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May The Invisible Hand Be With You - (Star Wars CK2-Style Quest)

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Another option is a fleet exercise between elements of the CNS navy, including the Oracle's fleet.
 
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Typical Day With The Cousins (Canon)
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    • Typical day with the Cousins​

    "Oki. Oki. Seriously, wake up."

    "'s too early."

    As weird as it may have been for her to be more or less adopted by Ciaran and her family, it still meant that Oki had fallen into the lap of luxury. Including VERY comfortable beds. On the other hands it meant having weird relatives. Like Chorra who right now was trying to get her to get out of bed.

    "One of your 'boyfriends' is asking where you are..."

    That meanwhile got her attention as Oki abruptly sat up in her bed and in a panic shanged her appearance away from her prefered human appearance.

    "AHHHH! I'M NOT HERE! I WAS DRUNK! I DON'T WANNA! MAKE THEM GO AWAY! TELL CIARAN TO PUNCH THEM!"

    Unfortunately for Oki the laughter of her cousin meant that in fact nobody was actually here to check up on her aside from herself.

    "... That was totaly worth it."

    "... I hate you."

    ---

    "So, why are you here?" The last thing that Larana was expecint to happen on Taris that her cousin Galvin would show up since he should either be busy shooting people, trying to get some girl into bed or appease Cheriss once she hears about Galvin sleeping with someone else.

    "Ah, you see... Silas forced me to take care of Oki for a bit, but I managed to ditch her with Chorra so I'm gonna stay on Taris for a bit. Say... do some clubs or at least some good cantinas exist on the planet by now?"

    "Yes they do. No, I won't tell you where they are so you can flirt with some random women and cheat on Cheriss. If I have to I'll close shop for today and follow you across the entire planet to tell everyone that you have a girlfriend. A violent one. Do you understand?"

    "... I hate you."

    ---

    "Galvin! Your grandfather here! How is Oki doing?"

    "SHUT UP GRANDPA! I GOT WORSE PROBLEMS THAN THAT BRAT!"

    "Okay!"
     
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    • (Omake) Welcome To The Deep End (Canon)
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    • Welcome to the Corusca Intelligencer! The home of the most trusted news on Coruscant!

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    NUMBER
    > 108

    GROUP
    > INTELLIGENCE

    CODE
    > running-away-is-so-last-season

    WELCOME. COMMAND?
    > messages

    Unread Messages: 1
    Read Messages: XXX

    COMMAND?
    > read message

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    From: CORE-3 "Terrek G."
    To: S-7 "Barnas C."
    Subject: Re: Organization Structure

    *BEGIN MESSAGE - TERREK*

    "Hey Cün, I don't know why you're asking for material on the organization as a whole. I thought you would have known this stuff but I guess old timers like you forget things once in a while. And no I don't care that you're younger than 50. You spout out stories of the "older days" like a kriffing grandpa.

    "Anyway, the information you're wanting should be attached to this holo as a file.

    "I guess that's it, so- Oh wait. Heh. You're supposed to be my assistant aren't you? Go get me a bottle of wine from the recreation area's bar. It's getting stuffy here. And don't bother lying that you're nowhere near me! I'm currently on the Oracle and you practically live here while off missions, so chop-chop! Think of it as payment for giving you this stuff.

    "Oh and before I go, nice desk weed."

    *END MESSAGE*

    >Attached files: Change-Of-Plans, Core, Intelligence

    > Change-Of-Plans

    *BEGIN MESSAGE - CIARAN*

    "Hello Cün. A decision has been made to include you in as an information gatherer in a long-term project that the Core Council and a few selected individuals have been focusing the entire organization and all its attached assets on. Yes, all of them.

    "The Abyss Watchers are no longer a "simple" criminal business and haven't been for a while. You obviously know this but you have yet to fully understand what that means. When I state that the Abyss Watchers are no longer a "simple criminal business"    , I want to put emphasis on the business part. We are no longer simply seeking higher profits. We are no longer simply seeking control of the galaxy.

    "We are seeking to undo the schemes of a psychopath thousands of years in the making.

    "We have become a counter-conspiracy against the Sith which has grown to be in control of both sides of this civil war. A simple explanation for you would be that the Sith are an ancient group of cast outs of the Jedi Order who have a massive need for revenge. They don't care about anything else than the Order's destruction. The Master controls the Republic and the apprentice the CIS. Because of the fact that our goals have become opposed and the inevitability of us being collateral damage due to that, we are working to dispose of the Sith.

