The Weaving Force: Chapter 127 (Patreon)

Chapter 127:

Maul

The Choku carcass thudded wetly onto the floor, two howlers followed after it.

Maul tossed a look towards Savage, who nodded quietly, out of sight of the hunters.

“A decent hunt.” He acknowledged, his eyes going to the two little brothers that had been tasked with gathering their food and who, according to Savage at least, had done their part.

The two little brothers smiled at eachother, pleased with themselves.

Maul turned his gaze back towards the crackling fire. “Go. The task isn’t done yet. Clean your kills, and ready them to cook.”

The two young Zabrak males eagerly took hold of their kills, dragging them away to do as they were told. 

The camp, such as it was, rested at the foot of a river basin, the ship hidden under a thick canopy of leaves and tree branches. It felt too exposed, too open.

But the temples, touched with the lingering caress of the Dark Side, were beacons, both in the Force and to any who bothered to come here. They would be the first place that would be searched. 

Savage approached, sitting down across from Maul. “They did well.” He commented. “They barely needed my aid at all.”

“That’s good.” Maul commented. “If we have to leave… at least the little sisters will have some that can hunt while they learn their required skills.”

Savage leaned forward, hands clasping together, almost wringing. “Leave them?”

“I might have to, at the very least.” He clarified. Strictly speaking, he did not need his brother at his side… but he would wish for him to be there. Though he understood that he might be more needed here. “Once Sidious discovers or hears of my presence elsewhere- this system will be safe.

“I see…” Savage said, almost hesitantly. “I… suppose they can hold. Survive, long enough, while I help you do what needs to be done.”

A pause, and the only thing Maul could think of answering with was a heartfelt-

“Thank you brother.” 

Leaving, to help, and then returning once Maul had gotten his feet under him- it was the best compromise Maul could have asked for, And it was indeed, sensible. 

“That said-” Savage continued. “What is your plan?”

It was a fair question-

“You deserve an answer.” He admitted, then, shuffled forward, leaning over the flames a bit. “It's…” He hesitated, not because he didn’t trust his brother, but how to explain…

“Sidious-” He decided to begin. “His plan is… complex. Multifaceted.” Savage listened, attention fixed on Maul. “I witnessed at the very least its opening steps, its beginning, and can guess how it evolved and progressed in my absence.”

Savage raised a brow ridge, nodding carefully. Clearly he was wondering where this was going.

“That means, I know the foundational pieces.” Maul explained. “I know the parts he needs to have on the board. The levers he pulls.”

Savage’s eyes widened in recognition. “Destroy the levers.”

Maul nodded. “Destroy those foundational pieces, the more he has to improvise, the more he improvises, the more unstable his plan becomes. Destroy his plan, threaten it, and he will either fall, or seek me out- where then-”

“We can kill him.” Savage’s smile was savage, hateful. 

His brother wanted revenge as much as Maul did. 

The Sith assassin nodded. “Yes.”

Savage stood up, beginning to pace around the flames in his excitement. “Revenge for Mother, for our brothers and sisters.” He snarled, rounding on Maul. “Who is it we must kill for this? The levers to eliminate?”

Maul opened his mouth, ready to answer-

A tiny hand pulled at Maul’s sleeve, and the assassin turned, finding none other than the pale, cherubic face of a little sister looking up at him.

He remembered this one’s name. 

“Sister Meryn?” He asked, moving to stand as Savage stood straighter, a disquieting fear shooting through his chest. “Is it sister Talia!?”

“She’s awake.” His little sister said. “She wants to speak with you.”

There was an honest, genuine relief that carved through Maul’s chest.

Mother Talzin was gone… but as long as one of her closest sisters remained, his and Savage’s failure was not all encompassing. Not yet.

“Let us g-” He began only to stop, freeze really.

Little Meryn’s head tilted. “...Elder brother?” 

Maul didn’t answer, his eyes turning skyward, narrowing.

—

Taylor-

When the small fleet translated out of Hyperspace I was already on my way to the bridge, listening as Clone comms officers relayed codes and IFF’s to their counterparts and beginning scanning sweeps of the immediate system.

We had Six Arquitens Light cruisers, Anakin’s Venator ‘The Resolute’ and Obi-Wan’s Negotiator.

Vicky’s ship was ‘Glory’ for a grand total of nine vessels. The name was… a bit on the nose, but I picked my battles. 

Between the three Venators and Six light cruisers we had a fighting force of near eight hundred thousand Clones, including armor, heavy weapons, support equipment, required medical units and everything else you could think of.

Add in myself, Vicky, Anakin and Obi-Wan and this was a level of battle strength that could fight well above its already significant weight class.

