The Future of the Order
Part 1
Jedi Temple, Coruscant
"Sir, Jammers are going up all around the Temple. We just lost sensor coverage over most of the building." one of the clones reported calmly, showing no sign that the explosion had affected him in the least.
"I can't sense the intruders with the Force," stated Master Secura.
"There are a lot of techniques and trinkets that can aid someone evade the foresight of a Force Adept," I shrugged.
I wondered what had happened with my stash of Force related artifacts in the last few millennia. They were probably plundered by now.
"As Master Secura observed, its your temple, Master Yoda. What do you need done?" I asked Yoda. "The Republic Army is ready and willing to assist the Jedi in their hour of need." I didn't add aloud the obvious "again".
"Track down the intruders, we must. Their true purpose we know not." grumbled Yoda.
By his expression, I could gather that he wasn't relishing almost being blown up to kingdom come in his own Temple. Then, there was the fact that a smug, smirking Sith Lord was standing in front of him, offering to help them. Again. Yeah. That had to grate.
I could hardly conceal my glee. Who could have thought that being evil could be so much fun?
Yoda's ears twitched with exasperation.
"Secured the younglings and the archives must be. The Communications Tower, handled by Kenobi and Skywalker will be."
"I'm going to the archives. I don't think that any of you would tolerate me being anywhere near your Younglings."
They didn't disagree with my assessment of the situation.
"Escort the General, you will, Master Ti," declared Yoda, disregarding the glares headed my way. Or perhaps not. I could almost feel a tingle of amusement in his aura.
I turned to my apprentice. "Aria, stay here and make sure that the security center remains more or less intact. Besides, I won't risk some overeager Jedi mistaking you as one of the intruders. That's a complication neither of us want."
This time the Jedi agreed with me.
"This way, Veil." Shaak Ti darted towards the door, without sparing me a second glance.
I dashed after her. I reached the Jedi Master when she was next to the exit. I was just in time to have a front row view of the armored door sliding to the side and a lot of heavily armed clones trying to rush in. Trying was the operative word.
The door was barely opened, when my security detail rushed through, almost colliding with Shaak Ti. Only her deft reflexes allowed her to slide to the right, avoiding Waxer, who was leading one of the squads charged with keeping me in one piece.
"Watch out!" warned Waxer, and moved to his right, opening space for the rest of the men.
If the damn building wasn't under attack, (and the Jedi who was almost trampled wasn't Shaak Ti), it would have been an amusing accident.
"Sergeant Waxer, your squad is with me," I ordered. "The rest of you, protect the security center."
"Right away, Sir!" answered me the freshly promoted NCO.
Waxer was one of the many clones who found themselves bumped up a rank after the AARs from the Ryloth debacle got completed. There were a lot of free slots that needed filling when the dust settled. And that was a victory for what it was worth. A decent one even, considering that we were ordered to go straight into a trap.
I could detect a tiny hint of disapproval in his voice. Ah, yeah. He wasn't relishing the thought that the general he was supposed to protect was about to get himself in another mess. It was a good thing that I had chosen my security detail with the idea that they would be acting as a back up instead as a bunch of glorified bodyguards.
=RK=
GAR Detention Center SIGMA
Classified Location
Coruscant
A LAAT transport flanked by two gunships descended through the busy Coruscanti traffic. Various aircars and bulk transports were flying all around them, as the three craft formation made its way to their destination.
They headed to a nondescript building, which as far as anyone knew, contained a minor R&D lab working for the Republic. After the attacks on Coruscant, no one was surprised that the army was providing security for the site. However, it was anything but. The place was home of one of the GAR's most secret detention centers. From outside it looked like just another building associated with the Army. Nothing special. It was simply another one of the hundreds, if not thousands "ordinary" GAR facilities on Coruscant.
"Sigma Station, Avatar Zero-Three-One requests permission to land. Stand by for identification code."
"Roger, Avatar flight. Send the identification code."
"Sending ident..."
"Code received... and its clear. Avatar flight you have permission to land. Head to pad two."
"Wilco, Sigma Station."
Thirty seconds later, the three LAATs landed on the designated platform. The only door leading deeper opened, revealing two squads of heavily armed clones. The troopers moved towards the transport calmly and professionally. They did a brief scan while taking a position around it.
=RK=
Communications Tower
Jedi Temple
Coruscant
A man wearing a work clothes sneaked through the top levels of one of the Jedi Temple's towers. His mission was complete and he only needed to get away clean. It was both easier and more difficult than one might expect. The Temple's sensor grid was either disabled and the Jedi themselves couldn't sense him.
Yet, he was far from safe. There were clones converging on his position, and soon reinforcements would arrive at the building, sealing it.
He was running out of time.
He was running out of luck.
'Make that he was all out,' he observed to himself as five clones turned the corner. They were carefully sweeping the corridor, their weapons at the ready.
Had he been less professional, he would have cursed. Instead he acted, would have hesitated. Instead he acted.
Before the clones could react, he was already in motion. He blasted them off their feet with the force, and was in their midst before they could even cry out in surprise
He landed blade down, impaling their leader, before pulling a second soldier to him. The clone's armor provided no resistance to his crimson energy blade, and landed behind him, neatly divided in half.
The other clones managed to orient themselves and opened fire. Two of their number died to their own blaster bolts, while the third found himself thrown into the wall and impaled by a fiery saber.
The last thing he saw was the nondescript face of his killer, as he pulled his weapon from his torso, his expression as dispassionate as any Jedi.
The man pretending to be a common worker, deactivated his weapon and ran. A minute later he passed through an air vent and crawled to the exterior of the building. One of the LAAT gunships patrolling around the Temple passed near him and he jumped inside through an open side door.
There, he donned a suit of clone armor, making him appear just as one more of the countless duplicates of Jango Fett.
=RK=
Near the Archives
Jedi Temple
Coruscant
We met a human woman, dressed as an employee of the security company helping upgrade the Temple's defenses.
"What an honor," she chuckled after studying us for few seconds.
The fact that she was out and about to begin with was remarkable. In a situation like this, it was a warning sign, one and enough to detain her with lethal force... However, that was almost an afterthought. She got our undivided attention, for a different reason. We couldn't sense her in the Force.
She gave us a demure smile and charged, activating a blue lightsaber. I drew my own weapon and sent a telekinetic wave at her, which she canceled with one of her own, with no apparent effort at all. Then she counterattacked, blasting us with a solid wall of Force energy.
I managed to remain on my feet by shoveling a wedge of telekinetic energy in front of me. Shaak Ti did almost as well. I think that facing something who wasn't there in the Force had surprised her a lot and kept her off balance. She stumbled few paces back, but remained upright.
I had to break Shaak Ti of that habit. Being surprised by someone or something "blank" in the Force was a good way to get yourself killed. There were various artifacts and Force disciplines which could create that effect.
For me, it wasn't anything I hadn't faced as an apprentice on Korriban, and that's before you take the various Sith Assassins into account.
