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Let Chaos Reign Chapter 32: The Cracks Begin to Show
Mace Windu stared out the viewport of the bridge on the Endurance. He didn’t blink, just stared out at the devastation wrought by his careless actions. Despite time having passed, they still felt the sting of shame and failure when they looked upon the wreckage of the once mighty Republic fleet. He and many others had foolishly believed it would be more than enough to handle the growing darkness only to find out it was exactly what their great enemy wanted.
Once again, just like with Dooku, instead of ending the threat when he had a chance, he damned who knows how many innocents to either death or a fate worse than death. What made matters even worse, besides losing so many ships and clones, was that the hyperwave transmitter had been badly damaged on the Endurance after Tobi… Or Revan if that is who he truly is.
No messages could be sent until the transmitter was repaired, which was currently damaged to the point that any attempt to fix it was an effort in futility. Clones moved across the bridge, making repairs where they could with various Jedi assisting them or helping with the wounded.
The few ships that were left somewhat intact were just enough to get what survivors were left from the massacre, both planetside and in Quell's orbit. The fleet didn’t have many survivors. His hands tightened into fists before he let out a sigh, relinquishing the darkness that whispered and built up deep within him.
He had always walked a fine line when it came to the dark side. The whispers faded away. Vapor lost amidst the tranquil sea that was the Force. If Tobi truly was Revan, which was possible. His power to swap bodies would explain how he had managed to survive up until now.
His skill with both the Force and a lightsaber was incredible, even if he was someone masquerading around as the Prodigal Knight, he had some evidence to suggest he was from the era of the Mandalorian Wars. No one could hope to achieve such skill with the lightsaber or power through the Force without being detected by him or any of the other Jedi on their own. No need to mention the necessary resources needed to train to the level of power he commanded.
Resources that only the Jedi… Or ancient Sith would have had.
The most powerful Force users to ever live had come from either the Jedi Order or their ancient enemy. Windu hadn’t lied when he told Tobi that Revan was one of the inspirations he had for developing his unique lightsaber form -- Vaapad. He had always held the belief he had been… defective.
He had a darkness within, he enjoyed fighting when he shouldn’t. It wasn’t the Jedi way, and he had admonished himself for it at a young age. When he looked at others like Grand Master Yoda or the other various masters, he had believed he wasn’t worthy of being a Jedi.
Jocasta Nu had helped him in his younger years by showing him records on Jedi from the past. One of which was Revan. He read through his life’s story and saw how he and the others had fallen. Mace Windu realized that he too would fall if he didn’t find a way to either rid himself of the darkness, and since that was an impossibility, the only option he had left was much more difficult.
He had to acknowledge the darkness in him. Others had fallen by denying it was even there, and Windu was not foolish enough to do the same. When he created Vaapad, he funneled every bit of darkness and negativity through himself, not from within but from every source around him.
His mind played back to the fight he had with Tobi. He… Used an unknown lightsaber form Mace had never seen or even heard of and would be doing extensive research into what it was. He doubted he would find anything on it.
For it felt like it was almost the same as Vaapad, save for a few key differences. Most notably, the polar opposite of what it harnessed in order to not only fight on even terms with him but potentially overcome Vaapad. Through the Force, it was one of the only things he could feel from Tobi beyond his emotions, which were surprisingly not hate.
It felt warm, the warm embrace from a kind sun in a gentle, peaceful system free of pain and suffering. Each swing of his lightsaber, the blade hummed with the power of various stars, with the warmth cutting through the darkness he threw towards him, each move as unpredictable as his own. The form didn’t use darkness to fuel it, if anything, the power that fueled it came from Tobi himself.
If it wasn’t for everything he had done thus far and the Sith Lord that killed Qui-Gon serving him, he would have accepted he wasn’t the Sith Lord that the Jedi had been after all this time.
Even without that lightsaber form, his skill with Niman was impressive. Dare he say, arguably the best he had ever seen. Possibly better than even Cin Drallig. Windu lost himself in his thoughts and ruminations once more.
…
“Quinlan, stop.” Aayla Secura tried to reason with her former master. She winced, feeling her broken arm protest at the pace she moved at just to keep up with him. Unlike her, he wasn’t nearly as injured.
“No. I’m getting answers.” He said calmly. Aayla didn’t like it. She knew him well enough to know when he used that emotionless tone that he was not happy.
