Planet Algara II
The first thing that Lumiya sensed about the person she was to rendezvous with was the foul body odor. It was a smell one would imagine would be produced if you left rotting cheese in the trunk of a speeder during the middle of the summer. It was deep putrid smell that made her eyes water and her stomach lurch.
The large malodorous humanoid ambled down the vacant streets of the Zola mining colony on Radeon—a moon of the planet Algara wore a heavy cloak with the cowl pulled down to hide his face. She could see an unkempt bushy beard peaking out from under the hood. He was tall, even for a Tof, standing over 2.6 meters and probably weighing over 150 kilograms. Tof men were either fat or muscular. This one was of the muscular variety. She could see under his cloak he was wearing the flamboyant clothing preferred by the Tof males: velvet and silk pants over knee high leather boots with large brass buckles and feathers adorning the outfit.
"Are you the Lady of the Dark?" the man asked as he pulled back his hood to revealing green skin and deeply set black eyes common with his species.
Lumiya nodded. "I am. Who are you?" she asked the unfamiliar Tof while looking around for an ambush.
"I am Lieutenant Tarkkan Lorannt, assistant to General Narko Salienti. He sent me to meet you."
A spike of irritation coursed through her body. You don't set up a clandestine meeting and then send somebody in your stead without notifying your contact. She shook her head. This was just par for the course when dealing with the Tof. "Fine, the General said he had a proposition for me?" She didn't want to mince words. She needed this business over with so she could back away and take a breath of fresh air.
The brutish Tof smiled showing a row of black and crooked teeth. "The general was contacted by an anonymous courier. The Tof were offered a warship in exchange for contacting you and delivering to you this datachip. We were told once you make contact with the person listed on the chip we will be rewarded." He held out the datachip to her.
Her eyes narrowed as she tried to figure out who would know her connection with General Salienti and that he would know how to contact her. Lumiya looked at the proffered datachip, but did not take it. "Who's it from?"
The big brute shrugged. "We do not know. The chip is encrypted."
Lumiya scoffed. "And how am I supposed to decrypt it?"
"The courier said an Imperial encryption was used that would be easily decipherable by one who was once an Emperor's Hand."
She didn't like this scenario. It didn't smell right…in more ways than one. "You're getting a ship. What's in it for me?"
"The messenger said there would be a large monetary compensation for your assistance. The details are encoded within the chip."
Lumiya frowned but took the datachip from the Tof's outstretched hand. "I'll look it over."
The Tof smiled. "I will relay the message to the General." With that he turned and bounded off the way he came.
Lumiya let out a relieved breath as she backed away from his lingering stench and pulled in a cleansing lungful of air. "What am I getting into?"
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Hapes: Royal Palace
Tenel Ka woke up out of a deep sleep with a start. She looked around her room anxiously, but didn't see anything amiss. She quickly rose from the bed and wrapped a robe around her and then picked up her lightsaber from its display case on the wall.
She opened an interior door of her suite that connected to Allana's room. She cautiously walked into the dimly lit chamber; a nightlight in a far wall was the only illumination. She went over to her daughter's small bed and was relieved to find her sleeping soundly with a small smile gracing her face. She turned toward the battle droid that acted as a guardian and nanny to Allana and immediately Tenel Ka knew something was wrong. On the breast plate of its armor was a restraining bolt. Battle droids were not supposed to be susceptible to restraining bolts, but in the last few years a manufacturer came out with a very expensive restraining device that he boasted would work on all droid models.
The fact that a restraining bolt was used meant the droid was probably still operational. She struggled to disconnect the device from the droid but was not successful. Tenel Ka could slice it off with her lightsaber, but that might alert any would be assassins that they were awake. She needed to get out of here…quietly. She woke up Allana, putting a hand over her mouth to keep her quiet. "Shhh, it's mother. We need to leave. We are in danger."
The little girl nodded and gave a good impression of calmness, but Tenel Ka could see her daughter's hands shaking. There was a loud banging on the door and she knew they had no more time. "Get behind me," the Queen Mother said and then lit her lightsaber. With one fluid flick of her wrist she cut the restraining bolt off the battle droid. The machine moaned and beeped for a few seconds as it tried to reboot. Finally it came back online and rotated toward the sound of the door being pounded in. "Take care of the intruders," she said as she scooped Allana up in her arms and headed for her closet and the secret tunnel. Of course, if this were the work of her grandmother she would know about that egress and would definitely have that exit covered.