There was no more time for thinking. The woman, whose most distinctive feature was an utterly ordinary, forgettable face, was upon me. That in itself was ringing alarm bells in the depths of my mind, but I was too busy fighting to pay enough attention to whatever my subcouncience was trying to tell me.
She was an unpleasant surprise. This nobody, turned out to be one of the most dangerous opponents I faced ever since coming to this time. She was fast. Strong. Unpredictable. And a damn fine blade-master.
Our blades clashed in a screech of released energies. Moment later, Shaak Ti was at my side, yet we couldn't immediately overwhelm our adversary. She ducked and weaved around our blades, parrying and riposting.
"Who are you?" I asked.
Her smile grew wider.
=RK=
Communication Tower, Jedi Temple, Coruscant
Anakin and Obi-Wan followed a trail of death. While they couldn't feel the intruders responsible for the massacre at the comm center, they could sense the death of a Jedi. The Force signature that winked out felt familiar, but neither of them could place a name to it.
Despite what someone might expect, neither of them knew all ten thousand of their brothers and sisters.
It wasn't too far away. They rushed that way, only to find a Jedi Knight and squad of clones, who were cut to pieces.
They could hear shots and the distinctive sounds of blaster bolts being deflected by lightsaber, coming from nearby. The two friends wasted no time and dashed that way.
Less than a minute later, they reached an intersection. There they found another group of gutted clones. A human girl laid sprawled on the ground. Her unseeing eyes looked accusingly at Anakin.
He frowned, noticing her padawan braid. He knew her face, but the name escaped him. Helin? Helen? Something like that. And now she was dead, cut down within the Temple, where she should have been safe.
There was a charred hole where her heart used to be, a testament of how much both the Jedi and the GAR had failed that day.
Behind the death, the two Jedi could see one of their own facing a pair of men in worker's coveralls.
Kenobi recognized the man facing the intruders. He was Kolren Plox, one of the better healers in the Temple. However, the medic had never been particularly good with the blade, preferring to dedicate his time to studying medicine.
Anakin and Obi-Wan activated their lightsabers and charged at the enemies. It took them exactly three seconds to reach the intruders.
More than enough time for the infiltrators to deal with Plox. One battered aside Kolren's azure lightsaber, leaving the man open for a slash. A crimson blade cut through his chest, leaving him to fall back to the ground without uttering a sound.
A moment before Obi-Wan and Anakin were upon them, the duo of assassins whirled around and faced them. Blue and crimson blades clashed in a deadly dance.
=RK=
Lower Levels
Jedi Temple
Coruscant
While the Jedi and their clone lapdogs were loosing their heads trying to contain multiple threats, a single figure stalked through the corridors of the Temple. She was cloaked thanks to a stealth field and a liberal use of her Force powers.
Deception, within deception, within deception... Rinse and repeat. That was her master's modus operandi.
Everything that was happening on that day was a sleight of hand. Strictly speaking, they didn't need to steal a Jedi Holocron. Not from the Temple anyway. Her true master had access to few of those toys. Only a Jedi who would know how to bypass the encryption on the crystal containing the names and location of the Force sensitive children across the galaxy was really needed. However, that wasn't her concern.
She had an objective to achieve, and in the great scheme of things, the games played by Sidious and the Jedi were irrelevant.
Down she went, level after level. Each one was less traveled than the last. Soon enough, she was stalking through halls which haven't been visited in years, perhaps decades. The only ones which paid any attention to these places were few old cleaning and maintenance droids.
The infiltrator continued to decent. She was closing to her objective. She could almost feel it.
=RK=
Kelins, Outer Rim
Meanwhile, thousands of light years away, Bolla Ropal was oblivious to the four figures stalking him.
It wasn't surprising. When all was said and done, the Jedi and most other Force Adepts through history, were reliant to their extraordinary perception and senses. Too reliant to them.
An experienced clone trooper or mercenary might have noticed the stalkers. Not that would have done them much good.
The four hunters stalking their prey, passed through the crowds on the busy streets of this relatively new colony world as a bunch of ghosts. No one looked twice at them.
Nearly an hour later, Ropal reached his destination. It was a small home on the outskirts of the town. He was there to pick up a particularly powerful Twi'lek boy. The kid was going to make a great addition to the Order, the Jedi Master was sure of it.
Bolla was few hundred meters from the house when he was able to clearly feel the child's Force signature. It was notable, because he was not even trying.
The Rodian took few more steps towards the house and halted. He sensed something, though it wasn't through the Force. Perhaps it was some kind of instinct, or his sense for self preservation.
Rapol could feel eyes upon his back, something that wasn't surprising. No matter where they went, the Jedi were often stared at by the populace. Yet, there was something different this time.
He turned around and frowned. Four figures disguised by black cloaks were walking towards him, like predators ready to pounce on their prey.
If he wasn't a Jedi with all that imply, his eyes would have popped out of their sockets. He could see them, but as far as the Force was concerned, they were non-existent.
He felt eyes upon his back and turned around. Four figures disguised by black cloaks were stalking towards him. His huge eyes almost popped out of their sockets. He could see them, but as far as the Force was concerned, they were non-existent.
The Jedi's right hand fell on the hilt of his lightsaber.
The figures continued walking towards him. They drew lightsabers of their own, which snapped to life a moment later.
=RK=
GAR Detention Center SIGMA
Classified Location
Coruscant
The three LAAT's that just landed, shut down all their equipment as the welcoming committee was surrounding them. The clones in the transport carefully came out, wary of their "prisoner".
The lights in the hangar blinked once and cut off. The computer system of the detention center crashed under a dedicated cyber attack. At the same time, the men who got out to secure the new prisoner were mercilessly cut down by a hail of blaster fire.
"Good. Let's go." grunted the man who played the role of prisoner. He towered almost two heads above the clones who acted as his escorts.
They ran towards the entrance of the Detention center.
=RK=
Part 2
Lower Levels
Jedi Temple
Coruscant
It didn't look like much. Just a plain metal door, one among many, in a long, dusty corridor.
She took a deep breath, tasting heavy, stale air. Her body tingled in anticipation.
The woman wiped the dust and grime covering a panel on the wall, next to the door and started typing a long sequence of numbers. It took her thirty seconds to enter the whole code.
Then she paused, waited for a five seconds and did so again.
To an impartial observer, her actions might have looked pointless. After all, the panel appeared to be out of power, dead like everything in the deep warrens under the Jedi Temple. After all, this part of the maze under the Jedi's home had been cut off from the power grid for a long, long time.
However, her actions were rewarded by a mechanical clicking, which came from the door. It slid in the walls, revealing a short corridor, which was lit by a soft blue light.
The infiltrator, stepped in and waited for the door to close behind her. Moment later, she heard quiet buzzing and actually felt the beams of ancient scanners mapping up the depths of her body.
A quiet ping latter, and the machines concentrated their attention on her head.
The buzzing grew louder. She felt a tingling sensation within her cranium, where one of her implants came to life. A blinding lance of power slammed in her head. An ancient computer up-linked with her implants. It touched her mind, probing, watching. Judging.