    "I understand you will require further information but that will have to wait until the current crisis is over. All Core members able to fill you in have their hands full currently dealing with the bombing crisis at the Jedi Temple.

    "Yet, as of now, your status has changed.

    "The Core Council, with Gulan Terrek specifically, is still your sole superior. This has not changed, but you are no longer the Outer-Rim administrator. You are now solely to be Gulan's assistant.

    "Your responsibilities will now rest entirely with missions relating to the conspiracy or lightening Gulan's load so he can deal with those where he is needed.

    "Any missions related to this are not to be even     hinted at to any parties other than the Core Council or specified agents on threat of permanent termination. Not even your little group of friends. There are no assets which will be given second chances. We cannot risk exposure. We are scrambling to create as many assets as possible and Gulan is starting to be overworked. Once the current crisis is dealt with, you will be further informed.

    "I am sorry, but your preferred style of desk job is likely going to be taking a backseat to field work. Until next time."

    *END MESSAGE*

    >Attached files:     Change-Of-Plans, Core, Intelligence
    > WHAT

    UNRECOGNIZED FILE

    >Attached files: Change-Of-Plans, Core, Intelligence
    > Core

    LINK

    >Attached files: Change-Of-Plans, Core, Intelligence
    > Intelligence

    Abyss Watcher's Intelligence is the trunk component of the Core Organization and from which all other branches revolve around. It is a leviathan with the Core Council at its head.

    Here is the general structure:

    Core Council - The Council which runs the entire organization and therefore controls and manages every other branch. Due to the size of the Organization it's often a case of macromanagement instead of micromanagement, but for that they delegate a lot to competent subordinates. *NOTE- by Gulan* In addition, the Core directly controls and utilizes every asset directly dedicated to countering the Sith-conspiracy. No one but us and our direct subordinates are to know any details of the Sith-conspiracy. Welcome to the club, direct subordinate! (OOC: this blurb is originally by Teron from this post.)

    Region Administration - These assets control and organize missions directly given by the Core Council and the general focuses for the regions. The regions technically abide by the galaxy's usual cultural labels like "The Core" and "Outer-Rim". While lower level assets (both legal/illegal) might interact with each other across regions for large missions, usual actions are typically separated by region and Legal activities are kept as far away from Illegal ones as possible. This is where the leadership of the legal fronts and illegal activities converge. Regions include: "The Core" (Includes Deep Core), "Colonies", "Inner-Rim", "Expansion", "Mid-Rim", "Hutt Space", "Outer-Rim" (Includes Wild-Space).

    From here on, legal matters are split from illegal matters. Considering the necessary steps to keep controlled legal assets in the clear, it is up to the Region Administrations and sometimes Sub-Regional Administrations to coordinate any required exchanges between the two.

    Sub-Region Administration - Since each region contains a huge amount of all types of assets, the regions are further split into sub-regions. The regions are typically always divided into three based on the galactic compass: "South", "Central", and "North". The focus for these administrators is always on the illegal side. Legal matters are always left to the legal fronts unless a conflict of interest occurs or illegal missions require legal assets or approval.

    Considering the relative size and density of tied agents (Seeker or otherwise) in relation to the large galaxy, it is from this level where the responsibilities for orchestrating the conversion of large/medium scale goals to long-term and small-scale missions are placed.

    From here on, unless due to critical missions or emergency, separately assigned illegal assets rarely interact with one another.

    Over-Sector Moderation - Personnel on this level oversee and "moderate" the actions of the many assets which cross sector boundaries. Pirate gangs and smugglers are the mainstay of the non-Watcher assets. This level is where Seeker squads and assigned Guardians tend to ply their trade. From here, small scale goals are given to Sector Moderators.

    Sector Moderation - The lowest management level and the one with the most importance overall. These are the ones who have direct contact with sector level criminals and planetary authorities. They are responsible for collecting and organizing information gained from their contacts and sector level assets.

    It's usually a boring job which deals with the lowlifes and mundane events or economics of a planet, but someone must do it. Small scale missions are made into individual missions here for the grunts.

    The Grunts - These are the individual Seekers, Guardians, and their squads who do the dirty jobs. They are the ones who maintain the wire-taps. They are the ones who do the smuggling. They are the enforcers of the external assets' "moderation" or "administration". They are the lowest rung on the ladder. They may be assigned to any level of the Abyss Watcher hierarchy but the majority are those assigned specifically to sectors because that's where they spend their lives.

