MOTF Book I: BOTE Chapter 12

The mood in the Tower of the Triumvirs was one of contemplation and deliberation. Several times before, the very fate of the Galaxy had been decided in this very room. A table of stone sat in the center of the chamber, the Triumvirate insignia engraved in the center of the table. A symbol of strength, unity, and alliance. At that table, sat three men, three triumvirs.

“So the Sith were waiting for you?” asked President Kardal, a middle aged human male with a friendly face. His eyes were blue, and his hair was a dark brown.

Centuries ago, the Galactic Alliance Remnant had slowly taken over the world of politics, becoming the vast majority in the Senate. As such, the Galactic Alliance Remnant was eventually reformed into the Grand Galactic Senate. Icoman Kardal had been elected as the President of the Senate years ago, and now acted as the political triumvir in the Triumvirate.

Over the years, Kardal had become a champion of the people, always seeking to act in their best interest, and steering clear of corruption. At times, he even acted in favor of the majority of the Triumvirate citizens, rather than his own standpoint on an issue.

“Darth Odious himself was on Zygerria,” Grand Master Mongooku began. “I was fortunate enough to escape before he reached me. The slaves we left behind were not so fortunate.”

“And with the King once again behind enemy lines, our efforts have not borne us any fruits,” Kardal sighed in disappointment.

“Not entirely,” the aged Jedi responded. “We still managed to free six thousand slaves before the Sith retook Zygerria.”

“And we lost two hundred million soldiers!” Supreme Commander Shapris angrily interjected. In stark contrast to President Kardal, Jax Shapris was a very gruff man. With jet black hair, cold dead eyes, and a long scar running along his jawline, Jax Shapris had a very unsettling face.

What unsettled Mongooku more than his face however, was his uniform. As the Galactic Alliance Remnant had taken control of the political system in the Triumvirate, the remnants of the Fel Empire slowly began to take control of the Triumvirate’s armies, with just about every one of its members being enlisted. Eventually, when the last member of the Fel bloodline was assassinated by Darth Soran, the remnant of the Fel Empire was reorganized into the Grand Army of the Triumvirate, with its Supreme Commander serving as its triumvir.

As everyone knew, the Fel Empire had its roots in the remnant of Palpatine’s Galactic Empire. Millennia ago, the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious, under the guise of Palpatine, had created a Galactic Empire that enslaved and terrorized the Galaxy for decades. But more than just the endeavor of one Sith, the Galactic Empire and the Jedi Purge were the culmination of around thirty Dark Lords. Started by the supremely powerful Darth Bane, the Banite lineage had spanned over a thousand years, each generation birthing one of the most powerful Sith in galactic history, though they bided their time and stayed hidden, waiting to strike.

Under the ingenious dynamic set forth by Darth Bane, the Sith accumulated vast wealth and influence, destabilizing the Galaxy, until finally, after a thousand years, Darth Sidious enacted the Great Jedi Purge and formed his own Galactic Empire. The Empire stood for everything the Jedi stood against. The Jedi fled from their own destruction as the Sith controlled Empire hunted them down one by one.

The Galactic Empire had represented one of the darkest times in galactic history, yet the uniform of Supreme Commander Shapris held trace elements of the far back origins of the Grand Army. His uniform somewhat resembled that of a stormtrooper, that of an imperial officer, and parts of it even resembled the armor worn by Darth Vader. Something about it just set Mongooku on edge.

“I told you that this endeavor was a horrible idea from the start!” Shapris cried out in outrage. Mongooku could practically feel the anger emanating from the Supreme Commander in palpable waves. “We should have never moved our troops off of Felucia!”

“Relax Commander,” the Grand Master said with a calm monotone. “Take a deep breath, clear your mind.”

Shapris’s eyelids flickered for a second before he shot a cold glare at Mongooku. “I will break your arm the next time you try to use one of your Jedi mind tricks on me.”

“Gentlemen,” President Kardal chimed in. “Could we please take this down a couple of notches?”

“Of course President Kardal,” Mongooku responded.

Without responding to the President’s request, Shapris turned to address him. “The fact of the matter is that attacking Zygerria was a tactical blunder from the beginning. In the Jedi’s haste to free these slaves, we left Felucia relatively unprotected and the Sith snatched it from our grasp, and after all of that, we couldn’t even hold Zygerria for a day.”

