[The Last Days of 19 BBY]

[Imperial Sith Starship Silencer-class Battleship Silent Victory, In Orbit Dac, Calamari System, Calamari Sector, Outer Rim Territories]

Soldiers saluted her as she walked along through the corridors of the modified Harrower-class dreadnought that served as her 'Master's' flagship. That was still disturbing to be saluted so, though they would as likely stop her should she go mad and attempt to escape, thereby abandoning the younglings to the Dark Side. It was the cruel trap, even beyond the chip in her head, that all she had to do to flee was break her promises and abandon those she'd sworn to protect. Leaving meant Falling, Falling in worse ways then serving the mad Sith as he went about warring upon what had been enemies of the Republic.

'Which is led by either Sith or traitors now...where would I flee too?' Shaak Ti thought idly as the security doors opened and she stepped through into the 'Council Room' as Darth Imperious, ever the egomaniac, liked to call it. How he planned to have a 'Dark Council' made up restored Ghost...whatever he'd been...along with a Jedi Master, and a Dark Acoytle, Shaak Ti did not know, but had to play along with or see this area of space fall to puppets of the other Sith Lord. Dooku may be dead, but she was sure the Separatists were still as much puppets in what must be a Sith Civil War of sorts now that the Jedi Order had fallen.

The room was certainly more ostentatious, and larger despite being in warship instead of the Temple, with actual 'ergonomically correct thrones' as her Dark Overlord called them. They certainly were more comfortable than those cushion-seat things Yoda had insisted upon before she herself had made on the Council, perhaps in some minor temptation of the Dark Side. After all, Darth Imperious, or Lord Kallig as called himself to the Quareen and Mon Calamari peoples as well, wasn't what she had been trained to expect from a Sith Lord, too little was remembered of them it seemed. A cruel joke of the force perhaps, that such knowledge had been lost when they most needed it.

'Such knowledge would be very useful now for example' as she watched the Zabrak Padawan, Maris Brood, kneel on one knee before Darth Imperious, giving her a nervous glance as she entered. It was hard, so very hard and painful, to watch the brave girl be dragged towards the Darkness, towards Falling, and having to fight against the insidious corruption of her 'Master' by words alone. Not being able to simply draw forth her lightsaber and slay the obvious evil before her, without needing words or anything other than the will of the Force, was deeply frustrating.

D'Arc sat on his 'throne' on the other side of Imperious, looking exhausted after another crushing training session most likely. Shaak Ti could relate, though she seriously doubted the training he was getting with the droids set by their 'Lord' was the sheer intense level of the 'personal training' and 'remedial work' that Lord Kallig had decided on for Shaak. She was a 'personal project' now the madman had said, and that was not something she was looking forward to in several hours...even if the 'rest & relaxation break' on the beaches below after was very pleasant. So she bowed to her 'Master' as she entered, at the waist, but avoiding servile debasement as the Padawan looked on emotions a whirl.

"Master"

"Ah, Shaak, punctual as always!" their Sith pure-blooded leader replied in a cheerful tone "Must be all that modern day Jedi training! Our Maris here was just the same, swearing her undying allegiance to the cause weren't you my dear?"

Maris Brood lowered her head after an embarrassed glance at their 'Lord' and then to Shaak Ti, her voice a whisper "I'm sorry MasterTi...but the younglings...I had to..."

Darth Imperious chuckled "Now, now, Maris, Shaak here understands perfectly since she swore the same before you after I rescued her from a Hutt palace! Why she was so eager to swear her allegiance she forgot to wear pants till I reminded her!"

Shaak Ti fought down the urge to snarl back, only an eye-twitch giving away her inclination to do so as she folded her hands together under her robes "If you say so Master, though I do recall events differently, and Maris...you have done well. Do not let Darth Imperious get to you; madness and irritation are just his ways unfortunately"

"I prefer to call it differently rational and comedically-eccentric thank you very much!" their Dark Overlord retorted with a huff of amused annoyance, shaking his head "Jedi, all so very dull and mundane these days, like good little droids. Now, my lovely Shaak, how goes the training in lightsaber combat with our eager Sorcerer recruits?"

Shaak Ti sighed, grimacing "Most have never held a lightsaber in their lives Master Imperious, and Darksiders or not, their grasp of the Force is...not great"

"Eh, I don't need everyone to be awesome lightsaber duelists like me or you my dear Shaak!" he replied with a 'what can you do' gesture as he sat on his throne and Shaak Ti too her own seat on his right while young Maris remained on knee before them "But, it's all about giving them the basics so they don't die to the fire blaster bolt, or just some random sentient with a vibroblade. It's not like it's the Academy on Korriban, most of this lot should actually survive to graduate!"

