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 13

=RK=

Part 5

=RK=

Ambassador quarters

Mandalorian Embassy

Coruscant

Thanks to Zash and Sidious acting as beacons, projecting my consciousness to Coruscant was not only possible but viable without exhausting myself more than I could afford to. After our little chat, I had just enough energy left for a brief visit to my wife. It helped that Obi-Wan was near her too and thus could briefly act as an anchor for the technique.

I found the three of them – my wife, Kenobi and Satine, lounging on comfortable looking couches in a tastefully furnished room. The Kenobis were to the left, hugging each other tightly. They looked positively cute too – something that I would never admit; I had a reputation to uphold after all.

Bo... she was sprawled on the second couch in the room. My wife looked and felt exhausted. Her presence in the Force was less tangible than I remembered. It was hard to scan her properly through the projection but if I had to guess – she had at least some artificial implants keeping her together after what Windu did to her. The mere thought infuriated me and that was enough for Obi-Wan's head to snap in my direction. He gently pushed Satine and was on his feet in an eye-blink.

"I come in peace." I smirked and forced more power into the projection making it visible for everyone in the room.

"Delkatar?" Bo perked up when she heard my voice. She tried to get up but winced and grabbed her side.

"How are you here?" Kenobi demanded. He had his lightsaber in hand but hadn't ignited it yet. The former Jedi undoubtedly could feel my Force signature, which would be enough to convince him that I wasn't just a hologram made by someone with particularly bad taste and suicidal tendencies.

"I'm a Sith Lord." I deadpanned. "I did learn a few tricks on Korriban you know." I returned my attention to Bo.

My wife managed to get herself sitting, however didn't attempt to get up. I could perceive her pain and it was infuriating.

I walked through the table between the couches and knelt to look Bo in the eyes.

"Hey." I had to force even more energy in the projection to make my fingers somewhat tangible as I brushed her cheek. It was just enough to get a vague idea of Bo's health – and there were a lot of foreign material in her body.

I ignored my rising fury and smiled. "It's good to see you're alive." My smile darkened. "And mostly intact."

"It will take more than a Jedi to put me down." Bo grinned back, yet it was more bravado than conviction I could see in her eyes... and enough seething anger to make any Sith proud. "You don't call, you don't write..." She pouted cutely. "You go around having all the fun while I'm stuck here."

Fun? "What exactly did you hear of me lately?" I asked. I was genuinely curious about that – after the CIS offensive that cut the Republic apart and at least parts of the Intelligence community supporting the Jedi Coup it was anyone's guess what the people on Coruscant knew of the events in the Rim.

"Some very interesting rumours that if true mean you owe me for hogging all the fun." Bo tried to touch my hand, however her fingers merely passed through the projection.

I did get the message. I married a Mandalorian bride after all. While Ashara wasn't thrilled or eager to get in trouble along with me, Bo... she would love every moment of it. That would make for an interesting change once I was back to Coruscant.

"Disturbing actually." That came from Satine. "Did you really had to destroy so many moons?" She snapped at me.

"It was expedient." My answer made both the Kenobis groan. "I can't keep this for much longer. The only reason I managed is Zash. Did you get briefed about her by either Yoda or Palpatine?" I turned to look at Obi-Wan.

"I'm beginning to think that whatever I was told wasn't the whole story. Talk."

"Darth Zash – one of my former masters. Dark Lord of the Sith and former Dark Council Member. She's interested in research, experiments that sometimes are entirely aboveboard too. We..." I nodded at Bo, "retrieved her from Tython along with intelligence about the Old Republic Remnant. Palpatine and Yoda agreed she wasn't a threat to the Republic and got her a job with our R&D people. Yoda tried to assassinate her during the coup and managed to pretty much cripple her. Right now she's being held incognito at the Project Ascension site where Solumn is experimenting on her to unlock the secrets of the Force. I'll appreciate if you retrieve her, arrange proper medical treatment and clean up the good doctor's mess."

Obi-Wan groaned and fell back on the couch next to his wife. "Is there anything you, Palpatine or Yoda conveniently forgot to tell me before you all went insane?" He snapped.

"Nothing important comes to mind. I'll try to get back to the Core ASAP. At the moment I'm with a fleet close to Bothawui and will try to fight my way there soon. I'll appreciate if you do call our furry friends and instruct them to cooperate... and my time's up." I turned to my wife and gave her my best smile. "I love you, Bo. Try to keep out of too much trouble, please?"

