Chapter 127: Expedition
Chapter 127: Expedition
– Tython System – 22.9 BBY –
“Hyperspace emergence successful. Welcome to Tython, everyone.”
Aayla’s comment was light, but the feelings on the bridge of the Luminosity were extremely…mixed. The ancient Corellian Colonizer ship was, so far as anyone knew, the very last such ship flying anywhere in the galaxy. One of three that had survived from the original thirteen in use as Praxeum ships before the New Sith Wars, the other two had eventually been stripped for parts to keep the Luminosity itself going. Yet, for all that the ship was over a thousand years old now, she was still the pride of the Explorer Corps in some ways.
The reason for that was actually pretty simple.
The Luminosity was tough.
The original ships of the class had been, as one might imagine from the name, intended for colonization efforts in poorly mapped regions of the galaxy. Corellian engineering, already generally famous for being rugged as all kriff, had been pushed to its absolute limits to create a capital-scale ship that could survive even the roughest hyperlane exits and longest expeditions. Once handed over to the Explorer Corps post-Ruusan, Jedi engineers had farther enhanced that ruggedness with updates and modifications. If there were any ship in the entire galaxy that could claim the ability to ‘safely’ map hyperlanes?
That ship was the Luminosity.
It was for this reason that the ship had been recalled when Yoda had, seemingly out of the blue, called for the expedition to Tython to resume planning. Events with the Crusade and the chaos caused by the near-fracture of the Jedi Order had derailed initial plans to make such an expedition, and more than one Jedi had given mood whiplash when the Grand Master had forcefully pushed to restart the planning for it. Even more mind-boggling was the fact that Yoda had done so with the intent of making it a joint expedition, between the Jedi Order and the Academy of Ossus. Though that fact was being kept rather quiet from those not part of the expedition itself.
Aayla suspected she had a good idea what the Grandmaster was up to and, much as she hated that becoming the point-woman holding both factions together was keeping her away from Izuku, she did approve. Contrary to what many outsiders thought, the various Service Corps weren’t entirely staffed by ‘Jedi Rejects.’ In fact, what even most initiates never realized, was that it was entirely possible to be raised all the way to Master just from work done in the Service Corps. Admittedly that happened most often from the Explorer Corps, and it was still only a handful of individuals, but it did happen. Likewise, some Jedi were just flat called by the Force to work in the various Corps, their particular gifts with the Force being well suited to some task other than fighting.
The result of that congruence of facts just so happened to be that one of the largest chunks of apolitical, non-traditionalist, Jedi? It could be found in the Explorer Corps in particular. It took a particular sort of mindset to push out into the unknown areas of the galaxy, mapping new hyperlanes and contacting new species and civilizations. A flexible mindset, as it happened, given that the Explorer Corps was the single most likely to run into ‘Weird Force Shenanigans™.’ That they were also prone to running into conflict, also meant they were the one Service Corps with the most Knights and Masters. Some raised internally from initiates that had been shuffled into the Explorer Corps, others simply called to the Corp by the Force after they made the rank of Knight more traditionally.
Encouraging good relations between perhaps the single most flexible group of Jedi in the Order and the Ossus Academy? Well, that was pretty obviously a start on getting the Order as a whole to accept that the Academy existed and that its existence wasn’t a bad or heretical thing. Something she’d already seen playing out on the slow trip mapping a new hyperlane to Tython. The Explorer Corps Jedi, be they masters or those who’d never become more than initiates, were exceptionally curious about the various Force Traditions that made up the other half of the expedition. Yet, they were also diplomatic about that curiosity as they politely integrated the likes of Luka Sene and Matukai. The former along out of academic interest and the latter to act as security.
The pair of Matukai really wanted to try punching the Dark Side technobeasts in the face to see if their internal Force usage could be honed even farther by fighting off the virus they produced. Lunatics, the both of them, as far as Aayla was concerned. Both had managed to learn Force Light, however, so they at least weren’t at much risk of the technovirus actually corrupting them. Meanwhile, their enthusiasm for dealing with the local Dark Side beasties would help keep the rest of the expedition safe.
“The whole world is at war with itself. However could this have happened to the birthplace of the Jedi?”
The quiet comment had come from Jedi Knight Tyneir Renz, and it was Master Ru-Tuo, the Pathfinder in charge of the Luminosity, who answered a moment later.
