Chapter 4: Great Hatred, Little Room, Maimed Us At The Start

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[19 BBY]

[Secure Meeting Room, Executive Security Solutions City-ship/Capital-class Warship Stormcrow {II}, Battle-group Army of Light, In Orbit Nouane, Capital System, Nouane Allied Region, Inner Rim]

Shesagora and Hanna were hardly enough of the Board, but this information wasn't discussable over the Holo-net of course, not even over the, in-theory, secure Company channels. An emergency alert had been sent, along with a secure dispatch runner with a burner-charge over the brief document detailing the situation, but this was the best we could do till we could get us all together. Getting Hanna here, officially on a 'we need funds' basis, had been hard enough, and the Fleet was battered, if still combat capable, and badly in need to repairs;- enough to justify her presence a few hours we jumped the fleet back in system, and then under the planetary shields.

Our little conspiracy in action, and for once I had the information I wanted, from two sources, to actually state, with facts, that Supreme Chancellor Palpatine was the spider at the centre of the web of things like the Clone Army, and threats to ourselves. Not only that but my former Master was on the way, with constant demands appearing from GAR High Command, the Jedi Council, and the Office of the Sith Lord, for what fuck we had just done essentially. I'd responded with operational security reasons, and here are the terms of my agreement with Mandos [and Sith] and please hurry up and send some diplomats and all that. Snarky, but professional, replies would only last so long sadly.

"So, let me get this straight..." Hanna Andrasha murmured after a few minutes of silence as she, and Shesagora to a lesser extent, watched the holo-recordings of Talzin and Maul, and the various supporting records our analysts had pulled together in a few hours "...the Chancellor, whose campaign we help fund by the way, is not only a secret Force User, but is one of the people behind the Clone Army conspiracy...along with, apparently, the now dead Count Dooku. Who've you both just killed I'll note"

"Uh-huh"

It wasn't the most coherent reply, but I nodded and she sighed, rubbing at her temples, elbows resting on the solid wood, though it was harder than steel, conference table "We are so beyond our pay-grade right now. So very close to getting killed off to shut us up"

"Uh-huh, but secret conspiracies at that level..." I spread my hands "...and we did suspect members of the Jedi Council, up to the Grandmaster, soooooo..."

Shesagora grunted softly "Not that isn't likely as well Daron...dammit, it's almost guaranteed at least some are covering for him since he'd a krifing Force User, and nobody kiriffing knew about it, including the Jedi Masters assigned as his bodyguards over the years. Or when this secret Clone Army was order, or when Dooku went off and formed the CIS...kriffing hell, they're each other's greatest threats! Just play the bad guys to each other and then stay in power for years! Suddenly the Jedi are in charge, Dooku was Lord High Kriffer of the CIS, and Old Fuggly from Naboo gets to be Emergency Powers Chancellor! Kriffing hells!"

'Not...exactly how it is, but it's a start' I thought forcing myself into a serene sense of calm as I plotted and planned, but avoid using the Force to influence the others in any way. Killing Dooku and Greivous, and quasi-allying with cabal of Sith, Criminals, and Mercenaries, had certainly thrown things into chaos that had bought us time to plan, Or, to be more accurate, get all my co-conspirators on the same page and figure out how to survive the coming weeks, then months "Yes, and that's the problem Hanna, this is at overthrowing the Republic levels, and with what've we've seen in those mind control chips in the Clones...purge all opposition, be they us, members of the Jedi Order, of the Senate...etcetera, etcetera...etcetera"

"Yeah Hanna..." Shesagora, the old pirate rumbled, letting out a deep sigh "...this isn't a Jedi conspiracy...well, it obviously has Jedi in it, but there's no way they...ugh, and he claims their Sith?"

I shrugged "The Zabrak does, but let's be honest Ventress claims she's a Sith and she's Not, just being honest, but Maul was supposed to be dead according to the Jedi Order. Obi-wan Kenobi was supposed to have killed him on Naboo after the Zabrak killed his Master"

"And there's that planet again..." Shesagora groaned "...the Chancellor's from Naboo, events turned around Naboo, Naboo Senators started the motion to get him Emergency powers...how deep is Naboo in the conspiracy I wonder? Kamino deep? Because we buy our energy shields from there"

"From the Gungans, we're less popular with the Human population, which the Chancellor is from..." Hanna pointed out hands back to scrolling through the data-slate embedded in the table "...but we don't know Shesagora, we don't know anywhere near enough apparently"

She glanced up at me "I'm agreeing with your plan to bring in your former Jedi trainer by the way Daron, she's on the Council, and I'm pretty sure we're already in serious trouble after doing what you and Shesagora just pulled off. We need more information, and from within the ranks of the Jedi at that. Shesagora, your opinion on the matter?"

