Hego Damask
Standing for a moment, the Muun brought his thoughts to order and calmed his heartbeat. After all, it had been close. And encountering such serious adepts, especially without the possibility of gaining any profit... No, Damask considered himself far too smart to get into that. He did not give in to emotions, controlling them better than some Jedi.
Looking after the trailing mercenaries, Damask grimaced with displeasure. Such losses... It was hard to find loyal fighters now. Especially fighters loyal to the Sith. The loss of such a number of personnel would hit the soldiers' morale very seriously, not to mention their combat potential. It wouldn't be easy to find replacements or replenish their ranks.
And then there was the ancient complex. Its loss was certainly not fatal, but unpleasant, very unpleasant. But much had been saved—and that was the main thing. So despite everything, the pluses were far more than the minuses. He now knew that next to Shade there was a previously unknown Sith, as well as his own order. He knew of their potential, and also how easily they could be provoked. He knew the weak points and critical objects on both Tatooine and Mandalore. Looking at it that way, the battle on Dathomir could be considered a victory.
Suddenly, a dissatisfied voice sounded beside Damask:
"Plagueis, this isn't what we agreed on." Turning, the Muun looked at the Jedi.
"I warned you that I was being hunted. And hunted by those who will be far more dangerous than the Order," Damask replied, slightly irritated. He didn't want to argue right now, or speak to anyone at all. Moreover, he was annoyed by the empty talk of a necessary but idiotic person. Although, that was a good question—was he necessary? Or not anymore?
"You didn't say Aero was chasing you!" the Jedi pointed an accusatory finger at Damask. "We have a business agreement. I cover you from the Order, and you give me the Sith holocron with the techniques I need. But I will not stand between you and Aero!"
"Whether you will or not, it doesn't matter. He saw you with me and now will not leave you in peace. Moreover, you are now forbidden to leave this planet. I don't want him coming here too because of your stupidity," Plagueis said calmly now, pondering the dilemma. Eliminate the Jedi? Or keep him after all? On one hand, he would no longer help regarding the Order or as cover in the Republic. On the other—he possessed Light Side Force techniques, and without them, studying the materials obtained would be problematic.
"The cursed Last Tythonian... Why didn't he die in his own time?" the now definitely ex-Jedi snapped angrily.
"Hm..." the Muun let the Jedi's words pass through him, thinking his own thoughts.
"Why is he even hunting you?"
"There is nothing surprising in that." Hego began to explain just as calmly, without even looking at the Jedi. "I tried to kill him."
"Don't you have enough enemies?!"
"Idiot... I'm not you, to act so impulsively!" Damask grumbled to himself, finally leaving his own thoughts. He looked irritably at the former Jedi and said:
"At that time, things were quite different." Hego began to explain, having decided to keep the miserable wretch for now after all. Especially since there was no choice for the moment. "Moreover, that was before I found out who he really was. Once, I mistakenly believed he was a genetically grown chimera. The strongest artificially bred Force adept. Tenebrous was interested in him and wished to create a clone. He even succeeded in some things before passing away. All for the purpose of transferring his essence."
"And where did he cross your path?"
"He became dangerous. Uncontrollable. He is like an unaccounted-for constant in my plans that I couldn't calculate."
"And also, when his danger outweighed his usefulness, I decided not to risk it," the Muun added to himself, assessing the "Jedi" standing nearby in much the same vein. In just this minute, he had already managed to reconsider his decision regarding the Jedi's usefulness, but from a different angle. Would this fool cause more harm than good?
"Judging by what I see, he still is that 'constant.' "
"Unfortunately, yes. And to even greater misfortune, the Force alone knows what this type will pull next."
"For neither I nor Tenebrous, even with the help of foresight, were able to see him," Damask finished to himself irritably.
Suddenly, both Force-sensitives froze mid-step. A chill of a spatial rift blew behind their backs. Closing his eyes, Damask began to turn slowly, perhaps for the first time in his life relying on hope rather than calculation. All calculations had long since burned; only hope remained.
"Maybe it's just the consequences of opening the transition?" thoughts raced through the Muun's head.
But no. Two figures were walking straight toward them. Very, very angry figures, thirsting for only one thing—to kill.
"Surprise," Aero exclaimed with malicious joy, igniting his paired sabers.
"How I hate you," Damask thought, gritting his teeth with hatred.
Shade Aero
After Damask disappeared into the transition, the machine turned off and went silent after about five seconds.
"That's not all, you little shit," I growled, walking to the control console. Launching it, I remembered the old school, moving panels and unlocking access to the systems. "Mom, do you remember how the Infinity Gates work?"
"More or less."
"Can you reopen them to the last coordinates?"