To be frank, by any measure, even unreasonable ones, this was absolute overkill to hunt down one man, but Yavin was deep in separatist territory, far behind the front lines. Even remote as it was, we couldn’t take the risk, especially if Grievous or the Sith were hunting him. 

“No contacts.” One clone sensor operator called. “System’s clean ma’am.”

“We are detecting very faint ion residue.” Another called. “Just enough to have been left by a single ship passing through.”

“That has to be him.” Vicky muttered, “Who else would come out here to the middle of nowhere?”

“Open a channel to Master Kenobi and Skywalker.” I demanded, “Keep our current course to the moon.”

“Yes General.”

The comms-men obliged the order, Aras, Vicky’s unofficial second in command, approached us, nodding in greeting my way, a gesture I returned as he grunted a curt ‘General.’ towards Vicky.

She had just enough time to smirk, halfway mimicking his tone as she grunted out ‘Commander’

Aras did not roll his eyes, unlike me.

Soon however, Obi-Wan, and Anakin were on a holo plinth infront of the three of us. I could spy Ahsoka at the corner of Anakin’s holo, sitting on an available chair just out of the screen, and Rex and some other troopers flitting in and out of frame.

“I hope your journeys through Hyperspace were uneventful.” Obi-Wan said first, I suppose trying to make small talk.

“They were, Master.” Anakin nodded. “The Resolute has detected a faint ion residue in the area. My bet says that must be who we’re looking for.”

“Glory’s instruments picked up the same.” Vicky nodded. How long before we’re in range to start sweeping Yavin for life signs?”

“The ships will take another hour or so to get within range of the planet for proper scans-” Anakin began. “-but we can send out probe droids. Should make it there in a fraction of that time. They can start sending data back to us that should at least give us some viable starting points.”

“Agreed.” Obi-Wan nodded, a very real tension in his expression and body language. “Lets get it done” He turned to Anakin. “When we reach Yavin, I will be heading down with the search parties and battalions we deploy. We’ll set up a proper basecamp. Unless our probes are suddenly the most cutting edge technology, I imagine it will still take days to scour potential locations for tracking them.”

Anakin nodded carefully. “Agreed. A planet is a planet after all. But… master, are you sure you should go down yourself?”

“You are the better fleet commander of the four of us.” Obi-Wan declared, rather deftly sidestepping the pink elephant. “And with Taylor’s abilities she will be heading down to search- keeping her up in the fleet is a waste, and given that we have no idea what the potential enemy composition is in terms of survivors and what possible hostility they’ll demonstrate, keeping Master Dallon away from a potential fight is not ideal. So, you are the best option to have command of the fleet.”

All of that was true, and yet-

“Obi-Wan.” Vicky said gently, low enough to not be overheard. “Its ok, you know, whatever you need.”

The Negotiator sighed. “I appreciate your concern.” His tone might have implied otherwise. But I’m hardly acting out of… a personal issue. This is the most optimal way of spreading our available resources. Anakin will take general command of the fleet, and Iskt and Karla can remain on the glory, where I know you two will want to keep them safe. This is the correct deployment.”

Vicky nodded, offering a small smile. “Alright- that’s good enough for me.”

Anakin nodded a second later. “As you say Master. I assume Cody will be left in charge of The Negotiator in your absence?”

Obi-Wan shook his head. “Commander Cody will accompany me. I was thinking I could entrust the Negotiator to Ahsoka.”

I heard a crash, and got the distinct impression the aforementioned Padawan had fallen out of her chair. “Huh!? Me!?”

“Anakin will be in overall command, of course, but having a ranking officer on deck is always important, and you’ve a good head on your shoulders… probably inherited from my good sense rather than Anakin’s-” He teased with a smirk.

Ahsoka snickered, and Anakin, mock glaring, humphed and crossed his arms. “Alright then. See who gives you saber practice while in our next hypserspace transit!”

“I take it back Master!” She said through her smiles.

Aras soon cut in, however. Speaking up for the first time since the comlink began. “We need to plan out the scale of this deployment.” He said, bringing all eyes to him.. “You have your legions here, in full force just incase Separatists arrive; but we are behind enemy lines. any genuine push on our position, on our fleet, would be… a problem.” 

That was… a good point, and Anakin himself was frowning in thought, no doubt running the scenario in his own head as Aras continued.. “If the Fleet has to retreat and men are on planet then that’s that- they’re on planet until, or even if a force can come back to rescue them. Nevermind the possibility of any of you, their commanders being stuck there alongside them. So we can’t just take it for granted that the enemy won’t find mid operation and we have all the time in the world. For all we know they might be on their way here now. We’re tracking the same person.

