[18 BBY]

[Forward Engineering Bay, Eriadu Authority Capital-class Warship Stormcrow, Task-force Hospitaller, Republic 5th Fleet, Unlisted Star System, Edge of Trilon, Sector, Outer Rim Territories-Wildspace Border System]

I just stared for a moment as the engineers explained the situation, then shook my head, arms across my chest and hand under my chin "Cortosis armour? Not Cortosis-weave?"

"Refined Cortosis in the primary armour on the chest, back, legs, and arms, with cortosis-weave to protect the joints and other exposed areas…" the human engineer pointed out as he and his team moved about the damaged and partially dismantled B2 battle droid on the workbench before us "…here, here, and here. It looks as if they had to reinforce the internal frame of the droid, but yes, it is what it appears to be Moff Sir"

I nodded, but muttered unhappily "And what it appears to be is ridiculous!"

Asajj glanced at me "It disabled my lightsaber. That would make it dangerous as well as effective"

"That too" I answered pinching the bridge of my nose, brain working through the scenario and its strangeness, as well as the concern of it all on a larger scale "Yeah, that too, but what doesn't make sense is….it's a B2 on a cargo freighter, they put a cortosis armoured B2 to run security on a cargo freighter…a B2!"

I gestured at the broken droid "It's not even a MagnaGuard, or Greivous's personal armour…it's on B2 in the middle of nowhere. This thing is worth more some corvettes…well, in pre-war times anyway"

Asajj frowned, studying the droid "The stone is regulated, or was, was it not?"

"Very much so, but it's not common either" I agreed with a glance at the engineers, who gave nods of agreement with my words "Your armour, and my armour, use a cortosis-weave, along with Beskar Steel too I'll admit, and that's expensive enough to get and that's only using a fraction of the cortosis we're seeing here on a kriffing B2!"

I sighed. It really was vexing to see actually, and so crudely done at that, as my own armour did use a significant portion of 'pure' cortosis as well….and it had a solid fortune, taken from my personal wealth, to afford to create my personal armour. Which cost as much as much a frigate. Now…there was this…

"This thing was made to deal with Jedi, and it indicates what must be so a mine for the stuff to….be able to waste it so insanely. It also raises a lot of questions, very worrying questions"

She looked at me "Such as?"

"Such as why wasn't Grievous armoured head to toe in this. This thing was built *before* we did in Dooku and his favourite cyborg, and…why haven't we seen more of these on the battlefields, or why isn't a massive defence fleet here to guard wherever they got this. Mostly likely that colony with the Recusant over it. Or are they importing it from these aliens…" I gestured at the dead machine in exasperation "…between this, our scouts, and what Celeste has sent back, things are just getting more problematic with each day. Hopefully interrogating the crew and taking apart the databases and droid-cores will tell us more"

It was incredible frustrating time as I had the, increasingly bored according to Barriss, Ahoka Tano, and her companions to deal with, along with the good Senator Brashere sniffing around on 'our' side. While I'd been able to avoid them, and the negotiations as a whole, the past few days, that had left Tano up to my Barriss, and I really needed to be polite and not just work all the time. Especially with Asajj back an ensuring that Karis and Naa'leth stayed clear of our energetic Jedi padawan.

Or the fact we now had attached the captured freighter to the bottom of the Stormcrow while we ransacked for everything it was worth, and then sent it on is merry way as our prize. Though that might be after we make our move on the Confederate base after our recon team returned, and those data-bases were decrypted. If they had a cortosis mine then that mine would become mine, mine, mine…

--

[18 BBY]

[Training Room, Personal Deck of Moff Daron Stormcrow, Eriadu Authority Capital-class Warship Stormcrow, Task-force Hospitaller, Republic 5th Fleet, Unlisted Star System, Edge of Trilon, Sector, Outer Rim Territories-Wildspace Border System]

"Barriss is right, you're quite grown talented with the lightsaber…" I said Tano as braced in a Jar'Kai variant….Ataru maybe?...Shien?...a hybrid of the two?...while I used a lone blade for the moment, using a few of the training props telekinetic-ally during the spar "…even if somewhat different than Anakin's style. Though I think we'll call it a draw for now, if that's okay with you?"

She gave me a suspicious look, then a huff as she turned off her training blades, a normal one and a shoto as I did the same "Master Skywalker taught me well!"

I raised an eyebrow "Master Skywalker? Wow, you're unusually formal. Did Barriss put you up to it?"

Tano pouted, arms folded across her chest "Hey! I can totally be diplomatic and formal!"

"Oh, I don't disagree, but aren't you trying to escape all the formalness of our senators, and the general nature of our voyage?" I teased back with an amused smile "See I've even got you access to the training rooms, just like you wanted?"

