Chapter 40
(Coruscant, Vader's Palace)
"You're certain of this?" Vader nodded with his arms folded and his helmet off to the side for once, as he needed to be free from that blasted thing for a while. His meeting with his master forcing him to get...a little hot under the helmet. Before him was a holo-image of Exar halfway up from the mans waist. The other Sith lord too had his arms folded and was thinking over what Vader told him of his meeting with the Emperor mere hours prior.
"He is blatantly conducting power play upon you lord Vader. It's nothing more than that from what you've told me at least. However, I would still caution you to be wary. The old fool, while a fool, is still a dangerous one. As a matter of fact I told him to his very face that I am indeed plotting his demise, but he has not an inkling of the extent of my operations against him. He all but demanded I relinquish any information I held against you in treasonous terms against him." Exar informed and Vader contorted his face into an expression of annoyance and cocked his brow.
"You told the Emperor of your desire to kill and usurp him?!" The incredulity clear in Vader, Exar smirked and cocked his head to the side in an obviously amused manner.
"My, my, lord Vader. Have you been so placed under the mans thumb that you did not even dare to speak of your natural Sith desire to one day rise against him, to him, yourself?" Vader sneered and let loose a snort.
"You try speaking of your eventual defeat of the man when half your body makes you one of the single most weak against his attacks such as lightning. I have not yet learned the standard Sith form of lightning due to my prostheses before."
"Ah yes, your little problem with your body being quite ineffective to fight your master. How very droll lord Vader. You should endeavor to fight and kill your master at all times. From what you've told me you've wanted him dead since what? Day one of your service to him?! Surely you must be afraid of the man indeed!"
"I would mind my tongue if I were you Kun, you tread unsteady grounds."
"No, you do that yourself lord Vader." Exar rebuked with a stern and cool look now within his eyes and Vader retracted visibly from the holo-image and narrowed his eyes in anger.
"What did you just say?!"
"It is only fair I think," Exar responded, and made Vader more confused. "That I be given more leeway when it comes to my ability, and my right to speak to you almighty Darth Vader. It was I who healed your body at no cost. I who brought about the key ideas, and way to implement our plan, and I who kept your masters anger at bay while you went into the Outer-Rim, with MY apprentice and abandoned him to death for your own self gain. After I had done all that I could to make you trust me in partnership and ally with me in a solid will against a common enemy, and all but leased my most valuable asset to you and your service!" Kun declared, his voice fluctuating from time to time to near yells and Vader found himself holding his tongue once again, and biting back remarks. The main reason being the hard fact that Exar wasn't wrong in his argument, and Vader did mess up before.
"I will look up to you as my superior, lord Vader once and only after we are rid of the Emperor and you decide then to attack and kill me for the throne! I am done, and sick, and tired of being treated as if I am some sort of fool you, YOU, are using to your own benefit. For if I remember it correctly you were in no shape, in all manner of speaking, to fight your aged, and walking skeleton of a master before I came along and offered you my services! I have had this damnable argument one too many times with you now, and as of now I am wholly done with this! There is but so much I can take before even I desire to just end this charade and let you and your master fight these battles, and I'll go live in secret until the right time comes around, for if you did not notice I have a means of near eternal life. So, two options lay before you," Vader was thrown back with the tirade Kun went into while maintaining a very cool and contorted face of little emotion. However through the Force Vader could sense clear anger rolling off the Sith lord.
"Option number one, you treat me as a partner, and a real one, not one of your damnable cronies who must and has to always tell you what I ate this morning! The second is we dissolve our alliance, and I can leave in a snap, and deliver onto everyone the full extent of you and your masters weakness right now as far as the Empire is concerned."
"Kun!" Vader yelled at last throwing one arm out to stop the man, a scowl across his face as his blonde hair fell around him and his blue eyes bore hole back into the gray and steel eyed man.
"I get your message loud and kriffing clear! I...apologize for the incident with your apprentice, but I have been informed by your ground reports that he has returned to you, correct?"
"Correct." Exar coldly replied and rolled his shoulders, and took on a bored look.
"Then may I state I think, despite what happened I think everything turned out well, and perhaps for the better. That being said, yes I apologize, and my manner, and my attitude is not that of one of your cronies either, and not the usual of these fools upon Coruscant, and I shall not be changing my attitude anytime soon. Again, that being said, I shall try harder to treat my, partner in this endeavor of ours, more equally. Does that satisfy you?" Vader sighed, and Exar took a moment to stare at the hulking figure of Vader who had a raised brow line with his question lingering upon his features.
"It will have to suffice once more." Exar relented and visibly relaxed his shoulders, and Vader bowed his head in agreement and stood to his full height once more.
'Force, arguing with him is an annoyance! Yet...understandable...I suppose.' Vader thought before sighing out a huff of breath and both men took a moment to let the tension ease away.
"Now, my own inability, or perhaps unwillingness to confront my master as openly as you have aside, we have some other business to discuss."
"Indeed we do." Exar agreed and Vader curtly nodded and continued.
"As I told you, I will be taking Death Squadron with me to Kamino to expel the URM, if vice admiral Thrawn has not already. The ground assault will be fully within my domain as my master does not trust anyone but myself, and the 501st legion to land and take down any ground forces. He has made it clear that I am not to bring my children with me, and I cannot risk taking Starkiller or a new addition to my apprentice pool, Shira, with me either. They will be left here within my palace to train and prepare for their eventual duties."
