To say that Coruscant was ever quiet would be a bold-faced lie. The capital of the Republic was forever abuzz with news, rumors, plots, and schemes of a million worlds' political elite; and underneath it all was the ceaseless humming of the Great Works, the unseen, titanic engines which provided air, water and power to the planet's trillion-strong population. But the buzz had certainly increased in intensity recently, as news of what had transpired in the Outer Rim reached the Core.
The death of Jabba the Hutt and the Tatooine uprising had dominated the news since the video of the Hutt's summary execution had been uploaded on the Holonet – where, despite the best attempts of censors and various factions, it was still up, re-uploaded whenever it was taken down. Then the connection to Perlia had returned, and images of the impossibly large battleship in the system, along with messages about the pirate raid, its crushing defeat, and who exactly was taking the credit for that, had also begun to flood Coruscant.
Nobody knew what exactly was happening, what the connection between the Perlian defenders and the liberators of Tatooine was, or where either had come from. Speculation was rife, with every two-credits analyst and self-proclaimed expert having a theory they assured everyone willing (or not) to listen to them was the one absolute truth. While serious, professional news outlets were doing their due research, the sensationalist ones, more concerned with viewership than accuracy, revelled in the mayhem, uncaring for the panic they helped spread by entertaining the wildest of conspiracy theories.
There had yet to be an official response to the events, only the office of the Supreme Chancellor announcing that they were looking into the two matters, and that further information would be made public as it was obtained. This did precious little to prevent rumors, of course, with some going so far as to proclaim that the doom of the Republic was on the horizon, now that its ancient enemy had returned.
In the Jedi Temple, the mood was hardly less disturbed, despite the Order's focus on peace and calm. For weeks now, every Jedi, Padawan and youngling had felt the echoes of some great and vast presence suddenly appearing in the Force, casting ripples that had spread across the galaxy (even Jedi on missions far from Coruscant had contacted the Temple to report they had felt the disturbance too). All attempts to identify the source of this disturbance had been in vain, until at last the news of Perlia and Tatooine had shed some light onto the matter – and brought many more questions as well.
Which was why the Jedi Council was gathering now, to listen to Chief Librarian Jocasta Nu, who had just finished her first round of research in the Archives on everything the Order knew about this Darth Cain who had claimed dominion over Perlia and whose apprentice had effectively conquered Tatooine.
"Grateful for your assistance in this matter, we are, Madame Nu," said Grand Master Yoda. "Know that not much time to investigate, we gave you."
"It's fine, Master Yoda," assured the grey-haired Human woman, who held in her hands a datapad containing the collected results of her research. "I understand the urgency of the situation."
"Nevertheless, the Council is thankful for your service," said Master Windu. "Now, what can you tell us ?"
"Quite a lot, and at the same time, not enough, I am afraid," apologized the Chief Librarian. "If not for the urgency and dire implications of the situation, this would have been one of the most fascinating project of my career. To begin with, the records are clear that there was indeed a Darth Cain in the Sith Empire which the Old Republic fought in the Great Galactic Wars, over thirty-eight centuries ago."
She pressed a key on her datapad, and the projector at the center of the chamber displayed a grainy portrait of a tall man clad in armor, his face set in a hard expression.
"How can we know that this is not an imposter ?" asked Master Trebor. "The Perlians are saying that it was a hyperdrive accident that resulted in the Sith ship arriving thousands of years into its future, but that seems … unlikely."
"I am not a starship expert, nor am I well-versed in the technical details of hyperspace navigation," prefaced Jocasta, "but I have asked those in the Order who are, and they tell me that such temporal displacement is theoretically possible. Apparently, it has happened before, although never with a ship that large or a time difference that long. And the images of the ship we have received do fit the records we have of the flagship of Darth Cain, the Invincible. If it is a trick, then it is a trick someone went to great lengths to make look convincing."
"Especially since nobody in the galaxy builds ships that size for combat anymore," noted Master Mundi. "The resources that would have gone into building something like this would be astronomical. I don't think anybody could manage it without us at least hearing about it." The Cerean Master paused for a moment, before adding : "Just to be sure, we didn't happen to hear about it and dismiss it as rumors, right ?"
"I have gone through the last few years of reports from our operatives in the Outer Rim," replied Windu, whose exhaustion, which was visible despite his best effort to conceal it, suddenly made much more sense. He must have gone with as little sleep as Jocasta herself in the last few days. "And I didn't find anything that looked like it could be related to this."
"Then assume true these claims of time-travel, we must, until proof of the contrary we find," said Yoda. "And to that end, learn more of the distant past, we should, hmm ? Not often it is that of a past older than even I, we must discuss."
Sensing her cue, Jocasta began her briefing in earnest.
"Darth Cain was a male Human Sith Lord of the Empire, which appeared seemingly out of nowhere in the Unknown Regions a thousand years after the Great Hyperspace War and started the Great Galactic War against the Republic. There exist numerous records about him in the Archives : it seems that, due to the numerous defeats the Republic suffered at his hands, a lot of effort went into figuring out where he came from."
She didn't have access to those records, unfortunately : the Republic and the Jedi Order had been much less closely bound together back then, especially after the Sacking of Coruscant which had led to the Order's relocation on Tython and a loss of faith in the Order. But enough Jedi had worked alongside the Republic's spies that their own notes and journals still contained plenty of information.
"Attempts to figure out on which world of the Sith Empire Cain was born only returned inconclusive results. The first trace of him that I found was as an apprentice to the Sith Lord Darth Erebus, trained on their capital world of Dromund Kaas, in the Outer Rim."
And, Force, hadn't that biography been a disturbing read. It had made Jocasta glad for all the caf she'd drunk to get her report done as fast as possible, since she was certain she'd have nightmares about the things she'd learned about Darth Cain's Sith Master. She looked forward to indulging in several days of meditation once this briefing was done, before sleeping for a day or two.
"In the early years of the Great Galactic War, Darth Erebus was responsible for some of the worst atrocities perpetrated by the Empire on the worlds of the Outer Rim," she continued, drawing on the Light Side of the Force to remain serene despite the images her imagination conjured as she thought back to the detailed records she'd read. There is no emotion, there is peace.
"Even among the Sith, Erebus was particularly vile : it wasn't so much that he didn't care about civilian casualties than he instead relished them, and took pleasure in inflicting as much suffering and misery as he could. Entire worlds were depopulated to serve as fuel for his Dark rituals. As an example, it was only thousands of years later, after the end of the New Sith Wars, that the Jedi Order was able to put the tormented specters of Monarchia to rest. And even now, the planet remains lifeless and steeped into the Dark Side."
"Numerous attempts to neutralize Erebus were made by the Republic and the Jedi Order," which was a fancy way of saying that they had tried to kill him – even the Order's most open-minded members hadn't entertained the possibility of capturing that monster alive or turn him to the Light, "but all ended in failure. Darth Erebus was a powerful Sith Sorcerer and oracle, capable of extracting visions from the Force. These visions warned him of every effort to kill him ahead of time, which led to the death and capture of numerous Republic operatives – including Jedi, some of whom were broken by Erebus and turned to the Dark Side."