"Well….I'll admit this was more fun than the talking around everything…" she replied with an amused snort, though there was a genuinely tired or sad feeling alongside that amusement "…aren't we all….looking to fix the Republic"

I gave a bittersweet chuckle "That we all are, but all have different views on how the fixing of that comes about, or what we think was wrong with it in the first place. Much as we'd all like to blame Darth Sidious for everything…the truth is the Republic's been broken for a long time, and when the fall came…we all had to pick a side"

She looked at the floor, hand forming a fist "I don't…it's not right for Jedi to fight each other…for good people to fight each other"

"No, no, it's not" I admitted, letting out a tired sigh "But we are where we are, and one can only hope the current talks I'm hiding away from have a positive result"

"Hiding away from?"

"I've been busy, fighting pirates and Confederates to say the least!" I replied with a chuckle "And no, you don't get to help with it sorry to say. You're an honoured diplomat after all"

"Ugh, don't remind me!"

I smiled "Look on the bright side, your part of the solution, maybe, not part of the problem, and you don't get to be annoyed by my team of crack Dathomirian witches"

That caused her to make a face "How can you tolerate Ventress! Ugh!"

"Eh, she's no so bad once you get to know her…wait, no, sometimes she is" I replied with a chuckle, then a snort "But, that's just the nature of things. Changing alliances, aliegances, whatnot…"

"She doesn't care for the Republic at all!"

I shrugged "No she doesn't. Neither does a fair chunk of the people on either of our sides. She, like many of them, cares herself, and her own goals. So, you try align those goals"

"She's a Sith!"

"Not yet she's not, and the Nightsisters, much as I dislike their 'only women matter!' culture, are allies against a common foe right now. And even she was….Ahsoka, there's greater threats to deal with out there. Korriban should have shown you that…."

The togruta girl-woman shudder "Do you…do you have…nightmares about that place"

I frowned, giving her a searching look "I think everyone has a few sleepless nights about it. But this seems more a direct question?"

"Barriss said I…might ask you…and you have a….library I…need to….know"

'Well, that is true, at least the has a library part….even if not the entirety of what I have' I thought, pausing for a moment to consider. With the Temple destroyed it was hard to know exactly how much of the Temple Archive was in their hands, the Corellian faction anyway, and Stass's group already knew I had *some* portion to the old Archives. I nodded after a moment "You can access it…later, I've things to first unfortunately, but I'll have Barriss show you to it. Just…be warned Ventress, Karis, and Naa'leth have access to that part as well. I don't want fights basically"

"Did you….just turn into Master Jocasta?" she pouted at me again and I gave an amused snort. It was good to relax as Celeste was on the way back, and that'd bring the next leg of our journey. The data-cores were nearly cracked, and the Confederate crew had given answers that made things even stranger. That and I needed to resist the urge to run over screaming battle cries to claim my cortosis mines. Because they had alien allies, with what sounded disturbingly like mind-control, or at least some sort of natural Force variant of it. Oh, and they'd freed an ancient Jedi from some ancient, abandoned temple. So many things to be concerned over…

--

[18 BBY]

[Conference Room, Command Deck Eriadu Authority Capital-class Warship Stormcrow, Task-force Hospitaller, Republic 5th Fleet, Unlisted Star System-04, Edge of Trilon, Sector, Outer Rim Territories-Wildspace Border System]

"Welcome back Knight Morne seems we've all got news, and time might not be on our side" I started as my senior staff sat assembled around the conference table. Celeste merely nodded at me as we'd already done her debrief before that, and now we were at the 'take action' stage "You've all done your parts, and now we've got an idea of what's happening…"

I brought up a holographic display of the Sector, explored and unknown, highlight various systems, then flashing the Mokivj system icon "Here the Confederates appear to have a top secret cortosis mine, and an associated droid factory, of unknown quantity but clearly enough to be able to create a full cortosis armoured B2 battle droid. Simply put, even without it being an enemy base in our operating theatre, that mine would make securing it for our cause, and denying it to our enemies, even more vital"

Gardan nodded "There's more to this than that isn't there Sir?"

"Yes, so much unfortunately more" I stated highlighting the probe-droid reports "The CIS here, have allied with an alien faction, of unknown strength, called the Grysk. And I say local Confederate forces because the data on the freighter indicates….some very strange things, from signals silence with their High Command, to sending their cargo to deleted-drive-drop locations. Droid command only, and the droids delete after. Only the base commander will know those destinations…"

I brought up more data seized from the enemy ship's secure systems "Secondly they are, and Knight Morne's investigations reveal similar rumours planet-side, looking for a Force-user, and seeking out ways of suppressing such a Force-user, by technological, or animal, means. The details are unclear, but the alias Arden is mentioned, and that the target is a female human. They are seeking her out to trade to these Grysk for unknow reasons, but these Grysk appear to want Force-users for some purpose we need to discover. That means we need, and are, going to strike at the Mokivj system, eliminate the system defences, the ground defences, and get to the bottom of this…"

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