Chapter 67
"Manda'lor, did you really come here for this?"
I met Togai's eyes briefly before looking at all the datapads strewn around his desk. We were ostensibly reviewing Concordia's budget, which for a moon of over four hundred thousand people was quite large. Mostly thanks to all the natural rehabilitation projects going on all over the surface and its role as Mandalore's primary breadbasket.
I sat back and surveyed the governor's office and was gratified to note that Togai had added some distinct personal touches to the place. Distinguishing it from the all too sterile office Pre Vizsla had kept; pictures of close and extended family, the odd painting - traditional and holo - by a local artist, beautiful hand made curtains that draped over the huge floor to ceiling windows, which looked out over Concordia City and a nice chunk of the nearby mountain range.
"Yes and no," I answered. "I read your reports, but I also want to occasionally go into the details of how you get there and I want to keep up to date on the economics of Concordia and the sector in general. However, I'm also here for your help on this damn arranged marriage."
Togai put down his datapad and tapped a few buttons on the integrated controls on his desk. We were already in a secure space, considering the sensitive data we had around us, but now a whole range of extra security and anti-surveillance measures were activated.
"Let me guess, you want to figure out a way to say 'no', that won't be disastrous or politically expensive, whilst still keeping your relationship with Satine on amicable terms."
"Yes," I said intently. "She's still technically waiting for my final answer. She made it very difficult to say no right away."
Togai nodded, "She more than likely has a small think tank of people unofficially commissioned and tucked away in the government, whose sole job is to study you."
I gaped in astonishment for a second before I composed myself, then groaned with the realization, "Of course she has."
He gave me a pitying lopsided smile, "You hold the cultural reins of more than half the population at this point, Manda'lor. Your popularity has only grown as the news of victories comes through and I don't doubt that when images from the banquet get released that you'll be entering the hearts and minds of many young men and even women around the sector." Thank you, Togai, I did not want to think about that. "As the current wielder of the Darksaber, you could theoretically even call for a neo-crusade, though it would be a firework in comparison to the old days. It's therefore in her interest to know as much as possible about you. How you think, how you would react and so on."
"And this think tank, if it exists, thought, 'Hey, let's put her in an arranged marriage!'" I mocked with a pompous Sundari accent.
"Doubt it, this plan reeks of Satine's thinking. The think tank probably got stuck with the details and mapping out how you would react. She generally does this with issues that are especially problematic, that fall out of context for her." He stared off into the distance for a moment, gathering his thoughts. "The thing to remember about Satine is that the civil war still colors her thinking to this day. She's not alone, as I imagine a fair bit of the older population has this, but in her case it's especially prominent because of her central role in bringing about the current status quo. Then you showed up and pushed the course of this society to avoid the massive asteroid that she was steering us into. That shook her and now she is doing everything she can to avoid a repeat of that mistake."
"Hence bringing Clan Kryze and Vizsla together through blood and marriage."
"Yes, though another factor to consider and which explains her urgency, is what she thinks will happen if you get killed in this war against the CIS."
That was naturally not fun to think about, but with regards to all the clan's assets, shares and liquid funds, I had already registered a fully notarized will held in the Vizsla estate vaults, along with sealed copies at a number of local banking branches.
"I'm not the only thing keeping this society together, Togai," I said with a severe frown.
"Of course not, the CIS war has neatly distracted both traditionalists and New Mandos. She's mainly thinking long term here as well. Secretly, I imagine she's hoping that if you die, it'll be in some spectacular fashion that will also destroy the Darksaber in the process. It's a major cultural touchstone for the traditionalists. If it survives, it'll fall to whoever can keep it through trials of combat. She doesn't want a scenario of having to deal with such a Mandalorian, who'll have the loyalty of the Blades behind him or her, further tempered in the fires of a galactic war."
"Unless that Mandalorian happens to be Bo-Katan," I pointed out.
"True, which probably explains why my intelligence reports on Bo indicate she has significantly stepped up her personal training regime."
"Banking on how her sister will perform in the challenge for the Darksaber in that scenario is clearly not enough for her."
"Yes, so she's also planning for after the CIS war. As you've already surmised, the union of Kryze and Vizsla would be a decent bulwark to avoid a future conflict. However, she's also thinking of a scenario where you survive the war, if you're married to Korkie and produce offspring that carry rights within both clans. Tell me, how certain is it that any children you have with him will be gifted enough in the Force to wield it?"
"Generally, an 80% chance," I said, thinking back to very old data I had researched in the Jedi Archives. The figure was based on evidence from before the Ruusan Reformation, when Jedi Lords ruled and the dynasties they left behind.
"Such children would be prime candidates if properly trained in the Force and combat, to be inheritors of the Darksaber. Your Jedi duties would preclude you from being a full time parent and so it would fall to Korkie and the Kryze side of the family to raise them. He would at this point be trained in the Force himself, so could pass that on to these hypothetical children."
