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Phase 18: The long road to Mandalore

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Part 10

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Observation lounge

Republic cruiser Solace

Tanaab

We hung at a geosynchronous orbit above Tanaab's north pole, just one of scores of ships awaiting repair and resupply at a hastily constructed naval facility. Orbital storage depots, thin skeletal arms of makeshift construction cradles, multiple pre-fabricated civilian and military space stations, they all floated like a loose halo above the agri-world below us. All around us sparkled constellations of weapons satellites and platforms enhancing the perimeter defences. It was an impressive concentration of hardware and for the first time since leaving Naboo I should have been able to relax. Instead, now that we were back in the fold so to speak, one kind of danger was simply exchanged for another, very different yet no less deadly one.

"Are you ready for the inquisition, Joanna?" I asked.

My good admiral walked past the otherwise empty lounge to stand beside me. She wore her parade uniform, complete with all the belts and whistles.

"As ready as I'm going to get. Why do you like this place so much? More often than not I can find you here."

"It's peaceful. Quiet." And wasn't that such a Jedi-like response. "Besides, the place had much more space than our cramped quarters."

"There's that. Those Venators can't hold a candle to my Freedom in any respect." There was a longing and a hint of anger when she said the name of her ship.

I reminded myself again to pull all available strings and get her another star dreadnought or at least a battle cruiser once one became available. One should reward good work every time, loyalty too, even if the person he's dealing with doesn't really get a choice. That was something that served me very well in the past, even if I ended up betraying some of those people in the end.

"I must say I'm surprised. I expected that we would prepare more extensively for this meeting and everything that will follow." Joanna stated.

"To do anything but make sure we have all our facts straight would have been largely a waste of time and effort. There is too much we don't know about the situation in the Republic after the Jedi attempted their coup. Can't do much about it without going to Coruscant in person and doing so would make a great deal of people very nervous – something we don't necessary need right now."

"I see. We do have our facts straight, don't we?" There was the tiniest hint of bite in Holt's tone.

"That we do, Joanna. That we do." I answered calmly. I had the Force woven around me like a second skin, a Mask in place, along with every little trick I knew that would help me appear truthful when I needed and my temper in check.

My comm pinged, just in time. I activated it and linked the incoming transmission to the main holo-projector in this part of the lounge. Bright blue light flowed like water and Obi-Wan's image took shape flanked by Telar and a man I was vaguely familiar with – admiral Jerjerrod. A few moments later, two more projection joined us, bringing in Yularen and another man I was barely acquainted with – admiral Coburn.

"General Kenobi, it's good to see you again. General Valentra..." The expected round of greetings was over quickly and we were ready to get to business.

"General Veil, let me first congratulate you for successfully fighting your way back home. The AARs and sensor logs your fleet transmitted were invaluable for various reasons." Obi-Wan sounded stiffly professional, uncomfortable even.

Sensing that, Telar took up the torch. "There's no doubt that the campaigns you fought in the Mid-Rim and the one the way to Tanaab will be studied in military academies over the galaxy for years to come. You did the impossible once again, my friend. However, we do need a clarification on certain issues."

"Kamino and Bothawui, I presume, general Valentra?" I answered in politely formal tone.

"Exactly!" Jerjerrod eagerly exclaimed and that earned him sidelong glances from both Obi-Wan and Yularen. Wasn't that interesting. What had been happening at the top ranks of the GAR while we were away?

"The only information we have about Kamino came from Separatist sources and thus it is to be suspect. The same goes for the events of Sullust and Bothawui, though that didn't stop many people from making their own conclusions based solely upon that flawed data." Coburn sounded affronted by the very idea. "We need the facts from the source."

Facts that were in the AAR we already sent and there had been more than enough time for those people and their aides to go over the most relevant data before Kenobi called this meeting, if barely.

"Ask away."

"Just to clarify, you believe the Separatists deployed a weapon meant to counter your Battle Mediation at Kamino and that is the reason for what happened?" Obi-Wan asked. As he did so, Kenobi's eyes bore into mine, trying to divine the truth.