Mongooku sat silently as the Supreme Commander turned back towards him. “This venture has now become all but pointless, and we cannot continue to waste resources on it.”

“A large portion of the labor supporting the Sith is slave labor directly from Zygerria,” Mongooku countered. “If we retake Zygerria, the Sith will lose a vast portion of their labor and resources.”

“We only took Zygerria with the element of surprise,” Shapris pointed out. “It would be impossible for us to take it like this again, especially since the Sith now control the Perlemian Trade Route and  the Shaltin Tunnels.”

“What you fail to realize Commander, is that there is something far more important than logistics at the heart of this crisis,” Mongooku asserted. “Slavery is not only a logistic issue, it is a moral one as well. Billions of slaves suffer under the oppression of the Sith, and it is our responsibility to free them. We must do everything we can to save billions of lives.”

“And how many lives will be lost?” Shapris asked. “Because I can guarantee you we will lose more lives than we’ll save. How many of our soldiers must die to free these slaves?”

“As many as are needed to bring justice to the Galaxy,” Mongooku replied.

“If you were as careless with the lives of the Jedi as you are with the lives of my soldiers, your Order would have fallen less than a decade into this war,” Shapris indignantly responded. “A decade into your war. The cold hard truth is that this is your war. The Jedi and the Sith have been at constant odds for millennia, and it has put the rest of the Galaxy in grave danger time and time again. And we all know a thing or two about your family history Mongooku, about how-”

“That’s enough Shapris!” President Kardal interrupted. “As you said, we are both aware of Mongooku’s family history, but it is at this point irrelevant. Though the Sith’s war is primarily with the Jedi, the Jedi are the only thing standing between the Sith and galactic domination.”

“What is your position on this matter?” Mongooku asked the President.

Both the Grand Master and the Supreme Commander knew that President Kardal’s decision would be the deciding factor as to what course of action would be taken.

“While I am personally torn on this issue,” Kardal began, “the vast majority of citizens feel that this endeavor has been a failure, and believe that its continuation would only bring them harm. I am sorry Master Jedi, but the people have spoken, and it is my duty to represent them.”

Though the President adhered to the will of the people, Mongooku sometimes saw that as one of his greatest weaknesses. The people of the Galaxy were blind to the truth that Mongooku saw every day of his life, the Force. They could never understand the very power that shaped all of their destinies and bound them together. In a way, they were blind, and only the Jedi could see the truth. Without the Jedi, the people of the Galaxy would be weak and misguided.

This was why the people of the Galaxy needed the Jedi. They needed the Jedi to lead them into a brighter future by a light of guidance they could not see. The Jedi were responsible for guiding the rest of the Galaxy into the future they knew was best for them because, through the force, the Jedi simply knew better than everybody else did.

“Then it is settled,” Shapris concluded. “We will no longer pursue this pointless endeavor. Is there anything else to discuss before we adjourn?”

“Yes there is commander,” Mongooku spoke up. “I have sat down at this table too many times to count over the past few centuries, with you, and your predecessors. For a thousand years this war has gone on and persisted. And as the Supreme Commander has pointed out, the Jedi and Sith are at constant odds with each other. Well I believe that not only will this war end soon, but the seemingly endless conflict between the Jedi and Sith will end soon as well.”

As the venerable Jedi took a brief pause, a look of deep contemplation and curiosity spread across the faces of the two other triumvirs. “Our oldest and greatest Jedi artifact reached out to me, and spoke. It told me that soon, there will be a Jedi destined to destroy the Dark Side. I will take it upon myself to train this boy or girl, and when they are ready, they will save the Galaxy forever, and eternally remove the threat of the Sith from the Galaxy.”

“I don’t care about your prophecies Jedi,” Shapris sharply interjected. “Good luck trying to convince a Galaxy at war that the Jedi are about to save them after they have been incapable of doing so for a thousand years. The people are not going to believe this prophecy, and neither do I.”