I looked up into the ceiling, "And here I only foresaw him eventually getting on the throne."
"Was that your primary motivation in training him?"
"Yes, there are other factors, but having a Force sensitive on the throne will be quite critical at the time he ascends to it, I can't explain more."
Togai shrugged, well used to my vague pronouncements on the future. "So now you have a Darksaber wielder, your son or daughter. Somewhat raised by a Jedi and in the Kryze household. Very unlikely such a person would ever go to war to conquer the Mandalore sector by force."
"This is all very interesting speculation, Togai, but we still need to get to the crux of the matter. How do I say no?"
"We need to allay her fears of the future regarding you, the Darksaber and how she'll keep this society together in a galaxy when you're no longer in it."
"Not asking for much is it?" I asked sarcastically.
He studied me for a moment, "I don't doubt this will be difficult, Manda'lor. Even if we can get you out of this marriage, it may require you to make difficult compromises."
"If necessary I will make these compromises, because one thing Satine and the 'think tank' will not have conceptualized or even understood is that there are complications that go beyond the mundane since both Korkie and I are Force Sensitive. The best way I can explain this to you, is that if he or I become emotionally compromised due to external factors or we end up hating each other's guts in this marriage, then it could lead us to becoming…" I trailed off, struggling to come up with a good example. "Imagine the nameless one, make him worse by an order of magnitude, give him the Force as a tool and then you've got what happens when a Force Sensitive falls into the Dark. If this happens to Korkie, then the potential damage he could do to Mandalore will make Satine's fears look like childish fantasy."
"A grim irony indeed, may that never come to pass," Togai pronounced, almost as if he was praying for it not to happen. He looked very troubled. "Should we make a contingency plan for Korkie, Manda'lor? What if he falls and you're in the farthest reaches of the galaxy?"
"That would be wise, I suppose," I admitted, though the perils of such a plan even existing was not lost on me. If it fell into the wrong hands, disaster of another type would fall. "Togai, such a plan will never be written down or committed to any media, it will remain between you and me, memorized and in our heads. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Manda'lor. I just want to point out, Vizsla will naturally be one of the first targets such a dark version of Korkie Kryze will assault."
"My latest project with MandalMotors will go a long way to ensuring security. If I am unavailable, HK is also the galaxy's foremost expert on defeating Force Sensitives. I will leave you a contact detail that will also bring other resources to bear on the problem."
"Now you have me really curious, Manda'lor. Though I can tell we are now in the murky gloom of clandestine activity. How is that project going, by the way?"
"We're on schedule, should be ready to launch tomorrow even."
"That's quite amazing, Manda'lor. From what little you showed me, it's going to change things and history will record that it was first done on Concordia."
I nodded, it would be just the first step in helping make the galaxy a 'smaller' place.
"Now, let's see what we can come up with to do away with this marriage. By the way, why hasn't Satine ever married? She can just as well marry with one of the other prominent traditionalist clans. Skirata comes to mind." I knew the answer, but I was curious as to the excuse she generally gave. It truly felt like the height of hypocrisy from Satine that she kept a candle burning for Obi-wan, whilst pushing this marriage on me to create this political bulwark.
"Many advisors and officials have occasionally suggested it over the years. She politely rebuffs them, saying she doesn't have the time given all her other responsibilities, which she keeps on herself to make sure she never gets that time. Most curiously those same officials find themselves out of a job or transferred to other positions in short order. It's by now a well known way of committing political suicide in government circles."
"Wow, anyway let's get brainstorming, Togai. I'm not falling on this lightsaber for her."
After two days in hyper, the Pioneer emerged from hyper in a high orbit of Dathomir.
The system itself was only technically in the Republic, because the Zabrak species and Iridonia were members and officially the Dathomiri were a subspecies and a distant colony world. Ask any of the Nightsister clans below and they'd scoff at the notion before trying to gut you, smash your head in or use their Dark Side sorceries to turn you mad.
Further complicating matters was the system's proximity to the current Botajef front line. A very narrow hyperspace route connected it to the Celanon Spur and Botajef's flank in CIS space, whilst the other end of the route connected to Harloen on the Republic side of the line. It meant that both sides had spy satellites monitoring any activity. No ship massing larger than a frigate or light destroyer could fit through the lane, so it was useless as a corridor to launch fleets through. It was a known smuggling route and covert ops from both sides were undoubtedly being flown through it.
Pioneer had therefore been fitted with as many signature masking systems as could be crammed into the hull. Ideally it would have a full cloak, but the onboard power was just not enough for that and there wasn't time to upgrade that as well.
I opened my eyes and regarded my hands briefly, flexing each finger, feeling the dexterity before flexing my arms and legs. Next I touched and scratched at my lekku, montrals and nose.
Next I felt my clothes of tight black pants, rugged shoes, shirt, with a smart black jacket covering it… amazing.
Everything seemed normal.
I couldn't help but grin with satisfaction as I stood and looked around the cockpit.
