Telona 33rd, 59 ABY
Dathomir Skies
Just Outside the Jedi Praxeum's Perimeter
Aboard the Ghost
Unleashing two proton torpedoes against a Nightsister and her Rancor that strayed too close to the Praxeum, Kopri Wren returned to patrolling the area. Seeing the ship's armaments and fuel at half capacity, she hoped the battle could turn in their favor quickly, even as she knew such an outcome was impossible when it came to the Jedi and Sith.
With the Jedi academy's groundside defenses all but disabled with their main generator destroyed, the Aquilians and Mandalorians deployed gunships and troops down to the surface to supplement their protection. Although, it did not help how dozens of locations were under attack, and the Alliance of Light couldn't help everyone. For now, they needed to ration their remaining resources and focus on the priority targets while trusting their allies everywhere else to hold the line until help could arrive and drive the True Sith out.
Being in this ship and fighting alongside the Jedi, it brought back countless memories of her younger years from her time in serving the New Republic. Rising through the ranks to serve as Captain of the Guard for the New Republic Palace on Coruscant, she found her life irrevocably changed after helping an adolescent Jedi trainee expose a Yuuzhan Vong spy in the Imperial Remnant's ranks. She especially didn't expect to fall in love with Finn Galfridian while helping to destroy the extragalactic race's bioweapons stores on Rychel.
The tragedy that befell everyone there, how Finn was unable to escape the facility's destruction and how everyone assumed he was dead, it broke Kopri's heart and left her with a lust for revenge. And for four years, she killed more than her fair share of the Vong, doing all she could to slow their advance and hinder their plans before they were finally beaten. She afterwards helped the galaxy rebuild by aiding in Mandalore's recovery when the Galactic Alliance wouldn't, eventually falling in love with one of them and revitalizing a long-disgraced clan.
But Kopri never suspected that Finn, her first love, was still alive, having been rescued by Darth Krayt's One Sith and inducted into its ranks as Darth Snoke. Knowing how he survived the war and was working to undo all he once stood for, she knew she had to be the one to stop him if the opportunity presented itself.
Still, a part of her had always wondered what might have been like if she and Finn would have married and left the galaxy's troubles behind. The possibilities ran through her mind at lightspeed, and she could not stop any of them from rushing right through her. If there was any justice in this broken galaxy, she could find a way to save him and convince him to renounce the One Sith.
In a bitter irony, despite all they had been through together, the two lovers were sadly now serving opposing ideologies and causes, and it took every ounce of willpower not to use the Ghost and try to track down the Sith Lord and knock some sense back into him. Not even knowing that they would soon fight together to protect Dathomir from the True Sith would salve the old wounds from when she first lost him.
However, if he would not listen to reason, then she would have to use force and beat him into submission before capturing him. He might be a Sith now, but Kopri just loved him too much to coldly dispatch him.
On the other hand, if she found out exactly where Snoke was while fighting the True Sith, then she might not be able to control herself and would fly right after him. Love might breed power in ways most manners of evil could never comprehend, but that emotion also carried countless risks. And poor Kopri was hanging right at the precipice of all those dangers, just as countless other desperate souls once did before their obsessive love brought them to ruin and despair.
Gargon System
Aboard the Firespray-31-class patrol and attack craft Slave I
It had been far too long since Boba Fett had been on a mission of this caliber or been involved in any kind of action since this conflict began. Going after Belok Rhal and the Neo Hidden Chain's headquarters would be a perfect way for the Mandalorian Protectors' leader to return after five years of hiding on the Mandalorians' capital world. At least, it would be after taking a little detour to rescue a few of their victims.
After Mirta and Belok helped the One Sith trigger this civil war and torn virtually every clan and family apart, the Mand'alor had been forced to take a more cautious approach to handling this conflict to prevent assassins from getting too close to him. While such a tactic, at the advice of most of his best people, no less, had likely saved his shebs and kept the Protectors from tearing themselves asunder in the resulting power struggle, it left many of their followers disaffected with their leadership. As a result, these impressionable souls were left more susceptible to message of Krayt's marauder, letting them gain more ground than Fett's people could afford to lose.
