Chapter 91

The ramp leading up into Tank A634 opened with an agonizing slowness that Barriss knew was just her own impatience bleeding into her perceptions.

She didn't even wait for the thing to properly unfurl before she flexed her legs and pushed off the ground, easily making the height with a Force assisted jump.

The instant she was in the main rear hold she felt it through the Force - pain.

Someone in here was in absolute agony.

It took a moment to confirm the direction to her left and she rushed towards a large set of pallets that had been stacked almost to the ceiling.

Her feet blurred and she came to a skidding stop and blinked in astonishment at the sight that greeted her.

Chewbacca stood there pinning Klo Merit against the durasteel wall of the cargo hold. The equani spy and saboteur was being held almost a meter off the floor and Chewbacca was using a single hand to do it. Merit's mouth was incapable of emitting a sound due to the industrial binding tape wound around his mouth. His gray eyes were flushed red and leaking tears.

The source of his pain became immediately apparent as each of his limbs were hanging at unnatural angles and limply - clearly dislocated.

"Chewbacca, what is going on?" Barriss asked in horror.

The wookiee growled in anger, before slapping at the utility bandoleer he wore, switching on a small modular device mounted there. This close his anger radiated outward and shone like a star. He belted out rapid Shyriiwook that the device translated with only a slight delay.

"This madclaw sabotaged the medical droid, tried to kill Ahsoka! Using this." He reached into a pouch on his belt and showed a Republic issue handheld logic probe. "Already looked at the programs on it. Skeleton key to unlock any secured door. Program to convince all 2-1B droids into killing their patients."

Barriss walked forward warily, she didn't particularly like the idea of getting close to a wookiee when angered. The small translator module was also seemingly struggling getting a proper lock on his words. She took the probe, fiddled with the base controls and its small holo interface popped up, showing the loaded programs.

"There's also a few here that would've helped him board the bota transport ship, including a program set to monitor altitude, he probably used that one to set the explosive. So the ship would detonate exactly when it was going through the spore cloud layer… clever."

Barriss felt her own anger rise at the equani, the urge to bury the blade of her lightsaber through his chest was growing. The deaths of the crew was directly on his hands, potentially many more since they didn't know the full extent of his sabotage and spy activities. Then trying to kill her best friend by using a medical droid - it was mockery and perversion of the healing profession.

The spy began twitching and moaning in pain from his throat as Chewbacca simply moved him an inch upward, jostling his dislocated limbs.

Barriss stepped forward and touched the equani's limp hand to make a more thorough diagnosis of just what Chewbacca had done.

She shivered in horror again at seeing that the wookiee had also broken every major bone in those limbs as well.

"We need him capable of talking, Chewbacca. We have enough to arrest and expose him as a spy, but I have a feeling Ahsoka would want us to do something else instead."

Chewbacca grumbled, "Yes, she would use him instead, play more spy games. Only kill when he outlived his usefulness or no other choice."

"Lower him a bit, please? I need to reach his head."

Chewbacca's mouth twisted in vindictive pleasure, lowering the equani and making sure to jostle his useless limbs in as painful a manner as possible.

His muffled screams resounded throughout the empty cargo hold.

Barriss placed two fingers on the side of the spy's head and began to work.

First she numbed the nerves constantly sending pain signals to the brain, but not completely. He would still feel it as a constant chronic pain, allowing him to regain his wits and coherent thought patterns.

"Remove the tape," Barriss ordered.

Chewbacca complied, in the most painful manner possible by just grabbing hold of the edges and pulling.

"Ahhhhh! Ow! You mad savage!" Merit bellowed, his eyes frantic and angry, glaring at both Chewbacca and Barriss.

"Well, Mr Merit, how is this going to go? Are you going to deny it, stay silent or talk? I'll tell you now we have more evidence than just this logic probe and your attempted murder of Commander Tano. We've been aware of your other activities for a while now."

"I don't know what you're talking about, I'll have you all brought up on charges- OW!"

"Mr. Merit, I've staved off the pain you should be feeling and can bring it back at will. We know about your connection to the Black Sun. We know your dealings are also connected to the Separatists. Yet you are also enabled in your role by Admiral Bleyd. A spy and saboteur with a three-way allegiance, that's a new one for me."

Merit glared and she could see his thoughts turning as he weighed the consequences and also a way he could get himself out of this situation, preferably directly into the sweet oblivion of anesthesia and a bacta tank. Finally, he seemed to make up his mind and his shoulders slumped somewhat.

