled, via battle-coordinating computers, the different clawcraft from each other just as they dropped from their Star Destroyers' hangar bays, and then programmed those specs into friendly clawcraft for their obvious benefit.
That benefit helped Ralan and his two squad mates negotiate their way through friendly and enemy fire within the now-clustered battlefield. And it doubly helped them as they continued to blast away Killik-piloted clawcraft by the fives and sixes now.
"This is almost too easy," one of Ralan's fellow pilots - Yeraq, he remembered - commented as he blew up one, then two clawcraft away. "And we used to be afraid of these guys?"
"Cut the chatter, Yeraq," Ralan interjected expertly, blowing up three more clawcraft before he continued with, "You can't afford distractions right now."
"Yes, sir," Yeraq replied as he blew up another Killik fighter.
But Yeraq was right, Ralan thought in the midst of taking down four more Thuruht craft. And that thought alone worried Ralan; if it's too easy, it's too good to be true. That motto was what kept him alive for so long as an Ascendancy soldier, when the odds seemed to favor him in a way that could get him killed if he let it go to his head. After all, at any moment, anything could happen that could change the tide of battle for the worst.
But so far so good was another motto that kept soldiers alive in the midst of combat.
.
Now that the Faux Harla and Captain Ford's Mindabaal ship were in hyperspace, with Five-U piloting the latter, the droid once formally known as 11-4D, who now sat in the copilot chair of the Harla, looked to his Master, who sat upright in the pilot's chair.
"How do you feel in your new body, Lord Plagueis?" Ford asked.
"Slightly odd," Plagueis replied in the late Ben Skywalker's voice. "Human physiology is a strange sensation. But one I have no doubt I can adapt to."
"Of course," Ford nodded.
"May I ask, though, why you couldn't find a Muun body, even if it weren't Force-sensitive, OneOne-FourDee?" Plagueis inquired.
"Personally, I felt that you returning through the body of a descendant of yours would be more profound," Ford answered.
"Descendant?" Plagueis asked.
"You remember the child known as Anakin Skywalker, do you not, Master?" Ford asked.
"Of course I do," the human nodded. In the days leading up to his death in the hands of Darth Sidious, Plagueis had lived long enough to be informed by his treacherous apprentice that a human male of nine years named Anakin Skywalker had been brought to Coruscant from an obscure world called Tatooine by maverick Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. Sidious, in his public guise as Senator Palpatine, had been told by Jedi Master Dooku that, according to Jinn, Skywalker had been born of the Force.
While that in and of itself was significant enough, Plagueis had special interest in it, as roughly a decade prior to Skywalker's arrival to Coruscant, he had commenced an experiment through the Force to create life in his vain attempts to prolong his life indefinitely and become immortal. Apparently, that experiment had succeeded with Skywalker as its fruitful result. Unfortunately, Plagueis didn't have the opportunity to even meet the boy, as Skywalker had again been taken by Jinn to the Jedi Council so they could determine whether or not he should be trained as a Jedi. Skywalker was then brought to Naboo by Jinn as they joined Queen Amidala to help her fight the Trade Federation, which had blockaded her homeworld as part of his and Sidious's schemes to get the latter into the position of Supreme Chancellor of the Republic.
"Well, the body that you now inhabit is the grandson of Skywalker," Ford explained.
"Grandson?" Plagueis asked, astounded. "How long have I been dead?"
"About seventy-seven years, Master," Ford answered simply.
"You sure took your time," Plagueis replied snidely.
"Thank you," Ford replied, seemingly unaware of Plagueis's irritance.
After a moment of silence between Plagueis and Ford, the former asked, "Why are the Jedi banned from Coruscant?" Before they left Sojourn through hyperspace, Ford informed his Master that the Jedi were banned from Coruscant due to recent events, so now they were traveling into the Unknown Regions where they could better determine what course of action they should take now.
Ford then explained the Liberation of Coruscant from the Lost Tribe of the Sith - whose history Ford knew little about - by the hands of the New Jedi Order about half a year ago, and how the entity known as Abeloth's decimation of the planet coerced the populace to exile the Order permanently.
"You call them the New Jedi Order," Plagueis pointed out when Ford concluded his summary of the Coruscant liberation. "Why are they called that?"