Beyond the forward viewport, a world of dark burgundy, oranges and white clouds loomed.
Dathomir was bathed in the blood red light from the local red dwarf star, giving it a very ominous look.
My good mood rapidly dwindled as I perceived the local conditions and the state of the Force in and around this world.
Saying that the Dark Side was strong here felt like the understatement of the millennia.
I could feel my own Dark Mirror literally grinning at me in anticipation. A rather odd dichotomy, given that my own Dark Side usually characterized itself with utter apathy. That was always the problem with visiting worlds like this. Just by their nature, they strengthened the inner darkness that every sentient had in their mind and soul. Any unwary, unprepared or injured Force sensitive finding themselves on Dathomir would either not live long or utterly fall to the Dark, just by being here.
I had none of those problems.
The problem I did have was finding where to land to find the specific Nightsister clan that Mother Talzin belonged to.
A general passive scan revealed points where there might be settlements or the ruins of settlements. No reliable population census existed for this world and the best that the Jedi Archives had was a rough guess of just under ten thousand dathomiri, most of whom were female.
The same archives held the coordinates of every major settlement, but it was immediately evident that they were woefully out of date by centuries at this point. One settlement should've had nearly a thousand dathomiri, the largest on the planet, but scans showed just ruins and absolutely zero indications of lifesigns.
It would've been nice to have the help of the single living Jedi Master who had visited the planet in the last two decades, but Eno Cordova had yet to make a reappearance from his last visit to Coruscant. The reclusive Jedi archeologist and historian was due to return some time in the next two years and I had eyes and ears in the Temple keeping watch for him.
I spent the next three hours in orbit, carefully doing comparisons with the historical records, old mapping data, current scans and feeling doubly frustrated that Cordova hadn't seen fit to upload his latest data to the temple archives. By all accounts, the man reminded me of a stubborn old goat of a professor I'd had in my previous life, jealously guarding his knowledge until he was ready to release it and not one moment before.
My first success in identifying the myriad of locations was finding the relatively enormous lifesign of a Dathomirian bat or chirodactyl as the archives named them. My scan had caught the thing just as it was flying away from its nest within a particularly mountainous area. Following a hunch, I focused my scans within a two hundred kilometer radius and after another hour of methodical search, finally found a dathomiri settlement that seemed visually abandoned, but thermal signatures indicated otherwise.
I was tempted to throw a ping program along the Holonet contact frequency for the Nightsisters that had been found deep in the Vizsla clan archives, but that had the chance of alerting not just them but also Sidious if he had a spying device fitted to their com system . The Pioneer was also electronically disguised to any satellites to appear to be just another light freighter, with an entirely different name, owner and cover story already sliced into the Corellian ship databases thanks to Fulcrum working its own brand of magic.
With a tentative destination in mind, I lowered the Pioneer's orbit to just under 200 km, practically skimming the atmosphere and further changed inclination to bring the ship overhead to the destination.
"Pioneer, I'm going down, if you receive the signal, you break orbit and get out of here. Carry out all other contingency programs as necessary."
The integrated ship droid swiveled its eyestalk to me. "Understood, mistress."
I left the cockpit, walked through the narrow corridor and touched the controls of the pilot's escape pod.
The hatch immediately parted and without hesitation I entered the coffin masquerading as a space rated lifepod. The Pioneer was too small to feature pods that could carry multiple people or at least had leg room.
These were rated for one person only, you were permanently in a lying down position, with the pod controls on either side of your hip. There was a small forward viewport as big as my fist near my face, along with an emergency holocom system and a standard week of life support.
"This is going to be fun," I said with utter sarcasm and triggered the escape system.
The pod shut itself in less than a second and ejected itself with an initial 50Gs of acceleration, to theoretically get clear of an exploding ship as soon as possible. The onboard dampeners only had the strength to cancel that out to 4Gs.
With that speed added to the orbital velocity and the pod spearing downward deeper into the high atmosphere, the friction began immediately and swathed it in the burning plasma of entry interface.
The holo burst to life showing an abbreviated pilot HUD.
The slightest of movements of my fingers manipulated the thrusters and repulsors to bring me on target, whilst also keeping the deceleration Gs to within the pod's tolerance.
It took nearly four and half minutes to shed more than 2 km/s of velocity and finally the plasma sheathe dissipated as the pod sped through the Dathomiri air at just under a kilometer per second, the speed being shed further as I steadily employed thrusters and turns.
I was having a much easier time of it thanks to the planet's .8 level of standard gravity and was soon cruising at a comfortable 720 kph.
Finding a spot to land in this very mountainous region was going to be a pain. The holo just kept showing hardly any flat surfaces around the settlement to effect a landing. Surely there had to be a spot somewhere. The Nightsisters had to get off the planet somehow to fulfill their merc contracts.
That was the moment when the escape pod's transmitter was pinged from the surface and an incoming transmission began registering.
