SELLEANA MYR

She was getting nostalgic.

She was looking at the people before her, members of various cults and organizations connected to the force, sitting together, ready to join forces in lifting the veil. It was quite a heartwarming view. It made her think of two other alliances she was part of in the past.

The first was the Rift Alliance. It was originally quite similar to the current separatist movement, though only in goals, not actions. It was created as a form of protest against Republic's incompetence, which could lead to them leaving the republic, fortunately after being accepted as a representative of the Jedi council in the group, she was able to convince them to support Republic again. By working together they were able to stop the Children of the Emperor, saving the Republic in the process.

The second one was the Eternal alliance. She wasn't there for long, as she joined the group during these few months of open warfare against the Zakuul, but time spent there was extremely educational. She saw members of the empire, republic and various other organizations joining forces, working together towards a common goal. Jedi, sith, hutts, mandalorians. All of them decided to forget about past grievances to fight against the common enemy. It was honestly one of the most beautiful things she saw in her life and made her believe that lasting peace was possible.

Of course, immediately after Zakuul was defeated the war between the republic and the empire started anew, but she had proof that the cooperation between them was possible, despite everything.

Now she was seeing something similar. There were no dark siders there, but most of these groups weren't on friendly terms with each other, often for a good reason. Force users as a whole tended to be secretive and seclusive, so the fact that they actually arrived on Odessen at all was already quite a success. Jedi, Green Jedi, Voss mystics, Baran Do sages, Matukai, Dagoyan masters and many other groups were seated in the large clearing, which was created just for this purpose. They chose Odessen, because it was a planet perfectly in balance between light and dark side, helping them with their plans. Representatives were discussing how to deal with the veil of the dark side, giving various suggestions on how to combat that threat.

Many ideas were presented, some were better, some were worse. So far no one was able to come up with a sure solution, but Selleana knew it was needed. She, Yoda and mystics of Voss knew that all they actually had to do was to wait for their last member, who would bring the solution to their problem, but it was necessary for all these people to work together and realize the benefits of cooperation. They probably wouldn't find a solution on their own, but it was important they were working together. It would help in the future. After all, lifting the veil was only the first step. They needed all the allies they could get for their next step.

Fighting Darth Imperius.

If she were to be honest, she had mixed feelings about doing that. Adas Kallig wasn't a bad person. He was actually decent, for a sith. She wouldn't describe him as morally upstanding, but he was decent enough. He was very silly and had a vindictive streak, but he wasn't cruel, nor was he bloodthirsty. If he was a normal person, she wouldn't have to worry about him at all, seeing him as an eccentric, but well meaning man.

The problem was, he wasn't normal. He was a powerful, almost godlike sith lord, capable of great destruction. When he walked, planets shook. When he acted, civilizations collapsed. He didn't have to plan that, he didn't even have to think about doing it. It just happened.

It was quite a sad thought, because she actually liked Kallig. He was charismatic, generous and his sense of humor was quite bad, which actually made him more human. And his power was extremely useful in the fight against the Eternal empire. But, even with all these positive traits, he couldn't go against his own nature.

In truth, he probably shouldn't even be considered a person, as he was more of a natural disaster in the human form. He couldn't stop influencing the galaxy just like the storm couldn't stop sending lightning. She had no doubts that he was already surrounded by various dark siders, unconsciously brought before him lured by his might. He probably didn't even notice how quickly it happened.

She would prefer to end it peacefully, but that was unfortunately impossible. It wasn't in his nature to just stop. And there was one thing that Imperius valued above anything else. One thing that defined him.

Freedom.

He wouldn't stop, because that would mean restraining himself. And that wasn't something he could do. Ever since he was a slave, the only thing he dreamt of was freedom. He would sooner die than let anyone take it away from him.

Hours were passing by, as various sages and thinkers debated about the next course of action. Everyone seemed to have a vague idea about the threat, but no one knew enough about it to find out how to treat it.

The debate stopped when she sensed a presence reaching the planet. She raised her head, as did everyone else, seeing a republic ship approaching their location. It would seem that their last guest was there.

