01.28 : The Light Begins to Dim

[21 BBY]

[Republic Navy Venator-class Star Destroyer Selfless, Ryloth System, 14th Sector Army]

"Liberator is reported as retaken General..." his communications officer shouted over to Locus Geen as he stood in front of the tactical display even as his Star Destroyer was pounded on by the Separatist Fleet "...General Tiin is report as slain, General Tachi in critical condition, with General Krell and Senator Organa reported as unharmed according by General Daron"

"Understood, signal the Liberator to remain in the reserve line" he commanded watching as the Separatist lines continued to crumble as his star-fighters swept away their opposite numbers and another Munificent-class frigate was knocked out of action. Still it was a battle been won at a heavy toll; two of his precious Venators destroyed outright, and a dozen of the escorts out of action or severely damaged enough that they were barely under power.

"Sir, they've further reported killing two enemy Jedi, with a third attempting to flee the ship. They are requesting we target any enemy ships attempting to flee the Liberator"

Locus nodded "Do so, Gunnery Officer, target secondary batteries on the ventral side on any enemy forces attempting to retreat from the Liberator"

Then he refocused on the greater scope of the battle as he heard the young man shouting out orders over the comms amidst the cacophony of such commands flying from the bridge. Coordinating a battle such as this was no easy task, even if he'd managed to mousetrap the enemy forces between two battle-groups and they persisted in making mistakes. Or perhaps not truly mistakes per se....he watched as remaining enemy squadrons surged towards the Liberator as he watch droid-fighters and one or two star-fighters emerge out of the Star Destroyer under fire from his ship and the nearby Acclamator-class The Majestic. He turned, gesturing as he guessed at the reasoning.

"Kill those fighters and transports!"

He watched as fire was poured at the swift craft as the died one by one, but he could guess that they weren't killing the one with the enemy commander on it as he looked out from the bridge as saw droid-fighters act almost as ablative armour for others in the group. It explained certain things after all, and it was how the Jedi had fought many a battle so far on the Republic side...eliminating the enemy commander while they were vulnerable should prove a blow then . Or so he had hoped as he watched the enemy squadron accelerate through his flak field, then engage one of squadrons....only for three of the enemy fighters to race away from the fight...

Shaking his head he thumped his fist off the console "Kriff....focus fire on the remaining active Lucrehulk! Target theirs and the Munificents engines! Watch for droid-fighter suicide attacks! Intensify forward firepower, divert auxiliary and reserve power if needed!"

'Should have seen it earlier, Tactical droid most likely in charge over there..." he though leaning on the handholds of the large holographic display table as the orders spread out amongst the Fleet and star-fighter squadrons adjusted themselves to delay an enemy escape "...and they're adjusting formation to cut and run once they recover their strike team'

Then he was merely a spectator once again as space filled with turbolaser fire and missiles as his forces pressed forward as the enemy attempted to retreat towards the hyper-limit through his covering forces. Desperation was driving them, or perhaps cold hard logic, as he watched a Munificent crash into one of the armed heavy combat freighters to force open a gap in the line for the Lucrehulk to escape through. Vulture and Scarab droid-fighters threw themselves at his fleet just as he'd feared, though their numbers had been reduced to a shadow of their starting squadrons and his own star-fighters, and anti-fighter batteries, tore them to pieces as he watched the Lucrehulk and two of the Munificents break free of the melee and flee into hyperspace...

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[21 BBY]

[Office of the Chancellor, Senate Buildings, Galactic City, Coruscant]

It, quite simply, had been a truly excellent week Darth Sidious found as he smiled a grandfatherly smile at Anakin as he guided his potential future apprentice to sit. Even from here he could feel young Skywalker's pent up frustration at the cybernetic hand he had received and the 'loss' of 'part of himself' as the boy had referred to it. It certainly roiled in the Force inside him beneath an iron will.

Oh such useful emotions he'd found, and further more concerns at the course of the war perhaps....and the growing problems of the Jedi Order. Such wonderful problems, and now the details of who held the Jedi Holocron with their treasured lists of young potential Force Sensitives was in the hands of his agents; whose actions had further enhanced the standing of young Skywalker and damaged the Peace Faction's respect within the Senate.

It was also clear that the relationship between Skywalker and Amidala was deepening, a surprise as while the woman was attractive...was somewhat of an idiot and overly opinionated. One had to assume Anakin tuned all such nonsense spewing from her mouth because she was incredible in the bed, or could cook a great meal. But that was irrelevant; it was another fracture point building between his future apprentice and the Jedi Order, and he had subtly encouraged such relationships even if he would have preferred the choice of more....malleable...and understandable romantic interests.

Well, something to sorted at a later date perhaps with a more suitable concubine to a Sith Lord...and the death if properly managed would serve rather well in pushing the boy to the Dark Side. It shouldn't be overly hard to arrange over the coming months or years with the girl's natural propensity for danger...maybe a touch of the Dark Side as when he been a young man with racing?...and if properly guided laid at the hands of the Jedi. Or just wait and allow the complete lack of understanding emotions from those idiots do the work for him instead?

