Savage-Time Chapter 38 (Patreon)

[Coruscant, Senate Building]

Darth Sidious

Sometimes even when things go against what you want the end result is the same, Anakin Skywalker was now closer to the edge than he had ever been, and not even the meddlesome Amidala would be able to stop him from falling. He could feel the conflict in him, the passion, the fury, and the fear. Anakin despite what he projected unto others had always lived a life of fear, it dictated his attitude, his likes and dislikes, the way he talked and most of all the way he lived.

Sidious didn’t need to prove his mind to know what he thought or what he wanted because the boy was just so predictable and even when he wasn’t Anakin always moved because of selfish reasons, despite what many think there is selfishness in selflessness, a contradiction perhaps but one who did good deeds to assuage his own conscience wasn’t a good man for it.

Anakin was someone like that.

Sidious’ musings about his future apprentice were cut off as he received an alert on his comm, once again another plan went off without a hitch, some of the Jedi that refused to fight had been caught in a hyperspace anomaly and half of the group that had departed Coruscant hadn’t made it to their destination, the other half was trapped in a war zone in the mid rim with some of the most loyal clones and with one of the harshest Jedi.

Pong Krell would prove himself by hunting down and killing those fools who thought that just because they refused to fight that they could escape the trap he set. Maris would have to accelerate her plans and start sabotaging the rest of the ships in short order and once she faked her death Sidious would train the girl personally, it would be like having Maul back, another Zabrak would be fun to train their high-pain tolerance and that second heart they possessed made them very hardy and he wanted to let out some of his frustration by teaching the girl what would happen if someone tossed her around like space debris.

Sidious had found out the third follower he had foreseen, or at least he thought so despite his seeming confirmation from the mouth of another Jedi no less his voice couldn’t reach Quinlan Vos. The man hadn’t cut his connection to the Force Sidious knew it because he felt the burning ember of the Dark Side inside the man, a flame that just needed the right fuel to be forever ignited but there was something blocking him!

He had read the reports that Rahm Kota had sent and knew that Quinlan was perilously close to falling and that Maul was the one to make him waver with some pathetic words about happiness. Sidious sneered and the shadows in the room thrashed around along with his displeasure, his wayward apprentice had become more pathetic than he thought but such was the fate for failures like him and to think that at one point Sidious had such high hopes for him.

The two acolytes he had were much more interesting, the Jedi hadn’t passed any information about where two rogue Force users came from but he had an idea, the war was very chaotic and padawans could easily be forgotten or left behind by those who were too careless. Sidious had thought that stealing babies was a better plan since they would be indoctrinated perfectly but perhaps Maul was onto something.

Many Jedi were dissatisfied with the way things were and it would be supremely easy to push them towards his line of thinking, the danger was in maintaining his persona as Chancellor while trying to teach some snotnosed brats how to fight but with Pong Krell as his servant that could easily be remedied.

Sidious could speak to some of his ‘friends’ in the Jedi Order and have them start a movement for more incorporation of the younglings and padawans in the war, nothing like an active battlefield but making them see the logistical side of things while having a master on hand for training would be useful and a great move to put forth as to their confidence in being able to handle the war.

It was an excellent idea, he would be starting early his inquisitor program all while he made sure that the Jedi were decimated to their foundations. Sidious wouldn’t want some padawans to survive the purge he was planning just so they could bother him later while he was busy running the galaxy and looking for a way to become immortal.

“Chancellor” the voice of his secretary sliced through the silence of his office making him pay attention again to his surroundings, he had lost himself in his scheming but at least no one saw anything.

“Yes, dear” the grandfatherly tone in his voice hid the anger he felt at being interrupted.

“The Clone intelligence division has sent you a priority message, would you like me to display it on your screen” Sidious chuckled at the blatant attempt to gather information, if he didn’t know that she was only doing it as a hobby he might have killed her already.

“No need, I may be old but I can still do some things myself” with that said he opened the console of his desk and reviewed the message.

It could hardly be called a message it was more like a sentence.

