Ravensdagger_Overkill

Jedi Master Tiin felt his eyes snapping to the figure in the near-distance. They were on a whole new world. There was much to see, even in this simple spaceport. But his attention was all on the figure.They were of a moderate height. Feminine, perhaps, though only if it was the right sort of humanoid. One arm was artificial, he deduced, and a lightsaber hung by its hip.“Thoughts, Master Trebor,” he said.“Force sensitive,” he replied. “The one next to her is strong as well. Steeped in the dark side of the force, but... not a master.”“A master and an apprentice,” one of the knights said. There was venom in those words.“Well then, let’s go meet,” Master Tiin said. “They came all this way for us.” He started down the ramp. He felt something moving to his side, but a quick, distracted glance revealed it to be a simple buzzing insect. A harmless fly of some sort.Master Tiin stared at it for a moment, then watched it casually dodge an absent swipe from a padawan.“I’ve noticed as well,” Master Trebor murmured. “The woman with the full-mask’s presence in the force is weak. Weaker than a padawan, even. But it’s dispersed. All around us.”“Is that how they’ve hidden so long?” Tiin asked.“We don’t know that they are Sith yet,” Trebor said. “Let’s not assume malevolence where there may be none.”Master Tiin nodded along. “Knights, stay back a little,” he instructed.The knights paused at the base of the ramp, and Master Tiin noticed other Jedi disembarking from the other ships and making their way over cautiously. He and Master Trebor stepped forwards, both of their hands slipping into the sleeves of their robes.They stopped some ten paces from the woman. There was no question of who was in charge among their group. The droids were mass-manufactured models (though, painted in black and yellow. A theme?) The nearest seemed like a protocol droid, though he noted it was armed, and at the far back was an astromech. He wasn’t even sure if the latter was the character’s or if it belonged to the port authority.“Greetings,” he said. “I am Jedi Master Saesee Tiin. This is my companion, Jedi Master Coleman Trebor.”The woman nodded. “Hello,” she said in slightly stilted Basic. An accent? He made note of that. “I know that you do not know me. But we are here to help.”“Help?” Master Trebor asked.The mask turned his way. “Yes,” she said. “Help. You are here to remove the Rhusu Sune meatbags. I am here for the same. I would like to work together.”“Who do you represent?” Master Tiin asked. “Taking care of these terrorists is a task best handled by the Republic.”“I represent the Separatists,” the woman said. “We want... different things than the Republic. But we don’t want them violently.”Master Tiin glanced at his companion, then back. Politics. Fantastic. “And if it’s not so impertinent to ask, who are you?”The woman bowed her head faintly, and he sensed that she was pleased with how all of this was going. “I am Darth Khepri,” she said.Which was about when the first lightsaber ignited.

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Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty Taylor would say that, on average, her perception was pretty decent. It wasn’t so much that her senses were sharp-she suspected that she was no more than average there, and maybe worse in some places-but more that she paid attention.Too many people saw and heard things without being conscious of what they’d perceived.It was a simple but common flaw, one that she’d had no choice to learn and rectify.Once, not listening to the chatter around her, and not seeing who was there, could lead to an ambush by some schoolyard bullies. Later, as a villain and hero... well, being aware of her surroundings had been worth plenty then.Her powers helped. A lot.Not just the tens of thousands of eyes and senses she could borrow from her insects, but the ability to pay attention to each individually at the same time.It made paying attention to her own senses so much easier.So when one of the jedi reached for the sabre on his belt, she saw it. She saw him bring it to a low guard, and she knew when his thumb tapped on a small nub on the sabre’ hilt to turn it on. The lightsaber’s hiss and hum came just as she finished naming herself. “I am Darth Khepri,” she said.Taylor slowly turned her head towards the Jedi, and even is she was wearing a mask and visor that hid her face, she stared at him.