Savage-Time Chapter 28 (Patreon)

[Umbara, Umbaran Government Building]

Savage Opress

“It is our great honor to present you this token as proof of your deeds on the battlefield and for your efforts to liberate our planet from the greedy arms of the corrupt Republic!” the Umbaran Senator had quickly returned from Onderon where the senate of the CIS had made itself at home and made use of the opportunity to grow in popularity as he pretended that this was a well thought out plan and not something I decided on a whim.

I raised the ceremonial trophy and ribbon that had been presented to me in the air and received the cheers of the public in response. Merrin who was beside me preened under the attention of the people and reveled in the feelings that they expressed, I had to admit that it was quite pleasant to power myself with something other than the usual even if the power was certainly less than with the darker emotions.

“Admiral Trench who was responsible for the victory in space has confirmed that he will remain with his battlegroup in our skies to protect us from any danger until further notice and he will receive his own celebration once he lands!” more cheers were heard from the Umbarans, the deafening noise almost made me cover my ears but that would be impolite.

A beeping sound came from my personal comm and after a quick word to my host I left the podium with Merrin following closely behind me, I walked until I found a private room reserved for government meetings, and once I was sure that there was no one listening I turned it on. While Merrin turned on the projector in the middle of the room to watch the Holonet news

“Sir, we have captured Lama Su as instructed but there’s a problem, General Grievous has been captured”

“What?! What do you mean-“ My words were interrupted by an announcement from the holo, one that I wasn’t expecting to hear from the news.

A very curvaceous human woman was showing the recording of Grievous entrance to the party where they had abducted the Kaminoan prime minister, once it was finished she finally started talking.

“It has been a difficult day for us in Coruscant as we mourn the lose of not only Senator Mon Mothma but also of Lama Su prime minister of Kamino” what the hell Lama Su wasn’t dead, why would they sa-Fuck! it was Palpatine, I have no idea what angle he’s playing but this screams of his work.

“Today we also mourn a great tragedy as the top level of Coruscant has been scarred by the detonation of a nuclear device that the infiltrator droids that committed the murders were carrying but thankfully most of the damage and radiation has been pushed down from the top of Coruscant thanks to the help of the Jedi!”

Holy shit! Grievous chose to kill himself! I had planted that bomb as a last resort and as insurance, in case he wanted to sell me out to Sidious but it looks like he tried killing some Jedi instead.

“The Jedi Grandmaster Yoda came down from the ivory tower of the Jedi Temple and showed us just what a Jedi can really do” that sounded suspiciously like criticism “The ancient Jedi also managed to save one of his brethren and capture the droid mastermind in charge of this terrible attack”

Oh! This doesn’t bode well for anyone, I’m sure that old Palpy doesn’t want Grievous spilling his secrets and I don’t want the cyborg to tell them what I have Lok Durd building for me…this could get messy.

How the fuck did Yoda save Grievous from a nuclear explosion and how the hell did he even survive that!

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[Coruscant, Jedi Temple]

Anakin Skywalker

Anakin had always thought that Master Yoda’s power had been exaggerated and that if he had enough time he too could do things as easily as the aging Jedi could. He doubted that assertion now.

Master Yoda and Master Windu had first stopped a more manageable explosion on Coruscant’s lower levels, Anakin could have done it too but he probably would have fainted afterward the two council members had no such problem and while they had suffered some minor burns in their hands they were intact and with nary a scratch to their names…well at least that was the case for Master Yoda.

Anakin had seen it as he was making his way to help when the comm showed him the image of a captured droid with scorch marks all over the metal and the two Jedi at his side, then the droid’s chest had opened and apart from showing his organs revealing the droid to be Grievous, they hadn’t been joking when they said the cyborg general had changed the way he looked, the opening of Grievous’s chest had also revealed a glowing bomb that didn’t look safe at all.

That had been proved correct when the face of Windu went from stern to horrified, the creator of Vaapad had wasted no time in ripping the bomb out of the cyborgs chest and as he was preparing to throw it to the lower levels he had been stopped by Yoda.

Anakin had never seen Windu so betrayed but he would be able to see it personally as his ship was fast approaching the site of the battle. Anakin had arrived just in time for the last part of the argument that had the most powerful members of the Jedi Order playing with a dangerous explosive and he still couldn’t believe what he had heard.

“Master we must throw it to the lower levels!” Windu said as he grew increasingly desperate.

“Great death will come if we do, up is the way”

“Master the fallout from the explosion would damage the atmospheric controls, more beings will die if we don’t send it down!”

And so they had and then Anakin had swooped in and taken them just in time for if they had waited any longer then they would have died in the explosion and by doing so they had doomed Coruscant’s lower levels to a slow death, so many innocents had been sacrificed and Anakin wondered if it was worth it.