Anakin nodded. “I agree. We should deploy something sizable enough to cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time, but small enough that we can evacuate quickly, just incase the separatists do show up in force and our fleet has to run.”

Obi-Wan stroked at his beard. “Each of our Legions has around two hundred thousand clones, I’d say a fraction of each, five to ten thousand. Mostly scouts, with light, fast vehicles. Mechanized units to keep them moving quickly. Our task is to cover ground and find them, not set up a permanent forward base.”

“Might be best to cycle them out.” Vicky said. “Clones need sleep too, so when one shift is ending we shuttle them back up to the ship and then shuttle the next batch down to the planet. Maybe every eight or ten hours? Minimal downtime between search parties.”

“Agreed.” I said. Preliminary base camps and landing zones can be set up quickly within the temples on Yavin. Set up perimeter defenses but nothing outlandish and we proceed from there as our rally points.” I thought for a moment. “We should also limit our time here to a set maximum. Five days at the absolute most. Even if we’ve been undetected which isn’t a guarantee by any stretch- remaining here for longer than five days might threaten other theaters and this is still, all of it, based on a loose hunch that Maul might be alive and he might know something, none of which are guarantees.”

Obi-Wan frowned, but he could hardly disagree. Finally, after a long moment he nodded.. “Very well, five days. We still have an hour to reach Yavin so let us all make our preparations with our men and ships for now, we’ll re-establish contact approximately ten minutes out of scanning range of Yavin 4”

He shut off his comlink, blue form vanishing in a hazy cloud of azure pixels. 

—

“We’re in command of the ship!?” Karla gawped, staring wide eyed at me.

Iskt was quiet but similarly surprised. 

I nodded, standing on the bridge as clone crew-men went hither and dither compiling and assorting the ever increasing data as we approached we had a bit of privacy if only by virtue of sheer distance of everyone around us and the collective noise from all of them. 

“Logistically, we need coordinators, and that becomes much easier when not all ranking Generals are down below.” I explained. Likely that was why Obi-Wan had given Ahsoka her task. “And honestly, you’ll be in good company, Obi-Wan is entrusting the Negotiator to Ahsoka’s command.”

“And besides,” Vicky chimed in. “Starting you guys off with something relatively safe like this will get you ready for command on a larger scale when it might be an emergency and we’re not around.”

“I guess-” Karla grudgingly acquiesced  She wasn’t quite pouting, but it was close. “But I… kinda wanted to see Yavin 4, I heard they had old Force sensitive temples there.”

“We’re not on vacation.” I reminded. She gave a sheepish smile, and I sighed, but did nod after another second. “They do. Three temples stand out. The Massassi temple, the Blue-leaf cluster temple and the Woolamander Palace.”

All three of them gave me odd looks.

Vicky broke the awkward quiet hesitantly. “Those names are-”

“Stupid I know.” I rolled my eyes. At least two of them were stupid; named by a sullustan archeologist or something. The Massassi temple was the oldest temple and had been named after the now extinct natives. Which made a lot more sense to me. 

Still, getting back on point. “Three temples for three legions. Anakin has already said he’ll be staying on the fleet as the overall commander, so the contingent of 501rst troopers he’s sending down will have no field commander. I and Noble will be headed to them, and we’ll be searching the Massassi temple.

“Somehow I think you volunteered so you’d have the respectable name in your reports later.” Vicky joked. “Still, I’ve got the-” She checked her notes for… probably the first time. “Woody Palace.”

“Woolander-”

“It’s Woody from now on.” She declared with an exaggerated huff. “If I’m searching a temple with a stupid name I’m at least running with a name I can remember!”

I shrugged. “That leaves Obi-Wan with the Blue-Leaf temple.” I pulled up some still images of the old archive books I’d procured, showing images of each of the ziggurat like structures. “No way to tell what condition they’re in. But if they’re anything like the records we have, then each of the temples can serve as a decent base of operations for all individual teams, including having enough space to serve as hangars and landing zones. So that simplifies logistics groundside.”

“Do you think the Dathomiri are hiding in one of the temples?” Iskt asked, “For shelter?”

I shrugged. “Possible but barring exceptional circumstances I wouldn’t think so. If their goal is to hide, why would you go to the three most eye catching structures on the planet?”

Iskt shrugged, acknowledging the point. “Fair. But I assume we are still searching them?”

“Of course.” I didn’t scoff, but that was obvious. I was assuming, not certain and it would be the height of stupidity to not check only to find the idiots hiding in the temple attic or basement or whatever. 

