A/N: in which i try to write saresh as not entirely incompetent, rei makes some threats, and vitiate is a dick
Cori did her best not to fidget. The conference room within the orbital station was packed; she stood off to the right side of the room with T7, Theron, and most of Havoc Squad, while Zaara, Ensign Temple, Captain Quinn, and Darth Nox and her mirialan apprentice stood further to the left.
They were crowded around the holoterminal in the center of the conference table, waiting for the call to go through. A small holoprojector on the table displayed Darth Marr's image as he stood, arms crossed, silently waiting alongside the rest of them.
When Saresh finally appeared on the terminal, she surveyed the assembled group with some surprise, before turning to focus on Davri. "Major Sohms. Agent Shan. I hope you both know I've already alerted—"
"Supreme Chancellor, please just listen," Cori interrupted, the sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach giving her reason enough to speak out of turn. "I know you want to do right by the Republic, and that's a noble goal, but you have to understand — remaining on Ziost is not the right thing."
"Which is a nice way of saying we need to get the hell out of here," Davri added.
Saresh waited, her expression one of almost boredom; when no others spoke up, she pointed out, "Neither of you are in a position to make demands of me." Placing one hand on her hip, she took a long look at the group before speaking again. "Understand, Master Cori, that you and Major Sohms are not the only two reporting to me. I have a far better grasp of the situation than you give me credit for."
Nox scoffed. "Nobody has any sort of grasp on this situation, Chancellor. And speaking of people reporting to you — how long has it been since you heard from your man in Intelligence?"
Cori felt her eyes widen in concern, but said nothing; she had no way to know if Nox was referring to Kovach, and accidentally exposing him wouldn't do much to help with their negotiations.
"Instead of throwing around threats, why don't we share the data we've collected, hm?" Zaara suggested, tone impatient, as she motioned to Theron. She ran through various numbers and figures about evacuations, possessions, and casualties, with the occasional input from Theron, Temple, or Marr. Even though Cori already knew the specifics — she'd been living the statistics, knew that there were too many deaths no matter which way they broke it down, knew that five percent of the capital population evacuated was both an unbelievably large number and far too small a number — hearing it all again, all together and organized into neat little pieces, was enough to make her stomach churn.
She had a brief thought, that perhaps she shouldn't be up here in the defense center, but still down fighting on the planet's surface. But she wasn't, and wouldn't be until they'd reached an accord with Saresh; Cori's team, along with the teams of most everyone gathered for the meeting, had been recalled from Ziost for the time being. Zaara had cheerily called it "forced teamwork," but Cori suspected the Empire just wanted to be able to keep an eye on the few Republic allies they had.
As Zaara's reports came to an end, Saresh frowned and considered her words before speaking. "…I see. It seems my sources were wrong. If that much of the capital is compromised, then perhaps it's in the Republic's best interests to cut our losses."
"The Empire will hold no prisoners," Marr spoke, "and will allow the Republic to withdraw unhindered, for the time being. Any Republic forces remaining in Imperial space after forty-eight hours will be dealt with appropriately."
"That's hardly fair," Saresh countered. "If the possessions are as wide-spread as you claim, there will be hundreds of our soldiers under the Emperor's influence. What about them? Am I expected to just leave them at the Empire's mercy?"
"Vitiate is not our Emperor. And we can discuss the terms for those who remain after the situation is under control."
Mind once again focused solely on the situation at hand, Cori took a careful step forward. "Darth Marr, my team and I have been assisting here on Ziost for several days now. If it's agreeable, we could stay after the— after Vitiate is gone, and help to escort the remainder of the Republic off-planet."
Zaara tossed her a cautionary look, one that said what are you doing?, but when she spoke it was directed at Saresh. "Your forty-eight hours are wasting, Chancellor. I'd suggest taking what you've been offered and having this argument later."
Saresh stared down at Zaara, lekku twitching in what Cori recognized as irritation. "The Republic won't be strong-armed into surrender, Agent. I'll call off the blockade, for forces will withdraw as well, but we won't be leaving orbit until we've come to an agreement regarding our possessed soldiers."
As the negotiations wrapped up, Cori found herself almost dizzy with relief. She pushed her way out of the conference room as soon as she was able to leave, needing what little open space the hangar bay offered and heading straight to her ship.
"She still won't listen?" Kira guessed as Cori approached.
