"Hello, my Master," the spirit of Darth Sidious said to Plagueis. "I see that you have cheated death, after all. Such a shame you could not maintain your true form in the process."
"The decision for this body was not mine," Plagueis said, casting a brief glance at Ford before returning his attention to his former apprentice. "But it is one that I can easily adapt to. Now how and why are you here, Sidious?"
Sidious's hideous visage smiled evilly. "Always straight to the point with you. It is a trait I've always admired under your tutelage." His tone became more business-like. "When I was last defeated by Luke Skywalker, he and his friends believed that my soul had been cast into the Netherworld of the Force. But I barely managed to escape such an eternal prison once again, as I reached out for something to help me stay in this realm, and I found this very Dagger. My spirit was encased here, and I would act as its guardian should anyone dare to take it, and in return, I shall one day know freedom again. So, in essence, I am here to stop you from claiming the Dagger of Mortis and stopping Abeloth's inevitable return to the galaxy."
"And that would allow you to roam free?" Plagueis inquired.
"Of course it would," Sidious answered. "It is what the Dagger tells me."
"What the Dagger tells you," Plagueis echoed. "Do you honestly think that is what's going to happen to you after Abeloth rises again? At best, you'll be subservient to her, and at worst, she'll most likely entrap your spirit into her form. And one thing I know about you, when you murdered your own family, when you murdered me, is that you despise being subservient to anyone. Now, do you really want to do this?" All while he talked, Plagueis used the Force to shadow his psychic entrance for his former apprentice.
Sidious was silent for a moment before he replied, "Yes. Because subservience to a higher power is greater than entrapment within it."
"Is that why you killed me then?" Plagueis countered. "Because you felt entrapped?"
"You were no higher power than I was, and you know it," Sidious growled. "You only deluded yourself into believing that you could be truly immortal, that you could outlast me and take over my Empire. You never intended me as a true apprentice anymore than I did when I recruited Count Dooku into the Sith Order. You only used me as you did with Bon Tapalo, Sifo-Dyas, and the rest. You even admitted so when you asked me to spy on my father and his party's inner workings against Tapalo! You only made me believe that I had more control than I did when I became your apprentice!"
"I admit that I was using you from when I asked you to go against your father all the way to securing your position as Supreme Chancellor of the Republic," Plagueis said. "But can you really say you weren't using me as well?"
Sidious sneered. "Touche, my Master. But none of that matters anymore. What does matter is that I destroy you as I've done all those years ago... and before you try to banish me!." Then he raised his ghostly hands and purple lightning shot out from them, hitting Plagueis square in the chest and sending him flying back several meters to crash into the wall behind him and sliding down to the ground on his backside. In the process, the Dagger of Mortis fell from his grasp, yet his concentration into entering Sidious's mind didn't falter - not by much, anyway.
Before Plagueis could pick himself up, more purple lightning hit him and pinned him against the wall again, painfully electrocuting him as he convulsed in agony.
Between the stream of lightning bolts, Ford and Five-U, who seemed to be ignored by the spirit of Sidious, watched helplessly as Plagueis was dying before their eyes.
"What should we do?" Five-U asked his captain.
Ford hesitated before he answered. "There's nothing we can do," he concluded sullenly. Five-U could tell that his captain was most likely reliving that scene when he watched his Master die under his apprentice all those decades ago.
But several seconds into the electrocution, Plagueis suddenly pushed himself up to his feet, albeit with intense pain going against him, much to Sidious's visible chagrin. The living Sith Lord then slowly raised his hands up against the stream of lightning, face set in determination, and the electrocution stopped enveloping him so that it could be absorbed into his form.
Then Plagueis lowered one hand, allowing the other to continue to absorb the electrocution stream even as Palpatine intensified it, so that he could use his now-free appendage to call the Dagger back into his grasp. The living Sith then closed his eyes and concluded the rest of his psychic journey for Sidious's mind.
.
"All right, so you know how to activate the Force repellent for the spiders?" Cilghal asked Team Jacen as the latter trio prepared to depart back into their shuttle.
They all nodded wordlessly, Jacen and Nom Anor's expressions betraying their embarrassment for not knowing what to do previously while Onimi offered a more apathetic expression.
"Good," Cilghal said. "Now the next time you three idiots come back here, I wanna here that you finally completed the mission, okay? 'Cause I don't wanna explain for the sixth time how to work that Force repellent!"
"You can count on us, Cilghal!" Jacen exclaimed, raising his arms up in defense. "We'll be fine!"
"Okay. Now get the hell outta here," Cilghal said.
The three of them nodded again and turned back to the shuttle, whose boarding ramp was already down. Onimi went in first, then Nom Anor, and Jacen was the last one aboard to close the ramp up. A few minutes later, the Imperial shuttle disappeared in a bright, white flash.