Fortunately, with many of the Neo Hidden Chain's members, including Fett's wayward granddaughter, now realizing their folly once the One Sith's sacrificial use of many of their own was now public knowledge and quickly returning into the fold. Coupled with the Protectors' reluctant but wise partnership with the Jedi and their Alliance of Light, they finally had the strength to go after the still loyal dar'manda and their new patrons with their full strength.
Of course, this was all before the Alliance of Light and One Sith discovered the masterminds behind this war, the True Sith Empire. Learning how both factions were being used to revive some ancient entities, fallen Celestials, if Calrissian's word was to be believed, it terrified Fett even more than Abeloth ever could. And knowing from the growing talks and ceasefires between the Jedi and Krayt's Sith how the latter were suffering from defections in their ranks, including Rhal and most of the Neo Hidden Chain, the Mand'alor grasped just how deadly this new war was about to become.
Fett had never been a true believer in the supernatural. Like most beings who didn't use the Force, it was always a tool or unwanted meddler in ordinary people's lives that upended the natural order of things. For most of his life, he was content to avoid that part of the galaxy if it would finally leave him alone. Personal tragedies aside, he was tired of hunting beings and fighting other people's wars for them.
But this Nihil Retreat, the disturbing prospects of formally allying his people with the One Sith and Jedi, it was all Fett's worst nightmares come to life. Helping those that wrought nothing bur misery and death upon the few people he felt calm with, it terrified him more than he would ever acknowledge. Unfortunately, if even a shred of truth was in both known factions' warnings was true, how the True Sith were trying to escalate the war to fuel their own plans, it couldn't be ignored by anyone. Much as he wanted to deny otherwise, the Mandalorians had to join this desperate alliance and hope it would be enough to survive the impending trials.
But before he could worry about the long-term repercussions of this mad gambit, first he had a mission to complete. As much as he would like to kill Belok here and now for all he did to besmirch the Mandalorians' reputation, it would be far smarter to send a message that time was up for the marauders to avoid meeting their leader's final and inglorious fate. If they wanted to live and restore honor and glory to their families and clans, then they'd better surrender and rejoin the Protectors for this new fight.
And there was another motive for keeping Belok alive a while longer. One of many that were far more strategic and long-term beneficial for the Mando'ade than simple revenge and destroying one arm of the True Sith's growing army of thralls. If these Rhandites were up to something in the void of the Unknown Regions, then it would be far more worthwhile to interrogate the traitors and learn more of their hideouts and ultimate strategy.
But arriving at the former Neo Hidden Chain stronghold, Fett was surprised to see no civilian ships present, only seven Imperial capital ships enacting repairs and two-dozen support craft patrolling the area. Hearing his ship's holocomm activate, Fett was prepared to deny it when the image of an incensed Human man, one wearing a disheveled Imperial Moff's uniform, appeared.
Realizing Lecersen played Fett, the Mandalorian simply asked, "Where's Rhal?"
Some of the tension leaving his face, Lecersen gruffly answered, "Then you know your wayward mercenary betrayed us. He's heading to Korriban with a fleet of Rakata warships. Wyyrlok went ahead with the rest of the fleet to try and slow their attack."
"And you're stuck here because he betrayed you and your patrons." Fett sardonically concluded. Retching a little behind his helmet, he reluctantly offered the man responsible for his shameful exile from Mandalore, "I can spare a few teams to help you get your ships flying again."
Warily eyeing Fett, Lecersen coldly rebuffed the gesture, "We'll be up and running again in a few hours. If you really want to help, then get to Korriban and do what you can to blunt the enemy's attack."
"And why should I do that?" Fett examined Lecersen. If the One Sith wanted help in protecting their stronghold, they were more desperate than anyone realized. But he wasn't going to go into one deathtrap without sufficient reason and incentive. "How dire are your straits right now?"
Eyes blazing with a barely contained fury, Lecersen reluctantly answered, "They are after far more than just the treasures and artifacts hidden in the Sith's bolt holes. They're attacking Krayt's mobile stations around the system, taking hundreds of children for their rituals and ranks. I would think you wouldn't want more young souls to suffer as you did, Fett."
Silence covering this brief meeting, Fett, through his helmet and emanating a cold fury through his emotions, slowly said, "Send me every bit of intel your masters have on the invasion. I'll get the word out and do what I can to save those kids."