"Pioneer, analyze."
"Standard holonet communications protocol initiation, no malicious spike virus or ECM detected. Point of origin is a transmitter from the settlement below you, mistress."
"Figured I would be ringing the doorbell."
"Do you wish me to initiate communication, mistress?"
"Send only text in reply, indicating I want a confidential conversation regarding a mercenary contract opportunity and won't discuss anything further over a channel for security concerns."
"Understood, mistress. Sending."
I adjusted the course into a slow looping circle around the Nightsister settlement, examining it with the pod's visual sensors.
It really looked like the place had gone to seed with time. Even from a height of two hundred meters I could see ancient gnarled trees that had snaked around and penetrated into the bones of the buildings down there, most of which were carved right out of the mountain face. Many of them looked just a single minor earthquake away from collapsing utterly.
"Reply received, mistress, it is a set of landing coordinates."
"That was quick, upload it to the pod."
The HUD now indicated a spot that was only ancient brambles and trees, but just as I was looking at it, that changed.
The cluster of trees vanished, melting away in a ghostly green mist.
It revealed the clear work of sentient hands, a perfectly cut landing pad out of what had been a thin mountain spire, on which I could even land the Pioneer if I was so inclined.
"Of course, using their magick for illusions that'll fool even technology and sensors, not to mention a Jedi's senses."
I turned the pod into a landing sequence, bleeding off more speed with S-turns until I stopped in a hover just mere meters above the natural landing pad.
The pod had landing legs that extended from the ventral side, so I had to orient with my back towards the ground below, and slowly relax the power on the repulsors, with the occasional thruster fire for stability.
A slight thump heralded my landing, I began powering down the systems and in turn also activated the contingency systems.
That done, I triggered the forward hatch to blossom open and I was exposed to the very dry air of Dathomir for the first time.
I sat up and surveyed the landing area, finding no one had come to meet with me and no indication in the distance that anyone was emerging from the distant ancient buildings.
I stood, hopped out of the pod and onto the hard rocky surface.
A cold ripple in the Force seemed to wash over me in that instant.
Immediately I felt a strong malevolence and anger.
"Yes, I'm a Jedi, no, I'm not here for anything other than to talk and I was being serious about a mercenary contract. That was not a lie just so I could trick you into letting me land."
The malevolence died down a bit, now curiosity was added to the mix but the background anger remained.
A small part of me felt vaguely stupid talking to thin air, but it was clear I was being watched through the Force and that there were invisible Nightsisters that already had me sighted with their energy bows.
The dark gaze lingered on me for a moment, before it withdrew with a clear direction and the sense of danger in the Force died down.
It wasn't a welcome hearty invitation, but more like a door had been opened and they were giving me the option to walk through it, with no guarantees or indication of what would happen once I was on the other side.
As good as I'm gonna get from the Nightsisters, I thought wryly.
I walked forward to the edge of the landing pad and stepped off onto a winding path that had been carved directly into the rockface, which snaked down for about ten meters before I came to a very rickety wooden bridge that spanned over a chasm.
It was made from the same wood as the ancient trees around here, but was visibly petrified and very old. Whether it could take my weight was a mild worry.
I stepped onto the bridge and started to walk over it, hearing the wood creaking ominously with the strain of each step, but didn't slow my pace or even make an effort to moderate my footfalls.
There was even the odd plank missing in the bridge, giving me a glorious view of how far down it was.
From this bridge, and after a few winding turns around a large plinth of rock that speared into the sky, a path towards the main buildings became clear.
It was a relatively straight shot now, but the path carved out of successive spires of rock, were spanned with crumbling and half destroyed wooden bridges and overhead arches. Some of the bridges were completely gone.
Really Talzin, testing whether I'm worth your time?
I began the journey along the path, keeping an unhurried walking pace. When I reached the first true gap, a simple Force Jump - though calling it that felt like overkill - it was more of hop really, carried me easily across.
The next obstacle she saw fit to throw my way was to vanish a bridge from right under my feet.
One moment I was standing on a rickety wooden bridge, the next it dissolved with a green misty miasma.
Gravity immediately tried to pull me into its unforgiving grip.
A burst of TK from my back and feet shot me forward in a blur before I landed on the next bit of the solid path.
I crossed the next bridge without incident before I heard my first true opponents of this trip.
Three of them, skittering on eight barbed, very lethal legs, covered in a black exoskeleton, with four dark eye stalks looking forward and extremely sharp mandibles under it. At full extension on their legs, they reached my hip and probably massed a fair bit as well.
They didn't screech or give any warning of their attack.
They simply climbed up from underneath the next bridge - then lunged at me, spearing their many sharp legs toward my chest.
As I had an audience, I raised a halting hand and caught all three with TK, which included enveloping them in the effect completely. I really didn't feel like catching a face full of the poisonous saliva these things could spit at a very decent range.
Now the question was, what to do with them?