"Fine, you caught me, congratulations. Guess I should've known better than to try things when two Jedi were around."

One question was rather gnawing at Barriss and her curiosity would not be denied.

"Why, Merit? Why betray the Republic?"

The equani laughed hollowly and one side of his mouth sneered, "Why? Oh, that's a good one. I suppose the time has finally come. Not that it's going to change anything, so why bother? At this point, I know how it's going to go. I'm too valuable to be 'disappeared', too high profile too. One of the last surviving equani. I was in a haze of pain but I heard what this savage said. So Commander Tano also plays the game, which is very interesting. Thought she'd be too young for it, but that's the thing with you Jedi, defying norms and expectations at every turn. She should be dead, but somehow she survived, woke up and set this brute on me." His eyes fixed on Barriss, "What do you know of how my world died?"

"An unprecedented coronal mass emission from your star," she answered automatically, but immediately sensed his dark amusement at hearing it.

"Unprecedented, nice choice of words there, Padawan Offee. Yes, it was nicely hidden, masterfully presented to the public. The proper word that should be used… is accidental."

"What? How-?" Barriss's perception of Merit's physiology told her he wasn't lying at least. "You mean someone did it?"

"Yes. Did you know that the Republic had a small research outpost on one of Equanus' moons? Of course you don't. It was highly secret, only the chancellor, select top officials and the scientists involved knew. They were testing a unique weapon there and in their ineptness, miscalculated."

Barriss almost recoiled in horror and astonishment. "And this weapon misfire, somehow caused the coronal emission?"

"Correct. The science of it is entirely beyond me. The weapon was not even supposed to be activated, they were running what they thought was a low power test of some secondary components and as fate would have it, at that precise moment, it was aimed at the brightest light in the sky. In less than three minutes afterwards, before they could even analyze what had caused the problem, the weapon discharge hit the Equanus star, destabilizing a part of the star's surface… and a massive CME erupted, heading straight for my homeworld.

"It was so strong that it managed to overwhelm the planet's natural magnetosphere. Pushing it all the way back into the atmosphere itself. I can just imagine… how many died a fiery death in that instant. My only consolation would be that it was quick and painless. It was not quick and painless for the survivors on the other side of the planet. The CME had destroyed all interstellar communications, all satellites gone and what few interstellar ships we had suffered a variety of ill fates. It would be only months later when a routine trade mission entered that the news broke to the galaxy as a whole."

"But the chancellor knew," Barriss commented.

"Oh yes. What his thought processes were, I cannot precisely say. My own analysis of him shows a cunning politician, focused on personal survival above all and if it got out that he personally sponsored research that killed an entire race…"

"He would've faced a no-confidence vote immediately in the Senate."

"Yes," Merit grimaced as a hint of pain began leaking through. "However, very conveniently, the war began three months after the disaster and Palpatine has made sure all hard evidence is gone. Every scientist who worked at that outpost has vanished and the outpost itself was stripped clean of any evidence or equipment that would prove a weapon was built or tested there."

"Which begs the question, how do you know this then?" Barriss asked pointedly.

"I was approached by Count Dooku. He showed me the proof. Proof that he had stolen from the Republic, to use as an ideological weapon, to show the true corruption of the Republic. How they preach peace and cooperation on one hand, but secretly destroy with the other. I thought, what better way to use the remainder of my life than to give it in service to the CIS. Helping them to bring the galaxy to a better place. To expose this benighted, corrupt Republic for what it truly is to the rest of the galaxy. So its yoke can be shaken off and something new can come in its place."

"I suppose the fact that the Separatists are killing and destroying their way in campaigns across a hundred worlds just doesn't enter into your moral equation?" Barriss asked wryly.

"Please, Padawan Offee," he shook his head with a wince. "Spare me that argument. I know the sentient mind and it cannot be changed without sacrifice and trauma. We all just want to be comfortable in our little bubbles of status quo. Those bubbles need to be popped and most of the fighting and dying is taking place between clones and droids. Here on Drongar, all the bota will do is reinforce the bubbles of comfort, strengthen them. Which is why, for the moment at least, none must make it off world and into the hands of the Republic. When the CIS can show to the galaxy what a paradise they can make with it, more worlds will secede from this corrupt farce of a system."

"And you would see the galaxy burn in the process," Barriss retorted.

"If that's what it takes. Ah! What are you doing?!"

"I just realigned your broken bones. Chewbacca here was being somewhat gentle in not giving you compound fractures. Here's another thing for you to think about. How certain are you that Dooku was being truthful with you? That his evidence wasn't crafted specifically for you?"

