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Harrin, Red Birth

Sephis sighed inaudibly in relief. Good... Now he could communicate with his rescuer unencumbered, although Sephis was thinking about passing out, soon...

Sephis explained, his breathing starting to steady out, as his mind fast-approached the idea of sleep.

Sephis dozed off to sleep for a couple of minutes. It was one of those fast, deep sleeps, where you wake up feeling alert after only 20 minutes, or so. During the two minutes that Sephis had fallen asleep, Sephis had a dream... Or was it a memory? It was of Zach, his best friend and XO of the Corruo, and Tiffany, his girlfriend and small arms specialist. They were searching for him, trying to bring Sephis with them someplace. The place felt warm, soothing and refreshing, someplace Sephis wished he'd found sooner. Finally, he could just rest with his friends together, eternally.

Then Sephis was dragged away from them, back down into the cold painful reality of his wounds, while he lay on his back, on top of a freezing, stiff cot inside of a small and chilly ship. Sephis moaned in anguish, and still stumbling in the stupor of his memories, cried out telepathically:

Tython/ Jedi Temple - Training Room

Watching Sam turn and walk off with a chilling stare had Ronyo actually a bit nervous. He had a feeling she was likely upset with him and would take some time before he could make it up to her, but then again if all went like he hoped she would come out the better in the end. It was true she was in no condition to be teaching anyone the ways of the force and likely she wouldn't be until she was ready, but being a Jedi was more than learning how to move a rock or see the future. Sam had more than the personal and internal qualifications to begin on a basic level. As much as she wanted time to rest and recuperate at an easy pace Ronyo knew that the likelihood of her doing so was less than slim to none. Without conflict there can be no growth.

Watching his new Padawan run off with so much excitement had him smiling at one person who was thankful for his words that day. Sam might be too with enough time, or she would just make sure to give Ronyo a good thrashing when they did have that duel. Either way it would be a good progression with her healing and likely preparation for whatever came at them in the future.

So now Ronyo had a Padawan of his own to train and help nurture into a Jedi. In truth this would be his first Padawan ever. His times as Grand Master had been busy and not allowing for enough time to train anyone while he made plans, tactics, and checked on the Sith prisoner. Now he had time to devote to helping in a more personal way and it would be a good lesson for him as well.

He had told her to wait for him in meditation at the speeder platform, which was not really that far away from the main entrance of the temple. With her over eagerness it was likely she was already there waiting on him, and hopefully meditating. Ronyo did need to see the council though and go over all the information regarding Sam, the communication from Cole, and the Sith he allowed to escape on purpose. He was likely going to get a strong lecture in safety of the planet, the students, and something involving the safeguarding of the free galaxy. It was odd that in all his years Ronyo was getting the sternest treatment as the Grand Master then he ever did as a soldier or a Padawan. Ronyo just chuckled slightly and made his way slowly to the council chamber.

Point Nadir - Zietta's palace

She carefully peered around the corner, watching the last two guards she had to pass unseen in order to successfully infiltrate the palace. So far, with the aid of the Force, she had managed to sneak and trick her way passed security and patrols without tripping any alarms or raising suspicions. It seemed Kal had trained her stronger than she had believed herself to be, at least when she pushed herself in using the force. She guessed Kal would be proud at least, seeing her make more use of her abilities in this manner. She usually tried not to rely on it at all.

Now, however, she found herself to be at an impasse, as far as getting inside undetected was considered at least. The two guards were close to the entrance, back to the wall, with no cover to hide behind in order to approach them quietly. Then the door itself seemed to work on a passkey system, likely carried by one of them. The distance was too far her to properly focus her power to snatch the key away, let alone to effect their mind for a distraction. She pressed her hand on the lightsaber hilt that was attached to her belt, knowing in the back of her mind that she had less than three minutes to figure this out before another patrol would pass by where she was standing.

Normally, she retreat, perhaps find another approach. Any decision that would most likely not endanger her life unnecessary, but she could feel something was amiss. Something felt off within there, though the palace had far too much activity for her to pinpoint the source of this disturbance. She would bet all her earnings though that it something to do with Kal. This feeling was just too similar with his usual luck. Time was not to waste at the moment.

"Luck, don't fail me now."

As quick as her feet could take her, slightly aided by the force, she darted out from cover, straight towards the guards. Of course she got nowhere close to them yet by the time they saw her, but with a quick flick of the wrist she managed to take down the first one by deflecting a laserbolt as she ignited her lightsaber.

