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

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Interlude - For the Republic
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    • The Kell Dragon
    In Transit to Rendezvous Point with RNS Resolute

    "If a monster like me is allowed to leave behind wishes for the future, then I would ask this of whoever finds this message: There are people in my life who risked everything to stand by my side when I needed them most. I want them to be remembered. At least in some small way. Their-"

    "My Lady?"

    Ciaran shut off the holorecording of Revan as Kygeetu entered her quarters. "We're about to arrive, I take it?"

    "Yes. Though I have to ask, are you sure that this Admiral Yularen will even appear in the first place? From what I saw of your message it was rather vague on the specifics."

    Ciaran stood up and started to walk towards the cockpit, Kygeetu following closely behind her. "The fact of the matter is that I'm not an unknown entity to him thanks to Grievous' work with him and the 501st. So while my message was vague by necessity, I'm fairly confident he'll at least show up."

    "And after that?"

    "That's when I start making some serious gambles," Ciaran said as she sat down at the pilot's chair.

    "I see...though I must ask..." Kygeetu started to say as the ship exited hyperspace, "Why-"

    Her thought was interrupted as a shudder ran down her spine. Looking out of the viewport she saw a desolate planet that seemed to have no signs of life, merely a ball of rock floating in space. Though was was unnerving Kygeetu was how it and the space around it seemed to feel so...empty in a way that defied description. "This place-"

    "We're here for two reasons," Ciaran explained as she leaned back. "The first is that no one is going to come here of their own free will unless they had to. The second...is to make a point." She turned to face Kygeetu, and the Kaleesh couldn't help but get the sense that her Lady's eyes were boring right through her for a moment before she turned away. "Truth be told a few years ago I would have never even considered coming here."

    "W-why?"

    "Simple. No Miraluka would ever go to Katarr of their own volition."

    Before Kygeetu could ask for clarification the ship's console lit up and a Venator jumped into sight, silently hovering in place.

    "And that's our cue," Ciaran said to herself as she punched in a cipher on the ship's console, waiting for a brief moment before receiving the proper countersign. With that she eased the Kell Dragon forward, the Resolute growing larger before its hangar bay opened up, the Dragon gliding in and settling down on an unoccupied landing pad - that also happened to have a significant amount of clone marines in the area.

    "Right then," Ciaran said as she got up, punching in a few commands on the console. "Kygeetu, I'm leaving the ship in your care. Let me know if anyone tries anything and be sure to do regular external sweeps of the ship to make sure no one puts on a tracking device or anything of the sort."

    "B-but I should-"

    "Stay here, because this is a very delicate situation right now and I don't want Yularen or anyone to jump the gun. Am I clear?"

    "...Y-yes, my Lady."

    -----------

    As Ciaran walked down the landing ramp she was slightly surprised to see Ahsoka waiting for her, a neutral expression on her face. "Lady Ciaran, please follow me to the meeting room," she said stiffly as she started to walk away with Ciaran following her curiously.

    "So...how are you?" Ciaran asked to try and break the tension.

    "I..." She looked at Ciaran, her face now betraying a sense of unease. "Why are we meeting here? This system...it feels..."

    "Empty," Ciaran replied flatly. "Like the Force itself was stripped away. Is that about right?"

    "...What did this?"

    "A monster called Darth Nihilus. You should read up on him," Ciaran said, ending that particular line of conversation. The two of them continued to walk for another moment before Ciaran spoke again. "You know, I was surprised when Thrawn told me you decided to leave the Order," she said as she turned slightly to face Ahsoka, whose face visibly fell as Ciaran said that. "You seemed like you would have made for a model Jedi Knight after everything he taught you."

    "I...there's a lot of things that led me to do that."

    "Like the laws they're debating in the Senate?"

    "...Yeah. For starters." Ahsoka sighed. "Thrawn taught me that I can't just ignore politics, as much as I'd like to. And considering just how bad things are looking with that...and even then I don't know which Order I should belong to at this point."

    Ciaran tilted her head sightly. "The divide between Tython and Courscant's already getting that bad, eh?"

    "The Jedi on Tython have already set up a Council of their own, and from what I've been hearing they're already drifting away from the Order on Courscant when it comes to a lot of things and knighting people on their own terms. So...yes. It is that bad, at least from where I'm standing. I...I'll head back once I know...once I know," Ahsoka replied quietly as she continued to walk.