"No, I'm certain."

"That was classified information. There is no way you could've corroborated it without revealing yourself and getting vanished in the process either."

"No, no," he shook his head frantically and laughed. "You think you know, but you don't. I've seen it and nothing you say can make me doubt. I think our conversation has run its course, Healer Offee. Now be a good little Jedi and heal me."

"Chewbacca," Barriss prompted.

The big wookiee nodded and grabbed the spy's limp left arm.

"No, what are you doing? Ah, the pain is back, what… aaahh!" he screamed frantically.

Chewbacca pushed the limb, which slotted back into its socket. He slowly repeated the process until everything was back where it belonged, but leaving Merit completely lost in the pain and aftershocks of the action.

"Good night, Mr Merit." Barriss pushed on his brain in just the right way, inducing unconsciousness.

"What now?" Chewbacca asked.

"Take him to the tank's sickbay, I'll be shoving his limbs in bacta splints. I'll report to the Rimsoo that he suffered an accident and I'm personally attending to him here."

"How much time can that buy?"

"Enough, I think Ahsoka will want to have a chat with him when she wakes."

My eyes flickered open and I vaguely registered that I was back from the oblivion of sleep, even as I remembered the journeys of my inner worlds that the Darksaber and myself had taken.

If there was one ability that I enjoyed in this life, then proper lucid dreaming on demand was just so awesome.

"Mistress!" M8's high voice thundered painfully in my right montral.

"M8," I mumbled, turning my head slowly to face the helmet of my armor, perched on the side of the biobed. "How long was I out?"

"Two days, Mistress. You've been fed intravenously."

I took an internal stock of myself, "Feels that way. My stomach is not happy about it."

"Should I signal Barriss to bring you food, mistress?"

"Please do." My eyes ranged across the small sickbay. "M8, why is Klo Merit in the bed across from me looking like he encountered a very angry wookiee?"

"That is because he did, mistress. He sabotaged the medical droid in here and attempted to kill you with it."

"Which you naturally stopped and since Chewie was also here to keep an eye on me, he took it upon himself to enact some righteous retribution."

"Precisely, mistress."

"Where is the big hairy lump anyway?"

"It is currently early morning and he's in the refresher after spending far too much time in his armor. I managed to convince him to leave your side by pointing out that you wouldn't have appreciated his smell when you awoke and that Merit wasn't going anywhere."

"Is he sedated?"

"Barriss induced sleep using her abilities, mistress."

"And also running damage control on how he got his injuries, no doubt," I sighed and thought about how to use this turn of events.

In the meantime, I got my body back in gear with stretches and flexes of every muscle, encouraging increased blood flow to the parts of me that had suffered during my sedentary period. Next, I carefully sat up and supported myself with an arm on the bed, checking my balance and helping blood flow against the higher gravity.

"Wiggle your big toe," I said idly, suddenly recalling that movie and chuckling at how strangely memory sometimes worked.

Everything felt fine, so I chucked my legs over the side of the bed and tested balance carefully before hopping on my feet. Another round of stretches for my arms and touching my toes whilst keeping my legs straight.

"Up and about, I see," Barriss said as she entered the sickbay with a tray of food.

"Food, gimme! Thanks," I said eagerly and pounced forward, snatching the tray from her grasp.

I sat my ass back into the chair that Chewie had probably used, grabbed the utensils and began shoveling food into my mouth as politely as I could.

"Not too fast now," Barriss chided, coming forward to lean against the biobed. I could feel her surveying me through the Force and even throwing active probes into the mix. I could've easily stopped it, but I knew her concern for me was behind it, so let the probes through to satisfy her worry.

Once she was done, I pushed my own probe through the Force and the thin Bond we shared.

'You did well,' I thought to her.

'M8 told you everything?'

'Not everything, but I deduced enough.'

'You really need to contact Admiral Yularen quickly. Bleyd tried to have you arrested on charges of disobeying standing orders.'

'Figured that as well. You seem to have headed that off nicely. Thank you.'

'You're welcome. Now what are we going to do with him?"

I chewed thoughtfully on a bit of meat, running a few probability lines. 'He's working for Bleyd, Black Sun and the CIS. Wow, never even though it was possible to have a quadruple agent.'

'You want him to work for Republic Intelligence as well?' Barriss thought incredulously.

'No.'

'No?'

'Yes.' I smirked cheekily at her

'Stop that. What are you talking about, Ahsoka?'