“Jedi Master Saesee Tiin, Jedi Master Coleman Trebor,” she said. “Have I insulted you? If I did, then I say sorry. Basic is new to me. Maybe my words aren’t kind.” Without breaking her gaze from the jedi with the lit sabre, she bowed a little.“Stow the sabre, knight,” Jedi Master Saesee Tiin said with a small wave to the side.“But, Master Tiin, she’s a sith.”Taylor expected the reprimand to continue. For the Jedi master-who had been sensible so far-to order his subordinate to put away the weapon. Instead he turned his attention back onto her. “Is he correct? Do you identify as a sith?”Taylor finally pulled her gaze away from the knight and back to the two Jedi Masters. “I am here to offer the assistance of the separatist movement in order to help save lives from the actions of a terrorist organisation,” she said. “I came here ready to help. Unless me being a sith means I can’t help, then I don’t see why it matters.” Her words were punctuated by the constant and continuous hum of the Jedi’s sabre.“Be that as it may, the sith and the Jedi have had a long and adversarial history,” Master Saesee Tiin said.“I can see why,” Taylor replied. “We’ve barely met and one of yours already seems ready to attack.”Taylor hadn’t spent enough time in the wider galaxy looking at alien faces to be able to read them well, but... well, if Master Tiin had been a human, than the expression he wore for a split second would have read as ‘mild embarrassment.’“Knight, stow the sabre,” the Jedi master said again, and after a brief pause, the Jedi flicked the sabre off.“Thank you,” Taylor replied. “Now, before all of this, I was extending an offer to the Jedi and the Republic. On behalf of the Separatist movement, my comrades and I would like to help you track down and take care of the Roshu Sune.” She gestured vaguely to said comrades and hoped the Jedi wouldn’t look at them too deeply.The two Jedi masters moved in synch, hands folding into the long sleeves of their robes. Jedi Master Coleman was the one to speak up next. “That is what we are here for. Any information you can give us would be greatly appreciated.”“I can offer a lot more than information,” Taylor said. “We have the location of the main Roshu Sune base, the names of several of their members, and are ready to take them on right away.”She didn’t mention that not taking them on now would be a mistake. The Roshu Sune weren’t very well organised, and she wasn’t impressed by their actions, but she was certain they would be moving the cells sooner or later. The longer they waited, the harder it would be to take any of them on.“We would gladly accept that information,” Jedi Master Coleman Trebor said.Taylor’s eyes narrowed behind her mask. “And would you act on it?”Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.“We’ve only just arrived,” he continued.“And you expect them not to know that and to simply choose to sit still and wait?” Taylor took a deep breath. “My offer for assistance stands. But if the Jedi and the Republic don’t want to fight these terrorists, then we will do it ourselves.”“Are the Roshu Sune not associated with your movement?” Master Tiin asked.Taylor swiped her arm aside in a denying motion. “That’s slanderous. The Separatist movement is one that was borne of issues with the way the Republic has chosen to act. We do not and will not support terroristic actions on any peaceful world.”The Jedi masters looked at each other, communicating wordlessly for a moment. “You would act on your own?” they asked.“I would act on my own within the bounds of the law,” Taylor said. She had no idea what those laws were, but she presumed that they were at least slightly logical. “Do you want the help, or not? I don’t mean to put pressure on you, but time is passing, Jedi.”