"Yes."
"Do it."
Parallel to the conversation, nimbly running my fingers over the holographic panel, I turn off the complex's active defense but run into a program glitch. Apparently Mom ran into something similar, as she wasn't holding back in her words. Supplementing her speech with my own twists in native ancient Togruti, I try to send the system and the whole complex into a reboot. It doesn't happen immediately, but it works. While the system was loading, I get in touch with my people:
"Warren, Radiy, come in!"
"Here, brother!" the Mandalorian responded immediately.
"Listening, Ancient One," the immortal replied after him, calmly as usual.
"I've deactivated the defense; the temple is safe. But no need to come down here, at least not now. There's another task for you. We're going after Damask. I don't know how far we'll be thrown, so you're in charge here, Warren. Your main task is to take Dathomir under full control."
"Understood."
"Secure the temple; take the territory under full management. Radiy, a separate assignment for you. Find and destroy everything connected to the Rakatan scum! Kill everyone who is in one way or another connected to that junk. No one must escape. And nothing must survive."
"Accepted. What to do with the rest of the natives?"
"Nothing. Let them live, but they must understand that from this moment on, the planet belongs to us. Do you hear, Warren?"
"Yes. I will pass the necessary orders further to the fleet and personally take care of clearing the territories."
Suddenly somewhere beneath us the mechanism groaned, something clicked loudly, and the reactor began to spool up again. The portal hadn't opened yet, but a bluish haze had already appeared. After the reboot, I dumped the excess energy accumulated over the years of the reactor's operation idly into the portal, which allowed for the stabilization of the accumulators and the closing of the leak poisoning this world.
"Work it." I give the command. At that moment, I had the impression that I had unleashed wild beasts from their chains.
"Yes, sir!"
"Mom, status?"
"Flow stabilization in progress. Synchronizing particles. Shade, open the fifth and seventh accumulators."
"Opened," but looking at how the system was "suffocating," I realize that won't be enough. "Not enough power; opening the sixth and eighth accumulators."
"Charge accumulated to fifty percent."
"Observing diffusion of parallel flows."
"Understood. Making adjustment."
"Sufficient. Energy is stable."
"Confirmed. Shade, the system is ready; the transition can be opened," she turned to me.
"Do it."
Moving the physical toggle from the bottom position to the top, she launched the gate, and the bluish-black haze was replaced by a clear image of some green planet. And right before the portal exit, I could observe the two backs of creatures walking away from us.
Without uttering another word, the two embittered Force adepts nodded to each other and, having set a timer on the gate for automatic shutdown, headed into the one-way transition. Without slowing our pace, we passed through the distorted surface and continued walking straight toward this pair. Apparently sensing something, Damask and his собеседник began to turn around.
"Surprise!" I shout with malicious joy, igniting my sabers. "Here I am! Missed me?"
"To death," Damask snapped irritably, meeting us with a Force lightning that hit our sabers. "As if you weren't enough, now there's another one!"
"A lady!" I correct. "Meet Hego. Aala. Моя мама."
"..."
The Muun's face at that moment was indescribable. The gamut of feelings that appeared on that mangled mug, that unutterable spectrum of pain-hatred-despair and bewilderment—all of it together was simply balm for my soul.
"And you haven't even seen my dad yet," I can't help myself, and apparently that was the last straw, because Damask... turned around and bolted at third cosmic velocity.
We took off too. I leaped to intercept the Sith, while Mom clashed with the Jedi. Rather, "clashed" isn't quite right. She flew at him like a whirlwind and with one crude blow broke through the block set with his lightsaber and cut the Jedi into two halves.
Cutting off the Sith's escape route, I close in and strike with my Forcesaber. Hego held his saber with two hands, blocking my strike, but I didn't stop. Continuing the same attack, I catch his saber, spin three hundred and sixty degrees, and try to reach his stomach with my other hand, but the Sith jumps back in time, bending, and immediately falls into Aala's caring hands.
Catching him by the arm, she broke the Muun's wrist and struck him between the eyes, stunning the opponent. The lightsaber fell from Damask's hand; his other severed hand fell nearby, and then his throat was in a secure iron grip. An attempt to use Force lightning at point-blank range resulted in Damask himself being blasted by his own technique. Then Aala struck once more with her own lightning, after which she left seven holes in the Muun's torso with pyrokinesis at point-blank range, the seventh hitting his head. Squeezing his neck until it crunched, Aala lightly tossed the body onto the ground right at my feet. Once again, I am convinced that the Dark Side doesn't let its strong adepts die just like that. Despite everything, raspy and twitching, Damask was still alive for now, looking at me with his yellow eyes. He was clearly trying to say something, but the smirk that appeared on his lips spoke better than he could.