Korriban
Sith Catacombs
Within Darth Krayt's Citadel
Tau had to give the enemy credit where it was due: When the True Sith Empire went after a target, they didn't leave anything to chance. Between the Rakata flotilla and the Neo Hidden Chain fleets decimating Korriban's orbital defenses and attacking the Horuset System's covert asteroid facilities, the One Sith would neither escape nor protect many of their most crucial assets.
It seemed Belok Rhal's Mandalorians had made good use of their alliance with the One Sith and were crippling their former patrons in one fell swoop. The Sith-created Iteration sensed the anguish from the hundreds of kidnapped children being taken by the enemy, the deaths of the Sith trying to protect their prisoners and few loyal young acolytes, and his heart ached at the terror permeating the system. That fear and every negative emotion the kids emitted, the Force users coordinating the attack gorged off it and empowered their followers beyond all natural limits.
Added together with the Force-based weaponry and refurbished projectiles the Rakata used amongst their ships, the True Sith would make landfall on Korriban by the day's end. With the rogue Mandalorians and Rakata's equal savagery in assaulting the One Sith's defensive positions, the remaining defenders couldn't stop every gunship from begin landing across the planet's desolate surface.
And with the One Sith's forces spread thin in multiple battlefronts across the Outer Rim, the only possibility for deliverance lay in the Alliance of Light sending help. But Tau wasn't holding out much hope for that outcome.
No, if Tau and his friends still wanted to escape the One Sith, they had to take matters into their own hands and ensure their survival. Which was why he had everyone performing a task to his exact specifications. Triple Zero and Beetee in preparing their ship, a Bellicose-class Heavy Lifter for everyone's escape, equipped with top-of-the-line systems, even a rare Stygium cloaking device. No one thought twice of those two old Tarkin Initiative assassin droids readying all available vessels for combat, according to the records Chelli forged for them.
Chelli, with her techno-savvy and infiltration proficiency, sped up the awakening of Clone Force 99 so they would exit stasis in a mere five hours instead of late afternoon the next day. She also downloaded the entire network of the One Sith's defensive algorithms and contingency plans as a safeguard. As demented as it sounded for everyone, if she found a way to delay the True Sith's advance, she'd implement a new strategy. The longer the battle raged, the better her chances were of escaping this doomed world with her friends and family.
Lona and Prowl, she'd be given the task of liberating Jaing Skirata from his cell and getting the necessary arms for everyone to use in their fight for freedom. Tau would've preferred to handle the task himself, but he was required to heal Ochi until his handlers tried to call him away.
But even in this despondent medical facility laid an opportunity to do the Jedi a favor. If Ochi was revived now, with his people's unknowing allegiance to Tilotny and Abeloth, he'd almost certainly side with the True Sith and inflict lasting damage to Darth Krayt's Sith order. However, if a noble and brave soul gave the Vahla a gentle nudge in the right direction, he might become a new asset for the Alliance of Light. That was a chance Tau found too great to ignore.
Still, there was one more task he had to perform before leaving Korriban behind for good, and he hoped everyone understood his reasoning for staying behind. That infernal echo in the Force, the vergence of light side energy, its call was tugging at Tau with a greater intensity than ever before. He was certain that whatever was down there had been personally reaching out to him. But he was even more certain how this energy was waiting for him specifically.
If this benevolent force had been awaiting Tau, on a world infested with the dark side as one that was formed from parts of Typhojem's corpse eons ago, then whoever left it behind was too valuable to leave alone. Whatever wisdom or artifact lay hidden in the planet's catacombs, he had to recover it before anyone else did, even if it meant staying here a while longer.
He only hoped that his friends would understand and not try anything boneheaded, like wait to rescue him or join him in his treacherous odyssey. If any of them died because of him, he'd never forgive himself.
Dathomir Orbit
Aboard the Nantz
"Major Fel, we have a disaster brewing on the surface!" Thern warned Jaina, who was still in her StealthX as she helped keep a swarm of enemy fighters off the fleet's last MC90. "I believe it'll require your people's skillsets to solve before it devolves into a massacre."