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Jedi Knight Ferey watched the sith lord from afar. He hated seeing her speak to Master Trebor, but there was nothing he could do now. He’d been reprimanded for trying to do something already, and he didn’t dare push things further.In a way, he understood. The sith hadn’t yet done anything. His actions had been rash and unbefitting of a Jedi.And yet he could feel the respect he’d earned from some of the other knights. The sith wasn’t to be trusted, and while he sensed that the two masters leading this expedition were still weary, they weren’t weary enough in his opinion.“Master?”He turned, and found his padawan looking up to her. The teenager was reaching that age where some padawan became difficult, but Ferey had been lucky so far. His padawan, a togruta, was a curious boy whose curiosity was only beaten by his respect.“Don’t worry, we’ll be fine,” he said as he patted his padawan on the shoulder. “But keep a hand close to your sabre, and an eye on the sith.”“Master, what’s a sith?”Knight Ferey stared across the spaceport. The Darth herself was retreating for the moment, towards a simple rented speeder. Her... apprentice was talking to the masters still, and she seemed inordinately cocky and smug. He could feel her in the force, like a burning little beacon of malevolence and... pettiness, really. He wasn’t so worried about the apprentice.“The sith are the ancient enemy of the jedi. We... do not talk about them much anymore. We thought them all defeated a long, long time ago.”“Then how do you know she’s a sith?” his apprentice asked.He noticed that he had the attention of some others around them as well. Knights and padawan both, so he spoke up a little. “The sith are force users, like us. Though while there are many across this vast galaxy with a connection to the force, the sith are unique in how they use it. Or so I’ve gleaned. Recently... there was a Jedi Master. Qui Gon Jin, a fantastic jedi and diplomat. He met one such sith lord and was defeated in combat. The sith was felled as well, but the master was lost. They are dangerous.”His padawan nodded, then asked another question, as he always did. “How are they dangerous?”“She carries a lightsaber, the same as we do, and while her presence is subtle... it is there. The sith use the force in ways that any proper Jedi would find unnatural. They have no control over their emotions, but instead use their anger and hate to become more powerful. Be careful, padawan, of both the power of the sith, and their temptations. The dark side of the force is real, and it favours the sith, few as they, hopefully, are. Now, go on, I think all of the padawans will be working together, best not be late.”The last was true. With the heightened danger they now knew of, there was no way they’d bring their padawan along with them. The younger padawan could help the Republic security forces, but having them at the front seemed unwise now.A fellow knight slid up next to him, and he noticed her attention on the sith. “What should we do?” she asked.“Keep a cool head, trust in the force...” He rubbed a thumb over the hilt of his sabre. “And prepare for trouble.”

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Chapter Forty-One

Chapter Forty-One Asajj had never been one for art.Pretty paintings, little sculptures. She had no use for these sorts of things.She could appreciate some, of course. The tattoos of the Dathomiri were art, but they were art because they were expressions of the self. The best were guided by the force. The large statues and corporate advertisements plastered across Antar IV weren't worthy of any appreciation.Today, however, Asajj was learning to appreciate a new sort of... thing. She wasn't sure what to call it. A dance, perhaps? Acting? But it was more than just a stage play. It was guiding ones foes into traps within traps, it was dancing to one beat to disguise another. It was... it was an art.Was this what Dooku did all the time? There were certainly places where she saw a repetition in the pattern that the Darth set. She was quite certain that she wouldn't be able to imitate what she was seeing, not yet, not without a lot more strength in the force.Darth Khepri had laid a string of traps for the Jedi, and the Jedi, in their hubris, stepped right into them without caution or awareness.It started with their greetings.Asajj had watched from the sidelines as Darth Khepri met the Jedi. There was tension there. The force roiled like a sky in a storm. The Jedi, the weaker ones, wanted to push, to fight, and yet they were held back by their masters.The first trap was sprung and the Jedi weren't even aware that its jaws had clamped around their ankles.Asajj had been there when Darth Khepri planned this operation, it afforded her a great deal of knowledge as to what was truly happening.The Jedi were here for several reasons. To quell the insurrection on this world, but also to investigate the Sith presence.By being here to greet them on their arrival, Darth Khepri had shifted the Jedi's focus onto them entirely. This was the first stage of her trap, and it had worked already."Come, Asajj," the Darth said as she rejoined her at the back of the