The cry of the dead echoed in the force as the explosion engulfed the citizens of the lower levels and it only grew as time passed with more and more dying to the radiation, the Separatists had done this just to get to the Kaminoans and in the end it had been all for nothing.

This war was escalating even as it looked to be waning but now the Senate and the pro-war faction would be able to push for a more militant response and the attacks done by the Hutt scum would be forgotten and ignored in favor of a new offensive, Sithspit! The corrupt politicians that lived in the Senate might propose to renew the alliance with the Hutts.

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[Coruscant, Senate Building]

Darth Sidious

Sidious didn’t know what was the plan or the true objective of the Separatists but as he felt the suffering of those who resided in Coruscant he decided that maybe just this time he would ignore thinking about it, the fear, the anger, the hatethat was just pouring out of the beings that resided in the capital of the galaxy was a potent drink that made Sidious reconsider his previous stance on drunkenness. If this is what his master felt every day as he drank every wine known to the galaxy then Sidious could understand why he would keep drinking even if it was a bad idea.

The Dark Lord of the Sith felt empowered beyond what he had previously thought could be possible and wondered just how much power he could posses if he was to witness the destruction of a planet.

Those fantasies would have to wait as there was much to do, Grievous knew of him and worst of all the cyborg suspected that he was part of the staff that worked with Chancellor Palpatine and if he told that to the Jedi then Sidious would be trapped playing as the old politician for a while, luckily he already had a plan to kill his traitorous subordinate but not before he could ask the good general some questions about his new employer, knowledge is power after all and Sidious hated to waste power.

A wry smile popped on his face and for a second the mask that he had so carefully crafted for so many years cracked and the hidden beast beneath the kindly persona of Palpatine bared its teeth, in the force the shadow of his presence loomed over Coruscant, and knowing the Jedi they would think it was all the death causing it not the Sith Lord that controlled the Republic from within, moving quickly Sidious sent a message to the Jedi Temple one that could only be heard by those close to the Dark Side, many would ignore it to be sure thinking it a passing temptation but Sidious knew that as much as they tried to hide it there were Jedi that would heed his siren call and look for answers that the incompetent Jedi Council couldn’t provide.

A vision came quickly after he had completed his task in it four figures kneeled in front of him.

The only one among them he could recognize immediately was someone who had become famous among the non-Jedi generals of the Republic for his success rate and massive casualties among clone troopers.

The Dark Side whispered the name of his newest servant even if the Jedi didn’t know that fact yet.

Pong Krell

The sound that came out of his body as he laughed could be compared more to a sound a dying creature would make rather than something that could come from a human.

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[Boz Pity, Somewhere in the Arid Canyons]

Kalifa

Jinx hadn’t realized it yet but they were being hunted, Kalifa hadn’t been especially talented at sensing people before but the moment she embraced the darkness her senses were stronger than ever, and the annoyingly bright people following them were probably the Jedi that Maul had ordered them to evade, they were quickly gaining ground on them and all because of their mission.

Kalifa looked into the dead eyes of the child she had just cut down, she wanted to feel something as she looked at it, anger, sadness, fear, satisfaction, anything at all! But all that she felt was empty and all that she wanted to do to fill that emptiness she felt was kill more because as she killed without mercy she became stronger.

In this place flooded with the deaths of innocents her power had grown so much that she had begun whispering things to her fellow apprentice who was slowly losing himself to the power of the Dark Side and thought that the whispers he heard were his own desires.

Kalifa snorted at that. As if something like the Dark Side would pay special attention to Jinx, but she had a plan and in case everything went wrong a little encouragement from her would send her fellow apprentice into the jaws of the enemy allowing her to escape and finish her mission because, in the end, the mission was all that mattered and she would rather die than live through whatever punishment Maul would come up with.

There were things scarier than death.

A shudder ran through her whole body despite the glare of the sun on her back “Jinx they’re getting close and we just have one last target, a target who has changed directions and is headed in the direction of our enemies”

“You’re worrying too much with the power we’ve acquired not even a Jedi master would be our opponent” the statement was not untrue, Kalifa felt as if she could fight evenly with any Jedi she had ever seen, sadly they wouldn’t be fighting only one Jedi.

“In case you’ve forgotten, there’s three of them and only two of us and I don’t want to take any chances when I’ve sacrificed so much just for a taste of courage”

“You mean a taste of true freedom” Jinx replied with an annoyingly smug smirk on his face.

Already they were taking different paths in their pursuit of darkness and Kalifa would live to show him and everyone else that it was she and not him who was destined to become a real Sith.