4th day of Month 16 ABG
Grievous's promised Separatist reinforcements arrived just after midnight, sealing Bandomeer's airspace for the Separatists beyond any doubt.
With that advantage in hand, the tandem of Separatists and Babteer Pil spent much of the next day working on cleaning up the planet. Chiv stayed up an entire night repairing Grievous with newly acquired parts from the arriving fleet, which Grievous greatly appreciated. It was good to learn that he can thrive without his full cybernetics, but he would still much rather have them. Secessionist Governor LanBeeb quickly emerged from hiding to resume her governance of the planet in Bandor, while Grievous, WanThir, and TeenPat brought their armies to the town where the Republic had kept much of their reinforcements.
Because the galaxy has a funny way of working, that town was Liznob Bot, which is also Selbar's biggest Beezfitrar rival and their current opponent. TeenPat was insistent that they all wrap up the conquest of Liznob Bot before the final day of the game. Perhaps motivated by the game or perhaps as a result of their numerical advantage and support from the locals, they were able to secure the town in a day, freeing their schedule to attend the final day of the game. It seems like a good time to be present, because the Babteer took the lead on the night of the final space battle. All that is left is to play good defense and hang onto their 17-13 advantage.
TeenPat insisted that he would be happy to follow Grievous and his armies onto other planets after the game's conclusion. WanThir respected the young belrat's decision, but didn't seem to share it, as he told Grievous, "My place is helping our people rebuild. I've had my share of fighting for now, but I'll lead us once more if anyone tries to conquer us again." In any case, they still have one last day together.
Grievous, TeenPat, and WanThir attend the Babteer at Padneen game, sitting in a repulsorlift viewing pod (with shields, because one can never be too careful) as honored guests. One of their soldiers, ManThovlis, even takes the field, as he had been a player for Selbar before leaving his team to fight for the Babteer Pil. He does look very fatigued by the long conflict, and he spends the game at Selbar's camp. From what Grievous can tell, it looks like he's telling war stories to his teammates.
At noon, the holocams all pan over to the Separatist leaders. WanThir and TeenPat give brief speeches in Meerian before handing a microphone to Grievous.
"It was an honor to fight alongside you," Grievous begins, still not exactly prepared to orate.
"For everyone who resisted the Republic, in ways big or small, it contributed to our cause, and we needed it in the end. We couldn't have won this day without our soldiers within Selbar, but also not without our engineers, doctors, or pilots. We couldn't have lasted without the smugglers who brought us supplies, and we couldn't have triumphed in the last battle if not for the other Babteer Pil spread across the planet, wearing down the Republic with a million tiny cuts. They, too, could not have survived without their supporters: Those who housed them, who fed them, or who transported them. This battle was won by the Meerians!"
As Grievous concludes, the field erupts into a standing ovation. Whether or not it was a good speech, their actions have spoken far greater than any words ever could. Not long after, the Padneen start playing like they were inspired by those words, as if they want to outshine the town that saved their planet. They force Selbar to pim, getting the ball back in the early afternoon, and they begin a methodical march into Selbar's territory.
With about three hours left, the Padneen get within 25 meters of what would be a devastating go-ahead tooblin. On the peetrat lar, WanThir, TeenPat and some of the other Babteer Pil soldiers in the crowd below begin fervently howling, clapping, and stomping their feet, as if trying to distract the opposing offense.
Desperate as it may seem, Grievous notices MerRod, the Padneen's Patlonmeet, having to strain himself shouting over the crowd as he tries to communicate with his teammates. When Selbar moves around a few of their defenders, the confusion grows further. None of the Padneen look certain about their assignments, and when they start the play, MerRod is blindsided by a Babteer a second later, losing nine meters.
That brings up peetrat pil, a number which Grievous has become familiar with thanks to the Babteer Pil, which are second to the original Babteer rebellion. MerRod tries to make up their losses with an aggressive deep throw, but it sails over everyone.
Peetrat deed, the Padneen overcorrect from their previous overaggression, doing a quick and easy throw that gains them only five meters.
Peetrat dal, the noise grows even louder. In theory, this should be the Padneen's field, but Selbar and the Babteer Pil have taken over. The stadium is erupting with noise in support of a team that is just two successful plays away from effectively winning their division. If the Padneen can't convert here, they'll need to rely on peetrat vod, their last chance.
MerRod takes the ball and looks at the two Ripvat, who act as Selbar's deepest defenders. He seems to want to throw it over their heads down the left side of the field, but WanLeev should have that well-covered. Suddenly, MerRod shifts and fires a shorter bullet pass in front of them, to WanLeev's right. But Selbar's other Ripvat, RunBeel, reads MerRod like a book, and he sprints into the area on a collision course with the Padneen Deelvittan.