Crush? While it'd definitely bump me up in Talzin's eyes, it wasn't exactly the Jedi way, now was it? There was also that matter that I knew the locals used these spiders in a domesticated fashion of sorts. I could be holding the favored pets of a few of these Nightsisters at the moment.
I stepped out of the way and with a gesture, sent the spiders flying towards a nearby rock formation.
They smacked against the rock with a screech of annoyance, but their legs were perfectly adapted to the terrain. They found purchase easily and skittered away out of sight.
Talzin saw fit to throw no further challenges my way as I traversed the rest of the distance and finally stepped off the last bridge and the massive stone buildings were now towering above me.
There were numerous balconies and small glassless windows that looked down on me, but given the lighting conditions it was impossible to see anything more than darkness beyond them. Now that I was this close and able to properly study the architecture… Well, it was impressive for its age, but there were also clear additions made to it in a far more primitive way with wood, that showed that the Nightsisters had either adopted this place as a home, or there was actually a precursor culture that had regressed into the current dathomirian or were these Zeffo ruins?
The writing, carvings and reliefs on the walls and exterior facades all had sharp angles and I could well imagine why this place would attract any archeologist.
I ducked my head at the last moment to avoid a rather large clawed hand that swiped through the air.
It was attached to a beast that stood over two and half meters in height, with beige and gray leathery skin, that was only partially bipedal - also using its oversized spiky arms for movement, much like a gorilla. Its spiked circular mouth roared in challenge. Dark, beady malevolent eyes that were only filled with predatory instinct glared at me.
It quickly tried an overhead swipe as a follow-up.
A side-step caused a miss and the claw bounced off the hard rock floor I had been standing on.
I doubted that the dathomiri could domesticate a nydak and this one had just been herded my way.
I raised my right hand, just as the beast was about to try and ram its tusks directly into my abdomen.
It was abruptly lifted into the air and my TK sent it higher and higher.
I made sure to step back a bit and closed my hand into a fist.
The nydak's head rotated a full three hundred and sixty degrees.
The sound of snapping bones and its defiant screeching abruptly cut off.
I next sent the dead beast's corpse tumbling into the closest chasm.
My eyes narrowed at the many dark crevices and windows where I began to get the faintest hints of my true audience as my senses became accustomed to the environment and the Force on this planet. They were shielding themselves very well and it was a technique that I'd dearly like to study one day.
The Force hissed with danger in the next moment.
My will surged into the ground around me.
I wrenched as much rock as I quickly could into the air around me.
Just in time to begin absorbing pink plasma bolts that whined through the air towards me from multiple high angles.
I had no intention to play target for the dozens of Nighsisters peppering me with fire, nor did I want to kill them.
I set my rock shielding into a spinning orbit around me, treating them as if I had dozens of lightsabers working in concert.
As my shields fragmented under the sustained fire, instead of letting the smaller rock pieces drop, I simply kept them and added them back into my shields seamlessly.
A few seconds later, I had enough and the rock pieces began shooting outward and into the darkened windows and doors from where the shots were coming from.
The energy bow fire began to rapidly diminish in volume and a few seconds later, ended abruptly.
I stepped forward toward the largest building carved into the rock, its prominent entrance was arched, with a carved overhang that would provide decent cover, if the Nightsisters decided to try again.
I dropped my rock shields and called on the Force to refresh me.
It was far from the most taxing thing I had done, but circumstances as they were and the surrounding environment was not making it easy.
The massive stone doors ahead of me began to shudder, then swiftly split in the middle and parted into recesses on either side. The grinding of stone on stone sent shudders of irritation down my spine.
The local sun lit the ancient arched corridor beyond in a crimson hue and lent itself to creating a very eerie scene, like something out of a nightmare. If that wasn't bad enough, what hung from the ceiling was just the cherry on top.
A long row of tear drop shaped bags wrapped in thorny brambles and roots.
No.
Please tell me she wasn't going to do that.
That was meant to be their weapon of final resort, not first.
The brambled bags began to writhe… as if something inside was starting to show life and began clawing at the prison which bound it.
Sithspit, damnation, frak, and dozen other curses!
I could fight these things, even take out a fair chunk of them before I would be overwhelmed but to do so would be a failure of the entire point of my visit here.
"That's enough, I think."
The dark voice that echoed with the Force came from right behind me.
I was rather proud of the fact that I didn't flinch or jump out of my skin with fright, as the bags that held the corpses of deceased Nightsisters settled down and resumed their eternal vigil.
I folded my hands behind my back and turned around to regard the ridiculously tall Mother Talzin, who had done the Nightsister vanishing teleport trick to appear within a few feet of me.
She stood over two meters tall and looked down on me much like she was studying an insect. Her white skin, combined with dark black tattoos that practically coloured in large parts of her face around her eyes and cheeks made for a fearsome visage.
