The Parliament
Wearing: Black Kimono
Armed with: Nothing
Aboard: The Absolution of Loste
The Gozanti Cruiser floated in CIS controlled Space.
Laertia had called a meeting with her closest associates after the incident on Generis, in which The Amalgam's latest body had been destroyed after an excessively vicious and protracted fight.
Laertia sat at the head of the conference table, her paramour
Syd Celsius
wasn't present, taking a few days off from her clandestine back and forth helping Laertia, and training
Starlin Rand
to go and find some peace and quiet to prepare for what her visions showed was a coming invasion on Ossus ,
Maple Harte
,
Moya Virtu
,
Darth Themis
, and
Arianna Belasko
were very much present however.
All of them stared at the long range feed captured, of the Amalgam's body getting destroyed by overwhelming force. She had been reduced to a meaty skeleton flinging lightning like it was candy before being smashed to pieces by some sort of damaged HRD that could teleport.
"Guess they got sick of having their soldiers butchered." Maple remarked.
"They've crossed a line..." Laertia snapped. "This threat to our operations will 'not' be tolerated."
"Have you considered the idea that 'you' crossed the line first?" Moya asked pointedly, clad in her long black dress. "You hunted them, you hounded them to the point of desperation and in their desperation they've started turning loose experimental technologies, the consequences of unleashing which they don't fully understand." (Everything Burns: 90 XP)
"I will not allow this operation to be stymied by this battlefield nuisance."
"This Droid managed to kill The Amalgam." Moya pointed out to her daughter, again pointedly.
"The Amalgam got cocky and got sloppy. They obviously upped the intelligence programming."
"I'm packing one of those Bothan Droid Disruptors from now on..." Maple muttered.
"Look, its a Droid..." The Blond Witch Arianna scoffed hatefully in her long white gown. "We all know what kills Droids: Electricity, Ion, and Lightsabers. They've thought outside the box a bit, making a teleporting HRD. But they didn't think THAT out of the Box..."
"Laertia, those Droids were almost certainly built in Anticipation of fighting you..." Themis admonished, troubled by how myopic Laertia was acting.
"It means what I am doing to them is working. If they are so determined to get me off the chess board, this is the time to press our attack. We need to send a message to the NIO that we have our terrible weapons too, and that our weapons are light years ahead of some mere Tin Can with Skin and a Vanishing Act. We will do it right in the heart of their territory...and in the meantime, Grandmother, I want you to use your visions to track down the Engineers who designed it. I want them assassinated." Laertia requested.
"Those are Non-Combatants..." Maple protested.
"No they aren't. They stopped being Non-Combatants when they started making stuff to kill us specifically." Laertia argued. "At the very least we can make their engineers think twice about volunteering for similar projects. Make it messy enough and it will really put the screws to them, force them to keep them in hiding and protection constantly, which in of itself will wear them down mentally."
"Just like us, in other words..." Moya said in a glum manner.
Laertia sat up.
"This stubbornness on their part must be punished..." Laertia said.
"Your Attrition strategy has only made them dig in their heels. They are not responding to absolute violence with anything except absolute violence. They will not give up this war, Laertia..." Maple said. "I think its time to refocus our own efforts on the Bryn'adul..."
"We cannot defeat The Bryn'adul on our own...You need every Soldier and Force Adept that can fight turning all their attention to them. Even if we do succeed in a rearguard action and evacuations, we can only slow them down. Not stop them. The more they fight each other, the stronger the deadlier enemy becomes."
"But Laertia, they simply refuse to engage The Bryn'adul until the Sith are taken care of. The leaders have made up their minds--" Maple began to protest.
"THEN THE LEADERS ARE WRONG!!!" Laertia bellowed at Maple in a clear rage. The whole room shook from Laertia's unconscious use of telekinesis.
Everyone slowly, unconsciously scooted away. They knew how deadly Laertia was. They knew how strong in the Force she was too. Her Force Strength far exceeded theirs. Maple had never seen Laertia so infuriated.
"Laertia..." Moya said in a very terse manner. "You and me outside. Now."
Laertia silently followed the Force Using Android out of the conference room. Only then did Maple take her hand off the Sonic Blaster she had up her Kimono sleeve.
"Oooo, She's saucy today..." Arianna joked.
Themis AND Maple flipped Arianna off.
Meanwhile, Moya began venting.
