A/N:in which lord kallig is pissed, zaara is pissed, cori is pissed, just- everybody is pissed off

also, more rambling at the end but most importantly: I'm finished, I'm thinking maybe monday/thursday updates for the last few chapters so that I actually finish posting this thing before kotet.

Rei sat on the railing at the edge of the roof of the People's Tower, legs dangling down over New Adasta. Jumping off was looking more and more appealing, given Kallig's current tantrum. She'd been mostly able to keep the spirits at bay, but the combination of exhaustion and stress was enough that a persistent enough ghost could slip through her walls.

And Kallig was nothing if not persistent.

Without looking back, Rei asked, "How's it look, Theron?"

"Good." He didn't exactly sound confident in his answer. "Actually, there's a bit of a power fluctuation— Temple, could you…?"

The ensign complied without argument, and Rei rolled her eyes; their mission to scout out the tower had quickly devolved into Temple helping out Theron with the recalibrations to the weapon while Rei kept watch. Kallig, who'd been off behind Rei, now appeared in front of her, floating out in the empty space beyond the tower roof.

"Go away."

"You disappoint me, my child," Kallig frowned. "I tasked you with finding glory and power, with rebuilding my legacy—"

"I've done pretty well," Rei pointed out, waving her hand towards Kallig and sending a little spark of lighting towards him. "Go away."

Kallig hadn't ever been easily deterred; unimpressed, he crossed his arms and continued to float just beyond Rei's reach. "You have power, but not the respect or fear you require. And what of your legacy, flesh of my flesh? What—"

"You know I hate when you call me that."

"—do you have to leave behind? None of your apprentices are satisfactory. You quash the potential that comes with a chained Deshade. Your followers run amok, without proper supervision and management. And even now, you distract yourself with the weak and the Force-blind!" Kallig gestured off behind Rei, and she assumed he was motioning towards Theron. "Raised by Jedi," he grumbled, as if the concept was innately offensive.

Rei sent a second little spark towards Kallig. He'd always been her least favorite of the spirits, having come to her so willingly and taking everything so personally, as if she continually set out with the goal of ruining anything and everything Kallig wanted.

And he acted like he owned her, sometimes, like she belonged to him through their shared name — a name Rei had only accepted to ensure her citizenship within the Empire but shunned otherwise.

"Yes, yes, we've been through this twice today already," Rei pointed out. "And how many times did I hear this little rant about Andronikos?"

She could sense Kallig's rage at the mention of Andronikos' name. "A pirate," he seethed.

"See? I'd call this a step up, really."

"At least your pirate did not bow to the Republic."

Rei motioned out over New Adasta. "You call this mess bowing to the Republic?"

Kallig crossed his arms again, and Rei could practically hear his scowl as he spoke. "You disappoint me," he repeated, having no new argument to offer, "and do my legacy a disservice."

"Go away." Rei hopped off the railing onto the roof, making her way over to where Theron was still working. She was tired of listening to Kallig, and if she could find a way to frustrate him into leaving her alone, she would. Feigning disinterest, Rei leaned down to pick up a datapad from where it sat on the ground beside Theron. She read over the schematics again, glancing between the plans and the actual mechanism Theron was adjusting.

It still didn't make any sense. She sighed.

"Hey, do me a favor?" Theron asked, not looking up. "When this is all over, have the Dark Council update their information on all their other giant, hidden weapons. I'm just going to go ahead and assume you have more stashed all over the galaxy."

She gave a thoughtful hmm. "Yes, Darth Marr? The New Adastan superweapon was too difficult for the SIS to sabotage. How could we fix that?"

"The sabotage is going just fine," he insisted, somewhat defensively. "It would've been easier with correct schematics, is all I'm saying."

Before Rei could tease him further, she was distracted by the odd sensation she'd come to recognize as Jedi corrupted by Vitiate. There were two, from what she could tell, and they were making their way rather quickly up through the People's Tower. "Vitiate seems to be sending us company."

Theron frowned and cursed under his breath. "We're not ready."

"The weapon isn't," Rei countered, "but I am. Ensign, with me. We'll stop them."

"Yes, my lord."

"Rei."

She glanced back to find Theron watching her, his expression a mix of apprehension and concern. "Yes?"