‘Maul enroute to Mandalor, possible Jedi presence already there’

Sidious first thought was to call for his personal ship to be prepared and head there to teach his wayward apprentice the consequences of declaring himself a rival, the information his former apprentice would have would also be out to good use but sadly that was something he couldn’t do while there were Jedi running around, had it been a single one he might have killed them both but Sidious knew that Jedi didn’t move alone and the fact that there was Jedi presence on Mandalore and he wasn’t informed pointed at the possibility that there might be more of them on the planet.

The Dark Lord of the Sith had heard about the recent troubles that plagued Mandalore and as Chancellor he had moved to try and absorb the Neutral League into the Republic sadly it was not to be as the stubborn Duchess denied the possibility of such a thing as long as the war was still raging.

Sidious wasn’t surprised with the way the Hutts and other criminal elements acted, it was a wonder that they hadn’t before but it looked like they were planning for a massive offensive and used the war as cover to prepare, the slugs were more sneaky than he thought but if the worms thought that he would leave them be and acquire what was rightfully his they were very wrong.

Already he had free agents and bounty hunters doing sabotage missions, nothing big yet but according to his plans soon there would be a chance to decapitate the leadership of the Hutt Clans. Jabba’s days were numbered and once the slugs fell into infighting he would sweep them away, Anakin would be so happy to know that his next mission was going to be in Hutt space, perhaps he would even recommend he lead the ‘liberation’ of his home planet.

That would cement the loyalty of the boy and he would have a fanatical pool of beings to choose from once the war was over as anything he did as emperor would surely be better than whatever the slugs did to them. Not that having the rabble of the Outer Rim was such a good thing, they lived there for a reason and it was best that if he used them at all, that they remained there, Sidious would just use them as political tools when needed and otherwise leave them out of his inner circle, Sidious knew well that even the most staunch loyalty could be eroded on the pit that was Coruscant.

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[Coruscant, Alderaan Representatives Private Residence]

Bail Organa

Since he received the message from Mon, since he had uncovered the lengths she had gone to hide the weapons and soldiers she had been preparing Bail hadn’t been able to think straight, it didn’t help that the more he looked into the documents she had left behind the more Bail believed that Mon had been onto something.

The conspiracy reached as far as the Chancellor and to the lowest levels of Republic command, Baild didn’t know for certain who was in on it and who wasn’t the line between corruption and conspiracy was so thin that it might not exist at all! Even Bail, who had been doing his best to bring the war to a swift resolution and minimize the Republic's spending and debt had a part to play.

He hadn’t seen it until it was pointed out in Mon’s notes but many of his benefactors and many of his like-minded friends in other systems had been killed, they had used the war as a distraction and excuse both! Many had lost their lives, whole passenger ships and shipments had been destroyed just to make Bail’s political position worse. Innocents had been killed just to silence the few that were outspoken in their dislike of the war.

Bail didn’t know if he could even count on the people that were currently supporting him! He was seeing spies and saboteurs everywhere and it wasn’t healthy but the sheer amount of secrets Mon had handed to him had taken their toll.

Sighing he took a sip of his cup, caff wasn’t the perfect beverage but it sure came close to it. Bail had to tell Padme but he wasn’t sure if she would remain silent, Padme for all her good qualities refused to hold back on her opinions and the secrets that Mon had entrusted him with were the ones that Padme like to bring out into the light, sometimes her plans worked and other times they didn’t. Bail would have to tell her though and it may be necessary to convince her to remain silent until the time was right but knowing her Padme would go around Coruscant investigating things herself.

Why did saving the galactic government have to be so hard, in days like these he missed the slow procedures and bureaucratic nonsense of Valorum’s time as Chancellor, that was a better time even if it wasn’t much better than a galactic-wide war, Bail wondered what that meant for the Republic that even in times of war it was hardly worse than usual, sighing Bail drained his cup and proceeded to lose himself in the darkest secrets of the Republic.