"It was largely because of Lord Sidious's actions, sire," Ford answered. "You see, after he killed you and became the Supreme Chancellor of the Old Republic, he spent about ten years further manipulating events so that he could bring about the Clone Wars, which pitted the battle droids built by the Trade Federation and the Kamino-based clones of Jango Fett into a three year war that the Jedi were forced to get involved in."
Plagueis raised an eyebrow. So Sifo-Dyas's support for the project allowed for Sidious to continue the Grand Plan on his own. Had he not held any lingering resentment for his former apprentice, he'd openly complement how he'd been able to use his own Master's resources for his own uses.
"By the end of those three years," Ford continued, "Lord Sidious managed to wipe out the Jedi Order using the Fett clones and used their demise to become Emperor of the Galactic Empire, ending the Clone Wars."
"Impressive," Plagueis said, unable to help himself over what Palpatine managed to accomplish without him. "Most impressive." For a moment, he wondered if Palpatine was right in betraying him. "So I assume that the Empire is still strong?"
"Not as strong as it once was under Emperor Palpatine's rule," Ford said. "He managed to rule for twenty-three years before his untimely demise under the hands of the Alliance to Restore the Republic. After his death, the Rebellion took Coruscant and became the New Republic while the remnants of the Empire struggled to regain control of what they had. At one point, though, Sidious did return via clone bodies, but he died for good thanks to the son of Anakin Skywalker, Luke, who became the Grand Master of the New Jedi Order. A few years after Sidious's final demise, the Empire surrendered and became content to rule what space they had left."
Plagueis's face dropped in disappointment. He had dreamed a long time for a galactic empire ruled by the Sith; it was the deal he made with Palpatine at the beginning of his training, so that while Plagueis pursued his own ambition of living forever, Palpatine would climb through the political ranks of the Old Republic from being an ambassador from Naboo to Supreme Chancellor. Hearing that Palpatine had accomplished what Darth Bane himself had set out to do more than a millennium ago raised Plagueis's spirits so high, and to learn just as quickly that that very empire was a mere shadow of its former power...
He remembered when he watched as Aborah had been attacked by a nuclear strike courtesy of Naboo's former King Ars Veruna. It was the closest thing to heartbreak that Plagueis could endure with his multiple hearts in his Muun body. Now, with this human body that had only one heart, he very nearly shed a tear in hearing how close the Sith had come, and how far they had fallen because of his apprentice's boundless ambition.
"Of course, the Empire became stronger after extragalactic alien invaders known as the Yuuzhan Vong invaded the galaxy two decades ago," Ford continued. "And since the end of the recent civil war four years ago, which preceded the Lost Tribe of the Sith's takeover of Coruscant, what is now known as the Imperial Remnant is the second most powerful government behind the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, or the Galactic Alliance for short."
"I thought they were called the New Republic," Plagueis said.
"They were, but they changed their name as a symbol of reorganization during the Yuuzhan Vong War," Ford said.
"Ah," Plagueis nodded in understanding. "Well, in either case, second most powerful doesn't cut it when it comes to the Sith."
"No, it does not," Ford agreed.
"Speaking of the Sith, whatever occurred with the Rule of Two under Sidious's hand?" Plagueis asked.
"Well, following your death, he had simultaneously lost the acolyte known as Maul when Queen Amidala retook Naboo from the Trade Federation," Ford continued. "So he was unable to take him as an apprentice. However, in moving his plans forward, he sought former Jedi Master Dooku, who became Count of his homeworld Serenno, as his first apprentice, and Dooku helped push forward the events that would lead to the Clone Wars by forming the Confederacy of Independent Systems, a collection of various corporations and industries that included the likes of the Trade Federation, the Techno Union Army, and even the InterGalactic Banking Clan. I think you would find it most interesting to know that San Hill, the son of your assistant Larsh, had headed the Banking Clan during the war."