"Look, I know it's what you do, but maybe—" His words cut off with a sharp sigh, and Theron frowned as he glanced off past Rei. "Maybe don't kill them?"

Rei blinked; the request was completely unexpected, yet somehow not at all surprising. They were in the middle of Imperial space, working under the guidance of the Dark Council against near-impossible odds to stop the immortal former emperor — and yet Theron was asking a Sith to spare a handful of Jedi. It was such an odd, predictable, stupid request, but it was one Rei would grant.

She wondered just how, exactly, she'd found herself in this position, doing things because somehow Theron had become more important than her own convenience or profit.

"I'll make an exception, I suppose," Rei decided, giving a dramatic sigh. "As long as this doesn't turn into a habit."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Theron promised, his voice filled with relief though his expression changed little. "It's just— It's my fault they're even here. They shouldn't have to—"

Trying not to roll her eyes, Rei stepped forward and tugged Theron down for a kiss, effectively cutting off whatever self-critical argument he was about to launch into. "Save it," she suggested, pulling away as quickly as she'd approached. "You Republic types and your guilt — it's exhausting." She turned to join Temple, squashing down any satisfaction she felt at leaving Theron at least somewhat flustered.

"I've accessed the few security cameras that are still functional," Temple reported as they entered the elevator. "From what I can tell, the Jedi you sensed are alone."

Rei didn't sense Temple's curiosity — the agent was too guarded for that — but she could hear it, in her voice. "You have something to say, Ensign?" she asked, confident that Temple would understand what she was referring to.

"No, my lord." But there was a lightness to her voice, a sort of amusement that contradicted her words. "It's just that Zaara likes her mission reports to be quite thorough."

She snorted. "Zaara wouldn't dare add that to an official report. No one would believe her."

The trip to the People's Tower was as silent as a shuttle ride could get in the middle of a warzone. Cori sat with her arms crossed, not looking up from the floor. Kira sat beside her, close enough that their shoulders touched, and occasionally reached out through the Force to offer what little comfort she could. Lana and Zaara sat opposite them, both focused on datapads.

It was a good plan, the idea that Lana had come up with. Draw out the Emperor by offering up someone as bait — someone whose presence Vitiate wouldn't be able to resist. The obvious choice, chosen almost unanimously between those in charge back at the New Adastan base, had been Lys. It did make sense, given that she was the Emperor's former Wrath — or Vitiate's favorite lackey, as Davri had put it.

But Cori hadn't been able to agree. With the exception of Kira and Doc, no one in that room had known about her… unique relationship with Vitiate. Explaining to a roomful of Sith and Imperials that she'd been the reason for their Emperor's original disappearance was almost as difficult as facing him in the first place.

She hadn't wanted anyone's pity, but it would've been nice to have gotten some response; neither Zaara or Lana had spoken more than two words to her.

Without warning, Zaara set her datapad loudly on the empty seat beside her. "You'd better hope we never need another alliance like we did on Yavin." The words were curt and cold and clearly meant for Cori. "Because the next time I see Satele, I'm going to kill her."

Lana admonished her with a quiet Zaara at the same time that Kira leaned forward and demanded, "And just what does Satele have to do with any of this?"

Zaara stood to pace, occasionally pausing to turn and gesticulate as she spoke. "Apologies if I don't know all the details about every top secret Jedi mission, but I'm going to go ahead and guess that Satele's the one who sent you to Dromund Kaas? Did she even give you a choice?" She shook her head. "Or is it one of those Jedi choices, where they guilt you into it regardless of what you actually want?"

"I chose to lead the mission," Cori assured her, putting a great deal of her focus into keeping her voice level. "No one guilted me into anything. I spent almost eight months preparing for the assault — I knew what I was getting into."

"Did you? Can you honestly say the mission went exactly as expected?"

"None of us could know—"

"Exactly." Zaara scowled, turning away from Cori. "The blind leading the blind."

Defensive anger sparked through her. "How many times has Intelligence sent you on jobs where you're in over your head? Or where they don't give you all the details?"