starport. She was keeping just far enough to avoid capturing Asajj within her strange aura. "We have places to go to."Asajj nodded, then carefully followed the Darth back through the spaceport. There was a long transport vessel waiting for them by the exit. A rented out craft designed for cargo transportation. It was at least robust, and the ramp opened up on its side allowed for easy access.The interior was filled with Darth Khepri's droids and a dozen large boxes that hummed and buzzed ominous and gave off uncomfortable amounts of warmth.Asajj didn't know what dark Sith sorcery allowed for the control of so many insects, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know."Greetings: Please, Master, take a seat as we prepare ourselves to cross this barbaric city," the assassin droid said as he carefully pulled back a seat for Darth Khepri.Asajj chose to stand as the ramp was folded up and the ship took off. "Onto the next part of the plan?" Asajj asked. The next step in this dance that the Sith lady had planned.Darth Khepri nodded. "Next part, now," she said before frowning. "We're onto the next part, now." Her Basic was improving, if slowly. "HK-47, let me know when the Jedi move.""Statement: I will let you know as soon as I'm aware," the droid said.The first part of the plan had played multiple roles. First, it was bait for the Jedi. If they attacked, then the droids would rush out to protect the Darth while they pulled back. A dozen spy drones and cameras around the spaceport would then send everything they captured onto the Holonet for the galaxy to see.They hadn't, but the Jedi were clearly distracted by the presence of a Sigh lady, and now they'd be entering the second phase.Asajj didn't know if there was a term for a plan where success or failure of each part of it would still lead to an inevitable victory, but she had never considered it before. Was this what it meant to be a Darth?"The Jedi have been given the information packet?" Darth Khepri asked. Her little astromech chittered an affirmative. "Good, thank you, Tattletale. The Jedi know now where the Roshu Sune headquarters on Antar IV were located. If the Jedi are as strong as HK-47 thinks, then they will not win a battle against the Jedi.""Correction: I have not indicated that the Jedi are strong, Master, only that they are somewhat more capable than the average idealistic meatbag who would join a backwards terrorist group."The Sith lady nodded in acknowledgement. "Fair enough. Our goal now is to do what I think Count Dooku wants.""And what's that?" Asajj asked."Sarcasm: Does the little Sithling need everything explained to her?" the droid asked.Asajj lit one of her lightsabers faster than most people couple blink. The droid raised a large gun her way.Darth Khepri slowly reached up and lowered the end of HK-47's barrel. "No fighting," she said. "We are all friends here."Asajj seethed. She had to stop letting that droid get under her skin. "Are you going to answer my question or not?" she asked."The goal, I believe, is to improve the standing of the Separatist movement. We have many ways of doing this. By helping the terrorists-but that is short-sighted-by helping to Gotal Separation Movement, or by appearing to make the Republic look bad.""And you chose the last two," Asajj said.The Darth shook her head. "I chose all three. Tattletale, did the delivery arrive?""Delivery?" Asajj asked.The Darth grinned."Explanation: This planetary system is the home of a group called the Rangers. They are meatbags that act to assist Jedi in times of need. In order to appear less incompetent, they have recently made a large purchase of medical supplies and armaments.""From the Trade Federation," Darth Khepri said."Addendum: A purchase which we noticed, and one which the Roshu Sune were made aware of."Asajj grinned. "You armed them?""The day before the Jedi arrive, yes," Darth Khepri said. "Now, if they are smart, the Jedi will find them well-armed for fun and dismemberment. Can Jedi and Sith live through thermal detonators?""Yes," Asajj said.The Darth blinked. "Oh. Well, we will see. The second phase is about us watching the Jedi make mistakes. They do not trust us, and will not want us to help, so we will sit back and watch. We will capture them being bad. We will show all of Antar IV them hurting gotal who just want to be free of the Republic. Then we step in to talk to the media. The Jedi have a good reputation, but they are not good at..." She turned to her assassin droid and had something translated for her. "Public relations," she said at last, almost as if tasting the words.