Many of the force users present started to panic, not informed about the development, but Yoda was prepared for this , already trying to calm them down.

"Worry, do not. Expected, newcomer was by mystics of Voss" he pointed in the direction of the mystics, who just nodded their heads. It was enough to calm most of the members, as their foresight was known to be powerful. Though they began to worry again, when they saw the identity of the person who exited the ship. Yoda and Selleana were quite surprised as well. as they didn't know it would be him who would bring them a solution.

"Welcome fellow force users, I am honored to meet you" said the newcomer, holding some mysterious scrolls and texts in his hands "My name is Sheev Palpatine, also known as Darth Sidious, and I am here to help you with your ritual. To show my good will, here is all information about the veil I could find"

Selleana was quite amused by the sight before her. Leader of the current Sith order, Sheev Palpatine and the grandmaster of the current Jedi order, Yoda were kneeling across each other, meditating together. Members of other orders were around them, creating a huge ritual circle with Yoda and Palpatine in the center. They were all quietly chanting, getting ready to begin. They finally knew how to lift the veil and it was thanks to the one who was presumably responsible for creating it.

It was a bizarre situation, especially for Yoda, who had to be convinced that Sidious didn't plan to sabotage their efforts. It took both Selleana and Voss mystics to make him accept Palpatine's help and even then it took a while. Selleana herself was surprised by that development, though she calmed down when she realized Chancellor's situation.

She was quite proud of her sensing ability and what she was able to sense from Sidious was completely unexpected. This man was like a white sheet! There was no dark side clinging to him, no violent emotions surrounding him, nothing. It was like he was a newborn, only already old and with unlocked and developed force potential. The only explanation was that he lost all his memories, but could that really be the case?

They didn't even have to tell him what to do. The moment he knelt, he started to chant on his own, as if instinctively knowing how to proceed. Yoda looked at him suspiciously, still wary of him, but he joined him.

She should probably tell Yoda about the amnesia. That would calm him down a little. Well, she would do it after the ritual.

She could feel massive amounts of energy gathering around them. Trees started to shake, as if moved by the violent wind. The entire clearing was filled with various energies, wild and unrestrained. Light, grey and dark joined the symphony, together reshaping the Galaxy.

It was magnificent. Every side of the force joined, trying to bring down the veil. The light side was tearing it from the Galaxy, the dark side was keeping it from lashing out at them and the grey side was balancing both light and dark side, keeping them in harmony. It was as unprecedented as it was beautiful.

The veil was slowly being lifted, dark energy released by their actions was flying into the void, to be later absorbed by the galaxy. Things were progressing well.

Then she felt it. Something was wrong. She focused, trying to find the source of the disturbance. All this dark energy, which was supposed to just passively float until it would be reabsorbed, was going in a certain direction. Slowly but surely, all this energy was going to Drommund Kaas, attracted by something extremely powerful. She was able to feel the presence responsible for this.

"Oh, no..." she whispered, voice full of dread.

ADAS KALLIG

I was kneeling in the center of the ritual chamber. I was alone, as I told everyone to stay outside the tomb, so that they wouldn't disturb me. I was becoming one with the dark side, attuning myself to it, ready to act when the time came.

After a while, I felt it. Something powerful was attacking the veil, trying to rip it up. Obscene amounts of dark energy were released, unclaimed and wild, just waiting for someone to take it.

I focused, concentrating on redirecting all that energy to me. I was being slowly filled by it, more and more powerful by the second. Soon, my body began to glow, as if to show that the amount of power gathered was too much to keep, even for me. I felt my bones shaking and my muscles spasming, screaming at me to let go before I would be destroyed by this flood of power.

I knew what I had to do. With my eyes full of conviction, I gathered all that power in my hands, ignoring the agonizing pain, and thrusted them out in front of myself, as if trying to grasp something invincible. My hands, instead of hitting the air, touched something. It was soft to the touch and yet felt extremely durable. I grabbed it with both of my hands, slowly stretching the fabric. For a moment nothing happened. Then, I felt it ripping. It was a small rip, but it was there.

The force screamed.