'I think he's going to be working for you.'

'Me? Ahsoka, I'm a healer, not an intelligence agent.'

'After we have this conversation, you'll be both. Please, find a chair.'

Barriss folded her arms in annoyance, then used the Force to pull a chair from the other side of the room, 'You always do this,' she complained. 'Act all knowing and mysterious, only to pull the ground from under my feet.'

'But it's so fun,' I mentally laughed at her. She actually pouted her lips and I couldn't help the actual laugh that escaped my mouth.

"Enough Ahsoka, explain.'

'Open yourself up, this is a conversation that can't be spoken aloud, ever.' My mood transitioning to dead seriousness gave her a bit of mental whiplash.

'Oh, all right.'

I felt her defenses lower and I pulled her awareness across.

The sickbay vanished from our primary senses and now we were both standing in the endless black and white realm of my own mind.

Barriss looked around with fascination, testing her feet against the infinite black stone floor that somehow radiated white light. Also scrutinizing her own body, which also radiated that whiteness.

I stood a few feet from her, making sure to keep my own self-image to the one she was generally familiar with.

"Not really how I imagined your inner world," she commented, looking around.

"And how did you imagine it?" I snarked, unable to let that one go.

"I figured it'd be bizarre and incomprehensible, filled with all manner of twists and shapes that can't exist in a normal universe."

"Fair enough," I shrugged. "This is only the lobby I prepared for you. All that stuff is a few infinities in that direction." I pointed my right arm, which immediately became six dozen right arms indicating seemingly every direction.

Barriss rolled her eyes at my showmanship. "Can we get to the point?"

"Fine."

The infinity around us changed.

It was evening and a fine night on Coruscant. The stars twinkled merrily with not a cloud in the sky. The immediate cityscape around us was still bustling with air traffic, but we were standing right on the edge of the exclusion zone. Inside the zone, the Jedi Temple stood majestically. The ziggurat and towers illuminated grandly as it always was.

We stood on the roof of one of the buildings. The fact that it was extremely clean and lacked the typical pollutive deposits betrayed that this was not the real thing.

Two comfortable chairs sprang into existence. "Have a seat."

"Beautiful view," Barriss commented after sitting down.

"Yes, I figured coming here would help soften the blow. What I have to say is not going to be easy to hear, Bar. You may come to hate me."

"Don't be ridiculous, Ahsy."

Her smile was interrupted when a thunderous roar washed over us. As nearly two dozen LAAT gunships and carriers roared into view.

Missiles rippled and streaked from dorsal launchers and slammed into the ziggurat walls of the Temple, blowing great chunks out of it.

Collimated lasers drew green beams of light through the air and cut the Temple Spire of Knowledge in half. The upper section toppled and fell, crunching into a dust cloud on the roof of the ziggurat.

The gunships landed and started to disgorge an entire legion of clone troopers.

Barriss' mouth was hanging open, staring aghast as the destruction of our childhood home occurred before our eyes.

"Ahsy, what- what- why are you imagining this? Why show it to me?"

"This is not my imagination, Bar. I'm using my Prescience to perceive a time roughly two years from now."

Her gaze was transfixed on events for a long moment as the clone troopers organized themselves into efficient skirmish lines, before advancing up the great steps in units. More gunships zoomed in and hovered near the ziggurat's breaches, before jetpack trooper squads flew in, to pincer any internal defenses the Jedi were trying to hastily organize.

"No," Barriss shook her head. "This is impossible. The clones wouldn't do this, they're meant to serve the Republic, we're their commanders-"

"The clones do serve the Republic, but they also serve the man who sits in the chancellor's seat. The man who also ensured that the entire clone army project was usurped to his own ends. The man who is the inheritor and the final arbiter of a plan centuries in the making, that leads up to this exact moment. The man who is also secretly in charge of the entire CIS behind the curtain, because his apprentice is their 'head of state'. The man who is the current Sith Lord."

I had drawn enough dots for her and she looked at me like I had grown two extra heads out of my lekku.

"Palpatine? He's… you think he's the one that trained the zabrak that killed Master Jin?"

"Yes, and I'm about to take you on a tour that will put any doubts you may have to rest. And to answer your next question, yes, I've had this level of foresight since I was that tiny youngling Master Koon found on Shili."

Her eyes widened at my clear demonstration. She would've known if I was trying to interpret her thoughts, given how closely we were connected at the moment.

"This better be good, Ahsy."

"It's far from good, but in the end, you will understand."