    Nonetheless, they are still contracted members for Intelligence like everyone else.

    Assets - These are entities of which the mainstay of the resources for the Abyss Watchers' Intelligence come from. They are not actually tied to the Abyss but they are the ones depended on for the organization's day-to-day maintenance, equipment, and provisions (both monetary and otherwise).

    They tend to be direct assets from other branches of the organization and so it's here where actual interaction between branches tend to occur. Whether it's medical help from Karada or backup from the Abyss Watchers mercenary corp, aid is able to be requisitioned.

    >Attached files: Change-Of-Plans, Core, Intelligence
    > exit

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    • Oh hai guise.

    So my self-imposed Exile has ended and I'm going to put it up to vote I'm going to keep doing omakes with Sam Jackson as Mace
    but in his Tarantino movie-character.

    Long story short, I was recently diagnosed with manic depression and I wanted to make sure I didn't go off in some crazy conspiracy theory crap in the news forum. That's why I got banned @Dr. Snark. It was self-imposed.

    I'll put it to vote.

    Mace vs. Jango, Battle of Geonosis
    Swearing up a storm in the Council Chambers
    A continuation of the Cirian vs. Mace 'friendly' duel

    Wot do?
     
    Swearing up a storm in the Council Chambers
    A continuation of the Cirian vs. Mace 'friendly' duel

    ether one of these would be good
     
    A/N: An alternate-universe omake. Ciaran is raised on a (somewhat) isolated world; Asajj within the galactic underworld. Oh, and a couple of other characters got switched as well....​

    THE INVISIBLE REFLECTED
    ​
    958 ARR (42 BBY)

    ...This wave was felt by a number of sentients powerful in the Force, throughout the galaxy. Most of them, however, could not interpret it as anything more than 'a disturbance in the Force'.

    The primary exception was the Miraluka species, which lacked eyes and saw only via Force sight, leading - especially among their Luka Sene Force sect - to a particularly well-developed capacity for this ability. Many of the more powerful or better-trained among them saw the midichlorian wave as living beings flickering at an intensity proportional to their Force connection. However, almost none of them made any further identification than that in the instant they had, and if not for one Miraluka child, it is likely that the incident would have simply been classified as another minor unexplained Force disturbance and forgotten about.

    That one exception, Ciaran Parsa (ten years old at the time and making her first appearance in this history), is somewhat difficult to explain. Though stronger in the Force than most Miraluka, she was not innately exceptional in that respect. It is likely, however, that it was precisely her youth that allowed her to understand more than others, as she was not yet fully used to interpreting the details of Force Sight unconsciously due to her youth, but at the same time had received enough instruction to notice a great number of such details. This high ratio of training to experience thus allowed Parsa to detect something about the 'flicker' that others did not....

    Yiss City, Alpheridies

    The flicker was sudden, and it was cut short in the blink of an eye.

    Ciaran wouldn't have even noticed it, normally. It was only a slight disturbance, after all. But in that instant she had been meditating, trying to refine her force sight - according to her mother it could be focused to microscale precision. She believed that, of course, even though just because it was possible didn't mean she could do it. Only a few beings on the planet could, according to her mother.

    The thing was, she was one of them now. She could focus her force sight to the microscale. She just couldn't control that focus.

    She could sustain it for a few moments, seeing the detailed structure of the world around her, from the anatomy of the customers in the cafe across the street and to the design of the foundations of the electric lines far below her feet. But the sheer detail was also overwhelming, as it apparently was not for those adults who could learn the technique.

    Her mother had concluded that it was probably best to abandon that idea, which of course made Ciaran resolve to prove her wrong, that she could be better at this than any adult. Which, thus far, her attempts had been inconclusive on. Her mother insisted that managing it even for a few moments was impressive, but Ciaran didn't want to stop at merely 'impressive'.

    But because she was meditating in that moment, and had a momentary premonition that let her micro-focus at exactly the right time -

    They were like tiny pinpricks, millions of lights suddenly blinking into blazing existence before being - not extinguished, but dulled. And millions of dark spots, alongside them, in that same instance, like the void between those miniature stars; and the contours of those clusters mapped out, down to the swell of a heartbeat, the shapes of... of life, all sorts of it, but especially those of miraluka, and most prominently her mother's, blazing in a hue shifted from that of the blaze of the Force.