"That is correct Obi-Wan. The orders I gave are a matter of record, the data-logs of the surviving ships are available for examination if anyone fears tampering. With the situation at Tipoca City untenable and the Republic fleet in orbit damaged and exhausted, I gave the order to recover as much vital material and GAR personnel as possible while we still held the orbitals. After that, before we made our break-through I ordered the fleet to target critical infrastructure on Kamino related with the cloning of the army and all know sites containing sensitive information that couldn't be allowed to fall into enemy hands. At the same time I held the fleet together with Battle Meditation to give us an edge against the ceaseless enemy assaults and better odds of getting away after the bombardment. It was then when everything went terribly wrong." I cast my eyes down, put my best remorseful expression on and ensured that if Kenobi was able to examine me with his Force senses using the transmission as a vector, he could sense I was really feeling remorseful. While true that I was indeed sorry about betraying the clones buy razing Kamino and the necessity of said act, real remorse was a stretch. I would do it again in the same circumstances. Satine becoming a Chancellor was a great stroke of fortune and under the wrong circumstances I believed her capable of sicking the GAR on me. The main source of indoctrinated Clones for the Republic had to do and that was the primary reason I went to Kamino in the first place. The Clone portion of the army was a double edged sword that could be turned against me too easily not to do something about it at the first opportunity that presented itself.

"Wrong in what way? Can it be duplicated? Can you prevent it from happening again?" Jerjerrod asked before I could extrapolate. Coburn looked like he was very interested in those answers as well and while Telar seemed mostly neutral on the topic, Obi-Wan and Yularen felt like they were almost afraid from what I could tell them.

"My Battle Meditation was disrupted. The effect was tremendous and hit the whole fleet at exactly the wrong moment too. Everyone connected to me through my technique was able to follow the last orders they got, literally and they kept doing it until I was able to wrest control. By the time that happened, Kamino had been subjected to bombardment from the whole fleet. Whatever it was used and I do have a suspicion, it tore a tear, a conduit to the Dark Side itself. That caused as much damage to Kamino as the bombardment if not more. It nearly destroyed us all and that is something every survivor from that battle can confirm. As far as preventing the same thing affecting me and anyone under the influence of my Battle Meditation, while I believe it is possible, I won't be using that technique at any time when ships under my command might need to strike targets on the surface of a friendly planet." I earnestly explained and put a solid amount of anger and frustration in my voice as I spoke about what happened.

"Admiral Holt, do you concur?" Kenobi asked.

"I do, general. What happened at Kamino..." She shuddered and it wasn't faked at all. "While I am not Force Sensitive, at Kamino I felt the Dark Side. It was… It was hungry, ravenous. Insanity incarnate. It almost consumed us all, general." Joanna's voice became a hollow whisper as she remembered exactly what happened and how I broke her along with everyone in the fleet… yet, moments later she looked up at me and came back to life. "If it wasn't for General Veil, we would have been all damned at Kamino." Profound gratitude radiated from her as she recalled the relief and joy she felt when I brought her back from beyond the edge of madness, put her back together and thus bind her to me until her dying breath.

"Admiral Holt, General Veil, I'm sorry about what you had to endure. The same is true for the people under your command. If they need anything to recover..." Obi-Wan trailed off.

"We'll get back to you on that one, General Kenobi." I answered for us both.

"You mentioned you had a suspicion of what happened at Kamino, General Veil?" Jerjerrod prodded.

"Indeed. When I served the Sith Empire, our Sith Sorcerers and Alchemists worked on counter-measures against Battle Meditation. The most talented and powerful users of that techniques were Jedi, with the one believed to be the most dangerous being my first wife, Ashara. It is my belief that the Separatists got their hands on one of the prototypes or something in that vein created over the past four thousand years. On how they were able to use such an artefact – their ground forces at Kamino were led by Old Republic Jedi, which explains how our soldiers were barely able to slow them down despite extensive preparations." I explained.

"Can they create more of those devices and can they be re-used?" Jerjerrod asked again before anyone else could open their mouths.

"The prototypes I was familiar with were one use only. I don't know how many the enemy has or if the Jedi working with them can re-create them. Master Perrion wasn't know for his skills in alchemy, however I don't know the identity of everyone who made it to this era along with him and his band of insane zealots." Ah, deceiving and misleading with creative use of the truth mixed with a lie or two.

"Can you protect yourself if another one is used? What about the soldiers you're enhancing?" Coburn asked.