The two players smash into each other just as the ball arrives between them, and it bounces away from both of their bodies, back the way it had come from. But RunBeel keeps going, diving out to intercept the deflected pass. With the ball mere centimeters away from the ground, he swipes his hands underneath it and pulls it into his body. As he rolls to a halt, he clutches it tightly to his chest, securing possession of the game-sealing interception.
The Babteer and the Babteer Pil erupt with applause, and Grievous savors the victory for a minute. Selbar has triumphed once again. But this triumph is not his. While Selbar drains out the last bit of the clock, it is time for Grievous to get back to work. That work begins at the Separatist command center in Liznob Bot, where he has a report to give to Count Dooku.
"General Grievous, I have no complaints about your performance a few days ago," the count's hologram states. As always, he is slow to praise. This is about as good as it gets.
"I believe that I've learned much as a commander during this siege," Grievous replies.
The count chuckles. "Indeed. Your survival was expected. But to down a Praetor and then scare off the remainder of their fleet, all with a tiny fraction of the firepower compared to General Keldon? That was most unexpected."
"The Infiltrator-series droids were a tremendous aid. A dozen of them almost single-handedly blinded the Kalpana. I want them produced by the millions," Grievous suggests.
"I will inform the Colicoid Creation Nest."
"The Meerians are also a far hardier species than we realized. Their resilience is unlike anything I've seen, and I believe they'll be a valuable part of our forces," Grievous also points out.
"After what we've done for them, they should be easy to recruit," the count affirms with a nod.
Then, Dooku adds, "Another thing that you should be informed of is that while you've been trapped, we've been expanding upon Durge's plan to strike at the Core."
"This foothold on the Hydian will certainly aid in that goal," Grievous points out, "but I doubt that Durge's ideas are completely feasible."
Dooku considers for a moment, then responds, "Perhaps you're correct, but I think we all would've also said that about victory on Bandomeer. In light of that, you will be taking over Operation Durge's Lance."
Now this is truly a rare honor. Durge won't be happy about his operation being given to me, but so long as I hold the count's favor, what can he do about it? "Thank you, it is an honor," he replies.
"Indeed, it is. Grievous, the path to victory is before us. You are about to put yourself in the history books as the one who shattered the Republic's tyranny and ended the Clone Wars."
Out of everyone who was aboard the Kalpana during its final hours, only Djinn Altis and fifteen clone pilots returned to Republic space. Many escape pods were launched, but now that Bandomeer has fallen into Separatist hands, those survivors are prisoners of war at best. Kuallue and Nan are dead. He felt it.
He got in a V-19 to pursue the saboteurs and the escaped prisoners, which was the only thing that saved him, because it allowed him to flee to the Acclamator-class Vanguard after it became clear that the Kalpana was a lost cause. He got to sit around in High General Keldon's ship for the remainder of the battle and the retreat before he was eventually taken to Coruscant to report back.
The Republic's military leadership demanded a debriefing on what exactly happened, which clearly served the additional purpose of investigating whether or not Djinn had been ordered around by the Jedi Council in any way. He did his best to answer honestly, and only twice did he have to directly lie in order to hide the Council's involvement.
However, the Jedi have their own questions that they want answered, about who this Sadiya Keldon has become. They're not questions that they can ask publicly, but Djinn is too closely watched to just wander into the Jedi Temple and speak to them privately. They desperately want to catch the Jedi violating Palpatine's orders and playing dirty against Sadiya, so showing that he's in contact with the Council would ruin everything. Fortunately, there is a third option, because Yoda knows where to find him.
Yoda can't visit him directly. That would be too obvious because no one looks like Yoda. But Yoda can send a relatively anonymous courier to the place that he knows Djinn will visit, and they can stealthily pass off a message. It's quite a hunch, but Yoda should know very well that Djinn has a favorite spot on Coruscant: As chain restaurants go, nothing can beat Jim's Coleslaw Shack. It was founded by a brilliant Rodian restaurateur over half a century ago, and while there aren't too many of them outside of the Core Worlds, they have a nice string of unique restaurants on the galaxy's most populous worlds.
Here, Djinn sits munching on his slawberry dessert, because no Jedi showed up in the half-hour that he spent eating The Original as his main course. This is his second day of waiting for a rendezvous at Jim's, and the only reason that the Jedi have to look for him here is some vague telepathy. Kuallue could've done a much better job with the telepathy.
What are you even doing here, Djinn? These are the Jedi who kicked you out. Even if they're coming, do they really deserve this help? Nonetheless, Djinn stays put.