Her body was wreathed in an elaborate dark red outfit that looked like a dress that was folded and draped around her, rather than being tied traditionally to the black bodysuit beneath. It looked like the hood and parts of the dress that formed shoulders were held aloft with her own powers in clear defiance of physics.
Her bone white fingers were each tipped with long nails and her hands seemed to be constantly moving as if she was always weaving a cunning spell.
"Mother Talzin," I bowed in greeting.
Her hands stilled and she returned the bow with only a slight bending of her neck. "Greetings little Jedi," she spoke. "It's impressive that you survived the tests I threw at you, for one so young and not even a single lightsaber in sight. Though I think we both know that you never truly felt any mortal peril."
She slowly brought her hands forward and began twirling them, leaving wispy trails of green that lingered briefly in the air.
I felt the magick being worked and knew immediately that I would probably need years of study to make sense of it. She wasn't doing anything hostile, just the Nightsister version of passive sensing it seemed.
"Fascinating," she murmured. "You are both wise and foolish to come here in this way, innovative and powerful. Combining your skill in the Force with technology."
Her hands stopped their dance, then she clasped them together in a weirdly formal manner.
A small part of me was fearing that she would use the chance to work some unknown magick, but there had been nothing and a thorough self-assessment via the Force also showed nothing.
"Thank you for seeing me," I said ignoring her attempts at appealing to my ego. "I trust there were no serious injuries among the Nightsisters. I aimed for their bows and hands."
Talzin waved my concern off, "Broken bones and bows can be mended. You have earned the right to speak to us through your power. Speak."
"My purpose here is to negotiate a contract for your services."
"So you have said, but why would a Jedi have need of the Nightsisters?"
"I am not offering this contract as a Jedi or on behalf of the Order, but rather as Manda'lor Vizsla."
Talzin didn't have any eyebrows but she allowed her surprise to show, "A Mandalorian Jedi? Truly I didn't think the galaxy could surprise me anymore and the Jedi Order for even allowing it to happen."
"The post-Ruusan Order hasn't ever been at war on this scale. It is forcing many things to change, whether that will be for the better or worse, remains to be seen."
"What then would you have the Nightsisters do, Manda'lor?"
That she believed me was a relief and that I didn't have to go through any song and dance to prove it, confirmed to me that she did have some form of power to discern truth. I had suspected it and I was glad I had come here with a partially open deck of cards, so to speak.
"There are certain tasks that would be problematic if it's seen that any Mandalorian was involved. Your Nightsisters are uniquely gifted to accomplish these tasks in a manner that would make them seem entirely accidental."
Talzin narrowed her eyes, "That we can certainly do. Yet I sense that the significance of this contract of yours will greatly impact the Nightsisters. Every word you just spoke brings danger and even doom to my clan."
"That is because of the common enemy we both share."
The Mother looked at me in a totally new light, I could sense the moment her regard went from polite even amused interest to feeling the full intensity of her presence. I even felt a slight mote of fear from her.
Her hands blurred upward and she began seemingly tearing at the air.
We were both surrounded by a swirling vortex of the Force in an instant, which resolved into the visible spectrum as a swirling green mist typical of any Nightsister's power.
I stumbled briefly as my senses were desynced and disrupted.
The green cloud vanished around us and I immediately knew she had just spatially displaced us over two hundred kilometers due east onto a rocky summit of a mountain. There was just less than a dozen square meters of flat walking space here, whilst beyond that was just the endless chasm of a massive mountain that towered over five kilometers above the landscape surrounding it.
"What does any Jedi, especially one so young, have to do with him?" Talzin hissed in anger at me, her eyes glowing green.
The sheer, pants wetting level of terror that settled on my psyche was suffocating and the Force around me was bubbling and roiling in agitation as her power radiated out from her. Combine this with her echo voice and it would just about cause most sentients to simply faint on the spot.
I only weathered the storm thanks to my out of context nature, copious training against fear and because of the truth of the situation.
I folded my hands in front of me, didn't meet her eyes and simply said, "I will only reply with the question, how could it be that I know of him at all? Given the lengths he's gone to hide from the Jedi's vision."
Talzin's eyes normalized, her face turning rigid as stone with no expression, but I could see that her mind was working furiously nonetheless.
Then she began smiling and that was somehow worse than terror, coming from her. It was ultra creepy and made me want to be anywhere else in the galaxy.
Her laughing came next and it felt like my spine wanted to jump out of my body. Her echo voice was not just a fancy gimmick to intimidate. Her powers, the influence of the Force infused ichor and the resulting magick meant she was literally a conduit that was not just speaking for herself.
"Oh, ha, ha, finally, at last the balance reveals itself. The fool kept pushing and taking, crossing every line and thinking himself above consequence. A legacy of his predecessor's teaching."
My own mind practically spun as I took her words and the probability lines around me became manifold, a vast kaleidoscope of decisions, words, intent and character.
"When did you realize his power, Mother Talzin?"
She smiled at me, "Oh, so polite to someone who is a natural enemy to you."