"What the hell is wrong with you, yelling at us like that?! We're trying to help you!" Moya demanded angrily, black dress swaying as she got far enough away from the conference room."
"I yelled at Maple..." Laertia responded quietly.
"No! No! You yelled at us. All of us!" Moya snapped at her, visible disappointment on her face, which hurt Laertia more than if Moya had slapped her.
"The GA and The NIO are letting the Galaxy die at the Bryn'adul's hands. Each battle they have fought against the Sith kills others who desperately needed them to save them. If they win, that is 'it' for The Galaxy. The ones running those governments know that, but they hate the Sith so much they don't care! How am I not supposed to be enraged at the idea we should just give up and let them kill each other?!" Laertia seethed.
"She's scared. We all are." Moya hissed angrily. "Your actions have brought two governments on our heads, your actions got them developing technologies to specifically try and kill someone like you, like us?! Maybe I was too hasty to support what you're doing."
Laertia developed a look of hurt to her expression.
"What am I supposed to do? Just sit back and take the Barash Vow like some coward while they weaken their militaries?" Laertia asked.
"Maybe that would have been the better choice! Humiliating, yes, but it wouldn't have you in the state you're in now. Laertia...Julia...you're not well." Moya said pleadingly, bronze hand reaching out and stroking the cheek of a nearly snow pale face.
"Can't you see what's happening? This war is Destroying you. From the inside out." Moya asserted, trying to recognize the woman she had cared for for years, and having trouble. "You need to really think about what you're going to do next. Because you cannot wage war and defeat whole armies by yourself. If you keep helping the Sith as fanatically as you have, eventually they're gonna be your only true allies whether you want them to be or not. Because you will have pushed literally everyone else away. Is that what you want?"
"No, but--"
"But, what?! Have you heard anything I've said?!" Moya demanded to know. "They will not budge, Laertia. None of them will. Not the Jedi Order, not its leadership, and certainly not the NIO's leadership. They're gonna just let the Galaxy burn until they settle their feud, and that's just gonna be how it is, and we're just gonna have to adapt to that. You meant well, you wanted to Unite them, but it is over, Laertia. Do you hear me, it is over. You need to call it off. You need to turn yourself into the SJC and give a full confession and maybe they won't put you or the rest of us in front of a firing squad. Maybe they'll simply exile you. But you can't fight this war anymore. You can't justify killing every Jedi on the Battlefield because they don't want to fight the enemy you think should be fought. And that's their primary complaint against you: You're trying to Force them. THEM! An Organization that historically has proven it cannot simply be bullied into submission." Moya snapped. "They don't believe they should have to compromise who they are to achieve what they want, and if they have to compromise, they'll deny themselves the opportunity because to them, its fruit from the poison tree. And maybe you were too dismissive of that sentiment. And maybe 'I' was too dismissive of it. What has fighting them gotten you except turn you into a War Criminal?! You weren't supposed to be this, Laertia. You weren't supposed to be this angry, sullen wreck you've become these last few months..." Moya trailed, taking her hand away. "Killing so many Jedi has completely tarnished your reputation. You're dragging your own lover down with you, and you could destroy the reputation of that boy Starlin in the process. He had a bright future, Julia! He was a sweet, innocent young man before Dantooine. And now he has to live with the memory of killing a fellow Padawan for the rest of his life! Because YOU convinced his Master to follow you! He trusted her, and now he's got a fething prosthetic hand for his trouble!"
Laertia glowered.
"I have no more respect for the Jedi Order. If they would let all those societies die just to stop their old rival--"
"--Then its not your place to stop them. All you've done is make martyrs!" Moya interrupted again in an even more angry manner. "All you've done is make yourself an example of why you 'shouldn't' be listened to! Because they can point at all your crimes now, and hang those over you for the rest of your days even if they DO spare you! They'll never take you seriously again on anything! They'll never listen to you again! And even if you 'do' succeed, then what?! They'd hate and resent you forever. Because you stopped them from saving the Galaxy from the Sith. They'll hate you. They'll hate you!!! They'll blame you for preserving the tyranny of the Dark Side because 'you're' the one who didn't want to show patience. You view what the Jedi are doing as cruel and selfish, but maybe that's just the clarity of knowing what they face. They're letting the Force guide them. Maybe you should start letting it guide you, again, even if it leads to you being punished by them.
