Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed or Star Wars. They belong to their respective copyright owners. This story is not created with commercial aim. I make no money from it.

Phase 1: A galaxy torn asunder

=RK=

Part 3

Senate building

Coruscant

Every day since he was released from the hospital, Obi-Wan had to do the same useless thing – report in front of the Senate. They asked him the same questions and surprisingly expected different answers, while they kept his hands tied. It was frustrating. Infuriating really and that was especially dangerous given the volatile state of the Force.

"My answer remains the same, Senator Mothma." Obi-Wan answered in cordial tone. "Veil's fleet is still dark. While we've got a hundred new rumors of their location, none have been confirmed. The answers of your remaining questions are unchanged. We do not know why he ordered Kamino bombarded. We do not know why the soldiers under his command – Corellians, Mandalorians and Clones alike – obeyed. We have multiple theories. No proof to go on. At this moment we can't even confirm the status of Kamino. The system is on the far end of the galaxy in a region under Separatist control. All we can say for sure is that the footage and sensor logs provided by the Confederacy appear genuine and not tampered with. Saying anything else would be baseless speculation." Kenobi explained calmly.

For the ninth damned time!

That wasn't what the Senate wanted to hear if their angry muttering and odd shouted accusations were anything to go by. They wanted someone to blame. A scapegoat to throw to the krath hounds that was the media.

Considering what was still happening with the Clones, Obi-Wan wouldn't put it as impossible if they got rogue at Kamino too, even if that didn't explain the other people working with Veil.

What was worse, Obi-Wan was actually tempted to offer Veil as a sacrifice. However, that wasn't exactly a simple proposition. Nowadays the man was a sovereign head of state among other things, which complicated the situation immensely even if he was guilty, which wasn't a guarantee.

Considering what the Clones were doing since Order 66 was given, Obi-Wan could actually imagine scenarios where Veil did indeed order Kamino bombed back to the stone age - with good reason too. However, he couldn't say so in front of the Senate. The situation with the Clones was delicate enough without adding further complications.

"General Kenobi, are there any important changes in the strategic situation since yesterday's session?" Bail Organa inquired after the other Senators finally got themselves under control.

"None, Senator Organa. There's still heavy fighting in the eastern sectors of the Mid Rim. The Inner Rim in the Galactic East is currently secure. At this moment the Confederacy is unlikely to launch any more heavy offensives in the Core, however they're still sending in raiding fleets to disrupt our commerce. Our scout report that the Separatists are busy fortifying their conquests. Our projections are that they will use the coming months to consolidate the territory they gained in their offensive, secure their logistics and prepare the ground for a decisive offensive once their next major building cycle is complete. The longer we're forced to wait the higher the price we'll need to pay to regain complete control of the Core Worlds."

"What are you waiting for?" Someone shouted in the silence following Obi-Wan's answers.

"One of two things, Senator." Kenobi intoned without losing a beat. "A new Chancellor being elected and calling off Order 66 so the GAR could freely use our Clone personnel in offensive operations, or for our new training programs to complete their current cycle and give us enough personnel so we could resume offensive operations."

His words were met with resounding silence. Everyone knew that there were whole armies being trained, quite a lot of them too. These volunteers would be ready for deployment over the next few months. However no one was looking forward for them joining the fray, for these were ordinary people. Republic citizens. Every one of them mattered – they were someones sons and daughters, brothers, sisters, parents.

They were real people, not just expendable Clones. If, when the GAR was forced to rely primary on their efforts and the coffins began coming back in a tide, there would be hell to pay.

"What about the traitors?" The Senator from Palanhi asked.

"Which traitors? The Jedi? The Cathar? Their other allies?" Obi-Wan requested a clarification.

"All of them!" Came the answer.

"The Jedi remaining on Coruscant are either in custody and being investigated, they're being hunted down or dead." Somehow Obi-Wan managed to keep his tone light and conversational. He showed no outright sign that the inquiry was infuriating or of the Dark Side whispering how good would it feel to crush the damn useless fools.

Kenobi looked around the chamber. About a third of it was empty, yet every single Senator on Coruscant was in here. Well with the exception of those arrested either for treason or thanks to Palpatine's evidence.

For some reason Obi-Wan didn't doubt that there would be a lot more new faces in this building when the dust finally settled.

"As far as the Cathar are concerned, their homeworld is in contested space. After they officially switched sides last week and joined the Separatists, we're in no position to directly assault them. In order to do so, we need to remove the Confederate presence from the other edges of the Mid Rim in the Galactic East and secure Mandalore as a staging area. None of that is possible while the majority of the Clones are locked in following Order 66." Obi-Wan explained.