The 'retired' pirated sighed, resting back in her chair, arms folded across her chest as she nodded "I doubt we have many other options, since you've concerns on others Daron?"

"Of course I've some kriffin' concerns, my friend Anakin thinks Palpatine is a kindly old grandfather who's helping mentor him, and of course Senator Amidala who he's close with. That energetic togruta padawan of his that was with us a while? Thinks he's a wise leader, and that's repeated across the board in the Senate and within the Jedi Order...and there's way to be sure what kind of mental compulsions he's put on others to get to that position..." I stated, exaggerating a bit, but not by much as I gestured at them both "...and few have the mental training between me and Braika to notice it, let alone resist any effect"

It was a small thing, brought up at the start as I didn't want implications of me doing such as many in the wider galaxy feared where they understood Force powers, or having my Troopers corrupted by it. Most professional mercenaries had some degree of it, even if it was flawed, subjective or half-forgotten knowledge, and with the Confederacy using Dark Acolytes, and the Republic Jedi, anti-Force User training had surged in relevance. It would potentially be a selling point with certain folks as Palpatine had gone out of his way to hide his abilities, for obvious reasons right now, but also after he formed the Empire as best I could recall.

For good reason...he built upon mistrust of the Force using Jedi, and this would smear him, badly, should it get out. Though getting that without immediately triggering Order 66, and several others, getting issued a second later was something of a problem. So, while I was concerned about Order 66, the main focus for our little group was the numerous other Contingency Orders within the slave chip in every clone trooper; from the killing planetary officials ones, to dealing with 'rebellious' Generals such as we technically would be. I, we, were in the firing line now, even if the deaths we'd caused had, hopefully, hurt the schemes of the Sith Lord running the Republic.

"True, well your recruiting Separatist war-criminals turned traitor makes more sense now I guess..." Hanna chuckled "...worked out well for you, eh?"

I sighed "Ventress is useful, if very dangerous, and couldn't give a kriff about the Justice and Freedom of the Separatist cause. Got us an in with Talzin didn't it? That and I'm very trying to ensure I'm not arrested by...well meaning...members of the Jedi Order as some sort of heretic, or for dealing with rogue Jedi. Unlike the rest of you, though they have technical reasons to attempt such"

"And start a fight with us?"

"Like they care, or have the sense not to jump before thinking..." I replied to Shesagora "...and just call it the Will of the Force probably"

"Ehh...based on what we've seem I shouldn't have expect different now should I?"

"Probably not, but I think we're overlooking the problem of said Jedi being surround by Clones, who've got mind control chips that apparently can be triggered a firm command and will go into droid-murder mode once some uses it. And I very much doubt they'll just believe us should we tell them...at least before the infiltrators in their ranks get things triggered..." Hanna told us after taking a sip from her glass of brandy, letting out an unhappy groan "...and it's hardly conclusive proof we've got here, now is it?

I could only nod in agreement "Sadly no, circumstantial, and hearsay, once you get beyond the facts of the chips and the Clones, and we can only imply things from captured decrypts, and our investigations into the creation of the Clone Army on Kamino. Certainly not enough to go after the Chancellor through legal means I'm sorry to say"

"Then we confirm what you two learned..." Hanna stated after a few minutes silence "...and we bring in your Jedi friend, we secure ourselves as best we can and then we...deal with the problem by more direct means"

I closed my eyes, then opened them as I let out a breath "Assassinating a Force User is far from easy Hanna, assassinating the Supreme Chancellor, with his bodyguards, Jedi bodyguards, and Force warnings...your asking a lot Hanna. Not that I disagree with that idea, but if we're found out we're dead. If we fail in the attempt, which is likely, we're dead. We need to reach out, bring the Ailon Nova Guard up to date with this, and then try figure out who might support us in our efforts"

"I'm aware Daron, but we don't have many options, and maybe little time now we've gone and killed off the Confederacy leader and best general. At very least we need to start making contingency plans for what happens next, and perhaps moving assets to less risky areas outside the Core..." she ground out, then looking from me to Shesagora "...and yes, your efforts for the bolt-hole bases, Hoth in particular, was the correct one"

Shesagora drank down her glass, then began to refill it "Well, if we're talking going pirate kings if things go to absolute and utter kriff...then we need get more long range repair and refit ships bought up for one, then maybe some hydroponics ships and fuel extractors. After we talk to the others of course, just little things like that when we're having an actual, serious, conversation about trying to kill off the supreme leader of the Galactic Republic"

She paused mid drink, shrugging "To be kriffing fair though...we'd be heroes in the Outer Rim if we managed to pull it off"

'Well this isn't going as intended' I thought holding my hands "Yeah, lets calm down a bit on this whole jumping straight into assassins thing, and maybe see if we've any potential allies, and then start trying to blow up our enemy..."

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