To better streamline the chain of command and help the Jedi Master rebuild her order's trust among his flotilla's doubters, Thern saw fit to restore her the rank of major from much of the Yuuzhan Vong War. Legality issues aside, no one of sufficient rank was willing to discount Jaina's accomplishments or skills from her years piloting a snubfighter, or her leadership abilities honed under many of the best fighter aces and military minds.
"We're a little preoccupied keeping the Liberator from suffering another barrage. Give me the sitrep quickly. Sir." She responded, adding the final word almost at the last second, an oversight Thern let slide when faced with the battle still raging across the planet. Even with the Aquilians slowly pushing the True Sith into a corner, they weren't giving any ground without putting up a vicious fight. Oftentimes, their shared enemy threw many fighters and every weapon they could aim at the combined fleet just to slow them down, costing each of the three allied fleets dearly.
And the planetside battle was faring little better, with True Sith and Nightsisters almost fanatically butchering anyone in their way across the main settlements while pillaging every encampment and slaughtering everyone who was unfortunate enough to be in their way. Coupled with the Force-induced disasters that were slowly abating by Force powers Thern didn't understand, Dathomir was slowly being ripped apart before everyone's eyes.
If the Jedi and Aquilians were to be believed, then whoever was commanding the Sith force was influencing and compelling them to throw everything into this defense, even if it cost them all their lives in the process. Since Krayt was truly down here as her visions led her to believe, and Jaina believed that rare instance of clairvoyance being completely accurate, then this was the True Sith's best chance they had to destroy their competition in one fell swoop.
They needed to throw everything they could at the True Sith now, before they accomplished whatever dark ritual they were enacting across the system.
"We've got word from Wren and her people that Darth Zorra's forces has been spotted on the warpath. They're heading right towards the Jedi Praxeum, ripping through some of the last ring of outer defenders and their traps like they're damp flimsi. At this rate, his ETA is no more than twenty minutes, since most of the colonel's people are being diverted to protect your other outposts, and the Aquilians can't cover all the ground on their own."
"What about Wren? Is she going off with them?" Jaina sternly pressed.
"Yes, all the way to your Outpost Rell so she can ostensibly rescue one of your Council members and allies trapped there while rescuing with a high-value Sith helping defend the area."
A brief curse slipped out, before Jaina grunted, "Well, this does change the situation, doesn't it?" Pausing a moment while gunning down an enemy gunship, she asked, "Can you send me, a few other Jedi, and some troop transports down there, with everything still crazy up here?"
"We'll just have to risk it since you and the others can be of greater benefit for the cause down there. If we're able to capture or kill Zorra right here and now, it'll destroy his fleet's morale and give us all the momentum needed to destroy his fleet. Besides, you're still the Sword of the Jedi and a veteran Sith hunter, so you're our best and only candidate among the fleet to help the rest of your order go up against this renegade."
"Get on it right away, and I'll see who else I can send your way." He ordered before closing the comm channel.
Turning to his comm officer, he ordered, "What's the ETA on our reinforcements?"
"Bastion said their reinforcements will be here in no more than five hours."
"What about the Jedi and Hapans?" After Jaina and her visions were proven valid, Thern reached out to Shedu Maad and Ossus and requested either of them dispatch a fleet, and they had received confirmation they had launched forces from both worlds twelve hours ago. Unfortunately, since the Jedi swore off using their Force wormhole shortcut due to its volatile nature, despite the One Sith having no such reservations, there was no way to know if they would arrive in time to be of any help.
"Last word we received from them was that they were just outside the Myrkr System, but that was over six hours ago." The officer grimly answered. "At their current speed and if they face no interference, they'll be here in at least another six hours."
Biting back a curse, Thern reluctantly nodded, "Then we'll just make do with what we've got for now. Keep me updated on their progress."
Coruscant
Great Western Sea
Within the Brasmin Estate
"It's an honor to meet you, Prime Minister Rodan, Madam Fey'la. My family and associates have all heard great things about you from our…mutual acquaintance, and we're looking forward to working alongside you in your great task while shielding you from prying eyes." Solomon Brasmin greeted Fyor and Kar'sk while taking his luggage and escorted the duo through the Brasmin's luxurious home, observing the vast amount of wealth poured into the place ranging from dozens of priceless statues to artwork from many famous planets and artists.