Here it comes again…

"Why no one knew about the Contingency Orders and their effects?" Mothma was on the warpath again.

"I believe that files containing the contingency orders are available to members of the Senate upon request. How the Clones would react once a contingency order was given, that I admit caught us all of guard. I believe that the representative from Kamino is better suited to answer such a question. I would like to know the answer too, Senator."

Unfortunately, Kamino's Senator wasn't interested in answering questions. Instead if given the opportunity to speak all that came from her mouth were demand for Veil and Holt's heads mounted on pikes in front of the Senate and for the Republic to be held accountable for the destruction of Kamino.

Obi-Wan has been contemplating the wisdom of getting her arrested and into interrogation ever since he became aware of the debacle in progress that was Order 66. Only the lack of evidence and the shaky political situation held his hand so far. Well, there was the fear that she could implement some kind of contingency order if the Republic attempted to arrest her without due cause, however that was increasingly unlikely as more and more time passed without new Clone related problems.

=RK=

Ambassador suite

Mandalorian embassy

Coruscant

Bo-Katan sat dejectedly in her hover chair, trying to ignore the fact that without the life-support systems in it she would be stuck in a hospital bed until all her operations could be completed. However, before that could happen she had to agree on the amount of cybernetic implants that would be put in her.

Even the lightest option amounted to turning her into a cyborg.

Bo closed her eyes and growled. Shattered or even pulverized ribs. Filleted internal organs which even bacta couldn't fully heal. Spine snapped on multiple places… The list went on and on. The doctors told her it was a miracle she lived long enough to get to the operating room in the first place.

Lucky. Bo-Katan laughed mirthlessly. She could remember dying twice.

When she faced that damned Jedi… it was supposed to be glorious. A battle for the ages.

Instead Windu crushed her. Made her feel weak. Useless.

He still did. Thanks to that bastard she was a cripple.

Pathetic.

Bo shook in impotent fury and frustration. She had to become strong again. She had to be a worthy Mandalorian warrior. That was her dream and yet Windu crushed it so easily.

Bo-Katan looked at the data-pad in her lap and grimaced. She would get stronger. She would train to hunt down and kill Jedi. And she was going to track Windu and end him.

A shacking hand – the only one that was currently working properly – picked up the data-pad. Bo scrolled through the options until she reached those available only thanks to her brother in law's connections in Republic R&D. Project Rebirth. If she went with that option, Bo would be more machine than woman. Yet, it might be worth it in the end.

She thought what her husband would think of it. She hoped Delkatar hadn't managed to get himself killed. Bo was fond of him. She even dreamed of him while in delirium after Windu crushed her.

Decisions, decisions...

=RK=

Interlude: Pef's Corporate Misadventures

=RK=

AN: This update is from Per on the space battles forums. It is posted with his permission.

Floating in space, a million kays from Planet Farana
Zinsj Empire world

I mused over the nav comp, trying to figure out how the smugglers did it.

There was no possible way for a hyper jump from Farana to reach Dandoran, not even with mark 1.0 drives. Which this ship didn't have. Unless they had a Samantha Carter, calculating a slingshot around a singularity, while in hyperspace.

The human had been nor female, nor blonde. The body was now floating away, along with the skeletons of the former crew members. Wouldn't do to have to explain the mystery meat in my fridge to some tax inspector. Fridge logic only works in movies.

The route will remain another mystery, for someone smarter. Or maybe one day, I'll ask myself the same question, while inside an auditorium packed full with hyperspace engineers, and drain their brains for an answer.

The nav comp still stated happily that a jump was possible, coordinates loaded.

Fine. Trust in the force.

I felt a delicate hand touch my shoulder, but I didn't turn.

Stealth procedures first. Turn off coms. Turn off navigation aids and gravimetric sensors. Reduce engine output to minimum.
Start warm up. Deflector shields set to ambient temperature, polarize all outgoing light. Turn off gravity. And flick.

Time stopped, and the stars elongated into streaks of light. My stomach did a flip, then turned back towards the spaceship's deck. Artificial gravity restored. We were in hyperspace now, and nothing except a lucky gravity mine would drag us out.

"Now Clarisse. We need to train. Take those 2 rusted blasters, and go to cargo bay" I demanded, turning around.

The girl was still holding her stomach. Huh, I'd have thought Kuat would have gene spliced space sickness out from their family genes.

"I don't feel so good..." she complained, gritting her teeth.

