“Can we board this thing yet?” Kara twitched with impatience, ready to storm G0-T0’s cloaked ship and seize the rebellious droid. Mira and Zaalbar were locked in a scout ship's detention cells, ready to be shipped to Master Dan-EL on Telos. “If we miss the raid on the Jedi because of your endless planning, I’ll use you for sparring practice…”
“You can try…” Cal rolled his eyes and continued his scans. Kara was more than his match when they were restricted to combat techniques, but if he used magic the outcome wasn’t so clear. “We’re going to hail him first, so we need to make certain he can’t slip away after he realises we can detect his ship.”
“Fine,” Kara slumped into her seat and heaved a massive sigh in Cal’s direction. The diplomatic path wasn’t one she walked if she had a choice. “Just hurry it up!”
Cal spent another minute at the scanner, before he nodded his head. The Kryptonian fleet had drifted into an inescapable net, one G0-T0 could never escape. He nodded his head and reached for the com, but his target beat him to the punch. The vessel dropped its cloak and sent out a wideband hail to the ships around it.
“Greetings to the invading fleet, I am Goto, head of the Exchange Organization here on Nar Shaddaa,” G0-T0’s mechanical voice sounded from the scout ship's speakers, while his vessel powered down its drive and weapons systems. “I am uncertain who this fleet belongs to, but I hope we can come to a reasonable agreement between us.”
“This is the 19th Kryptonian Expansionary Force,” Cal depressed the com button and answered the droid, even as he ordered the scout to move forward and prepare to dock with G0-T0’s vessel. “We are under orders to bring you to a face to face meeting with our Emperor, he believes your goals and ours can be made compatible.”
“Perhaps… but I’m afraid this ship only contains my droid representatives,” G0-T0’s words brought a smirk to Kara’s lips. The advanced droid still believed his cover as an organic being was intact. “If your Emperor is willing to speak through a mechanical intermediary, then I would be happy to join him for a visit.”
“I’m afraid that we’re aware of your true identity, G0-T0,” Cal tapped at the control panel and transferred a datafile on the infrastructure planning droid that Dan-EL had given them. “But the Emperor has many sentient machines in his service, so the fact that you are a rogue droid makes no difference to the people of Krypton.”
Silence extended over the com, several long seconds before G0-T0 sighed. A visual feed connected the droid’s ship and the scout, a transmission that displayed a rounded, black sphere with a single red eye.
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“Very well then, but I am interested to learn more about your people and this Emperor of yours,” G0-T0 bobbed up and down in the visual feed, eye bright. “A force such as this one shouldn’t exist… even in the corporate sector there are no references to ‘Kryptonians.’”
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“Look who’s back… with an unconscious woman and an old crone,” Atton Rand shook his head as Dan popped into existence, Kreia and the Exile at his side. “It took you long enough… who are these two, and what the hell is in your hand?”
“These two are Sith Lord and a fallen Jedi,” Dan rolled his eyes at Atton’s complaints and scanned the surroundings for May and the others. Revan had already turned Bao-Dur, so now all he had to do was storm Atris’ retreat. “As for this mess,” Dan bludgeoned Darth Sion against the ground. “He’s another guest…”
Dan floated into the air, gaze focused on his distant wife. She, Revan and Bao-Dur were engaged in a purge of the last of the Czerka mercenaries, while Bastila was alone in a meditative pose not far away. She likely used her battle meditation to coordinate the group, a skill that Dan hoped May could emulate.
“Make our new guests feel at home,” Dan waved at Atton as he gave Sion a smack with the back of his palm. “I need to get this fellow sealed up, and then we’ll wake the Exile and be on our way.”
The sky blurred for an instant and Dan was above May’s group. He waited until they polished off the last of their opponents and settled to the ground in their midst. He gave Sion a final blow and released the ravaged Sith from his biofield.
“Dan!” May smiled as she stepped forward for a kiss. She gave Sion a look of disgust, before she turned a raised eyebrow to her Husband. “What is this mess… it feels half-alive, and very angry.”
“Let me introduce Darth Sion, a Sith with a rather remarkable ability to stay alive,” Dan waved at the broken mass, which had already begun to take the shape of a man. “Care to box him up in a seal so I can stop mulching him over and over?”
May nodded and extended her hand. A spiral of runes wrapped the fallen Sith and compressed him between their folds. Layer after layer joined the first, until Sion was replaced by a golden orb the size of a football.
“This should hold him, but it would be best if we constructed an actual sealing container,” May drew the runic sphere towards her and shrunk it down to the size of an apple. “This spell is temporary, and this guy is fighting to get out.”
“We’ll get it done as soon as we’re finished on Telos,” Dan glanced toward the southern pole, where Atris and her Handmaidens waited. “Has there been any word from Nar Shaddaa?”
“Kara and Cal have managed to gather everyone they were supposed to,” May smiled at the mention of the two promising Kryptonains. “They will be here in less than an hour…”
“Who are these people you’ve collected,” Revan walked up, Bao-Dur at her back. She returned her lightsaber to her belt and frowned into the distance. “I can sense a pair of familiar presences in the Force… though one of them is extremely muted.”
“That would be Meetra Surik, someone that you both know, I think?” Dan turned to Bai-Dur and sized the man up. The tan-skinned Zabrak’s eyes widened at the mention of his former general, while Revan’s grew clouded. “The other is a former Jedi Master,” Dan let his gaze return to Revan and gave her a small smile. “Your former teacher, Kreia, though she has another name these days.”
“Kreia…” Revan’s troubled face blossomed with surprise. “I thought she’d died long ago…”