A few hours later, I stood over the prone form of Klo Merit still ensconced on his biobed and bacta splints, Chewbacca looming behind me.

I poked the equani forehead with a finger, bringing him to consciousness and not being gentle about it. From his point of view, he went from his species equivalent of REM sleep to instantly awake in a few moments. It was awfully jarring and the abrupt increase in blood flow induced a nasty headache.

"Ah! By the stars!" he complained, trying to cradle his own head, only to realize he was still in his casts. His eyes locked onto the T-shaped visor of my helmet, then Chewie behind me and his fear spiked considerably. As much as he tried to not physically show it, he instinctively pulled his head back deeper into the cushion behind his neck.

"Mr Merit, good of you to join us."

"Going to torture me some more?" he tried to sneer, but it was rather lacking in heart. I had his entire existence over a barrel of a blaster. Attempted assassination of a senior officer in the GAR could put him in front of a firing squad in extreme cases, but as it depended on Admiral Bleyd, I doubted he would go for that option. It was messy, public and the chances that Merit would expose Bleyd's own corruption was too high. Bleyd was also rather interestingly capable of 'disappearing' Merit with no pangs of conscience or regret. He'd even do the deed himself with a blaster then dispose of the body using carbon freezing and the void of space.

"No, no point. You're more valuable alive and being a good little spy and saboteur. You'll largely go right back to doing what you were doing before."

"I'll never work for the Republic," he hissed with extreme vitriol. "You might as well order your walking carpet to kill me."

Chewie growled in anger, even as I blinked in astonishment at the insult of a future Princess Leia coming from Merit's mouth. It was a rather obvious comparison to make regarding wookiees, so I didn't read much more into it. A future Chewie would tolerate it without a sound because Leia had been their payday and would allow them to pay off Jabba's debt.

I placed a telekinetic hand on Chewie's shoulder to calm him down. The probability line where he barged forward and demonstrated the whole 'ripping people's arms off' thing was rather disturbing and messy.

"You will not be working for the Republic. You will be working for me."

"You?" he asked incredulously. "Don't be ridiculous, little miss Jedi."

"I am also a Mandalorian and I am offering you the one thing that Dooku can never deliver on."

"Oh, and what is that?"

"Revenge against those who are truly responsible for your species' extinction."

He frowned as I felt his racial empathy probing me and I carefully layered my honest emotions into a weave for his probe to run into.

"You're being serious," his mouth slackened slightly with astonishment. "Are- are you sure you're a Jedi? The Republic is responsible and you'd…"

I held up a hand. "What Dooku showed you was perfectly true. However, did it not occur to you to wonder just how he had acquired such perfect and convincing evidence of the superweapon being tested on Equanus' moon?"

Merit opened his mouth to answer, but stopped himself. He frowned and I saw his eyes slightly twitching as he searched his own mind for the answer. "No… I just assumed… I was so angry, emotional… It didn't even occur to me."

"Why would a former Jedi Master who left the order nearly twelve years ago, have access to such high level intelligence? Why would any Jedi have anything to do with the construction of a weapon that has the potential to create extinction events? Anything powerful enough to set off a CME, has the potential to devastate any standard garden world it's used on, in other words, a planet killer."

I could see Merit's brain practically bluescreening as he processed those conclusions. I waited patiently as he processed things further and started seeing his entire conversation with Dooku in an entirely new light.

The instant Barriss told me of just why Merit had become a spy, the truth of the equani extinction, it brought an instant realization to me.

Equanus was in a far northern sector of the galaxy, just a single day's journey from where Mortis had been. Just off the little used Veragi Hyper Route. It was consequently out of sight and mind. Combine this with an insular population, then it made the entire system a nice little testing ground for things you didn't want the galaxy to see. If something went wrong, it would also give you enough time to do a cleanup and spin whatever story you wanted.

To my mind, Equanus' moon had therefore been used as a testing bed for an early prototype Death Star class superlaser.

"He was part of it as well," hissed Merit in anger.

"Well done. I didn't even have to lead you there. Yes, Dooku is part of this conspiracy Mr. Merit. He and his CIS are furthering the research that was begun on your homeworld's moon."

Palpatine was also doing it on the Republic side, but I wasn't about to tell Merit that.

"And how would you know that?"