"Sounds troubling indeed." Exar intoned with not much emotion in his voice, and only sought to annoy Vader some more.
"Nonetheless, I will be upon Kamino in no time, and reveal the full extent of the rebel damages to my master and you as well. This rebel faction that cropped up under the command of this Jedi woman was not in our original plan, Kun." Vader declared and Exar conceded with a mere cocking of his head to the side.
"True, but I hardly find Kellia...whatever her last name is a problem. She has charisma yes, spunk, she's not afraid to open her mouth, and obviously is bold enough to attack one of the most secure worlds in the galaxy and Empire, and the know-how to commit said act. Oh, and on top of that a droid army consisting of billions of droids I've been told are the same make and models used during these Clone Wars I keep hearing about." Vader rolled his eyes.
"This is not a threat to you?! Kellia Nelrain, is an ex-asset of my masters. She knows her way around a battlefield, and is not against using any means she finds necessary to complete her task, and is single minded to a fault, but usually gets her objective completed. The fact she took the Dubrava incident and turned it into a rallying call, and was able to gain the necessary allies to reactivate droid armies that could end up outnumbering all our forces, and the Moffs combined, goes to show she has tenacity and cunning, and a dash of dumb-luck never hurt either, Kun."
Exar sighed and shook his head in obvious frustration with this whole line of conversation. "How is it that you know she was an asset of your master? Isn't his list of spies a bit cut off from your eyes?"
"There is no system I cannot breach in time within the Empire, and secondly I do not know much of her. She worked for him and something led to her being arrested and sent to Kessel, where she was rescued in a rebel raid and whisked away to cause the Empire harm another day. My master does not particularly like her, if you can imagine, and has tried to kill her once already, and he looks to be more enraged when she is brought up. I feel that she is a threat to my master, or at least he thinks so, and when he considers someone a threat Kun, you do not merely cast aside logic and the argument. Nelrain may prove a bigger threat to all of us than the Moffs, or my master, or both combined!"
"Clam down lord Vader." Exar protested holding his hands up.
"I doubt this woman could be 'that' big a threat at this moment. Your master more than likely is afraid of what she could do give time, and not her current power. We will deal with her in time, and I think my apprentice is the more well equipped and ready to undertake that task. He has fought this woman twice now, and while defeated on both occasions he is the most knowledgeable of her tactics, so fear not Vader. Given time I'm sure we'll resolve our little problem with this Jedi." Vader crossed his arms again and looked unconvinced.
"We'll play it your way then Kun, but mark my words, in time we will have a bigger problem on our hands if we do not end her sooner rather than later. Her droids can form a truly limitless army, and their vehicles and weapons are not something to toss aside. The URM has already launched assaults on multiple fronts into Moff Outer-rim territories. They are at this very moment lying siege to twenty systems that we know of! The Moffs are reportedly losing on eighty-five percent of those battlefields, and the Moffs in the region continue to demand reinforcements from the Mid-Rim. We are looking at an enemy that can bleed a Krayt dragon dry by cutting it endlessly, and never running out of knives. However, I will play this game by your lead for now Kun, and hope that you are not making a seriously ill-conceived tactical decision." Vader finally relented and Kun smirked in return.
"You'll see in time lord Vader. Now, anything else?" Vader darted his eyes upwards in thought and ran through his conversation with his master, and everything since he returned to Coruscant, and found one thing to talk of.
"When I leave for Kamino and any subsequent missions proceeding it from my master I will not be able to talk with you for perhaps a few days, or a week hopefully at most. Because of this I think it necessary to not only tell you your reinforcement replacements for all lost men and material has been pushed up and the Emperor is greatly pleased with the report of your success, or I would assume as much. The Grand Admirals will begin their reassessed assignments. They will mostly be securing the Inner-Rim, and surround the Tapani sector and allow you time and ability to full seize it and call on additional fleets in time, while the rest of the forces will secure the border with the Expansion Region. The grand offensive plans are now the new and official strategy the Emperor desires to pursue, with the Moffs in full defensive against the Moffs, we are to utilize this reprieve to rebuild our forces and ready for not small seizures but all out attacks." Exar nodded slowly in understanding.
"I see, well that will be fine, and I think do little to harm our plans. You be sure to acclimate your friend on that pitiful Moff council to the new situation. We need both our enemies if we are to secure the entire galaxy in our favor. The public must be shown how lords Vader and Kun are the true protectors of the galaxy. Two enemies for their two favored lords." Exar said and smiled as Vader seemed a bit unsure based on his frown but nodded nonetheless.
"Very well. In time I will unleash my growing pool of acolytes into the galaxy, and I suggest you begin growing your own base Kun. The Emperor has an army of Inquisitors, Hands, and adepts, or those blasted prophets on Dromund Kaas."
"Oh don't worry about me lord Vader I will progress my own way and at my own speed. Not all of us have two children able and now perhaps willing to become apprenticed to us now do we?" Exar laughed and Vader had to admit he was right and he smiled ever so slightly as well.
"I suspect you have some things to take care of lord Vader, and I must get prepared for a new attack plan and begin readying the forces for another assault."
"Very well. Keep me posted."
"You as well lord Vader." Kun responded with a smirk and he faded away from sight and left Vader standing alone within his palace war room.
"Now the hard part. Explaining this to them all." Vader said aloud and when he said them all he really meant Leia. The girl would more than likely give him the biggest dirty look yet, and that thought made Vader sigh in frustration. So, placing his helmet once more back upon his head he secured it, and for a moment thought about when he would reveal his true and healed face to his children, but now was not the time.