The drain became too much and I let the connection snap.

=RK=

While my consciousness floated back to my body through the Force, I found myself within my mind, face to face with a furious Shaak Ti.

"Another rant time?" I glared at her and she glowered right back.

"You really knew about Sidious from the very beginning!" Ti snapped. "You could have ended this war months ago! Saved trillions!"

Her fury was magnificent – like the best of wines.

"Perhaps." I sighed. "You've seen my memories, yet you don't understand." Jedi. Bloody, pigheaded Jedi! "Or is it that you don't want to understand, Ti?"

"What is to understand? You chose to be a monster! There is no understanding such madness!" Did her eyes flash yellow just now?

An amused smile stretched my face. "Are you sure about that my dear?" I walked towards her. "You know, here and now, were closer than I've been with either of my wives. You know my past, my heart and my mind."

"I know your insanity and I reject it!" Ti took her anger under control and spoke in an almost peaceful voice. Almost but not quite. There were still smouldering embers below the surface of her false peaceful exterior.

In response I called the Dark Side and focused on it until we were both surrounded by her cold embrace. I let my fury at Windu blaze within my heart like a burning furnace.

"Did you experience the emotions that came with all of my memories or just some of them, Master Ti?" I asked a question I should have gone for much earlier. "I guess not." I continued. The answer was obvious after all. "Even now, you feel the Dark Side, yet don't understand." I took another step forward until we were close enough to touch. "You don't want to understand."

"There is nothing to understand." Her tone was almost serene, bland and inhuman. In other words, what I would expect from a typical Jedi high on the Council's dogma. "You might have murdered me. You might have bound my very soul, however you will not make me fall, Veil!" Ti glared defiantly at me for a few heartbeats before she retook control of her emotions.

"Fall?" I chuckled. "I never wanted you to fall, my dear. All I ever wanted from you was understanding."

"Another lie." Came the dispassionate response.

Why did I even bother? Jedi, I sighed. Well, I was stuck here with her until my consciousness was back to my body, which could take a few minutes.

"Just let go and feel." I whispered. "The Dark Side is everywhere. She is infinitely patient." I allowed Shaak Ti to experience a glimpse of what I felt for Ashara and Bo. "She is generous too." I chuckled when the Jedi recoiled from the love I could felt. Then I made her feel the fury burning in my hart.

Ti's eyes widened and she took a step back. Her irises glowed yellow before I pulled back my rage. "Once I told you that the Dark Side's greatest gift was that she could hide us from ourselves – from our greatest fears, disappointments and regrets."

"You lied." The Jedi accused.

"I did." I nodded. "The best part of her first gift is that she protects us from the truth of others, from what we dare not known about their hearts."

"Another lie."

"Is it? It depends on your point of view." I continued. "The second gift?

"It's nothing more than a proof that the Council was right to abhor attachments! It's yet another lie!"

"You protest too much, I recon."

"I have no need of the Dark Side's illusions!"

"There are times when those comforting illusions are all we have left to keep us sane, Ti. Our dreams, the gentle embrace of those who love us..." I thought about the women I loved, about some precious moments we shared and the good Jedi Master flinched as struck by the mere echo of those emotions. But that was not all. I thought of the beautiful annihilation, of the freedom and sense of power I found while revelling in war, in the search of worthy opponents."

"Just an illusion. A sweet lie you tell yourself to sleep better at night." Ti spat. "There is nothing beautiful or good about war! Only misery and suffering!"

"Keep telling yourself that, my dear Master Ti." My smile became vicious. "The greatest of illusions is the one you Jedi tell yourselves every day – because it brings you comfort; it proves that your path is the right one."

"That is no illusion! There is always light in the darkest of times! Even the longest night eventually shatters in front of the light!" She spoke with such endearing conviction, but I wondered who was she tried to convince? Me, or herself?

"Jedi. The day, your precious light – they're temporarily. They're the illusion. This very universe began in darkness and it will end within its cold embrace. Just as the days are defined by the warm light of the sun, just as the stars are defined by the infinite blackness of space they illuminate, the Dark Side embraces the Light, Shaak Ti. It brings it forth from its depths, from its very centre."