"No, she did. I'm just afraid it's just too little, too late." Cori leaned up against the side of the hanger bay, her breathing still shallow and her head beginning to spin a bit; whether it was still relief or the return of her nerves, she wasn't sure. "No one has any new ideas about Vitiate, though. I think Nox is going to meet with the rest of the Dark Council right now, and after that I'll try to speak to Satele."
"Satele?"
Eyes going wide, Cori looked around for the source of the quietly excited voice. Giving a little sigh, Kira stepped to the side and revealed a young human girl who'd been standing behind her. "Karina, meet Cori. Cori, 's been hiding by our ship since we got here." Kira gave Cori a warning glance. "Her parents haven't gotten off planet yet."
Immediately, she felt a pang of sympathy for the girl. Kneeling down so they were eye-level with each other, Cori asked, "Do you know how to contact them? Or any other family we could find?" If she concentrated, she could feel — between the already crowded orbital station and the general havoc Vitiate's presence was causing her senses — a faint Force connection from Karina.
If the Sith hadn't discovered her yet, they would soon, and the thought made Cori shudder.
"No," Karina insisted, hands balling into little fists at her side. "I don't wanna go back to them."
Kira sighed again. "Her parents are mean. They're gonna send her to the Sith. Sith are bad, so are Jedi. And farmers. And growing up, and…" She paused to think. "Capes?"
Karina nodded vigorously, her caramel pigtails bobbing up and down. "They're not swooshy enough," she informed Cori.
Cori glanced up at Kira, then back to Karina. "Well, you have to have someone we can contact—" She trailed off as Karina began shaking her head again. "Then, just… stay with 'll figure something out." She stood, beginning to search through the crowds for Zaara; if anyone could find a suitable place for the child, it was her sister.
As a sort of stray thought, Cori noticed that Vitiate was no longer prodding at the edge of her mind. But it was more than that — he wasn't just not pushing against her, but he was gone. Reaching out, Cori couldn't find any trace of the former Emperor, even after closing her eyes to search across the planet below.
As suddenly as Vitiate's presence had disappeared, it returned, dark and overwhelming but somehow distant; Cori could feel the heavy pull of the Emperor on Ziost even from the orbital station.
It was only a moment after she'd processed Vitiate's return that she first felt the screams.
Zaara tapped at her earpiece, not expecting an answer but hoping for one anyway. "Watcher Three?"
Static.
She tried once, twice again before giving up, folding her arms tightly and continuing to stare out the window of the orbital station. Even after the planet quieted, Zaara hadn't been able to tear her eyes away from the lifeless remainders of Ziost; it was wrong and it was empty and it was sick, but the planet just kept staring up at her, mocking.
As if the reactions from the various Sith and Jedi on the orbital station hadn't been enough of a confirmation, the first thing Zaara had done after the dust had settled on the surface was turn to the scanners.
No registered life forms.
They could search the planet, scan the ruins, run tests on the remains — something, anything would be better than the current shell-shocked inaction.
She knew it would hit her, too, in a few days, the same way it had with the Eradicators all those years ago. She'd wake up in the middle of the night with an acute sense of danger terror run and she'd hug her pillow to her chest and struggle to breathe and it would be too much. She'd spend the rest of the night wondering just why she ever started working for Intelligence, why she willingly accepted such an unforgiving job. Then she'd fall asleep, and everything would resume without interruption the next day.
Zaara had a job to do, and she had to hold herself together long enough to figure out how to hold the Empire together.
For now, she had an orbital station filled with terrified civilians, no possible way to draw up a casualty report, and a sister who'd emptied her stomach on Lokin. Twice.
The events on the surface seemed to have affected those with any Force sensitivity far worse than the others; Lys, for her part, was tirelessly working to get as many ships out of the station as possible in the brief window they'd been given. She looked far too pale and her eyes were bloodshot and, according to Quinn, she'd nearly passed out, but that hadn't stopped her.
Lana had… recovered, though she was still visibly shaken and Zaara could see her sway on her feet. She had finally hit the point where she was exhausted enough that she no longer tried to handle everything herself; instead, she delegated, dividing up tasks between whichever apprentices and agents had made it off-planet.
