Aboard the Kestrel, Athega System
The Clone Wars' first ceasefire in two years had been announced in the Athega System. The remaining Republic and Separatist ships had limped their way to Nkllon, the solar system's only planet. Sitting in the shadow of the uninhabited irradiated world, shuttles and maintenance craft zipped between ships, applying as many repairs as possible, while also attempting not to spook the other side.
Order 66 had been a disaster. Even using non-lethal methods like coma gas, stun shots, and exploiting the ship's artificial gravity had caused fatalities on nearly every ship in the fleet. The Kestrel and the Foretoken had both lost the majority of a bridge shift, with Foretoken also losing her Captain.
Now, Kelia was waiting for their erstwhile 'guest' to arrive as she listened to status reports from the other vessels. Currently, it was Foretoken's turn to read off.
"Our damage is relatively minor, all things considered. But, with the loss of Captain Gretz and most of the senior bridge officers, the crew is still adjusting to the new chain of command. This will likely lead to delays in our headcount and repair schedule until we can get back in order."
Kelia nodded, continuing to maintain her decorum despite her blood and smoke stained jacket and lack of uniform pants. "Thank you for the report, Lieutenant Commander Karath."
"And the Kestrel, sir?" The holoprojection of Tanager's captain inquired, the Twi'lek nervously twirling one of his lekku.
Kelia glanced over her shoulder towards the front of the bridge where Jural was sitting with her legs dangling into the port side data pit. Like many of the crewmembers, the Kestrel's captain was in a state of listless shock now that the adrenaline had faded. She was staring out the viewport towards the command bridge, which was visibly swarming with repair crews on the opposite side of the bridge tower. With the battle that had been fought on the command bridge itself, all operations had moved to the flight bridge.
Frowning, she turned back to the holoprojector and cleared her throat. "Repairs to sublight drives are underway, thankfully we can replace much of the damaged internals within another hour or so."
At the back of the bridge, the turbolift doors opened. The three Jedi, Kev, his Padawan Ekos, and also Ahsoka Tano arrived alongside Lir Sey'les, Kix, and Nebhir. Taking up the rear, Lir Sey'les had the purple telepathic weasel slung over the back of her neck like a scarf.
"Who is that?!" gasped Ekos, the Rodian freezing in place as he regarded Morai, standing near the center of the flight bridge.
The owl had transfigured herself into a tall ghostly white near-human with pointy ears and green hair. "We have met before Padawan Ekos," Morai explained in perfect Basic. "Now that my powers are returning, albeit slowly, I have enough energy to assume this form—at least for a time."
"It is nice to see you again," Ahsoka said with a polite nod. "I was worried that after the Daughter's death on Mortis, you'd never be… well…"
"I wish I had communicated earlier with you during this ordeal," Morai sighed, speaking again after Ahsoka trailed off. "Your changes to the timeline have cost us a great deal, and I fear that the worst is yet to come."
"Why didn't you help me earlier?" the Togruta asked, folding her arms over her chest.
"We have been helping you. Until Veryk decided to extricate you from Coruscant, however, you were under constant surveillance by Sidious."
"I still don't understand. I mean no disrespect, but why didn't you just get rid of Sidious if he's causing you so much trouble… or teleport him somewhere far away where he can never bother anyone again?"
The question got Kelia's attention. She looked back over at the Force users and Veil Dwellers.
A disapproving frown crossed the Daughter's face. "Veryk did suggest that as a course of action, but I cannot say more. I have already said too much to a Jedi."
Veryk squirmed around, running his paws through Sey'les's gray fur as he attempted to stand on her head to match Morai's height. {"Why would you waste your energy to appear as a Celestial? You are far less charming in this form, and your greater size makes you an easier target."} The weasel stumbled, grabbing Sey'les's left ear hard to remain upright like it was a handle, causing the Bothan to cringe in pain.
"Sentients are far less likely to take a Convor seriously," Morai argued.
Ahsoka curiously looked from Morai to Veryk, as she was only able to hear Morai's half of the conversation.
Kelia was half-listening to this conversation, but she was looking through the viewports. On schedule, a Separatist Maxilipede-class shuttle carrying the droid Admiral Scirocco rapidly approached the bow of the Kestrel, escorted by a pair of Tri-Fighters.
At the back of the bridge, the turbolifts opened again, and the first four officers of the evening shift arrived—two hours early as ordered.
Commander Quozas, the middle-aged Nikto officer who had the bridge during the evening shift, stopped in front of Kelia. "Good evening, Admiral."