With that, Vader made for the lower level where his children and apprentices were set up.
Vader searched them out through the Force and found them all separated, or some were separated from the other, but two were within the training room that had seemingly become their converging room as of late. With his mask making the usual intake and outtake of mechanical breath, though not actually feeding him air, Vader wandered into the room, and found Luke and Leia alone for one. Well, almost alone, considering Leia's two Noghri guards, R2 and 3PO were with them, but Starkiller and Shira were not present. Luke was sitting cross-legged on the metal floor with his eyes staring intently on his practice saber and apparently attempting to make it lift into the air, while Leia looked on, and Vader was perplexed as to why she seemed to be smirking at her brother.
"Good to see that one of you is continuing their paths deeper into the Force." Vader announced and Leia looked to him with her face seeming more passive than anything, and Luke snapped out of his concentration and jumped up with a broad, and ever as boyish, grin on his face.
"Greetings father!" Luke oddly greeted, and Vader for the life of him never quite understood how Luke adapted so, and in a way overly well to him while Leia hadn't yet, but no use over-thinking beaten to death musings on Vader's part.
"Greetings to you as well son. It is a great pleasure to me to see you keeping up with your lessons. I would very much like to train you myself and decide how far along in your skill set you are through your abilities, but circumstances being what they are I shall have to rely on the reports of Starkiller or young Shira." Vader mused aloud and Luke merely shrugged his shoulders with his smile still on his face.
"Leia, it is useless at this juncture of our relationship for me to comment on the obvious fact you are not, continuing your training, but I feel I am obligated to ask nonetheless." Vader said, and Leia rolled her eyes, at the little observation on Vader's part.
"No, father, I have not yet picked back up my own training, but...me and Luke have worked something out. Isn't that right Luke?" She looked towards her brother who nodded enthusiastically and Vader cocked a hidden brow behind his mask.
"Oh really? Then you would not mind telling me the details of this 'deal,' now would you son?"
"No, not at all! See, Leia doesn't really feel like she wants to learn under either Starkiller or Shira, but I'm more than willing to! So I, well we, or she, or...no, yeah we decided that I'll learn from both, and teach her what I learned in return! Don't worry father, I'm good at memorizing all the skills Starkiller has taught me so far, and I'm sure I can teach Leia." Luke assured and Vader thought it over in his mind, and while it didn't seem the best idea, he supposed it was better than her doing nothing at all, and there was no reason in forcing her to do otherwise and alienate her further from him, and the Empire.
"I see. Very well then. If the both of you have come to this decision then I will accept it for now, and under one condition." Vader declared holding up a single upwards finger to get his point across and both twins shared a look and then nodded for him to go on.
"If I should come to see that you are not learning at an adequate pace, or not fast enough and find you lacking I shall expect you to begin learning under either Starkiller or Shira directly, and I assure you it's not as horrible as it may sound within your head." Leia seemed to look it over and hung her head in though and folded her hands together, and then after a moment of Luke looking between them, she looked up.
"Alright, deal." She conceded and Vader bowed his head and found himself feeling, quite accomplished when dealing with her for once.
"Now that we have that out of the ay, I have some potentially disappointing or infringing news for you both. Or it may not." Vader added looking at Leia who raised her brow inquisitively.
"A certain world of great importance to the Empire has been attacked by the droid forces under command the Jedi woman who was upon Tatooine confronting me and Starkiller and the apprentice to Kun, Viathan. Kellia Nelrain. I cannot tell you what world was attacked, but all I can say is that it has stopped broadcasting to Imperial Center, and if this is true it requires the Empires full attention, and as such I will be heading for the world to take care of the situation if it has not already been done so by an admiral we're sending ahead of me. I think it goes without saying that I cannot bring either of you or Starkiller and Shira with me." Vader clasped his hands to his belt and Luke looked downcast and Leia looked thoughtful, or at least what Vader thought her thoughtful face was.
'Or maybe it's apathy.' He thought in a bit of bitterness but quickly shoved it away and out of mind.
"Well...do you know when you'll be coming back?" Luke asked and seemed genuinely sad over Vader's leaving. Leia looked over to Luke and then to Vader with the same question upon her face.
"I cannot say with certainty. After I arrive, if the world is not returned to Imperial rule I will take command and take it back. If the situation above the world in question is solved then I will need to lead the ground attack as I am the only one of few authorized to land on this world. It is of extremely high security obviously. After the world is fully secured then I will have to report back to my master, the Emperor, and receive further orders. It may lead me to being sent into another mission, or at worst a set of them, but we are at war, and this was to be expected."
Both twins now shared a frown and Vader swore they were communicating somehow over expression alone.
"What are we supposed to do then? Wont the Emperor use your absence to...I don't know attack or spy on us or something like that?" Leia asked and Luke nodded along.
"He undoubtedly wants you to feel exposed and will perhaps attempt to spy upon you while you are within my palace, but I have many ways of keeping him out of my personal estate. He wouldn't want to so blatantly break my privacy and allow me to see as such unless he is feeling particularly vindictive. He would prefer to meet with you both to gauge your allegiances to me. To test your resentments, and push your emotions until you hate me, and he will use you against me. There is no way to sugar coat this fact. Given the chance he would relay all manner of information about things I've done that I have not told either of you about. Things that will spark your emotions, and in bouts of anger, you may very well hate me for them, and one day I will tell you both all my secrets, but I cannot do so now."