“Hmmm, feels like the residue of a natural Dark Side event, the sort of thing that occurs when some sort of cataclysm or other causes a mass extinction event or similar. Such things normally fade naturally, but it seems someone made use of the Dark Side surge for their own ends, spreading corruption that kept the natural occurrence from healing. Even that doesn’t seem to have fully corrupted the planet, though. There are even older Force Nexuses down there that are Light aligned and appear to be slowly purging the corruption.”
Aayla nodded at that.
“The planet honestly feels a bit better than the first time I was here. It’s been a couple of years now, and the small group of us that were called here killed off a significant number of corrupted beasts. That might have sped the process up a little, though it clearly has a long way to go if left entirely on its own to recover.”
Master Ru-Tuo nodded at that.
“It’s unlikely such culling was enough on its own. But if things were already righting themselves towards balance, it may well have tipped the scales and sped the process up. If that’s the case, then investigating this ‘Dark Fortress’ you reported and cleansing it is all the more important. If we can speed up the process farther, we might yet be able to establish a lasting base here, instead of just an expedition. For now, though, we need to pick out one of the less corrupted areas for our field camp. Can you highlight where the Fortress, as well as the old Temple, are for us?”
Aayla nodded and, from where she was at the helm, pulled up the map to mark the locations she had visited with Izuku and Mei. Hopefully, this trip would go smoothly and she could return to League space once the expedition settled in. She was really only here as the glue between the groups now that they’d arrived, and if they all continued getting along, she could return home. If not…well, at least she could now reach out to Izuku and Zavra even from here. Though it was a little annoying that full blown communication was only possible when two or more of them were sufficiently horny.
Fun, too, admittedly. But it was still something they needed to work on…
… … …
– Hatsume Station – 22.8 BBY –
Zavra hummed happily to herself as she checked her latest augmentation project against Mei’s handy list of ‘War Crimes Not to Do.’ As she worked her way down the list, she once again thought New Master was a little silly. So far as she knew, there had never been such a level of civilization to warfare in their reality, unlike the interesting-but-small world he’d come from.
Really, who had ever heard of not shooting medical ships? Those were high priority targets! If you just let the wounded get away, you have to try killing them a second time! Worse, you’d ease logistics for your enemy if you let them save their wounded. Sure, it was always possible to recruit another person to fill a dead minion’s shoes, but it cost a lot more in both credits and time for the enemy to train a new officer to replace the experienced one you’d killed off. Not to mention that any soldier that survived got away with experience that would help them survive again. They might even teach their tricks of how to do so to others!
Oh well. Even if her New Master was a little silly, she thought she actually liked him better than her Empress! He was more pragmatic than those silly Jedi she’d worked with before, as evidenced by the number of Hutts who had been executed for ‘crimes against sapient life,’ despite those not having been crimes within their Empire. At the same time, he was less callous than her former Mistress had been, something which had bothered Zavra when Acina directed that callousness at their own people. Enemies were one thing, but allies were another! One should only kill them by accident or experiments gone horribly or wonderfully wrong! Not by deliberate sacrifice!
Finding that her current project, an exo-spine that would support a much superior super soldier project and which hadn’t quite been possible in her original time, wasn’t a ‘War Crime,’ Zavra gave a little cheer and submitted it. She moaned a moment later, enjoying the start of the ‘reward program’ as it activated some of her fun implants. She’d been ecstatic when Master Izuku approved her for a similar reward system as Mei!
That was another thing she loved about him! He was way more willing to let her actually cum than Mistress had been! Acina had often edged her for weeks, even months once or twice, before finally rewarding her! Master Izu let her earn her release way more often! Ohhhh, this one was going to be a good one too, it had chosen one of her favorite programs in its random shuffle. Better flop into her ‘reward appreciation chair’ before her legs gave out on her…
… … …
– Tython System – 22.7 BBY –
Aayla spun, blades flicking out in both directions to momentarily turn herself into a whirling dervish. One that cut through four separate technobeasts that had managed to surround her or, more accurately, that she’d allowed to surround her. They fell, diced into pieces, and a burst of Force Light from one of the less melee-focused Jedi following behind her finished them off. The abominations just didn’t die properly if you didn’t do that part, but the strike team she was leading had experimented with packs of the creatures outside the Fortress and worked out the best pattern to advance.
This was their second expedition into the Dark Fortress itself.
The first one had been cut short when they’d found the remains of five ancient Jedi who had been cut down, choosing to remove their bodies, lightsabers, and other effects instead of continuing on. That first assault had turned up some basic information on the Fortress, however. Enough to confirm that it was the source of the technobeasts, as well as the primary thing keeping the planet’s natural Force from returning to balance.
