Chapter 115: Whispers in the Dark

Chapter 115: Whispers in the Dark

– 1 Month Post Senate Announcement –

– Ithor - 24.4 BBY -

Kadrian Sey had no idea why her new master wanted Senator Tendau Bendon dead. The Ithorian senator was, like most of his species, a pacifist. Perhaps this was a test, to see if Kadrian had the proper mindset to be one of Darth Tyranus’s Acolytes in truth? If there were any lingering doubts about the supremacy of the Dark Side in her, she supposed that assassinating a peaceful senator who, even more unlikely, appeared to be an honest and humble politician, would have brought them to the surface.

She had no such doubts.

Peace Was a Lie.

She might not be a Sith yet, but she knew their code from study of old archives at the Jedi Temple, and that truth had resonated with her long before she was approached by the former Jedi Master. It was a self-evident reality, so far as she was concerned. The Republic touted itself as being in the middle of an unprecedented thousand years of peace…as if there weren’t tens of thousands of beings murdered on worlds across the galaxy every day. The Republic ignored local wars, blatantly in most cases, doing its best to pretend events like the Stark Hyperspace War and the Invasion of Naboo hadn’t happened. Which didn’t even cover the billions of slaves who certainly didn’t know the Republic’s supposed ‘peace.’

No, the Sith were right. Peace Was a Lie, and only power mattered. The power to reshape the galaxy how it should be, rather than foolishly accepting it as it was. Kadrian Sey felt nothing but simmering rage as she squeezed the trigger of her detonator, watching and savoring the feel of death in the Force as the sanctimonious proponent of ‘peace’ was blown away with his entire entourage. If Tyranus had thought she would hesitate, he knew better now. She was certain she had just secured her place as one of his Acolytes.

Eventually, she knew, her strength in the Dark Side would make her his apprentice as well…whatever those other fools who he’d allowed to try their hand at becoming the same thought. She knew it was her that would come out on top. It was her destiny.

… … …

– Castell - 24.4 BBY -

Trenox’s smile was bloodthirsty as he marked his prey. Perhaps, once, the fact that he was going to enjoy the chaos he was about to unleash would have appalled him. Yet, Master Dooku, now Darth Tyranus, had opened his eyes to the truth. The galaxy was in desperate need of order, and the only way to achieve that order and make it stick was through power. The Count, having spent decades at the very top of the Jedi Order yet achieving nothing for his efforts, had seen this clearly. The galaxy only understood strength, and to shift it to a more pleasing direction would require they prove they had it.

Unlike many of the other fools who had flocked to Dooku, taking direction without understanding the purpose of the great man’s orders, Trenox did understand his assignment. He liked to imagine that was why he’d been given the job of murdering Shu Mai and making it look like an unknown Jedi had done it. Many of the foolish who thought they would be Tyranus’s new right hand if they succeeded well enough at their tasks would have questioned why. Shu Mai was, after all, a major supporter of the growing Secessionist movement. As Presidente of the Commerce Guild, she was bringing a lot of money and influence to the cause. So why kill her?

Trenox was not so simple-minded.

No, he fully understood why her death was required. Their movement had taken several body blows as some connected to its mid-levels were raided by the Jedi and found to be corrupt. They’d lost a number of senators and rich business beings to those raids, and lost momentum in the debates as their corruption had been revealed. Too many were now associating the Separatist movement with corruption, rather than recognizing that the goal was to flee corruption.

The narrative needed to change.

The death of Shu Mai, who was unquestionably unscrupulous but had always stuck within the legal letter of the law as written? Seen by her allies both in the Guild and the movement as being done in by a Jedi wetworks team when they couldn’t prove a proper crime against her? That would alter the story going around, twisting it to cause fear in the other backers. Fear that, if they didn’t somehow protect themselves, the Jedi would come for them, too. They were already in far too deep to merely go home, so it would force a recommitment. Combined with a propaganda assault to stall the victories the Jedi were making, and the lost momentum could easily be regained.