"The Force's Will completely ruined my life..." Laertia said bitterly, clenching her fists. "It took away my birth parents, and subjected them to a perverse and humiliating demise at the hands of the Sith, gave me a humiliating and embarrassing Speech Impediment that followed me from child to adulthood, placed me in the tutelage of a Monster I nearly killed myself trying to earn the Love of a Mother from, letting me spend years fighting the enemies of the Jedi, and getting absolutely no acknowledgement for it, only to be branded a traitor and criminal when I refuse to stand aside and let them weaken themselves and the Whole Galaxy..." Laertia hissed in a broken voice, tears falling down her face. "I spend all these years, throwing the best of my youth away...for what? The Sith are still here, same as they were, three fething decades ago! And you know what? They weren't all bloodthirsty monsters like The Amalgam! And finally, when I meet, at long last, the one enemy who truly embodies the total misery and destruction the Jedi say the Sith must pay for, the one enemy whose pure devotion to strength and the eradication of all that is weak should make them a priority target, what does the Order do? It spits on all the soldiers who gave their lives in vain to save Nar Kreeta so they can fight the Sith to their hearts content..." Laertia answered. "And you want me to go back to trusting its will? No. I refuse. I've been burned by its will one time too many...this time it is The Order who must burn according to its will. Until they Unite, I will not cease a thing."
Moya looked at her sadly.
"You're going down a path I can no longer follow."
Laertia raised an eyebrow. "What're you saying?"
"I'm saying I was wrong. I fethed up, and I should have made you stop after Dantooine. But you've gone too far. You know what I'm starting to believe? I'm starting to believe this has nothing to do with the Bryn'adul. You've said it yourself, and openly: You don't care about this war with the Dark Side. You don't care about the ideals of the Order, which are dedicated to preserving justice and peace from Tyranny. You just want to win. Against anybody. At any cost."
"The Bryn'adul are trying to wipe out everyone! You, me, everyone!" Laertia snapped. "You really think that by the time they get done with their war the Bryn'adul 'won't' be stronger than they are now? The Jedi Order is no longer worthy of respect for allowing what they have allowed!"
"How does killing them on the battlefield solve that problem?! The Bryn'adul are an excuse to you. You have never properly dealt with everything you learned about yourself. The Bryn'adul are guilt free killing to you as a form of therapy! And then, when the Order got in the way of your guilt free murdering you completely lost it and started slaughtering them as some sort of misguided payback!"
"You disappoint me, Moya. Of all the people I thought were wise enough not to buy into the Order's moralistic handwringing, I thought you would be one of them." Laertia said quietly.
"Either refocus all your efforts on helping the people most directly in the Path of the Bryn'adul instead of trying to Force the Jedi into doing what you want...or this is where I get off..." Moya trailed.
Mother and Daughter stared at each other.
Laertia, after a moment, turned and walked away, breaking Moya's heart as her protocol to help and aid Laertia disabled itself. Moya wept openly, walking in the other direction. She had to get her things. She was leaving the ship. She wasn't coming back.
She felt so horrible, like her heart had been ripped out. No more bunnies. No more of Laertia's head on her shoulder as she slept...
No more of that quiet, happy life Laertia claimed to want...
...now...now they were both alone...
"Where's Moya?" Maple asked as Laertia walked back into the console room with a grimace.
"Moya has left...she won't be back..." Laertia said, having wiped the tears from her eyes.
Themis rubbed the bridge of her nose. Laertia had, against all odds, activated the failsafe Themis had put in as Moya.
It was a failsafe in Moya's programming, and one that Themis regretted installing now.
It stipulated that should the Android perceive Laertia going down a self destructive path that put too many others who were potentially innocent in danger, then the Biot was to cease providing aid.
Themis felt a deep sense of failure in that moment at Laertia's intense emotional pain.
Arianna however, seemed only ready to leap in.
"What's the next step, my Dear?" The False Sith asked, relishing the prospect of Bloodshed on the enemy...
"We hit the NIO in their own territory..." Laertia said. "I want one of their generals...We'll send one of the Nuetralizers. An advanced model...in the meantime, Arianna, I want you AND Maple to get to work finding the people who manufactured the HRD. I want at least 'a few' of them dead, in the next few weeks...
"Laertia...Moya just left you..." Maple reminded her, worried.
"It was her choice, and I won't compel any of you to remain at my side more than you wish..." Laertia answered back quietly...