Since it was a fifty percent chance that her grandmother was involved she decided to go another route. She entered her closet and set Allana down. She then pushed her ball gowns out of the way and using her lightsaber she made a hole in the wall leading into the empty adjoining room. She finished the cut and pushed the duracrete plug to the other side. She poked her head through and not sensing anybody in the neighboring room she helped Allana to the other side. She deactivated her lightsaber and slipped over to the other side. She then reached through the opening and pulled the ball gowns back to they would conceal the hole in the wall. She grabbed Allana's hand and moved to the room's balcony.
She could hear the battle droid firing its blasters at somebody in her quarters. Hopefully they would be surprised enough to find the droid active that they would retreat. She picked her daughter up in her arms and looked over the balcony. They were four floors up, but she was sure she could use the Force to affectively make it to the ground without injury. "Hold on," she said to Allana as she climbed over the balcony railing. Bracing against the metal rail she decided on trying to jump to the next balcony down. Making sure her daughter had a firm grip she leapt the ten-meter drop to the balcony below. She used the Force to maneuver herself during her decent and landed softly on the deck of the lower balcony. She climbed over the railing again and made a second jump to the lower terrace until she was able to land safely on the soft grass outside.
"Mommy, what's happening?" Allana whispered.
"Shhhh…it's bad people again." She moved to the motor pool area. For just these types of emergencies she had a backdoor key-code introduced into the entire fleet of palace vehicles allowing her access to any speeder she wanted. She opted for a nondescript armored vehicle. She put Allana into the passenger seat and then tried to drive as nonchalantly as possible out of the garage. She didn't want to give away her position by slamming on the accelerator and racing out of the facility. "Allana get down on the floorboards and keep out of sight." The little girl nodded and crawled under the speeder dashboard. As Tenel Ka approached the exit guard she used the Force to disguise to features to resemble one of her personal assistants. She gave the guard a casual wave of the hand as she exited the garage.
She then headed to a safe house she had set up for such an occasion. For a second she considered Jacen's proposal. She could abdicate and move to Coruscant and leave all this backstabbing behind. She fumed at the thought that her grandmother was responsible. It had to be her. Whoever did this probably didn't want Allana dead, because whoever snuck into Allana's room to put on the restraining bolt had an opportunity to kill her then. No Tenel Ka was the target. Perhaps her grandmother believed she could control Allana much more easily than Tenel Ka. With her dead Ta'a Chume would become the legal guardian of her granddaughter and she could groom her to be queen in a way more in line with the former Queen Mother's liking.
She needed to contact Jacen. She didn't want him to hear about the attack and think the worst had happened.
She just hoped he wouldn't overreact. The last time this happened he went on his years long expedition to increase his Force power. She couldn't bear to be away from him that long again.
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Jedi Temple: Coruscant
Jacen woke to the sound of his comlink going off. He looked at who was calling and it said HQMPrivate-Urgent. His stomach clinched. That was Tenel Ka code for an emergency.
"What's wrong?" he asked anxiously as he keyed on the comlink.
"Assassination attempt, we're on our way to safe house one."
"Injuries?" Jacen kept the conversation short and unspecific as possible in case some slicer did manage to break the encryption.
"None."
"Which protocol do you want to initiate?" Jacen asked apprehensively.
"Two."
Jacen's stomach sank. That was code for 'stay where you are'. More than anything he wanted to blast off planet and go to her, but he had learned Tenel Ka was more than capable of taking care of herself and Allana and he had to admit every one of her decisions concerning the handling of these situations were, in hindsight, spot on.
"Affirmative," he said slowly.
"Thank you. I'll contact you later." She sounded relieved that he didn't argue.
He wanted to tell her he loved her and Allana, but it wasn't wise while using electronic communications "Out," he said as he clicked off the comlink.
He got out of bed and paced the length of his room impatiently. There was no way he would be able to sleep until he got confirmation that the assassins were rounded up and his wife and daughter were safe.
This wasn't the way that any person should have to live…especially royalty. His family shouldn't have to memorize escape routes and have safe houses throughout Hapes and the galaxy just to ensure they could live another day. Anger started to build at the thought that he had to sit here helpless while his family was in danger. He picked up a book on his desk and flung it across the room in frustration.
"Kriff! Kriff! Kriff!" he swore, but then took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. He didn't want to cause a ripple in the Force that could be sensed by the other Force sensitives within the temple. He sat down on the edge of his bed feeling useless. He felt blocked in every direction he wanted to pursue.
He couldn't be on Hapes with his family and as Queen Mother Tenel Ka couldn't live outside of the Hapes Consortium. The backstabbing ways of the Royal were deeply ingrained into their society and there was little or no hope for reform. It wasn't that Jacen and Tenel Ka didn't have options. They had options, but none that Tenel Ka chose to exert. She felt a responsibility to her people and the throne and she wanted to keep her daughter safe. Therefore Jacen must stay away.