"Until we meet in the Force, Hego."
A quick, practically invisible sweep of the saber, and his head comes off his body. A mockery mixed with hatred for me was frozen in those bright yellow eyes. Nevertheless, with his death, I felt a clear sense of relief. One less problem.
"What now?" Aala turned to me.
"We'll send him by mail to the Jedi Temple. Maybe. For now—let's take a look at his chambers," I turn to the complex visible from here between the low trees. "I feel something familiar. Let's see what's there. And it seems to me we'd better hurry."
"Bad feeling?"
"Something like that. Let's go."
Gripping our sabers, we ran toward the site. I don't know what planet we ended up on, but Damask clearly has good taste. Bluish sky, abundance of vegetation, breathable atmosphere. True, the gravity is a bit high, but that's nothing. But what views! I wouldn't mind settling in a place like this myself, heh.
Halfway there, we caught up with the mercenaries who had survived the excavations. To my offer to surrender, with subsequent preservation of life since no one would pay them anymore, I was told to go to hell and wished carnal relations with various wildlife. Naturally, I took offense at that and immediately corrected the oversight. Now there are no survivors at all.
Continuing the run, we reached a clearing with a precipice, where a magnificent view of the base opened up. A fairly large complex stood on a hill. The main multi-story building went very high, about twenty stories straight up. And around it were smaller houses, as if "welded" to the main complex. On the left and right sides, landing pads hung over the abyss, and a shield generator could be seen at the top of the building. A single bridge led to the base, protected by automatic towers with heavy lasers.
Upon our appearance, the system immediately locked onto us and opened fire. Deflecting some of the shots, we literally crushed the towers into balls of scrap. Several anomalies were felt inside the complex. There is definitely a Force reactor in it, and on the Unifying Force at that. There is also definitely something familiar to me in it, if not to say related. And that was strange.
Jumping down, I am the first to run across the bridge. Naturally, no one was going to open the gates, but that's not a problem. Pausing, I broke the gates. As soon as a breach appeared, Aala dove into it immediately, and screams, gunfire, and the roar of explosions reached me. Flying in after her, I take a quick look around. A cargo terminal with vehicles, where we were met by mercenaries and I-80 series combat droids. Hutt machines created in their factories were distinguished by their bulkiness, sluggishness, good armor, and firepower. But what could they do against two experienced Force-using killers?
Clapping my hands, I generated an electromagnetic pulse. It wasn't enough to disable the machines—they were built well, after all—but it was quite enough to disrupt their programming. While the equipment was rebooting, Mom selectively crushed the machines into balls of scrap. I choked the organics and went to the terminal to try to look at the building's floor plan.
Mentally regretting that there was no proper technician nearby, I try to at least unlock the console. Alas, the attempt was unsuccessful; whoever remained here had seen to it that we couldn't enter the system. We'll have to work as usual, namely—divide, conquer... kill.
"I'll check the anomaly at the top, you go for the reactor."
"Understood."
Distributing the tasks with her, we went in different directions. It wasn't even a hunt, but a beating. The mercenaries didn't surrender; they stubbornly continued to fight, even though they understood they had already lost. But they weren't fighting for revenge, or even for money. As it turned out, the Sun Guard had long since served the Sith specifically and were completely loyal to them. This was their personal small army, the remnants of which were desperately trying to oppose us.
It reached the point where it was dangerous to approach them. Some unique individuals activated detonators right on themselves and purposefully positioned themselves under the saber, but every time they were sent flying back to their own.
Very quickly, the neat white corridors began to look like a slaughterhouse. Here and there lay the severed or crushed bodies of the defenders. The mercenaries did not hesitate to use heavy weaponry in the confined space. So in one case detonators might fly at me, in another—missiles.
When I felt weakness, I cursed the hated ysalamiri lizards without mincing words. Mentally I understand—the lizards aren't to blame—but Force, how I hate them! With their damn sphere and invisibility in the Force. Until you get into that damn field, you won't know about them. Grrrr!!!
Already knowing what this nasty business was and what awaited me, I was ready. When the Force left, disorientation tried to undercut me, but not this time! Besides the fact that I was already ready, the implants built into my head actively helped me, as did the suit's system, which injected stimulants into my blood.
Taking cover around a corner, I take a flashbang from my belt, and a Mandalorian blaster from my belt in the other hand. Clicking the safety, I take a deep breath, activate the grenade, and throw it around the corner. As soon as the explosion roared, I step out from the corner and, covering myself with a shield, conduct accurate picking off of the disoriented fighters. Without the Force, my shooting is of course lacking, but I've shot enough to at least hit where I need to. Unexpectedly, a turret slides out from the ceiling. Turning my hand slightly, I launch a mini-rocket at it. Another explosion roared, followed by a stream of fire from my wrist flamethrower lighting up the corridor.