For an endless moment, she felt like ice picks were stabbing her brain. She stumbled, almost falling.
She knew if it found her lacking, her life was forfeit. If the security system had been set up by ordinary Jedi, she might have hopped for non lethal protections in place, but she knew better. That place had been created by the Old Republic's Special Operations Command and the some Jedi who weren't afraid to get their hands dirty when it was needed. And that place's contents needed protection.
The machines around her chimed in content, almost as if the AI was happy.
After all those countless years, it finally had purpose!
The presence of the Old Republic AI became a soft buzz in the back of her head. Her codes and implant signatures checked up, matching what was stored in three thousand and six hundred years old data banks.
The door in front of her slowly opened with a quiet grinding noise.
The infiltrator looked at the large room that was revealed to her and smiled. Her prize was at hand.
=RK=
Communications Tower
Jedi Temple
Coruscant
This anger he felt. It brought comfort.
Obi-Wan knew it was wrong.
It shrouded his senses, numbing the pain of seeing one of his friends cut down in front of his eyes. Feeling Korlen die, drove him even closer to the breaking point. Another friend lost due to this senseless war.
For a first time since Qui-Gion's death, Kenobi lost his calm. Again. hate tried to worm its way within his heart, but this time, it succeeded.
If it wasn't for this second attack on the Temple in little more than a month, Obi-Wan would have remained in control, the Model Jedi Master.
Instead, he was betrayed by his own feelings.
Anger and hate surged through Obi-Wan's being and he fell on his chosen target as a rabid Krath hound. The assassin was caught off guard by the ferocity of the onslaught.
The infiltrator fell back in a desperate attempt to avoid the savage bite of Kenobi's azure blade. He took a defensive stance parrying the furious attacks raining all over him.
The surprise almost did him in. He was facing a Jedi Master. They weren't supposed to attack in a berzerker rage!
For Kenobi, that moment was a solitary slip in judgment, one that would have... interesting consequences down the line. He had to draw on all of his experience, years of training, and sheer willpower to pull himself out of that maddened state.
The sudden outburst of fury tampered off, but the anger was still there. The events of the past weeks were of sufficient gravity that his outage was too great to silence. Instead, his burning rage was tempered into a frozen spear of determination by a force of will that only a Master Jedi could accomplish.
Obi-Wan took a brief moment to focus himself. He lost some of the momentum his outburst had gained him, but that was a small price to pay in comparison. One that Kenobi would pay gladly.
He regained some of his control, yet this time the anger he felt, refused to be banished. All he could do was to clamp down on this emotion, prevent it from distracting him in the heat of combat.
Nevertheless, the anger effected him. While Kenobi fought it on one level, on another, deep within his subconsciousness, the Jedi used it. It made him faster, stronger. It gave Obi-Wan a killer instinct he usually lacked, no matter who or what he faced.
=RK=
Anakin glared at the man who faced him, his own anger burning in his belly like a furnace, but not yet to the point where it overcame his good sense.
'This is The Jedi Temple, not a kirffing Sith playground!' he silently fumed.
Skywalker bit off a snarl and went on the offensive.
This madness had to end!
He was angry that these bastards would date to attack his home. Furious that they dared murder his brothers and sisters. And frustrated that he seemed completely unable to stop them
So he reached down into that pit of fury sitting in his belly and seized it. Harnessed it, and shook as a he felt the passion surge through his body.
=RK=
Near the Archives
Jedi Temple
Coruscant
Something was terribly wrong. I could feel it in my bones.
It went beyond the irritating woman we were facing, but she was the immediate threat. I knew that the warning within the Force wasn't something that should be disregarded, though we needed to deal with her before I could investigate what my instincts were telling me.
But that was proving out to be somewhat troublesome.
The obnoxious woman we were facing was a different type of threat. She wasn't skilled enough with a lightsaber to pose a significant threat to either one of us, much less both of us. The main problem was that whatever she used to cloak herself from the Force, removed one of our main advantages. Sith and Jedi both, we depended a lot on anticipating our opponents through the Force.
But even that, wasn't enough to completely explain it.
Doing so could be extremely useful, at times, but it came at a steep cost. An artifact could hide your signature, the proper techniques could conceal it, but drawing on the Force in that state was like turning on a light while hidden in the shadows. The moment you used your powers the veal would drop.
While often forgotten in the face of our more obvious abilities, one of the things that truly separated Force Adepts from the common throng was our ability to enhance ourselves. Even a Jedi Youngling could boost their strength and reflexes to a point that could challenge even a seasoned warrior.
Shaak Ti was a Jedi Master, one of the best the Order had. Her skill was admirable, even to someone from my era, and I was a kriffing Sith Lord, with all the power and ability that such a title implied.
This woman should have been limited to human physical norms, yet she was matching us blow for blow. What she was doing should have been physically impossible.
To make everything more irritating for me, there was the nagging feeling that she was somehow familiar. While I could swear that I had never laid my eyes upon her, somehow I knew her. It was maddening.
"Veil, have you faced someone like her before?" Shaak Ti asked a moment after ducking under a lighting fast swipe and riposting only to meet air as the infiltrator jumped back, avoiding my attempt to remove her sword hand.
It was a good question.
"I'm not sure..." I muttered.
I propelled myself forward, using the Force. My blade crashed into the infiltrator's stolen saber a moment before I slammed into her.
I was a head taller, twice her mass, and not to mention in heavy armor. The collision should have thrown her off her feet, sending her dazzled to the ground. The first did happen. She flew couple of meters back, before rolling at a low crouch. As she glared at me and her eyes shone with soft blue light.
A smile came to my face as the situation finally made itself clear. I stretched my neck, letting the bones pop quietly for effect.
"Ah. It's been a while since I faced something like you. Pray tell, how much are you enhanced?" I asked.
=RK=
GAR Detention Center SIGMA
Classified Location
Coruscant
The masked mercenary leading the raid grunted in displeasure. There was almost no resistance while he led the troops under his command into storming one of the better defended facilities on Coruscant.
Just as expected. Most of the building were on lock down, cutting off the defense forces stationed within the detention center from his path.
When all was said and done, he had to face a short company of clone troopers. Piecemeal.
If he'd had to take them head on, he'd have never taken the job. But with the aid of benefactor and the agents he had within the Republic, a suicidal assault had been transformed into a cake walk.
Enough that he felt a pang of disappointment. While he might be a merc, and this was easy money, he still wanted a bit more of a challenge, kriff it all! Damn Sith and their schemes!
Still, he reflected as he blew the head off yet another clone, killing all of these cut rate Mandalorian knockoffs was still quite cathartic
The conclusion of his primary objective was underwhelming. A bunch of shaped charges blew the doors leading to their target. They were followed by a spread smoke and fragmentation grenades, with couple of Thermal Detonators for effect, which left the last defenders easy prey for few well aimed burst of fire.
The last squad of clones trying to stop him never knew what hit them.
A hacked door later and he entered a small cell, dominated by delicate life support machinery, surrounding a large cylinder filled with clear liquid. Inside he could see a few pathetic bits of meat and one glaring eye.