From what they’d discovered, it had been the stronghold of a Sith Lord named Belia Darzu, who had specialized in mechu-deru and Sith alchemy. The combination of those two fields was rather obviously what had created the technobeasts, and the continuing presence of them on the planet seemed tied to the labs that were still present within the Fortress. Apparently, they were still pumping out a technovirus called the nanogene spore, which created the mutated cyborgs the Sith Lord had referred to as Metanecrons. They would assimilate virtually any living creature into their ‘army.’ Which is why the planet was still crawling with the things so many centuries after her death.
Honestly, it was a good thing someone had apparently assassinated the female changeling. There were actually proper records of the Metanecrons within the Jedi Archives, despite how fragmentary those archives were about events of the New Sith Wars. The records had survived due to the cyborgs making up most of the threat of the Sith during the Sictis Wars. One of the many sub-wars that made up the New Sith Wars. There was a reason it was the New Sith Wars, not ‘War,’ and the Sictis Wars had been a particularly brutal subset. One of those that had been solved not so much by genuinely winning, but by the Sith critical to it being eliminated internally and the enemy falling apart. That Sith, of course, being Belia Darzu.
Thankfully, the remnants of the technobeasts here on Tython were aimless and easy to guide into kill zones. Like the cross-corridor they’d just gathered this group up into to deal with.
“Alright everyone! Mapping says the labs are in the West Wing, and the left-hand corridor should take us there. Double check your filters and keep your senses dialed high. Once we cross into the lab section, we’re more likely to see intact traps and static defenses.”
There were acknowledgements from her team. Less snappy than if she’d been working with a League military group, but over the last month as they’d worked together she’d gotten them to at least communicate. Working together through the Force was well and good, and how Jedi normally operated, but they were up to their eyebrows in Dark Side energy at the moment, meaning that sort of thing wasn’t reliable. Not to mention that they weren’t all Jedi. The two Matukai that were part of the Tython Expedition were both part of this raid group, for example. Which made verbal orders and responses even more critical.
Thankfully, none of the Jedi she was working with were serious ego-cases, and had willingly learned to work with her methods. Once she got confirmation of good seals from everyone, she pointed them into the left corridor and pushed onward. The Matukai were directly behind her, their own unique abilities having proven equal to keeping the technovirus from infecting them. Together they made up the vanguard as they pushed keeper into the Fortress, intent on reaching the labs…
… … …
– Kor Gejalli System – 22.6 BBY –
For once, Izuku was pleased to be doing paperwork. Specifically, he was pleased to be doing the paperwork that brought the Hutt Crusade to a close. Not legally. For the ‘official’ close of the Crusade, there would be a proper ceremony, with suitable pomp and circumstance. Even now, he knew the committee assigned to plan that ceremony was arguing viciously if it should be held here over Kor Gejalli, over Nal Hutta as the symbolic capital of the defeated Hutt Empire, or on Tythe Central as the symbolic head of the League of Free Stars. There were arguments for and against all options, with many of them revolving around degrees of safety for all of those attending.
Personally, Izuku suspected Nal Hutta would win out in the hotly contested debate. They’d had control of it long enough to solidify that control, and it was more representative of the League. For all that the League government was currently on Tythe, that wasn’t likely to last in the long run. Tythe was separated from the rest of their holdings by multiple sectors of space, albeit it wasn’t a great distance in absolute terms. The Grand Council Chamber had been specifically built as the center of a growing space station capable of being moved, precisely because they’d suspected all along that Tythe may not remain the capital forever. The fact it allowed the Council of Free Worlds to move around where it met, rather than constantly favoring one planet, was a nice bonus.
As for Tythe, even with a number of systems between Tythe and former Hutt Space having joined the League, the territory between former Hutt Space and Tythe itself didn’t quite connect. The Abrion Sector and Grohl Sector still lay between the closest world that had joined the League via the Hutt Space Border rule, while a handful of systems in the Arkanis Sector were the farthest ‘North’ from Tythe that had joined the League. In that case, only the fact that those systems had never actually been part of the Republic in the first place had allowed them to join the League instead. Something the Republic was very unhappy about but, as far as Izuku was concerned, that they could remain unhappy about. Those worlds, including Tattoine, hadn’t been part of the Republic due to the Republic’s own efforts in making it harder for poor worlds in the Outer Rim to join and get representation.