"Good evening," Kelia nodded, then turned in place to face most of the bridge. "Alright, day shift, those of you remaining, report to sickbay." When Jural did not stir, Kelia added, "Captain, report to sickbay. That's an order."
When Lieutenant Vra'tis tapped her on the shoulder, Jural seemed to snap out of it, jolting upright from her slouch. Together, they began slowly extricating themselves from the bridge along with the rest of their shift.
"Veryk, I think that Celestial is right," Sey'les growled, straightening her neck to make it easier for Veryk to continue standing on her shoulders. "Besides," she added in a quieter voice, "I'd be interested in seeing what the Prophet of Fertility really looks like."
That got Kelia's attention again. She looked over her shoulder in time to see Nebhir utter, "I'd be interested too," and then pet Veryk gently on the head.
{"This is what I really look like,"} Veryk's voice boomed insistently into every Bothan and near-Bothan mind. {"But I am a creature of the Force,"} he added, in a tone that sounded defensive, {"With effort, I can take whatever form I wish."} In an extremely dazzling display of acrobatics, the Viverrid jumped down from Sey'les's shoulder, kicked off her forearm with his rear legs, and hopped onto the ground.
Kelia stared wearily ahead as mist engulfed the creature. Veryk's shadow, cast against the clouds, grew in size dramatically, swelling to over two meters in height. The outline of his new form had roughly the same stature of the weasel, but with an even longer tail that caused Kelia to guess he had taken the form of a saurian sentient.
Alas, reality was nothing so straightforward.
The lifeform that emerged from the smoke was altogether beyond Kelia's comprehension. For a wild moment, she assumed Veryk was insectoid, though her heightened Bothan sense of smell immediately caught the unmistakable whiff of something more mammalian and sweaty. The creature's body was divided into what appeared to be insectoid exoskeletal segments, but were actually jointed plates of dermal bone like that of an armadillo. His thick skinned exterior was bright white, save for the multicolored rainbow of threadlike tattoos ringing his slit-shaped oval eyes and forehead. With a long tail and tiny arms, Veryk had the same gait as he did in his purple weasel form, but at the ends of his spindly arms, his hands had only three fingers. He was entirely naked, except for this metallic box dangling from a necklace.
From the expressions on the faces of Ahsoka, Sey'les, Nebhir, Kev, and Ekos, it seemed that whatever form Veryk had assumed was even stranger and more distressing to a Force user. Ahsoka looked like she was suffering from a confusion-induced headache just from being in proximity to the creature. Sey'les and Nebhir had both let off shocked gasps, while Ekos had stepped back, pressing up against the wall.
Kev seemed more distressed than any of the other Force-sensitives. His fur flattened as he cringed, holding one hand on his lightsaber hilt and the other out defensively in front of his face.
"Relax," Kelia said disarmingly, nodding to two of the Clone security troopers who had drawn their blasters.
And it was fortunate that she had said so at that time, for what happened next shocked everyone to the core. Veryk, or whatever the creature called himself when he took this form, opened his mouth. Rather than blood red like most lifeforms in the Galaxy, the inside of his mouth was a bright coppery green. Six tendrils of the same color shot out from inside his mouth, and began licking all of the Force-sensitives.
Sey'les raised an arm, then relaxed somewhat, allowing the tongues to briefly pass over her gray fur. Nebhir seemed to actually enjoy the sensation, showing the tips of her teeth as she grinned. Ahsoka gasped and coughed, closing her eyes as one of the tongues slapped her cheek.
But again, it was Kev who reacted the most dramatically. "Oh gross! OH GROSS!" he yelped, ducking for cover, before tripping and stumbling into Morai's Celestial form, and then sprawling on the hard floor with a metallic thunk.
"Veryk, I am unimpressed," Morai said, gently helping Kev up. "You could have taken the form of any sentient creature in the known universe, and you choose one of a species that can only communicate by taste and smell. This meeting shall be one of the most important in… how are you—oh!" she gasped, showing real surprise.
"Behold!" a voice said from the box dangling around the creature's neck, "I am Veryk of many colors!" His tattoos seemed to glint in the light, having a rainbow-like effect as he turned to face Kelia. "You underestimate me, Morai."
"That's impossible," Morai said, still disbelieving. "Is that translator device linked to you telepathically? Where did you get it? The Aing-Tii have had no contact with the Galaxy. How would there be a reference point to translate into Galactic Basic?"