Hmmm. Zebrak congee should calm her stomach. Or provoke even worse symptoms.

"We'll start slow. First dismantle, then clean the weapons. We'll fire them later" I replied amicably. Her face became even paler.

"Can't you just enjoy my body, like a normal teenager would?" she complained, dragging her feet towards the hold.

Hmm. Maybe later. Survival first.

While the girl was stuck with looking over her datapad for schematics and a blaster operation manual, I reviewed my own abilities.

The force shield still came easy, almost like someone downloaded the ability in my brain. Which was quite possible, and with the number of agencies involved in my life so far, the culprit could be any of them. Too bad it took a fork in my neck for the shield to appear.

The other abilities were self taught, and it showed. My brain drain only worked to a measurable degree if I had lots of people with knowledge about a subject in my range. Less than thirty victims in my range and I got almost nothing.

Probably a somatic symptom, since I started doing it in kindergarten, and those classes had 33 people at all times.

The skill download worked only if I was certain it would work. The force would provide a temporary boost for any ability I needed, as long as I knew that a certain skill would help and asked specifically for it.

Then there were more esoteric disciplines, which only sometimes worked, and I didn't know how or why.

Reinforcement, structural analysis, postcognition, precognition, clairvoyance. I had to be calm and open myself to the force.

Trust blindly that it will work, and sometimes it did. Or just use it without thinking at all. That worked too, for some reason.

Telekinesis was the most difficult ability to measure. I knew I could theoretically lift or dismantle an entire star destroyer using only my mind. I've read about it, in another life.

But for me, it barely worked on my own person. I could jump, and telekinetically guide my trajectory, extend my jumps or slow down a fall. Again, learned it while falling from a tree. Maybe one day a spaceship will drop on top of me, and I'll learn to levitate big objects as well. Probably not though. Objects in motion.

I needed someone to teach me, and my miraluka sensei did a poor job. Everything came naturally to her.

'Let the force guide you, just go with the flow'. Right.

It had worked, in combat. Almost like my knife had a will of its own. But I never managed to even touch my sensei with my practice sword. She saw the force, almost like other people saw light.

If I ever had to fight a force sensitive, I'd better stick to explosives and sonic weapons. Which are very very rare.

Almost like someone was deliberately restricting and marginalizing their existence.

"I did it Pef. Almost nothing broke!" I heard a happy voice exult beside me.

Kriff. I opened my eyes and checked. As expected, the rusted weapons didn't survive being dismantled.

I started picking salvageable parts, till I had enough to assemble a working blaster, from both weapons.

"Clean this parts, gently. And don't use water or soap. The red liquid in the canister" I advised Clarisse, pointing at the jug with cleaning liquid for electronics. Closed my eyes again, and tried to calm myself.

I heard a muffled 'Tchhh', then silence and short bursts of friction and sploshed liquid. Good, she was trying, at least.

What I needed was a speed ability. Something to allow me to aim and think. To plan and move at the same time.

My hand took out a few metal bits from the floor and juggled them.

Flick one up, then slap it, trying to redirect the fall towards the metal wall of the hold.

Miss, miss, miss. Ouch. Maybe I should try it with eyes open.

I did that, and checked for the last bit. Some kind of screw, embedded completely into the ship's inner armor.

The back of my hand was bleeding and started to blacken. Speed achieved. Now control.

Focus on the pain, make it yours. Flick one more. The metal bit floated in the air, almost defying gravity.

The girl was blinking, a thousand times too slow.

Make contact gently with the flying bit of metal trigger, then flick it. Time resumed, along with alarms.

"Hull breach, decompression. Please return to Corellia for repairs" The automated system blared from the ceiling. Ha.

A certain railgun achieved.

I looked down, selected the first flat metal bit, then walked calmly to the fissure and slapped it over it. Vacuum pressure welded it shut instantly.

"What in the nine Corellian hells was that!" the girl yelled, looking at me accusingly.

"A weapon" I answered calmly, dropping back in a meditative trance.

"At this rate, I'll die a virgin" the girl complained, returning to cleaning her weapon bits.

I think this was directed at me somehow, but I can't figure out why.

=RK=

Interlude Pef
In Hyperspace, en route to Dandoran, a Hutt world.

"Again. Keep your your eyes open!" I yelled at her, as Clarisse wasted more blaster shots.

"It's loud and scary!" she yelled back at me. Oh man, maybe I should try to find some slugthrowers. If she thinks blasters are loud...

On the other hand, trying to deflect bullets would be much different than blasters bolts.