Rei was another story entirely. Zaara had been with her on Oricon, when she'd crumpled under the combined influence of the Dread Masters and the ghosts already within her mind. This was almost as bad. There was less incoherent screaming and infuriated cursing at invisible entities, but she'd latched on to Andronikos and buried her face in his shirt and hadn't moved. On Oricon, Zaara might have seen that as a mercy, but this wasn't that first mission and now she knew Rei too well to be comforted.
Zaara had checked up on Raina, as well; the ensign was shaken but not overwhelmed, and Zaara had been content to send her straight back to work.
As for Zaara, she kept staring down at the planet. She would pull herself away, in time; for now, she wanted to burn the image of Ziost into her mind, sear the emptiness and death into her memories.
She wasn't Sith, but she could appreciate the idea of using her rage to fuel her.
It was another good two or three minutes before Zaara forced herself to attend to the orbital station. It was chaos — but everything was chaos, for the moment — but she couldn't afford to lose focus. Ultimately, her duties hadn't changed, and she still had to finish evacuating and ensure that the Republic was out of Imperial space in the next forty-eight hours.
Some might suggest leniency, given the circumstances, but Zaara wouldn't allow it. The last thing they needed was for the Empire to look weak, and if Saresh decided to resume making demands — as any clever leader would, in the aftermath of such an event — they would have to stand firm.
Worst case, they'd start with hostages. Major Sohms would look good in a holding cell, Zaara thought.
But that was all just speculation, for the moment, and Zaara had more pressing concerns — like getting word to Kaas City. Turning from the window, she searched through the hangar bay until she found Lana, eager to throw herself back into work. "We've wasted enough time," she stated plainly.
"I agree. First, we'll need to contact the Dark Council." Lana barely looked up as Zaara approached, scrolling through one datapad while a second sat in front of her. "It's likely they're already aware, but… they'll need details."
"Which details? How we have no idea exactly what happened, how we lost a good percentage of the upper portions of Intelligence hierarchy, or how Saresh had a spy working directly under the Minister of Intelligence?"
The words came out more accusatory than Zaara had intended, but Lana wasn't the least bit shaken. "All of it, but I'd suggest first sending a preliminary report of what we do know, along with anyone of importance who's still alive. And," she added, almost without thought, "tell me, at least, that Kovach is dead? You didn't waste any time with him?"
"He had a job to do. He was working in the capital with Kartier. I'm assuming Vitiate took both of them."
Lana sighed, though it seemed to be more out of relief than anything. "Good. That's one thing taken care of, at least. Now we just have to deal with everything else."
"Don't focus on any of that." Vrynn's words were quiet, her hands cool on Rei's face. "That's over. Focus on me, and focus on Andronikos."
For such an otherwise timid apprentice, Vrynn was proving to be quiet the healer. She'd recovered impossibly quickly from Vitiate's… from what he did to Ziost, and had moved throughout the orbital station to soothe and heal and comfort anyone who needed it.
Rei would've been proud, if she hadn't been more concerned about the chaos within her own mind. But Vrynn was right — it was over, and Vitiate's brief but stifling presence was gone. Between whatever Force trick Vrynn was using and the warm, solid feel of Andronikos' hand in hers, Rei had worked out a way to quiet her spirits.
But she could still feel it — the spirits and Vitiate and all those deaths — like a ghost at the edge of her consciousness.
She gave Vrynn a light push away and some instructions to go help Quinn or some other medic, and let her head rest on Andronikos' chest. "It shouldn't have happened."
His hold on her tightened just a bit, in a way that was both comforting and grounding. "You did everything you could, Rei."
"That's my point."
"I know."
She relaxed a bit, then, comforted somewhat by the fact that Andronikos did know, that she didn't have to explain the frustration and the terror roiling within her. The last time she'd felt like this — truly powerless — had been when Thanaton had left her for dead in his meditation chambers, when Andronikos had carried her body through the Citadel and nothing but the spite and humor of a handful of Force ghosts had kept her breathing.
Rei had been powerless before; it wasn't a sensation she was unfamiliar with. As a girl, enslaved aboard an Imperial luxury cruiser, or as a teen, locked in fighting ring after fighting ring, or even as an apprentice, bound to Zash's every word because she was still learning now to not cling to a master — Rei hadn't had a choice, then, not really; but here, and with Thanaton, it had been different, because she'd done everything she could, had fought with every ounce of her strength, and she'd still found herself bested.
