Chapter 73: Consensus Made
A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next four chapters are up on my for early access as well as the chance to vote on the direction of the story!
Tylo utilizes his greatest strength to get Janga to come around to his way of thinking.
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Letting out an explosive breath, Tylo decides to keep things… pragmatic.
“She’s a small fry and you know it. You might hate her for leaving Boba with Death Watch, but in the end, she’s just a patsy. A tool. Her Master was the one who gave the order. Who pulled the trigger.”
Janga’s eyes narrow at that.
Dooku. That bastard has betrayed me for the last time.
That’s right. Tylo had looked in to Janga’s history in his downtime after her supposed death. He’d been curious to see what made the Mandalorian tick. What he’d found had honestly been a little baffling at times. Her past didn’t quite line up with all the decisions she’d made in the present.
“… A cute analogy, but the universe doesn’t really work like that. Call her a tool all you want, but a blaster isn’t going to come back to bite you in the ass once you kill its owner. Ventress is a threat, regardless of how we choose to deal with her Master.”
Tylo inclines his head in acceptance of those words.
“She is, you’re not wrong. But isn’t she more useful to us alive right now then dead? She knows things about the Sith’s plans for the Jedi. She might also know things about what the Sith have in mind for Death Watch. If she can be persuaded to talk about what she knows, we can corroborate the evidence we’ve recovered here and finally make some moves towards ending this war.”
Janga’s outward expression doesn’t change, but her thoughts…
And why would I want to end this war? Why should I want to save the Jedi from their own damn selves? Jedi… Sith… in the end, both can go burn for all I care.
Given what he knew about her, Tylo had to admit that she had justification for her thoughts. Janga Fett had been a slave for a time because of the Jedi. Because of their failure to curtail the Senate’s influence. However…
“I wonder why you agreed to even work with Dooku again, given your past together.”
Janga goes still at that, not quite able to stop herself from freezing up. It’s not a full flinch, but it’s close enough.
He knows!
The others are looking at her now, not knowing everything he knows. Finally, she juts out her chin in a half-nod.
“… You know about Galidraan then.”
Understanding dawns in the Mandalorians’ eyes. Specifically, Bo-Katan and Rook, both of whom have clearly heard about Galidraan if nothing else. Boba’s brow furrows, the young girl apparently not privy to that information just yet. Meanwhile, Aayla and Maris are confused but both remain content to let Tylo continue leading this conversation.
“I do. I looked into it after we thought you died in the Jedi’s care. I assume that was actually Dooku busting you out?”
As if that’s a hard leap to make.
“Yes.”
“Right. Well I imagine neither of us think he was driven to do so via guilt or a sense of loyalty. Even still… by this point you have to know that what happened at Galidraan was not entirely the Jedi’s fault. We carry our fair share of blame, but other forces were at work there, weren’t they?”
Death Watch.
Tylo very carefully doesn’t widen his eyes at that. He’d meant the Sith but… Death Watch? The files he’d read in the Jedi Archive didn’t mention their culpability. And yet, who would know better than Janga herself? Quickly amending his planned response, Tylo spreads his hands apart, one after the other.
“The Sith… and Death Watch.”
What?
In the same way he’d been caught off guard by the Death Watch connection, Janga was caught off guard by the Sith connection. Of course, she’s just as careful not to show it outwardly as he is. But Tylo is cheating. Huffing, the infamous bounty hunter crosses her arms over her chest and shakes her head.
“A Sith Plot? Is that what you think Galidraan was?”
Pure Jedi Incompetence and Republic Corruption, more like. The Sith. It’s always about the Sith, damn it. Can’t just be that the Jedi let themselves be fooled by Death Watch. Can’t be that Death Watch had their own schemes going. No, has to be Sith.
Straightening up, Tylo stands his ground.
“I don’t just think, I know it was a Sith Plot, Janga. I’m not denying that Galidraan was as much a Jedi Failure as anything else, to be fair. Death Watch might have been the ones to use the Jedi as patsies, but who do you think used Death Watch? The Sith were pulling the strings all along. After all… Galidraan is where Dooku began his Fall. It’s where his eventual Sith Master started his descent to the Dark Side.”
That’s… that better not be fucking true. All of my comrades didn’t die for some Sith machinations. I didn’t suffer in slavery because some Sith wanted fucking Dooku as their geriatric apprentice.