Plagueis smiled. While he didn't care for many people in his life as a Muun, there were very few people that Plagueis could say he had even the merest slivers of positive feelings for; Larsh Hill, who died in an attack carried out by Maladian assassins who tried to murder Hego Damask, was one of those people that Plagueis had cared for. His own parents, he was fond of while they were alive, and whilst he found it utterly satisfying to end his life, he harbored no real resentment of his Master, Darth Tenebrous. Obviously, 11-4D, or Ford as he was now known, was also someone who Plagueis didn't mind, and though he hated him now, he was still impressed with Palpatine as an apprentice through and through.
"Anyway," Ford pressed on, "Count Dooku, or Darth Tyrannus as he was secretly known, died near the end of the Clone Wars at the hands of Anakin Skywalker, and to my knowledge, it was an event orchestrated by Lord Sidious himself."
Plagueis looked, interested at what his droid told him. "Oh?"
Ford nodded. "As it turned out, Lord Tyrannus was nothing more but a mere placeholder for a Sith apprentice for Sidious, and one of the main drives for the Clone Wars. Sidious's real desire for an apprentice came in Skywalker, who he gradually swayed from the path of the Jedi to the dark side of the Force as Chancellor Palpatine."
"Anakin Skywalker had become a Jedi after all?" Plagueis asked.
"Yes. The Jedi Council overlooked the fact that he was a year too old to begin training, given his extremely high midi-chlorian count. Chancellor Palpatine used all the precious time he had with Skywalker to manipulate him to the dark side, especially during the Clone Wars."
"Did Sidious succeed in gaining Skywalker as an apprentice?" Plagueis asked.
"Indeed, he did," Ford said. "What really ensured that Anakin Skywalker would join the Order of the Sith Lords was the promise that he could save his wife from death by childbirth."
"Wife? I was under the impression that the Jedi Order disavowed deep personal attachments to others."
"Oh, they were, which was why only a select few knew about their marriage," Ford explained. "Sidious was not one of those people to know directly, but he managed to find out through Force intuition, as I understand it. Anakin had been receiving visions through the Force about his wife, Padme Amidala, from such a painful demise." Plagueis raised an eyebrow in knowing that Skywalker had been able to romance the Queen of Naboo. "And Sidious used that to make sure that she would not die if he were to turn to the dark side; in fact, he actually used you as an example of what the dark side could do."
"I'm flattered he still thought highly of me, at least," Plagueis commented wryly.
"Indeed. And so, as the Jedi Order fell, Anakin Skywalker had become Darth Vader, the true apprentice to Lord Sidious and the second most powerful figure in the Galactic Empire."
"And he got to be with his wife in the end?"
"Ironically enough, no. His turn to the dark side destroyed her, especially after she gave birth to twins, Luke and Leia. Yet he looked upon it as his own personal failure, and he went on as the Emperor's second-in-command for the Empire."
Plagueis chuckled. "Amazing. Palpatine failed to deliver on his promise, and yet he still got what he wanted in the end with Skywalker as his apprentice. No wonder I sought him out not only as an apprentice, but as an ally."
"Indeed." Ford's tone was evenly neutral even for a droid. Plagueis figured that he didn't care much for Palpatine, especially since he witnessed him kill their Master, but the Sith didn't press.
"You mentioned that Sidious died at the end of his twenty-three year reign before he was brought back only to die again years later," Plagueis said. "What happened to Vader?"
"He was redeemed from the dark side by his son, and he killed Palpatine the first time," Ford said. "Then he died from the wounds he suffered when commencing that act. I must comment, though, it seems odd that when Darth Bane established the Rule of Two, he intended it to stop the Sith from destroying themselves. Yet in the end, even at their lowest number, that still happened."
"If Vader was redeemed, then he was no longer a Sith," Plagueis countered stiffly. "Therefore, while Bane's Rule of Two died, it did not die because the Sith destroyed each other."
"I see," Ford replied. "Quite defensive about it when you yourself believed that it was an antiquated idea?"
"Antiquated for me, for I sought to live forever," Plagueis argued, feeling his patience tested by one of the few people he could come close to saying he cared for. "For anyone else, even Lord Sidious, it should always be applied. I do not object when he decided that Lord Tyrannus was disposable if he always viewed him as a placeholder to Skywalker."
"Fair enough," Ford said.
Plagueis then sat back in his pilot's chair silently for a moment before looking back at Ford. "Can you tell me about these Yuuzhan Vong? Whatever happened to them?"
