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 9: Shattered union

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Part 2

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Officer quarters

Republic cruiser "Reconciliation"

Eriadu

Was getting a few hours of peaceful sleep that much to ask for? First, there were a few unsettling dreams I couldn't properly recall, just a sense of unease that usually came when some of my past caught up to me at night. Then, my reluctant passenger decided to play moral compass on me.

"I don't get you." Shaak Ti hissed waspishly in my head.

This was getting bothersome. At least now I had just a single Force Ghost stuck in the dark corners of my mind. While irritating it was a far cry from the last time.

"I'm not that complicated." I groaned and stretched. Even days later, my body was still recovering from the strain I put on myself back at Sullust. Damn this war, it didn't let me find the time to figure out what was wrong with the Force! At this rate, one of these days I might actually get myself killed in a rather embracing fashion after exhausting myself.

"Everything I experienced in your memories tells me you loathe slavery!" Ti snapped.

"I most certainly do." I gave her a mental nod. It wasn't like I went out of my way to keep it a secret even in the Empire, much less nowadays. Didn't she had anything better to do than pester me? It was too early to deal with a bothersome Jedi.

"No, I don't!" Ti glared.

It was weird experiencing and knowing she did it while stuck in my head.

"You kept Vette as a slave when Baras so 'graciously' gave her to you. You had no problem working with the Hutts and just a month ago you enslaved hundreds of thousands at Kamino!" TI snapped.

"Yes? Is there a question or are you just getting off of irritating me this early in the morning?" I grumbled.

"How?!"

Did she just splutter in my head? I rubbed my forehead in an attempt to forestall a headache. It didn't really work.

"You really don't get it, do you, Jedi?" I groaned aloud in a voice that was thick with exasperation. "Because, I could. I believed it served my best interests at the time. I am a Sith and that means I am free from moral constrains, that of society and most importantly..." I did my best to sent Shaak Ti a mental glare, "... from my own." How do I explain it in such a way that she could get it if that was even possible? For me my actions were perfectly logical given the information I had available at the time. I knew that other people might not see it that way, though some of the time I wasn't sure why. My best guess was that we saw the world in a very different way.

"That doesn't make sense! Are you out of you mind?"

Dull pain began throbbing behind my eyes.

"The Dark Side gives those who wield her many gifts. It cloaks us in shadows, helps us hide from the world at large. Most importantly, it helps us hide from ourselves." I told her.

"Yet, even now, you claim you haven't fallen to the Dark Side!" I could taste the bitter accusation in Ti's words. It swarmed outwards from her corner of my mind until it shrouded her presence like a warm cloak.

"You should know better by now. I'm not a nice man. I chose to become a monster of my own free will and the Dark Side ensured that my conscience was no obstacle. I didn't need to fall to see clearly, Shaak Ti. How could I?" I chuckled at that thought. "When you aren't constrained by morality, you would be surprised how many previously un-thincable ideas suddenly become feasible. Practical."

"How is burning whole worlds anything but insanity?" My resident and troublesome Jedi exclaimed.

"Why not do it if it serves a purpose?" I shot back.

"You murdered hundreds of millions, perhaps billions at Sullust yet you act as it was nothing!"

"Because it was no big deal. Billions? Trillions? I didn't know them, Jedi. I had no emotional investment in their fate. All I regret is the waste of industry and potential that gets destroyed and is yet to be destroyed in this war. People die, whole worlds with them. So what? Why should I care beyond the impact their loss has on the war and economy?"

Ti stared at me horrified.

"Individuals matter to me, Jedi and precious little of them. Anyone else?" I shrugged. "Why should I care? Why should I lose any sleep over those destroyed by my actions? They were unlucky enough to be in my way. They didn't have the power and skill to survive. That's the ultimate truth of our existence. Morality? Intentions? Without sufficient power to back them, they mean nothing."

"You actually believe this... this... MADNESS!" There was a sense of finality in Ti's words.

I'm not sure she understood or even cared to try. What I knew was that she made up her mind and apparently dismissed me as just another madman. Bloody Jedi.