"And with each victory of the light, it is the Dark Side that wins." Ti whispered what she saw in my memories. "I don't believe that. It is another illusion, another lie. Generous? Gentle? The Dark Side is no such thing! It seeds cruelty within justice! It perverts compassion into contempt!" She glared at me. "It poisons love with seeds of doubt and hatred! Yet you follow it like a lost puppy!"

"Was that happened to you? Did you allow yourself to feel something for me just to have those emotions twisted by the poisoned words of the Jedi Council?" This wasn't what I expected. The way Ti averted her eyes, the pain and betrayal that flared from her heart – those were answers enough. "I see now." Another sigh escaped my lips. " The Dark Side is patient. We both know it. All it takes is the slightest bit of rain for those seeds of doubt to sprout." I looked at Ti and waited.

She raised her head and stared at me with eyes ringed by angry orange glow. "Getting poetic now?" She sneered. "Of course my doubts grew! The smallest of attachments are a poisoned fruit! If you falter just once, the Dark Side will ruin you."

"As it ruined you along with the rest of the Jedi? Ti, the Dark Side always wins. She is everywhere, she is always with us. She is in the heaters that keep away the cold, she is within your favourite cup of drink, under the plate with the dish you enjoy the most." I stared at her eyes as the orange glow spread and slowly, oh so slowly poisoned the yellow. "She is under your chair and the table, under you bed and the soft covers that keep you warm. Even at the height of day, she is still with you under the soles of your feet, under your very skin."

"The brightest light casts the brightest shadows." Ti whispered. "A thousand years of peace. An unprecedented age of prosperity... the height of civilization..."

"And all of that gave birth to Darth Sidious and his henchmen Dooku. You know the future that would have, should have been from my memories. The Chosen One, the one meant to save the galaxy..." I trailed off.

An ugly snarl twisted her face. "That's what attachments lead to! If it wasn't for Skywalker breaking the Code, if it wasn't for him falling in love and fathering children, that future would have never happened!"

"And if it wasn't for Vette, Ashara and Bo, I would have gleefully watched the whole galaxy burn." I said a half truth just before my consciousness got back to my body and I awoke within my quarters on my current flagship.

=RK=

Part 6

=RK=

Officer quarters

Republic cruiser Shining Light

dark space

I snapped back into my body and was glad that I initiated the projection from a lying position on my bed. Otherwise, I would have ended face first on the deck and potentially broken something. The first thing I did after testing to see if everything in my body worked properly was to check the time – there were about three hours before our next dash into Kothlis to contact the Bothans. With a bit of luck, by then they would have either made up their minds or Obi-Wan would have done it for them. Anyway, I had a few hours to kill and a job to do in that time – I felt like I made some progress with Shaak Ti.

While she did end up in my head due to an unforeseen accident that I didn't know if I could replicate even if my life was on the line, her presence was very useful on multiple levels. The obvious one was that through her I could channel more power than my body could ordinary handle, which meant either longer use of my various Force abilities. Or even better – given the state of the Force in the future, I could actually replicate some feats that in this age would end up killing me due to the strain of channelling so much power... which was yet another reason to hope that either Zash lived or find the time for some in depth research in what the hell was wrong with the Force itself.

I took a calming breath and began to centre myself.

There were other reasons why Ti's presence was useful. Under the right circumstances, I should be able to sacrifice her Force Ghost to basically resurrect myself after dying as long as my body was somewhat intact. Finally, and potentially most useful, if I could persuade her to see things my way, I could gain a valuable ally who thanks to seeing my memories had the knowledge of both the Jedi and Sith from my time. Giving her a proper body could make her one of the most powerful beings in existence, something that would be invaluable either against the ORR and their CIS allies or later against the Vong.

Soon, I was back within the depths of my mind, facing Shaak Ti's ghost. She had calmed somewhat, yet the moment she laid her eyes on me, she glowered murderously.

"You could have watched the galaxy burn and laughed if things had turned somewhat differently, couldn't you?" Ti shook her head in disgust.

"True enough." I though for a moment and recalled a memory.

A tall imposing figure that burst with the power of the Dark Side materialized between us. A pair of seething orange eyes glared from under his hooded cloak.

"The Empire is war made manifest!" Darth Malgus' voice thundered in my mindscape. "That makes it perfect. Beings die in war and that is a price we gladly pay."