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.Asajj thought she was catching on to how the Sith was thinking. This was all very convoluted, and while the Sith seemed to have a knack for finding the best solution to any situation, it was hard for Asajj to keep track of it all. She did see that this was a trap of sorts. The Jedi were the prey. And they were walking right into the jaws of a predator even as they kept their eyes on her.They had arrived.Asajj followed Darth Khepri off the transport ship. Two blocks over was the headquarters of the Roshu Sune. It was a simple building, with large windows and a flat roof. Somewhere, a few blocks away, the Jedi would be preparing themselves for an assault.They were next to a commercial district, a part of the city where the skyscrapers weren't skyscrapers, and the streets were packed with a bustling crowd.Their landing had been noticed, and some were looking at the Darth and her entourage with wide-eyes.Asajj smirked and made a show of drawing her lightsabers, spinning them in her hands. She wasn't going to attack anyone, but the idea was to let the Roshu Sune members know that someone was ready for them. The more time they had to prepare, the harder they would make things for the Jedi.It took several minutes for the Jedi to arrive.Jedi Master Saesee Tiin, Jedi Master Coleman Trebor and their padawan walked out from an alleyway, looking fresh as they could be. The older of the two, Master Saesee Tiin, was the one who came closest. She paused when Darth Khepri raised a hand to stop her, but didn't seem like she was going to question why the Darth wanted so much space."This is the location of the presumed Roshu Sune base?" the Jedi master asked.Darth Khepri nodded. "It's close, yes. RS-C2, come here please." The droid warbled as it came closer. "Can you... show the building, please?"The droid swayed from side to side, then its front opened and it projected a hologram of the building in question.Jedi Master Coleman Trebor leaned forwards and stared at the image. The building itself was tall and boxy, with plenty of windows and balconies on the lower floors. On the top were a pair of large antennas and a communications tower. "Are you certain this is the correct location?""Yes," the Darth said."There is nothing out of the ordinary," he added.The droid swayed, and the projection changed, showing the building's blueprints. A second projection on the side flickered through gotal faces. Members of the organisation. Then images captured from local security cameras showing them entering the building in question."I can sense them in there now," Darth Khepri said. "It is the right place. You can ask local police too, if you doubt me."Master Saesee Tiin shook her head. "We did, and this does seem like a local gathering point for them. We will go and confront them then. Hopefully we can end this with a discussion, peacefully." She eyed the Sith lady as if expecting a protest.Asajj could feel that the Darth was pleased, even if she didn't say anything."We can help," Darth Khepri offered."Thank you, but no," the Jedi master replied."I am very capable," Darth Khepri continued. "And I have droids, as my Sith friend here."The Jedi masters looked at her, and then they shook their heads. "No, thank you," the Jedi said."Very well," the Darth said with a shrug. "May the force be with you."They bowed, the padawan and the masters both. It was an oddly formal gesture, and when the two masters turned towards the building and almost scampered away. Asajj chuckled darkly, and the Sith turned to her. "What is funny?" she asked."I'm laughing at the Jedi, of course," she replied. "You've had your hooks in them. They're afraid of your help. They're scared that you will do something, that you'll attack them. It's hilarious.""Is it?" the Sith asked. Asajj imagined that she was smiling beneath her mask. "Will they bring those children with them?""The padawan? No, probably not," Asajj replied. She was certain that the Jedi wouldn't be risking the younglings. They were weak, and while they would fight, they wouldn't be the first line in a siege."Good. I hate it when children die because of me."Asajj felt a small wash of guilt coming from the Sith, but she didn't pry. Instead, she followed her and the assassin droid back to the ship. They pulled the ramp back in, then carefully moved over a few blocks. By the time they arrived, the Jedi were arrayed before the building, waiting for something. Asajj wanted to be out there. She was feeling antsy, but she was quite certain that some of that feeling were the emotions of the younger padawans and knights bleeding out into the force."Do you think they'll attack?" the Darth asked."Probably. If not, the gotal will."The Sith hummed, then gestured for Asajj to move out of the way as she brought up the droid's camera feed. It was a bit grainy and distant, but the audio was clear. The little R3 unit was projecting what it could see from a few cameras into the air for them to view."Attention, occupants of this building. We are the Jedi of the Galactic Republic. This building is under investigation, and we ask that you vacate the premises," Jedi Master Saesee Tiin spoke loudly enough that Asajj could hear her even from a block away.Nothing happened for a long moment, and then the building's door opened, and a pair of gotal walked out, their hands on the side of their heads."That's not good," the Darth murmured. "Tattletale, put in an anonymous call with the local police, and alert our media friends to hurry up.""What is it?" Asajj asked."I hate it when terrorists try to turn into martyrs," Darth Khepri said. "It's a waste.""What do you mea-" Asajj started.She was cut off when a blast rang out and a wash of flame rushed outwards from where the surrendering gotal had been.

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