"What type of things can he say that the news channels of the holonet have not said about you that can make us hate you?!" Leia asked with a scrunched brow, and Vader groaned inwardly.
"Atrocity, murder, genocide, and anti-alien sentiment are the face of the Empire, and they speak graciously and gratefully of your actions father. Luke and I have...both found our own ways to not look at these actions, but what are you hiding that you think the Emperor could use against us? Wouldn't telling us now, and allowing us to get angry now work better for you?!"
"You don't understand Leia. Both of you cannot begin to comprehend why and how things happened and even if I told you, the forked tongue of that man, my master, will twist my own words against me, and see that you hate me no matter what." Vader reasoned out as he imagined the smiling and cackling face of his master he balled a single hand into a fist.
"The only, and plausible way you can fight against this is to not, and I say NOT believe a single word that flows from his foul mouth. I am all you can trust at this moment, and whether you like it or not I can tell you my history in the correct context alone."
"Or the context in which you want us to see things, father." Leia declared and stood up from the bench with her chin once more held high in defiance and Vader crossed his arms.
'Here we go.' He thought wearily.
"Perhaps, but it does not lessen the fact that if you desire to listen and fall into the traps set by the old man, you will find yourself where I was all those years ago before you were ever born or even a concept within I or your mothers minds." Both children looked take aback, for a moment. For one thing Vader mentioned their mother, and two he seemed suddenly more so than usual, hateful towards the Emperor.
"I was once...Anakin Skywalker as you may have guessed, and both of you may have heard things of me, and whatever you may have heard, I was a Jedi of the Jedi order. I was apprenticed to Obi-Wan Kenobi,"
"Ben?" Luke asked and Vader snapped over to his son, and vaguely recalled something about Obi-Wan and the name Ben, and so he nodded. Figuring the old man Ben Kenobi was more than likely Obi-Wan who Luke had met on Tatooine.
"Yes, his name was Obi-Wan Kenobi. You must have known him as Ben, Luke. He was my master, and he left me in this suit after he dueled me upon the magma world of Mustafar. I have more to say about this suit but for now leave it as it is." Vader asked and both looked a bit horrified at the notion a Jedi put someone in a life support suit.
"Nonetheless, the point of this little look into my background is to let you both know that it was Palpatine, who was Supreme Chancellor of course, that worked his twisted lies into my head and while he freed me from the quickly corrupting and stagnating ways of the Jedi, he enslaved me back into his little game of master and apprentice. Not a day has gone by where I have not hated him for what he did, and how he tricked and used me just as the Jedi did, and I shall never allow him to turn either of you against me! Yes I have done things no one likes, and I have done things many shall see as unethical but someone must do these things. The Republic was crumbling and failing, and the Empire now has fallen into the same category and he is to blame. His lack of vision past his ascension to absolute power, and will to continue the momentum of change and empowerment of the Empire has fallen by the wayside to serve but his purposes and will alone." Vader went into a tangent, but when the Sith lord declared he would not let the emperor turn them against him, both twins were shocked. It was a simple admission of desire, but also had within it an underlying current of fear, and both cold sense it.
"No matter what you may think of me I have and still do desire change. This galaxy and the people within it, alien or human, have served to only stroke his ego and power for over a decade or two now. He promised peace and yet here we are in a three-way civil war, and lacking the order he promised. I am lacking much more than that..." Again both twins shared a look that spoke of confusion and even sadness for this hulking dreadnought known as Darth Vader. The scariest man alive, or so the galaxy says.
"I cannot guarantee you will not be called before him, and I cannot guarantee he will not say anything to make you for a time despise me. What I ask is simple. If you both desire change from his rue, and within this galaxy then I am your only true option by this point, and no matter your feelings towards me; apathy, hate, love, it is of little consequence to me personally. I am your father and I shall bring both of you with me should and when I rise to defeat and overthrow him. Believe and follow him, and you will do that for the rest of your miserable lives. Follow, and do his bidding with no hope for escape." Vader declared and looked between the both of them, and attempted to convey the weight of what he was saying to them both. They both looked utterly shocked by the candid nature of their fathers talk, but they both had to admit. Either rising to power and attempting to change things from there, or serving that decrepit and sickly cruel old man for all time, was hardly a decision need thinking.
"I think we both get the idea father." It was Leia who spoke and swallowed down her pride at last and Vader bowed his head to her.
"I hope that you both do. For it will decide on the rise or fall of our family, and our allies. Or the fall o a galaxy to forever remain in his twisted and cruel hands. Think of me what you will, but I shall always kill with a reason. He shall kill to meet a quota for fun. I hope for your, my, and the galaxy's sake you make the fundamentally correct choice." Both of them nodded back to him in reply. All argument, and comeback they could have ever had gone, stolen from the overbearing and oddly logically sound argument from Vader.
"Very well. I'll leave you now. I do not know when I shall return, but I will keep in contact. Be sure to prepare and train, for soon, even you both will be called upon by my master to test yourselves in the battlefield. This, I cannot prevent."
"We'll be fine father." Luke said with a smile upon his calm features as Leia kept to herself, and Vader nodded once.
"Then I shall hold you up no longer, and be on my way. Do inform both Starkiller and Shira of my departing, and ensure to tell Starkiller he is responsible for security until my return."
"I'll do that father." Luke assured and Leia just nodded along from behind them both as she returned to sitting.