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[Coruscant, Jedi Temple]

Mace Windu

Mace moved silently through the temple and that annoyed him, he shouldn’t have to skulk around in his own home just because some people disagreed with his opinions but the Jedi Order wasn’t perfect, not yet anyway, and it would be for the best if things remained as they had.

Moving towards the lower levels was easy, after a certain point there were no guards or droids, just endless corridors that formed the base of the temple, some led to vaults and others to escape routes but anyone with little knowledge of the temple structure would be lost and would die in the maze of halls.

After passing a non-descript door whose only flaw was a lightsaber strike directly at the base Mace knew he was close, soon he made his way past a door and entered the room where his fellow masters, (conspirators a dark part of his mind said before he ignored it) who had received news from their agents.

Mace passed Shaak Ti who was closest to the door and took his place at the center of the room directly opposite of her, the holographic images of master Mundi and master Rancisis were also there on the left side of the room and on the right master Tinn was reviewing something on a data pad.

“We’ve received contact from the one that performed the most visual of our orders” Shaak Ti was being careful and was avoiding the use of the…servant’s name, perhaps a tad paranoid but he wasn’t going to judge her.

“Is it wise to keep in contact with him, I thought we would use their services once to minimize the risk of discovery” master Rancisis raised one of his eyebrows at Shaak Ti.

“Loyalty such as his shouldn’t be pushed aside” master Mundi voiced his opinion as he took out a data pad of his own from his robes and passed it to the elderly Jedi master.

Rancisis read the report of their agent (yes, that was better than servant) and hummed thoughtfully, Windu had already seen it and while slightly disturbed by the proclamations of loyalty and devotion was impressed with how thorough the man was in covering his tracks.

“I’m more concerned with our efforts in the Separatist-held worlds” Tinn said from across the room as he passed the data pad in his hands to Shaak Ti “They aren’t as effective as I hoped”

“You need to be more patient,” Windu said to his lifelong friend “they have fewer resources and almost no information beyond their targets, and what they have accomplished is already a lot”

Shaak Ti read the report from their agents in the Outer Rim worlds quickly enough and spoke her opinion “I thin that the answer lies in the middle, I believe they could do better but I’m impressed with their resourcefulness, we should send some equipment their way to make things easier for all of us“

“We’re on our way to the border of what is currently Republic space, we could drop some supplies for them to pick up it wouldn’t be much but anything at all is better than nothing” master Mundi proclaimed as he looked to master Rancisis.

“It could work but we would have to make an excuse for it and such things can lead to further problems down the line” the eldest Jedi master among the group said as put a finger to his chin “perhaps a simple accident would serve as better cover”

“That” Mace interrupted before they continued their planning “will have to wait, Obi-Wan is on a secret mission to Mandalore and I’m thinking we can use this opportunity to make the neutral aligned planets the Mandalorians lead more receptive of us”

“I didn’t hear about his mission before we left” Shaak Ti voiced her confusion.

“I’m telling you now and then I will tell the rest of the council, but first we must deiced what orders we can give him to help our efforts”

“You want to bring Kenobi into this group” Rancisis said suddenly.

Mace nodded “I’ve been thinking about it, while radical in his approach to certain situations there is no denying that Obi-Wan is an exemplary Jedi and that across his travels with his master he made many contacts that even now provide him information”

And wasn’t it a disgrace that one of their own had to go to a dinner to receive knowledge about Kamino, but at least events like that one confirmed Obi-Wan’s stance in maintaining contact with people outside the temple as beneficial.

“What do you have in mind Mace?” master Tinn asked.

“I know that Obi-Wan has a history with the rebel group known as Death Watch and that it would help immensely if they were left without leadership”

“Aren’t they helping with the pirate problem right now?” Shaak Ti said with a frown “Why would you ask him to do that?”

“You want the Mandalorians asking for help, while an underhanded tactic I can’t say it’s a bad idea. I approve” master Rancisis approval did much to alleviate the guilt Mace felt about his idea.

“For the Republic!” with that rallying cry, the decision passed.

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Author note: i hate being an adult, and i finally finished this. i hope you enjoy the intrigue part of the story