[18 BBY]

[Personal Deck of Moff Daron Stormcrow, Eriadu Authority Republic Capital-class Warship Stormcrow Republic 5th Fleet, In Hyperspace, on the Cerean ReachTrade Route, Gendius Sector, Mid-Rim]

"Hey, you going to talk? Or just laze around all day?" Barriss queried with amusement as she lay against my side, arm around me, head on my chest. I let out an amused snorted at that, opening my eyes again and looking at the starlight 'sky' of my room's ceiling. A recorded version of course, because looking directly into Hyperspace could lead to bad things for many beings, and I'd rather not be one of those so that was locked away behind various security locks.

"Oh? Now she wants to talk?"

Barriss chuckled "Mayyybeeeee"

I chuckled a moment, kissing her forehead and earning a giggle from her "Well, I didn't complain when you had other things on your mind than talking, and I've no problem now you want to talk"

"Hehehe, you weren't complaining certainly"

"Well, I certainly wasn't turning down the gorgeous Jedi wating for me when I came to bed"

"Hmmm, flatterer" she murmured happily, the Force was….well serene somewhat around us now as she sighed, curling up against me "You should go to Solem when you can you know, things are…confused and it would be good to….help things change a little. For the better a little I mean"

"And here's me thinking you were dreading going back?"

She hummed happily as I ran a hand over her bare shoulder "I was…but not everyone was upset about…well us and our breaking the Code"

"Well, you breaking the Code…" I teased, earning me a pat on the stomach that was an imitation of a slap "…as this here Force-user isn't a Jedi ya'know?"

"Hmph, Master Allie would like to talk to you Daron, as does your Mother….she mentioned that, several times, along with tell me to eat more. And where were the grandchildren?"

I let out a snort "What, if you got all romantic because my Mom told you to…"

Barriss giggled "Don't be silly! I missed you Noble Warlord Captain-Idiot Sir"

"You're lucky you're beautiful and me tired out"

"All part of my wicked Jedi plan! Muwhahaha!"

I chuckled back at her "Very funny, Anyway, it's politics, but I will make time….once I have time anyway, we're not going out to the edge of nowhere because we're on a pleasure cruise"

Barriss hummed I thought, rolling over to straddle me, arms resting on my chest, her chin on her arms "And why are we going out to the edge of nowhere as you call it? And not fighting on the frontlines, or having terribly boring and depressing meetings as you endured…or unhappy ones filled with shouting like I had to suffer through a little?"

"Repulsorlift coils" I stated simply, then chuckled as she pouted at me, being distracting as she was "Bakura builds and exports them, more than we thought as best we can tell from reports from Terminus, and they've messed about with Dooku earlier in the war. We don't want being an enemy pocket in our territory, and we also want the Repulsorlift coils"

Because they didn't exactly churn them out in the Outer Rim right now and another supplier would make expansion of various projects easier. There was also the reason of a potential future issue with a race called the Ssi-ruuk that part of meditations had dredged up years ago as a potential problem;- especially with their nightmarish Entechment technology. Even if they never attacked….I didn't want Sidious getting access to tech like that, no way, no how, and that meant putting a guard of sorts in place. Another possibility was the rise of a bunch of retards calling themselves the First Order in the future that wouldn't be, and I didn't want that happening either. So I sighed after a moment, enjoying her nearness, her closeness in the Force.

"Pirates and slavers is the other reason. We get rumours down in Terminus, since trade is into there from the Unknown Regions, and there was already a while back for Anakin with mad Arkanian scientist on the planet Skye who supposedly came with allies from out of somewhere called the Dark Worlds. Few possible Confederate holdouts and watch stations too….so, best to deal with them now"

Part of the reason I'd originally sent Asajj with a task-force to that area was to deal with those rumours, and the pirates out there, as securing her world of Rattatak would let us secure worlds around that planet. The Empire's future plan of Probe Droids, from that future that wasn't to be now, were a good idea and had been part of our operational plans since we were ESS with a handful of ships. Once we had a detection network established in a few years it'd be a useful system….and if we had to run it'd be an even more useful system to map out largely unexplored routes…

--

[18 BBY]

[Command Bridge, Eriadu Authority Republic Capital-class Warship Stormcrow, Task-force Hospitaller, Republic 5th Fleet, In Orbit Riflor, Riflorrii System, on the Cerean ReachTrade Route, Narrant Sector, Mid-Rim]

I liked ARC-170s, and I'd made sure to get a decent force of them for my task-force as they could maintain active patrols, and were hyper-capable, better than several of our models. Sadly they'd been heavily invested into the Clone Armies, so it'd taken time to assemble a decent force of them, relative to modifying plentiful, but underpowered, Z-95s into a hypercapble force. It was very, very, useful to be mobile out here in the Outer Rim, even with anti-fighter tech slowly starting to progress, and Rebel Alliance tactics worked well to maximise my striking power on weaker targets.