It's blue light cleaved through the second guard, too late with drawing his vibrosword after alerting security over his com-system. She didn't bother with the door, already hearing the footsteps of running patrols coming to check out the disturbance of blaster fire. Protecting herself in a blanket of the force, she launched herself through the window, rolling once over the floor in the momentum before rising to her feet, lightsaber ignited and ready to strike.

The only thing present was a startled droid, she ignored it, sensing an activity of, what she presumed to be the palace's security forces, heading her way. She ran off, opposite direction of the larger crowds she could sense, blaster fire trailing behind her from outside the broken window.
She had to find Kal and fast.

Missing Score, In Orbit Around Coruscant

Cole smacked his fist down on the arm of his command chair. He was glad to have the Jedi off of his station. He'd be letting Storm know, the next time they exchanged thoughts together, that the Jedi's relationship with the Republic military was over. From now on, they did not get a cozy treatment while they were under Cole's watchful eye. The next time the Republic and Jedi bumped heads in the field, he'd put all involved Jedi parties under arrest. Or at least, he'd try to.

Technically, Cole had no decision-making power on how to treat Jedi dignitaries, diplomats and visitors. He had control over the field, but he couldn't just force every ship dock with his station until he had all Jedi behind bars. And it was only two Jedi that he'd had enough of. Jedi Knight Armina Rahl's actions were appalling and deplorable. She was the worst diplomat Cole had ever had the displeasure to interact with. She had zero understanding of security procedures and sovereign territory.

And her counterpart, Aedos, was nearly as bad as she was. He could sense the tension increasing between him and the falleen since the he'd come aboard the station, and he clearly had no objections to just manipulating Cole into securing Rahl's release. Jedi were supposed to be the model of peace, justice and order in the galaxy, not the model smugglers.

Cole needed to shelve his anger for now, though. There were more immediate and pressing matters to deal with, like illicit military operations in the Mid Rim, and these supposed Sith that Knight Rahl suggested were lurking on Coruscant. A bunch of smoke and mirrors, that last one, Cole thought with bitterness. He couldn't just dismiss the possibility, though. Intel on a Sith presence coming from a Jedi, however unbecoming of a Jedi that Jedi may appear to be, was not something to be treated lightly.

The question regarding Sith on Coruscant was not, Are there any?, but rather, Why are they hiding? There were a million good answers to that question, and many of them were likely simultaneously true. What was the Sith's angle right now, though? Where were they striking from? Their opening move clearly was militarily-based. If it had been, Cole would be thinking about defense lines right at this moment.

That left political exploitations, popular uprisings and a persistent, militant insurgency. Insurgencies weren't the Sith's style, though. Cole rescinded that thought. He didn't know the Sith that well, and had hardly studied any of their history. He did know the Empire that well, though. Cole was sure the Grand Admiral would rather be caught out of uniform than wasting resources on a well-thought out insurgency. It just wasn't in the faction's CV.

Popular uprising was the next thing that Cole decided to throw away as an option. The Republic was still on the rise. It had just rebuilt its fleet, was beginning to prosper again and was steadfast enough to withstand just about any Imperial military action. Only poor decision-making could lead either the Empress or the Grand Admiral to try to rally the people against the senate and the Supreme Chancellor.

That left political exploitations wide open to Cole, and seemed the most logical route for the Sith to take. With their ability to use the Force, it was incredibly easy to see why that might be an amazing first tact to use. How was Cole supposed to identify the Senate's weak point, though? How did Cole know the weak point was in the Senate? What if it was the Supreme Chancellor?

Cole shook his head, sending that thought away. The Supreme Chancellor was vetted, double-vetted and triple-vetted by far more individuals, committees and oversight groups than Cole could count on his own. Supposing the Supreme Chancellor was somehow aligned with the Sith was close to treason, and it was a dangerous supposition when one meant to keep his job. Cole couldn't help but recall a lingering memory, however, of when the entire Republic had been transformed into an Empire by one Sith, and one Sith only.

Yeah, that'd be the day, Cole thought sneeringly, cupping his chin in his hand. I'd be the first Commander to open fire on the Chancellor's office if that were to happen.

Cole shook his head again, trying to relieve himself of such dangerous thoughts. If Cole couldn't catch the kitonak eating chooba, then he'd just have to wait until it'd had its first meal and strike while its belly was full.