Not, unfortunately, a unique occurrence in the Great War, where turning Jedi to the Dark Side had been a favorite pastime of numerous sadistic Sith Lords, but Erebus' converts had apparently been disturbing to confront even among that tragic group. The journal of a Jedi Knight who'd faced one of his fallen friends had been clear that nothing had remained of the once-noble Jedi they'd known, only a shell driven by madness, horror, and a desire to share their misery with the rest of the galaxy.
"Then, one day, Erebus simply left the frontlines and never returned. After several months, Jedi Masters of the time reported sensing his death, but the Force at the time was clouded by war, the deaths of so many Force-users and non-Force sensitives like, as well as the machinations of the Sith Emperor, so there was little information about how the self-proclaimed 'Hand of Destiny' met his end. Republic spies only managed to learn that Darth Erebus had returned to his holdings on Dromund Kaas, the Empire's capital, in order to oversee the final trials of his apprentices – of which he had several, as was common at the time."
"I think I see where this is going," commented Master Windu. "Cain killed him, didn't he ?"
"That is the conclusion Republic Intelligence reached at the time, yes," Jocasta confirmed. "And it was the popular belief within the Sith Empire itself, though Cain himself never spoke about it one way or another. In any case, within a year of Darth Erebus' alleged death, his forces returned to the front, now led by the newly-ascended Darth Cain, who was said to have been elevated to his exalted rank by the Sith Emperor himself."
The Council had already been focused on her exposé, of course, but now, their attention sharpened. They were getting to the meat of the matter, the reason why Jocasta was here.
"Earlier, you mentioned that he was a great military commander ?" prompted Master Mundi.
"He was," confirmed the Chief Librarian. "From the after-action reports of the very first battles in which he participated, it is clear that Darth Cain's tactics were completely at odds with those of his late and unlamented Master, who was more focused on causing as much pain as possible than on following proper military strategy. One theory is that Darth Erebus specifically trained this way, in order to compensate for his own weakness in that area."
"Darth Cain was known for leading his forces from the front, crushing all opposition arrayed before him through a combination of his mastery of military tactics, his great prowess with a lightsaber, and his unique use of the Force to inspire terror in his enemies while rendering his own troops seemingly fearless – albeit never to the point of committing foolish mistakes due to overconfidence. He was also suspected to share some of his Master's oracular gifts, as he managed to foil his enemies' moves time and time again by being at the right place at the right time. Another thing of note about him was that he had no war crime to his name, which is almost unique in the entire war."
And, though there was no point in mentioning it here, not just on the Imperial side, as decades of gruelling conflict slowly, inevitably eroded the morals of the Republic Army, grief turning to hate and hate turning heroes into monsters ready to do anything to defeat the Empire.
"He is known to have gone out of his way to ensure civilian populations were affected as little as possible by the conflict, and treated surrendered enemies with dignity and respect. There are several recorded instances of him participating in prisoner exchanges with the Republic, and he always behaved with honor in these exchanges – even when the exchanges were of common soldiers, which most Sith Lords of the time would have abandoned to their fate, blaming their weakness for being taken alive instead of fighting to the death."
"That seems out of character for a Sith," noted Master Trebor. "Especially one trained by someone like that Erebus you described."
Jocasta shrugged. "The Republic was just as confused as you at the time, but this approach paid off for Darth Cain several times. Most notably on Perlia itself, where he personally led the strike force which killed the ruling royal family of the time, before claiming the entire world in the name of the Empire. Due to how … unpopular, the previous dynasty had become due to poor management and its conduct of the war, Cain's lack of atrocities and honorable presentation led to him being welcomed as a liberator by a not insignificant portion of the population."
"That's … how ?" asked Master Mundi, his surprise clear to see. "How could the Perlians possibly think a Sith was better than their previous rulers ?"
"Perlian records of the period are understandably messy," explained Jocasta, "and it is difficult to part the truth from Imperial propaganda. However, it is clear that the old dynasty was unworthy of its rank. They committed numerous crimes against their own population to satiate their greed, hiding their deeds from the rest of the Republic and the Jedi Order. Things were so bad that even though the Great War had been going on for nearly twenty years by that point, with numerous examples of Sith atrocities, the Perlians were still willing to throw their lot in with Cain if it meant an end to the previous rulers' abuses."
"Who were these rulers, exactly ?" asked Master Windu with morbid curiosity.
"We don't know," shrugged Jocasta, masking how much that lacuna in the records irked her. "The people of Perlia pronounced them damnatio memoriae and wiped out all mentions of their names in their texts. All we have left is hearsay, but even that paints quite the bleak picture."
The fact that this erasure had reached all the way to the Republic's records led Jocasta to believe some splicing had been involved, which meant a truly impressive level of spite on the Perlians' part – that, or someone on Coruscant had agreed with the whole thing.
"To get back to Cain, he was awarded Perlia as his own personal fiefdom by the Dark Council, the ruling body of the Empire, and spent the next decades building it up into his own personal power base, with the locals becoming fanatically devoted to him."
"A Sith Lord still, Cain was, however devoted to him his people might have been," said Master Yoda. "Treacherous and deceptive, the ways of the Dark Side are. Taken advantage of Perlia's history to his own benefit, Darth Cain seems to have."
"That is true," admitted Jocasta. "And there's no denying the fact that Darth Cain was a powerful Sith, strong in the Dark Side like few others even in an era where thousands of Sith were running around the galaxy. And he was very good at playing the deadly politics of the Empire : Among the Dark Council, Darth Cain was known to be on good terms with at least Darth Marr and Darth Imperius, two of its most powerful members, and on somewhat neutral terms with the rest."
"So he didn't have enemies among the Sith ?" asked Master Windu, one eyebrow raised.
"Oh, no, nothing like that," the Chief Librarian corrected. "He made plenty of enemies with his meteoric rise, you can be sure of that. It's just that they didn't tend to live long after starting to move against Cain. The list of Sith kills attributed to Cain is nearly as long as that of his victory against the Republic, and those are only the ones which Republic Intelligence could learn about. In most of them, the other Sith made the first move, but not always : if there was a pattern, it wasn't one the Republic was able to figure out."
"Cain was on the frontline of the war when the Sacking of Coruscant forced the Republic to agree to a cease-fire, and then to a treaty skewed in the Empire's favor. As far as I could find, he wasn't involved in the Sacking in any way, and allowed the Republic troops he was fighting at the time to withdraw peacefully, before returning to Perlia and focusing on building up its infrastructure."
"He was preparing for the next war," deduced Master Mundi. "Like the rest of the Empire."
"Like the rest of the galaxy," corrected Jocasta. "Back then, everyone was rebuilding with an eye on the next war. Nobody thought the peace would last long : it was a surprise to everyone that it ended up reaching three decades. After the end of the Cold War era and the start of the Second Great Galactic War, the Dark Council used Cain to shore up fronts where the usual internal conflicts of the Sith had put the Empire's position into jeopardy. It was believed by Republic strategists that, if not for his contribution, the Sith Empire would have been on the verge of complete collapse by the time of the Eternal Empire of Zakuul's reveal and lightning conquest of the entire galaxy."