"Oh, I understand!" An impressive sneer echoed through my mind. "You are an insane psychopath who let power get to his head. You didn't even notice falling to the Dark Side, because it hardly made you any worse than you already were. You were merely afraid of the consequences before you got enough power in your clutches to avoid facing justice for your crimes!"

"That's certainly one way to look at it. Justice. Riiight. Do you think I would find a single grain of justice if I shred this whole star system to dust, Shaak Ti? When the Sith Empire came back from the Unknown Regions and invaded the Republic, the Sith called it justice. When centuries earlier the Jedi and their precious Republic genocided the true Sith and did its best to make the very idea of the Sith extinct, they called it Justice! Tell me, Jedi, how many people on Naboo would call my actions at Sullust justice for what the Separatist did to them?"

"No one in their right mind!" Ti stood defiantly against me. Her ghostly form blazed with determination and wisps of the Light Side energy that made my headache worse. "It's not for you to decide what justice is or if it exists! You aren't judge, jury or executioner! The sheer hubris!" Ti shook her head. "I pity you, you know. You can't even comprehend how far you've fallen."

"Not trying to make me redeem myself?" I let her bask in my amusement.

"You? You need to want redemption if you are to have a chance at it and you Veil, would laugh at the very thought. I wonder... if you aren't completely insane, what would have your original thought of you?"

"Trying to play dirty now? It doesn't matter. He would have died at Korriban, fallen at best. It was my time as a soldier for the Eurasian Federation that gave me a chance. Yet, even with that experience... The man who walked out of the Sith Academy wasn't the same who went in. I have many regrets in my life, Jedi. Becoming a Sith, supporting the Empire, those actions aren't among them."

"Yet you engineered the civil war that destroyed the Sith Empire. Are you blind, a fool or merely wilfully ignorant?"

"When did I ever say that I supported the Sith Empire? My allegiance was to the Empire, to the ideal of order it brought. To the soldiers who fought beside me and supported me to the end. To their families and loved ones, because those people mattered to said soldiers." It was that simple. What couldn't she get it?!

"You are such a hypocrite." Ti said it as if it was some grand revelation.

"Of course I am. The Sith I intend to forge won't be like me. If they are, we will inevitably tear the galaxy apart. Jedi, freedom is wonderful and terrible thing. That is the pinnacle of being a Sith and in the end I will deny it to the Sith Order I intend to create."

"You poor wretched little man..." Ti sighed.

"I'm quite wealthy, as you well know." I shot back. "It's funny you know... You Jedi are the ever present protectors of the Republic, of your valued democracy, yet not of freedom. Not really."

Pure disbelieving indignation radiated from Shaak Ti, who was momentarily at loss of words at the accusation.

"Of course we are!" Ti snapped at me. Her composure cracked and the light of the Force that made her form shine dimmed.

"Are you? Where was the Order a decade ago when Naboo was invaded? Where were you when your vaunted democracy failed in the Senate? Where were you as the Hutts enslave billions upon billions? Four thousand years ago the Jedi just stood and watched from their ivory towers. They and the Old Republic even allied with factions among the Hutts when it was convenient. Here we are, thousands of years late and your kind did nothing to change what happens in Hutt space. Look me in the eyes and tell me why!"

Ti opened her mouth, then closed it and glared at me.

"Do you think I like it?! I've seen slavery! Since the war began I've been an accomplice to it!" Poison dribbled off Ti's words. "I had to train Clones so they would go out, fight and die for a cause that isn't theirs, for people who don't give a damn about them! I've been to Hutt space! I've seen what happens out there! What do you want me to say!? That I would want to see all those worms face their just rewards? The Republic was in no state do anything officially! We are seen as agents of the Republic! Our actions reflect on it! We did as much as we could!"

"When its convenient. Otherwise, you looked the other way and believed that it was for the best. You had to see the bigger picture." I spoke gently. "When the war began you did accept the Clone armies without a second thought."

"We had no choice! Without the Clones we would have lost!"