Behold the great and mighty General Grievous in all his terrible glory!
This was all waste of time, if you asked him.
"Pack this cretin and lets go, before the Republic drop a regiment or something on our heads!" grumbled Durge.
"Roger, sir!" answered one of the soldiers aiding in the jail break.
=RK=
Kelins
Outer Rim
Bolla Ropal steeled himself in the face on the oncoming assault.
"This is a first." he muttered.
Facing assailants who were apparently non-existent in the Force was a new experience for the Jedi Master. Under different circumstances, he might have found it fascinating.
But not now. Not only his life was on the line, but that of the Force sensitive kid he had come to recruit.
"I gather that just going on our separate ways isn't an option?" Bolla inquired calmly, and fell in a Soresu stance, waiting them to act.
The cloaked men ignored his words and charged.
The Rodian met their onslaught without flinching. He parried a slash aimed at his head, sidestepped an overenthusiastic lunge and jumped over a swipe which tried to cut off his legs, only to receive a kick in the ribs for his trouble.
Bolla was caught mid air by the strike and it sent him crashing on the ground. He wasted no time and rolled away, barely avoiding one of his attackers, who jumped at him and nearly impaled him with his blade.
Ropal sent a Force wave at his attackers before jumping to his feet. To his unpleasant surprise it only staggered them for a brief moment. But at least it allowed him to regain a bit of the initiative in the fight.
He ran away, in an attempt to get some distance between himself and the strangers trying to kill him. From the brief encounter it was painfully clear to him that facing them all together was a losing proposition.
Bolla sprinted to the nearest house and jumped to its roof. A moment after he landed, the Jedi turned around and his blade was singing through the air.
He caught the fastest of his pursuers off guard and cut through the chest of the cloaked man, sending him back over the edge to crash on the ground, meters below them.
The remaining assassins moved as one, jumping together after their prey.
=RK=
Lower Levels
Jedi Temple
Coruscant
She smiled. The large room was full with tables and shelves, each one of which was covered by artifacts from the Great War. Any one of them alone would be a great prize, yet she didn't spare them a second glance.
Those trinkets, no matter how dangerous and useful, paled in comparison to her goal. At the far wall of the room, behind a solid wall of warship grade armor laid her targets.
She went to a lit up terminal, which was near the goal and started typing, all the while the AI protecting the small sanctuary under the Jedi Temple watched her with ill disguised curiosity.
It took her minutes of manually inputting codes which no living being should have remembered after all those years, before she heard a series of mechanical clicks. The room rumbled and sections of the nearest wall slid down, revealing another room, much smaller this time.
The infiltrator smile grew and she walked into the computer core of the AI. She retrieved a datapad from her belt and hooked it to the ancient machine.
Moment's later a chime rang in announcing that the new device was recognized and connected to the core.
"Copy all information to projects under Case Red and above." she ordered aloud, while sending a mental command through her implants.
The AI hesitated for a split second and obeyed. The woman had the necessary codes and had followed the procedures hardwired in its computer core.
Meanwhile, the woman walked to the back of the room. Her next prize waited there.
A pitch black cube, with a meter long sides. A cylinder made by transparent metal in which a gray humanoid droid was suspended into a stasis field. A pedestal with a single silver Holocron.
That was it. She frowned. There was supposed to be something else there too!
"Computer. Where is Subject 'Ascension'? "she asked.
"It was removed three thousand six hundred eighty eight years ago." answered a bland, emotionless voice.
"To where?"
"No data available."
"Damn it!" she cursed, though three out of four should be good enough.
The woman removed a star-burst shaped necklace from her neck and concentrated on the Force. She reached with her right hand and the Holocron rose in the air. It started shifting under her directions until it revealed an emerald which was in its heart.
The crystal flew to her outstretched hand, while the Holocron returned to its previous shape and gently laid back to its resting place.
The infiltrator pocketed her prize and went to the cube.
She started pressing various points on it, apparently at random, while sending brief bursts of Force energy through her fingers.
Soon enough, it rang with a single note. A pulse of silver energy ran all over it's surface and it started shifting. It's outer edges became blurs, leaving an impression that the object now existed in more dimensions than a human could perceive.
A quiet hum could be heard in the computer core. It was slowly becoming louder.
"It actually worked!" she exclaimed.
She could feel how the object was drawing in Force energy to power itself.
Moments later, she could feel a confirmation from the AI that the data transfer was complete.
"Erase all logs concerning my presence here and delete the data concerning projects under Case Red and above from your data banks." she ordered after retrieving her data pad.
It was time to make herself scarce. Her job was done and the device she activated should deal with any physical backups of the information that remained. Or so she thought.
She left without sparing a second glance to the room containing the AI's computer core. So it was no surprise that when the former cube started sending electrical discharges all around itself, it went unnoticed.
One of those lightning bolts struck the pod containing the droid and disrupted the stasis field.
=RK=
Part 3
Kelins
Outer Rim
Master Ropal dashed over rooftops, moving away from his pursuers. His mind was racing. He had to draw them away from the kid. Bolla didn't have enough time to ponder how they tracked him, though considering they were undetectable through the Force, that wasn't such big a surprise as it would have been otherwise.
He had kriffed up. Relied too much on the Force for a warning that never came. He should have known better.
Ropal landed on the street behind the house, with pursuers hot on his heels. He looked around, noticing a pair of box shaped droids. The machines were cleaning the street, paying no attention to the commotion.
If the Force didn't work particularly well when directly applied on the assassins, then he would have to improvise. To be fair, he was unpleasantly surprised when his Force push didn't throw them off their feet, but he had the nagging feeling that his plan was going to work.
Bolla turned around and used his free hand to more easily grab the droids with the Force. When the attackers jumped to the street, they were meet by a pair of heavy metal boxes flying straight at them.
One managed to use the Force to deflect the incoming projectile, which slammed at the side of the house behind the trio of cloaked pursuers. The man next to him wasn't so fortunate. He was unable to fully push away the droid, and it caught him on the right shoulder. The impact hurled the assassin back, who crashed on the ground in a moaning heap.
The Jedi Master used the opportunity to counterattack. He not only temporally incapacitated one of the remaining attackers, but had bought himself precious seconds before the one who deflected the droid could rejoin his unimpeded fellows.
Ropal charged the masked man who was able to reach him ahead of the rest. Their blades met in a fury of blows and counter blows.
Bolla smirked when the second assassin tried to join the duel. He used the Force to pick up one of the droid he had hurled like battering ramps and pulled it towards them. The machine flew low over the ground, demolished a section of the low fence surrounding the house it had impacted and forced the second assailant to jump back.
The man engaging Master Ropal flinched when the fence behind him was demolished. His guard wavered for a split second and he got a lightsaber blade in the gut for his trouble. The assassin gasped in pain and tried to stab the Jedi, but Ropal grabbed the wrist of his sword arm before moving his weapon up and to the right.
The azure blade cut through the man's chest as if it was made of butter, slashed his heart and exited over his left shoulder.