    Midichlorians, Ciaran realized in that same instant. Those were midichlorians, and for some reason they alone had experienced whatever the Force disturbance had been.

    Ciaran had no idea what that meant.

    She was surprised, though - somewhat pleasantly surprised, admittedly, as she did quite enjoy victories over her parents, no matter how minor or major - that her mother did not either. Eevy Varn (who had only recently become the Jeran Q. Murph Mentor of Perception at the Yiss Regional Luka Sene Institute, a title she was quite proud of) had, apparently, not realized the disturbance had only affected midichlorians.

    "You're absolutely sure about this?" she asked Ciaran in her most serious voice, the Force-help-you-if-you're-lying one that Ciaran had become abundantly familiar with in the days since her nearly successful attempt to run away with her grandfather a few years ago. She still thought it was really impressive that she'd gotten as close as she did, but unfortunately her parents didn't seem to fully trust her since then.

    Okay, she couldn't blame them for it, but it was an inconvenience.

    "I'm not sure it was midichlorians," Ciaran said. "But it was definitely pinpricks, not just a wave like usual."

    Her mother nodded, and Ciaran saw the expected scientific curiosity in her presence tinged with a slight bit of... worry?

    "Whatever this was came from off-world," she said, her mouth slowly twisting itself into a frown. "And it must have been truly powerful.... I have a few calls to make, Ciaran. Stay here, would you?"

    She didn't, of course.

    Still, the next few hours proved less than informative. Plenty of people had detected the disturbance, although no one else seemed to have done as good a job as Ciaran, but no one knew what it meant. And despite her mother's attempts to keep her at a distance from the discussions, pretty quickly it was Ciaran that was trying to describe what she had perceived in that instant to a variety of Luka Sene scholars.

    "So why were you so worried?" Ciaran said, absentmindedly, at day's end, watching the window and thinking forward to the interview with the regional holo-news that her mother had (at her insistence) barely consented to.

    "Oh Ci...." After a brief bout of contemplation, though, her mother explained without further prompting. "The thing is, midichlorians aren't supposed to - to do anything. They are attracted to strong concentrations of the Force, and they have a passive effect in the Force themselves, but as best as anyone knows, that effect isn't anything special. If what you saw was real - I mean, no one's ever seen anything like that in midichlorians before. So I was just a little surprised by that, and by what else the midichlorians might be doing when no one's watching." She turned to Ciaran, patting her on the shoulder in a way meant to be reassuring. "But don't worry. They're helpful, the midichlorians. They're the good guys in all that."

    She was trying to be reassuring, but Ciaran, young as she was, could see through the act, and quickly realized that she would not sleep well that night.

    There were millions of midichlorians in the bloodstream of every sentient in the galaxy. As best as anyone knew, they didn't really do anything except maybe make people stronger in the Force (some people apparently thought they did, and others thought they didn't). So even they were everywhere, they weren't scary, because they were harmless.

    Or were they?
    ​
    *​

    The Breakthrough Drake, Hyperspace

    The blues of hyperspace spun behind the window, like flowers gone mad. The Breakthrough Drake was, as Hal'sted liked to say, zooming past reality itself. There was even a sound, the ship humming in a manner quite different to the whine of the engines.

    But Asajj, sitting on the floor of the ship's galley, couldn't feel the difference in the Force that she was supposed to.

    It wasn't like she was entirely sure what the Force was, exactly. Hal'sted hadn't explained it very well, which was strange, since he was usually quite good at explaining stuff like that. She knew she'd used it before - like when she had torn away the Weequay raider's blaster - but she wasn't quite sure how.

    But Hal'sted had ordered her to find out, and she knew that she had to try, even if she wasn't sure how.

    The sensors around her, which 087-AL and Hal'sted (but mostly the droid) had cobbled together from scrap, gave a series of quick blips. They were working, at least. That meant she hadn't broken them, which was already encouraging.

    She took a deep breath, seeing the countdown. A few seconds before they would be back in realspace, in the Firrerre system. Asajj tried to take a deep breath, relaxing into the frustratingly vague Force -

    And suddenly, her connection leapt, even as behind the window the stars clicked into place.

    It felt the same, more or less. It was kind of like what happened if you dropped something onto the floor that was tough enough not to break - a shift from one place to another, while everything else remained the same. For a few seconds Asajj held her breath, mind whirling as she tried to understand what had happened, and then she opened her eyes (they'd been closed?) and turned around with a nod.