"Oh Anakin my boy, if not for your bravery it is.....truly too terrible to think on the innocent Senators whose lives would have been lost. Your shining example gives me hope in these dark times"

"Thank you Chancellor..." young Skywalker mumbled back tiredly "...it was the Will of the Force that I was there I guess"

'The Call of the Booty more likely' he mused nodding "Indeed, Indeed my boy, still it was a welcome thing, as matters have gone poorly of late many Jedi have fallen I have heard. It sadness this old man's heart to see should bravery lost to the Republic. Even Master Tiin from the Council"

'Oh yeah, it breaks my Sith heart to see all these Jedi imbeciles die in new and imaginative ways'

"Yes..." young Skywalker nodded sadly in agreement motions flashing and so easy to read "...yes, the whole Temple has heard. After Geonosis and Falleen...it is a hard loss they say. Thankfully we are Jedi, and will continue to do our duty Master Windu has said....and at least Master Tiin was avenged and Siri Tachi should hopefully recover in time"

'Or never would be even more ideal' Darth Sidious chortled silently thinking on the serious injuries and coma that one of the 'premonition potentials' within the Jedi according to the Jedi Order according to his data had suffered. Suffered and put out of the play for the price of two of Dooku's little band of cretins. It had been such a fantastic exchange; a Jedi Master dead, another Knight in a coma, and the third 'suffering' dark dreams if he was correct in his projections. All for the low-low price of two imbeciles who'd need killing down the line, and a wrecking one of Dooku's less important Fleets. And here was young Skywalker letting slip talk of 'avenging' when such things were far indeed from the Jedi Code....excellent, excellent indeed.

"Indeed Anakin, indeed, swiftly were these terrorists brought to deserved justice...." he agreed with a 'sad' and 'gentle' smile "...by your friend was not? The one who had left the Jedi Order I believe?"

'On much worse terms than dear Anakin understands I suspect judging by him surrounding himself with a private army, and then investing time and effort into creating dedicated teams for anti-Jedi tactics' Darth Sidious mused behind the mask as Palpatine sipped the tea. He'd seen the footage....multiple times in fact, with a nice hot cup of Kaff...transmitted from Star Destroyer's security feed and it been fascinating...and amusing...fascinatingly-amusing. Worthless against someone as powerful as he, or Jedi Master's such as Yoda, but would prove very effective in dealing with any survivors of the Jedi when his plans came to fruition.

"Ah, yes, Daron he dealt with them and the others say..." Anakin brightened a moment before mumbling again, emotions swirling at some directive from his former Master Kenobi Darth Sidious imagined "...well, um, he dealt with the Darksiders most effectively but in...um, unJedi-like manner the Council has said"

'Yes, I can imagine, competence is foreign concept to the Jedi of these days thankfully' he found as Palpatine nodded gently "Of course, of course, not everyone can measure up your abilities and drive my boy, so it is unfair of them to expect such of your friend. One whose proving a loyal and effective General in defensive of the Republic I might add. While I am loath to disagree with the wisdom of the Jedi Council...." snrtttt...muwhahahaha...snrrrt "...on this matter I must I fear if that is their view of such matters"

A curious find was General Daron 'Stormcrow' indeed, the various Generals of that Sector in general were proving reasonably competent and useful overall in fact. Vladimir Yanthis and his Ailon Nova Guard had already been on the list of potential useful assets for his future New Order; easy to understand in motivation, and once he found a way to bring them in line easy to maintain as such. While there's, and the other mercenary groups and militias, distrust of the Republic's Intelligence authorities was mildly inconvenient for managing the Grand Plan it was very useful in the long-run.

Fourteenth Sector Army reported directly to his Office and GAR Headquarters, making leaks increasingly difficult unlike certain other Sectors with weaker commanders or Jedi, but had internalised much of its operational planning to avoid Jedi control. Amusingly even the currently attached Jedi, a Rahm Kota, had fallen in line for such thinking...but he didn't matter in the end, as he had die along with the rest of the Jedi Order simple as that. Generals Geen, Yanthis, and Daron though were useful potential assets for his New Order once the Grand Plan came to fruition.

But the combination of being a 'failed' padawan, being a mercenary, links with the Tarkin's and other New Order affiliated groups, along with sufficient issues with the Jedi Order to train a bodyguard to fight Jedi, made him an interesting find. Either as a useful future asset for dealing with the Jedi, or if worst case as a test for his potential apprentice should he need to be dealt with. According to Anakin the green-skinned near human had 'friends' within the Order despite clashing with the Order; a blessing and a curse there. For one the alien would likely seek to protect his 'friends' but on the other hand such bonds were easy enough to either break, or turn him against Order to corrupt said 'friends' through the green skinned alien.

'If he is dabbling in the Dark Side as I suspect he may' Darth Sidious wondered as Palpatine talked and encourage Anakin in his actions and divine more information on the General, these 'friends', and of course on young Skywalker's apprentice. Another useful potential for an Inquisition or Hunter Group if adequately broken in; he would have to consider some method of doing so, or if having her killed would help in turning young Skywalker to his side?

What was curious about Anakin's friend Daron was in the nature of his apparently 'paranoid' break with the Jedi was the perfectly clean trail in the records. Then the extensive use of legal teams to hide behind contracts, while having an almost impossible to 'touch' [find even] Force signature, indicated more going on this his unsubtle young apprentice guessed. Someone was trying to hide things, even down to their Force abilities and lightsaber skills from the Jedi Order in particular....oh, the Jedi likely had not guessed, but Darth Sidious had lived that life himself so he could see the signs...

'Something for another time' he mused as the discussion shifted to discussion on his training of 'Snips' as young Skywalker called the Togruta. Much like Skywalker in attitude Darth Sidious had observed from his meetings of the two, and he had Palpatine encourage Anakin to continue his current training methods with his padawan. Building the bond was the first step either way when it came to either breaking it by death, or leading the young female to the Dark Side through young Skywalker. Soon they would depart to chase down his agent Cad Bane for the Holocron it seemed, so it would be an opportunity to unlock the holocron perhaps?

Hmmm?

So many options, so little time to choose....