"I know." I smiled. "You weren't willing to pay the price for not using a slave army when you needed it, yet you dare judge me for doing the same? I'm not the only hypocrite here, Shaak Ti. I believed that keeping Vette as my slave was in my best interest and wasn't willing to pay the price of releasing her. I believed the same at Kamino. Was it the scale that make you so furious at my actions? The fact that I could keep my conscience from bothering me? Or is it because you and the rest of the Jedi did the same bloody thing? For the best of reasons of course. Whatever lets you sleep easier at night."

"Don't twist my words! We are nothing alike!" The look of indignation on her face was priceless.

"I don't have to. You know my goals. You saw my memories. I have no problem with you deciding to stand against me and my vision of the future, Shaak Ti. The reasons you decided to do it however, those infuriate me. And to think I decided to show you a modicum of trust before you turned around and stabbed me in the bag. Such a waste."

"You really believe that, don't you?" Ti laughed hollowly. "The Council was right after all, Sith. Your king is a pack of mad dogs and the galaxy would be better without you."

"That might very well be the case. I am a selfish creature. If the situation warrants it I would watch the galaxy burn around me and I might very well enjoy every moment of it."

"There isn't a proper word to describe your unique brand of madness in any language I know, nor for your sheer arrogance!" Anger throbbed all around Ti making her ethereal form a stunning thing to behold.

"Compliments will get you nowhere." I was very pleased with myself at how well I got under her shimmering skin.

"Why the Force saw fit to curse us with you I will never know!"

"What makes you think that the Force is to blame for my presence?"

"I won't take your delusions at face value!"

"Your loss." I drew on the Dark Side and slammed a pitch black barrier between us. Hopefully I would get a bit of sleep now.

I was just drifting on when the alarms began screaming.

Damn it, what went to hell this time?!

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Part 3

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Mandalorian Embassy

Coruscant

Satine Kenobi fidgeted, while her sister examined her as if she was something unnatural that just crawled out of a waste disposal bin.

"You're the new Chancellor of the Galactic Republic." Bo spoke slowly, carefully tasting each word.

"Yep." Satine nodded.

She really should have thought how this scheme would affect her on a personal level. Oh, politically it actually made sense – if barely and in a terribly convoluted way befitting the unholy mess that the Senate made of well everything. The very big, pointedly visible security detail was just the tip of the iceberg. Chancellor or not, she couldn't come visit her sister and arrange for someone else to become Mandalore's new ambassador until the relationship between her home nation and the Republic could be straightened and further formalized – something that simply couldn't happen before Mandalore himself deigned to drag his ass away from his Mid Rim shenanigans.

After what happened to Palpatine, the GAR was determined not to lose another Chancellor and Satine was pretty sure they were over-compensating and not just because she was their commanding general's wife. What did that Captain tell her earlier?

"We actually like Kenobi and Veil. Especially Veil. They go out of their way to make sure we don't get killed because of restricted ROEs, not enough air and orbital support and other... things that have nothing to do with fighting a war. We're keeping you in one piece, Ma'am or we die trying."

Satine thought better not to remind the good soldier that not too long ago she was one of those more vocal about how the war must not be escalated or how collateral damage must be kept to a minimum. She technically still had the same mindset, though it was tempered by a hefty doze of reality. Satine wasn't ready to admit it in public, even to her husband yet, however in the aftermath of Death Watch's coup she got an epiphany. Restricting rules of engagement, striving to minimize collateral damage, something that including avoiding killing civilians, inevitably meant that the soldiers on the ground often had to suffer heavier casualties to get the job done. She could see how they would resent orders that could get them and their friends killed or maimed. Orders given by politicians who were far away from the front and as often as not did it just to keep their approval ratings up instead of any genuine concern for the poor people caught between the GAR and Separatist's Droid armies.

Bo continued to watch her oddly and didn't really notice Satine's lapse in concentration.

"How did you manage that? I knew you were going to kick the whole house of cards and hope everything fell in somewhat manageable chaos but..." Bo grinned. "I'm proud of you sister! You did what no other Mandalorian has ever done! Come here so I can give you a hug!"