It's part of the reason I was even going to Masassi in the first place, as the largest temple, it was easily a rival in terms of sheer space to the Jedi temple on Coruscant. The clones would take a full day sweeping the place top to bottom, at best. With me there, it might only take an hour, maybe two; and that was only if the subsections beneath the temple were as vast as records said they were and needed to be searched, assuming they hadn’t all collapsed.”

“Generals-” The helmsman called. “Visual on the Yavin moon in seven seconds.”

When it finally appeared on our screens, Yavin looked like an emerald orb, crisscrossed with veins of blue. Its great forests and blue rivers made it beautiful, in spite of the faint touch of the Dark Side I could detect even from all the way up here.

—

Maul

He clung tightly to the shadows of the forests, using his many years of training as a Sith assassin to be all but invisible as he approached the camp.

The Clones were a professional lot. Guards manned their stations, eyes searching the perimeter around them for any signs of movement. 

He peered through the mag-nocs, spying a handful of Clones sporting beskar of all things. Not something he expected by any stretch. Mandalorians, he knew, were fiercely protective of their precious steel. 

Then he saw her, a Jedi. Human, Blonde hair, he’d never seen her before but he recognized her all the same from the reports that reached Talzin. Dallon, the Invincible Jedi.

She was speaking to a tall Mandalorian, not a clone. He couldn’t hear them but judging by how the man was following her gestures, he was her second, a potential target for elimination or distraction, if need be. 

More Clones arrived from the skies above on their gunships, heavy equipment. Proximity alarms, gun emplacements. Defenses; others descended with speeder bikes, sensor equipment.

They would not leave quickly.

And they were searching for something.

He could fathom a guess as to what that was but it was obvious.

The Jedi were here for him.

There was no way the Order, inept and worthless as it was could have found him, not like this. That meant that Sidious had sent them. Only he could have cleared the way for the Jedi to arrive so deep behind separatist lines.

If Sidious sent them, that meant-

A crackle of static in his ear. “Brother” Savage whispered.

Maul had a feeling he knew what his brother was about to say. “Speak.” He demanded, fury and dread twisting his stomach.

“I see him brother. He’s here.”

Maul’s burning eyes shut tight, fingers clenging into a fist that shook with barely contained fury, so much so that he saw Dallon pause, turning curiously in his general direction before he reigned himself in and slipped deeper into the shadows.

‘Kenobi’ Maul thought hatefully.

Yes. Sidious had sent them here, he had no doubt.

Even putting in a piece of bait the old man knew he couldn’t resist.

But Maul wasn’t an unthinking animal.

He would be the one to win this game, or die trying. 

“Pull back, brother.” He demanded, spying through the canopy as Dallon and her cadre of jetpack clones took to the skies. “We need to plan.”

“Understood.”

—

Taylor

“General, we’ve got visual on the temple”

I leaned down to get through the narrow doorway to the LAAT’s cockpit, peering over the pilot’s shoulder out of the front viewport.

The Masassi temple was… large. Even from a distance, it jutted out of the forest tree line like a towering monolith, dwarfing everything around it. Already Anakin’s 501rst were descending around the temple grounds, their white armored bodies and ships looking almost out of place, white ants crawling at the base of a carcass.

It really did seem as large as the Jedi temple on Coruscant, holding an ancient, long lost grandeur.

I could feel the Dark Side touch in this place, emanating from the temple itself. It wasn’t like Dathomir, or Jorus’ twisted, festering scar on Geonosis. This was… a mark. Something left here that after so long had simply become part of this place. As constant as the trees and the rivers. Immutable and unchanging.

I could almost feel the weight of eons press down on me as we descended towards the primary landing area, several comms flying every which way between our pilot and his contemporaries to make certain there were no accidents.

“Noble, arm up!” Guelzo commanded.

I heard the crack of men getting to their feet, weapons readied. When the doors opened they stepped out like an honor guard ahead of me, I stepped off, feeling my weight lurch the ship behind me.

“General.” I didn’t recognize the Clone that addressed me, if I were to guess, Rex had stayed with Anakin on the Resolute. 

The Clone’s heels snapped together, saluting sharply. “Commander Cartel, 501rst 9th company; General Skywalker has placed us at your command ma’am.”

Cartel? 

“There’s a story behind that name.” I said, only half trying to ease the tension.

I sensed his amusement. “Aye ma’am. Be happy to tell ya once the mission is done.”

I shrugged. “We’re entering the temple. All units enter through the ground floor behind me, secure every entrance as we clear it. I want perimeter defenses set up practically as soon as we control the doorways. Find a suitable place to serve as a hangar for our speeders and ground transports. This temple has sub levels. After we clear the first floors, designate teams to start checking them while I check the topmost floors. If they still need assistance by the time I’m done, I’ll head to the sub levels then. Beyond that, once the perimeter defenses are secure and the base is up, scouts should begin to fan out from this location. Search for any signs of recent occupation. Any signs. Hunting, fishing, trees cut down, anything and report it immediately.”

