Chapter 23 - Dark Times

24 BBY

Over the last year, the Naboo Fleets had managed to expand their borders, They had secured all the systems to the Galactic south of Eriadu along the Rimma trade route.

They had avoided spreading farther west from Naboo to avoid coming too close to Hutt territory. Instead, they had expanded farther south and had captured all systems between Naboo (in the Mid Rim) and Karazak ( in the Outer Rim). As well as all the systems leading to Cotellier and Kal'Shebbol had also been conquered.

Their forces had managed to conquer these territories and had faced very little resistance from the local rulers and governing bodies.

Most of the conquered planets were almost in ruins! many worlds had a lot of infrastructure in desperate need of repairs, and the local industries were bȧrėly holding on.

Most of the planets were not producing enough food and had been steadily robbed of any local resources, leaving them with very little to barter with, making it difficult for these worlds to trade for other goods like food and medical supplies.

Seeing the state of these worlds they were forced to halt their expansion farther west of the Rimma trade route. In order to stabilize these planets to were forced to spend large amounts of money on importing food and supplies from the Inner Rim, usually at unfair prices.

Many planets couldn't employ all their citizens, resulting in most of the planet's population becoming unemployed. Unable to support themselves many were forced to commit crimes and other shady activities just to earn a living. Crime rates were climbing fast and hospitals were constantly overcapacity if there even was a hospital. Many couldn't get enough supplies or pay their employees, the few still running was only thanks to the volunteers who chose to remain.

Due to a lack of food, they had to greatly and swiftly expand the number of farms on these worlds, repair transportation routes so that goods and people could travel more easily, hospitals needed to built and schools as well.

The one good thing was that the worlds in the Outer Rim were the hidden resources hidden within the planets. They hadn't had all their resources mined out in the last thousands of years like the worlds located closer to the colonies and Core.

At the moment they lacked the facilities or the equipment in place to mine properly, but they could convert some of their factories to produce the required equipment that they need, if they trained and hired workers they would soon have brand new mines up and running.

Darth Sidious (POV)

Sitting in his office he was currently attending a virtual meeting with other politicians from within his faction, they were discussing the various state of their planets and the systems located near the Galactic Core.

Their faction now controlled all the planets located in the deep core and the colonies, they had access to some sections of all the major trade routes now and would be able to quickly shift around their fleets if needed. They could tax any trade that ran through their territory.

He had built a few dark side temples to train the various force-sensitive individual from across the galaxy, in the future he would use them as attack dogs to sniff out any Jedi survivors.

Due to the Rule of Two! there could never be more than two Sith at any given time. At the moment there was only him and Dooku, but soon the young Skywalker would be ready to take Dooku's place and join him as his new apprentice.

The boy had so much potential! that one day his abilities in the Force would surpass his own! the thought of how far his future apprentice could grow in the dark side of the force! left eager to witness the times to come.

It was in this moment, with him thinking about the future, that he felt the Force tug at the corners of his mind, his vision became blurred and the room slowly became pitch black.

Suddenly! there was light! slowly approaching him from the darkness, it was a robed man, holding a light in his hands. Sidious watched as the robed man walked through what looked like a cave, he was steadily approaching him, The Force was warning Sidious! the young man in front of him was a threat! if only he could see the face hidden beneath the robe he thought.

Gathering the Force to himself he sent it out towards the young man! it felt like it took forever for it to reach the Robed figure, it felt like the force had struggled to travel a very far distance.

Sadly, by the time he managed to reach the robed man, his attack only had enough power behind it to send the hooded man a couple of steps back! luckily his attack had managed to knock the hood off the robed man.

He was stunned by who he saw! he recognized the face of the individual. Angered by what he saw! he decided he would test this young man! he would find out how dangerous this individual really was to him! and he knew right where to find him!

* A Few Weeks later*

Palpatine ever being a man of peace, would come to the aid of these worlds and liberate them.

The Republic fleet had just entered the Kira system and as soon as they arrived one of their starships exploded!