After Coruscant was reclaimed from the Yuuzhan Vong and its surface was reclaimed, the wealthy senator and his family quickly resettled back and commissioned a home even more elegant and wasteful in credits than the first, something Fyor abstained from during his time as a New Republic senator and Commenor's prime minister afterwards. But for now, it would serve well as a headquarters for the Knights of Olpaka and their efforts in liberating their quarry.
Apparently, it seemed the late senator Fost Brasmin was a connoisseur of the refined and elegant, a fine cover for his role in the failed Lecersen Conspiracy before he was killed by his longtime friend, Kuat's former senator Haydnat Treen, to prevent him from revealing anything under duress or from an accidental slip in his advanced age. But at some point, Fyor had to ask why the son of Fost was so willing to help free his father's killer from her lifelong incarceration.
Kar'sk, however, had not nearly as much tact on this matter, and crassly asked Solomon after they were settled in, "What's your angle on this?"
"I beg your pardon?" Solomon inquisitively asked the Bothan.
"Why are you helping us free the woman who poisoned your father in the first place?" Kar'sk clarified but was only confused when Solomon warmly chuckled. "I'd have thought you'd want to see her suffer for the rest of her life for such a betrayal to your family."
"Ah, that's right. Your people value clan loyalty immensely, and most don't seek power exclusively for themselves." Solomon reminded himself, rankling Kar'sk's fur until he clarified, "Unfortunately, I've had no such loyalty to that doddering old fool for over a decade after his mind started withering away. Honestly, I would have done him in soon enough myself to claim all his wealth and connections, so I owe Haydnat a favor for doing my work for me."
"So, you're just in this for yourself." Kar'sk suspiciously assumed. "You're not giving us many reasons to trust you, Brasmin."
"No, you're wrong about that assessment." Solomon shook his head before growling, "I helped my father rebuild his reputation and wealth after the Yuuzhan Vong War and silenced the whispers of corruption that plagued him, and he refused to give me any credit, not even a bit of acknowledgement, for any of my accomplishments. And to top it all off, he joined Treen's conspiracy to grab even more power, but failed to see how he was just being used, nor did he tell me of any of his machinations, all to resurrect an Empire that was doomed to fail from the start."
"That doddering old fool left me with nothing, so now I'll make sure to surpass him and build a legacy better than anything he could ever have achieved. And making Treen and her cohorts aid us will just be the tip of the iceberg of payback for me." Eying Fyor after he calmed down, Solomon added, "I would assume our motives are a bit similar in that regard, Prime Minister Rodan."
"You can believe what you wish about me, Mr. Brasmin." Fyor coolly shrugged. "But your motives hardly matter to me at this point in time, since you have as much to lose as we do if either of us are discovered and captured by the GA and the Jedi's new alliance."
"Now, that's enough idle chit chat and reminiscing on past injustices. It's time we learned what you have on each of the three GAS prisons holding our quarries. We need to start comparing notes and laying the foundation for our operation before our opportunity slips away."
Coruscant
Jedi Temple
Ingo heard the same briefing as everyone else, but he did not want to believe what the Jedi were claiming amidst the cleansing of their old headquarters, or their developing alliance with the One Sith. After decades of secretly aiding Darth Krayt's mission, he found himself stymied by the revelations everyone was given of the looming threats in the Unknown Regions.
Every fiber of his being wanted to decry Tionne Solusar's outlandish story, and he nearly did so on several occasions during the briefing. But even Ingo knew Arhul Hextrophon was too altruistic and sickeningly noble to fabricate his massive manuscript. And the Sorcerers of Rhand, a group the One Sith had long tried to infiltrate and co-opt, if it was playing the galaxy against itself, they were a threat to everyone, not just his masters.
Suddenly, the Alliance of Light requesting Ingo's help to decipher the Shrine in the Depths' defenses and work to undo the dark side nexus permeating the planet was of greater importance than he first realized. And given how Lord Krayt had one of his agents order him to follow his host's exact directives, this was a task he wanted done as much as the Jedi did.