Information about that period of galactic history was scarce : for some reason, not many historians had been too keen on recording how the two great galactic powers had been brought to their knees in a matter of months by a small, previously unknown power in the Unknown Regions.
"The Second Great Galactic War ended, and the Republic and the Sith Empire were both forced to pay crushing tributes to Zakuul, but Perlia was spared from these tithes for some reason. It was thought that reason was related to High Justice Vaylin, Darth Cain's sole apprentice – despite many, many Sith desiring such a prestigious position for themselves."
"Of this Vaylin, what do we know ?" asked Master Yoda. "Powerful in the Force she is, yet great darkness and greater turmoil, I sensed in her, even from a recording."
"Vaylin was the High Justice of Zakuul, younger sister to Emperor Arcann, who ascended to the Eternal Throne after the death of their ruler, Valkorion," said Jocasta. "Like her brother, she was born from the union of a Knight of Zakuul, the Empire's order of Force users, and their Immortal Emperor, Valkorion, later revealed to be a vessel of the Sith Emperor himself."
"A 'vessel' ?" asked Master Plo Koon, shocked. "What do you mean by that ?"
"Like all Sith, the Emperor was terrified of death. In order to cheat it, he learned to move his consciousness, his essence, between bodies, so that he could survive their destruction. The Emperor who was slain by the Hero of Tython during the Second Great Galactic War was one such vessel, and Valkorion was another. To the best of our knowledge, there are no records of other Sith Lords managing the same feat, something for which we can all thank the Force."
There was a moment of tense silence, as the Council processed this revelation. Eventually, Jocasta cleared her throat and continued :
"We know even less about Vaylin's early life than we do about Cain's, but she had a reputation as an incredibly powerful Force user, with the potential to even surpass her father. She was also cruel and unstable, a product of her education, prone to the same outbursts of violence shown by most Darksiders. During Zakuul's galactic conquest, she led the fleet tasked with subjugating Perlia, and met with Darth Cain before leaving the system untouched. Nobody knew what to make of it : theories ranged from Cain convincing her that her brother was using her as a tool to him fighting her in a duel and defeating her – the first Force-wielder to ever do so – to him seducing her."
Which, considering Cain was several decades older than Vaylin, was creepy in an entirely new way. For the young woman's sake, Jocasta hoped one of the other theories was correct.
"Vaylin returned to Darth Cain's side several years later, when Zakuul's grip on the galaxy was starting to slip. He declared her his apprentice after the defeat of the Eternal Fleet by the galactic Alliance, a conglomerate of multiple factions led by the Hero of Tython, who had returned from their presumed death. It was then that the Invincible was revealed to the galaxy."
"If the ship which appeared in Perlia truly is the Invincible, then we must know all we can of its capabilities," said Master Windu. "What do you have for us, Madame Nu ?"
"The construction of Darth Cain's flagship began sometime near the end of the First Galactic War, and continued for decades in Perlia, with Cain using all the influence and favors his service to the Sith Empire accrued to advance and improve it," she replied. "Since he could have assembled several fleets with the amount of resources that went into the superdreadnought, Republic Intelligence believed that the Invincible was the one thing where Cain indulged in the usual self-aggrandizement and arrogance typical of the Sith, by pouring far more resources into one grandiose project than it was worth. However, at the final battle between the Alliance and Zakuul's Eternal Fleet, it proved worth every credit, and was instrumental in the Eternal Fleet's defeat and Emperor Arcann's capture by the Hero of Tython."
"Conquered the entire galaxy, the Eternal Fleet had," said Master Yoda. "Though weakened by war, both Republic and Empire were, not a small feat, their defeat was. To even dare defy it, great courage it must have taken."
"The Invincible wasn't alone," Jocasta hastened to point out. "The Alliance Commander's flagship, the Gravestone, was the keystone of the entire Alliance Fleet. But yes, the Invincible was of great help, not to mention the fact that Darth Cain's mere presence in the Alliance helped convince many Imperials to join it, despite being led by a Jedi."
"Even though the Republic and the Empire cooperated in defeating Zakuul, this Alliance didn't last long, did it ?" asked Master Mundi.
"No, it did not," Jocasta shook her head. "Soon after the fall of the Eternal Throne, the Alliance crumbled, and the Third Great Galactic War began. Darth Cain fought in it, but this time, even he couldn't stop the inevitable. The Empire had bled itself dry, and while the Republic had suffered greatly, it had many more worlds to draw upon, and was far less divided and prone to lethal infighting as the Sith. Yet even so, Darth Cain didn't fall in battle against the Jedi : instead, his last recorded sighting was when he led his forces to participate in the subjugation of the Emperor's Cult, a sect of Darksiders who worshipped the dead Sith Emperor and sought to bring him back from the dead. Since the Emperor had sought to destroy the galaxy to fuel his immortality before, and attempted to usurp control of the Alliance, it was something no one wanted, even in the middle of a war. Again, details on this operation are scarce …"
"That seems to be something of a running theme where Darth Cain is concerned," intervened Master Windu. "I wonder why."
"… Indeed. What we know is that it took place in the Unknown Regions, on a world named Molech. The Jedi who survived the battle were scarred by the experience, and described the world as haunted by a darkness older than even the First Schism of our Order which led to the rise of the Sith Order on Korriban. Still, victory was achieved, with the physical body of the Sith Emperor, which he had abandoned decades prior, being destroyed, and the last of his essence either destroyed or dissipated in the Dark Side of the Force, while the cult was wiped out to the last."
The records had made no mention of surrender being offered to the cultists. It seemed that the Emperor's manipulations had succeeded in uniting the entire galaxy against him, and nobody – nobody – wanted to leave any chance whatsoever of his return. The thought that a being of such power and malevolence had ever existed was enough to send a shiver down Jocasta's spine.
"With the Battle of Molech over, the Invincible set course for Perlia – and never arrived, seemingly disappearing in hyperspace, despite every other Sith vessel present successfully returning. There was a lot of violent debate as to what had happened, with the Sith Empire blaming the Republic and the Republic either blaming his Sith rivals or checking if some rogue element was indeed responsible, but nothing came out of it."
"It cannot have been deliberate, that much is obvious," asserted Master Plo. "While I can imagine a Sith trying to escape defeat by fleeing into the future, the risks involved are incalculable."
"Are we sure of that ?" questioned Master Windu. "The risks might be too great for us, but Cain had demonstrated his abilities time and time again, and Madame Nu told us the Invincible was packed with experimental technology. Could some Imperial mad scientists have designed something like this ?"
"At this time, no way to find out, there is," cut in Master Yoda. "Focus on what we do know, we should. Madame Nu, finish the tale, you must."
"Yes, Master Yoda. When the Sith Empire collapsed at the end of the Third Great Galactic War, Perlia petitioned to rejoin the Republic. I have tracked down the original text of their rejoining, however, and it is clearly written that Darth Cain, when he returns – when, not if – would still be considered the lawful ruler of the system. The Republic diplomats chose to accept rather than force Perlia back into the fold through strength of arms, which the military's analysis indicates would have been long and costly, especially at this time, with the Republic only barely less exhausted by war than the Empire. Besides, everyone thought Cain was dead."