    Ciaran looked into the distance. "He'd be proud of you. For choosing to fight on even at a time like this."

    Nothing more was said between the two of them. After another moment the two arrived at the meeting room in question, where Ahsoka simply gestured at the door and left without a word. Nodding to herself and taking a long breath in preparation, she entered the room to see a spartan table with a holoprojector in its center all situated next to a viewport where the lifeless planet of Katarr hovered in the distance. In the chair furthest from where Ciaran was standing Yularen was waiting patiently, his hands clasped together in front of him before he noticed Ciaran's entry. Nodding slightly he simply said "Please be seated, Lady Ciaran," as he gestured to the chair opposite him. With a curt nod, she sat down, and the two of them stared at each other for a long and silent moment before Yularen turned to face Katarr.

    "I must admit I was rather surprised - and admittedly disturbed - when I researched the history of this planet," Yularen said before he turned back to face Ciaran. "To think, an entire world reduced to nothing in an instant by a single man...the Force can be a terrifying thing at times, it seems."

    "Any Miraluka would agree with you," Ciaran replied. "There's a reason that this planet is effectively a forbidden location."

    Yularen nodded in understanding. "Now then, to business. Your message was rather vague, but it did mention a 'grave threat to the Republic and the galaxy as we know it.' I assure you, if it is a Separatist plot-"

    "It isn't," Ciaran coldly replied. "They're a sideshow."

    Yularen blinked in confusion. "I'm not sure I understand. Are you saying that this threat you spoke of is within Council space?"

    "No. What I'm saying is that this is a threat from within the Republic itself."

    Yularen's eyes narrowed. "That is a considerable accusation to make, Lady Ciaran, even before knowing any of the details. The Republic-"

    "Is corrupt and we both know it," Ciaran interrupted. "We both know damn well that most of the Senate doesn't care about anything more than lining their own pockets, it willingly gives more power to the Supreme Chancellor and takes more and more rights away from its citizens with every passing day, need I go on?" Her eyes narrowed behind her mask. "You're a smart man, Wullf Yularen. Surely you can see that for yourself."

    The man was silent before he replied. "I am well aware of how fallible my government can be. Do not misunderstand. However, I have sworn to protect it as an Admiral of the Republic Navy, and I will not break those oaths so long as I live," he said coldly. "Am I clear?"

    "Yes. And don't get me wrong, I'm well aware of your loyalties to the Republic," Ciaran replied. "My point was that because of the aforementioned corruption, it's easier for things to remain hidden from prying eyes. Easier for those who do not have the Republic's best interests in mind to influence things from the shadows."

    "...A double agent."

    "If it were only that. You are technically not wrong, but the situation is far worse than that."

    "I am well aware there are those who sympathize with the Separatist cause," Yularen replied, "and even more aware of how extreme people are willing to be to that end. Merely look at the Temple Bombing and Massacre for proof of that."

    "Once again, I dearly wish it was as simple as that," Ciaran said.

    "Then stop being so vague and give me a straight answer," Yularen replied coldly. "If you are simply going to continue to give me vague and incomprehensible answers then there is no point to continuing this conversation."

    Ciaran was silent for a moment. "Admiral. I am trying to get you to understand the gravity of what I'm about to tell you. I meant it when I said that what I am about to tell you is a threat to not only the Republic you hold dear, but the galaxy as we know it. Even knowing it exists will mark you as a potential target if the wrong people learn about this conversation. Now then, knowing that it could put your life at risk from hearing about what I have to say, are you willing to listen?"

    Yularen looked at Ciaran warily, but nodded after a moment.

    "As I said earlier your assessment that there is a double agent in high standing within the Republic is not inaccurate. But that is dramatically underselling the scope of what he is doing. This man is in regular contact with Count Dooku himself, playing both sides of the war to gain more and more power for himself no matter how many people die and how many worlds burn in the process. Everything that has happened since this war began has all been a part of his plan to rule whatever is left of the galaxy afterwards."

    Ciaran took in that Yularen seemed to be taking her seriously, and steeled herself for what would come next.

    "Admiral Yularen, I came here today to tell you the identity of the man responsible for this war: Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine."