The fact that Shu Mai really was a piece of utter scum simply meant he felt even less bad than he might have otherwise as he lopped her head off with his lightsaber. The wounds he’d left killing not just her, but her guards and droids, would make it clear what sort of weapon had been used. Spun correctly and correlated falsely with the raids the Jedi were performing throughout the Republic, this would do the job of redirecting focus and opinions of the galactic masses nicely…

… … …

– Alaris Prime - 24.4 BBY -

Ror neither knew, nor cared, why the specific Jedi he was targeting had been marked for death. He only cared that he was, at last, being given the chance to prove himself to Darth Tyranus by striking down a Jedi! It hadn’t been that difficult to convince a group of Trandoshans to smuggle him onto Alaris Prime, the fool lizards all-too-interested in scalping some Wookiees to please their stupid ‘Scorekeeper.’ Utterly ridiculous. The Force was the only greater power out there, and it certainly didn’t care how epic your killstreak was.

Whatever, it didn’t matter to him.

All that mattered was that Mavra Zane was to die by his lightsaber today. Preferably along with any padawans or initiates she’d brought to the planet, if he could reach them before her body was discovered. Giving an ugly smirk as he saw her out scouting again, apparently part of some plan to establish a small Jedi Temple here on the planet, he knew it was his moment to strike. He lept down from the tree, blade extended to lop of the inattentive Jedi’s head!

…

…

…

Ror never saw the blue lightsaber blade that cut him down without remorse. Master Adi Galia tisking at his failure to even dodge. She’d expected him to do so, having planned to take him alive by removing his arm after he’d dodged. Master Zane, who had been well aware of Ror’s poorly-hidden presence and acting as bait, doubled back and shook her head at the sight.

“I guess they don’t make assassins like they used too?”

Adi Gallia snorted at that comment but frowned down at the corpse of the Dark Acolyte.

“Incompetent though he might have been, his presence here at all is concerning. It almost certainly means that something leaked regarding our attempts to put a temple up here. We might have to abandon Alaris as an option, as well as trying to figure out where the information leaked from. No one but the Order and the locals were aware, and the Wookiees are far too honorable to sell the information. Which means…”

Master Zane scowled, following the train of logic easily enough.

“Which means the leak must have come from within the Order. The fears that we might have infiltrators, or that some of ours might have been turned, might have more credence than I’d wanted to admit.”

Master Galia nodded.

“Hopefully, the leak is only someone in the support staff, or a young padawan not used to information security needs. If we have to start investigating our own Knights and Masters, with the way things are already somewhat fractured, it might just lead to the Order splintering in truth. Doubly so if we find out the leak was deliberate. After all, this fool was a danger to the children that would have been sent here soon.”

Both women’s expressions turned grim as they considered the possibility. Hopefully, the Jedi Investigators would be able to find the leak before something far worse than this incompetent fool wrecked their hard work…

… … …

–  Serreno - 24.3 BBY –

Count Dooku looked through the reports of the many potential Acolytes he’d collected, noting which ones had succeeded at the tasks given to prove themselves and which had not. A few had died, but clean up teams had made sure that it wouldn’t track back to him or his faction, and those were the weaklings anyway. Even that fool Ror had served his purpose. He’d been far too unsatisfactory to keep, and their ‘secret’ new temples being discovered might just convince the Jedi not to disperse the way they were considering. That was a potential annoyance to the Great Plan.

A few more of the acolyte potentials had failed and would be eliminated, unworthy of receiving more than the basic instruction from him he’d already offered to each. Though even among the failures there was one he might yet have a use for. One way or another, the failures were both expected and nothing to be concerned over. After all, enough had succeeded to do exactly what his Master wanted.

The debate within the Senate had been derailed for too long by the Hutt Crusade and the attention it drew. Tempers had lessened and a few annoyances like Bail Organa and Eeshrin Ot'Hyne had made inroads in calming things farther with the distraction offered. Countermeasures had been taken, of course, to keep things from cooling off entirely. Yet, he and Sidious had both known that the scale of the distraction was working against them. That they would need to wait things out a bit. Honestly, given that it had given him longer to work on recruiting some assets and his Master had slipped several pieces of useful legislation through with the Crusade as an excuse, it was hardly a setback.

That said, it was time to get the galaxy back on its collision course in full.