"So if Darth Cain truly has returned, then his takeover of Perlia is legal ?" Master Plo asked for clarification.
"I am no expert in the laws of the Republic, but it appears so to me, yes."
The Masters exchanged glances, their consternation bleeding into the Force.
"Then we cannot simply arrest Cain for being a Sith," said Master Mundi, a pained expression on his face. "Not only would doing so be very difficult due to the Invincible's presence and that of its troops, but we simply lack any legal reason to do so. With the situation in the Outer Rim as tense as it is, such an act would further inflame the Separatist Movement.
"What should we do, then ?" asked Master Windu. "Already his apprentice has declared war on the Hutts. If we do nothing, the entire Outer Rim will be bathed in blood as Sith fight criminals for control of the region."
"More information, we need, on Darth Cain's purpose and motives," declared Master Yoda. "Old, our sources are, and not unbiased as well. If in the past, willing to fight alongside Jedi Darth Cain was, to talk to them now, he might be."
"The Senate will need to react to what's happening soon, too," said Master Windu. "They are going to want to send someone to investigate, and the fact that there are Sith involved means this is a matter for the Order. We can send someone along, both as protection and to provide a Jedi perspective. The question is, who do we send ?"
"If on Perlia, a Sith Lord there is, then no less than a Master, we should send. And a member of the Council, it should be, lest as an insult, our approach be taken by Darth Cain."
"I volunteer," said Master Plo. "But I would appreciate some support."
"Knight Kenobi and Padawan Skywalker, accompany you will," decided Master Yoda. "See for yourselves the truth of Darth Cain, and of his plans and ambitions, you must. Careful, you will need to be."
Master Plo Koon was a veteran of the Stark Hyperspace War of two decades ago, one of the few Jedi in the entire Order with actual wartime experience. And Kenobi, of course, was the Sith Slayer, who had defeated Darth Maul after the Sith had killed his Master Qui-Gon Jin. And they were both renowned diplomats, with many missions under their belt : sending the two of them to Perlia made sense.
As for Skywalker, whether one agreed that he was the Chosen One of prophecy or not (and, if he was, then trying to keep him from Perlia was foolish), there was no denying the boy's strength in the Force and skill with a lightsaber. Even Jocasta, who spent her time in the Archives, had heard about his prowess. Sending a Padawan to a world openly controlled by the Sith sat ill with her, but she must trust the Council knew what they were doing – certainly there didn't seem to be any opposition to Master Yoda's decision.
"Call Knight Kenobi to inform him of his new assignment, we must. Madame Nu, leave your findings with us, please do, so that share them with him, we can."
"Of course," she bowed slightly. "May the Force be with you, Masters."
As he sat in his office, deep in thought, Sheev Palpatine, Supreme Chancellor of the Republic and secret Dark Lord of the Sith, reflected that, for once, someone looking at him would assume he was thinking about precisely what he actually was : the events of Perlia and Tatooine, and what they meant for the galaxy going forward.
The game board, which he had thought he was in perfect control of as the galaxy slowly slid toward civil war, had completely changed. He was half-way through his second four-years term as Supreme Chancellor, and things had been progressing very well since he had killed his former master Darth Plagueis and claimed the positions of Dark Lord of the Sith and ultimate authority in the Republic. Tensions had been growing between the Outer Rim and the Core, with his new apprentice, Darth Tyranus, stoking the flames of discontent in preparation for the secession of an entire portion of the Republic's constituent sectors. All to trigger a war which would allow him to gain more and more power while draining the numbers of the hated Jedi, paving the way for their eventual extermination and his takeover.
And now, this.
Sidious knew Darth Cain was no imposter. Like the Jedi, he had felt the disturbance in the Force when the Invincible had returned from hyperspace, but unlike these Light-blinded fools, he could feel the great and terrible power that had returned to the galaxy along with it. The return of its ancient champion had the Dark Side howling with delight, and Sidious' ability to perceive the future was drowning in a maelstrom of images of bloodshed, destruction and transformation. The galaxy's future had been thrown off-course, and the Grand Plan he and Darth Tyranus had been following could no longer be relied upon, not without significant adjustments.
So be it. A true Sith could adapt to any setback, and turn any unexpected circumstance into an opportunity. This would be no different, and Sidious would emerge all the more powerful for it.
Varan's death, which he had sensed echoing in the Force (although the pirate hadn't been a true apprentice, there'd been enough of a connection between them for him to feel his demise) wasn't a great loss in the grand scheme of things. Sidious had always planned to dispose of the little pirate eventually : probably by having Dooku kill him, which would have helped strengthen his image as the protector of the Outer Rim in the place of the ineffectual Republic.
Darth Cain himself was a far greater concern. For a thousand years, the Line of Bane had been the sole Sith lineage in the galaxy : while there had always been strife between Master and Apprentice, as was only proper, there hadn't been an actual divergence of goals. The Banite Sith had always sought the destruction of the Jedi and control of the galaxy, even as their methods had varied throughout the centuries. Now, however, for the first time since Darth Bane had orchestrated the destruction of the Brotherhood of Darkness, there was another Sith Lord in the galaxy.
Regardless of era, regardless of creed and lineage, all Sith sought the same thing : domination. Cain was no different, could be no different. He wouldn't have survived in the Sith Empire otherwise, let alone risen to the prestigious heights of power and influence he'd reached before its collapse. His apprentice's declaration of war against the Hutt Cartels and other slavers of the Outer Rim was just a facade, a mask to deceive the rest of the galaxy into leaving him alone while he rebuilt his power base. Vaylin might well believe her own words about bringing freedom, but there was a reason she was the apprentice and Cain the Master.
Or maybe it was more than that, the Chancellor suddenly realized. While Palpatine obviously hadn't trusted Varan with his civilian identity, the pirate had known him as Darth Sidious. If the fool had talked before his death, revealed who he was working for, then Cain's declaration of war suddenly took another meaning entirely. If Cain believed there was a Sith Lord pulling the strings of the Outer Rim's criminal scene, one responsible for the attack on Perlia, then his true objective became obvious. He wasn't freeing slaves, he was hunting Sidious, albeit in the wrong place.
Hunting for his one true rival left in the galaxy, whose existence had been revealed to him mere moments after his return. Sidious couldn't help but see the will of the Force at play here – the Dark Side testing him, testing the Line of Bane, to see whether they were truly worthy of ruling the galaxy.
How long had it been, mused the Supreme Chancellor, since he'd a rival ? Not an enemy, he had plenty of those, but a true, proper rival, someone against whom he could hone his skills in the way of the Dark Side ? Not since he'd killed Plagueis, he reckoned, and even the old Muun hadn't really been worthy of the name, foolishly trusting in his apprentice as he had.
He paused, thoughts of Master and apprentice bringing another worrying possibility to mind. Did Cain know about Anakin already ? Had he sent his apprentice to Tatooine in order to ingratiate himself to the Jedi's precious Chosen One by playing on his past as a slave on that Force-forsaken ball of sand ? It should be impossible for him to have learned of Anakin so soon, but Darth Cain had made a habit of doing the seemingly impossible before his disappearance. And while Cain already had an apprentice, and one so powerful Sidious had felt her power all the way on Coruscant when she had unleashed it against Jabba, he was no part of the Line of Bane : the ancient Sith had often had more than one apprentice at a time.