"There is no reason for me to consider you an enemy, Mother… yet."
"You may regret those words one day, little Jedi. No, I realized his power after he so successfully approached me, knowing exactly what to say to get me to agree to his offer of an exchange of knowledge; his Dark Side expertise for Nightsister sorceries. Then the rather heavy handed offer to join his side as his apprentice."
That I had to admit, surprised me somewhat. I knew he had visited to both gain power and intelligence on the Nightsisters, but to actually recruit Mother Talzin herself was incredible arrogance. It was one thing to turn a Jedi Master like Dooku to the Dark, but what Sidious had attempted here was the equivalent to trying to turn Yoda. Talzin was the head of her 'order', her sect', she wouldn't abandon it to follow Sidious. It was a small but important detail that had totally escaped my memory and sight.
"Then you sent him packing, but he exacted a price."
Her eyes flashed with anger and she critically looked me over. "Very clever little Jedi. You come here armed with a very potent weapon against me." She was talking about her son. The Dathomiri might consider their males as second class citizens, but individually they couldn't overcome the inborn instinct and natural regard for their own male children. Talzin was no different. "You know that I know he is alive, but I dare not even try to trace and rescue him as that would pose a distinct threat. Something that… our enemy will definitely pick up on."
"He also definitely has ways to keep an eye on you."
Talzin just gave me a look that said 'Obviously'. "Have you guessed the ways, little one?"
"The spy satellites, your tapped communication system, tracking whatever ships you use to carry out your contracts and finally a Nightsister traitor, most likely brainwashed with Sith sorceries and implants."
Talzin laughed creepily and nodded. "Good, yes. It was a few years after he left with Maul. Sister Azsul was abducted on a mission. She was only two days overdue but he faked a pirate attack so she could convincingly explain her delay that way. We carefully keep her in place and manage what she sees and hears." She stared into the distance for a moment. "Oh, how convenient, she was not amongst those that responded to your approach." I mirrored her 'don't insult my intelligence' look. "Am I correct then, that the targets you wish eliminated are somehow related to our common foe?"
"Yes, people in key positions, spies, various informants, most who don't even know they are giving him intelligence, as they think they're giving it to a corp or a local authority. Not all of these targets are to be eliminated, however, merely inconvenienced, ruined or even convinced to take another less stressful vocation in life. If his network starts falling apart too quickly he will realize something is wrong. He will also begin to enact contingency planning and work to reestablish any gaps that are opened up."
"Gaps in which you can move, little Jedi. Whilst he focuses his vision elsewhere. Clever. Just how did you find them? I have to wonder."
"That you do not need to know," I said flatly.
Far from getting angry, Talzin only looked intrigued. "Before we can agree on anything, little Jedi. How are you going to pay?"
"I'll naturally pay with credits, how I have the money you should be able to figure out for yourself. To even sweeten the deal further, I shall undertake to have your son retrieved at the appropriate time and receive medical attention. If you or a Nightsister he would recognize from his youth, could be there when that happens it'll definitely help as he's not really sane at the moment."
"The 'appropriate time' for this can only be when you are fully ready to move against him. My son was his apprentice and undoubtedly knows things that he will move the galaxy to protect."
I nodded, "Telling you when this could happen is also something that you don't need to know. My final offer to you is a warning. Continuing on your current path will lead to the death of you and your entire clan."
Talzin became as still as a statue and stared me down, her eyes gaining some embers of green. "Are you certain of your forecast, little Jedi?"
"Your plan to attack Dooku anonymously, drawing him here to seek aid and a new apprentice. Then provide a Nightbrother to him. The brother will fail in the assassination and it will merely result in a CIS invasion of Dathomir. You give the droid armies a good fight, especially with the Army of the Dead, but the droids outnumber them without even trying. The fight becomes too taxing for you and you retreat from this plane of existence to survive. All your contingencies for regaining enough strength to manifest physically is delayed and thwarted. You only manage it after one of the surviving Nightbrothers manages to capture Dooku and use him to fuel the ritual. Of course, at that point General Durge and the enemy himself are there and waiting for you."
Talzin's mouth twisted, her teeth gritting in repressed anger. She whirled around and stared into the distant mountains and the slow crawling expanse of clouds that were gathering on the horizon. Her hands flexed and formed fists before she clutched them behind her back.
"It galls me that we have been reduced to this, do you know how old I am, child?"
"With the powers and rituals you have, I couldn't begin to guess, Mother."
"Those who become Mother, in essence become part of Dathomir itself and Force infused ichor is the lifeblood of this process. Theoretically, I could live for three hundred years, until I wear out this body. Then I return to the essence, but not before empowering the next Mother to take my place."
"Ah, so in effect I'm not just talking to Mother Talzin, but also all the Mothers who came before you."
She nodded, "Now a Sith who has just more than a half century of life behind him, the blink of an eye to some species, effectively has us at his mercy, which is nonexistent."