“I do not expect you or most of the Galaxy to believe in this prophecy,” Mongooku conceded. “But the prophecy is not true because of how many people believe what I believe, the prophecy is true because it is the will of the force. We will win, not because the people have hope in this prophecy, we will when because that is what we are destined to do. And when the Galaxy is rid of the Dark Side forever, and we reach a state of eternal peace and prosperity, when we are basking in the glow of the light, none of your condescension here will matter. All that will matter, is that this Jedi will have saved the Galaxy forever, and we will never know war like this again.”

Mongooku let his words sink in as he turned around and exited the chamber, beginning his descent down the staircase, and towards the exit of the Temple of Triumvirs. Very soon, the Galaxy will be illuminated by the light of the Jedi, and the Sith will have no darkness left to cower in.

——————————————————————————

“Men, and ladies,” Dylan said with a wink. “We need to begin the mission as covertly as possible, so that means no explosives. I’m looking at you Weiss.”

The young Tactical Advisor sighed in disappointment as he removed his belt of grenades.

“Walton will make use of his assault rifle in place of his rocket launcher, and I will make use of my magnum,” Dylan explained.

Their mission was pretty straightforward. There was a Lightor base on the edge of their territory that Dylan and his squad were going to take. The base had a good deal of equipment and weaponry, but the real reason Dylan took interest in it was because there was a mining operation not far from the base. Once they took the base, they could also secure the mine, along with valuable resources for the Shadikill.

“How do you know so much about this base?” Herndon asked with a curious expression on her face.

“We have our sources,” Walton answered.

Known only to Dylan and the unit leaders was the fact that they had a spy imbedded within the Lightor ranks. Years ago, a Lightor communications expert named Vu had been abandoned by his people and left to die. When Dylan and his squad had captured him, they made a different call. Dylan, Walton, Barre, and Sullivan had befriended him, and after a couple of years, they planted Vu in a prison that they knew was about to be assaulted.

When the Lightor enacted the prison break, Vu was “rescued” along with the other Lightor prisoners. Now back behind enemy lines, Vu served as their sleeper agent, making regular contact with Walton to relay valuable information. This was how Dylan and Walton had found out about the Lightor base, and its specs.

Still miles away from the base in their drop-ship, Dylan and some of the members of his squad crowded around Barre to check out his latest ideas on his datapad. Barre was scrolling through his various ideas as the squad looked on with interest.

“This is a target lock attachment for guns,” Barre explained as a picture of a device attached to a sniper rifle flashed on the screen of his datapad. “Once you have an aim at your target, you simply hold down a button, and a weak tractor beam locks onto your target and holds your aim aligned with your target. This would be particularly useful for snipers, or automatic weapons, and perhaps artillery as well.”

“Oh man!” Dylan exclaimed. “Fernin would kill you if he saw this. He thinks target locking mechanisms are for, and I quote, ‘vaginas.’”

“Yes well, we all know Fernin’s point of view on people’s aim,” Walton chimed in.

“Anyone who can’t shoot as well as him sucks, and anyone who can shoot better than him has no life,” half the members of Dylan’s squad said unanimously before bursting out into laughter.

As the laughter died down, Barre scrolled over to his next design, which was a gun firing an odd looking burst made up of three components. The first component was a narrow blaster bolt, the second component was a rather widened blaster bolt, and the third ball was another narrow blaster bolt. “It’s an armor piercing burst,” Barre explained. “The first bolt is a concentrated one designed to punch a hole in the armor. The second bolt is a widened blast designed to weaken that section of the armor further and widen the hole, and the third is another concentrated blaster bolt designed to slip through the hole and strike the target’s body with full damage.”

“Sounds like something Seph would be interested in,” Sullivan observed as Barre scrolled over to the next design.

This one peaked Dylan’s interest. On Barre’s datapad were several sketches and designs for a droid.

“These are some rough sketches of an elite combat droid I’m trying to design,” Barre explained. “I’m considering things like repulsors, retractable arm blades, advanced programming, state of the art mechanical servos, full spectrum optical sensors, and highly advanced combat programming. I’m just in the brainstorming stages right now, but if I ever complete it, I’m going to call it ‘the Excalibur Combat Droid.’”

As the rest of the squad observed the designs in awe, something about this idea intrigued Dylan. “Alright Barre, let’s move on to the next one so we can get this mission started, but this is definitely something I think we should take another look at at some point in the future.”