Vader gave them all a final look over and looked to see both R2 and 3PO giving the whole interaction dumb looks, but then again they were droids. So with a final bow of his head he swept around and left the room and from there would go and prepare and leave with Death Squadron for Kamino.
"Well that was a lot to take in."
"You said it." Luke added to Leia's observation. "Did you feel what I felt?"
"His fear you mean?" Leia asked and Luke nodded. "Yeah, he seems to have quite a lot more of that then I thought he would, for being Darth Vader and all. Go figure. The man who inspires the most fear in the galaxy is one of the most fearful I've ever come across, or at least sensed from. Then again I am new to the whole thing so who knows." Leia mused and Luke shrugged along though he gave a lingering look where their father had stood.
"Well, we best get started on training then huh? I mean, if the Emperor does try to get his boney fingers on us then I'd feel better if we were a bit more ready, right?" Leia smiled and nodded, and finally jumped off the bench to begin her training once more.
"Mistress, I do hope you don't mean to engage in potentially bodily harm bringing activities wit young master Luke." 3PO chimed in and Leia looked towards Luke and rolled her eyes, causing her brother to grin. R2 also made a surge of bloops and beeps towards 3PO.
"What do you mean I'm overreacting?! Organics are much more prone to hurting themselves then we droids R2! It's not safe for the mistress to engage in such activities at all! I do think lord Vader would be quite angry to find her having taken any damage as well."
"Oh, 3PO just calm down and relax." Leia chastised and gave her protocol droid a reprimanding look with her hands at her hips in an almost comically mothering like manner.
"Vader asked for me to begin training and I'm not a two year old! I can take a punch, and besides if I do get hurt you'll be the first to make sure I'm well taken care of right?"
"Oh, of course mistress!" 3PO responded delightedly. "I would be more than happy to help you in any recovery you may need! You certainly wouldn't want R2 trying to nurse you back to health now would we?" R2 flew into a flurry of whirs and beeps and began rocking back and forth and 3PO gave what looked to be an indignant look. Well, as much as a droid could give.
"I most certainly am not an overreacting, outdated, walking tin can! If anyone here is a walking tin can it is you R2!"
"Can it you two!" Luke finally stepped in but was trying to hold back a bout of laughter. "I swear I've only known you for a few days and you're both worse than uncle Owen and aunt Beru in the bickering married couple department!" Leia noted a barely noticeable flash of sadness cross through Luke at the mentioning of his aunt and uncle, but he kept it hidden well and still smiled.
"I'm terribly sorry for R2's behavior master Luke, he often times doesn't know when to simply keep quiet and not bud in where he's not welcomed." R2 beeped some more, but in an almost under-his-breath type manner, and again 3PO looked insulted. Again, somehow droids made these expressions known to the twins.
"I will not go scrap myself R2! Or, jump off the nearest spire! You are most certainly in a foul mood today!" Leia let out a burst of giggles, and Luke rolled his eyes as the two, despite his protests began bickering back and forth. The two Noghri to the side looked to one another and both shrugged their shoulders not knowing what to make of the whole thing. Needless to say it was some time before the twins got any real training done, and some time before the droid couple finally ended their tryst of argument.
(Munificent-class star frigate, Mourning, Above Kamino)
Folding her hands together on top of the table Kellia eyed all the holographic figures before her. The URM Supreme Council was present, along with a very nostalgic council of member races from the CIS, desiring and making their case to join the URM as secondary, or client members to the new rebellion. Kellia made sure to eye ever single one of these reminders of the atrocities the CIS perpetrated. The Muuns, the Skakoans, the Gossams, the Neimoidians, and while the Geonosians would have fit in as well Kellia had to remind herself that Vikkal had already proven himself.
"On the matter, we believe, as client members desiring to join the most honorable URM, that we have given our so called, 'entry fee,' in the form of three-hundred of or own personal defensive fleets of old CIS designs." Said the Skakoan governor by the name of Lam Trask. The apparent chief speaker of this call-back to the CIS.
"With that being said, we don't expect to join for that and nothing else. We already received commands from madam Supreme Commander Nelrain here, that we are to maintain and begin producing what we're good at. Droids, CIS classified ships, and w can also sweeten the pot, by adding our most hefty and large banking assets and economic bases. We can guarantee a bank rolling operation in the quantity of some of an initial credit value of 50-trillions credits up front, with a further 300-trillion added yearly." Lam declared with his robotic voice making him seem like a far more impressionable person then the weakling Kellia believed him to be, but the money thing...it was tempting.
"Tell me governor, if I may ask," Kellia jumped in before anyone else could, and leaned forward. "How is it that any of you have such credit amounts when it is a well known fact that following the war Emperor Palpatine merged all assets from the banking clans, and corporations that your people represented during the Clone Wars? I know archduke Vikkal maintained no such economic base, but focused on maintaining droid and weapons production, so do tell me, where did you hide your credits?" Kellia asked with an air of distaste about her, and the Skakoan leaned back a bit as if he had just been spat on.
"I...well I cannot speak for my friends present, but in the spirit of our desire to cooperate, I will say that when the mass droid shut down order was sent out from wherever the CIS council was, the Skako government flooded our off world banks not affiliated with the long since compromised Muun banks with much of our liquidated war assets. It was not an easy process but it was some days before the newly formed Empire arrived above our world and demanded immediate surrender, and by that point our records spoke of mass economic suffering due to the war and not of any hidden assets. We have been recalling the money as seen fit, and adding to the pool our own lucrative contracts that we have since then struck up with the Empire and other non-Imperial affiliated corporations."