He was more than willing to play nice with the Republic if possible, but complaining that you shot yourself in the foot because you thought you were the only game in town? Well, suffice it to say his sympathy was closer to non-existence than it was the more polite description of ‘limited.’ To be honest, he suspected the Republic was unaware that a number of those worlds had even ‘flipped,’ given how rarely they were visited by anyone but the scummy flavor of interstellar traders.
Dragging things back to his current happy paperwork, however…this form work was unofficially ending things, in his capacity as Sovereign. It would shift the League Military from a full war-footing to a police-action. In practical terms, it wouldn’t make a lot of difference how most of the military was being run. It did, however, serve to mark the occasion of the last Hutt World having been captured. It would likely be long years of policing the Bootana Hutta region in particular, before they were truly and properly League worlds. Possibly even decades. But for all intents and purposes?
The war was over, and the League had won. After 25,000 years, the Hutt Empire was no more…
… … …
– Tython System – 22.5 BBY –
Aayla was very pleased to be leaving Tython.
Not that she felt that the work here had been any sort of waste. Her and her team’s own efforts to cleanse the Dark Fortress had been an unqualified success, and already everyone could tell that the planet was healing much faster than it had been. Likewise, the Expedition as a whole had made a significant number of discoveries. Over a dozen holocrons had been recovered, as had numerous records that were already helping patch holes in the history of the Jedi Order.
Even better, an entirely-light-aligned Nexus near an old Temple had been found, and a new Temple was being constructed near it. A few of the older initiate clans were being slowly trickled away from the main Jedi Temple on Coruscant and repositioned here. There was still enough risk on the planet that no one thought it a good idea to move the younger clans. But for those who were more advanced, the new Temple would be a good place to finish their learning. The planet and its dangers would serve well as a final whetstone to polish the initiates. Something that would normally be done via missions across the galaxy. Likewise, with the greater push for combat instruction, the somewhat wild and slightly dangerous nature of Tython would serve as a better place for them to hone their skills overall.
To the best of her knowledge, it was one of four new academies that were being set up. Though, in a burst of paranoia that she heartily approved of, Aayla herself didn’t know where the other three were located. The Jedi Order was getting much better at information control, which she very much hoped would frustrate the Sith out there that they still hadn’t managed to identify. She certainly felt better about the Jedi not having all their eggs in one nest, as one of the Avian Masters assigned to the task had put it.
Even on a personal level, she had to admit that her time on Tython had borne fruit. She’d learned quite a lot from the pair of Matukai on her own security team, and had been allowed to spend time with many of the recovered holocrons as well. She’d been filled with a sort of uncertain pride when more than one of the Masters present had quietly told her, when they’d given her that access, that she would likely be raised to Master herself…if she ever returned to the Jedi Order properly.
Aayla hadn’t hated her time with the expedition by any means, understanding she’d done good and learned a lot. No, Aayla was proud of what she and the expedition had accomplished…she was just also very much wanting to get back to Izuku. To Mei, Zavra, Shaak, Padmé and Sabé too. Though not all of those were likely to be waiting in one place for her.
According to what she’d been able to communicate with Izuku and Zavra, Padmé and Sabé, at least, were due for another stint with the League. Which she’d hopefully be around for. She’d missed them making one return trip already while she was away…and might have pouted at having to hear from Izuku that the pair actually had made it the several month gap without removing their chastity belts. The sex after they’d managed to reunite with Izuku had apparently been fantastic, and she’d missed it!
Oh well, at least Sabé had apparently bullied Padmé back into ‘something like it’ again, though no one would tell her exactly what. Only that it was a Mei-related solution. She was really looking forward to finding out what that meant…and looking forward even more to getting past the entirely-too-long dry spell she’d been on since splitting from Shaak! She’d gotten her dose of adventure in for a while, thank you very much!
She wanted some Izuku time now…
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A/N 1: The whole Tython Expedition mostly exists for exactly the reasons Aayla observed. Yoda attempting diplomacy with the Ossus academy after having a largely positive trip there. He sees promise in it and the League and is trying to undercut the traditionalists who might throw a fit about it.
A/N 2: Ding Dong the Hutts are dead...or at least no longer in power, since the League didn't go full Genocide on them. I don't intend to put a lot of focus on the 'innocent' Hutts going forward, though the community of them on Jabim that Fay set up took in a lot of the young ones to be raised in a less criminal environment.