Quinlan was one of the few Jedi in the order that had no issues expressing his emotions. Many of the council had believed he was likely to fall to the dark side more so than others. Yet paradoxically, they allowed him to go on missions snooping around for any sign of the dark side, something Quinlan enjoyed.
But after what had happened on Quell and the sight of so many Jedi not getting massacred like Windu or the Jedi High Council expected, instead being beaten but kept alive.
Any clones seeing Quinlan Vos with that determined look on his face quickly got out of his way with Aayla desperately trying to calm him down. She was failing, particularly when she couldn’t keep up. The bulkhead doors to the bridge opened with a metal groan of protest, but like many things that tried to impede Quinlan, he brushed past it, getting to the heart of the matter.
“Master Windu, we need to talk.” He stepped forward, completely ignoring Windu, slowly turning around and giving Vos a look that all but screamed not now.
“Knight Quinlan Vos, now is not a good time. We can talk later.”
“No. We will talk right now.” Vos stomped closer and was only a foot from Windu. The man hadn’t even gotten himself cleaned up from the mud and detritus on Quell after that disaster. “What the hell were we doing?”
Windu gave him a less than impressed look, with Ki-Adi-Mundi stepping closer, ready to intervene, but Windu gave him a look with a small nod. Aayla Secura rushed onto the bridge looking wide-eyed between her former master and the Master of the Jedi Order.
Windu quirked a solitary brow, his frown turning deeper. “We were attempting to end the threat of the Sith once and for all. I highly recommend you calm down now, Vos.”
Instead of doing that, Quinlan got right up into Mace Windu’s face, jabbing a finger into his chest. “Normally I would be all for such a mission. But there so happens to be a little issue with the Sith… Things don’t add up. He and the rest of this Quiet Hand I had heard so much about from the criminal underworld could have killed nearly all of us after seeing them with my own eyes. Yet they didn’t. What the hell kind of Sith does that?”
Quinlan was heated, moving towards an imaginary line that the members of the Jedi Order on the bridge viewed as not only dangerous but bordering on anathema to what they were supposed to be.
“I will admit, things don’t add up. However, he had the Sith Lord responsible for Qui-Gon Jin’s death serving him. I felt the dark side coming from that… Thing,” Windu wouldn’t call that Sith Lord a man or a person. He was a monster and butcher only deserving to be abandoned and forgotten like all the other practitioners of the dark side. Nothing more than a traumatic bad memory that would fade away given time.
“And I know you did as well. Your experience as a Jedi Shadow should on its own be enough for you to realize who that was. Now, I recommend you do not touch me again, or I will be forced to handle you.” Windu warned him with a stern look.
If anything, it incensed Quinlan, whose scowl and sharp gaze narrowed. “I cannot deny that the Zabrak looked identical to the one that Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon battled on Naboo. Fought like him too. Yet there are too many things that contradict Tobi being the Sith Master.”
He retracted his hand, but Windu and everyone else could tell Quinlan was far from finished or calming down. He was like a coiled spring that just couldn’t relax and continued to become tighter over time.
“My investigation into what was happening on Tatooine. My contacts, along with various other sources, have the same consistent information -- Tatooine is not only free of slaves, but it is becoming a garden world. Life popping up all across it. What the hell kind of Sith Lord does that?”
Quinlan leveled Windu with a fierce glare, one that he shrugged off as easily as he did the looks of reproach some civilians had given him when he and the Republic were too late to save their people from the Separatists.
A long tense silence soon followed, the various clones and officers on the bridge stopped what they were doing, watching whatever was happening with their full attention. “I don’t know.”
Windu finally broke the silence, speaking with absolute honesty. It didn’t help calm Quinlan in the slightest.
“You don’t know?” He said in complete disbelief, a whisper of an exasperated chuckle escaping him. “Hey everyone, Master Mace Windu doesn’t know if the guy we were there to kill was actually the Sith Lord we were after. So we all just got the bantha poodoo kicked out of us, and who knows how many others died for nothing.”
He turned towards everyone, especially the clones who were in a strained relationship with their various Jedi commanders after word had gotten out about Order 66 that had been given to kill the commander of the emergency mission to give aid and supplies to various campaigns in the outer rim. He gestured towards Windu, his voice had a biting mockery to it that made Windu want to reel back.
Windu’s hand clamped down on Quinlan's shoulder, making him look towards Windu as he fought the urge to punch him. “Do not say that loud enough for others to hear.” Windu warned him.