Cartel nodded. “Yes ma’am.” He said, before immediately beginning to relay the orders to the men.

I turned towards the temple, beginning to march inside.

I could say one thing about Yavin that I liked already.

It indeed had a very diverse collection of insect life. 

—

Komari

The doors to the hangar bay opened.

It took a moment to recognize it as a hangar bay.

Mostly because by now, the Mandalorians had basically decorated it to the point of being near unrecognizable.

Skulls and banners hung from the high ceilings, Rugs, drapes, and tapestries, trophies and monuments to old glories hung on the walls. The various clans, or what was left of them, that still clung to the Deathwatch cause, however nominally could be found right here.

Barely fifty men.

Viszla’s quarters were at the far end of the place. Brooding still as he always did no doubt, clutching at that fancy blade he swore made him something worth giving a damn about.

“Joining us again?”

She recognized Ramah’s voice. And yes. She was joining them again.

She was sick of droids. Sick of metal, fallen Jedi and monstrous Generals. The Mandalorians, however uncouth, unwashed or unrefined, were still at least people. They still talked and laughed, even on occasion played music.

She’d take it. However odorous the company.

“Doing the rounds.” She answered neutrally, leaning over the catwalk railing, forearms resting on the metal looking down at the assembled gathering.

The marauders were gathering near the center- cooking meats and… whatever else passed for Mandalorian cuisine aboard this ship. 

She spied the girl, Yoshiro’s granddaughter amongst the crowd. Still small, still not quite the warrior she wished to be and wouldn’t be for years yet. But still present. Still clutching that bone knife of hers.

Ramah marched up to her side. “Rumors true?”

“What rumors?” She asked. Wondering, not for the first time, just how it was that rumors spread through a ship full of blasted droids.

“Dallon and Hebert will be at the next engagement?”

She shrugged. “Where Grievous goes, Dallon follows. Or vice versa.” She said. “If you’re scared of her, you got on the wrong ship.”

“There’s brave, then there’s stupid.” He said. “One or the other we can at least avoid while the cyborg monster does his thing. Not both.”

She rolled her eyes. “How very impressive Mandalorian. A credit to your neo crusader history-”

The man was annoyed, but he had a fair point. Regardless, whether they were there together or not, the mission would still proceed. Bitching about it wouldn’t change things

“We’ve been sitting here for days already. The hell are we even doing?”

The question was shouted from down below. A Mandalorian youth, judging by the ill fit of his armor.

“That one’s eager to earn his glories.” Ramah sighed.

“Think he’ll survive the insects?” She laughed, picturing the fool boy being eaten alive by swarming beetles.

Hebert was not squeamish, even when they screamed. 

Even so; perhaps, if she were younger, she’d have thought it a fair question. 

But after years and years of war- she knew the answer.

“Think about it, pup.” Ramah, called from his place on the catwalks overlooking the hanga.

The Mando youth looked up, Komari couldn’t see his face, not with the helmet, but his incredulity was obvious in the Force. That one didn’t know how to hide himself very well, not yet.

He’d better learn fast if he wanted to last long.

“Think about what?” The boy called. “We’ve been bloody hiding here for days! I thought we were supposed to kill Clones and get credits!”

“Credits aren’t worth much if you’re too cold to spend em.” The Mandalorian veteran sighed. . “What’s the worst time to engage a fleet? As in, the moment where you catch them completely with their pants down?”

The young man didn’t know, some of the other veterans snickered, already knowing the answer themselves.

Taking pity on him, Ramah answered his own question.

“You hit em; when half their crew is on planet.” He said. “Then, the ship boys have to decide. Do they evacuate their men? Or roll the dice and try to fight you-” He held up a finger. “And if they lose… well… those boys they leave ground-side… they can’t really shoot back at very well when you’re up here and they’re down there, can they?”

“Corellia proved that well enough!” One of the other Mandalorians jeered, and roaring laughter from his fellows answered him.  

Corellia had proven that danger hadn’t it?

Grievous was many things.

Ruthless. Monstrous. Powerful. Vicious.

But the most dangerous thing of all-

Is that he was a General.

And he knew how to go for the throat.

She kept these thoughts to herself however. Letting the Mandalorians distract themselves, none of them ever noticing when the hum of the ships engines subtly began to vibrate through the walls again signaling that the fleet was moving once more.

(X)(X)(X)

All the pieces are in place...

And. Here. We. Go!

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