"That's a lot of information indeed governor. I am sure your credits will be at our full disclosure, seeing as we will be fighting an Empire that has had years to build literally millions of warships. Those credits will be going for ship, droid, and other was needs as we see fit. I am sure you have no objections whatsoever?" Kellia stated more than asked, and the Skakoan looked to his fellow holographic allies who all nodded along.
"We hold no scruples in any way against fully disclosing our assets and economic bases, and we of course have stated our ability to add our factories, once more spread across the galaxy, to building and designing new ships and droids. Our only desire is that we be given ample defense and aid from our friends here when and if the Empire or Moff eventually learn of our aid to the URM." Kellia rolled her eyes but hid it well.
"The URM is not in the service of letting allies fight alone. No matter how we may view them personally, and don't take that comment to heart or anything either. I am merely speaking for others." Kellia added with a barely contained snark in her tone, and the Skakoan nodded and obviously did not notice anything wrong with what Kellia said.
"Then we see no reason to not join this fine assortment of peoples rallying against the Imperials and Moff breakaway government."
"We also see no reason why we should not be permitted our 'client' statuses promised to us after our entry fees." Everyone looked over to see the Neimoidian representative Linne Dascus, make the comment, and Kellia could not help but shake her head at the massive head gear the male Neimoidian was wearing.
"Representative Dascus, we are not about to convene this meeting by not allowing you entry into the URM. Indeed the matter has all but been settle, and your entries guaranteed. What we are here for his mere delegation, and to ensure we, all of us, come to understand what parts we are to play in this. It is a war after all, and not some small conflict on a single world. But a galactic scale war only comparable to the Clone Wars in recent memory." The admiral from Dac, Ackbar chimed in and the fellow Supreme council members all nodded and murmured their agreements and the newcomers seemed more relaxed at his assurances.
"That being said, the URM will ask that your peoples and production assets continue to produce and pump out warships and the standard droid units we are using; the B1's and B2's, droideka's and the usual, and the first thing you should do is develop planetary defense fleets, and then, and only then begin sending out ships to our current base of operations. Which at this time is Geonosis, however we, the council, strongly recommend that all representatives of the URM leadership not only appoint second in commands and someone to replace us should we be arrested or killed, but also never meet in large group gatherings until the situation with the Empire is resolved. It is public knowledge at this point that Darth Vader killed the CIS council in one fell swoop when gathered together, and while I do not condone the CIS, I will take this lapse of judgment in gathering all the leaders together as a sign, that such gatherings should only be done when absolutely necessary."
Those gathered all nodded along with the quite obvious, but necessary reminder by the god admiral. Kellia didn't have a person to replace her should she fall, but figured the council would find a new competent leader to take her place should she fall, and she honestly could not see that far into the future. She chose to focus on the here and now, and as such remembered something she wanted from her dear and new Neimoidian friends.
"I think this meeting can come to an end here relatively soon, and not take up too much more of our collective time, as we all have duties needing attending to." Kellia chimed in and looked over a datapad she had on her table of her plans for a certain campaign she had in mind, and the firepower needed for it. A cold and calculating image coming to her mind of her eventual victory over the Empire and those who aided it in its reign.
"With that said though, I have a request for a further set of naval assets from you representative Dascus." The Neimoidian looked surprised and looked to his friends who seemed to offer no real aid, but then again they all saw nothing wrong with her asking him for aid. It may even go towards helping their standing within the URM, so the Neimoidian cleared his throat and leaned in and motioned for her to go on.
"Missing from our impressive naval forces is a certain ship the Trade Federation of old made famous. The famed Lucrehulk-class battleship is a might instrument of war and mobile army movement, and sooner or later we will run out of Imperial designed and made ships as we will be rid of these ship designs after the war in general as they inspire and remind the people of tyranny, I would like to have a fleet of Mon-Calamari and CIS era ships together. For my secondary set of attacks against the Moffs in the Outer-Rim I will require several of these to move entire mass droid armies against them, and for...any future campaigns I may need these as well. My question is, do you have any of these monsters hidden away, and if so how many, and if not how long until I can count on a massive amount of these ships ready?"
All members of the meeting looked a bit shocked at such a massive order of ships that gave Stardestroyers a run for their money in size and firepower. They all however looked to the Neimoidian to hear his answer.
"We...uh, yes well the Lucrehulks were the pride of the Trade Federation no doubt, and most were dismantled by the Empire following the war, but we can assure you that w have quite a few ready and capable of battle."
"Oh? Why then did we not receive even one in you initial entry fee?" Kellia asked and eyed the Neimoidian who looked flustered and nervous.
"Well, you see after the call was sent out to the droids to shut down many of our Lucrehulks also shut down and have ever since then been free-floating in interplanetary space ma'am. W know where there is a whole fleet of these ships, at least a hundred of them with their army compliments still within them, but they are shut down, and deep within Imperial space and none of us dared to venture that deep into the Imperial territories to manually reactivate them, and risk being captured. Especially with the heightened security of both the Moffs and Imperial loyalists."
Kellia just stared at the Neimoidian for a moment to put him off balance on purpose and then sighed.
"Then how about you tell me where they are, and I'll deal with them, and you can consider these ships as being added to the overall power of the URM my Neimoidian friend." Kellia said a bit condescendingly but the alien seemed to be relieved that she wasn't about to yell at him or something childish like that.