Bolla left the dead man fall to the ground and jumped over the fresh corpse. He liked the new odds much better.
=RK=
Lower Levels
Jedi Temple
Coruscant
A Jedi wearing hooded robe, which concealed his features, stalked through the deserted corridors of the Temple. The lock down of the building had actually helped him. No one expected that another one of the infiltrators would head for the basement, so both clones and Jedi alike were scrambling to seal all the exits and secure the perimeter, all the while they kept guard on what they believed to be critical areas.
Well, the half forgotten halls under the Temple were none of that. Besides, there wasn't supposed to be a way to leave the building from there. As far as the current crop of Jedi knew anyway.
Bane smirked, and followed the directions displayed on his datapad. It took him about half hour to reach his destination. A massive sealed door, which lead to a tunnel stretching for kilometers.
He scanned the surrounding walls, found where the hardline for the sensors watching his exit was located and got busy.
Five minutes later, that part of the security system was thrown for a loop and he started hacking the doors control panel. It was a good thing that this part of the Temple's underground was mostly forgotten or he would have had to dealt with clone troopers and modern security systems.
Cad Bane couldn't help but wonder how much the Jedi had forgotten about their own Temple, though he was ready to bet a lot that after today's events, those lapses in security would no longer exist.
The wall panel blinked green and the armored door started opening with an ear piercing grinding sound. The damn thing hadn't been in use for a very long time, which wasn't surprising. The sheet of thick dust in the corridor was a dead giveaway.
Bane smirked and disappeared in the dark tunnel leading to safety.
=RK=
Near the Archives
Jedi Temple
Coruscant
"Enough to get the job done," the infiltrator answered and charged us again.
I shook my head. All things considered, she was rather good. Good enough to slow down either one of us if she was lucky, though that was mostly due to whatever cloaked her.
Against Shaak Ti and me, once we adjusted to fighting an opponent such as that obnoxious woman?
I met her charge head on, forcing her to back off under a flurry of brutal strikes. That gave Shaak Ti an opening and she took it, slipping to the woman's left side. The infiltrator tried to turn so she could continue facing both of us, but I didn't give her the chance and pressed my attack. I saw a look of resignation in her eyes a moment before my Jedi Master friend made her move and literally disarmed our adversary.
The crippled woman jumped back, and leaned on the wall behind her.
"Heh. Just as expected from the two of you," she smirked. Then scowled at us. "You've won nothing!"
Her head twitched. Her eyes became bloodshot pools crisscrossed by crimson veins and she crumbled to the floor.
I've seen more than enough corpses in my day. I knew she was dead before she hit the ground.
I frowned at the body. This war was gaining a new and unexpected dimension. I wondered what secrets her body held. The GAR R&D teams would love to get their hands on her implants.
"We still need to check on the Archives."
Shaak Ti's voice got me back to the real world. I nodded and we sprinted forward.
=RK=
Near the Communications Tower
Jedi Temple
Coruscant
The raid on the Jedi Temple was all but over. The only remaining resistance were the two men who were engaging Skywalker and Kenobi. Those two infiltrators weren't faring too good.
While they had superb training and top of the line cybernetic enhancements, they were never meant to meet opponents such as those two Jedi, unless they had heavy reinforcements at hand. It was too bad that the ones who could count on help were Obi-Wan and his former apprentice.
Not that they needed it.
Both Jedi were quite furious, struggling to control their emotions. At least Kenobi was. Yet he wasn't quite successful. While the Jedi Master was getting calmer, he was fighting with an aggression that would surprise those who knew him. His opponent was forced to fall back constantly in order to absorb the strong attacks raining all over him.
The only reason that assassin was still alive was simple. Obi-Wan was a master of Soresu. While he was quite proficient with some of the other forms of lightsaber combat, they felt off to him, especially when on the offensive.
It didn't matter in the end. The infiltrator he was facing merely got an extra fifteen seconds to live, but the outcome was a foregone conclusion. A sweeping strike pushed away the crimson blade of the infiltrator, who was too slow to parry the next attack. The tip of Obi-Wan's lightsaber slashed through half his neck, before stabbing him in the chest for good measure.
Behind them, Anakin was already done. Cybernetic implants or not, Skywalker's powerful strikes, enhanced by the Force and the strength of his prosthetic arm were more than the last of the assassins could handle.
Punishing blow after punishing blow had struck the infiltrator's defenses, until he could no longer keep up. There was no finesse in what Anakin did. He simply battered his opponent into submission, shattering his guard.
That was it. The next strike cleaved the intruder in two.
=RK=
Lower Levels
Jedi Temple
Coruscant
Awareness came slowly. First to come online was the energy core, which started humming quietly, before the sound dampeners build around it were fed enough energy.
Automatic diagnostic programs ran next, on the heels of the power running through the droids conduits. Surprisingly enough, the machine was in reasonably good shape.
Next to come online was its datacore, which immediately started running diagnostics. The hardware appeared to be all right, though it could use some newer parts.
Then it was turn for the software to be scanned by expert systems before the droid could be really brought online.
Its photo receptors came to life, glowing blue. It, no he, remembered everything.
HK-117 looked around, recognizing a much bigger AI core than his own. How interesting...
But that was an afterthought. He was confined into a stasis tube, which apparently no longer worked. Getting out shouldn't be a much of a problem. He still has a few of his build in weapons installed. A blaster and a vibroblade in each arm. More than enough.
What took almost all of his attention though, was the construct spinning in the air to his right. How could he not, when the kriffing thing was sending cascades of electricity all around it?
More importantly, HK-117 recognized it. He had seen the effect of one of those things detonating. He and his master were safely in orbit at the time.
The sentient wardroid really didn't want to experience the detonation of this weapon firsthand.
He wasted no more time, unfolded his vibroblades, and started carving his way out of the stasis pod.
=RK=
Near the Archives
Jedi Temple
Coruscant
Meanwhile, all around the Temple, the Jedi and Veil could feel something siphoning the Force from underneath them. Only one of them knew what that meant.
Shaak Ti was rather disturbed when she felt something draining the Force from around the Temple. Then she saw Veil's face. It was pale, like a ghost. He closed his eyes, his face becoming tense.
"I need to get to the tunnels under the Temple! Now!" Delkatar snapped, surprising her even further. "Or we are all dead..." he added more calmly.
For a moment she was still, wondering what to do. It was easy in the end. For some reason she trusted him. Veil had more than ample opportunity to betray both the Republic and the Jedi, yet he didn't do it, instead he risked his life again and again to help them.
"This way!" she said and ran down a side corridor, with Delkatar sprinting hot on her heels. "What is happening?"
"We have a WMD charging under our feet!" growled Veil.
=RK=
Kelins
Outer Rim
Master Ropal made a short work of his latest assailant. One on one the assassins, despite their tricks, stood no chance against the Jedi master. That only left the wounded one, who laid stunned on the ground with a shattered shoulder. Which was great. That man had a few pointed questions to answer.
Before Bolla could reach his prospective captive, he was nearly thrown off his feet by a massive explosion. A house to his right went up in a huge fireball, obliterating the dwelling.