Something in her words resonated with Zaara; the agent was silent, shoulders tensing and a flash of… fear? emanating from her. "Imperial Intelligence is the backbone of the Empire," she said finally, voice low, "and if they keep information from an agent, it's not because they don't have it. It's for the good of the agent. For their safety."

"Couldn't the same be said of the Jedi?" Kira offered diplomatically. "That we're the backbone of the Republic? That some knowledge is better suited for masters than padawans?"

"This isn't the time for a philosophical discussion," Lana interjected, frowning. "We're nearly at the People's Tower, and once there we'll need to act quickly. We only have one chance at this."

Cori knew she was right, but almost didn't want to drop the subject; having Zaara upset with her — or, more accurately, at the Jedi for what they'd done to her — was, in a way, better than being completely ignored. But Lana had a point, and neither Cori nor Kira said anything further, and the last few minutes of their shuttle ride continued in silence. Cori nearly said something, just for the sake of making some sort of noise, but decided against it; things were too tense as it was.

Really, she wanted to speak with Lana. There was nothing in specific they needed to discuss — unless Lana felt the need to bring up Cori's revelation about attacking the Emperor, which was a topic Cori wanted to avoid. They simply hadn't had much time together since Cori's arrival on Ziost, and their relationship hardly seemed important, given the state of things on the planet.

Still, if they could have just one night, or afternoon, or even just an hour…

Cori shook her head, mentally berating herself for being so distracted. There were reasons Jedi were encouraged to avoid attachments, reasons Cori found herself meditating on often, and her current state of mind was one of them.

But Vitiate's constant presence was a somewhat sobering influence, and Cori's focus had returned by the time the group stepped out into the People's Tower. It was a short trek up to one of the upper levels, where an empty conference room with a large holoterminal waited. Lana ran through the plan again — get Vitiate's attention, make their way up to the roof, let the electrostatic weapon handle the rest — before making some adjustments to the holoterminal.

"There. It should transmit to most of the capital, now, and the audio will go through the emergency broadcast signal as well."

Cori frowned. "And this will be enough to alert everyone under Vitiate's influence?"

"It projects an enormous hologram outside the People's Tower," Lana explained. "It's meant for speeches and announcements and other public events, but I think it'll do for this, yes."

Cori stepped forward, glancing back at Lana before turning the holoprojector on. "Vitiate," she spoke, enunciating clearly, "time and time again you've tried to get the better of me. You've tried to infect my mind and twist my will. In some ways, you've been my best teacher — I've learned much from the mistakes I've made in your presence. I feared you once, Vitiate, but no longer. I may have failed in every attempt I've made to rid the galaxy of your power, but that doesn't mean I'll stop trying. I will cut you down again and again and again — I will never stop hunting you, if that's what it takes." She took a deep breath, centering herself. "So come find me, and let's see who walks away this time."

Nodding, Lana ended the transmission, looking mostly satisfied; Zaara, by comparison, still looked upset at the entire situation. "I'm almost hoping this doesn't work," she admitted, voice quiet with unease. "I hate thinking that the Emperor has his full focus on destroying you."

"It won't be the first time," Cori reminded her. "And this time I'll be among allies." The words didn't seem to comfort Zaara much and, truthfully, they didn't bring much comfort to Cori, either.

There was a sudden clarity as Surro fell, the pressure on Rei's mind lessening all at once as Vitiate's presence dissipated. It was still, and the rooftop was silent as the Jedi collapsed onto her hands and knees, gasping and crying out.

Rei left her lightsaber ignited for a moment longer, her eyes sweeping across the others as she caught her breath. Temple was helping Theron to his feet, Lana seemed no worse for wear, and Zaara was dusting herself off. Cori, however, was already moving to the center of the rooftop; she half-ran to meet Surro, dropping to her knees beside the other Jedi as she crumpled to the ground.

"Get back, Jedi," Rei ordered, clipping her saber back to her belt and beginning to walk towards the pair.

But her words were drowned out by Surro's own protests, as she insisted over and over again that she could see nothing but the atrocities Vitiate had committed with her own hands. "I'll never be free of him," Surro declared, latching onto Cori, her hands grabbing at her robes as she buried her face in the togruta's shoulder. "I'll never be free of any of this."

"Yes you will," Cori promised. Her voice grew even quieter as she added, "You can get past this."