Janga narrows her eyes at that, her thoughts still tinged with distrust. Even still, there’s a conviction to Tylo’s words that’s beginning to get to the Mandalorian Woman. He can tell it’s more a matter of not WANTING to believe than anything else.
“You seem convinced Dooku is a Sith. That there even are Sith hanging around still. Maybe he’s just a Fallen Jedi. Your Order produces a lot of them after all.”
Tylo wished that last sentence didn’t have a ring of truth to it, but at least he could easily debunk the first part.
“The Sith are indeed ‘hanging around still’, Janga. We’re standing in the final hideaway of a Sith Lord named Darth Plagueis the Wise. He might be dead and gone… but his apprentice still lives. His apprentice is Dooku’s Master.”
“He’s right, Janga.”
All eyes turn towards Bo-Katan, Janga’s glaring as the ginger Mandalorian straightens her spine.
“We all heard it right here in this very room. The holocron said it flat out. Supreme Chancellor Palpatine is a Sith Lord. Dooku’s Master, Darth Sidious.”
At those words, Janga does visibly flinch before she can contain herself.
Fuck.
He doesn’t need to be a mind reader to know that Janga has heard that name before.
“You know about Sidious, don’t you?”
Hissing, Janga looks down at her prosthetic hands for a moment.
Damn it. Damn it all.
“I didn’t… initially. But these past few months… I’ve caught wind of someone called Sidious working with Dooku once or twice. I thought they were the true power behind the Confederacy. But you… truly? Palpatine is this Sidious fucker?”
Janga’s eyes sweep across the room, as if hoping that just a single person will contradict Bo-Katan’s words and allow her to cling to her delusion for a moment longer. She finds no such person among Tylo and his fellow Jedi… and in the end, even Rook and Boba nod to corroborate that they heard the exact same thing from Darth Plagueis’ holocron.
In this moment of brutal reveal, Tylo clears his throat and steps in again.
“Even if you don’t want to admit it, you’ve always known this was a Sith Plot, Janga. Because all the way back on Kamino… you told Master Obi-Wan Kenobi who you were hired by.”
Janga’s eyes narrow into slits as she turns to regard him again.
What? What does that have to do with anything?
Answering her unspoken question, Tylo continues.
“You told Kenobi that you were hired by a man called Tyrannus. But someone as good as you… you almost certainly looked into things. You found out it was really Dooku hiding behind an assumed name. You worked for him anyways, despite Galidraan. I’d ask why, but we both know your reasons.”
Indeed, it’s quite obvious to Tylo at this point, even if maybe it’s not so clear to the others. But there’s no real value to be gained in forcing Janga to admit that she worked with Dooku in spite of his past wrongs against her… probably because he told her that the Clone Army would ultimately be used in a plot to destroy the entire Jedi Order.
“Still… Tyrannus wasn’t just a cover identity Dooku used to hide his dealings with you and the Kaminoans. DARTH Tyrannus is Dooku’s Sith name… given to him by his Sith Master, Darth Sidious… the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic.”
… Fuck.
Janga looks defeated. Maybe even a little shellshocked. It’s clear that parts of this conversation have not gone the way she expected.
“… Goes all the way to the top then, doesn’t it?”
Grimacing, Tylo nods.
“It does. Finding out that the Republic is led by a Sith Lord intent on our downfall hasn’t been fun for any of us either, I’ll tell you that much. But we know now. Look, Janga. I’m not saying your hatred for the Jedi is entirely unjustified.”
There are sharp intakes of breath from both Aayla and Maris at that, and even Janga looks bewildered.
Excuse me? Is a Jedi trying to tell me that I should be allowed to hate his Order? Heh, not very Jedi-like of him.
Not quite. But Tylo is still trying to bring her around to his way of thinking.
“You were wronged. There’s no denying that. You and your people suffered at the hands of the Jedi. But according to Plagueis, the Sith have been planning this for a thousand years. I don’t want to start jumping at shadows and say that every little thing that ever went wrong for the Jedi or the Mandalorians is the fault of the Sith… but when a mistake like Galidraan is allowed to happen and the Jedi Master in charge of the mission soon falls to the Dark Side and joins the Sith’s plan… well, it paints quite the picture.”
Not even stopping to hear Janga’s thoughts this time, Tylo presses on, his tone firm and unyielding.