"That I won't tell you, Mr. Merit. Suffice it to say that Dooku is my enemy, as is anyone who is pursuing this research, no matter which side of the fence they fall on in this war." I tented my hands under my chin and projected my earnestness towards him. "At this point you have a choice - work for me or don't work for me. If you don't work for me… Well, I reveal the evidence that you tried to kill me. I'm sure you can work out the consequences of that. Your usefulness as a spy will be gone and the CIS, Black Sun and Bleyd will be scrambling to silence you in whatever manner they can.

"If you work for me, then things stay as they are. Only now you will secretly report to Healer Offee, who is my contact on Drongar as long as she remains on this world. If that should change, a means of secure communication will be left for you to remain in contact with me."

"And you'll just let me… keep spying and sabotaging?"

"If you stopped you wouldn't exactly be useful to me in the end, would you?" I asked dryly. "I do want everything you know about the Black Sun."

"If I tell you, they'll know-"

"Despite appearances I'm not exactly new to the spy business at this point, Mr. Merit. I don't want your information to go on a crusade against them. It's simply to use as a starting point for further covert activities which you don't need to know or worry about. Now tell me, what is your choice?"

He snorted with annoyance, "Not much of a choice is it. Very well, I'll show you where to get my Black Sun files. They can all jump into a black hole for all I care. I was just using them as a convenient supplier. It's Bleyd that wants to make fortune and glory. Speaking of that bastard, are you going to do anything about him?"

"No, there's little need for that. His ambition and greed will eventually get the better of his common sense. Sooner or later, he's going to do something that will anger the Black Sun. Then the instant he sets foot on this planet again, there's going to be an unfortunate accident waiting for him."

I bowed, "Goodbye Mr. Merit. I'd offer to shake hands on our cooperation…"

"Yes, yes, whatever. You got what you wanted. Now leave me in peace to deal with this headache."

I gave Barriss most of the rest of the day to process and come to terms with things. It was not easy to have the wool finally pulled from your eyes, showing her what was happening behind the curtains of this war and who was the true enemy we fought.

It had been quite difficult to keep despair from settling into her mind. I had to remind her that there were Jedi who could defeat Palpatine in a martial contest if it came down to it. It was just a matter of getting the pieces into position and straining his plans more and more, whilst hiding from his foresight.

That was the true battle.

Now that Merit and Barriss were part of Fulcrum, with only the latter knowing the name at all. I healed the equani enough so he was presentable in public again and could leave the tank.

The Blades and the surviving crew of Juggernaut Tank A634 got themselves saddled up on board and ready for our journey back to the 205th HQ. Barriss would remain at the Rimsoo to keep a close eye on Merit.

I found her waiting for me near the aft ramp, clearly wanting to talk before we said our goodbyes and part ways.

"Can we have a walk?" she gestured to the general direction of the Rimsoo's perimeter.

"Of course."

We ambled away, just enjoying each other's company. The fresh bout of monsoon rain erupting from the heavens was the only thing that marred the experience.

'I'm still not sure whether to laugh, cry or just…' she thought to me.

'Steal the first ship you can, leave your lightsaber behind and find the most out of way spot in the galaxy to disappear into a hermitage?'

'That's quite well put, Ahsy. Given it some thought yourself?'

I looked up at the oppressively rainy sky, 'Nearly every day, when I contemplate the enormity of the task. Sometimes it feels like I'm trying to unring a bell.'

'But you don't do that. You don't give in.'

'No, because I refuse to accept that we are trapped. We will find a way.'

'I hope we do, because the very idea that I would ever fall so far as to plant a bomb in the Jedi Temple and frame you for it is impossible to fathom.'

I waved her worry off. 'That is a probability line that was staved off long ago.'

'Yes, but will I not just fall into some other form of darkness?'

'If you remain vigilant and do not succumb to despair, then I do not foresee that fate for you. I've already nudged things by recruiting you into Fulcrum.'

She began to worry, but not for herself. 'Ahsoka, the fact that you haven't fallen is a miracle. You see so much death and darkness for the galaxy. It would be enough to drive anyone to madness.'

'I won't lie by saying I'm not worried about it. The enemy has begun plans for my fall to the Dark Side. He's trying to bring about a future where my master and I join him as Sith apprentices. He wishes to do away with the Rule of Two and bring about the rise of his New Sith Order as an eternal ruler on his new galactic throne. He's well on his way to achieving a form of immortality that will make it feasible.'

'That he's perverted his use of the Force to such an extent is… there's no words for it, Ahsoka.'

'There isn't, but it's what we must deal with if he is to be truly defeated.'

Barriss stopped and turned to face me, holding out an arm. 'Then we will do it, together, Ahsy. I will do everything in my power to help you.'