“Why? What difference does it make? You know what, forget that. Why the hell are we attacking someone who has gone out of their way to help several members of our order, even going so far as to rescue them? Someone who has brought peace and prosperity to planets I absolutely hated having to work undercover at when I saw the treatment of the slaves there.”
Quinlan continued to probe and test Mace Windu’s patience when he couldn’t give satisfactory answers. “Enough!” His voice went up several notches, the Force surging, with Windu’s patience hitting its limit. It was a mild, unintentional Force Scream, but it had the desired effect even if Windu didn’t mean to do it.
“We were ordered to kill Tobi and the Quiet Hand regardless if he was the one who orchestrated all of this.” Windu gestured towards the damaged sections of the ship with hissing snakes for wires and the wounded who were cradling injured limbs with bruises and cuts. “Because he and his group are a threat to the Republic. The same Republic we all serve, the very same Republic that is in danger if we do not act and stop the source of these threats.”
Windu got more heated the longer he spoke, especially when Quinlan had a confident look on his face, eyes half-lidded as if he already had all the answers he would ever need or want. It was as if Mace Windu didn’t know or realize something that Quinlan did.
Windu would privately admit in a dark corner of his mind that he didn’t like that look.
“There’s just a couple of problems with that idea, Master Windu… For starters, we just got our asses kicked. Really badly. The only one that managed to do anything was you, and you still couldn’t overcome him. The other more important issue is that we may very well be going after the wrong threat.”
“What possible threat could be greater than the one we just fought? Need I remind you of the same threat that killed countless men under my command while they were helpless in their ships? Windu was beginning to think Quinlan was bordering on the line of treason.
Both for the Jedi order and the Republic.
“The same man you gave no choice to when you intended to kill him. He is skilled and powerful in the Force, that much I’ll give you. But with how his actions don’t add up to this grand manipulator, nor does it make any sense as to why he would reveal himself now, if at all, even if he were.”
Quinlan turned and began to walk away despite how Windu and several others wanted to very much argue against his reasoning. Even if he had some points, that didn’t mean Tobi wasn’t an enemy or evil.
Aayla stood there looking between the people on the bridge and then at the back of her retreating former master. She bowed quickly and apologized before continuing to follow her former master. With what she was witness to and realizing Quinlan wasn’t in a good mood, her time as his padawan had taught her to pick up on the signs.
The man could hide it pretty well when he was upset, but unlike those times he didn’t bother hiding it this time around. A group of clones coming out a doorway carrying supplies almost got bowled over when Quinlan didn’t even bother stepping aside for them.
He just brushed past them, forcing them to stop and try their best to not get in his way, almost dropping the supplies they were carrying.
They looked at Quinlan's back with a collection of glares. “Quin. Stop. Quinlan!” She whisper yelled, grabbing his shoulder only for her master to whirl around. He glared at her before realizing who he was looking at, and then his expression softened. Just a little.
“Sorry you had to see that Aayla. But… after all that had happened, I needed to get it off my chest and get some answers.” He said back softly, sounding deflated, and whatever had taken over him was now gone, and he felt empty and hollow.
There was a gentleness to him when it came to Aayla Secura. He was tough on her at times, but at others, he was kind and gentle, knowing when to be one or the other when it came to training her. Both knew they had grown attached to the other, and Aayla tried her best to adhere to the Jedi code and how they were supposed not to become attached.
“… Are you satisfied?” She asked wryly, knowing that there would be consequences to this. The Jedi High Council would not be pleased with how Quinlan had acted on the bridge after a disaster had befallen all of them.
Quinlan Vas just snorted. “Pfft no. He couldn’t answer any of my questions… I think I am going to go and find some answers. Take care of yourself, Aayla.”
She stepped forward before he could walk away. “I can go with you. Like old times. Someone needs to watch your back.” She said earnestly. A part of her was concerned what the rest of the order would think of her going along with her former master after what had happened, but she knew Quin well enough to know he was about to do something many would find questionable.
His next words made her frown. “Not this time, Aayla. You're injured and would only slow me down. Plus, you really underestimate your old master. I may be getting old, but I am sure I don’t need someone watching my back.”
She wanted to argue with him, to try to reason with him, but she knew he had made up his mind. He smiled gently, waving casually over his shoulder. “But if I need back up, you’ll be the first to know. May the Force be with you.”
Aayla smiled warmly. “And may it be with you as well, Quin.”