Cole shifted his attention to the intelligence reports his communications officer had fed him when arrived back in the CIC. These were the unconfirmed reports-- and by "unconfirmed," Cole meant "kept from the public eye"-- that Republic soldiers had attacked two civilians on Ord Mantell in the Bright Jewel Sector, in the Mid Rim. Now, why would the Republic be on Ord Mantell without his say-so?

It was possible the intelligence wasn't quite credible. It may not have been "Republic soldiers," per se. The source of information was internal, but anonymous. That meant someone could have been informing Cole of a misuse of resources through the Republic military, without wanting to give his/her position away, or that the soldiers in question weren't from the military.

The armed people could have been from the Coruscant Security Force's Anti-Terrorism Unit, a special branch of the CSF to combat terrorist tactics on Coruscant and perform counter-intelligence work. Or it could have been a team from the New Republic Intelligence Special Threats Division, a part of the Republic's greater, overall intelligence network that Cole had no oversight over, exercising its authority to deal with an "unusual threat."

Cole wished he had more details on the attack. He'd requested it from the officer he'd received notice from in the first place, but she'd insisted that this was all she could find. The victims of the attack were, apparently, very quick to leave the scene and difficult to track down or get a hold of. Whatever forces had been sent to Ord Mantell most likely hadn't gotten the job done. Cole couldn't rule out that the soldiers weren't under his supervision, however, and he couldn't prove that they were, either. Once again, he had too little information to act on. Cole didn't like being left in the dark. It made him nervous.

"Sir, you need to hear this..."

Cole was snapped out of mind like a rubber band. He'd been so enveloped into trying to get a step ahead of everything, he'd registered his communications officer speaking, but he hadn't actually understood a lick of what he said.

"" Cole commanded, trying his best not to look startled. <"You're in charge of communications. You can't speak softly.>"

Lieutenant Liono cleared his throat.

"Excuse me, sir," the lieutenant announced loudly. "There's a broadcast that you need to hear and see."

""

"...Yet to hear a statement from the Gran ambassador, but this shocking development on Kinyen has been condemned by..."

Cole's jaws slowly yawned open as Cole looked at the screen in awe. There was a broadcast, displaying live footage of the surface of a planet somewhere. The news anchor was saying that it was Kinyen, but it couldn't be. Another reporter, on the surface itself-- it seemed as though he were walking on water, but that couldn't be. Water wasn't hard. This humanoid reporter could not possibly be doing such a thing. And then he stamped his foot down onto the water-like surface. The "water" cracked.

Cole's antennae shot up. He suddenly realized what he was looking at. The news reporter had just stamped his foot down onto vitrified soil. He'd broken the glass that was the land on Kinyen. The entire planet had suffered an orbital bombardment, and broadcasting the post-carnage for all the galaxy to see.

Cole had been wrong. Maybe not completely. There could be Sith elements already on Coruscant, but the Empire's first big opening move had been of a military nature. They'd wiped out Kinyen, a long-time member world of the Republic. Billions were dead.

Cole did quick, simple math. Kinyen was on the Corellian Trade Spine, and the Corellian Trade Spine ran all the way up to Coruscant, in the Core Worlds. This was the opening act of war. Thrown out the window now, that cold war the Empire, Jedi and Republic seemed to have settled themselves in. This was the first shot. Never mind some Jedi dignitaries' poor decisions whilst in Republic space. Cole was in need of all of the Jedi, now.

"" Cole ordered as calmly as possible. He could feel the blood rushing in his veins. His antenna were pricked up, on high alert and keen for any stimuli. "

"

Everyone rushed to their duties. Safety locks would be taken off of the stations firing mechanisms. The fleet would be moving into a stack of defense lines around the planet in a grid-pattern formation within 60 seconds. The Chancellor would be online in...

"Commander Barracks, I trust this is about Kinyen and the Gran," the Chancellor said, his voice booming throughout the bridge even before his visage appeared.

Cole stood up, snapped to attention and saluted.

"Sir!"

"At ease, Commander..."

"" Cole replied, quickly dropping his hand. <"But we'll need to act quickly.>"

"Please, do tell," the Supreme Chancellor said teasingly. "I'm already on my way to address the Senate, so I don't have all day here."

""

The Supreme Chancellor said nothing for a moment. It didn't look good for the first thing out of your fleet commander's mouth to be 'I need help,' but the Cole knew the Combined Defense Forces of the Republic didn't have all the necessary equipment he had for the best plan that he could think of. All he could do was stand in place and wait for the Supreme Chancellor to either grant or deny his request.