“You’re the boss,” Barre said as he scrolled over to the next one. “This is a camera circumvention device,” Barre explained as he pointed to a medium sized black box. With various toggle switches “It has two main settings. The first setting simply freezes the footage of a security camera in a way that isn’t detectable so that those monitoring the footage see nothing happening. The second setting generates false security footage when activated, so a lightor soldier walking down a hallway will continue to walk down the hallway on the footage, or a clock on the wall will continue to correctly tell time. This setting is a bit experimental though and has its own errors.”

By this point, the entire squad was observing and listening to Barre’s explanation.

“This is what we will use to infiltrate the base,” Barre explained, “and I heavily recommend we utilize the second setting as little as possible.”

Now approaching the base in their now cloaked drop-ship, Dylan began to brief his squad on the beginning of his plan. “When we reach the base, Walton will hack the camera feed, and secure a connection between the camera feed and Barre’s device.”

Still listening to Dylan’s briefing, Walton and Barre walked over to the on board console to begin their work.

“As soon as we land, Walton and Barre will jam the outside cameras and communications. When this happens, the tech unit will carve a hole through the wall of the base with laser cutters, and replace the missing section of the wall with a holographic disguise. Sullivan will then take point and lead the stealth unit into the base.”

Sullivan nodded, signaling that he understood his orders.

“Once Stealth secures a decently sized within the base, the rest of us will sneak in as well. After that, we will make our way to the command center. You all have your orders, now let’s go take that base!”

“Yes sir!” cried out every member of Dylan’s squad.

“What about me?” Shorya asked as the various units of the squad began to split off and prepare for the beginning of the mission. “Do I have a role in this?”

“Of course,” Dylan said with a wide grin. “You’re here to keep me company!”

As soon as the drop-ship landed, Barre flipped one of the toggle switches on the circumventor, and Walton jammed their communications. As soon as Dylan gave the signal, Sullivan and the rest of the Stealth Unit filed out along with Tech Advisor Chase, and two other Tech soldiers.

Dylan and Shorya sat next to each other quietly in the drop-ship, as the other units did their work, and as the rest of the Tactical unit did a quick weapons check.

“So now we wait,” Shorya said, staring into Dylan’s eyes as he leaned back in his seat.

“Now we wait,” Dylan responded, staring back into her eyes.

——————————————————————————

Jaira was sitting in the Lightor Royal Gardens. The smell of flowers and plant life permeated her nostrils. It was a sweet aroma that made her feel more complete. She admired the beauty of the gardens. Something about nature made her feel more alive. It invigorated her. At times it almost seemed as if she could feel the plant life surrounding her.

She was deep in introspective contemplation when a familiar voice woke her from her dazed trance.

“Jaira!” Arthur excitedly exclaimed. “We have a mission!”

“What?” Jaira asked astonished as she turned towards him.

“The asset reported that the Shadikill are targeting one of our mining operations,” Arthur explained. “This is our chance to make a difference Jaira. To protect our people from the lightor like we’ve always talked about.

“And your father is okay with this?” Jaira asked confused.

“He observed the specs of my armor and weaponry, and he has provided me with several battle droids,” Arthur explained. “We are going to set up an ambush at the mine and wipe out this Shadikill squad before it brings any more harm to our people.”

“Any more harm?” Jaira enquired.

“This was the same squad that killed Sopex,” Arthur explained, “and this squad is led by none other than the prince of the Shadikill himself. If we capture or kill him, we can help bring a swift end to this seemingly endless war.”

“Have you told your father about this Shadikill prince?” asked Jaira.

“No,” Arthur admitted. “I wanted to surprise him with news of his death.”

“I’m not sure about this Arthur,” Jaira said doubtfully.

“Come on Jaira,” Arthur pleaded. “I just want my chance to change the world, and there is nobody I would rather have by my side than you.”

Jaira pondered his words for a little while. They had talked about this for months now. They had prepared their weapons and armor. They had spent hours imagining what it would be like to be heroes. She knew how important this was to him, and he was her friend. She could not simply abandon him at a time like this.

“Well Jaira,” Arthur asked impatiently. “Our shuttle is waiting. Are you with me?”

Jaira paused for a second before replying, “Of course I am, and I always will be.”