"Cowards! how dare they fire on us!", shouted a high-ranking officer.

For a moment the Republic fleet was in a state of chaos! one of their ships had just been destroyed and they couldn't figure out where the enemy fleet was!

"Sir! I am picking up a large Fleet!", said one of the bridge crew.

"Fleet! Prepare for Combat!", ordered the high-ranking officer.

His order was soon carried to the rest of the fleet, shortly after the Republic fleet started to advance.

No one noticed that the enemy fleet was too far away to have launched an attack on them. They were too angered to notice. In their eyes, the enemy fleet had attacked them without even attempting to establish a dialogue with them.

Sidious (POV)

He knew that the attack was not carried out by the Naboo, but was in fact caused by him. The rest of the Galaxy would never learn of this, of course. No, they would only know that the Naboo fleet had ambushed them here.

The people of the Galaxy would only be allowed to see that Naboo had conquered many star systems and worlds! ambushed a republic fleet! without even trying to negotiate. They would be led to believe that Naboo had murdered Republic citizens during their conquest and slain military personal. The once peaceful Naboo would be seen as warmongers to the rest of the Galaxy.

From now on, the Republic citizens would hold a grudge against Naboo! Sidious doubted that the worlds and systems that the Naboo forces would try to expand to after this would allow themselves to be conquered soo easily from now on.

As he thought about these things he suddenly felt a fluctuation in the Force, then he noticed that the battle happening outside had started to take a major turn!

The Republic despite being outnumbered had been fueled by their need for revenge and had managed to hold their own against a larger force! but now they were starting to lose. The Naboo forces had become more organized and the Republic forces had a sudden realization that they were going to lose this battle.

Sidious observed the battle happening around him.

"It seems that someone has been practicing their Battle Mediation", said Sidious.

Not bad he thought, they had potential but he could see that whoever was using this ability, still had a long way to go, before they mastered it.

Closing his eyes he reached out to the Force, he allowed it to spread out around him and soon it covered the entire battlefield, he could feel every living person on both sides of the battle.

The entire Republic fleet started acting as one unit! one entity! they were quickly covering for each other weaknesses and shifted their forces around the battlefield as needed.

"I want fighters to converge on this starship!", ordered Sidious.

His gunship, escorted by a large number of fighters soon made its way toward a particularly large starship.

It wasn't long before his ship was able to dock. Getting up, he slowly made his way outside alone.

Robert (POV)

He was currently kneeling on the ground, out of breath, his body covered with sweat. He had just used Battle Mediation to help his forces fight when he suddenly felt as if a huge force had started to push against him.

He had tried to resist it, but every time he managed to push it back even just a little, it would suddenly grow in strength and force him back even farther. His mind felt like it was close to breaking and he was forced to stop using Battle Meditation.

The rest of the bridge crew around him felt a sense of despair wash over them. It felt like a predator had locked its eyes on them.

"Sir! a small enemy gunship has landed onboard", reported one of his bridge crew.

He watched as the robed figure effortlessly fought its way through the ship, clearly heading in his direction.

As the robed figure made his way outside the command center, one of the bridge crew closed the blast doors, blocking the robed figure from entering. The crew member let out a sigh of relief and started to relax when they suddenly stiffened, slowly looking towards the blast doors they saw the impossible.

The blast doors were glowing red! after a short time they then started to shake! and then came crashing down! and in walked the robed figure!

Activating his lightsaber Robert prepared to fight this robed attacker! he was about to launch his first attack when the robed figure suddenly unleashed an unbearable scream! and flung itself towards him!

His mind upon hearing the scream had become cloudy, his body felt heavy and he could bȧrėly concentrate. He noticed that the robed figure was about to land a killing blow on him, in an act of desperation, he gathered the force to himself and flung himself backward!

The enemy lightsaber had harmlessly slashed too short of him, but before his body even had a chance to hit the ground, he felt himself come to a complete stop floating in the air!