"They never had contact with the Galaxy in the old timeline or even yet in this timeline," Veryk said knowingly. "Those are hardly the only two timelines."
"But—what?" Morai sputtered. "You can't remember—you can't possibly know… How?!"
Kelia rolled her eyes as Sey'les and Nebhir continuing staring at Veryk, mesmerized. She couldn't understand why Morai was so confused. "It's not complicated. Theory, likely fact all things considered, dictates even a single alteration to one timeline could spawn another. Something more major, like the history of an entire species, would certainly do so."
Veryk's tongues flicked the air, the translator box speaking for him, now more condescendingly. "Look at you, getting taught the basics of cause and effect by a non-Force-sensitive. The universe unfolds from what has been to what will be, and there—"
"That's not what I meant and you know it!" Morai protested.
"Aing-Tii are hardly the only species whose history has changed," Veryk continued. "In some timelines, the Celestials did not pull the five planets of Corellia into one system. This caused radical changes in not just one but two species."
"And how could you know that?!" Morai gasped. "Memory fragments. The past of other universes become too distant to ever reach, their future ever more irrelevant! Not even Bendu can know what happened or will happen more than three timelines ago. It's all so far beyond the Mists of Forgetfulness that it's impossible to recall."
"Mists of Forgetfulness?" Kev asked.
"Perhaps… We are saying too much," Veryk cautioned, his already slit-like eyes becoming even narrower as he gazed at both Kev and Ahsoka.
"No, you're not getting away from explaining yourself that easily," Morai protested, shaking her head. "We've spent no more than a few days in this timeline. If you don't explain yourself—"
"Now, now," Veryk interrupted, "Unless, of course, you want me to discuss my meeting with an architect from 10,000 years after the Clone Wars—"
"You should never trust anything from so far in the future!" Morai gasped. "It's entirely unreliable! Ever in motion, the slightest change of—"
"To discuss this in front of three Jedi," Veryk interrupted again, continuing his last reprimand, "and an ST-series tactical droid."
Everyone turned to where Veryk was pointing his pale three-fingered hand. Sure enough, Admiral Scirocco stood expectantly in the turbolift, flanked by a quartet of B1 security droids.
"Uh," said one of the Clone navigation officers with deep uncertainty, "Admiral on deck?"
All of the crew except Commodore Los'ean herself snapped to attention for a tactical droid.
"At ease," Kelia snapped, her fur swirling with embarrassment. In her underwear, she felt completely unprepared for this meeting. Literally the whole Galaxy might see this meeting one day with me in my underwear… I have only myself to blame for being distracted by stupid time-traveling prattle.
Getting a closer look at Scirocco, however, she felt slightly more relieved. Scirocco looked quite disheveled himself. Not only did he have a missing arm, but scratches and bite marks of all shapes and sizes blemished his exterior.
Not sure exactly what to do, Kelia reached out her hand, and accepted an extremely awkward handshake from the droid's left. "Please, follow me," she said, walking towards the rear of the bridge's starboard side.
"Are we conducting this meeting in the pilot's pre-flight ready room?" Scirocco asked in a monotone once they crossed through the doorway.
"It will have to suffice," Kelia said testily. "The usual place for meetings of this importance in the other bridge tower was severely damaged."
Once everyone was inside, Kelia quickly introduced all the attendees for Scirocco. She hesitated when she got to Nebhir's name, not quite sure what a spice-addicted half-Squib smuggler was doing here at all. She hesitated for so long when she got to Morai that the Celestial ended up answering for herself.
"You may call me Morai."
"And you may call me Veryk of many colors," said the Aing-Tii, his shimmering facial tattoos twinkling vibrantly.
Scirocco's sensors hummed as he stood there absorbing every bit of information he could on those two.
"Should I call you 'Veryk of many colors' when you are in your true form?" growled Sey'les nervously.
The Aing-Tii honked with this truly alien sound which sounded a little bit like a laugh, then sent his tongues dancing into the device dangling from his neck. "No. In my true form, I am only purple. Actually, Veryk of many colors is quite the mouthful. Just call me Veryk…"
"This is getting a little ridiculous," Ahsoka said, taking a seat before folding her arms over her chest.
Scirocco took a seat and looked at the Togruta. "I daresay, it is most intriguing. Now, Veryk and Morai, neither of your species occurs in my database. Are you a neutral party or are you functioning as counsels for the Republic's side? "
"We are with the Republic," Morai said firmly.
"No," Veryk said, just as firmly, drawing a gasp of alarm from Sey'les. When all eyes settled on him, he elaborated, "We represent a different interest."