The thought of Darth Cain having both Vaylin and Anakin under his thumb caused a twist in his guts that was far too close to fear for his liking. The young boy's power had grown by leaps and bounds since becoming Kenobi's Padawan : while still nowhere near Palpatine's own level, there was no doubt that he would eventually surpass him, even constrained by the ignorant scriptures of the Jedi.
The prospect of binding that limitless potential into his service was why, for years, Palpatine had carefully groomed Anakin for his future role as his apprentice. He had stoked the flames of his anger at the Jedi Order by subtly insinuating that they deliberately chose not to intervene in the Outer Rim to stop slavery, rather than being hamstrung by the Senate and forced to rely on their frustratingly-elusive Shadows to secretly support the liberation networks operating beyond the Republic's reach. The thought of all his effort benefiting Cain instead filled him with fury, and he barely managed to suppress a snarl when his secretary called him over the comm :
"Chancellor, Senator Donali and the Jedi Masters are here for your meeting."
He took a deep breath, schooled his expression, and checked the veils concealing his Force sensitivity and Dark Side presence from detection. Only once he was certain they were firmly in place did he answer :
"Good. Send them in, please."
Four sentients entered : Senator Donali and his aide, along with Masters Yoda and Windu. Palpatine greeted each of them warmly, concealing the hatred he felt for the two Jedi and the contempt he felt for everyone beyond himself with an ease born of decades of constant practice.
"Master Jedi, Senator Donali, thank you for meeting with me. I understand this is a trying time for all of you."
"It certainly has been a challenging few days," admitted Donali with a tired smile.
Donali was the Senator of the Damocles Sector, in which the Perlia system was located. Unlike many Outer Rim Senators, years of exposure to the Senate hadn't eroded his morals and sense of duty to his constituents, though he was no naive ingenue either, being well used to the wheedling and deal-making that made up Republican politics.
In Sidious' opinion, the man would make a useful asset for the Confederacy of Independent Systems Dooku was working to build, once his faith in the Republic was well and truly shattered. Making him turn like that had been one of the goals of the raid on Perlia, along with securing the Sith artefacts rumored to remain on the planet for Sidious' own collection.
"Have you received any further information about the situation on Perlia ?" asked Palpatine once they were all seated.
"I have," confirmed the Senator, immediately drawing sharp gazes from the two Jedi. "I received a message from Lio Trevellyan, the Regent of Perlia – or former Regent, I should say. He informed me that the Perlian government has enacted a set of protocols which have been part of the planet's constitution for thousands of years, passing power into the hands of Darth Cain upon his return."
"You mean to tell us that this … this takeover is legal ?" asked Palpatine, faking shock. In truth, while the fact that there had actually been a law in place for such an occasion was somewhat surprising, it didn't really matter, not with Cain's sheer power. But of course, it wouldn't do for the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic to not be concerned by the legalities of the whole thing.
"According to my team who went over our records of Perlian laws, yes, I am afraid so. If this Darth Cain is really who he claims to be, then him being crowned Sovereign of Perlia is perfectly legal."
"That's ridiculous," Palpatine protested, still playing his role. "Even if these laws existed prior to this, it's obvious they were ceremonial, not actually meant to be put in practice. Surely this warlord must have threatened them into activating them, right ? With a ship that size in the system, the government wouldn't have any choice but to accede to his demands."
"Whether by law, or by strength, Cain took Perlia, we do not know," said Yoda. "Confused, the situation remains. More, we need to learn, before to a course of action, we commit."
"If this Cain really is a Sith, then this is a matter for the Order, isn't it ?" asked Palpatine. "I remember that name being thrown around after what happened on Naboo six years ago. Some kind of religious sect opposed to the Order, if I recall ?"
"That's right," confirmed Windu. "The Sith have always been the enemies of the Jedi and the Republic. We thought them destroyed, though the events of Naboo forced us to reconsider. But unless we gather the full might of the Order, we cannot simply march on Perlia to capture him – not with that ship of his in the system, let alone the armed forces he has already landed on the planet. We are keepers of the peace, not soldiers, and this … this would definitely be a matter for soldiers, I'm afraid. The Order simply doesn't have the resources to take on this ancient Sith army on its own. We'd need support, and a lot of it."
"It might not get to that," cut in Donali. While the Senator's pazaak face was very good, Sidious could sense his unease at how casually the Jedi were discussing war on one of the worlds he was responsible for. "Trevellyan told me things had been quiet so far : Cain's people have been helping with rebuilding in the wake of the pirate raid, and the kidnapped citizens have been returned safe and in good health. That doesn't sound like the actions of some power-mad ancient evil to me."
"Cunning and subtle, the ways of the Sith are," warned Yoda. Sidious suppressed a smirk. Oh, if only you knew, you pathetic green creature. "Biding his time, Cain may be."
"Regardless, I can't approve of any military response until we know for certain Cain is a threat to the Republic," Donali said firmly, before adding : "I understand you want to investigate the situation, however, so I propose a compromise : I intend to go to Perlia immediately, to meet with Darth Cain in person and discuss the future of Perlia in the Damocles Sector. To be perfectly honest, I would feel a lot better about it if I was accompanied by a Jedi guard."
"To send an investigation to Perlia, the Jedi Council decided. Have them accompany you, a good idea it is," agreed Yoda.
"And who exactly have you chosen for such a dangerous task ?" asked Palpatine, a mask of false concern on his face.
"Master Plo Koon and Knight Kenobi," answered Windu. "We agreed that they were the best for the job out of the Jedi available at the moment."
"Good, good," Palpatine nodded. "Master Kenobi has experience with the Sith, after all. I presume young Skywalker will be present on this mission as well ?"
"Accompany his Master, Padawan Skywalker will," confirmed Yoda. "Unusual the situation is, but proven himself capable in such, the boy already has."
Sidious gave it a moments consideration. He could try to stop Anakin from accompanying Obi-Wan, play the part of the concerned, grandfatherly Supreme Chancellor, who didn't want a fifteen-year old boy dragged into such a dangerous situation. It wouldn't damage his image in any way : his interest in Anakin was known to the Order, though they thought it concern for the boy who'd helped save his homeworld from the Trade Federation's invasion and nothing more.
With any luck, Obi-Wan would get himself killed by Darth Cain without Sidious needing to get his hands dirty, removing the greatest obstacle to his control over the boy. But that risked turning Anakin against him, especially since he had gone to great lengths to cultivate the boy's mix of arrogance, insecurities, and desperate need for validation.
No, he would have to take the risk and hope that Anakin was strong enough to survive Perlia. Besides, for all of Darth Cain's power, surely he couldn't achieve in a single meeting what Sidious had been orchestrating for years. And exposure to a Sith Lord who had ordered the liberation of his homeworld's slaves would only deepen Anakin's doubts toward the Jedi Order and leave him more vulnerable to the lure of the Dark Side.