Five minutes later, he's rewarded with the sensation of a Force-sensitive coming his direction. The Jedi, a middle-aged human with a rather obvious wig and some plain-looking clothes, walks in. Once he gets in line, Djinn avoids looking at him any further. But through the Force, he feels the Jedi's presence, and he begins sliding a datacard that way. It skips unnoticed across the floor, and then the other Jedi takes control of it, pulling it into his palm.
He asks about the caloric content of the Revwien coleslaw bowl, then orders a coleslaw chicken wrap. Once he gets it, he quickly departs with Djinn's message stuffed into his vest pocket.
Djinn's message gets brought back to the Jedi Temple and passed onto Adi Gallia, who reads before the Council:
Jedi Masters, I am glad that my message has reached your hands. I was only around for the very end of the battle, but I did witness quite a few things in the brief time that I was there.
First, as I'm guessing the official reports indicate, you should know that Nan Latourain is actually dead this time. I felt her be extinguished in the Force, and I believe she was killed just outside Selbar, where she went to confront Grievous's ground forces.
Second, Kuallue was without any doubt, corrupted by Sadiya Keldon. What I witnessed aboard the Kalpana was terrifying. My friend of many years was not the being I knew on his final day. He had rejected the call of the Force, thinking that he could make it submit to himself, rather than the other way around. Whenever I challenged him on philosophy, I could feel his leanings toward the Potentium. In my brief conversations with Sadiya, I confirmed that she held to this school of thought as well.
Both of them had managed to convince themselves that the Dark side is not real. But we must stand against the Dark side. And how can we stand against that which we think does not exist? However, for all my criticisms of her, I must tell you that High General Keldon is not a Separatist. Her threat is far more sinister than that: She tempts us with a seductive way to achieve selfish power quickly and easily. Kuallue fell into this trap, and I witnessed him act as one who thought that taking revenge on another being would heal his sorrow.
Sadiya's follower wanted nothing more than to destroy General Grievous, and he failed because he didn't listen to the Force. There were no Separatist sympathizers who betrayed us on Bandomeer. Yet, we failed all the same. That has proven the fallibility of Sadiya's ways. The Dark side is not stronger. Rejoice in that fact, my Jedi.
Please destroy this message after it has been read.
The Jedi all sit still for several minutes, absorbing this new information.
It is finally broken by Tiin, who suggests, "Djinn is one who has always been focused on individual character rather than political alignment. He sees the microscopic picture and misses the wider truth once more." A few other Councilors give affirming nods.
Gallia counters, "He was there, and we weren't. He felt what took place."
"Just like he felt that Kuallue and Mars LaRone were good Jedi," points out Oppo Rancisis.
Koon adds, "Look at the results of Bandomeer. It doesn't make sense. So much friendly fire, so many unlikely failures. The odds of it occurring without someone intentionally aiding the Separatists are just impossible."
"There must have been a traitor, and Keldon is by far the most obvious suspect," a hologram of Mace agrees.
"Pretty much every other significant Dark-sider serves the Separatists. I can't see why Sadiya should be an exception," says Ki-Adi-Mundi.
But even as the rest of the High Council approaches their conclusion fairly uniformly, Yoda remains uncertain. He furrows his brow and bows his head in deep thought.
After the crash of the Kalpana, Kuallue is in the place of the dead. His tank is shattered; his cyanogen is dispersed; and his body has been splattered in the impact. But the bridge itself snapped off its perch, plunging Kuallue and Karne into the main structure of the ship, near its front center, where the sensor array had been. A diminutive sentient, probably a scavenger of some sort, finds Kuallue's body in a dark, cave-like structure, with a mix of rocks and twisted durasteel. In front of him is a vast labyrinth of twists and turns, like warped hallways, where he cannot see an end. Faint, distant light shines into the cavern from behind him, but shadows cover every crevice.
Slowly he finds himself advancing deeper, searching, for there is an allure of something in the depths. He presses onward without conscious thought, and he carefully rounds a corner. Then he sees it.
Almost the entire cavern is dark at this point, yet there is an object floating in the distance, visible as if by some unknown light source, or perhaps merely revealed to him via his intuition. At the end of the chamber is a dead body, dozens of blaster bolts cracking through the armor over it. It is scorched, battered, and missing a head, but he recognizes it instantly: General Grievous.
"He is finished," whispers a voice from the shadows.
Here, Kuallue has received exactly what the Force offered him, and exactly the offer that he chose to accept. He has gone voluntarily into the place of the dead, and in exchange, he has pulled this avatar of Grievous down with him. Together, they shall lay here for eternity.
Here, there is only selfishness and wrath, and prying into it is like peeling a good-looking fruit to reveal a gross, rotten core, full of maggots. The scavenger finds himself suddenly recoiling, and he tries to pull himself out of the cavern.