…
Palpatine sat in his office, going over the report he had earlier with Yoda, where he and the forces placed under his command were defending a major hyperspace lane from a counteroffensive from the Separatists. Something Sidious at any other time would have allowed to break through with only a pittance of a fleet there to meet it.
Not only to kill a few Jedi, just as this war had done slowly over time, but also as a means to acquire more power as the Senate was slowly chipped away, giving him more and more the longer and more devastating this war became.
Now… He was worried. Darth Tyranus may see this as an opportunity to break his chains. He had painstakingly done his best over time to curb any… urges he might have to attempt to usurp his place as master of the Sith in more brazen methods. Thankfully the man was fool enough to instead try and usurp him through rather obvious cloak and dagger methods.
Shows of power occasionally and brief reveals of his goings on that he believed him to be oblivious to. An illusion of how he seemed all knowing of his plans, one that he would prefer to maintain. He didn’t know everything, but he knew the important pieces, the big ones that Dooku would try his best to hide.
Like his plans to correct the Jedi by trying to do what Darth Revan had done thousands of years ago. He could only snort at such a waste. The Jedi need to be destroyed, not corrected or refined. For all of Dooku’s power that was such, he had made the wise decision to withhold any lessons on the dark side of the Force.
The man’s purpose was a placeholder and nothing more. For all his power, his age would eventually be his undoing. It may not be now, but give it a few years and Dooku would quickly begin to physically decline.
But with the scales of this war going in any and all directions, even he couldn’t figure out who held the advantage, only one certainty remained. He was now at a disadvantage. Something that made him rather… cranky.
Enough that he had to get a replacement secretary after his previous one came in upon one of his rare instances of anger in his private chambers. The body was disposed of and made to look like he had an accident on his way home, and a replacement was put to work not long after.
He knew that Dooku wasn’t oblivious to which direction the wind’s current favored. His apprentice would likely see this as an opportunity to try and slip his leash and attempt to take the position of master from him.
His hands tightened around the edges of his desk, which groaned in protest before his iron clad grip eased. He forced himself to let out a long-withheld breath. A rare moment of reprieve as he looked forward to the good news of Windu dancing to his strings and eliminating a growing rival. He would prefer him to be captured, but he had other ways once he grew enough in the Force to make him talk even if he had passed on.
With a fleet big enough to overrun several star systems, he was confident that the problem would be dealt with and he could focus back on becoming the ruler of the galaxy and toppling his hated enemy. He shook his head when thinking of how those idiots immediately latched onto the idea Tobi was the Sith Lord.
His mild amusement was brought to an end when a beep drew his attention. It was the subtle signal that told him someone was investigating or doing something he didn’t need to be discovered. His teeth grit together almost grinding, and his eyes narrowed to slits.
“What now?!” He growled out, thankful no one was around to hear or any form of surveillance to witness.
He had the foresight, as did his former master before he killed the fool, to have contingencies put into place should anyone investigate places or things that they couldn’t just destroy or get rid of entirely with various forms of surveillance to ensure no one discovered them because of their connection that could lead to him or agents connected to him.
Those were few and far between, to the point he could count on one hand the things that were loosely connected to him. He just didn’t want to take the risk, but he paused when he looked around his office, appreciating the newer Sith artifacts that adorned the room. Like the ceremonial daggers on the wall that had been added to his collection.
Shaking his head at being surrounded by idiots that take whatever enjoyment he could have from this away by virtue of how idiotic they were.
Pulling up the alert, his eyes slowly widened, realizing what this was… The latest super tactical battle droid the Separatists had used as a test run, which succeeded well enough to begin developing more of the droid series.
It was at one of the major droid factories in the outer rim for an inspection and to ensure the droids were up to standards. Something that the older model of droids it was refined from would on occasion do.
What made Palpatine curl his hands into fists and the room began to shake, the various artifacts of his collection rattling and beginning to fall over, with a few being grabbed by an invisible force then crushed into fine powder or small metal balls that could be fit in the palm of one’s hand. Completely belying just how big some of the metal sculptures were.
His hands quickly went over the controls and sealed the room even further with it growing far darker.
“Dooku… So you finally made your move.” Palpatine had suspected his current apprentice of taking the opportunity to ally with Tobi and to bring about his end.
Before him was the surprised and kneeling figure of Count Dooku, secretly Darth Tyranus of the Sith. He froze at Palpatine’s cold tone, his grim visage even more agitated and darker than it already was normally.