The Jedi had surprised them by escalating first, but that too was useful. Their desperate attempt to cut out enough of the mid-level corruption in the Senate so they could shift the course away from war had, in fact, driven a number of useful pawns into Dooku’s hands. Those pawns, combined with the campaigns of terror both he and Sidious were launching to agitate both sides, would return the secession debate to galactic focus.

As it should be.

As they willed it to be.

Besides, he admitted, this series of operations had rid him of the shrill self-centered voice of Shu Mai. That sociopathic, self-centered bitch had been migraine inducing to deal with from the start. As evidenced by him resorting to calling her such names even in the sanctity of his own mind. Making a note to favor Trenox, in particular, for succeeding at his task of ridding him of her, he turned his attention to making sure her replacement would be someone properly…malleable. Preferably with a less headache-inducing voice.

… … …

-Tipoca City – Kamino-

– 24.2 BBY -

“Yes, Minster. The updated timetable provided by the client will be most beneficial to the results. Not only will far more of the original order be ready for instant deployment, but it has granted us the chance to better explore alternative variants. The Prime Donor’s clones are a good fit for a surprisingly wide set of roles, but fare somewhat poorly in the less martial aspects of running a military. Specifically, we believe introducing an alternate profile for medics is almost certain to increase efficiency. Some exploration is being given to a possible pilot variant as well.”

Lama Su’s head subtly shifted from side to side, a thinking gesture common to most Kaminoans. Recognizing it for what it was, Nala Se waited out her ultimate boss’s moment of thought. It only took a minute or two before the Prime Minister gave a shallow nod.

“Very well. While I will only authorize small test runs of the new configurations until the client sees results and either approves or denies them, I can see the value in exploring the concept.”

Nala Se nodded her acceptance, pleased she’d be allowed to more fully explore her theories. They rarely got to create clone armies at this sort of scope, after all. It should be taken as a chance to learn and improve the efficiency of the result. She had one more point to bring up, however. Though it shouldn’t be a controversial one.

“A final remaining point. The delay, combined with the aging treatment, will mean some of the early clones will be moving past their peak by the time of delivery. While it was considered a waste of resources before, it may be advantageous to reverse the rapid aging in the older clones now, so that the client will be fully satisfied with a larger number of peak clones, instead of some that are beginning to decline in their reflexes slightly.”

This time, Lama Su didn’t hesitate.

“Do it. At least for the oldest batches of clones. If we want large follow up orders from the Republic, providing them the best product at time of delivery is critical.”

Acknowledging the order once more, she moved on, wanting to get back to her lab.

“By your leave then, Prime Minster, I have work to do.”

The man waved her off and Nala Se quickly exited his office. She was moving quite a bit more quickly than normal, excited at the approval for alternate profiles. While the Prime Donor was an excellent source of genetic material, she had been getting bored now that she’d fully explored his limits. An attempt at a female line of his genetics would perhaps produce something useful. Yet there were also those among the Cuy’val Dar trainers that might make better options.

The prime two among them were a doctor, Mij Gilamar, and a female Mandalorian medic. The two were the ones who worked with the clones to train their medics up, and were excellent in the field of trauma care. Both, or a combination of their genes, might prove a better template for medical staff among this particular army. The Prime Donor clones were rarely gifted in that area, and she hadn’t been able to isolate what made the rare exceptions different. With more samples and more product lines, she might be able to figure it out…

… … …

– 24.1 BBY -

Devilla the Hutt’s heart was bitter, yet satisfied, as she watched her death come for her. Her throneworld wasn’t the first to come under League assault, the damnable monsters seemingly possessed of an unending stream of tricks. Like those utter nerfshit troop transports that somehow released a thousand troops instead of the hundred or so they should have physically been able to hold. Despite those tricks, her own forces had managed to take a significant bite out of her attackers, just like the defenses of the other throneworlds they’d taken so far. Their precious League would lose money on this assault, her own accounts deliberately drained off, her treasures smuggled elsewhere to hidden caches they were unlikely to ever find, and several of their capital ships had been destroyed entirely.

Nor would this be the end of her line.

The League were just as foolish as the Republic. They were not killing any Hutt under a certain age, too squeamish to do the job of eliminating their enemies entirely. Devilla had two children young enough that the enemy would not kill them, and they would know the locations of the caches when they were old enough. Like always, the Hutts would simply outlast their enemies, even if they were brought lower than ever before by this cursed Crusade against them. The Hutts would rise again, in time, as strong as ever. Stronger, even, for the weak and decadent having been pruned.