    The color drained from Yularen's face before he recovered. "T-That's insane! Do you have any idea-"

    Without a word Ciaran brought out a portable holoprojector, set it down on the table, and activated it.

    "The new Mandalore appears to have ideas of his own, my Master," Dooku said.

    "Do not be a fool, my apprentice. This new Mandalore is but a puppet for someone else. Someone whose influence has grown to be too large of an annoyance," replied the slightly affected but unmistakable voice of Palpatine.

    "Lady Ciaran."

    "Correct."

    "My people managed to intercept this message around the time of the Caamas Ceasefire," Ciaran explained as it continued to play on, Yularen staring at it with a mixture of shock and horror. "And if you need more proof all you need to do is think. Who gains the most from this war? Who is able to gather power without question because of it? Why does it seem like there are so many traitors and-"

    "YOU'RE LYING!" Yularen roared out as he pounded the table with a fist, his hand shaking. "This...this is a fabrication. A means to turn me against the Republic, is that it!?"

    "Wake up," Ciaran coldly replied. "This isn't a ruse or anything like that as much as you want to believe it is. It's the truth, and I'm honestly disgusted at how you're trying to deny it. Think about how convenient his career has been. How a young Queen from Naboo manages to get a Vote of No Confidence passed right when Valorum is at his politically weakest. How the Trade Federation invaded Naboo over a financial dispute despite how many other ways it could have been resolved. How Palpatine's political rivals always seem to have a bad habit of dying or vanishing, both before and during his term as Supreme Chancellor. Ask Seti Ashgad, I'm sure he'd love to tell you just what Palpatine does to anyone who tries to stand against him once I get you in touch with him. But believing in Palpatine is such a comfortable lie, I admit. All you have to do is fall in line and not ask too many questions and you get 'peace' and 'security' and all of the other weasel words he uses to blind people like you to the truth while he consumes without end."

    Yularen was dead silent, though his eyes bored into Ciaran.

    "You wanted to know why you're here, at Katarr of all planets? Well now that you've seen that message I've got no reason not to tell you that Palpatine is also known as the Sith Lord Darth Sidious. And I'm sure you realized by now that he wants power for power's sake and doesn't care about what he consumes to get there." Ciaran pointed out the viewport at Katarr. "That is what I am fighting to stop. I'm trying to keep this galaxy from falling under the control of a Sith Lord who wants to consume and devour just like Nihilus did, who is more than willing to destroy the entire galaxy just so long as he can say that he is the ruler of its ashes. Does that make everything clear enough for you, Wullf Yularen!?"

    Yularen continued to stare at Ciaran for a long moment as silence descended once again.

    "...What do you need?" he asked quietly.

    "I need soldiers."

    "I can get you an army."

    "I need ships."

    "I can get you an armada."

    "I need allies."

    "If I have to turn the entirety of the Republic's military against Palpatine to save it, I will."

    "Most of all though, I need you to not tell the Jedi about this. If they learn about the truth now-"

    "They will be forced to act, because what other choice would they have?" Yularen said sadly. "I understand. Though..." He clasped his hands together again and closed his eyes in thought. "...Commander Tano deserves to know. And I can't hide this from the troops on board forever."

    "I wasn't expecting you to," Ciaran replied.

    -----------

    A few moments later both Rex and Ahsoka watched the holorecording of Dooku and Palpatine with rapt horror clear on their faces as Ciaran and Yularen looked on; while Rex was taking it fairly well Ahsoka's face had paled dramatically ever since the message had started playing.

    "...So as you can see..." Yularen started to say before he trailed off and sunk into his chair slightly. "...I won't mince words. Now that we know what's really going on we're effectively isolated from the majority of the Republic military. We cannot trust anyone without reasonable evidence to the contrary and we must assume that we will constantly be watched once we return to formal duty."

    "This...I can't believe this," Rex said to himself as he clenched his fists. "All of my brothers - they..." He trailed off, not able to find any words as Ahsoka continued to remain dead silent.

    "Now that you're here I should also mention that Palpatine had a failsafe installed into the clone army," Ciaran explained as she brought out another holoprojector, this time displaying an image of a biochip. "The Kaminoans put these into clones so that when he needs to, he can activate a Contingency Order and strip clones of their free will. You don't have the chips, thanks to some work my people did a while back."

    "But the rest of the army does," Rex said as he focused on Ciaran.