"Of course, the exact coordinates I will send over hypercom, but the fleet is Trailing-word, or west so to speak of the Arquata Station system in a more remote region of the Expansion-Region. It was a staging area for building up a massive fleet to hopefully use one day upon the Core, but never realized I'm afraid, or as a good thing I suppose." Dascus quickly said in amendment, and Kellia could have laughed at the mans obvious fear, but the Neimoidians were quite well known for their overly fearful nature so Kellia ignored it as best as she could.
"Send the coordinates then, and I will take care of procuring the fleet, representative Dascus. Now, is there any further subjects or questions needing of discussion at this time?" Everyone either said or did nothing, or shook their heads, and Kellia looked satisfied.
"Good, then this meeting is at an end, and I shall ensure the appropriate treaties, and alliance documents are sent to all your governments, and we shall in time see this war through and regain a semblance of freedom." Kellia declared intertwining her fingers together once more and everyone seemed pleased, before signing off. However, when the last newcomer member left their sight the Supreme council members, Ackbar, Vikkal, and Dase alongside Vikkal quickly returned.
"Now that we have that nasty business out of the way I need to know if we can somehow lessen the possible threat of getting those Lucrehulks out of the Expansion Region. Vikkal, what can you tell me about the mass droid controller used to shut down the CIS armies during the Clone Wars?"
The Geonosian rubbed its chin before speaking.
"It was used to always ensure the Separatist council had chief command of the military forces of the CIS. Never did they fully trust the likes of Grievous, but in reality the controller was under Count Dooku's command. It has been out of use for a long time, but I do have an idea though."
"I'm listening." Kellia responded and once more leaned forward in her seat.
"I can enter into our current mobile mass controller a command to bypass the original shutdown call that is still affecting many billions of droids across the galaxy, but it would not be able to mass transmit with access to the Imperial holonet, and I doubt we could do that. However should we come across deactivated units we could simply reactivated the with our current controller. Just by being in proximity and pressing the activation command. The old droid army codes are still here on Geonosis."
"Very good! You get that set up for me, and I'll hold onto the controller, and personally protect it. No offense archduke, but I am the harder target."
"Understandable madam Jedi." Vikkal bowed his head.
"I will then personally find this fleet from the coordinates Dascus sent to me, and reactivate what sounds like a lovely, and large fleet of Lucrehulks just begging to be put to use, and I want a general order sent to our new friends and Sluis Van and Sullust, I want ten Lucrehulks by the end of the standard year from each at the very least if not more."
"May I ask madam Supreme Commander, but why do you need this fleet of massive ships now? Have you not reported back that Kamino has been 'pacified,' and under URM military control?" Ackbar chimed in while Vikkal began talking to an unseen Geonosian and Dase watched in silence.
"Admiral, I have been a bit unclear in my reasoning for attacking Kamino. It is the base and home starting point of the Clone armies of the Empire, however they will not simply let mere rebels keep it from them. They are at this moment no doubt sending lord Vader himself with his fleet and maybe more to push us out. My purpose has been completed. The ending of all cloning operations planet-side has been completed. The Empire will be out another four-million, plus, clone units. While I know as we can all assume that the Empire has other cloning stations, Kamino has, or had rather, the best ability and strongest cloning technology and techniques in all the galaxy. Now it will take them potentially months to restart production alone. I have done what the CIS always wanted to do but never could during the Clone Wars and put at the least a temporary stop to the cloning operations on Kamino, and to add to that, I have also destroyed a decent Imperial fleet above Kamino and made the Moffs jobs a bit easier, and our easier in turn."
Ackbar seemed to accept that answer, but did still seem a bit confused.
"Then you are saying when the Imperials come back you'll simply leave Kamino? Why not leave now?"
"I want to give Vader a bit of a run for his credits admiral. Show him a little blast from his past in the form of droid ships and armies, then once I feel I have annoyed him enough I will make for this fleet of Lucrehulks. It may seem petty to you Gial, but to defeat this enemy we need to also weaken their resolve first. That also brings me to the next subject we need to talk about." Kellia added and once more brought up her datapad. Ackbar rolled his shoulder and then clasped his fishy hands together.
"Proceed then Kellia."
"There are several worlds we will move to in the Outer-Rim after we take the ones we are currently attacking on the Moff fronts, and may I add they are doing horribly against our droid units. It seems the armies have forgotten how to fight droids since the thirteen years of the Clone Wars has passed. A shame, but good for us." Kellia said smirking and Dase shook his head with a smile of his own.
"We shall begin several campaigns I have gone through and detailed for you Admiral and I suspect you will be most interested in one. The Mon-Calamari sector will be our first great campaign to secure an entire sector for our side. So, the Mon-Calamari, Arkanis, Brema, and Sluis campaigns shall be our initial blitz campaigns in our overall Out-Rim theater. I will procure and assign ten Lucrehulks and over five-hundred ships for every sectors initial attacks followed up with necessary reinforcements as the need comes."
"That is...quite the large order ma'am, but now I see why we need those Lucrehulks." Gial added with an incline of his head. Kellia smiled in reply.
"Indeed admiral. The Moffs wont know what hit them, however there is another campaign we will need to commit to in time that will ensure we are free from threats from the Empire and any other militarist upstarts."
"Military upstarts?"
"Yes admiral." Kellia said while flipping through her datapad.
"Tell me do you know who the original clone genome came from?"
"Not by memory alone ma'am no I cannot." Kellia nodded and Dase looked intrigued, but stayed silent.