"Not in this context!" Morai shouted in an echoey supernatural boom. Her positively electric anger sent a shiver down Kelia's spine and made her fur stand on end. "Our interest in ending the war and stopping Sidious is their interest!"
"Sidious?" Scirocco asked.
"She means the Sith Lord posing as the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic," Ahsoka explained, then mouthed the words, "what is wrong with you?" to both Morai and Veryk.
"Technically he's not posing," Kev mumbled.
"Sidious," Scirocco started, "if we are calling Supreme Chancellor Palpatine Sidious—"
"We're not," Veryk said.
"Supreme Chancellor Palpatine then," Scirocco continued, "will have to be turned over to the Separatists. I will only discuss your surrender under that pre-condition."
Kelia opened her snout to vehemently shoot down any misconception the droid had that she was surrendering, but Sey'les beat her to it.
"Are you spacesick?" snarled the ashy-furred Bothan, banging both of her fists on the table. "We're not surrendering!"
"As an ST-series military strategic analysis and tactics droid, my actual motion always matches my anticipated motion. For this reason, I am incapable of experiencing any type of motion sickness."
"Is there no organic commanding officer in your fleet we can negotiate with?" Ashoka croaked, sounding more tired and miserable than ever.
"No," Scirocco said flatly.
"Perhaps we should have these discussions after we have moved back into communication's range with the rest of the Galaxy," Kev growled grumpily.
"Good suggestion, Master," Ekos praised.
She opened her snout to agree with Kev, but was again interrupted, this time by Scirocco.
"Unacceptable. We have the advantage now, but with our sensors damaged by the radiation, we are unable to detect vessels potentially lying in wait beyond our visual range. I will not risk my fleet without first coming to an agreement."
"Well, wha—" Kelia started, but was interrupted again.
"Turning over Palpatine is something we can all agree to, right?" Nebhir asked hopefully. "I mean, nobody likes him. We can all agree Palpatine is definitely not koovy. If the droids are going to blow us to smithereens if we don't turn over Palpatine, then why can't we agree to it? Palpatine is like… he's like dangerous radioactive junk we should get rid of. If the Ugors wanted to take radioactive junk from the Squibs, I am sure most Squibs would agree—Even though the Ugors aren't koovy themselves, radioactive junk is even lamer. I say we agree to turn over Palpatine, Sidious, Supreme Sidious—whatever we're calling the little shit, and surrender. It's a good deal."
"I do love Squib analogies," Veryk snorted, quaking with laughter. "Very sharp! Very descriptive!"
Seyl'es' snout hung open in shock and confusion as she glared at the pair. "You're completely missing the plot, Nebhir!"
Ahsoka rubbed her eyes, looking at Nebhir and Veryk. "How can this be happening?"
"You weren't there for all of it," Nebhir squeaked, taking Ahsoka literally. "But Veryk showed us that one of wasps—the Siths that is—were going to kill the bees—that's you guys. After Veryk saved you, we got ambushed by the droids, and you were there for that part. Now, do I really need to explain how easy this is to decide? The droids are willing to accept our surrender in exchange for something we don't even want to keep. Togruta, Bothans, and Jedi might not know a good deal when one lands smack dab in the middle of your snout, but Squibs do. Let's take it!"
"Guys, even entertaining this nonsense is dangerous," Ahsoka cautioned.
"Yes ma'am, it is," Sey'les growled in agreement. "Nebhir, you're treating this like you're some smuggler who got caught by the cops rather than a diplomatic negotiation. Trillions of beings depend on us, and we didn't get caught."
"Caught by the cops!" Nebhir yelped. "I resent that! I've never been caught!"
"I caught both you and Trajan Kran," Sey'les bragged, fur dancing with pride.
"That was part of the plan!"
"I caught you again in the Vergence Scatter, grabbing you right through a kriffing portal and—"
"Uh, Sey'les," Ahsoka interrupted.
"Dragged you out mid jump," Sey'les continued excitedly. "Hell, that wasn't even the first time—was it part of your plan getting caught after you put glass in Kev's drink back on Bestine? Was it—"
"SEY'LES!" Ahsoka screamed, then started panting, clearly exhausted from the effort.
Sey'les winced, her ears falling flat against her head. "Yes, General?"
"By continuing to argue, you are entertaining it."
"Entertaining what?"
"The nonsense idea that we are surrendering. That the whole Republic is surrendering."