Themis sighed...one more step on the Path to Darth Xiphos...
Three weeks later...
An encrypted transmission was sent to
DT-0800
wirelessly from NIO military command. It read as follows.
BE ADVISED.
IN THE PAST FEW WEEKS SINCE THE ZIOST CAMPAIGN, A NUMBER OF ENGINEERS ASSOCIATED WITH THE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM OF THE PALADIN BATTLE DROID HAVE BEEN TARGETED FOR ASSASSINATION. ONE OF THE SENIOR LEADS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TELEPORT MODULE YOU CARRY INSIDE YOU WAS POISONED. DESPITE COUNTERMEASURES TO PROTECT PROJECT STAFF, THE ENEMY HAS CONTINUED TO SUCCEED IN THEIR EFFORTS TO ELIMINATE KEY PERSONNEL.
WE BELIEVE AN EXTREMELY ADVANCED MODEL OF ASSASSIN DROID HAS TARGETED GENERAL DAMIEN THORNSWIPE, HEAD OF NIO SPECIAL DROID PROJECTS AND ONE OF THE LEAD DEVELOPERS IN YOUR OWN COGNITIVE PROGRAMMING. WE BELIEVE SUBJECT IS IN IMMENSE DANGER.
YOUR MISSION DIRECTIVES ARE AS FOLLOWS:
PROCEED TO THORNSWIPE ESTATES ON ARCHAIS, AND PROTECT THE GENERAL BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.
ALL OTHER PRIORITIES ARE RESCINDED.
THE ESTATE IS REMOTE, AND ISOLATED BUT A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF FRIENDLY NIO SOLDIERS ARE ALSO THERE TO ASSIST YOU. BE ADVISED AS THEY ARE IN EXTREME DANGER AS YOU WILL BE. WE DO NOT KNOW THE FULL CAPABILITIES OF WHAT THE ENEMY HAS DEPLOYED, BUT THERE ARE SCATTERED REPORTS OF IT GETTING ABOARD THE JEDI STARSHIP PROSPERITY AND KILLING A NUMBER OF PERSONNEL AND SABOTAGING EQUIPMENT BEFORE ESCAPING.
TRANSMISSION ENDS.
Armed with: Nothing
Aboard: The Absolution of Loste
The Gozanti Cruiser floated in CIS controlled Space.
Laertia had called a meeting with her closest associates after the incident on Generis, in which The Amalgam's latest body had been destroyed after an excessively vicious and protracted fight.
Laertia sat at the head of the conference table, her paramour
Syd Celsius
wasn't present, taking a few days off from her clandestine back and forth helping Laertia, and training
Starlin Rand
to go and find some peace and quiet to prepare for what her visions showed was a coming invasion on Ossus ,
Maple Harte
,
Moya Virtu
,
Darth Themis
, and
Arianna Belasko
were very much present however.All of them stared at the long range feed captured, of the Amalgam's body getting destroyed by overwhelming force. She had been reduced to a meaty skeleton flinging lightning like it was candy before being smashed to pieces by some sort of damaged HRD that could teleport.
"Guess they got sick of having their soldiers butchered." Maple remarked.
"They've crossed a line..." Laertia snapped. "This threat to our operations will 'not' be tolerated."
"Have you considered the idea that 'you' crossed the line first?" Moya asked pointedly, clad in her long black dress. "You hunted them, you hounded them to the point of desperation and in their desperation they've started turning loose experimental technologies, the consequences of unleashing which they don't fully understand." (Everything Burns: 90 XP)
"I will not allow this operation to be stymied by this battlefield nuisance."
"This Droid managed to kill The Amalgam." Moya pointed out to her daughter, again pointedly.
"The Amalgam got cocky and got sloppy. They obviously upped the intelligence programming."
"I'm packing one of those Bothan Droid Disruptors from now on..." Maple muttered.
"Look, its a Droid..." The Blond Witch Arianna scoffed hatefully in her long white gown. "We all know what kills Droids: Electricity, Ion, and Lightsabers. They've thought outside the box a bit, making a teleporting HRD. But they didn't think THAT out of the Box..."
"Laertia, those Droids were almost certainly built in Anticipation of fighting you..." Themis admonished, troubled by how myopic Laertia was acting.