"I believe so, now that I know what to watch for. However, it would depend on the tactical situation. I can make no guarantees. Any fleet I'm using Battle Meditation upon should avoid providing orbital support. Ideally, if it happens in the vicinity of a friendly planet, said world will have its planetary and theatre shields on and at full power."

Four admirals and two generals, one of them me, looked at Kenobi to see if he believed my words. A great deal hung on that.

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Part 11

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Operations room

GAR HQ

Coruscant

Obi-Wan felt torn. He couldn't sense any deception from Veil. Even his remorse about Kamino felt genuine, yet that in itself ran alarm bells in his head. What Veil said about the events at Kamino, it sounded somewhat plausible. There were records, stories, of the Sith crafting and deploying terrible weapons using their Sorcery and Alchemy. Kenobi had seen the effects of Veil's Battle Meditation and believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Sith Empire would have created counter-measures for such a technique. The Jedi of the Old Republic might have tried to do the same, though Obi-Wan hoped it wouldn't have used the Dark Side. He had seen the files Veil recovered from the ancient Jedi stronghold, he knew about the Old Republic Remnant and their collusion with the Separatists. It was plausible that they had offered more help at Kamino than the Jedi they sent to lead the CIS ground forces. The destruction of Kamino was a great victory for the Separatists, both military, political and propaganda one. It would be logical, easy even, to blame the Confederacy and their allies about everything that happened there.

Why then did Obi-Wan have doubts? Was this how the Council felt before they decided to betray the Republic and launch the coup? Were they too afraid from Veil, his influence and what he might be doing no matter what justifications he could give? It would be so easy to act upon his fears, to order Veil arrested… and doing so might very well see Tanaab suffer the same fate as Bothawui. One thing Kenobi knew for certain, it was unlikely that Veil would go along quietly. After all, everyone had a painful reminder what happens when someone betrays him and corners him.

Worlds tended to die then, in a most horrifying fashion too.

"Your account about Kamino sounds plausible, general Veil." Obi-Wan eventually allowed. Voicing it, accepting it, even if it was for the time being, until he could further investigate what in the name of the Force happened there, it made him feel sick in the pit of his stomach. He resented Veil for putting him in this position, for the atrocities he committed, even if he could apparently justify every single one of them. In doing so, Obi-Wan could feel the Dark Side, growing within him, feeding of his negative emotions and he felt dirty.

It was going to get worse too, he just knew it.

"Well, you're the expert." Valentra let out a sigh of relief. "That's good enough for me. Now that we've covered Kamino, let's get to the thorny issue – Bothawui. What you did there, Delkatar, it was extreme. Please, explain yourself."

Obi-Wan was almost afraid to hear how Veil would justify his actions, even more so that he might actually agree with them, as the Supreme Commander of the Republic military if certainly not as a decent human being.

"I foresaw the possibility of betrayal shortly before we left for Bothawui. I believe that at the time the Bothan Council hadn't made up their minds to switch sides. Still, expected treason or not, it wasn't like our fleet had better alternatives. We believed that it was just a matter of time before the Separatists would be able to bring overwhelming forces to bear against us and every battle we fought and won caused more loses, damage and expenditure of supplies we simply couldn't replenish. We had to reach Bothawui and if it was a friendly port, it would have greatly enhanced our situation. If it was hostile..." Veil grimaced. "Then our options were very few and none of them good. First we could have jumped in the outer system, evaluated the situation and in a case of betrayal, backtracked. In doing so, the best we could have hoped for was to try and reach the territory of the Mid-Rim alliance or attempted to go to ground in the nearby sectors, hoping for Republic relief before we were tracked down or ran out of supplies. That would have been a waste of a perfectly fine fleet and would have likely doomed my command for no gain."

"You would have lived to fight another day." Coburn pointed out.

"I'm Mandalore. I couldn't hide or run for my own safety when my people are fighting for their lives. Further, I'm likely public enemy number one as far as the Separatists are concerned. They want my head and won't stop chasing me if they win the war." He gave them all challenging looks.

"You have your doubts that we can successfully win without you holding our hands?" Yularen sounded equally amused and affronted.