"This is totally kriffed up," he gave a low moan as he fell back onto the bed. For the next few hours he gazed at the ceiling silently and racked his brain for an answer.
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Star System MZX3290S, Near Bimmiel
Lumiya wandered around Darth Victivus' former home deep in thought. While on Algara II, Lumiya listened to the proposal offered on the datachip. It was an assassination mission and she was contacted because of her previous close association with a former Imperial scientist named Doctor Mak Draco, the creator of the dreaded Blackwing virus. The anonymous solicitor for murder offered a million credits If Lumiya could convince Dr. Draco to engineer a nanovirus to specifically kill two Force-users and for her to deliver the virus to the target.
She was given the location of a package delivery company on Algara II, where, as promised, a box was waiting for her under a predetermined assumed name. Inside were two vials of DNA, Galactic Alliance passports, interplanetary visas and the names of the intended targets. When she saw whom the targets were she actually laughed. It was only the most guarded people in the galaxy: Queen Mother Tenel Ka Djo and her daughter.
The identity of the person ordering the hit was not given, but Lumiya had no doubt it was Hape's former Queen, Ta'a Chume. The tabloids outside the reach of the Hapan government were not shy when it came to discussing the family problems and scandals concerning the royals.
Lumiya had to admit that the former Queen was as smart as she was devious. If a known Sith was caught delivering the biological agent nobody would believe she was involved and she was positive the aging former Queen would make sure Lumiya's presence on planet was recorded so she could ensure all fingers pointed toward a Sith planned attack. The question was, would Ta'a Chume allow her to escape Hapes or would she have Lumiya murdered to keep her silent? She was already wanted by the Galactic Alliance Guard did she really want the Hapan Consortium of over sixty planets looking to kill her on top of that?
Of course, a million credits was a lot of money. She might be able to get up-to-date cybernetics and possibly prolong her life by a few years. That is if the planned worked. The targets were Jedi—or at least one Jedi and a young Force user and Jedi were not easy to kill. And, unfortunately for her, when a Jedi is killed, their fellow Jedi have a tendency to hunt you down like a rabid nekk and make your head lonely for its body.
She looked around the empty room and called out for it's former owner who still haunted the home. "Darth Vectivus. Are you here?"
She waited for a few minutes and then called again. Eventually she could feel his dark spirit drift into the room and then coalesce into a dark shadow in the far corner of the chamber.
"What is it that you want," he said curtly. Lumiya gave a near imperceptible roll of her eyes. When he wanted to talk she couldn't shut him up, but when she had something to say he always acted like she was taking him away from some great task. Perhaps he was playing sabbac with other dark spirits in the netherworld.
"I need your advice. I was also offered a million credits to convince a former Imperial comrade and geneticist to create a nanovirus to kill the Hapan Queen Mother and her child. What are your thoughts on that?"
"I don't know the Queen personally, but I am familiar with the Hapan Consortium. I doubt you would remain alive long enough to spend your credits."
"That's what I thought. I should forget about this."
"I didn't say that," the Sith Lord said slowly. "Perhaps you could use the nanovirus in a way not intended to gain a bigger prize."
"Like what?"
"To obtain an apprentice. What better way to gain the trust of a Jedi than to offer up knowledge of a plot to kill one of their greatest allies."
"Greatest allies…you've been dead for centuries; how did you know that the Consortium is now allied with the Galactic Alliance?"
She saw the shadow shrug. "You forgot to turn off the HoloNet one night. I watched the news for hours before the programming switched to a two hour infomercial for a stain fighting cleaning product."
She snickered as she considered his suggestion. "Offer up the information to gain confidence." She thought about it some more. "The current Queen Mother trained at the Academy with the younger generation of Jedi Knights. I do know Jacen Solo was responsible for the loss of her arm. Perhaps he desires to make up for that mishap. He may be open to a discussion with me."
"Perhaps," Darth Victivus said. "But one doesn't show up and announce you are taking applications for Sith apprentice. You must have a plan so he doesn't kill you on sight."
"True." She sat down as she considered her options. "I would need to convince him of the future danger…of the prophecies of the seers and what I have seen in my visions. I would also have to show him that only a leader with the power of the light and dark sides of the Force could lead the galaxy out of peril."
"It will be difficult to persuade a Jedi that only a Sith could save the universe…after all, we have a reputation of doing the opposite," the Dark Lord pointed out.
"If I could get him here I could prove to him that as a Sith he could remain on the path of good like you remained…but how do I get him here?" She gazed down at the vials in thought. "Can you teach me to do Force projections like you are doing now?"
"I could, but why should I?"
"I'll leave the HoloNet on the sports channel tonight," she offered.
The dark form remained silent for a moment. "That would be an acceptable exchange."