Passing through the resulting curtain of fire, one of the soldiers enveloped in fire lunges at me. Flipping him over me, I slam the mercenary into the wall and give him a good kick. Another tries to stab me with a vibroknife. Letting the knife pass beside me, I strike his helmet with my fist. Even without the Force, the arm reinforced with implants broke through the faceplate, crushing his face and throwing the man back. To make sure he didn't get up, I fired a couple of double-taps to the head.
Here, I managed to miss a kamikaze with a grenade. Dying, the mercenary activated a thermal detonator. Unfortunately, without the Force, I noticed this too late. An explosion roared, from which I was thrown into a closed door. Swearing, I stand up and go to finish off the miserable lizards.
As soon as I crushed the last lizard container, I got a breath of life-giving air. That's roughly how the return of the Force can be described. Stepping out of the fire, I extinguish my burning arms and left shoulder pad with claps, aiding myself with the Force.
Thus, somewhat smoked, I continue the sweep. I was advancing upward, while Mom was clearing the bottom. She had already found two laboratories, in one of which my Force reactor was stored. She also stopped an attempt by the locals to launch the self-destruction of the site, and to make things completely good for the latter, she found and de-energized the generator.
I, meanwhile, keenly felt how I was approaching something vaguely familiar, something home-like. But at the same time very unusual, something I had never felt. Adjusting my route, I head toward the source and find myself in the hangar. Due to power disruptions, the hangar remained closed. I entered just as the mercenaries were trying to reroute backup energy to the doors, as the ship located here was already under steam. And not just a ship. Damask's personal yacht!
"Interesting... and who is this smart one trying to bolt on Plagueis's personal ship?" I smirk.
Twisting the mercenaries' heads off, I board. Following the short corridor to the residential block, I try to open the cabin behind which I felt the anomaly, but it doesn't work. It's locked. Striking the panel with my fist, I force open the vertical doors with the Force and then calmly walk inside... and see a familiar face.
The woman stood against the wall behind the bed and aimed a blaster at me, her other hand clutching a small bundle to herself, which was radiating the Force.
"Rada, if I'm not mistaken?"
In response, they tried to shoot me. Catching the shot with Tutaminis, I wrench away the blaster.
"No... no!"
At that same moment, the room was filled with a child's crying. Frowning, and realizing it smelled of another Sith experiment, I walk toward her.
"No!"
"Give me the bundle."
"No... The Master must return... This is the Master's vessel!" Rada pressed her back into the wall.
"Give. Me. The bundle," I press her with the Force. "You really want to give it to me. Just give it."
With trembling hands, unable to resist my will, she held out the child.
Taking it and taking a couple of steps back, I look inside. And quietly, mentally fall through the ground. My heart dropped into my boots when I saw who was crying. In the bundle lay an exact copy of myself, only very small. Black hair, skin color, and white spots that would become patterns in the future.
"So much for experiments..."
"Hush, everything is fine," I carefully let the child grab the fingers of my other hand, parallelly trying to instill tranquility with the Force.
It seemed that the Sith had not only succeeded in cloning me, but the clone also possessed the Force. An unexpected death right behind my back distracted me from examining the child. Turning, I see the woman lying under the wall, blood flowing from her nose. Conditioned for loyalty to Damask, polished personally by him, she had not withstood the Force pressure...
Sighing, I contact my mother:
"Listening," she came on the comms immediately.
"I found something on Damask's personal yacht. You'll have to finish the rest of the sweep yourself."
"Understood. But I found something interesting too, and I think you should take a look at this."
"And what is it?"
"Another laboratory. And an extremely fascinating and quite large one at that."
"Let me guess, a couple of my clones are in it?" I smirk.
"A bit more than that. How did you guess?"
"I'm currently holding a clone of myself in my arms, about five to seven takedas old. A Force-sensitive clone."
"Hm... then that explains everything. To repeat, on the minus eighth floor I found a laboratory. There are at least two hundred capsules here, and your clones are floating in all of them, Shade. And as I can judge, none of them are Force-sensitive, otherwise we would have felt it."
"Wait. What do you mean 'as I can judge'?" I catch a note of sadness in her words.
"They are all dead. I don't know if it's because of my energy manipulations, or if the locals saw to it while covering their tracks, but..." she trailed off.
"I understand. Then finish with the sweep, and I'll contact home meanwhile."
"Understood."
Disconnecting the comms, I lower my head and look at the smiling infant.
***
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