Rei opened her mouth to repeat her order for Cori to move back, but the words fizzled out as Theron knelt beside the two Jedi, taking one of Surro's hands and offering some measure of comfort. "You'll be fine, Master Surro. We'll take you back to Tython, get this all sorted out."

"I'm afraid we can't allow that, Theron." Lana joined the rest of them, Zaara and Temple close behind. She raised a hand to tuck her frazzled hair behind one ear, frowning. "We haven't seen any others possessed so directly by Vitiate. At the very least, we need to monitor her."

"Monitor?"

"Yes," Zaara decided, pausing briefly as she studied her sister. "I'd be willing to work out an agreement for Surro's return to the Republic, but not yet."

"There's much her state of mind could reveal about the nature of Vitiate's power," Lana agreed. "She doesn't need to remain with the Empire long for us to understand it."

Cori and Theron both looked up at the mention of Surro's mind, speaking over each other as they argued against holding Surro on Ziost. Their debating quickly spiraled into weak protests and vague threats and, ultimately, was only postponing a decision. And through it all, Surro muttered and cried to herself, still clinging to Cori like a lifeline.

They were wasting time, and they didn't even know how effective the electrostatic weapon had been or if Surro could even be useful; she was a liability, and there was no way to predict how quickly Vitiate could re-possess her. Rei nearly threw her hands up in frustration. "Why not just kill her, then?" she suggested, tone sharp. "She's no use to us like this. Even less so if the Jedi get their hands on her."

Four seething No's of disapproval all came at once.

"She's the most useful thing on this whole planet," Lana countered. "She's the only one we know of so far to be possessed by Vitiate to this extent — she could tell us things that would take us days to piece together otherwise."

"And why do I get the feeling," Theron snapped, "that you won't get this information by asking politely?"

"You aren't taking her." Cori's voice was quiet, but firm and filled with conviction, and she looked up to glare directly at Zaara. "None of you could know what she's going through or what she needs. We're taking her to Tython."

Lana crossed her arms, her jaw set. "We don't even know if it's possible for a Jedi to recover from corruption on this level. We would lose our best chance at stopping Vitiate, and there's no way to tell if anyone on Tython can even help her. You can have her when we're through," she added after a moment.

Scowling, Rei briefly debated attempting to speak up again; they were standing on a roof, arguing amongst themselves, when they needed to determine the effect of the weapon and get back to the mission — not to mention the fact that the rest of the Council would likely be expecting an update.

But Cori continued with whatever point she was trying to make. "The Jedi can help her."

It was Zaara, this time, who argued against the idea. "We don't know if—"

"I do."

"Cori—"

"I know they can," she insisted, "because they've helped me. If they can heal four months of being under the Emperor's control, they can heal Surro." As she spoke, her gaze lowered to once again look at the Jedi she was cradling, her frown softening as her anger seemed to dissipate.

The tension on the rooftop lessened, replaced by mild shock and unease from Zaara, Lana, and Theron; it was Zaara who spoke first, a slight waver to her voice. "Four months," she repeated. "Before Belsavis. The Jedi declared you missing in action, and I thought you were dead, and… it was Vitiate?"

"This isn't the time or place," Lana interjected gently, having recovered from her brief moment of disbelief.. "For any of this, perhaps. If we return to the orbital station, get Surro away from Vitiate's presence, she should be safe. We can discuss her fate then."

"And report in to the Council," Rei added, glad they were finally moving on; this whole thing had been a waste of time, and it was leaving her restless. "Maybe one of you could contact Saresh, see if she might cooperate now that we're all out of plans."

A/N: whoo so! a couple of things to get out of the way:

1) whhhhy exactly is surro so important when there's a planet full of jedi/sith/troopers being possessed? I don't believe we're given a solid reason in game? or I missed it? (which is possible) so this is my half-assed attempt at reasoning

2) apologies (again) for taking a couple weeks to get this out. I was ready last week, and then Politics happened and. well. it was a rough few days. but!

3) I am officially, 100%, finished with ostensibly! well, the writing part, at least. 27 and 28 are edited, 30 is done and waiting to be edited, and 29 is... written. It needs a lot of work. but it's done.