The big issue, according to many, was that the ARC-170 needed three pilots versus one for other options, or my TIEs, but it did mean crews could sleep in shifts, and operate longer. Right now it also meant I could train up recruits by pairing them up with my few experienced pilots, and I watched as another patrol went out to scout out systems ahead of us. All the while noting I really needed to get dedicated AWAC's like scouts, or something like a nBSG Colonial Raptor rather than relying on retrofitted YT or Ghtoc light freighters for that role. Twelve ARC-170s with a YT for Sensor-platform, and a….I wasn't sure what make…for supply/support for probe droid laying, was rapidly becoming a 'standard' formation for these jobs…

"And she killed no one it seems"

I glanced up from the tactical display at the approaching form of Celeste Morne, Gardan nodding to me and going over to resume operations on the bridge as I talked to the Jedi lost in time "Well, yes, but it was more intimidating them….nicely…about who they should be loyal too"

"Nicely?"

I chuckled darkly "Here's a very good deal, everything you wanted from the Republic that made you lean Confederate, and representation in the Senate…and if you double-cross us we'll wreck you. Look at your neighbours the Lorta? Why, if it isn't the woman who slaughtered her way through the religious fanatics best guards….on live holo-net!"

Celeste sighed, but nodding "Unfortunate, but effective it seems"

"Well, having a garrison in place helps"

"One that you are replacing of course" she noted and I nodded, taking my kaff into hand off the table and gesturing at the display.

"That unit would declare loyalty to whoever turned up, and they're all clones. We'll ensure they are all properly de-chipped, no matter their own efforts and claims, and then we'll integrate them with the task-forces Marine units and keep an eye on them. But that's not what you're here about….you felt it too?"

We'd been, by 'we' I mean Eriadu allied forces as a whole, had been integrating, by breaking them up, clone legions that hadn't gone wack-job crazy after the chips went active, or had found a way to deal with afterwards from lack of Jedi. That usually meant small garrison units like this one, which had been beefed up with auxiliary PDF soldiers from Republic loyalist worlds, could be dealt with relatively easily. The Adovsec, the species that lived here, weren't enamoured by that obviously, but they were also pessimistic, and practical enough, to simply be bribed and threatened into being one our Trade Route Protection Waystations as I was calling them.

"Yes, there are…disturbances in the Force ahead of us" she replied seriously, and I nodded, taking a sip of my kaff. I'd been unsure actually, as Barriss had felt it before me….but that wasn't surprising as I, somewhat deliberately, tapered down my 'feeling' of such nasty things that was the ill-named 'Disturbances' one could run across in the Force. It could be anything from a mild ache, to a pressing oppressiveness of the Dark Side if one was too open to the feeling, and that make you weak or ill at very inconvenient times.

"Uh-huh, and that's why I've long-range patrols going out now in that general direction, and Asajj is hurrying her way back to the ship in the next few hours rather than tomorrow at the earliest. Its worryingly near Rattatak as best she….we…can tell" I stated simply "So we're going to investigate, along with some other rumours of Confederate forces in the region we got planet-side. I'll sending Yulen, Captain Darksails, with a Task-force to handle Bakura while we take the lanes to Firrerre or Bundaki afer we pass Cerea"

"You have suspicions?"

I shrugged "I'm sure you do to, but we know nothing so it could be anything, and we need to plan for that. But I will admit the most likely scenario is…someone's, or someones actually, has Fallen, or is in the process doing said Falling to the Dark Side in a very loud and dangerous manner. Unknown regions, pirate raids, CIS rumours, and Jedi fleeing…I do worry that could be the case. But I don't want to get too locked into that. I've a formal meeting to discuss set for four hours from now…" she nodded and I finished with a question "There isn't any secret Jedi Order caches around these parts from your time that someone in First Knowledge might know about and then fled too with a padawan or younglings?"

She shook her head, giving an actual smile of sorts "No, we had not explored this far into the galaxy to hide away any such horrors"

"Good to hear" I replied, not stating that there were other dangers such as Eternal or Infinite Empire outposts, or groups like the Sorcerers of Rhand….which I shouldn't know about, so I couldn't simply research and warn people about. Sure I could do planning contingencies, but we were already going into High Alert levels while so far out into the dark as everyone knew horrors lurked out in the Unknown Regions. This didn't feel like that, but it was something Dark going on, and with Sidious a Plotter and Puppetmaster…investigations must be done in case Dooku had left a problem in my backyard…

--

[An old Batuuan Ballad]

"At the edge of the galaxy, so far away,

Black was the spire that called me to stay.

A beacon for drifters, forgotten and lost.

The spires summon those, broken and tossed.

Come stay here forever, or just pass on through.

The spirit of Black Spire will forever change you.

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