There was nothing that terrified her more than having all her accumulated power become useless. Even just the thought was beginning to make her restless, and Rei pulled away from Andronikos, offering only a small smile as an unspoken explanation. She left under the pretense of helping, flitting through the station and briefly checking in with everyone she needed to see. It was too much to ask who'd gone back to the surface — she didn't want to know, not yet, not now, she just needed to see who was still there, still safely on the station.
Havoc was fine. A bit jumpy, perhaps, but when Rei came across them, Major Sohms gave a solemn nod and a promise to be gone as soon as the Imperials wanted. The Jedi that trailed after Cori offered a similar promise, though Rei hadn't yet seen Cori herself. She found the Wrath still working with the refugees, and found Ashara and Jaesa working alongside Quinn. Zaara's people were spread out but Rei was almost certain she encountered each of them; Zaara herself was deep in conversation with Lana, standing at the far end of the hangar bay and motioning stiffly to the planet below.
It wasn't until she couldn't find him that she realized she'd been looking for Theron, and after another loop around the hangar, she finally spotted him, arms crossed and staring down at Ziost.
"Your Jedi," Rei began, pausing to clear her throat. "Did many of them make it?"
At first, Theron gave no indication that he'd heard, but shook his head after a moment. "Just the ones taken prisoner. There's four, I think. And Master Surro."
"I can clear them for transfer," she offered, hoping to be of some help. "Even Surro, as long as Lana hasn't already taken off with her."
"That's a long way from we should just kill her."
A sharp response sat on the tip of her tongue, but Rei held it back; this wasn't the time, and perhaps Theron did have a point. "The stakes have changed," she stated plainly. She was in no hurry to kill anyone, not now, and she was fairly certain giving up one Jedi wouldn't do much against Vitiate.
And really, all logic aside, Rei saw it as a favor to Theron.
She wasn't sure he agreed, given the way he frowned and didn't quite look at her. "Just like that?"
"Ah, yes, the untrusting spy — I should've seen it coming," she teased, forcing a lightness into her voice. Already, Rei was tired of the whole situation, of the tension between them and the general stressed atmosphere of the station. She wanted to do something, if only just to occupy her mind for a short time. "Come on."
Rei led the way to the med clinic-slash-prison that had been fashioned for the Jedi they were holding, occasionally glancing back at Theron. He hadn't followed right away, clearly doubting Rei's sincerity. "The prisoners leave with Theron," she announced as they entered, bringing a halt to the flurry of activity in the med center. "Prepare transport and release them, and do not ask questions."
One of the medics spoke up uncertainly. "But, my lord, Minister Beniko and Agent—"
Almost without thinking, one of Rei's hands shot up and the medic began to struggle, grasping at his throat. Rei released him after only a second — a warning. "Do not ask questions," she reminded him. "I'm not in the mood for any more unnecessary deaths today. Minister Beniko and Agent Ven answer to the Dark Council. As do you."
She expected Theron to be pleased despite the display, but he frowned as he inspected the Jedi. "Where's Master Surro?"
A different medic stepped forward this time, ducking her head meekly and addressing Rei. "Dark lord. Surro was taken by one of the other Jedi about ten minutes ago. The Lord Wrath herself authorized her release."
"Which Jedi?" Theron demanded. "Cori? Togruta, lots of armor, preachy even for a Jedi?"
The medic's gaze flickered over towards Theron as she nodded, but when she answered her focus was still entirely on Rei. "She was togruta, yes. The Wrath told us Agent Ven would need to be notified."
"Don't notify her until you're finished," Rei decided. Turning to Theron, she added, "You'll want to get out of here quickly, then. There's no telling how long it'll be before Zaara decides she needs leverage."
"Right. And… thanks," he offered uncertainly. "I wasn't sure I'd be able to get anyone out."
Rei didn't answer immediately, trying to find a response that was encouraging without being flippant; it was harder than she thought. "Well, I have already threatened someone — I can't exactly go back on my decision now, can I?"
Theron's mood didn't quite lift, but his tone lightened a bit. "I guess that is pretty sound logic, coming from you." Even as he spoke, he frowned, arms crossed as he watched the Imperial medics scurry around to retrieve and prepare the Jedi. "It would be too much to ask for a medical transport, after all this, wouldn't it?"