“My master, I know not what you speak of.” He picked up on the context of the situation by just looking at him and his displeasure that could be felt through the Force. A once calm tide turned turbulent with violence ready to break out upon all who skimmed the surface.
Add in the abruptness of him contacting him on such short notice, and he knew something was very wrong.
“Even when you have been caught, you still foolishly believe you can deceive me. A thousand years of progress in the grand plan only to have it potentially ruined… By you.” Sidious, with a wave of his hand, had the image show Kalani undermining the shutdown codes programmed into every single battledroid the Separatists had.
Whether it was the first models created as a prelude to the battle of Geonosis or right now as Darth Sidious loomed over Count Dooku. A shadow of an executioner, and with it, death would come. Dooku’s mind raced trying to figure out just what the hell happened under his own nose.
He had not given such an order, knowing full well that Sidious would find out about it no matter how subtle it was. The man was far too thorough when it came to the easier ways that could defeat him.
“I swear I had no idea this was happening. Allow me to handle the rogue general-”
“No. It would seem you will not be around to witness the grand plan's resolution, my former apprentice.” Sidious said with disdain, almost spitting the words out as if they were poison.
Dooku’s eyes widened before, with a gesture, various codes went out across the galaxy unbeknownst to most. The ones who learned of it didn’t even understand as separatist leaders across their strongholds had the droids under their command turn on them. Gunned down without any idea of what was happening until it was too late.
…
General Kalani went through the various codes set and hidden deep within the droid factory, producing hundreds of thousands of units in little time. The general was concerned. Possibly the first time he had ever felt this feeling.
Their enemy somehow had infiltrated deep within the separatists' leadership and snuck not only a shutdown code into every single manufactured droid, himself included. It was enough to make Kalani ask a million questions all in less than a minute.
The droid general came to the conclusion both sides were being played against one another. That much was clear. If the Republic had a shutdown code or simply used the control method, they would have just taken the largest droid army ever created for themselves and could wipe out all opposition.
The red of the hologram and interface reflected off the general's chassis, a grim visage should an organic witness him and his borderline treachery. Was it treachery when it was for the good of the Separatists?
The general then began the process of removing the code from not only the droids already manufactured but also future generations down the assembly line. Kalani worked with mechanical efficiency and precision that most sentients could never hope to match.
Then something happened. The droid general looked around with the escort of Magnaguards that had been stationed as his personal guards. The droids swiftly moved around to better protect Kalani as a siren began to wail across the factory with a loud whooping.
Then various droids paused in the distance before turning towards the general and the Magnaguards.
“Get them!” A B1 yelled, pointing in their direction. In turn, it was gunned down by one of the Magnaguards' blaster rifles. Soon many of the droids converged upon them, and the sound of metal rolling across the floor greeted Kalani’s audio receptors.
Three destroyer droids rolled into position, already unfolding to begin their onslaught. They were until Kalanis's personal guards opened fire with expert precision and coordination that made sure the three droids were turned to scrap metal before they could even deploy their shields.
“What are you- Nevermind carry me away.” Kalani was about to protest when getting placed over one of the droids' shoulders but canceled the order to put him down when he recalculated the odds of him moving fast enough to get out of here before they were swarmed by several million droids.
The Magnaguard, despite the added weight, deftly flipped and moved across the numerous conveyor belts and robotic manufacturing lines while the others weren’t far behind, running interference.
Three rushed forward down below, cutting down B2 Super Battle Droids with their electro staffs. The heavily armored droids fell to sparking heaps before the guard droids pivoted, rushing towards a tide of B1’s opening fire at them and Kalani.
The droids, while capable and powerful, with their training programs being put to good use against whoever taught them, were no match against a wall of blaster fire. For all of the stupid B1’s flaws, they more than made up for it with that one advantage that droid line had -- numbers. But the Magnaguards didn’t go down without taking out numerous B1s in the process.
Just when they got towards the docking port on the side of the factory and the ship began to take off, evading the blaster fire and turrets aimed in their general direction, did Kalani realize he had finally been discovered. The ones responsible for the shutdown code and control codes for the droid army had activated it.
The general could only shake his metal head wryly, recalculating what he could have done to avoid it. But it was already impressive he had managed to subvert and correct a third of the droid army before he had been discovered. He could only hope that what he managed was enough to save the Separatists and their cause from the Republic before the ship flew off towards parts of Separatist space that Kalani knew had loyal droids not compromised by the treachery of the Republic and those sympathetic to that corrupt government.