"As I mentioned, the Yuuzhan Vong were extragalactic alien invaders who used bioorganic technology in their conquest of the galaxy twenty years ago," Ford explained. "They believed that the galaxy was ordained upon them by their gods, and that all mechanical machinery was an abomination to life. Hence, they viewed the native inhabitants as 'infidels' from what I understand, and obviously, given my own mechanic nature, they were quite a reason as to why I was so delayed in serving you to the best of my ability for four years. During their conquest, they had destroyed entire worlds such as Ithor and Sernpidal, invaded many such as your home of Muunilinst, Commenor, and even Coruscant, which they occupied for the last two years of their invasion as their homeworld of Yuuzhan'tar.
"By the end of their reign of the galaxy, the living world known as Zonama Sekot appeared in the skies of their proclaimed 'Yuuzhan'tar' and helped the Galactic Alliance in defeating them."
"They were exterminated?" Plagueis asked, hearing the existence of a living world that could travel through space, as he understood it, being placed in the back of his mind for the moment.
"Actually, no, surprisingly enough, they weren't, although personally, I and trillions of other beings still wish they were," Ford said. "No, what happened was that their Supreme Overlord, Shimrra Jamaane, had been killed by Luke Skywalker, and his death led to the surrender of the Vong, as they viewed Jamaane as their sole connection to their gods; no connection to the gods, no reason to fight on, they thought. The Yuuzhan Vong who didn't kill themselves after hearing this news were transported by Zonama Sekot out into the Unknown Regions where they would be safe from the vengeful denizens of the galaxy, most notably the Bothans, who declared their legendary ar'krai against the Vong for killing New Republic Chief of State Borsk Fey'lya, who was himself a Bothan."
Plagueis was familiar with ar'krai. He had heard that not only did the Bothans wipe out several species that they went to war with in the distant past, but they also made sure that any records of those species' existences were wiped from any and all of galactic record, making the extinction of those nameless races complete. He obviously admired their cunning viciousness.
"So the Yuuzhan Vong are still alive?" Plagueis asked with interest.
"Well, not a word of Zonama Sekot's whereabouts have come up since it ferried the Yuuzhan Vong into the Unknown Regions," Ford said. "So for all the galaxy knows, Zonama could have collided with a star and died a fiery death, taking the last remnants of the Vong with it. But again, for all the galaxy knows, it can still be alive out there with the Vong."
"What would this planet want with the Vong?" Plagueis asked.
"From what sources I do know concerning that matter," Ford said, "it seems that Zonama Sekot is actually the offspring of the Vong's real homeworld back in their own galaxy. And what it wants to do is reconnect them with the Force."
"Reconnect them with the Force?" Plagueis inquired.
"The Yuuzhan Vong could not be sensed through the Force, according to the Jedi," Ford said.
"Really? How is that possible?"
"From what I could gather with the information I received, the Vong had been stripped of the Force eons ago back in their home galaxy by their living homeworld," Ford said. "There, they had been confronted by a race of droids that sought to exterminate them - which at least makes their hatred of mechanical machines understandable - so the Vong resorted to violence to solve their problems. Unfortunately, even though they won against those droids, their newfound addiction to war and death caused their homeworld to permanently cut them off from the Force. When that happened, they went on to destroy their homeworld and the rest of their galaxy, forcing them into the Intergalactic Void for millennia to eventually reach and invade this galaxy."
"So Zonama Sekot is the offspring of the Yuuzhan Vong's homeworld?" Plagueis asked.
Ford nodded.
"And it is reconnecting them to the Force, as we speak?"
"As far as anyone knows, yes."
"Fascinating," Plagueis said. "Well, since we're heading to the Unknown Regions anyway, I think that it's time we commence some experiments again, OneOne-FourDee."
"As you wish, Lord Plagueis," Ford said in a reluctant tone. "It'll be good to utilize my scientific programming again, at least."
"And you can even cut open some Vong, if that makes you happy," Plagueis came back.
"That's an intriguing prospect, I'll admit," Ford said. "If only we knew where to look first."
"Leave that to me," Plagueis said. "With the Force, I'm sure it won't be hard to locate a living planet in the galaxy."