She said nothing in reply to that little tid-bit, merely giving a nod. The recruits from Tund could use the Force, though none were particularly powerful, and their abilities were...more esoteric than she would like, even in Darksiders. 'Spells' were just strange, and they'd never held a lightsaber, nor had much respect for the tool, or herself as a Jedi; frustrating was the easiest description of her time with the recruits. Perhaps that was a good thing for an army serving a Dark Lord of the Sith, but it was moderately bothersome to a teacher such as herself when enduring it.

Nor was it ideal when what was left of the Republic and Neutral systems in the Sector were rallying to said Dark Lord, and faced a potentially deadly fate should they lose and the Separatists emerge victorious. Shaak Ti had seen enough such 'victories' at the hands of those such as Dooku and Greivous to know it must be fought till she could find some way to get the small League of worlds around Mon Cala to throw off the Sith. Hard to imagine right now when they'd thrown back two Separatist assaults on the series of Sectors that had 'rallied' to the 'cause' in quick succession...

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[The Last Days of 19 BBY]

[New Mandalorian Headquarters, formerly Royal Palace, Sundari City, Mandalore, Mandalore System, Mandalore Sector, Outer Rim Territories]

"Bo" Satine Kyrze muttered, avoided growling, as her sister sauntered into the room in full armour, helmet on, till Satine gestured at the two guards waiting inside to leave, other than their nephew Korkie "Do you have to be traditional all the time?"

Bo-Katan gave an undignified snort as pulled over her helmet and placed it on the table "Oh, and do you have to be a krifing New Mandalorian all the time as well? I'm right aren't I Korkie?"

"Please leave me out of this Aunties, I'm here to, to quote Mum 'Stop those two idiots clawing each other's eyes out and remind them they are clan' so please don't try make me pick sides and have to stun both of you"

Bo-Katan grinned "Aw, look at you! All young and eager, oh, and willing to resort to violence! You're doing the Clan proud nephew!"

Satine groaned "Bo, we're both here for official business, can you, at least for a few minutes, not be...yourself?"

"And could you not be...you...either?"

Satine let out a deep breath at the whiny, albeit loud, response "Let us be civilized about this Bo, and make it through without...fighting at least"

Bo-Katan took a breath "Fine, fine. Vizla wants to make sure things stay...civilized...as you say here on Mandalore and on the other worlds with Maul injured and these Jedi arriving"

"To Clan Skirata in the first case Bo, and they aren't exactly in the New Mandalorian camp, nor are the two others I know of"

Her sister gave a grunt of acknowledgement "Aye, well, one of those aligned with Death Watch have too and we know you...Kenobi were...close"

'Not enough for him to flee here though' Satine thought for a moment before stomping it down. Obi-wan was alive at the very least, and she had other matters more important to worry about here and now "My relations are none of your business Bo no more than yours are mine"

"They are when they are with one of few competent Jedi Generals of the war" Bo-Katan replied seriously for once, a frown on her face "Not after we struck at the Sith Chancellor and failed in the effort. Much as I dislike the Zabrak Sith...him dying right now would be problematic"

"And what persuaded him to strike at his supposed 'Master' then?"

Bo-Katan shrugged "His mother implied he couldn't do it, and told him not, then, like many idiot men I know, he went out to prove mommy wrong"

Satine paused at the information being give "She is his mother in truth rather than just a title..."

"Oh it's a Title too, but, well, some news for you; she's his and the other ones actual mother too, s'why she's helpin'em we assume. Hopefully it'll help keep him in line, as he's not the most stable sort"

"Death Watch allied with him"

Her sister ignored the hissed truth, again merely shrugging "And you tried to ally with the Republic and failed, and we've managed to stay on the good side of both Coruscant and Corellia"

Satine let out a suddenly weary breath "Aye, I know, I helped bridge that deal with Correlia remember?"

"Huh!" Bo smirked, gauntlets touching her face in a 'shocked' expression "Why I do believe you did Sis!"

"Grr..." Satine help back the retort "...as I was saying, yes I do recall as we cannot afford more fighting. We have only kept the coalition around Noune away from fighting us as we have mutual foes right now. Allowing all these Force Users running around is going to bring trouble to our door, let alone the trouble of stopping them killing each other"

"Eh, nothing new there for Mandalore, Sundari aside with your pacifist weaklings, and even then there's plenty of fun fights outside the city centre"

Satine gave her sister a firm glare "Oh, my apologies for ruining your fun, you'd think you'd have enough with all the wars we're fighting"

"Winning Satine, winning...oh, and we didn't start them now did we?"

"No, you just dare them attack, but no matter. You're gearing up for a major offensive I gather?"

Bo-Katan shook her head "No, you'd be wrong there Sis, we're gathering up to met a major CIS offensive we think and we need your lot to keep the peace with our not-really-best-allies allies so they don't start killing each other, or try to rob us. Things are working, and we all want them to keep working. Oh, and I'm here to help benefit the interests of our clan as well of course..."

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