"It's to be expected. It was man by the name of Fett. A Mandalorian, and a bounty hunter. Oh how the mighty warriors have fallen." Kellia spat and kept her eyes trained on her datapad. "The Mandalorians were also responsible with the okay by the Kaminoans to train the first batches of the clones armies which were still purely of Fett clones. For far too long these abominations, the clones have been a thorn in the side of the galaxy, and their origination, the Mandalorians, were it not for the Sith, they would be the greatest historical threat to all of galactic freedom and peace."
"So what are you suggesting ma'am?" Gial asked as his large eyes narrowed some.
"Gial," Kellia said in a more friendly and almost pleading tone. "We have to understand that we need to eventually come to a stage in our war that we secure and create for this galaxy a bulwark against militarism. Droids may be metal machines made for war but at least they were programmed for that. These 'people,' the Mandalorians are a cancer, a tumor on the very heart of the galaxy. Throughout history they have killed their fair share and always united themselves on the side of the Sith, and if they did not and you want to argue that point then they did so in pure self interest and later on returned to lick their masters boots, and their masters are the Sith." Kellia spat, ad for a moment looked back to the time in which she thought of the clones as allies and no less than human themselves. Then to Kamino not but a day earlier and let the sight of many dieing clones falling at her boots, and she...reveled in it for a moment.
"I'm not asking for genocide Gial, what I want is assurances that as I have helped you and everybody on the council you will help me secure my argument before the council, when the time comes, to eventually go to the Mandalorians and ensure at last, that they bow to the rule of law, and freedom, and let them know that if they do not surrender their arms, and militaristic culture to the past, then they will face droid arms. Where cultural change will be forced upon them, and their children and along with the Sith, the next greatest enemy to freedom and peace will have been finally put to rest."
Ackbar leaned back in his chair. The argument that Kellia had helped him, and was going to, and was leading the URM into a mind boggling stream of victories too made him have to concede. He may not agree with his Supreme Commander, but Kellia Nelrain's track record of uniting them, and leading them and making them an actual force to be reckoned within just a few weeks, made him think twice about attacking her and her judgments. Who's to say that the Mandalorians weren't the next greatest threat besides the Empire and Moffs?
So with a great sigh Gial bowed his head.
"Alright Kellia. If you think they need to be stopped from possibly inflaming galactic peace and tensions, I'll support your case when the time comes, but only after we have secured a set of borders within the Outer-Rim."
"That's all I ask Gial. Thank you admiral, you have proven to be the greatest of allies in this whole thing." Ackbar thanked Kellia and then signed off. Leaving Dase alone with Kellia via holo.
"Vorum. Have you found a suitable commander in the specifications I asked for?"
"Well, you asked me to snoop through my contacts, and make some calls, send some letters, write my mother-"
"Vorum!" Kellia yelled as the damnable Corellian made one of his damn jokes laced with his usual snark. He merely grinned his lopsided grin and held his hands in surrender.
"Calm down Nelrain. Yeah I found a guy to your specifications. I gotta tel you though the guy seems a bit like a glory hound but he did survive the Dubrava attack and has been reportedly bothering our newly formed military command for an assignment. I looked into him a bit, doesn't seem to like the Mando's a lot, uh, hungry for battle and glory, has a bit of a superiority complex and need to be superior. So yeah, perfect guy to bring on your little Mandalorian vacation. Oh, and he's also good on the battlefield reportedly." Dase added and put down a datapad from his hand and smiled, very much pleased with his own skills to look things up and present information. Kellia was however a bit impressed, Vorum had his uses even if he drove her up the damn wall.
"Good job Vorum, and don't take that compliment to heart or anything, but keep up the work and maybe you'll prove yourself not so big a fool."
"Hey! To let you know something lady...I like being the fool." Dase said and quickly switched from a serious to humor filled face. Kellia rolled her eyes but did smile some, but hid it.
"What's the guys name Vorum?"
"Uh, let's see, ah! Jodo Kast. Specializes in covert ops, but suitable for under the radar missions, and a good ground commander and has an understanding of logistics. Funny thing is, he wears a set of Mandalorian armor, but isn't one himself. I think he either has something against them more than what he's saying or trying to send some sort of message to the Mando's by wearing the armor. I don't know just seems a bit odd to me."
"It's fine Vorum. Just send a message to this Kast guy, and tell him I'd like to have a meeting with him in a few days, or weeks. Better yet tell him I'll meet him when I get back to Geonosis so get him over there and let him do something to keep his attention."
"Will do so, madam boss lady!" Dase saluted and Kellia again rolled her eyes, and waved him off as he too disappeared from sight. Leaving the fallen, as she called herself, Jedi alone, and she looked at her datapad once more and looked toward the Mandalorian census numbers that were freely available.
"What is a few trillion, if hundreds of trillions will be saved?" She said to herself, and deep down recognized her old master and friends would see her as being that which she claimed to want to end, but it didn't matter for her. She was nothing, the freedom of the galaxy was everything. So what was her soul for that of hundreds of trillions of others?
Her answer? It was nothing. As were the Mandalorians...nothing.
Authors Note: Hmm a nefarious plot unfolds now does it? ;) Nonetheless, I hope you guys enjoy the chapter and hopefully what is taking place captures your attention. That said, as usual please point out or excuse any and all grammatical errors, and as always please enjoy the story. Also don't be afraid to leave reviews, comments or ask questions! :D