I grasped her arm and nodded. 'Thank you, Bar. Remember, work not to just defeat the enemy specifically. Going down that path is self-defeating, because we will excuse and allow ourselves to commit horrors all in the name of defeating him. We must become our best selves, then we will defeat him by just being who we are.'

"Any difference to report so far?"

I sat down on a stool in Laboratory 9 and took off my helmet, arching my neck so Tedrad could draw a blood sample.

My mind was still trying to come up with the proper words as I felt the cold touch of the hypogun and a slight hiss as blood left my body into the sample container. I consciously kept my gaze from meeting his jade green eyes that had a magnetic pull all on their own and threatened to swallow me.

"I did a few tests on the way. Things are definitely easier to do, whereas before I'd need to expend some mental effort, focus and concentration, now it's like it just comes… naturally?"

He nodded in understanding, walking to an analyzer and inserting the sample. A few button presses at a nearby terminal and the machine began buzzing and humming.

"A fairly common result so far," he said, turning around to face me and leaning against the desk. "What you and Healer Offee did was felt by every Jedi on the planet. Amazing technique."

He stared at me looking very impressed.

I coughed uncomfortably but managed to keep my wits in the face of this seemingly perfect male. "Healer Offee will come and teach you. However, I trust you understand that it must remain something not advertised in the current climate. It's meant to potentially save your life and it can only do that if it remains a surprise to any potential adversary."

"If I was a traditional Jedi, I'd say that knowledge must not be hoarded. I am far from a traditional Jedi, Commander Tano. Very well, I'll make sure to tell the others. Anything else of note?"

There was, but telling him was not a good idea. I was playing a very careful balancing act here. On the one hand, it would be strange if nothing improved or changed, on the other, I had to omit some of the bota catalyzed improvements because of the eventual inevitability that the reports would find its way to Palpatine's desk.

If I became too powerful to control in his eyes then the consequences for my long term battle against him was dire.

"No, just a general improvement in everything. I still have more doses to take, maybe something will happen then."

"Maybe, I'm only taking this sample now since you're returning to your ship, it'll at least give a baseline to the improvement."

The moment was approaching.

There were countless forks in the road of probability I faced daily. Most were insignificant and I'd pass through them with no more than a glancing thought, since the primary trajectory didn't veer off no matter which direction I went. The only consequences they had were personal to me, even if they also involved someone else. Then on the other side of the spectrum, there were fractal moments of titanic importance to the trajectory of everything, influencing the destiny of a person, a planet, a sector or galactic civilization.

Bendu had helped me greatly to properly navigate through the seas of probability, figuratively giving me a rudder and thrusters, instead of the relatively inept paddle I had been using before Mortis.

My decision was this - leave the final vestiges of innocence and naivety behind me and embrace adulthood or keep it and let the enemy gain a full analysis of my post-bota biology. Even if I succeeded now, there were ways he could gain it later, but the difference would be enough to matter in relation to time.

The analyzer beeped that it was done.

"There we go, all done. Now that's over with," Tedrad folded his arms behind his back, the action splitting his Jedi robe to reveal a slit of the body glove beneath. "Padawan Tano, can I help you?"

I stood from my chair, also moving my hands behind my back, though in my case it was to tap out instructions to M8 on the gauntlet of my left arm. "Help me with what, Tedrad?" I asked with a slight smirk.

He sighed with a slightly put-upon expression, "You are practically bursting with unfulfilled want and arousal. You could've taken care of that before you came here, yet you didn't. If you walked like that around Zeltros, you'd be mobbed with offers and proposals. You controlled yourself admirably during your first visit, doubly so given it was your first exposure to one my kind. Now you're here, like that, and I can only conclude you want to indulge yourself."

"Perhaps I just want to distract you," I countered logically, taking a step forward, focusing on those glorious pecs beneath the robe.

"I sense you speak the truth," he took a slow step forward toward me. No zeltron worth their salt could really resist it when people felt like this. They really disliked negative emotions, just wanting to turn them into positive ones. "Do you know how I made it through the Jedi Order all the way to knighthood without leaving scandal in my wake?"

"The only way I can imagine that, is if you weren't raised in the Coruscant Temple, a chapterhouse perhaps?"

He nodded, "Good guess. I also conclusively demonstrated to the High Council that I could control myself and manage others if they were unable to control themselves."

"I am in firm control of myself, Tedrad."