"He plans for no other effective or trained Force Sensitive to survive in this galaxy. Every sect, religion or order that has some Force tradition is to be effectively wiped out completely. With none of their writings or knowledge surviving. There will only be his New Order, which naturally begins and ends with him, with only a select few trained to minimal levels to serve as disposable pawns that will never pose a threat to him. He's also very close to conquering his own mortality."
Talzin turned her head, her eyes ablaze fully, "Essence transfer."
"His refinement of it," I nodded. "He probably learned a lot from studying the ichor and Waters of Life here on Dathomir."
"He has no end of lackeys who he could possess or could do the ritual to bring him back," Talzin grumbled with frustration.
The situation was far worse, but I was not about to mention that. Talzin was just a convenient ally at the moment; an enemy of my enemy. Her own eventual ambitions, unless she was thoroughly disabused of them, would see me first in line to be the one who killed her.
"Very well. We have an agreement, Vizsla. How will we communicate securely?"
I smiled, "As we are communicating now. When I disconnect from this droid body its appearance will shift into its base form - that of a highly modified protocol droid. Its own internal droid intelligence will take over. It's name is T2-8. You can either hide it or say I left it as a secure communications channel back to me. With slicers on both sides of this war using the Holonet as a battleground, I don't trust communication security. Naturally, the Nightsister spy will then try to tap this droid or even gain access to its technology. An internal self-destruct charge will go off and kill anyone within a two meter radius around it, should it be compromised."
I fiddled briefly with the small comlink on the back of 'my' hand, sending the command. The escape pod would now seal up, fly up to a safe altitude and self-destruct.
Talzin chuckled darkly, "You are giving me the option to conveniently dispose of Sister Azsul should it become necessary. Just who are you, Manda'lor Vizsla?"
I didn't answer and closed my eyes, pulled back my senses and perceptions along the active link.
When I blinked again, it was to see the concerned face of Togai seated next to the comfortable chair my actual meatbag body was reclining in. Beyond him and around us was what I was privately calling the interface room in the Vizsla estate on Concordia.
"Mission complete, Manda'lor?"
I pulled off the silvery connection halo around my head and set it down on its proper place, then tapped the control pad built into the chair armrests to shut down the system.
"As well as can be expected. We have an agreement, for now."
"Amazing piece of tech this," he said with mild awe, looking around the chair and the systems around it.
"Indeed, once the supporting infrastructure is in place, there is no need for a long hyperspace journey to conduct business on any world with a solid holonet connection. You just rent a projection body on the planet you want to visit, get in an interface chair where you are currently and there you go." I patted the prototype below me.
"As if the ship building industry doesn't have enough reason to dislike you, Ahsoka," Togai laughed with exasperation.
"Yes, eventually they'll need to rethink the passenger transport business and ship design, especially for the core regions, but Holonet bandwidth is too low in the Outer Rim and even some Mid Rim worlds and the expansion regions. It only works to Dathomir because of our relative proximity and Pioneer acting as a signal relay."
"Are you really going to leave the ship out there?"
"It'll not just be acting as a glorified Holotransceiver, Togai. I want my own eyes on that system for a whole host of reasons. Pioneer knows how to stay hidden."
I hopped off the interface chair and he held out a datapad for me.
"Messages came through for you while you were away."
I switched it on and saw immediately that the first one was from Kina Ha.
My mood dipped as I read through it, not just because she had used the identity of Captain Abehla Mizal to approach Ventress, but also the results of that.
None of the subtle and 'soft' approaches had worked to try to convince Ventress that her path to revenge would best be served working with the help of Fulcrum.
Kina had only started with the first step in the 'recruitment'. The former Sith assassin was firmly set on going back to Dathomir.
The Kaminoan Jedi was now asking if using slightly more forceful methods would be advisable. Nothing else would serve to change Ventress' mind at this point.
Damn it, I did not want to recruit her in such a manner. The probability lines for that were not looking good at all. For all her life, she had served a master in some manner. She was experiencing true freedom for the first time and I did not want to ultimately just end up being a distant replacement. She needed to grow and live on her own for a bit.
I opened the reply function on the pad and after a moment's thought typed, 'Let her go. Talzin is on board. You can return to Mon Gazza as you wish. Thank you, Kina.'
The next message came directly from Obi-Wan.
As usual, his language was unfailingly polite yet I could almost feel the dry sarcasm dripping from the datapad in my hand.
I opened the reply function and simply typed, 'On my way.'
"I'm going to have to leave Concordia, Togai. Can you send an order to have my fighter prepped while I pack and get affairs in order?"
He nodded, "Back to Coruscant?"
"Yes, it seems I've tested the Order's patience far enough."
"Well, it was nice to have you here, Manda'lor. I thank you on behalf of my wife," he chuckled with a twinkling eye. "Think you can at least say goodbye to the kids before you go?"
"Of course, Aunty Ahsoka will never let such an important task go unfulfilled."
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