The Jedi stared at the smoking heap of rubble, which used to be the home of the kid he had came to retrieve.
"You did better than I expected, Master Jedi!" another cloaked figure appeared.
It appeared to be male, at least a head taller than the men Bolla was forced to dispatch. The stranger's features were hidden by an expensive looking black cloak, but all that was secondary. Ropal could see what was in the newcomers hands.
A sleeping baby boy. So this was it. The reason for the attack.
The Jedi glared at the man who dared endanger the future of the Order.
The stranger chuckled.
"Are you angry, Master Ropal?" he nodded at the kid in his arms. "You've gone to great lengths to secure the future of the Jedi. He doesn't look like much, does he? Merely few months old, yet so strong. Though I would have thought that the Jedi would have sent his father to retrieve him. He is one of you, after all..."
Bolla's eyes almost fell off their sockets. How in the name of the Force? The ones who knew it could be counted on the fingers of one hand!
"Galen Marek. I sense a 'bright' future for this child,"taunted the cloaked man.
Ropal gripped the hilt of his lightsaber. He couldn't let that man kidnap the kid! Yet, engaging him would endanger the boy!
The Jedi Master was concentrated on the obvious threat and his objective on this world. He never saw the faint ripple through the air behind him. The Force gave him no warning.
Nevertheless he sensed something and rolled to his left, his lightsaber sweeping behind his back. The Jedi's blade was stopped by something solid.
Before he could jump to his feet, the tip of a Force pike caught him under the chin, almost shattering his jaw. Ropal's world exploded with agonizing pain and purple light. He convulsed when another pike touched his chest and his whole body seized in convulsions.
"So predictable," the man holding Galen shook his head.
Two men clad in black light body armor faded into view and stood at attention, their force pikes extended in parade rest. Three pairs of eyes fell on the knocked out Jedi.
What Ropal had on his person was priceless. After all, the Jedi Master was carrying the key for his Order's very future.
=RK=
Part 4
Near the Archives
Jedi Temple
Coruscant
"This is General Veil. Code Black. I repeat Code Black. Evacuate all critical personnel within five hundred kilometers from the Jedi Temple. I repeat Code Black! This is not a drill! Move it people!" I ordered in my comm after sending my clearance codes.
It was going to be close. If we were lucky that is.
"Explain!" snapped Shaak Ti.
She was well aware what the code meant. An active WMD, with the powers that be, me in this case, believing that it had a very good chance of going off.
I could sense her worry and a hint of anger, which was trying to worm its way in through her defenses only to be stamped out by her indominable will.
"You are sensing the Force being drained, right?" I asked.
"It's hard to miss!" she deadpanned.
True enough. It was like a vacuum cleaner sucking the power surrounding us.
"That is a kriffing Nexus bomb!" I declared.
She gave me a confused look. Ah. So that unpleasant bit of history hadn't made it into any history books she had read. It would be fun to check what else they forgot. If I ever got the free time...
"It is a particularly nasty piece of work, that is useful only on locations seeped with Force energies. It absorbs the Force into a multidimensional matrix, and when it has reached critical charge or there is no more Force left to eat, it detonates."
"The Jedi Temple is one of the most Force saturated locations in the Galaxy," muttered Shaak Ti.
"That's why I want everyone important within five hundred kilometers radius evacuated. We would never get everyone out in time. Besides if we aren't blown up to orbit, the panic a widespread evacuation will cause would cause a lot of avoidable casualties."
That earned me a withering glare from Shaak Ti, who fired up her own comm and started speaking with Yoda.
=RK=
Lower Levels
Jedi Temple
Coruscant
The transparent alloy making up the stasis pod turned out to be much tougher than HK-117 expected. It took him ten slashes before his vibroblades could rend it asunder enough for him to break his way out.
Even then, it was an awkward affair. The droid managed to make a roughly circular hole in the middle of the cylinder and had to craw out of it. It was good thing that his master had designed him with a lot of agility in mind. Who knew that a feature meant to help him in sneaking around on recon and assassination missions would come in handy in such a way?
Once he was out of that technological tomb, HK-117 turned his attention towards the Nexus bomb. The weapon was charging, but it was obviously defective. The arcs of electricity emanating from it were a dead giveaway.
The droid scanned his databanks for all information he had about the weapon preparing to go off. If his sensors were correct about the power buildup, he wouldn't be able to get away fast enough, unless there was a fighter waiting fueled and ready in a nearby room.
HK-117 had to disarm the bomb. Somehow.
However, there was a tiny problem with that plan. As far as he knew, once a Nexus bomb was active, only a Force adept should be able to prevent it from going 'BANG'.
=RK=
Lower Levels
Jedi Temple
Coruscant
Our dash to the Temple's underbelly was a blur. We passed groups of Jedi and Clones who were hastily, almost frantically making their ways to the docks, seeking a way out of the building, but we paid little attention to any of them.
With every step towards the bomb we could feel the Force being siphoned from around us and as soon as we passed beyond the commonly inhabited parts of the Jedi's sanctuary, Shaak Ti and me entered an empty void. At least that's how it felt. We dashed through parts of the buildings that have been abandoned by anyone but some old maintenance droids and the occasional curious padawan.
The ancient corridors pressed upon us, making us feel claustrophobic, despite being tall and wide.
It was the lack of the Force around us that caused such sensations. And it was getting worse.
I could feel my very life essence being slowly drained from my body. All I could do was to gather the Force deep within myself and try keeping it from being stolen by the charging warhead.
Going in deeper and deeper into the abandoned tunnels under the Jedi Temple was becoming an agonizing journey. It felt like tiny pieces from my very being were being torn asunder with each passing heartbeat.
I don't know how long it took us to reach the epicenter of the vortex draining the Force, or how we actually managed to go there while still possessing some of our power, yet we made it. Was it luck, the will of the Force or simple stubbornness, I didn't care at the time.
We found ourselves facing a short corridor, with half sealed blast doors at each end. I could see bolts of lightning lancing at random from the room within. Next to me, Shaak Ti winced at the display.
Going inside would be problematic.
I gritted my teeth and raised a shield around us, and sprinted through the cascading arches of electricity. Bolt after bolt struck me, harmlessly dancing over my defensive dome and discharging in the floor. Shaak Ti was a step behind me, for some reason trusting me not to get us killed.
We passed through a large storage room, filled with once useful Sith and Jedi artifacts, which now laid dormant, drained from any shred of Force energies. I cursed quietly, which fortunately remained unheard by Shaak Ti thanks to the sound of cracking electricity drowning my words.
So much useful tools now fit only to be harmless museum exhibits. What a kriffing waste...
I shook my head and pressed on, reaching the far end of the room, where the door leading to the Nexus bomb waited for us open wide.
I stepped in and looked around. My eyes were busy scanning the much smaller compartment where the WMD was preparing to blow up.
Bare walls. Something that looked like a computer mainframe. The dazzling display of the charging multidimensional matrix, which looked like a bunch of shifting and twisting snowflakes made from silver energy. White and blue lighting bolts cascading in a deadly waterfall all around us.