"It means what I am doing to them is working. If they are so determined to get me off the chess board, this is the time to press our attack. We need to send a message to the NIO that we have our terrible weapons too, and that our weapons are light years ahead of some mere Tin Can with Skin and a Vanishing Act. We will do it right in the heart of their territory...and in the meantime, Grandmother, I want you to use your visions to track down the Engineers who designed it. I want them assassinated." Laertia requested.
"Those are Non-Combatants..." Maple protested.
"No they aren't. They stopped being Non-Combatants when they started making stuff to kill us specifically." Laertia argued. "At the very least we can make their engineers think twice about volunteering for similar projects. Make it messy enough and it will really put the screws to them, force them to keep them in hiding and protection constantly, which in of itself will wear them down mentally."
"Just like us, in other words..." Moya said in a glum manner.
Laertia sat up.
"This stubbornness on their part must be punished..." Laertia said.
"Your Attrition strategy has only made them dig in their heels. They are not responding to absolute violence with anything except absolute violence. They will not give up this war, Laertia..." Maple said. "I think its time to refocus our own efforts on the Bryn'adul..."
"We cannot defeat The Bryn'adul on our own...You need every Soldier and Force Adept that can fight turning all their attention to them. Even if we do succeed in a rearguard action and evacuations, we can only slow them down. Not stop them. The more they fight each other, the stronger the deadlier enemy becomes."
"But Laertia, they simply refuse to engage The Bryn'adul until the Sith are taken care of. The leaders have made up their minds--" Maple began to protest.
"THEN THE LEADERS ARE WRONG!!!" Laertia bellowed at Maple in a clear rage. The whole room shook from Laertia's unconscious use of telekinesis.
Everyone slowly, unconsciously scooted away. They knew how deadly Laertia was. They knew how strong in the Force she was too. Her Force Strength far exceeded theirs. Maple had never seen Laertia so infuriated.
"Laertia..." Moya said in a very terse manner. "You and me outside. Now."
Laertia silently followed the Force Using Android out of the conference room. Only then did Maple take her hand off the Sonic Blaster she had up her Kimono sleeve.
"Oooo, She's saucy today..." Arianna joked.
Themis AND Maple flipped Arianna off.
Meanwhile, Moya began venting.
"What the hell is wrong with you, yelling at us like that?! We're trying to help you!" Moya demanded angrily, black dress swaying as she got far enough away from the conference room."
"I yelled at Maple..." Laertia responded quietly.
"No! No! You yelled at us. All of us!" Moya snapped at her, visible disappointment on her face, which hurt Laertia more than if Moya had slapped her.
"The GA and The NIO are letting the Galaxy die at the Bryn'adul's hands. Each battle they have fought against the Sith kills others who desperately needed them to save them. If they win, that is 'it' for The Galaxy. The ones running those governments know that, but they hate the Sith so much they don't care! How am I not supposed to be enraged at the idea we should just give up and let them kill each other?!" Laertia seethed.
"She's scared. We all are." Moya hissed angrily. "Your actions have brought two governments on our heads, your actions got them developing technologies to specifically try and kill someone like you, like us?! Maybe I was too hasty to support what you're doing."
Laertia developed a look of hurt to her expression.
"What am I supposed to do? Just sit back and take the Barash Vow like some coward while they weaken their militaries?" Laertia asked.
"Maybe that would have been the better choice! Humiliating, yes, but it wouldn't have you in the state you're in now. Laertia...Julia...you're not well." Moya said pleadingly, bronze hand reaching out and stroking the cheek of a nearly snow pale face.
"Can't you see what's happening? This war is Destroying you. From the inside out." Moya asserted, trying to recognize the woman she had cared for for years, and having trouble. "You need to really think about what you're going to do next. Because you cannot wage war and defeat whole armies by yourself. If you keep helping the Sith as fanatically as you have, eventually they're gonna be your only true allies whether you want them to be or not. Because you will have pushed literally everyone else away. Is that what you want?"