If the Dread Lord wanted this mission accomplished, he would see it done. But not without learning all he could of this "True Sith Empire" and its connections to the Sith shrine entombed below the Jedi's stronghold. Unfortunately, to accomplish that, he needed to have a distasteful conversation with the ones who recalled him from his life sentence of imprisonment.
Which was why he was being escorted to the one woman who could answer all his questions, who was currently engaged in a secure meeting with the galactic heads of state and the Jedi Council. Unable to hear anything behind the solid glass wall, he waited patiently until the holograms vanished, and Tionne turned to meet her visitors.
The transparisteel wall rescinding, Ingo kept the impudence from his voice as he answered, "Thank you for letting me meet with you, Master Solusar. I don't intend to take up too much of your valuable time."
"What can I help you with, Doctor Wavlud?" Tionne cordially asked, her silver eyes betraying no suspicion or caution to the full-blooded Human's perception. Appraising the One Sith sympathizer, she recognized, "You have doubts of the threat the galaxy faces."
"Perceptive of you, Master Jedi." Ingo drolly confirmed, before getting serious, "But I need to know a few things before I commit to this course of action. Specifically, I want to ensure that Major Hextrophon's final work is the valid article and that it connects to today's Sith."
Tiredly smiling, Tionne informed the guards, "Please wait outside." Seeing their confusion, she exhorted, "I can handle myself if Doctor Wavlud tries anything, but I believe he wishes me no ill intent."
Hesitating, the two Jedi reluctantly obeyed the Council member's orders, leaving the Sith historian alone with Tionne, who knowingly asked, "You are having a crisis of faith, are you not?"
Keeping his emotions tightly controlled from the Jedi Master's accursed intuition, Ingo only nodded as confirmation before he gritted out, "I imagine it's the same for many across the galaxy as well."
"Including myself." Tionne bitterly acknowledged. Glancing away, she elaborated, "For years, I was blind to the truth that my husband was replaced by a One Sith-created clone, and I let old wounds blind me to the remedy for this darkened galaxy."
"My dogmatic actions cost the Jedi several of our brightest and most able pupils and left them vulnerable for other powers to take them for their own use." She frighteningly lamented. "But now, the True Sith are on the move, and I fear this place will soon be destroyed, along with countless lives, unless we take decisive action to stop the impending disaster."
Wearily rubbing her wrinkled head with a hand, Tionne composed herself, "That is why you are here, Doctor Wavlud. We can't stop whatever the Rhandites have planned without understanding the Stygian Sith and their old empire, and you're the best expert the galaxy has on them."
"What makes you think your temple will be annihilated?" Ingo warily asked.
"I sense the dark energies of the underground temple slowly building, feeding off the disasters and attacks that Coruscant has suffered over the millennia. And I suspect the True Sith are preparing to use that accumulated power for a terrifying terror attack on the planet, just like the thought bomb Kaan used on Ruusan over one millennium ago. But if you want direct proof, I have none. That is where you come in." Tionne answered. "Will you help me uncover the truth and work to save countless lives from what might come to pass?"
Not hesitating for even a moment, Ingo nodded. "I'll do it. Not for your Alliance of Light, but for those that will be uplifted once the One Sith rule the galaxy. But until that day, I'll do what I can to protect the innocent from these would-be usurpers."
"I can live with that for now." Tionne ruefully smiled, handing Ingo a data packet. "This holds Arhul's final testimony. It'll answer many of your questions and give us a starting point on how to enter the Sith shrine. Make sure you put all that information and my trust in you to good use."
Vagar Praxut
Eskarrh
Inside the Vagaari Enclave
"Your puppet and his equally blind supporters had a singular job to undermine our mutual enemy. One mission that was supposed to bring the Chiss to their knees in a civil war of their own making! And for reasons I cannot begin to comprehend, all of them are about to fail spectacularly at every aspect of it!" The Miskara roared at Tor Valum's shrouded hologram after hearing his dire report on their political machinations.
According to the veiled man, almost the entirety of the Chiss hierarchy had decided not to even sanction Shawnkyr, Ba'kar, Vurawn, and all their collaborators. Instead, they decided to throw their entire support behind the war effort against the True Sith and all his allies and supporters. Although they'd send many political observers to monitor this covert triumvirate to assuage the traditionalists, the Ascendancy's decision to fully reach out to the rest of the galaxy only spelled doom for their enemies. And the Miskara knew he would be the first on the list to be dispatched.