He frowned and walked closer until he was within arms reach, his gaze searching my face and eyes, through the Force, he also extended probes that bounced off my defenses. He otherwise saw exactly what he needed to see.

"Yes… yes you are," he said with honest surprise. "Well, I have been on a bit of a dry spell lately since my assignment to this world."

"Really?"

"Too much work. I also stay away from the clones and others. The other Jedi weren't interested either. This world is awful and inspires such negative emotion in everyone. I'd run myself into the ground trying to turn things around and any other zeltron would never come here unless forced. You're honestly a breath of fresh air, Tano. This world hasn't dampened your spirits yet. Be thankful you don't have a long term assignment here."

My armor cracked open, the back unfolding and I ducked through the neck ring to climb out of it.

Tedrad was briefly distracted by the spectacle before I emerged from behind it. Now only wearing the void black body glove that served to keep me comfy in even the most hostile environments.

I stopped directly in front of him and looked up slightly into his face. Behind my iron control, my stomach was doing flip flops. He gave me a single raised brow and his appreciative eyes and emotions told me he was very much liking what he was seeing and sensing.

Our embrace came slowly, my arms over his shoulders, whilst his enveloped my lower back.

"Are you sure… Ahsoka?"

There were many reasons to just back off and just excuse it away as a misjudgment. At that moment, when I crossed the fork of probability at last. All doubt fell away. I had shied away during our first meeting, because that was simply hormones and a lack of control speaking. Now… I wanted this. Plain and simple. Not just for some distraction to achieve a goal in my war, that was just incidental at this point. I wanted to just feel and do something to relieve years of building frustration, to be close to someone in that way again. If Tedrad was coming from a dry spell of months. I was coming from a cumulative spell of nearly sixty years.

"Yes, I am."

There wasn't much need for words after that.

Eventually even Jedi stamina was worn out. I was snuggling and cuddling on top of Tedrad, his left hand idly tracing circles on my back and lekku. The thin blanket of his quarter's bed was partially draped over us.

"How long until you have to leave?" he asked.

Urgh, the rest of the galaxy was not what I wanted to think about now. Nevertheless, I gave a glance at his wall mounted chrono.

"The shuttle is due to take off in forty minutes," I said, resting my head back on his chest.

"You are mosht."

I sighed and perched myself with my arms on his chest to look down on him. Figured that a zeltron Jedi would realize there was something weird about me. "And that means?"

"Closest Basic translation would be 'Incorporate'. Your shma or spirit has swum through the Force to return from death and you're enlightened enough to remember."

"Your people actually have a word for this?" I asked in amazement, not even bothering to dither or deny.

"Most of our greatest prophets were mosht, the last confirmed one was over fifteen hundred years ago. It's passed into legend, but zeltron Jedi keep a hidden archive of our own in the Zeltros system."

"And you're actually telling me because?" I asked pointedly.

"It's not like you could find it without being a zeltron, but the appearance of a mosht is… worrying, Ashoka. They are not a herald of pleasant times, combine this with the war, your role in it and your master being the Chosen One…" he shook his head, his mood very troubled.

"Yes, I can see how that would be concerning."

"Concerning?" he laughed incredulously. "A master of understatement you are."

"Zac, I can only say this," I met his eyes seriously. "Bury and protect our time together and this realization in the deepest parts of yourself. Barriss will soon come to you with training, put your all into mastering it. At the very least, do that. Later, you will be contacted with a proposal, please keep an open mind."

I felt him reach out with the Force for guidance and eventually he smiled, palming my left cheek affectionately.

"Even should Yoda himself ask, I will not say. This goes beyond the Order."

"Somewhat-" The door chime to Zac's quarters resounded. I froze briefly with a pit of panic before pushing my senses beyond the door. "It's okay. It's my droid, M8." My will reached out to unlock and open the door.

Zac's eyes widened at seeing my armor walk in with my helmet under its arms, like some bizarre headless horseman expy.

"Mistress! Did you have fun with your new friend?"

I rolled my eyes, "Yes, M8. I did. What is it?"

"A communication came through from Master Skywalker. I indicated you were busy with scientific work in a laboratory, leaving me behind for a cleanroom suit and therefore took a message."

"Clever," I complimented, smiling at my armor. "Is it classified eyes only or can Zac see it?"

"Knight Tedrad has the clearance to view this." M8 held up her arm palm outward and a life sized holo of Anakin appeared.

"Snips, get your butt out of the lab and back to the Resolute. Intelligence package is waiting for you on board. Resupply at the closest base. Then make best speed for Umbara."

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