Sey'les looked up at the ceiling, closing her snout for once. "Huh. That's an interesting way of looking at things, sir."
"Interesting?" Nebhir scoffed, narrowing her beady little eyes at the Togruta. "I've heard more interesting ideas from a granite slug, and I don't even speak granite slug. You're also wrong Sey'les—we were caught. The Separatists now know our big boss, Palpatine, Sidious, Supreme Chancellor whatever, is a traitor. They're the cops, we did the crime, and they're offering us a pretty good deal for turning over Sidious! As far as I can tell, we're not even getting punished, and they're gonna do all the work getting rid of Sidious! Even a fuzzling should be able to understand this."
"Excellent," Scirocco said, passing a datapad to Nebhir. "I am glad you see things from my point of view. Sign here. The next condition is also non-negotiable—"
"Prisoner Nebhir Traf'lab does not speak for the Galactic Republic!" Kelia yelled incredulously, slamming her hand down on Nebhir's which was clutching the datapad.
"Ouch!" Nebhir gasped. "That hurt!"
"This is insane," Kelia hissed, dragging the datapad from Nebhir's grasp. Not even looking at the contents of the screen, the Commodore gave Scirocco a death stare. "Is this funny to you? Ceasefire," she snarled, glaring at the droid. "You busted sack of bolts! We agreed to a ceasefire. Fire has been ceased! Do you not understand the difference between a ceasefire and surrender?! This is absolutely childish."
"I am disappointed," Scirocco said in a monotone. "My Bothan behavioral algorithm suggested a 98.1% chance that your current state of undress was to better facilitate a surrender. After all, we will have to confiscate all of your weapons when we process you and your crew, which was going to be another—"
"Kriff it," Kelia snarled, standing up so quickly the chair fell out from behind her. "Just kriff everything!"
"Sexual vulgarity is often used by organics to refer to destruction," Scirocco noted. "Do you intend to break the ceasefire? It would be most dishonorable, destroying—"
"No, I am not breaking the ceasefire, but you clearly aren't taking me seriously," Kelia snarled, standing up. "I am going to put pants on. Then we can discuss how Dooku and Palpatine have been colluding for years and orchestrating this entire war for their own ends."
"Are we taking a recess?" Scirocco asked as he recoiled slightly, seemingly taken aback by the sudden reference to collusion between the heads of state of both sides of the war.
"Yes," Kelia said stiffly as she spun on her heel.
"Very good idea, sir," Sey'les said. "Don't worry, I won't surr—"
"Stop entertaining it!" Ahsoka croaked in a tone so exasperated that it was almost a sob. She ran her hands down her wrinkled and blistered montrals.
"I—I don't mean—I never—well," Sey'les stammered incoherently, then finally finished with, "Sorry, General."
Kelia stormed out of the ready room and back onto the flight bridge. The moment the doors closed behind her, she let off an angry seething snarl.
"Is everything going alright, sir?" Quozas asked, looking up from the helm.
Taking a deep breath, Kelia stood up straight. "Not really," she admitted. "I am going to get dressed, hopefully make things move along more smoothly."
"Good idea, sir," Quozas said, using the same words Sey'les had.
Kelia frowned, cursing internally as she stepped onto the turbolift. Even allowing Nebhir to sit down at the table was clearly a mistake. It would have been best to exclude both the prisoner and Ensign Sey'les, replacing them instead with the captains or acting captains of two of the other vessels in the fleet.
But would those creatures, Veryk and Morai, have tolerated it?
As grateful as Kelia was for Morai and Veryk saving her ship repeatedly, they sometimes seemed downright disrespectful towards the strict boundaries and protocols present on a military vessel.
No, not just disrespectful… disdainful. At least in Veryk's case.
Settling on that description, Kelia balled her fists as she briskly walked down the corridor towards her quarters. Her ears perked up as she approached the door. For a moment, she thought she heard a faint rustling sound within, but then it was gone. Deciding that she must just be losing her nerves, she opened the doors, stepped inside, and nearly died of a heart attack.
"WHAT THE HARAN ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?!" Her hand reflexively went to her blaster holster, but she decided against drawing it.
Standing at nearly two meters in height even on all fours, a Loth-wolf had opened every drawer of her wardrobe, throwing clothes all over the floor. Now he had two of his paws buried deep inside the locked chest at the foot of Kelia's bed. His eyes dilated in fear and his ears folded guiltily against his head.
"Zoltan?" Kelia hissed incredulously, recognizing this white-furred Loth-wolf by his smell. He was the one who had messed around with the holoprojector, finding and showing the data to her at the start of this fiasco.