The robed figure had grabbed him using the Force, locking him in place. Then, without being able to resist! his body was effortlessly flung into the ceiling! his body crashing hard into it! before he had a chance to recover, he was flung hard into the floor! next, his broken body was flung towards the door.

His body was badly broken, he knew that at least one of his arms was broken, his ribs were on fire, and his spine felt weird, he struggled to move as he attempted to rise up off the ground. He could only helplessly watch as the bridge crew tried to defend him, despite their best efforts they were all quickly cut down, the fight only lasting a moment.

Senesha (POV)

The trip was mostly uneventful until suddenly, she could feel through the force that there was a battle happening around her. A sudden feeling of dread washed over her. With her eyes closed she felt out to the Force around her, that was when she felt a dark mass of hate! and anger! slowly moving its way about the ship!

Opening her eyes! she quickly fled out of her room! fearing for the safety of her former padawan, she quickly made her way towards him.

Upon reaching the command bridge she found his body laying on the ground! with a robed figure slowly walking towards him!

Activating her lightsaber she flung herself towards the man! their first exchange had only lasted moments but she had almost lost her life several times! her opponent was strong! too strong!

"YOU NEED TO MOVE!!! GET OUT OF HERE NOW!!!", she commanded her padawan.

Her padawan knew that he was only in the way here and reluctantly fled.

The robed figure as if amused by all this, allowed him to leave.

They clashed against each other once again! She attempted to end the duel quickly while using Form Two Makashi, but quickly learned that it would be impossible!

Even with the resolve to die with her opponent! she was unable to kill him.

She had left herself open to his attacks and attempted to land a fatal blow on him in exchange for her own life! but her opponent it seems, wouldn't be that easy to beat.

Her opponent was too skilled, and soon she was struggling just to stay alive! completely on the defensive now she switched to Form Three Soresu.

The fight has only lasted a minute! but she was already out of breath, and covered in sweat!

With a sudden realization, she knew that her opponent was just playing with her, the robed figure was clearly amused with her desperate struggle to bide time for her padawan.

In their final clash! they locked lightsabers together! the glow from their weapons illuminating their faces.

Senesha was left completely stunned by who she saw! she just couldn't believe who he was, and for just a moment, she had lost her focus.

Sidious (POV)

Slightly amused with the little warmup he just had, he casually walked over the severed head of the female Jedi Master. A look of disbelief could still be seen on her face.

It seems that he was wrong about his ȧssessment, the young man was no threat to him, even his master had bȧrėly lasted a few moments against him. No, he would kill the young man and be done with all this.

Gathering the Force to himself, he suddenly launched down the corridor to catch up with the fleeing man.

Robert (POV)

His master was dead! he was almost to an escape pod when he suddenly couldn't feel her presence anymore! For a moment he was filled with grief, feeling a sudden burst of anger he almost turned his broken body around so that he could avenge her!

For a moment he was blinded by his rage! then he heard her voice urging him to flee! For a fleeting moment, he thought he saw her place her hands on his shoulder while smiling at him, he felt as if all the rage he had was suddenly gone.

As quickly as he could he made his way towards the escape pod, upon reaching it he noticed that the robed figure was hurling himself towards him! traveling at an inhuman speed! even for a Jedi, the speed was insane.

The robed figure was quickly approached him, flinging himself into the escape pod he quickly pressed the launch buŧŧon.

Under the sudden acceleration, his body was flung to the ground, after a short while his body adjusted to the speed and he was able to stand up.

Attempting to take control of the ship he noticed that the ship AI had already calculated the most likely place for the escape pod and its inhabitant to survive.

Its autopilot was already forcing the escape pot to enter the atmosphere of a nearby planet.

As the escape pod entered the planet's atmosphere it suddenly shook. Observing outside the window Robert could see enemy fighters pursuing him, their shots flying by his escape pod.

The escape pod, upon almost reaching the ground, had started to automatically slow down.. The fighters, not missing this opportunity landed several shots upon the escape pod, causing it to explode into a fiery explosion hurling towards the ground.