I waved a hand and the memory froze.

"Look at him." I pointed. This was mere memory of a man millennia since dead, yet... Here, in my mind, the Force made my memory as real as it gets. We both could feel the impossibly oppressive weight of the Dark Side emanating from him. "He was power made manifest. The likes of him... Revan, The Emperor, I could count them on the fingers of a single hand."

"You fought this and survived..." Shaak Ti whispered.

I knew what she saw when she dared to look deeply in that memory, not that she actually experienced it instead of simply watching. Malgus at his best... or worst, he was a dark star in the heart of the Force, a singularity gluttoning itself on all that wasn't the Dark Side.

"Not alone." I chuckled and allowed the memory to continue.

"I serve the Force!" Malgus' voice thundered. "The Force is conflict, the Empire is conflict and I serve them both!"

I called another memory of him. "The Jedi understand the Force only partially. Some are even powerful in it, yet they fail to understand its fundamental nature, that it is conflict. The very existence of the Light and Dark Side is a proof of this fact!"

"What is this meant to prove?!" Ti continued to be antagonistic.

"Emotions, passion, they're as much power as knowledge is. We Sith know this. You know this. You've seen all my memories and experienced some." I allowed myself to smile. "For all the truth in Malgus' words, he was wrong. The Empire might have been in conflict, it might have been the clearest expression of what means to be a Sith, especially a Sith Warrior, yet..." I looked her in the eyes.

"Conflict defines you... yet it doesn't have to be a war." She closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them, they shone with soft amber light. "Conflict is always with you. A constant companion; a never ending struggle against the Dark Side."

"Correct. You Jedi never understood this. Never understood us. While the Empire was and it is an expression of the Sith, it is contradiction of sorts. We crave freedom, yet strive to impose order over the galaxy. We want to be able to do whatever we want, yet the moment we built an Empire, the higher in the ranks we get, greater the restrictions upon us become." I smirked. "We forever seek a balance we can live with. The Jedi on the other hand... Your kind has ever used the Force to repress yourselves and others, to enforce your version of tolerance and harmony. To be blunt, the great majority of Jedi are fools. Your disastrous little coup proved this."

"Those who survived will evolve! They will gain a deeper understanding of the Force and will find a way to stop you!" Shaak Ti denied my words. "They will restore the Order to what it should be!"

I laughed at her naivete while at the same time couldn't help it but respect the strength of her convictions.

"You've foreseen it, yet you deny what is in front of your eyes, Shaak Ti. The Jedi who survive this conflict will evolve, true. Their understanding of the Force will deepen... and what do you think they would figure out? The Order failed, you, Ti. Your teachings betrayed you. Your Republic is on its knees. If, when we stab it, it will die. The golden age of peace is over. This is an age of war now, of warriors, not of peace and bureaucrats! The surviving Jedi will have to become warriors or die... and when that happens, the Sith would have won, completely."

"The Sith, but not you?"

"Sidious wanted your kind exterminated. He all but succeeded. Me on the other hand? I need you on my side, Shaak Ti. I need the Jedi as warriors and soldiers. As allies."

"If that happens, they will no longer be Jedi." The amber in her eyes grew brighter, its colour deepened and bled into darker orange. "Peace..." Ti whispered.

"...is a lie. There is always conflict. It drives us forward. It makes us evolve and challenge our limits."

"You won't make peace with the Jedi. Not really." Shaak Ti sighed in resignation.

"They will evolve and change or die." I smiled softly and spoke in a gentle voice. "You could be the first of a new breed of Jedi. One who is in tune with the Force instead struggling to suppress it along with your own nature."

"And what are you, then Darth Vael?"

"The last and the first of a new breed of Sith. I've been where you are now. You've seen Baras and me. The choice he offered me. The chance I took."

"You really don't want me to fall, do you?"

"You've seen what happens when I turn Jedi. It isn't pretty and it will be such a waste if I did it to you." I offered her my hand.

Her orange eyes bored in my own, which shone with the power of the Dark Side too.

"Peace, it is a lie." Shaak Ti finally admitted it to herself and I felt her heart break with that revelation.

"Yet our passions should not control us. We are the masters of our own destiny."

"Just... go." Ti sighed and pulled back, deeper in the recesses of my mind.

Finally, progress! I chuckled and pulled out of the meditative trance that allowed us to meet.