"I'm sorry!" Zoltan yelped. "I'm so sorry about the mess… I'm more of a techie Loth-wolf not a fashionista. I had never seen folded clothes before, and after I moved them, they seemed to sort of unfold themselves." He picked up one of her uniform shirts in his snout, drooling all over it as he mumbled. "Mmhmm—dee it's like… they just open."
"What are you doing in my quarters?!" Kelia asked, stepping into the middle of it all. Her eyes drifted to the stack of data cards Zoltan had piled at the foot of her bed. All over the floor, Mandalorian trinkets, also taken from her locked case, lay scattered about carelessly.
Zoltan opened his snout, allowing her shirt to fall to the floor. "I need the original Sidious data back. My dad and Bendu are kinda in…" He winced. "A situation."
"That explains it," Kelia said sarcastically. "That explains why you didn't ask me and instead broke into my quarters."
"I am sorry. I—"
"GET OUT!" Kelia screamed, biting the air with each word. She stepped out of the way of the door and pointed through the opening.
Zoltan hunched over on his front paws, lowering his snout to the pile of data chips. "I just need—"
"GET THE SHAB OUT!" Kelia screamed again, kicking as hard as she could at Zoltan's exposed rear.
The Loth-wolf yelped, choking and slobbering as he stuffed his mouth full of every data pad and gadget he could reach.
"I SAID GET THE SHAB OUT!" Kelia repeated, kicking him again.
Sliding on the floor, Zoltan tripped over his own feet, scrambling towards the door. His howls echoed off the walls for a moment, then a portal appeared in mid-air. The last glimpse Kelia caught was of his tail, pointed down as it disappeared into wherever it was these creatures go.
Kelia trembled, sitting down on the floor. It took a moment for the gravity of what she had just done to set in. That creature, whatever he was, had the power to stop blaster bolts, hurl things with his mind, open portals into another dimension, and download and find data in any computer on a whim.
The reason for Zoltan's retreat was not because he would actually lose a fight with her. His running away was more like those incidents where a Nexu or a Rancor gets startled by a much smaller being and flees in sheer panic.
"That was so shabla stupid," Kelia finally whispered aloud to herself.
o.o.o.o.o
QUINLAN VOS
The Vergence Scatter
Vos had thought insanity had taken him earlier, when he could no longer work his mouth to say what he wanted. By now, he was absolutely sure of it.
He, Stass Allie, Sian Jeisel, and K'Kruhk were now suspended upside down from a spider web, bound, and gagged with sticky sour-tasting fibers of the same substance. In every direction, Vos could see nothing but pathways suspended against the starry blackness of space, with many paths terminating in front of what appeared to be wormholes.
And this wasn't the crazy part. They were surrounded by beings radiating with immense power in the Force, most of whom looked like they should not be sentient. Right now, Bendu was being chastised by a silver wolf.
"I must say, Bendu, this seems more like a Veryk thing to do."
"Halfdan, the Jedi are far too suspicious," Bendu sighed, cocking his antlered head in the direction of the bound captives. "I should have tasked this to Morai… or perhaps repeated what Veryk did and brought a few extra mortal beings into the know."
"The more who know, the harder this will be to contain," snarled the silver wolf, Halfdan, apparently. "We have the power to wipe all the memories on a ship or even a fleet, but if planets find out—"
Halfdan stopped mid-sentence when a white-furred wolf emerged from the shimmering surface of a nearby portal. Whimpering in pain, the wolf spat out a mouthful of metal objects, then began coughing and sputtering.
"What happened?" snarled Halfdan. "Zoltan? Zoltan, are you alright?"
"She kicked me!"
"Who kicked you?" Halfdan demanded.
"That horrible, mean Bothan! I was just doing as you instructed, and she kicked me!"
"Lir Sey'les?" Halfdan asked, a wave of intense anger pouring into the Force.
"No! Kelia Los'ean!"
"She's not even Force-sensitive!" Anger turned into rage as Halfdan bit Zoltan's side, and then began shoving him back towards the portal with both front paws. "Go right back there and kick her back! Throw her against a wall! Strike her with—"
"He will do no such thing," Bendu said with finality, grabbing both wolves by the scruffs of their necks and hoisting them high. "Zoltan did the right thing by de-escalating. Anything else will draw further attention to us."