"No, but--"
"But, what?! Have you heard anything I've said?!" Moya demanded to know. "They will not budge, Laertia. None of them will. Not the Jedi Order, not its leadership, and certainly not the NIO's leadership. They're gonna just let the Galaxy burn until they settle their feud, and that's just gonna be how it is, and we're just gonna have to adapt to that. You meant well, you wanted to Unite them, but it is over, Laertia. Do you hear me, it is over. You need to call it off. You need to turn yourself into the SJC and give a full confession and maybe they won't put you or the rest of us in front of a firing squad. Maybe they'll simply exile you. But you can't fight this war anymore. You can't justify killing every Jedi on the Battlefield because they don't want to fight the enemy you think should be fought. And that's their primary complaint against you: You're trying to Force them. THEM! An Organization that historically has proven it cannot simply be bullied into submission." Moya snapped. "They don't believe they should have to compromise who they are to achieve what they want, and if they have to compromise, they'll deny themselves the opportunity because to them, its fruit from the poison tree. And maybe you were too dismissive of that sentiment. And maybe 'I' was too dismissive of it. What has fighting them gotten you except turn you into a War Criminal?! You weren't supposed to be this, Laertia. You weren't supposed to be this angry, sullen wreck you've become these last few months..." Moya trailed, taking her hand away. "Killing so many Jedi has completely tarnished your reputation. You're dragging your own lover down with you, and you could destroy the reputation of that boy Starlin in the process. He had a bright future, Julia! He was a sweet, innocent young man before Dantooine. And now he has to live with the memory of killing a fellow Padawan for the rest of his life! Because YOU convinced his Master to follow you! He trusted her, and now he's got a fething prosthetic hand for his trouble!"
Laertia glowered.
"I have no more respect for the Jedi Order. If they would let all those societies die just to stop their old rival--"
"--Then its not your place to stop them. All you've done is make martyrs!" Moya interrupted again in an even more angry manner. "All you've done is make yourself an example of why you 'shouldn't' be listened to! Because they can point at all your crimes now, and hang those over you for the rest of your days even if they DO spare you! They'll never take you seriously again on anything! They'll never listen to you again! And even if you 'do' succeed, then what?! They'd hate and resent you forever. Because you stopped them from saving the Galaxy from the Sith. They'll hate you. They'll hate you!!! They'll blame you for preserving the tyranny of the Dark Side because 'you're' the one who didn't want to show patience. You view what the Jedi are doing as cruel and selfish, but maybe that's just the clarity of knowing what they face. They're letting the Force guide them. Maybe you should start letting it guide you, again, even if it leads to you being punished by them.
"The Force's Will completely ruined my life..." Laertia said bitterly, clenching her fists. "It took away my birth parents, and subjected them to a perverse and humiliating demise at the hands of the Sith, gave me a humiliating and embarrassing Speech Impediment that followed me from child to adulthood, placed me in the tutelage of a Monster I nearly killed myself trying to earn the Love of a Mother from, letting me spend years fighting the enemies of the Jedi, and getting absolutely no acknowledgement for it, only to be branded a traitor and criminal when I refuse to stand aside and let them weaken themselves and the Whole Galaxy..." Laertia hissed in a broken voice, tears falling down her face. "I spend all these years, throwing the best of my youth away...for what? The Sith are still here, same as they were, three fething decades ago! And you know what? They weren't all bloodthirsty monsters like The Amalgam! And finally, when I meet, at long last, the one enemy who truly embodies the total misery and destruction the Jedi say the Sith must pay for, the one enemy whose pure devotion to strength and the eradication of all that is weak should make them a priority target, what does the Order do? It spits on all the soldiers who gave their lives in vain to save Nar Kreeta so they can fight the Sith to their hearts content..." Laertia answered. "And you want me to go back to trusting its will? No. I refuse. I've been burned by its will one time too many...this time it is The Order who must burn according to its will. Until they Unite, I will not cease a thing."
Moya looked at her sadly.
"You're going down a path I can no longer follow."
Laertia raised an eyebrow. "What're you saying?"
"I'm saying I was wrong. I fethed up, and I should have made you stop after Dantooine. But you've gone too far. You know what I'm starting to believe? I'm starting to believe this has nothing to do with the Bryn'adul. You've said it yourself, and openly: You don't care about this war with the Dark Side. You don't care about the ideals of the Order, which are dedicated to preserving justice and peace from Tyranny. You just want to win. Against anybody. At any cost."
"The Bryn'adul are trying to wipe out everyone! You, me, everyone!" Laertia snapped. "You really think that by the time they get done with their war the Bryn'adul 'won't' be stronger than they are now? The Jedi Order is no longer worthy of respect for allowing what they have allowed!"