    "Most of them. There is one group that doesn't - the 412th, down in the Southern Rim. And any clones created since the start of this year won't have them either. Aside from that though..."

    "Which one?" Ahsoka asked quietly, not looking at anyone even as everyone else focused on her. "Which Order would he use if he wanted to kill Jedi?"

    Ciaran folded her arms. "Order 66. Or Order 37 if he was after a specific target."

    "Whatever the case may be, we must act to gather as many allies in the military as we can," Yularen said. "Lady Ciaran can supply us with limited quantities of nanodroids that would disable the chips in select regiments, but aside from that we must act cautiously. Over the next few days I expect to see the both of you here for daily meetings on who we can contact without blowing our cover. That is all."

    "What should we tell the rest of the troops?" Rex asked. "Much as I don't like to admit it, some of them might report us."

    "Tell them as little as possible. If you have to say something, tell them we're dealing with a double agent in the upper echelon of the Republic military who would cause significant damage if they realized we were on to them. It's close enough to the truth and that should satisfy their inquisitiveness."

    Once again no one said anything, though this time the silence was broken by Ciaran saying "Well if no one else has anything to say I'll-"

    "Where is he?"

    Everyone turned to face Ahsoka, whose eyes were boring into Ciaran. For her part she calmly faced her down.

    "I don't know where he is. All I know is that he's fighting his own war. Like you are right now."

    Ciaran waited to see if anyone else was going to ask anything, but no one seemed to want to say anything. With an offhand "I'll be in touch," she left the room and headed back towards the Kell Dragon, leaving Ahsoka, Rex, and Yularen behind as they tried to decide what to do in the face of what they now knew.

    -----------

    Lady Ciaran,

    While I will not be able to keep in regular contact with you I will do what I can to give you relatively consistent updates on my activities. My current intent is to ensure the loyalty of the 212th under General Kenobi, and after that I intend to reach out to select units and recruit them to our cause. If you reach out to some other unit in the meantime I will need to know about it ASAP so that our efforts are not wasted and potentially discovered.

    Aside from that I do have some information for you - namely a dossier on the 412th Regiment as well as 'X1' and 'X2'. The file is attached to this message, though I will give a brief summary here:

    - The 412th Regiment also known informally as the "Durasteel Wall" is a regiment primarily stationed in and around the Eriadu system, serving with distinction in many battles in the region. They primarily specialize in defensive fighting due to being stationed in a location where Separatist forces are heavily concentrated, and as such they see considerable amounts of combat. Notably, the regiment has shown unusually high amounts of independent thought among its clone soldiers and commanders to the point where many will only respond to their assumed nicknames - though it is unclear whether it is due to the sabotage of their control chips, the influence of their Jedi commander, or simply due to said mindset forming more naturally within the regiment. Whatever the case may be the 412th has gone against orders on a number of occasions to help reduce civilian casualties to the best of their abilities, often setting up at vulnerable locations to draw Separatist forces away from civilian locations. However this has come at the cost of the unit being ostracized by many of the other clone regiments around them as well as Brigadier Gideon Tarkin, and they have been repeatedly and conspicuously been given missions that are often borderline suicidal. Still, the unit has continued to persevere in spite of that, though I have seen a number of reports indicating that they are likely being targeted by Covert Operations troopers who are attempting to prune their numbers when possible.

    - Their clone commander is CT-7953 "Pariah," described as "bitterly sarcastic and sometimes confrontational" in official reports, though according to other unofficial reports he is a "warm and kind man who doesn't speak often but displays a sharp wit when he does." It would seem that the former description only applies when he is speaking to other commanders, and it is likely that he intentionally chose his name to reflect the 412th's situation though it is unclear if he had a different nickname before then. Perhaps due to the aforementioned stoicism and semi-official dislike of him among the command structure in the region, there is not much else in the GAR's records on him.

    - Their Jedi commander is one Kira Rudemo, a human male Jedi Knight who has served with the company since its deployment to Eriadu. From what I can determine from the records I was able to gather it was him that influenced the 412th's predisposition to protecting civilians at the cost of operational effectiveness, though once again I do not know if he contributed to their rebelliousness. Still, he has been described as a 'fighter first and a commander second,' often deferring to Pariah's judgment during battles. Personality-wise his dossier describes him as a rather morose man who dislikes the war itself but also believes that the best way to end it is to continue fighting if only so that the next battleground wouldn't be a heavily-populated city, though he is much more relaxed when among the 412th.