"WE CAN'T IGNORE THIS!" Halfdan snarled, squirming angrily against Bendu's overpowering grip. "SHE HURT MY SON! SHE HAS NO RESPECT—SHE KNOWS SO MUCH ABOUT US! SHE CAN'T BE TRUSTED!"
"You are correct on two accounts, but revenge is not the way to handle something so trivial. Especially since the only thing truly harmed is Zoltan's pride."
"I—I…" Halfdan sighed, hanging limp in Bendu's grasp. "Fine, what are we going to do about what she knows though?"
"When this is all over, we will have to wipe her memory, Maarisa Zsinj's too and the memories of their respective fleets."
"We need to do so now then!" Halfdan growled, squirming again. "As soon as they get out of the Athega System, they'll tell the Jedi all about us when they expose Sidious!"
Vos's attention, which was already deeply on this conversation, only intensified at the mention of that name.
Bendu increased the volume of his voice to a boom so loud that, if Vos's hands hadn't been bound, he would have covered his ears. "Lossko, do they tell the Jedi about us?"
A rhythmic flapping noise emerged from somewhere behind Vos. As much as the Jedi wanted to, he couldn't turn and see. Slowly, surely, the noise came closer and closer, and soon wind was blowing harshly through his hair.
Jeisel, who was facing the other way, let off a muffled scream. Not so much in terror or fear, but more to draw attention to what was approaching.
Next thing Vos knew, a Mythosaur, more than twice the size of Bendu, alighted on the path between the Jedi and the other Force critters.
"I have explored the point in which Kelia sends a message to the Republic. She mentions Sidious, and provides the video clip of Kix's capture, but she does not make any mention of us. Nor do Lir Sey'les, Kev Rel'skar, Ahsoka Tano, or any of the others involved… Though Morai can clearly be seen in the footage, standing behind them in her Celestial form."
"THE FOOL!" Halfdan howled.
"Relax," Bendu sighed, gently setting down both the wolves. The rest of their packmates rushed forward, sniffing and licking them in greeting.
"I don't foresee much risk of her telling the Republic anything until after the situation on Mustafar is resolved."
"Mustafar?" Bendu asked. "Whatever shall bring them there?"
"Sidious will initiate a droid shut-down from there, to stop the Separatists from aiding the Jedi-led anti-Palpatine coalition."
"I did not foresee this. Does Sidious succeed?"
"In the five possible futures I explored, he succeeds in three of them."
Bendu hmm'd to himself at that. "Perhaps I am wrong for choosing to bring the Separatists over to the Jedi side then… If their armies are deactivated, what use are they?"
"They still control huge swaths of the galaxy," Zoltan growled. "Not all Separatists are droids…"
"He's right," Halfdan said. "Every planet that joins the Jedi coalition will be one more that Sidious cannot retreat to after he loses control of the Senate."
"If he loses control of the Senate," Bendu murmured. "Can you still assume the form of Vellus?"
"It's—it's been over four millennia!" Halfdan stammered, alarm pouring into the Force at that suggestion.
"If you can't—"
Halfdan shook his snout hard. "Yes, I can, but… why?"
"Dad, what's Vellus?" Zoltan asked.
"It's the form your father was stuck with before he joined us," answered another wolf, this one with a female voice.
"Oh… when you were a Sith?" asked Zoltan nervously.
"I'm not proud of it," Halfdan said in a more hushed voice.
"We all know," Bendu said consolingly, "But if it is I who turns the Jedi over to the Separatists, it will be far more conspicuous than if you do in the form of a known species."
"You're—you're right. I'll do it."
At the mention of Sith and being turned over to the Separatists, Jeisel, Allie, and K'Kruhk moaned in alarm, squirming harder than ever against the webs. Vos's eyes went wide.
Sounds of squishing muscles and popping joints filled the air as Halfdan stood on two legs, and several transformations unfolded simultaneously. The wolf's height decreased slightly, his snout shrunk into his face, his tail contracted into his buttocks, and his front paws grew more muscular, seeming like they might burst out of his fur. But at the end of it all, he was still coated in thick silver fur and wore nothing, save for a brown leather belt that held a lightsaber.
When Halfdan, or Vellus rather, turned to face the captive Jedi even Vos let off a panicked moan. Even in the Kiffar's worst nightmares, there could never be a dark sider like this one.
But there he was. Standing two and a half meters tall, with dark silver fur, soul-piercing yellow eyes, and a lightsaber burn scar running down the front of his neck, was a Wookiee Sith.
The wolves shirked back slightly as Vellus stepped forward, approaching the squirming Jedi.