"Then it is decided," he said. "Still, there is the matter of Tatooine to consider. Cain's takeover of Perlia might be legal under Republican law, but surely the actions of this young woman and her army weren't ? Even if it were in the name of freeing people from bondage, such a violent execution, and publicly broadcast too … Has there been any word from the Hutts ? Their representative on Coruscant has been silent. Have you heard anything, Master Jedi ?"
"Nothing, we have heard," replied Yoda. "But guesses, we can make. Not lying down, the Cartels will take Jabba's death. If Darth Cain remains free, then war in the Outer Rim, between the Sith and the Hutts, it will be."
"That's … the public won't care," he sighed. Of course they wouldn't : the Banites had spent a thousand years widening the divide between the Core and the Outer Rim in any way they could, though they couldn't take the credit for it all – they had mostly taken advantage of pre-existing prejudices and tendencies. "There might even be support for Cain, given how his apprentice presented the whole thing as an anti-slavery crusade."
"A great shame for the Republic, the continued existence of slavery in the Rim is," said Yoda solemnly. "Clever it was of Cain, to use it as a pretext. But until uncovered his true purpose is, then carefully we must tread."
"I will do everything in my power to keep things under control here while you go to Perlia," Palpatine said to Donali – which, for once, wasn't even a lie. "Be careful, my friend."
"I will," promised the Senator. "I assure you, I've no intention of being the first casualty of a new Republic-Sith war."
Anakin was confused.
Obi-Wan and him had been at the Temple when the disturbance had shaken the Force. It had been bad, especially for Anakin, who was both more sensitive to the Force and less experienced in keeping its influence at bay when needed.
Then the news from Tatooine had arrived. Jabba the Hutt, who had ruled over Anakin's homeworld for far, far longer than he'd been alive, was dead. Killed by a Sith, who had also freed all the slaves across the planet – and he'd checked, using his slicing skills to navigate the Holonet reports and communications in ways that just barely walked the line between legal and not : the woman hadn't just said it, she'd actually done it. The slaves of Tatooine were free.
It brought up mixed feelings in Anakin. On the one hand, he was happy, deliriously so. He remembered being a slave all too well – the knowledge that at any moment, your master could kill you with the push of a button, or sell you to someone else, and there was nothing you could do about it. By Tatooine standards, Watto hadn't even been that bad of a master – but that meant nothing, because Anakin had still been a slave, still been property.
On the other hand, when Anakin had left, he'd promised to come back and free the slaves himself. Now, that couldn't happen. He felt ashamed that this was apparently what concerned him : what did it matter who freed the slaves, so long as they were free ? It was arrogance to think that it should have been him leading the revolt.
Except it did matter, didn't it ? Because the woman, this Vaylin, was a Sith. Watching her kill Jabba (while Obi-Wan wasn't there, because he probably wouldn't approve of his Padawan seeing such a gruesome spectacle), he'd felt the darkness around her. He'd never felt anything like it, even when he'd seen Maul, right before leaving Tatooine. Even with his lack of training at the time, he'd been able to feel the Zabrak's presence, full of anger and hate.
Vaylin was like that, except a lot more powerful. And not as … broken, was the only word that came to mind. Listening to her speech, he had heard her sincerity, the conviction that only someone who had lived under the control of another could possess.
And that, too, confused him.
He knew why Master Qui-Gon hadn't freed all the slaves on Tatooine six years ago, of course – he had known that from the beginning, even if he hadn't been able to stop himself from hoping. Qui-Gon had been alone, with just Obi-Wan, a handful of Nabooan guards, and a bunch of civilians (including Padmé) he had to protect.
Even if he could've walked into Jabba's Palace and killed him, he didn't have the veritable army of soldiers and special forces Vaylin had brought with her to help him coordinate a planet-wide slave liberation. All Qui-Gon would have achieved was to get himself killed, put Padmé in danger, and then another Hutt would have replaced Jabba and nothing would have changed.
Anakin knew that. And yet, he couldn't help but wonder why it was that, after centuries of oppression, the people of Tatooine – his people, no matter how much he tried to distance himself from his past, the way the Jedi Code demanded – had needed to be saved by a Sith and not a Jedi.
Sure, Vaylin had been sent by this Darth Cain, who had the largest ship Anakin had ever heard about (and how kriffing cool was that, a ship thousands of years old but still functioning perfectly ?) and an entire army aboard it. But the Republic had over a million worlds, more resources and people than Anakin could imagine. There were thousands of Jedi in the Order, and he knew the Order had resources and contacts he'd never heard about. They should have been able to do what Vaylin had done years, decades ago. And yet – and yet –
The sound of the door opening drew him out of his thoughts, and he turned to see Obi-Wan entering their shared quarters, a pensive expression on his face.
"Master, what did the Council want ?" the Padawan asked. Obi-Wan had been gone for over an hour, longer than any briefing Anakin remembered.
"We are going to Perlia, Anakin," Obi-Wan told him.
"Perlia ?!" Anakin startled. "Isn't that where …"
"Yes, it is," Obi-Wan nodded. "As you probably guessed, the Council is worried about the situation there. Our mission is to escort a Senator on a diplomatic meeting with whoever is in charge, and learn all we can about the situation while were are at it. We aren't to engage this 'Darth Cain' or anyone else in combat : this is strictly a fact-gathering mission. Do you understand ? It's important, Anakin. We will be in the same system as tens of thousands of soldiers and Force knows how many Dark Side adepts. All of whom, based on the information we have, have been fighting a galactic war against the Republic and the Jedi for most of their lives. If things turn violent, then we'll already have lost."
"I understand, Master," he assured Obi-Wan. And he did. Really, he did ! He wasn't going to look for a fight with a Sith Lord, especially one who had saved a planet from pirates and then liberated another from the Hutts. He wasn't a Jedi yet, sure, but he wasn't that dumb. He actually felt a little offended Obi-Wan thought he might be.
Obi-Wan looked at him for a moment, but whatever he was looking for in his expression, he must have found it, because he nodded in approval.
"Good. Master Plo Koon is preparing a ship for us, but before we go, there's someone else I want to talk to. Gather your things, then come with me."
Ten minutes later – the two of them were good at packing, and they didn't have a lot of stuff to bring along in the first place beyond a few essentials – Anakin was following Obi-Wan through the Temple. He led them to another of the resting quarters, before knocking on a specific door. After a moment, it opened, revealing a Human male with long black hair, who smiled at the sight of his Master.
"Obi !" he greeted them. "Good to see you, my friend."
"Quin, good to see you to," replied Obi-Wan with a warm smile Anakin had only very rarely seen on his Master's face, before turning to introduce him : "Anakin, this is Quinlan Vos, one of the Order's best Shadows and an old friend of mine. Quin, this is Anakin Skywalker, my Padawan."
Anakin blinked, and looked at the man with new eyes. Jedi Shadows were the secret agents of the Order, doing things that the Order couldn't officially be associated with, such as interfacing with criminal networks or operating beyond Republic space.
"I can neither confirm nor deny anything about that," said the man with a grin. "That being said, pleased to meet you, kid, and my condolences for having this stick-in-the-mud as your Master. I really should have met you before now, but well, you know how it is. The Council keeps me busy, just like it does your Master. Speaking of, what do you want, Obi ? I'm on a bit of a time crunch here."