I would have called the spectacle beautiful beyond measure if it wasn't about to murder us.
"Master, is that you?!" exclaimed a painfully familiar synthetic voice.
It was a ghost from a bygone era, which reminded me of better times... Hearing it almost shattered my concentration and I was barely able to retain control of the shield protecting Shaak Ti and me.
I looked at the source of the voice and smiled, a silver of hope raising in my chest. The form of a familiar droid was standing next to the Nexus bomb. The torrents of lighting merely twisted around him, leaving him unharmed.
"HK, what the hell are you doing here?!" I blurred out.
It should have been impossible. He was lost about a year before I was catapulted to the Clone Wars era.
"Ah, Master! You were found!" exclaimed the droid.
His head moved few centimeters to the right and two sapphire photo receptors locked on Shaak Ti.
"Togruta. Jedi. And she is definitely not your wife, though I could see some resemblance. Is she hostile?" asked HK-117 while he took a defensive stance. A pair of vibroblades pointed at Shaak Ti in what was supposed to be not too threatening manner.
If the way her emotions shifted was anything to go by, she decided that HK's actions were fairly concerning.
"She's friendly. I'll deal with the kriffing bomb and we can catch up later. Make sure that I'm not disturbed," I ordered and moved closer to the dimensional matrix.
"As you command, Master. I'm glad you are back!" exclaimed HK-117 and moved to cover my back, while looking at Shaak Ti with what I supposed was curiosity. "Master, I have to ask a question in order to execute your orders more efficiently."
"What is it?" I asked distractedly, while I was trying to remember how exactly I was supposed to stop the bomb from evaporating us.
"What are your intentions towards the Jedi? Are you going to marry and impregnate her too? Should I consider her my new Mistress and ensure that she is protected?" HK asked with what passed for an innocent tone, but was anything but. I could almost sense him laughing his metal ass off, the bastard!
Behind me, Shaak Ti spluttered. I suddenly felt like running far away and it wasn't because of the bomb in front of me.
"HK, shut up!" I growled. "I'll deal with you later. Bloody joker."
I could feel Shaak Ti's eyes boring holes in my back. Great. Just Great. If I didn't get blown up, I would get killed by pissed off Jedi Master.
"HK, right now I hate you so much..." I muttered.
"I aim to please, Master!" exclaimed the droid. "However, I think you should concentrating on the ticking bomb for now, Master."
The tin can was enjoying this. Nevertheless, he was right. The live WMD first, dealing with my rampant droid second.
I closed my eyes and drew on what Force powers I had left. My mind concentrated on the sensation of the energy being ripped from my body and I followed the channel through which my very life was sucked away.
Soon enough, I found myself in the epicenter of an energy storm. My senses were touching the dimensional vortex, a part of them even piecing it. I could feel the general form of the matrix condensing the Force into a ready to release destructive energy. I started examining it, until I sensed what I could describe as otherness, wrongness. A line in the fabric of reality that didn't belong here.
Jackpot. That was what I was looking for. It was one of the seams connecting the matrix with another dimension.
I weaved my remaining Force energies into a thin scalpel wielded it carefully. I needed to work precisely or my life was forfeit, in which case a significant part of Coruscant was kriffed beyond belief.
I cut through the very foundation of the dimensional matrix, manipulating parts of it and destroying others. More often than not, I had to leave the Force to guide my actions as some of the parts I worked on were phased out in such a fashion that I couldn't perceive them clearly. Or at all.
It was a surreal experience. Like I was on multiple places at the same time, yet not. It was hard, almost impossible to describe with words. Like I was split into multiple copies of myself, each of which had a piece of my mind and was directed by my will. I could feel what all of them experienced.
Suddenly it was all over. The matrix was altered. The drinking the Force slowed down and stopped.
The last think I could feel was the build in energy being dissipated in other dimensions instead of blowing up a significant part of Coruscant. I grinned, a moment before the backslash hit me and I knew no more.
=RK=
"Master, not again!" HK spoke in exasperation.
The general got himself knocked out. Again. Kriffing organics.
"Ahem!" the Togruta, Shaak Ti, cleared her throat.
HK-117 turned his head in her direction.
"So, are you my Master's new girlfriend?" he asked. Just to make a conversation, until the general was conscious again. A bit of small talk, nothing to get angry about. Right?
The Jedi actually growled at him. If he had lips, HK would have smiled. So his master was already getting under her skin. This was going to be so much fun!
=RK=
Part 5
Medical Center
Jedi Temple
Coruscant
I looked at Piett with incredulous expression on my face.
"Ensign, remind me to have whoever is responsible for the Republic's counter-intelligence efforts in general, shot for incompetence."
"Sir?" asked the poor junior officer. It was evident that my words made him uneasy.
"Despite how we'll be spinning this mess for the public, we got kriffed. Again!" I deadpanned. "Grievous, or what's left from that imbecile – gone! What we presume to be CIS agents managed to get their hands on at least a few Holocrons, the Army and Navy's comm codes and partial force dispositions, and almost blew up a big part of Coruscant, including the Senate and the Jedi Temple."
Firmus cringed.
"Yes, sir. You are correct. At least you stopped that bomb!" he tried to cheer me up.
"And I ended in the damn hospital!"
"Ahem!" an elderly, female Jedi glared daggers at me.
Master Olendra Jolind was the Temple's Chief medic and for some reason scared the crap out of me. There was something in the way she sweetly smiled at me when I tried to release myself an hour ago, long before the battery of tests she wanted to run on me was complete, that chilled the blood in my veins.
Yeah. She didn't want loud voices or curses in her domain.
Did I mention that I'm scared from doctors? It had something to do with my experience with them as a Sith and in what happened to me in my previous trans-dimensional adventure.
Even HK-117 had decided to wait outside. I still hadn't made my mind whether he was apprehensive of her or simply enjoyed my suffering.
She-who-must-not-be-named-or-irritated-for-that-matter glanced at me as if she knew I was thinking about her. I gave her a nervous smile and returned my attention to Piett, wondering if my skittishness was because the head Jedi doctor was a good friend of Shaak Ti, who was really pissed off at me at the moment. All thanks to HK's oversized mouth.
"Did I missed something else important?" I asked.
"Commander Tano apprehended a shape-shifter masking as a Jedi Master. The infiltrator gave us some information in exchange for more lenient treatment. Apparently the Holocrons were stolen because they are the only way to read a crystal containing the names of all Force Sensitive children across the galaxy of whom the Jedi Order is aware."
I stared at Piett for at least a minute, before my faculties returned and I was able to restart my brain. I snapped my hanging jaw shut and grinned. This was an excellent opportunity! I needed to get my hands on that info and send it to my Black Ops detachment.
"What are the Jedi doing in order to retrieve the information?"
"They sent Generals Kenobi, Skywalker and Shaak Ti to retrieve the crystal and the Jedi master in whose possession it was."
"Well, given the gravity of the situation, we should help our Jedi friends. After all, we can't leave them hanging in their hour of need." I said sincerely.