Raising an eyebrow, Rei tilted her head up to give Theron her best are you kidding me? look. "You're standing in the middle of Imperial space next to a Dark Council member who's giving you anything you ask for — and you think there's a such thing as too much?" She turned back to the medics and called out, "Prepare a long range shuttle with proper medical facilities, and make sure it's stocked with adequate supplies. If I learn that any of these Jedi do not survive the trip back to the core worlds, I will hold each of you personally accountable."
Her command was met with a half dozen responses of right away, my lord, and the medic who'd addressed her earlier — the one she hadn't threatened — snatched a datapad off a table and rushed out of the room.
There was the faintest break in Theron's mood, and he offered a look that was one part amused and one part impressed — precisely what Rei had hoped for. "You could've done without the threats. Still, I'll try to remember to ask for something more impressive next time I'm in this position."
"No offense, Theron, but if you're ever this far into Imperial space again, I will personally drag you back to Coruscant." She paused, feeling a weight creep into the words she was now holding back. "And besides, doing this… it has nothing to do with Ziost."
Typically, showing affection was a simple thing — the right gesture or words or display to the right person at the right time — but with Theron, it was complicated. He was not, by any sort of logic, the right person, and circumstances meant that there was no right time, and the two of them had differing opinions on what constituted the right gesture.
Neither of them quite knew what to say after Rei's somewhat awkward confession, but the relative silence was broken by the beeping of Rei's holocomm. She reached for it immediately, eager for a distraction, but her shoulders slumped as she realized it was Marr; Rei was not in any way prepared to speak to the Council.
"I should… It's Marr," she offered lamely. She turned to leave, but a hand caught hers and she froze.
"Rei." Theron tugged her gently back towards him, free hand reaching up to tilt her chin upwards. "Think you can manage a goodbye, this time?"
Some very, very small part of her flashed with annoyance — she had… things to do. Stuff to prepare. Thoughts to un-scatter. "See, these are the sort of things you should be asking for." She pushed up onto her toes, her lips meeting Theron's in a kiss that was slow and sweet and not quite what Rei had expected.
It was as if they had all the time in the galaxy, as if they weren't standing in the middle of a frantic, crowded station and they weren't both about to leave. The urgency of the holocall dulled, the destruction on the planet below them drifted to a distant memory, and the failures Rei felt she'd caused faded into unimportance — if only for a moment.
But all of that did matter, and as Rei's arms rested behind Theron's neck she realized she still held her holocomm and it was still beeping, and she still had to deal with Ziost. She pulled away, shoulders tensing, the rush of responsibility shaking her just enough that she could feel Kallig's disappointment and fury seeping into her own consciousness.
"I have to go," she insisted, more conviction in her voice this time. "The Council, we… They need me, and we have a lot of work ahead of us."
"Yeah." Theron's hold tightened, as if he wasn't quite ready to leave just yet, but after a moment he stepped back and nodded. "We've all got a lot of work to do."
The chiming of Rei's holocomm silenced, and she groaned inwardly. Frowning up at Theron, she jabbed an accusatory finger into his chest. "You made me late," she pointed out. "And don't forget what I said about coming back to Imperial space."
"I know." He reached up to take her hand in both of his, not quite grinning. "Don't know if I could say the same about finding you in Republic space, though."
She rolled her eyes, somehow managing to hold back a grin of her own. "Letting a Sith traipse around the Republic? You don't have it in you. Now leave," Rei insisted, tugging her hand free and giving Theron a light push back towards the med center, "before Zaara or Lana get any ideas."
"I'm going, I'm going." He took a few steps then turned, almost hesitant. "Stay safe?"
"Don't blow up any more shuttles?"
"Deal."
With nothing more than a nod and a smile in return, Rei pivoted and made a beeline for the — hopefully — empty conference room. If she stayed any longer, she'd find some other thing to discuss, some other promise to make, and it was better for her to just leave. Besides, she had the feeling she'd be seeing Theron again, and relatively soon; she had no doubt that was partially just hopeful naivety, but she was also certain that with Vitiate's devastating return, the Empire would be reaching out the Republic again.
A small comfort, ultimately, but one Rei would gladly take.
As soon as she was alone in the conference room, Rei entered Marr's frequency and waited, taking a deep breath as the call connected. "Darth Marr—"
"We could feel the disturbance even here," he interrupted. "Your presence is needed in Kaas City, Nox. Our response to this tragedy must be swift."
"Agreed."