"Commander, you are aware that the Jedi have a feeble military, aren't you?" the Supreme Chancellor asked, seeming to be distracted by something Cole couldn't view.

"" Cole answered astutely. ""

Without hesitation this time, the Supreme Chancellor responded.

"You may do as you see fit, Commander," the Supreme Chancellor said. "By the spirit of the Republic, you may formally request the Jedi's aid. Keep me apprised of the situation as needed and good luck."

The screen went black as the Supreme Chancellor disconnected.

Anya had her back to him when he entered the platform and chastised her. She scoffed and turned to face her new master, but when she saw him smiling the look faded. "Not too long," she lied, trying hard to closely guard the fact. "I just got impatient. I want to get started," she said bluntly, pushing a lock of her blond hair back behind her ear. Her mind wandered to what she'd be learning, then bounced between that thought and when they'd be getting started and when she'd get to build her own lightsaber. She seemed really intent on getting to build her own weapon.

Anya listened to her new Jedi Master as he spoke about how meditation was key to a Jedi's trains, however her mind wandered elsewhere. She never found meditation useful and instead as a waste of time where she could be training. Her mind wandered back to building a lightsaber and what color her blade would be. Her attention snapped back the minute he stopped talking about meditation and began talking about his teaching methods. She nodded idly. Then he started walking off into the forest. "Where... where are we going, Master?" she asked and watched him continue to walk. Then she hurriedly followed him as he walked into the forest.

Anya listened to him speak as they walk and furrowed her brow when he mentioned Jedi without lightsabers. I hope he doesn't think I shouldn't make a lightsaber, she thought to herself. She really liked lightsabers and often fantasied about what hers would look like. In her mind, the lightsaber wasn't even a tool for defense; it was a tool to remove dangers to the galaxy. She was eager for battle, a chance to destroy enemies of peace and justice. She sighed lightly when he mentioned meditation again. "I guess I've just never had a penchant for meditation. I've always preferred the direct action method."

Coruscant

"That's quite alright, I understand."

Illyria glanced outside the window as a taxi speeder passed by the walkway on the opposite side of the window. She was walking with a woman older than herself, but dressed as equally fancy, in robes as white as snow. Illyria held out a datapad for the other woman to take and smiled.
"If you would be so kind as to give these reports to the Supreme Chancellor, then I'm sure it's fine as well."

The aide took the datapad from her hands and nodded before replying. "I'll be sure to hand them over first thing I do, when I can." She assured the undercover Sith. "Once more my sincerest apologies the Chancellor had to cancel your appointment." She added quickly, storing the datapad in a small pouch on her belt. "We really do appreciate the effort and funding you and your organization haven given for the restoration of the Brood invaded worlds. I hope you won't feel like you made the trip for nothing."

Illyria shook her head, waving her hand in gesture for the aide to dismiss such thoughts.
"Not at all." She replied. "I have never been on Coruscant before, to be honest, and am curious about what kind of sights and points of interest it has to offer. I had already planned to stay for a couple of days." She said, speaking of an interest in the Republic's capital as she remained perfectly in her role of representative. "However, might I inquire as to what matter of urgency came to occupy the Chancellor's time?"

"Certainly, you would pick up on it on the news channel now soon anyway." She answered, her voice and demeanor turning from confidence to gloom. "It seems that the Republic world of Kinyen has suffered an orbital bombardment. Not a city was spared." She told the Nagai. "Speculation is, that it might be connected to the Empire. Th-"

"What!?"
Illyria stopped dead in her tracks, causing the other woman to turn around as she noticed she was no longer be followed.
"I know, it is truly horrifying. That anyone could order the death of so many innocent lives." She spoke, mistaken the Nagai's look of disbelieve as a reaction of shock to the event. For a short moment, Illyria was Ensis once more, the Sith Empress who just heard news that her army might be responsible for something she knew nothing about. Her first suspect was Sephis. Could he perhaps be plotting to take over her throne this early in his training already. She couldn't imagine him to be such a fool, but why else had he so suddenly gone missing for?

"It's hard to believe, isn't it?"

Illyria looked back at the woman, contemplating the last of her thoughts for a few more seconds before answering with a soft 'Yes'.

"Well then, thank you for receiving me. It seems there are some new... developments then, I will have to discuss with the office." The Nagai stated, excusing herself. "It has been a pleasure, despite this catastrophic news, I wish the best to you."

Illyria didn't listen to the woman's reply as she turned on her heel, heading back towards the exit of the Senate building in a swift stride. She had to learn the details about this 'incident'.