"You've proven yourselves competent enough. Many of our other officers? Not so much. I know as well as you do that too many of them are green, under-trained and often promoted far beyond their capabilities because there simply isn't anyone more qualified for the job. This war hangs in the balance and my abilities, if used at the right time and place can tip it in our favour."

"I have to reluctantly agree after skimming some of the AARs of your battles in the Mid-Rim." There was grudging respect in Coburn's voice. "What other alternatives did you believe you had at Bothawui?"

"We could have attempted to fight our way out conventionally… and win or lose that battle, it wouldn't have mattered in the end. We would have suffered too many casualties, too much damage to be able to fight our way back to Republic space. That option I disregarded immediately. It would have meant throwing the lives of my subordinates away in a futile battle and I refused to do that when I had another option."

"That much I can respect." Coburn nodded.

"What exactly did you do at Bothawui, general Veil?" Jerjerrod simply couldn't keep the excitement out of his voice. He didn't even try.

"There is a ritual that when used with the right preparation, artefacts and by someone who had enhanced themselves through Sith Sorcery and Alchemy the correct way has the potential to give them immortality."

Obi-Wan blanched at the very idea. He could feel the sheer shock and disbelief radiating from Valentra and Jerjerrod. Yularen and Coburn looked little better. The last thing this galaxy needed was an immortal Veil, especially if the process required the death of whole worlds. Right then and there, Kenobi was ready to order the man's arrest or even death and damn the consequences!

"Without those, the ritual could still be used. It's going to kill the user, however if they're powerful and skilled enough, they can take their enemies with them. In a nutshell, it is a suicide technique at the best of times. What I did was deceptively simple – I used the Force to consume the life fore of everyone and everything on Bothawui and then, while I was dying I focused that energy and used it to wipe out the crews of the Bothan fleet blocking our way, which allowed us to escape the trap."

"Yet you're still here. You didn't die." Jerjerrod's eyes practically shone with the possibilities.

"Oh, I did die. I just got better. That's not something that I'm likely to pull off again anytime soon if ever so I would much appreciate if I don't find myself in similar situation again."

Now, that little revelation and the truth with which rang, shocked Kenobi to the core. He knew the Sith of old were powerful, Veil being able to do what he did to Bothawui was all the proof anyone would ever need. But this? Dying and somehow coming back… Was Veil lying? There was no deception Obi-Wan could detect. What he said about Bothawui rang as true to all his senses!

"That is your justification for Bothawui then?" Kenobi ground out.

"I am not done, general Kenobi. I didn't do it for military reasons alone, though they were to the forefront of my mind. There was the political aspect as well. I destroyed Bothawui to make a point, to show what could happen if someone else betrays us and turns their ships and armies against us. To make every Separatist ship captain who isn't a droid think twice about engaging a fleet led by me, to make their leadership and those of any wavering Republic world see the potential price of treason." Veil smiled coldly. "A reputation for being monster has served me well in the past. What do you think will happen once we go on the offensive and I bring a fleet in orbit of a Separatist world? Would we need a costly ground invasion, one which we could ill afford, a prolonged siege that would bind portion of our fleet there or..." The smile turned deadly, "Would they fall all over themselves to surrender if I am in command of that fleet? What about the next one, once they saw I am perfectly willing to let them live if they are being reasonable?"

"And if they decide to fight it out?" Jerjerrod asked.

"I'll have to make an example then."

Jerjerrod's own shark's smile matched Veil's.

Obi-Wan looked around, seeking allies among the highest ranked and most trusted officers in the GAR. The only one who looked disturbed by Veil's suggestion was Yularen. Jerjerrod was all for it – that was obvious for all to see. While Coburn wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea, he seemed oddly fine with it and Valentra… he was simply grim, yet accepting.

"So this is it? You expect us to burn as many Confederate worlds as it would take to end this war?" Obi-Wan asked. He should have been incredulous. Appalled. Instead… he had expected something like that. Too many contingencies, too many of the more realistic plans to bring an end to the war weren't for the faint of heart or those who valued their morals.

"Obi-Wan, how exactly do you expect us to win? We will need to destroy the Confederacy's ability to wage war. Anything else would mean merely a cease-fire while we all prepare for the next war, then if five, then perhaps twenty or even sixty yeas, we will have to fight the Separatists and from what little I've heart about the political situation, then our position would likely be weaker."