    "Hello, Master," she said, moments before Hal'sted actually appeared in the doorway.

    "Asajj?" the Siniteen asked. "You sensed me?"

    Asajj frowned. "I guess I did?" She'd known he was coming, but now she wasn't really sure how.

    "That's excellent! How did you do it?"

    "I'm... not sure." It felt bad to not be able to say more, so she tried to remember the details. "It was... unconscious, I guess. I didn't realize that I knew, like it was a dream or something. It happened after I felt a jolt from the Force, when we exited hyperspace, but that didn't happen any other time we exited hyperspace."

    Hal'sted massaged the side of his head, mumbling to himself. "That explains a lot. Possible memory manipulation... no, simpler than that, an intent not to be observed. I'll have to read up on the neuroscience involved.... Fascinating, but worrying. I guess there is reason for the Jedi to describe the Force as alive, but then if it has its own will, what in the Below does it want?!" His speech, like usual, sped up as he went on, until he shook his head in frustration and... fear?... and looked at Asajj again. "Well, if you can try to notice how it happens next time, that'd be useful."

    "Yes, Master."

    Hal'sted sighed. "You...." Hal'sted frowned, as he walked up to the porthole, looking at the star system. They were far away from any planets, and the local sun was on the other side of the ship, so it was impossible to tell that they were even in a star system at all, as opposed to being stranded in space infinitely far away from anything else (something Hal'sted had scared her with a few times, as a warning not to bother him while he was navigating).

    "Asajj," he said, kneeling to face her. "You saved my life, on Rattatak. The Weequay... I know I was angry about them destroying my facility, but without you I would've died there. Even if I still don't know how you managed to kill them. I... I cannot call you my slave after all that. Perhaps I should never have, even when I bought you on Dathomir. 'Slave' sounds kinder than 'experiment', but it isn't, not really." He paused. "Not to mention that you could take both me and 087 at once. You can go if you want - I'll give you some credits, try to set you up. But if you stayed with me, I'd appreciate that. Not as my slave, but as my student."

    Asajj... didn't understand. Not really, even if she understood the words that were being said, and especially not the fact that Hal'sted seemed to be near crying. Although it was hard to tell, with him, whether that was from sadness or from surprise. "I'll stay," she said.

    "Good." And Hal'sted's face seemed to return to normal. "Well, then, you should put on the kha'beil suit. I'm meeting with one of my... collaborators... in this system, and you should come along. She's been working on the Force as well, and she's actually a biologist. Even though it hasn't seemed to help her in this case."

    Asajj nodded. She understood the gist of it - Hal'sted was finally getting back to work, but with the destruction of his base, he needed help more than before. "What's her name?"

    Hal'sted nodded, thoughtful. "Doctor Jenna Zan Arbor."
    ​
    *​

    Jedi Temple, Coruscant

    The lightsabers clashed, blue and green meeting in a shower of sparks. The Zabrak struck to the left, the blow parried just as he had expected, but giving him the space for a slight Force push. His opponent moved with the push, spinning away, as the Force rang with the echoes of their will and determination.

    True, the lightsabers were training ones, and the duel was only practice, but Maial Opress wasn't about to give less than his utmost because of that.

    He gave a feint in the line of that spin, his opponent momentarily stumbling in reply - only a brief hesitation, but long enough for him to score a surface burn into Siri Tachi's left arm.

    "Acknowledged," Siri said, looking at the wound with a frown. "Though in a real duel that wouldn't have stopped me."

    "In a real duel your arm would be cut off," Maial pointed out.

    Siri shrugged.

    "And that'll be enough for now," said a voice from behind Maul. Deactivating the training saber, he whirled around and bowed, trying to do both in the same motion with moderate success, to the eternally bemused face of Master Qui-Gon Jinn.

    And, behind him, the more ominous visage of Council Master Plo Koon.

    Really, he should have been able to notice them coming up, even in the heat of combat; that was the sort of thing that could matter a great deal on a mission. The only relief was that Siri seemed surprised to see them as well, though Maial wasn't entirely sure.

    "Masters," Siri said.

    "Maul, Siri," Qui-Gon said. Maial grit his teeth slightly, trying not to give signs of his irritation into the Force - he was not fond of Qui-Gon's occasional use of his birth name. What sort of parent named their child 'Maul', especially when their last name was already 'Opress'?