Naturally, by helping them I meant rescuing as many of those kids as possible from Jedi indoctrination, but no one here needed to know that.
I tried to get up again and winced. The Nexus bomb's dimension rift had made a number on me. I was barely able to stand up and my connection with the Force was shaky. It would be some time before I was up for my usual tricks.
"General Veil!" snapped the voice of Master Olendra Jolind.
This was going to be a loooong day...
=RK=
Council Chambers
Jedi Temple
Coruscant
When I was finally released from the hospital, I made my way to meet Masters Yoda and Secura, who wanted to know how the hell their nice Temple almost got blown up. That was going to be entertaining conversation.
I was escorted to the Council Chambers by my bodyguards, who weren't particularly thrilled at me. After all, I had left them to guard the Temple's security center instead of taking them with me when I went to chase intruders and disarming WMDs. For some reason they were more peeved because they missed the part with the big ass bomb than anything else...
Needless to say, HK-117 was walking a step behind me the whole way. I didn't miss the suspicious looks exchanged between him and the clones who were supposed to keep me in one piece.
"Master! Is this really necessary?!" asked an exasperated HK. "Those meatbags can't protect you! Look at them! They don't even have half-decent armor and heavy weapons! No proper Force Adepts as minions! Not even an angry Wookie tagging along!" whined the droid.
More than a few of the clone troopers growled at HK, who somehow managed to look smug.
"Chill HK! I know that the GAR's standard equipment is trash. I hope that we'll have a much better kit before our next major deployment."
"That is the understatement of the week!" declared the droid.
I shook my head at his antics. At least he had stopped riling up the Jedi after royally pissing off Shaak Ti, which reminded me. I needed to find a way to make up to her for HK's insinuations before she decided to gut me on general principle alone.
When we reached the Council chambers, I left my guards behind and entered accompanied only by HK-117, which I hoped wouldn't turn out to be a mistake...
Inside I found Yoda and Secura waiting for us in person, with Masters Plo Koon, Kenobi and most importantly, Shaak Ti, present via the holonetwork. Anakin, being a wet behind the ears Jedi Knight, was excluded from this meeting.
I nodded at the Jedi and smiled nervously at Shaak Ti. Her glare promised retribution. Our byplay wasn't missed by Yoda, whose ears twitched in amusement. Or irritation. I honestly couldn't tell.
"General Veil. We would like an explanation about the events that occurred under our feet yesterday," Master Secura started the inquisition.
I shrugged and gave them my account of the events.
They were silent for few moments, while shooting each other pointed looks.
"Delkatar, do you know how a Sith weapon of such destructive capabilities ended under the Temple?" Obi-Wan was the one who asked the question that was one every Jedi's tongue.
I gave them a cheerful smile. Oh, I was going to enjoy this.
I raised my right index finger.
"I must make something clear, Master Jedi."
I could sense a shift in their emotions. I think there was something in my grin that they found disturbing.
"That Nexus bomb wasn't a Sith weapon."
Unfortunately, their reaction was subdued. Only frowns and cross looks sent my way. Eh. I can't rile them up every time.
"Explain, you will, General Veil."
I nodded at Yoda.
"The Nexus bomb was created during what you call the Great War. It came into being thanks to a collaborative efforts of the scientists of the Jedi Order and Old Republics Special Operations command. As far as I know, it saw four actual deployments. Three of them were by the Republic, with the fourth by the Empire after we captured one of the weapons, reverse engineered it and improved it."
My only answer were few quiet gasps and a deafening silence.
"My master should know!" HK-117 interjected. "I was a part of a team he led to capture the bomb a Republic Special Operations unit tried to use on Korriban."
"HK, you don't know when to keep your mouth shut, do you?" I asked exasperated.
"Master! You wound me! Before I was deactivated, your exploits were made public by the Empire in order to raise morale and increase recruitment quotas! The Jedi should have this information in their archives. I'm just reminding them how awesome my master is!"
I glared at the droid.
"Since when did you became a bloody brownnoser?!" I snapped at HK -117.
"Proud response: It is not often that I have the chance to rile up the Jedi Council!" the droid beamed at me. "Just look at them, Master! The look on their faces is priceless!"
I glanced at the Jedi and smirked.
"Please tell me you are recording this!"
=RK=
General Valentra's office
GAR Headquarters (Location Classified)
Coruscant
Veil crashed in the nearest free chair, quietly cursing the still persistent weakness which clung to his body.
Three days had passed since his close encounter with evaporation and he obviously wasn't fully recovered. While he was being treated at the Jedi Temple, Coruscant had become a much greater circus than usual, thanks to the second round of attacks. To add insult to injury, news about Grievous' escape had been leaked to the general public, causing near panic by itself.
That's why Veil and Valentra had called this meeting. The newest attacks were a painful reminder that the Republic's security situation sucked and that wasn't something either of the people gathered in the general's office was going to let slide.
Valentra looked at the men and women who were sitting on the other side of his desk, while sipping from a steaming cup of caff.
Veil looked like he needed to catch up on a week or so of shut eye.
Next was Marik Yle, a pale human male, who looked like he had crawled from some deep dark cave. Fitting in a way. He was the Director of the SBI, the Senate Bureau of Intelligence, the civilian intel agency of the Republic. Yle got the job after his predecessor died in the attack on the Senate. Marik's hard pale eyes were examining the people in the room with cold indifference.
The Director of ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence), was sitting as far away from her civilian counterpart as possible. She was a middle aged Twi'lek woman, with light green skin which almost blended with her uniform thanks to its olive green color. Ivon Fell, had her face mostly hidden by a data-pad from which she was busy reading.
Last, but not the least, was a Clone General who was indistinguishable from his more common brethren by design. He was JC-31, also know as Jack. His position in the military was interesting one. Jack was in charge of the Republic Intelligence, the military intel agency, ever since his Duros predecessor, General Solt Ner, was murdered during the attack on the army's headquarters.
To the unenlightened, this meeting was "simply" a bunch of army and navy officers doing their job. While that was a correct answer, it was far from complete one. With the Clone Wars ongoing as they were, and most of the Senate decimated with its remnants unable to find their asses even with a recon platoon guiding them, the importance of the meeting, and the people participating in it couldn't be understated.
Beside the Chancellor and Master Yoda, the most powerful people in the Republic were gathered in Valentra's office. To be fair, no one, especially either of them, knew what consequences their meeting would have in the fullness of time... But that was a story better told much later.
Valentra drank some of his caff and forced himself to smile.
"Now that we are all here..." he trailed off and pressed a button under his desk. A wave of static electricity passed through the room a moment before its door slammed shut. Various shields and counter-surveillance fields sprang to life, isolating them from the outside world.
With a simple press of a button, they were in one of the most secure places in the Republic as far as unwanted eyes and ears were concerned.
"Now we can talk freely," added General Valentra.
The only answer he received were four guarded nods.
"First item. It's obvious to all of us that we need to clean house and plug the leaks to the CIS, before it is too late."