"I don't doubt it, but I need a favor, Quin. The Council is sending you to Tatooine, aren't they ?"
"You know I can't talk to you about my assignments, Obi." There was a moment of silence, before the Shadow added with a smile : "But, speaking strictly hypothetically, if I were going to Tatooine, what would that have to do with you ?"
"While you are here, there is someone I would like for you to check on," explained Obi-Wan. Anakin blinked. Surely Obi-Wan couldn't mean what he thought he did. "See how they are doing, make sure they are okay with everything that happened."
"Oh ?" Quinlan's gaze sharpened. "I didn't know you had any acquaintances that far from the Core, Obi. Who is it and why are they important ?"
"Shmi Skywalker," replied Obi-Wan, and Anakin tried to conceal the spike of confusion he felt at hearing his mother's name spoken aloud for the first time in … far, far too long. "A human woman, who was a slave in Mos Espa for a Toydarian named Watto, a junk dealer."
"Skywalker," Quinlan repeated, his gaze flicking to Obi-Wan's Padawan before returning to him, the unspoken question obvious in his eyes.
"Yes," replied Obi-Wan with a straight face. "She helped my Master when we were stranded on Tatooine during the Naboo Crisis six years ago."
"And there is no other reason why you want to make sure she is okay, I am sure," drawled the Shadow. "Very well, Obi. I will do it."
"Really ?" Anakin blurted out, before blushing at his outburst.
"Yes, Padawan Skywalker. I will find Shmi Skywalker and make sure she is alright; and if she isn't, I will help change that. If I find myself on Tatooine, of course," he added, winking.
"Of course," Obi-Wan deadpanned. "Hypothetically speaking."
"Exactly. Now run along, I have a ship to catch, and so do you."
"Very well. Thank you for your help, Quin. I look forward to hearing from you."
Anakin managed to stay quiet for a whole five seconds after the door to Quinlan's quarters had closed before speaking :
"Thank you, Master."
Obi-Wan cared. Anakin knew he did. It was just hard to remember it sometimes, because Obi-Wan was always the Perfect Jedi, which meant he didn't who any emotions, something Anakin hadn't managed yet.
"Think nothing of it, my Padawan. … Really," the Jedi Knight said, a sorrowful (guilty ?) expression briefly flashing on his face. "Think nothing of it."
"Master," said Count Dooku, bowing his head to the projection of Darth Sidious.
The ruler of Serenno was in his office, surrounded by the pageantry of rulership. He was, of course, alone, and the line of communication between this place and Coruscant was one of the most secure in the entire galaxy : if word spread out that Count Dooku, the Lost Jedi and Outer Rim activist, was in regular communication with the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, their plans would fall to ruin.
Of course, recent events might mean that had already happened anyway.
"My friend. You know why I'm calling you, I trust ?"
"Of course, Master. This is about Darth Cain and the events of Perlia and Tatooine."
"Precisely. I had not foreseen the return of Darth Cain – there wasn't even a whisper of it in the Force before it happened."
Interesting. Dooku hadn't sensed any warning either, only the sudden shock of the Invincible's and its passengers' return to the galaxy, but the fact that it had blind-sided his Master as well was a surprise. Whether it was a pleasant one was still up for debate, but Dooku still noted this limitation of his Master's power.
Treachery and usurpation were the ways of the Sith, after all.
"This will affect our plan greatly," he said, concealing his thoughts with the combined experience of a Jedi Master, a politician, and a Sith Lord. "Already Darth Cain has extended his reach beyond Perlia to Tatooine, and he is unlikely to stop there. Furthermore, faced with the return of the Sith, the Outer Rim will seek the help of the Jedi. I have already been contacted by many Separatist sympathizers looking for answers."
"And what did you tell them, my Apprentice ?"
"That so far, Darth Cain has made no move against legitimate governments, likely to avoid drawing the ire of the Republic. I also pointed out that, in such uncertain times, strengthening ties between our worlds could only be a benefit."
"Good, good. You have learned my lessons about turning the unexpected to your advantage well. I believe Cain knows about my existence, and suspects I, or my power base, is located in the Outer Rim, among the criminal underworld."
"So the anti-slavery rhetoric is merely a cover, then ?"
"Come now, Lord Tyranus," chuckled the Dark Lord. "Do you think a Darth of the old Sith Empire would care about the Hutts' practice of slavery ?"
"Not really," Dooku admitted, "but the girl, Vaylin, seemed sincere in her proclamation."
"And she might very well have been," said Sidious with a dismissive wave of his hand, "but there is a reason she is the Apprentice and Cain the Master, despite her great power."
"We can use Cain as a distraction," Dooku suggested. "After he revealed his presence in such a fashion, the Jedi will be focused on him."
"Yes, but this does not come without drawbacks. After a thousand years, the Republic has forgotten the Sith : besides the Jedi, only a handful of historians truly remember that our Order ever existed. Darth Cain's return will drag us back into the public consciousness."
"I do not think there's anything we can do about that, my lord," said Dooku after a moment of consideration. "We could try to discredit Cain, but that is more likely to backfire and lead the Jedi to us."
"Exactly. While orchestrating an incident or two to convince the Senate to go to war would be simple, given Darth Cain's record, there is the possibility that he might win," spat Darth Sidious, seething with cold rage mixed with what Dooku was certain was envy. "The clone army will not be ready for another few years, and is unlikely to be a match for the Sith Empire's veterans without additional numbers. At the moment, the Republic cannot afford to fight a war against Cain. Therefore, it is in our best interests to ensure his focus remains on the Outer Rim, and against the Hutts. Which is where your part in all this comes in, my friend."
"If Cain is truly committed to war against the Cartels, then not being involved will ruin my credibility as a figurehead for the Separatist Movement, Master," Dooku politely protested. "Nor can I openly side with the Hutts."
Force, he hoped Sidious wouldn't command him to ally with the Hutts. He despised the slug-like aliens for many, many reasons : out of all the races in the galaxy, they were the most vile he had ever had the displeasure of meeting.
"That is not what I would ask of you, Count," Sidious reassured him. "Quite the opposite, in fact. I need you to reach out to Cain in your persona as Serenno's ruler. Present yourself as sympathetic to his public goal of eradicating slavery, and offer him your help in navigating this new galaxy he finds himself in. For all his power, Cain is alone and without allies : he will welcome your assistance, I am sure. Gain his confidence, and ensure that he doesn't realize the truth of the Line of Bane. Then, depending on how things progress, we will act as required for the Great Plan."
It made sense, thought Dooku, even if it meant he would be the most at risk. Even the two Sith Lords knew very little about Darth Cain : much history had been lost over the course of the millennia, or locked away in the restricted archives of the Jedi Temple, where neither Dooku nor Sidious could go without rousing suspicion – especially now.
Under these circumstances, trying to design a plan on the fly would have been foolish. He had no doubt Sidious was already thinking up as many plans as possible, but they needed more information, and they needed more leverage, more options and levers they could push to affect the situation. Joining Cain's faction – for it was inevitable that the ancient Sith Lord would create one – would accomplish all of that in one fell swoop.