["Hold still,"] he growled, stretching his hand out in front of Vos's face. ["This will all be over soon."]
o.o.o.o.o
KELIA LOS'EAN
The Republic was not surrendering. Scirocco, Ahsoka, and Kelia had come to the agreement that while none of them had the power to actually order the entire Republic or Confederacy to abide by a ceasefire, that they could announce one.
In light of Dooku and Palpatine's treachery, Scirocco would tell his compatriots to stop their offensives into Republic-held space, and recommend rescuing any Jedi stranded in their territory. Kelia would do likewise for the Republic Navy, and Ahsoka for the Jedi Order. With any luck, enough non-Clones would decide to follow them in light of their evidence that a mass de-chipping of the GAR would be possible, perhaps even aided by Clones who resisted Order 66 after being told of the Chancellor's treason. From Kelia's vantage point, admittedly completely out of communication with the outside Galaxy, things were looking hopeful.
Until, rather alarmingly, Scirocco noted elevated Cronau radiation levels. Moments later, an all-too-familiar portal to an unknown realm appeared on the bulkhead. A ripple of anxiety traveled up Kelia's fur.
Please not Loth-wolves… please not—
To Kelia's surprise, rather than anyone coming out, Veryk turned around and stepped into the portal.
"Veryk, where are you going?" Sey'les asked, but the former-weasel was gone.
"I am sure he will be back soon," Morai said, putting a glowing hand on Sey'les's shoulder.
Ahsoka's eyebrows were furrowed. "So you can just access the World Between Worlds like that?"
Internally, Kelia debated whether she should tell the others what had happened earlier. The thoughts soon became grimmer. More panicked. What if the Loth-wolves decided to punish her? What if they decided they've had enough with Commodore Los'ean? What if—
A portal re-appeared and Veryk emerged, still in his newfangled segmented, pale-white, tailed form. Though, to Kelia's relief, no Loth-wolves joined him. Veryk's gaze seemed to focus on her for a moment, then he addressed everyone at the table.
"I have spoken with some of our friends and—"
"Halfdan?" Sey'les interrupted.
"Oh, and Zoltan?" Nebhir asked. "Did you see Ito too? What about Bend—"
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Veryk bellowed, his pitch-black rectangular pupils suddenly vanishing into brightly-glowing orbs.
"Zoltan? Halfdan? Ben?" Ahsoka whispered quietly to Morai. "Ben! Obi-Wan Kenobi?! He knows about this too?"
The Celestial frowned. "You ask far too many questions, Ahsoka Tano."
"And so do you Lir Sey'les," Veryk chided, "And Nebhir! Lir is one thing—I would have expected you, of all hybrid Squib-Bothans, to have more sense!"
Nebhir looked down at the table uncomfortably.
"I am sorry!" Sey'les yelped, her fur flat in a disconcerting and disproportionate amount of fear. "Please forgive me."
Four of Veryk's six green tongues flicked into the air and a noise that sounded almost like a cluck of disapproval emanated from his snout. "Kelia Los'ean—"
This is it. She opened her snout to protest—to point out it was Zoltan's damn fault for being so careless and not communicating with her.
"I have seen the more distant future and, as it so happens, there will come a perfect time to announce our ceasefire."
Ahsoka sighed in relief. "Okay. Good. I was beginning to think that this was all going to be more lunacy."
Kelia herself felt a huge wave of relief, for completely different reasons.
"The future?" Scirocco asked, his robotic voice rising in genuine fascination.
"That time will pass in thirty-nine minutes. Incidentally, giving us just nine minutes to get going. A certain Passel Argente will receive some sensitive information, and decide to relocate his magnanimous presence away from Utapau and to Saleucami—"
"Saleucami!" Ahsoka exclaimed in renewed shock. "Are you sure? The Separatists aren't going to Mustafar then?"
"General," Sey'les growled cautiously, "you are arguing with a Prophet who is from the future."
Morai turned to Sey'les with an expression that looked almost annoyed.
"Oh, don't you worry your little Jedi head about that," Veryk said. "Most of the Separatists will still be going to Mustafar."
Kelia's mind began racing, putting together the connection between Passel Argente receiving information and Zoltan's ransacking of her quarters. These portals could clearly connect different places and times, so physically transferring information from her ship to the Separatists should be possible.
Which means timing doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.
Kelia turned to Scirocco. "Alright, let's get that holocam ready, I want your frigates broadcasting the moment we go live."
She exhaled and steeled her nerves. It's time to end this farce of war.