“They made you their pawn, Janga. On Galidraan. On Kamino. All the way up to now. They kidnapped your daughter and left her with your mortal enemies for months while using you to do their dirty work. The Jedi might have played a part in your pain, but the Sith were the ones who manufactured it each and every time.”
… He’s right.
Janga looks down at her hands again, before letting out a heavy sigh. However, when she looks up, she’s frowning.
“You’re not wrong. But then, given all of that… I’m still not sure why I’m supposed to let the bald bitch live.”
Tylo lets out a huff of laughter at that. It might seem like it, but he hadn’t actually forgotten Ventress in all of this. With a slightly wry grin, he shakes his head.
“I would say that one pawn should be willing to feel at least a little bit of sympathy for another. Ventress has never been a Jedi… but neither is she much of a Sith. She doesn’t have a Sith Name. She’s the tool of a Sith Apprentice, the apprentice of an apprentice. She is… largely nothing. But her information could still be key to stopping the Sith. She’s of more value to us alive right now than dead.”
Hmph. I’m still not entirely convinced… but I owe the Jedi bastard. More than I care to admit, even. Tch.
“Fine. She lives… for now. At least for as long as it takes me to destroy Death Watch and remove them from the board entirely.”
Well shit. That was… a goal. Tylo doesn’t even hesitate though.
“I can’t speak for my fellow Jedi, but I would be happy to accompany you on such a mission, Janga Fett. And maybe your services can be of use to us in dealing with the Sith when the time comes. You are, after all, quite skilled at taking down Force Users.”
Heh. Buttering me up now. Cute.
Janga’s smile is razor-thin, even as she gives a sharp nod.
“Then I suppose we’d best be off.”
Tylo inclines his head.
“If it’s not too much to ask, please go and get the ships ready. We need to… finish purifying this place of its Dark Side Taint.”
Janga looks around the laboratory at that, before rolling her eyes and shrugging. She leaves then with Rook Kast and Boba on her heels… but Bo-Katan stays behind. It’s him, Bo-Katan, Aayla, and Maris as the latter two both give him queer looks. In the end, it’s Aayla who speaks plainly.
“Tylo… purifying the Force Presence of a place as steeped in the Dark as this would take months if not years.”
At the same time, Bo-Katan also speaks up.
“You didn’t tell Janga about the Biochips or Order Zero.”
Tylo smiles at both of them as they blink, turn to one another… and come to the right conclusions at the same times based off each other’s words.
Oh.
Ah.
“That’s right. I’m sure Rook or Boba will tell Janga everything soon enough. So she’ll know all that we know. But… here’s the thing. I don’t know if she knew about the Biochip. And I kind of didn’t want to find out.”
There was a reason he’d barely mentioned the Clone Army. Janga… didn’t seem to care all that much about her ‘children’ outside of the one who was growing up at a normal age. Boba Fett was her entire world. But the Clone Army? She seemed… ambivalent to them, by and large. They were just a tool in the end to her, he was pretty sure.
So yes, he could have asked about the biochip and read Janga’s mind directly to find out what she knew. He hadn’t. Cowardly of him? Perhaps. But then, he was about to have to make a much harder decision right now. Looking to Maris at the terminal she’d hacked, Tylo lets out a sigh.
“We have Order Zero now, right?”
Oh! My turn to shine!
Perking up, the Zabrak Padawan smiles a sunny smile and nods happily.
“Yes, Master! On top of shutting Plagueis out of the mainframe, I’ve also given myself admin access. I have Order Zero right here.”
Tylo slowly nods and then looks to Aayla and Bo-Katan for a moment.
“There’s no denying that we need to use Order Zero before leaving this place. The existential threat to the Jedi Order that a mind controlled Clone Army represents can be neutralized right here, right now. But there’s a question of HOW precisely we’re supposed to use Order Zero.”
The smile on Maris’ face fades as she realizes what he means… as they all realize what he means. It’s Bo-Katan who voices it.
“You could use Order Zero to not only shut Palpatine out… but give yourself control over the Clones.”
Tylo sighs and nods his head.
“Ourselves… or the Jedi High Council, yes. Even if we take down Palpatine tomorrow, there’s still a war going on after all. The Confederacy still has to be stopped.”
He pauses and then looks at all of them.
“I’m open to suggestions here.”
[ ] Use Order Zero to shut out Palpatine and keep control of the Clone Army to themselves as a failsafe - 22%
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