    - Aside from that I was also able to dig up some records on 'X1' and 'X2,' as per the message you sent after our meeting. That turned out to be significantly more difficult than I expected due to the fact that the majority of the files on them are     highly classified, and even with my rank and connections I can't get to most of them. What I could find out was that the both of them have been noted for their considerable skills in both combat and leadership roles, though in slightly different ways. X1 has apparently displayed a dislike of the Jedi Order, believing that they are holding themselves back with their pacifism. In addition, some of the records I was able to locate indicated that X1 has displayed noticeable amounts of aggression and ruthlessness in combat. X2 by contrast seems to respect the Order's stance by all accounts, and appears to be the more restrained of the two by comparison. I've also managed to track down the group they've been assigned to if you wish to investigate them further.

    I will do what I can to provide you with information I can discover in the coming days. Good luck to us both, Lady Ciaran.

    -Admiral Wullf Yularen

    Rewards: Yularen and the 501st subverted. Yularen has begun to actively subvert Republic military groups on his own initiative (one automatic subversion roll per turn). Gained dossiers on the 412th Regiment/X1 & X2.

    AN: This was a tricky thing to write - especially keeping Yularen in character in the face of everything, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Anyway, and more importantly, because Yularen basically is his own intelligence network I figured that the high crit meant that he could get some dossiers together for "free" as it were. Lucky you.

    ...I also want it on the record that the name "Kira Rudemo" came from a random name generator, and was not the result of me trying to make a thinly-veiled Gundam SEED reference. I'm being dead serious there. That being said feel free to make any jokes at your own discretion, I won't stop you (I did decide to keep the name in question).
     
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    • Dr. Snark said:
    "...What do you need?" he asked quietly.

    "I need soldiers."

    "I can get you an army."

    "I need ships."

    "I can get you an armada."

    "I need allies."

    "If I have to turn the entirety of the Republic's military against Palpatine to save it, I will."
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    This is exactly how I always viewed him to be. He loves the Republic and the Republic is not it's Chancellor.
     
    Nice! Though poor Ahsoka needs a hug with all the shocks she has been going through. Pity that the 412nd has been grinded down. On the flip side auto subversion roll is nice more so if we can get more of the clones de chipped.

    Also 4 more interludes to go:
    Feint, Parry, Riposte
    Justice For All
    Planet of New Beginnings
    An End To Savagery
     
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    Ahh Gundam the closest i ever come to wacth a gundam anime is magical girl lyrical nanoha strickerS ep1-2 and season 1 of vivio
     
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    Now we just need Pellaeon and we will have the friendliest Republic/Imperial leadership under our grasp. I just love gathering Noble, if misaligned, characters to take on their Evil Overlords they would normally serve in canon. :cool:
     
    I especially love how you referenced how the Jedi would be forced to act regaurding Palpy if they hear of it, and don't reference it as stupidity.

    It's nice to know I wasn't wrong about all of the Clone Wars Era stuff I read on this site.
     
    are there any good cis leaders? that actually believe in what the cis stands for and isnt a banker or rich asshole?
     
    dredloki said:
    are there any good cis leaders? that actually believe in what the cis stands for and isnt a banker or rich asshole?
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    Well, Dooku counts if you can get past him being a sith. He joined the separatists because he hated the jedi's policies, and he looks down on the rest of the separatist leadership.
     
    So on a whim, I decided to do some wiki walking looking for some people that good ol' Wullf could potentially flip and found this gentleman: Locus Geen.

    The tidbit that makes it truly one to be amusing if subverted means that we would potentially get Rom Mohc on our side, the man who designed and ran the Dark Trooper Project. While there is no record of what unit he served in, I'd imagine with his experience as a Spacetrooper later in his OTL Imperial career that he probably served alongside clone Galactic Marines.

    The best part is, is that he hated the whole Death Star debacle and was never on good terms with Tarkin. So, it's entirely feasible to flip the man before he drinks the Imperial kool-aid.

    Plus, it'd be another historically competent antagonist working for us. The man is practically the Imperial Tony Stark since Phase 3 Darktrooper was Phrik-coated Powered Armor with an onboard droid AI.
     
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