"It shall be done, Master," replied Dooku, bowing deeply.
"Be very careful, my friend," warned Sidious. "Cain might be a warrior and a general above all else, but he still survived the politics of the Dark Council of old. He is no naive Jedi nor ignorant Outer Rim politician, and will not be awed by your reputation and mystique."
"I promise you, he shall not suspect a thing," assured the Count of Serenno.
"The Force shall set us all free !"
Before the holo could loop back to the start, showing Jabba's execution again, Marlo the Hutt, member of the Council of Elders, pressed a button and stopped the display. He had been watching the recording for an entire hour, again and again, studying the killer, listening to her words, parsing them in his mind for hidden meanings and implications.
This … this changed things. The death of a Hutt, even one as wealthy and influential as Jabba, would have sent shock-waves through the galaxy's underworld under any circumstances, but this was different. Jabba hadn't just been killed by a rival crime lord, or even some naive do-gooder who thought they could somehow make a difference in the galaxy.
No, Tatooine's ruler had been slain by a Sith, one claiming to be Darth Cain's apprentice. And Marlo, unlike almost every being in the galaxy, actually recognized the name. But it had been many, many years since he'd last read it, and his memory wasn't what it once was. Time took its toll on all sentients, even the long-lived Hutts, and at nearly one thousand standard years old, Marlo was approaching the end of his natural lifespan, and he knew it. So he needed to refresh his memory, before calling the rest of the Council to decide how they'd react to this.
"Leave me," he ordered his servants, who had stood silently at attention while he watched the recording, not daring to make a sound. They filed out of the room quickly : Marlo could read the fear in their body language, how terrified they were that he'd vent his anger at Jabba's demise on them.
He snorted. As if he'd cared about his fellow Council member. Once they were gone, he slithered to a hidden panel in the wall of his audience chamber, and input a series of thirty-seven digits before spitting at the DNA scanner. Only then did the secret passage open, the secret, reinforced door closing behind the Hutt's imposing bulk as he passed through the tunnel beyond, eventually emerging into a small domed chamber, whose lights automatically turned on at his entrance.
Every wall was covered in shelves, which were filled with recordings, while at the center of the room stood a computer to access them. None of his servants were allowed within this section of his estate, which was maintained by a couple of maintenance droids which hadn't left its confines since their first activation – just like their predecessors, and their predecessors' predecessors.
Within it were some of Marlo's most precious possessions : the personal journals of his forebears, left behind so that their descendants could make use of their accumulated knowledge and wisdom – though in truth, they were more monuments to their authors' vanity than anything else, meant to ensure their self-perceived greatness was preserved for all time.
Not that Marlo had anything against that, of course. His own personal records were already in the room, waiting for the time one of his descendants claimed his estate on Nal Hutta.
Because the Hutts lived for so long, what had become myth and legend for other species was still relatively recent history for them. Marlo's forebears had met and clashed with the Sith Lord called Darth Cain before, in the days of the Great Galactic War between the Sith Empire and the Republic. The Cartels had been mostly neutral in this conflict, taking no side while doing their best to benefit from it as best they could, just like they always had since the fall of the Hutt Empire and the species' shift from military supremacy to mercantile dominion.
On Nar Shadda, Quesh and Makeb, Darth Cain had meddled in Hutt affairs. He had not always been an enemy of the Cartels : on Quesh, for instance, his forces had fought alongside those of the Cartels to secure the planet's famous venoms for the Empire's adrenal production. Even then, though, the contract he'd negotiated had been firmly in the Empire's favor. But that was nothing compared to what had happened on Makeb, where, along with two other Sith Lords – one Darth Imperius, and another known only as the Emperor's Wrath – he had completely ruined the Cartels' operations in a matter of weeks.
Then there were his anti-pirate activities, which hadn't started with wiping out Varan's coalition, far from it. The systems which now made up the Damocles Sector had been a living hell for pirates of all stripes after Cain had taken residence at Perlia, his ships hunting down pirates whenever they weren't busy inflicting another defeat to the Republic. Under his reign, the Sith Empire had clamped hard on criminal activity within his sphere of influence, Cain preferring to shut the syndicates down completely instead of suborning them or taking a cut of their profits, like most other Sith Lords of the era.
Marlo's forebears had despised the Human, but also acknowledged him as a worthy enemy, with one of them going so far as noting that it was fortunate for the Cartels that Cain had always been kept busy with more pressing concerns thanks to the ongoing conflict with the Republic.
Now, however, there was no Great Galactic War to keep Darth Cain busy, and it seemed that he'd decided his exile into the far-future was the perfect opportunity to declare war on the Cartels instead.
For several hours, Marlo remained within the chamber, reading through every entry that mentioned Darth Cain. Then, for several more hours, he simply sat, pondering his options, tapping at a datapad from time to time to bring up some piece of information or another.
By the time he emerged from the secret chamber, the sun had set on the capital of Hutt Space, but Marlo didn't care. He was feeling more awake, more alive, than he had in decades. He couldn't wait for the Council meeting in a few hours, knowing what must be done. It would take work to convince the others that Cain couldn't be ignored, or brought to the negotiating table like so many would-be destroyers of the Hutts had been before, once a greater threat had presented itself.
The time had come for the Hutt Cartels to go to war.
AN : "Wait, would the Jedi Council send Anakin to Perlia ? Wouldn't it make more sense to keep him safe on Coruscant while Obi-Wan went to investigate ?"
*remembers that Anakin participated in numerous missions where he ended up saving Obi-Wan's life between episodes I and II, and that Ahsoka was sent to a battlefield when she was, like, fourteen years old at most*
"Oh, right. Yes, yes they would. Nevermind then, I don't need to contrive a reason for the Chosen One to end up in Cain's general vicinity."
Although, in the Jedi Council's defense, if they tried to keep Anakin on Coruscant while Obi-Wan went on this mission, you can bet he would find a way to sneak aboard Senator Donali's ship. What's going on with Tatooine aside, he already lost a mentor figure to a Sith, after all.
Yes, Cain's Sith Master was *that* Erebus. For those of you unfamiliar with 40K lore, Erebus (whose name can only be properly pronounced by screaming it at the top of your lungs, filling every syllable with all the hatred and blind rage you can possibly muster) is known by many names : the Dark Apostle, Destiny's Hand, the First Chaplain of the Word Bearers Traitor Legion, the Vile One, "that frakker", and is generally considered the single most evil character in all of 40K, or at the very least a strong contender for the title, and the one generally responsible for the Imperium of Man being the terrible place it is.
And I assure you, Darth Erebus was only slightly less awful of a being than his namesake, and only because he died before having the opportunity to mess things up on the same galactic scale.
I did my best to make the various reactions seem realistic and true to the characters : tell me how you think I did.
The Muse is still as enthusiastic about this story : I have read and played almost nothing but Star Wars stuff recently. We'll see how long that lasts : in the meantime, if you are waiting for another of my stories to update, I am sorry.
As always, I look forward to your thoughts and suggestions. The response to this story's first two chapters has been overwhelming, so thank you all !
Zahariel out.