    In truth, Maial didn't especially want to find out. He was with the Jedi, and that was enough.

    Plo Koon coughed. "Siri, your Master has called for you. Maial, come with us."

    "What is it?" Though Maial suspected he knew, especially with Qui-Gon being here. It had been two years since he had (mostly by luck, but still) saved the Master's life from his fallen apprentice Xanatos. Qui-Gon had considered taking Maial as an apprentice then, but had decided that it was not the right time.

    But Maial could feel, nonetheless, the Force's reassurance that he would be chosen, in time. That there was no need to worry about that, even if he was approaching the Initiate age limit.

    "I observed your training," Master Koon said without answering Maial's question. "Your lightsaber skills are extremely impressive for your age."

    "Thank you, Master Koon," Maial said.

    "That said," Koon continued, "I was surprised to see you specializing in Niman. It is not a form usually chosen by those who focus on bladework."

    Maial frowned, as he remembered the reasons why. "Part of it is that Niman is the most common form, and so it was easier to find different instructors in it. But, mainly, it is that - as people keep reminding me - a Jedi's most important work is not done with a lightsaber. All the great Masters were good duelists, sometimes due to uncommon skill with the blade, but always through being in tune with the Force. Niman combines both, more than any other form." He knew, of course, that there was more to being a Jedi than combat ability, but then he'd talked to Master Koon before, this wouldn't be news.

    Koon nodded. "So you seek greatness, then?" he asked in that slightly raspy voice.

    Maial bit back the instant denial. Master Koon's tone was not accusatory, but the Jedi teachings were clear enough that gloryseeking was discouraged. Instead, though, he chose to center himself, because it was better to acknowledge the truth about one's weaknesses.

    Did he want to be a great Jedi? Well, yes, of course. Honestly, he suspected everyone did, at least until they actually became a great Jedi. But more than that, what he really wanted, what drove him to practice Niman until other Initiates his age would refuse to duel him -

    "I seek to be the best I can be," he said.

    Qui-Gon chuckled. "I believe that most of Bear Clan would attest that he seeks greatness, Master Plo. The future exploits I have heard tales of.... But he is hardly alone in that regard."

    "So long as he understands that the purpose of skill is service," Koon said, resolutely pretending Maial wasn't there, "and not greatness for its own sake."

    Maial digested the nugget of wisdom, mainly trying to understand if Master Koon was really saying anything new. He supposed it was a way of acknowledging that, so long as he was striving for the Jedi Order and not for himself, it was alright - or, rather, necessary - to try and improve to the best of one's ability.

    They walked the halls of the Temple for a few minutes after that, Masters Qui-Gon and Koon making sparse conversation, until Maial couldn't hold in his feeling anymore. "Master Jinn," he asked, unsure of whether he was doing something very stupid, "are you deciding whether to take me as your Padawan?"

    Qui-Gon let out a quiet chuckle.

    "He will not take you as his Padawan," Plo Koon said seriously, turning around and staring at Maial. "Your bond is too... familiar... too early. Moreover, I am not sure that his teachings are best combined with your personality. I believe, and this is something you will not be sharing, there is a Trandoshan Initiate he is close to selecting - Lissarkh, her name is." Qui-Gon sent him a scandalized look at that.

    Maul did his best to control his emotions, to release his disappointment and anxiety into the Force. He was partially successful.

    "He will not take you as his Padawan," Master Plo Koon said, putting a hand on Maial's shoulder. "I will."
    ​
    *​

    Theed, Naboo

    All in all, Obi-Wan Kenobi considered as he walked the dome-lined streets of Theed, he didn't really hate the city.

    He wasn't too fond of the planet, mind you. Full of swamps - even the subsurface was basically a giant swamp - and the infuriating creatures that lived inside those swamps. The sapient ones, namely the Gungans, were the worst. His annoyance at them was something to sharpen into hate, something to drive his progress along the path of the Sith.

    But Theed itself was fine. Beautiful, even. True, it was full of museums and seemed more concerned with being a work of art than a bustling capital, even its Force aura seemed somehow subdued - but then not everything had to be a bustling capital. The blue domes hanging off the edge of the escarpment... the spaceport below pretending to slice the city in two... it was far from home, especially given how little time he spent here, but it was a place where he made major steps forward. No, he didn't hate Theed.

    But his Master did. And that was powerful knowledge to have.