"How does killing them on the battlefield solve that problem?! The Bryn'adul are an excuse to you. You have never properly dealt with everything you learned about yourself. The Bryn'adul are guilt free killing to you as a form of therapy! And then, when the Order got in the way of your guilt free murdering you completely lost it and started slaughtering them as some sort of misguided payback!"
"You disappoint me, Moya. Of all the people I thought were wise enough not to buy into the Order's moralistic handwringing, I thought you would be one of them." Laertia said quietly.
"Either refocus all your efforts on helping the people most directly in the Path of the Bryn'adul instead of trying to Force the Jedi into doing what you want...or this is where I get off..." Moya trailed.
Mother and Daughter stared at each other.
Laertia, after a moment, turned and walked away, breaking Moya's heart as her protocol to help and aid Laertia disabled itself. Moya wept openly, walking in the other direction. She had to get her things. She was leaving the ship. She wasn't coming back.
She felt so horrible, like her heart had been ripped out. No more bunnies. No more of Laertia's head on her shoulder as she slept...
No more of that quiet, happy life Laertia claimed to want...
...now...now they were both alone...
"Where's Moya?" Maple asked as Laertia walked back into the console room with a grimace.
"Moya has left...she won't be back..." Laertia said, having wiped the tears from her eyes.
Themis rubbed the bridge of her nose. Laertia had, against all odds, activated the failsafe Themis had put in as Moya.
It was a failsafe in Moya's programming, and one that Themis regretted installing now.
It stipulated that should the Android perceive Laertia going down a self destructive path that put too many others who were potentially innocent in danger, then the Biot was to cease providing aid.
Themis felt a deep sense of failure in that moment at Laertia's intense emotional pain.
Arianna however, seemed only ready to leap in.
"What's the next step, my Dear?" The False Sith asked, relishing the prospect of Bloodshed on the enemy...
"We hit the NIO in their own territory..." Laertia said. "I want one of their generals...We'll send one of the Nuetralizers. An advanced model...in the meantime, Arianna, I want you AND Maple to get to work finding the people who manufactured the HRD. I want at least 'a few' of them dead, in the next few weeks...
"Laertia...Moya just left you..." Maple reminded her, worried.
"It was her choice, and I won't compel any of you to remain at my side more than you wish..." Laertia answered back quietly...
Themis sighed...one more step on the Path to Darth Xiphos...
Three weeks later...
An encrypted transmission was sent to
DT-0800
wirelessly from NIO military command. It read as follows.BE ADVISED.
IN THE PAST FEW WEEKS SINCE THE ZIOST CAMPAIGN, A NUMBER OF ENGINEERS ASSOCIATED WITH THE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM OF THE PALADIN BATTLE DROID HAVE BEEN TARGETED FOR ASSASSINATION. ONE OF THE SENIOR LEADS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TELEPORT MODULE YOU CARRY INSIDE YOU WAS POISONED. DESPITE COUNTERMEASURES TO PROTECT PROJECT STAFF, THE ENEMY HAS CONTINUED TO SUCCEED IN THEIR EFFORTS TO ELIMINATE KEY PERSONNEL.
WE BELIEVE AN EXTREMELY ADVANCED MODEL OF ASSASSIN DROID HAS TARGETED GENERAL DAMIEN THORNSWIPE, HEAD OF NIO SPECIAL DROID PROJECTS AND ONE OF THE LEAD DEVELOPERS IN YOUR OWN COGNITIVE PROGRAMMING. WE BELIEVE SUBJECT IS IN IMMENSE DANGER.
YOUR MISSION DIRECTIVES ARE AS FOLLOWS:
PROCEED TO THORNSWIPE ESTATES ON ARCHAIS, AND PROTECT THE GENERAL BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.
ALL OTHER PRIORITIES ARE RESCINDED.
THE ESTATE IS REMOTE, AND ISOLATED BUT A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF FRIENDLY NIO SOLDIERS ARE ALSO THERE TO ASSIST YOU. BE ADVISED AS THEY ARE IN EXTREME DANGER AS YOU WILL BE. WE DO NOT KNOW THE FULL CAPABILITIES OF WHAT THE ENEMY HAS DEPLOYED, BUT THERE ARE SCATTERED REPORTS OF IT GETTING ABOARD THE JEDI STARSHIP PROSPERITY AND KILLING A NUMBER OF PERSONNEL AND SABOTAGING EQUIPMENT BEFORE ESCAPING.
TRANSMISSION ENDS.
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