Satine winced at the reminder that due to her ongoing series of cybernetic enhancements, currently Bo had her mobility curtailed quite a bit until whatever she consented to being put in her spine settled down or something. Once she did make the mistake of looking over an abbreviated list of those enhancements and they made her queasy. By the time it was all done, Bo was going to be more machine than a woman. And she was giddy by the prospect! The worst thing was that Satine couldn't really blame that Sith for this sorry state of affairs! She knew her sister good enough to see where she was coming from. Not that it made her feel any better. Satine sighed and went to the couch where Bo was lounging. She got a bone-cracking hug for her troubles too.

"Bo! Air!"

"Sorry!" Bo winced, then very gingerly lightly patted her shoulder. "My sister. Chancellor of the Republic! How is that working out for you?"

"I didn't really knew what I was getting myself into? Don't repeat that, please!" Satine winced.

"I won't, I promise. That bad?"

"Worse. The Senate is still making trouble, the riots and protests all over the place are yet to stop despite everyone's best efforts. My clandestine election didn't help matters. Not really."

"Hey, I saw your address. It was quite good, I think. I'm just not sure how well it would go down back home." Bo shrugged.

"Getting some reinforcements pushed to Mandalore might make up for that. At least most of the Clones seem eager to listen." That was the biggest gamble – if the Clones didn't accept her as a legitimate Chancellor everything would have been for naught. Still, there were a lot of units that didn't. Too many in fact, some on Coruscant too. Obi-Wan had to deal with that and barring a miracle it was going to get very ugly.

"That's great! When are they leaving?" Bo perked up.

"You aren't going with them even if I have to call the good soldiers keeping me in one piece and have them park a tank on you! You won't be clear to go get yourself shot up any time soon!" Satine glared at her sister.

"I don't do it on purpose you know!"

"It still happens!"

"Not my fault. Blame the Jedi." She Bo thought for a moment. "My husband too, along with the Death Watch. Not my fault."

Satine gave her sister a disbelieving look.

"Speaking about my idiot of a husband... What's your official position on his shenanigans?" Bo grumbled.

"Are you irritated with what he is apparently doing or because you aren't out there with him?" Satine sighed.

"Well... both?" Bo asked in a small voice.

"Mostly the latter then." Satine concluded.

Her sister smiled innocently. It was just like that time when they were little girls and Bo was caught red handed with what was let of the pie...

"He's Mandalore, that gives him some political cover, yet it opens a whole different can of worms. My... generals," And wasn't that a weird sentiment when it pertained to basically all the people running the Republic military, "tell me he should be legally clear about Sullust. Acceptable military targets." Satine hissed. The very thought that this was the military's official position on the matter was unsettling. That Obi-Wan agreed on the legality if not morality of the act was even worse.

Satine didn't really want to think about her one attempt to probe the reactions of her security detail on the manner. They were in awe the maniacs.

"Ah. That's good." Bo relaxed. "You know there will be trouble in home if you find yourself forced to move against him even for appearances sake."

"That possibility hasn't escaped me." Satine admitted.

It was one of the big reasons against her taking the position of Chancellor. The possible political entanglements over just Veil's position as the one she owed allegiance were nightmare fuel. However, strictly speaking, she didn't need to be the Chancellor any more. Not since the moment the majority of the Clones in contact actually accepted her authority. In fact, the primary reason why she was actually elected was simple – the moment when they all went along with their scheme, the Republic died. It was now a corpse kept on life support for appearance's sake. Her real job was to facilitate a working alliance against the Separatists, continued operation of the most critical Republic institutions and laying down the groundwork for the eventual re-establishing of the Republic or something else to replace it. Preferably without the citizenry at large figuring out what was actually happening.

That was one of the reason why she found the time to visit the embassy. It was officially to arrange for her replacement as Mandalorian ambassador so appearances of conflicting interests could be minimized a bit. Seeing Bo was a nice bonus. At least officially. The real reason she came was to take a brief pit stop and see her sister, though no one else needed to know that.

Briefly the sisters sat leaning on each other lost in their own thoughts.