    Darth Sidious, secretly Chommell Sector Senator "don't ask about his first name" Palpatine, was away. Away not on Senate business, but on a personal project that, Obi-Wan knew, meant Sith business. And that caused a wellspring of frustration inside the fifteen-year-old apprentice, because Sidious had outright lied when discussing the reasons for his departure.

    It wasn't the lie that bothered Obi-Wan, nor the secrecy. It was the fact that something didn't fit together about the whole affair, and the worse fact that he had felt a Force disturbance five days ago that he knew was connected to Palpatine's mysterious work.

    From, as best as he could tell, a distance of half the galaxy away.

    It was something big. And if it was not being shared with him, well, that wasn't a good sign at all. Obi-Wan understood the Rule of Two, and therefore he understood that despite all the effort that Sidious had invested into training him nearly since birth, he was very much disposable.

    The bad mood pursued Obi-Wan as he walked back to the senatorial offices on Theed. Publicly, his identity there was Obalan Terben, a senatorial page - not highly-placed enough to go to Coruscant regularly, and thereby become noticed by the Jedi, but significant enough to often be around the Senator as an excuse for training (and of course oversight). Terben was a disposable cover, though, one with no future. Obi-Wan suspected that his next one would not be.

    "Hey," Ina greeted him as he entered the office. "What - oh, bad mood again? Despite Palps being gone?"

    "Maybe it's because he's gone," Obi-Wan said acidly.

    "Yeah, right," Ina said, but let him go through, into his own office.

    Neat stacks of paper greeted him. Of course, there was always more he could do, but there was nothing he had to do at the moment. On a whim, he called TD-D9 over.

    "Yes, Obalan?" the six-legged droid asked when it ambled over, a few minutes of meditation later.

    "Deenine," Obi-Wan said, using the Force to prevent their conversation from being overheard, "I need a favor. Could you tell me where my Master has gone? I need to send a message."

    "Certainly not," Deenine said. "I would never be permitted to - oh, that is what you were asking."

    "You're catching on," Obi-Wan said with a smile. "So even you know, but I do not. Not promising."

    "It is for your own safety!" Deenine protested.

    That wasn't likely. If Sidious had another apprentice -

    But that didn't match up, not exactly. The discrepancies were Sidious hiding him more than he should have needed to, given his ability to go unnoticed by the entire galaxy. No, Obi-Wan realized. Sidious didn't have another secret apprentice.

    "I am the secret apprentice," he said.

    Deenine said nothing.

    "So Sidious...." Sidious wasn't a Sith Master at all. His mysterious absences and surprising youth were due to his having his own Master.

    In the instant that Obi-Wan realized all of it, he stretched his arm out at Deenine and lifted it off the ground, beginning to choke it (not of air, of course, but pressure destroyed droids as much as people). He could not afford to let the droid live; Palpatine would forgive its destruction easily enough, but information was power, and he had all too little of it.

    "Sojourn!" Deenine yelled out, and at first Obi-Wan was too confused to stop. Then the droid repeated its words. "Sojourn! His master's title is Darth Plagueis! I don't know any more, please spare me!"

    And then Obi-Wan realized it, and began lowering the droid to the ground. Deenine had betrayed Sidious - a minor betrayal to be sure, but if he was disposable then Deenine was disposable a hundred times over. He'd have to examine its processors to make sure this wasn't Sidious's ploy, but if it wasn't, then he'd just gained his first true minion.

    And he laughed, in a fashion that any observer would have called a classic villain's laugh. The Dark Side flowed through him in that glee. Not as strongly as for negative emotions, true, but then he had no desire to become a creature of pure malice as some Sith Lords had. To be a Sith was meant to allow one to control the Dark Side, not vice versa.

    His investigation of this matter would have to wait. After all, he was disposable to Sidious, but Sidious definitely wasn't disposable to him, even if he had been capable of killing his Master. Speaking of which, he had Ataru katas to practice -

    But now he had an opening, and a way to gain more openings.

    And with both an opening and the Force, nothing was impossible.​
     
    VNodosaurus said:
    A/N: An alternate-universe omake. Ciaran is raised on a (somewhat) isolated world; Asajj within the galactic underworld. Oh, and a couple of other characters got switched as well....
    ​
    Click to expand...
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    That was a very interesting omake. Good job. I think I found Obi-Wan and Maul's flip the most interesting honestly. You could make a story just from that.
     
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