The bolts had a kind of presence in the force, making them relatively easy to intercept. Well, at least shots fired one by one, with random yelling and cursing in between. I'd have been the first to die at Geonosis.

Bullet time would work, for a while. But the mental energy to remain focused was huge. And my other mind would take over.

"10 more shots. Then we take a break" I allowed magnanimously.

"You said that an hour ago!" she yelled back, and shot at my balls. Good aim too. Eyes open, anger driving her fear away.

Huh. What do you know?

My bantha prod glowed blue and moved on its own, deflecting the bolt into the bull's eye painted on a crate.

"That's my girl. Keep shooting!" I encouraged her, and she unleashed hell, firing 20 times in 20 seconds. Her energy pack pulsed a red warning, signaling a depleted charge.

The last bolt hit my hand, the energy making my nerves scream and forcing my fingers to open. The prod fell on the floor with a bounce.

"You did it!" I exclaimed excitedly, running forwards and grabbing her in a hug.

"You idiot, I hit you!" she said, hugging me back. I know. Hurts like hell. Hurts so good...

She stopped for a moment, as my obvious excitement made itself noticed.

"Pef you moron. I told you I am yours..." she murmured, as her hands glided down and grabbed my bottom.

"Mhmmm. Had to break your block. The galaxy is dangerous. And Hutt space even more" I replied, whispering in her ear and massaging her back.

"Let's take a shower" she invited me, her voice an octave lower.

"Soon. Don't wanna wash myself in Zabrak piss just yet" I muttered, letting her go with a slight push.

She blanked out for a few moments, going over life supports systems in her mind. Everything was recycled on spaceships, but I guess she forgot.

"Moron, you ruined my last pleasure on this ship!" she yelled and tried to brain me with her empty blaster.

I ducked and came under her arm, then hugged her from behind. Hand to hand rating, negative two. She still had a lot to learn.

"Shhhh. Life is what it is. Now, load the engine schematics on your pad and start memorizing. If you ace my test, we'll shower together, to save on water." I explained, massaging her shoulders. Tension rose, then fell sharply.

"I'll never be a ship mechanic, no matter what you promise" she complained, leaning into my arms.

"Study harder then. The rest of the crew will be competing for your spot" I teased her, then patted her bottom while going back to my meditation mat.

Combat and aggression needs met, for today, I opened myself to the force, and let it pass through me.

My hand tingled, a sign of regeneration beginning. It was strange, almost like here in hyperspace, the force was easier, helping.

Perhaps hyperspace was an expression of the force, like a higher circulatory system.

Nothing I knew of the force from my previous life fit with what I experienced here. No light side, not even a dark side.

Just my own mind, fracturing along morality lines. How could Skywalker bring balance to the force, if he wasn't balanced himself?

Extermination of the Jedi kept going, beacons of light going silent in the force, all over the galaxy. But this was only politics?

Most Jedi were just religious authorities, cardinals imposing their church's view on the galaxy. Rarely a critical thinker among them. A mind set I was bred to oppose, even if it did work. Trust in the force.

Belief worked, because quadrillions of sapients also believed, and made miracles possible. But the Sith were even better.

They studied, they invented, they researched. Well, they used to. Until they went mad and started burning worlds.

Palpatine was dead, and Yoda most likely too. The force shifted and bent when those two monsters fell.

A peak of selfishness lasting only minutes, then gone. Another peak of self sacrifice, then gone as well.

And Moff Zinsj began forming his empire even sooner. Some separatist elements joined him too, grasping at what they saw as chance to power and survival. Too soon I think, the Republic and the separatists were still quite even.

The current Sith, Veil and Zash, were dormant for now, probably injured. But they'll be back.

Monsters both of them, trained by the Sith Empire in its glory. I could learn from them, perhaps.

I would survive, I guess. I sort of knew what Sith training implied. But the one to survive wouldn't be me. Only a shell, an empty body driven by base instincts.

I could look for a Jedi maybe, plenty of those hiding from persecution now. Hiding in the shadow of the tree was not living anyway. Not in the long run.

A palliative to true learning. There had to be a way for me. A near infinite galaxy, just visiting all the planets would take billions of years. The Sith and the Jedi were mere toddlers on this scale.

Somewhere out there, there will be answers.

I just had to reach them.

I had to survive till then. Get stronger and faster. Train myself. Find a teacher, maybe.

My hand tingled one last time. Healing complete.

Guess it was time to cook some Zabrak then. It's not cannibalism if he was a different specie, right?