All their efforts to infiltrate and cripple the Ascendancy's inner workings were about to come undone. To make matters worse, by the end of today, the entire Chiss people would be made aware of the rapid militarization program and diplomatic outreaches with many of the galactic powers in Lesser Space to act as a bulwark against their many enemies, even of their secret society's efforts to protect them.
As if Tor had read the Miskara's mind, the Rhandite agent interrupted his frantic ranting by immobilized him through the Force, and warningly threatened, "Don't ever dare to presume to know all my plans, Miskara. My order has been at this game far longer than you and most of these Sith running about, and unlike many of you all, I know how to adapt and enact proper contingencies."
"Besides, do you truly believe the divisions between the rival families and power structures has been erased in minutes?" The hooded Rhandite sorcerer chuckled. "Don't be a fool - well, an even bigger one, mind you. That animosity is still there, merely simmering beneath the surface of a façade of patriotism and redirected fears. All we need to do now is give them more targets for the darkness hiding within their hearts."
Releasing the Miskara, the Vagaari leader recomposed himself, and, keeping a tight leash on his emotions, imploringly asked, "Then how do you… suggest that we proceed going forward? If we don't do something soon, the Chiss will purge their highest ranks of our agents, direct their full attention towards uncovering my people's duplicity and destroying our alliance and all chances we have at retribution, wealth, and power."
"By giving the Chiss far more to worry about than a few dozen highly placed traitors and buying you and your top followers and allies the time you need to escape this doomed system." The Grysk sorcerer pointed out as if it was the most obvious option available. "I am certain that the Alliance will soon discover proof of your collaboration with us, and then they will make their move to finally crush your people's spirits and uncover all your work for both my people and the One Sith. Sadly, though, the only way to save the Vagaari at this point is to leave them behind for now."
"Leave them behind…" The Miskara repeated, fumbling over the torrent of words that threatened to spill out, struggling to avoid being reproached or disciplined once again, and slowly ground out, "But, what of the rest of my people and all our efforts for arming the One Sith and aiding their search for the prize? All our information, all our dealings and scouting efforts, they are encased in our databases, and they will not be easily wiped clean."
"Save what is absolutely vital to the mission into mobile data libraries but work diligently to destroy the rest." Tor firmly answered. "A few dozen terrorist attacks spread across the planet will serve as the perfect diversion for your escape."
"That's all well and good, but what about my people and what little martial power we still retain?" The Miskara strongly emphasized the last two words. "I refuse to leave them and face Chiss and Jedi reprisals alone."
"I am already sending a few of my followers to keep everyone's attention off the bulk of your rabble. The Nikardun and Rakata will be sufficient for such a task. But you must help remind your people of their proud history and blood oath against our shared enemies." Tor sinisterly promised. "We will not leave them to suffer under the Jedi and Ascendancy's unjust rule any longer than necessary."
Why is it that such a vow doesn't fill me with its intended confidence? The Miskara lamented, beginning to dread that this unholy pact would only seal his people's doom at their sworn enemies' hands.
Well, I think this is a good place to end the chapter! What did you all think? The battles for Dathomir and Korriban are in full swing, and I've included or continued a few extra conflicts and subplots as well to properly prepare for the next story. I hope it all works, and you all enjoyed the chapter. Not too much longer before this story reaches its climax, and I intend for it to be glorious. So, how are you doing on this warm and terrifying day of Tuesday, October 8, 2024? I'm safe for now, but fearful of the storms coming to Florida over the next two days. I know it's all in God's hands, but I'm a worrier by nature. And with world events and conflicts escalating, we'll need to believe in Him and do our part now more than ever. I guess that's all for today. I need to save power on my laptop for the next few days so I can work on Chapter 39. I did this one first, since it was the easier one and it wasn't giving me as many creative problems. And my epilogue, which I've finished as three chapters, it's going to be glorious, I can promise you that. Well, that's it for today. I'd better get this chapter and myself safely squared away before the storms come. May the Lord be with us all in these dark times, and Long Live the Expanded Universe!