In the meantime, of course, her satisfaction was reserved for the revenge she would have on her enemies in death. If she couldn’t have her world, than no one would. Her sons were already off world, on a surrendered space station. The chattel were of no more use if they’d failed to stop the assault. As she watched the enemy forces reach her palace, she gave a final, grim smile and pushed the button on the ancient Republic Superweapon that one of her clan had stolen a copy of the plans for millennia ago.

The first groundquake was instant, as was the Baradium Fission device that wiped out Devilla and her capital city, along with thousands of League troops and tens of thousands of their droids. The increasingly fast groundquakes that followed, triggered by an ancient copy of the Shock Drum, would rapidly destabilize the planet in a matter of hours. Despite the best attempts of the League, tens of millions of locals that had served the Hutts would die. The only positive at all was that this particular throneworld had been lightly populated due to the Hutt clan it belonged to preferring to keep it otherwise pristine.

The agony and pain in the Force felt by thousands of Force Users as the planet became a small wound in the Force itself would bring the final series of assaults against the Hutt worlds to a temporary halt. The League Navy ground its collective teeth in frustration as they suddenly found a need to infiltrate every single world before conquering it. The need to allow the Jedi and other Force forces to find and disable other such super weapons before their enemies could wipe out their own planets would slow the final death of the Hutt empire by over a year and a half…

… … …

– Coruscant - 24.1 BBY -

Mas Amedda was pleased, as he read through the reports from the various factors he’d set loose. The Supreme Chancellor had given him the task of undercutting the gains the Jedi Order was making in popularity with the public. Their sudden burst of activities, revealing dozens of corruption scandals within the Senate, and other movers in the halls of power, had caused quite enough chaos. The fact that those scandals made for good press for a group that the Senate had been trying to marginalize for centuries on top of that chaos was completely intolerable.

Doubly so when he knew his master’s plans to purge the Senate on a grander scale were being impaired by the fools and their sanctimonious actions. Mas didn’t care one wit that his boss had confided to being from a different religious background than the Jedi, one that Jedi had always hated and attempted to genocide. The plan to gain far greater control over the galaxy, returning central authority to the Chancellor’s Office where it had always belonged, was far more important than their religious tiff. The Republic had lasted over 20,000 years under a strong central government. Now, not even a thousand after the idiots that put together the ’reformation,’ the Republic had become hideously corrupt and was doomed to fall apart.

Something obviously had to be done.

If that something just so happened to also increase Mas Amedda’s own standing and power? Well, there was no harm in being rewarded for your hard work on the galaxy’s behalf, now was there? Now, while the emphasis on the Jedi being child kidnappers had played out well, Mas was fairly certain they were starting to run into pushback on that front. Too many stories from worlds aligned with the Jedi were producing more accurate accounts of Jedi recruiting policy. Better to let that particular angle settle back to a long-term simmer.

Hmmm, instead…yes, that would do. The Chancellor had let him into the archives of some of the more questionable activities the Jedi Order had gotten up to. A carefully controlled leak of one or two missions where corrupt Jedi had clearly ruled in favor of the rich and powerful would do nicely to cut their current popularity boost off at the knees. After all, if the supposed ‘anti-corruption’ Jedi were, themselves, obviously corrupt, then just who were they going after? Those who didn’t bribe them enough? Political enemies?

Yes. Yes, this would do nicely…

... ... ... ... ... ... ...

A/N 1: All three Dark Acolyte potentials are actual characters from canon, even if we know little about them. Maser Zane is as well.

A/N 2: Dooku! Haven't seen his perspective for a while, even if this one doesn't tell us much of what he's been up too...

A/N 3: Some hints about things that might be a little different with the Clones, due to there being a bit more time before the Clone Wars than there would have been...

A/N 4: The Shock Drum was a Republic superweapon featured in The Old Republic game.

A/N 5: A quick reminder for those less familiar with the BBY dating system (which I'm honestly regretting using at this point), dates count down toward zero. I honestly probably should convert it to another system, but that would be a pain in the ass.