T-bone
12-29-2004, 05:12 PM
The Separatist leaders were now assembled in the darkened Mustafar conference room overlooking several massive red waterfalls pouring down into streams of molten currents. The general feeling in the air was that of nervousness and fear. Even Wat Tambor's perpetually expressionless face seemed to radiate anxiety. They didn’t like being there. They didn’t want to be there. But they liked being alive and unfortunately being alive meant being on Mustafar for the time being.
The eclectic group had already been relocated from system to system a number of times and the process was starting to grate heavily on them. The last world they fled to, Utapau, was the recipient of an unexpected Jedi visitor so they had to move yet again to a less popular place. There was not a more reclusive planet in the galaxy than this hellish conglomerate of molten rock and lava. Surely no one would think to look there for the fugitive leaders.
As soon as Lord Sidious contacted them to let them know it was safe to return to their home planets, they would have to remain in hiding. Many people wanted to ask them many questions about many things but it would soon be irrelevant. Lord Sidious would soon be in control of the galaxy, they’d have protection, and more importantly, more power and a stake in his new empire. A few more days on Mustafar would surely be worth the inconvenience.
The group sat at a long grey table looking either at each other or outside the large windows. The lava outside created a reddish tint in the room that seemed to move and radiate like phantoms circling in the dark. The tiny President of the Commerce Guild, Shu Mai, whose head just barely was visible over the table due to the large chairs, broke the silence.
“Have you had any further contact with…him?” she said, looking in the direction of Nute Gunray, who had now taken up the role as leader of the group in Count Dooku’s absence. They didn’t like to talk openly about Darth Sidious. They didn’t know much about him, but they knew that Count Dooku called him his Master and now he was dead. They also knew that at the moment Sidious controlled their fate so they had no choice but to trust him and Gunray.
“No! A thousand times no!” he snapped at her. “Stop asking! Don’t you think I’m as worried as you?” In truth, he was even more worried. He had been dealing with the Sith long before his peers in the room even knew they had awakened from their long hibernation. Never in their wildest dreams did they ever think they’d see the Sith of ancient legend return, nonetheless have private dealings with them. “How did it ever get this far?” Nute thought to himself.
Shu Mai stared sternly at Gunray, then looked to Rune Haako who sat next to him. Haako kept her gaze but she could see he too was afraid. She moved her gaze back out the window at the sea of red. “I don’t like this,” she thought to herself, “Not one bit.”
It was at that point that a red light appeared on the hologram detector sitting at the center of the table accompanied by a dull audio alert. Everyone in the room shot up in their seats and Poggle the Lesser fumbled his ornate cane to the burnished floor. Full attention was now focused on the center of the table as the Separatist Leaders saw bluish flickering lights begin to emanate from the holoprojector. A humanoid shape tried to form but there was some trouble with the reception. Wat Tambor reached out and turned a few dials trying to improve the transmission. In a few seconds, the Separatists found themselves looking at a clear holographic transmission of Sith Master, Darth Sidious.
For Nute Gunray, this was nothing new but for many of the others in the room it was a heart-stopping experience. They had all kinds of preconceptions of what an actual Sith Master would look like, and this was nothing like what they had imagined. Some had mentally pictured images of tall, powerful looking men in flamboyant attire. Others imagined that a Sith Lord would be muscular in shape and perhaps young in years. Darth Sidious wore a simple dark, hooded robe and appeared to be wrinkled and pasty in complexion. His appearance itself did not impress them. However, when he spoke, apprehension filled the room and even Rune Haako, who had seen Sidious before, had to look down at the floor after a few seconds.
“Greetings, faithful friends,” he began. “Your time and patience has served you all well and your period of waiting is almost at an end.” He was a man of few words, little time, and had no use for small talk. He quickly went straight to the crux of the matter and the answers to everyone’s questions.
“Everything that is occurring throughout the galaxy is proceeding as I have planned,” he continued. “The new government will soon be in place and you will all have a role to play as a reward for your contributions. Before long you will be returning home to your new positions which I shall assign you.”
The Separatists felt a bit more comfortable both with this Sith Lord and also with their current situation. Perhaps the Sith were not so bad after all. If Nute Gunray and that metallic Separatist General were to be believed, Darth Sidious would soon be in control of the entire galaxy, so it was in their best interests to ally themselves with him for better or for worse. It was an exceedingly astute political strategy. There was a slight pause and then Sidious continued.
“I am sending my apprentice, Darth Vader, to assure your safety as well as give you transit from Mustafar when I deem it safe,” Sidious proclaimed. The Separatists were previously instructed by Gunray not to ask direct questions and to only speak to the Sith Lord if and when he specifically indicated. They sat quiet and San Hill turned to Po Nudo who was sitting next to him and gave a comforting smile. Everyone in the room felt the same reassurance. Everything was going to be fine, and soon.
Nute looked a little closer at the Sith Lord. Something was different about him. He looked older somehow. His face seemed more wrinkled and his hands seemed worn. Perhaps it was just the transmission. Haako didn’t seem to notice anything different so Nute let it go. There was no need to add more anxiety to the already uneasy group.
Outside the conference room, a lone Neimoidian guard stood. He was clearly not expecting to meet anyone or anything on this desolate world and felt his presence was just a formality. Nute Gunray was a nervous being by nature and always liked to have guards stationed wherever he went. Gunray lost a little faith in Battle Droids after the battle of Naboo and the failed occupation of that planet long ago. The situation that erupted on Geonosis only widened his distrust. Having one of his own around made him feel more comfortable and the job paid well.
The guard took a look down the long, dark hallway and instead of the usual view he had seen many times, he thought he saw something move. It wasn’t anything he could immediately identify. It was more like a shadow. He squinted a bit and took another look but saw nothing moving so he paid it no mind, happy for the diversion from the monotony of standing outside the room for far longer than he would have liked.
He took yet another glance outside the large window closest to him to watch the hypnotic lava pour down. The moment he looked back to the hallway was the same moment he was knocked off his feet by a fast-moving blur of black, white and blue. The last things he remembered seeing were his own legs on the floor next to him. Then, after another flash of blue and white, everything went dark before he could make a sound.
“Lord Vader should be on the surface as we speak,” Darth Sidious continued. “I take it you will see to his needs. He is the only other you can trust, now. You will be safe under his protection.” With that, the hologram flickered out and almost immediately the table came to life in stark contrast to the atmosphere before the brief but encouraging communiqué.
Inside the conference room, everyone but Poggle the Lesser seemed to still be elated about the news from Darth Sidious. Poggle was always inquisitive by nature and he put his full trust in Dooku who was now dead. Who would this new apprentice be and what kind of relationship would they have? He had heard nothing of the super-weapon plans he gave to Count Dooku on Geonosis for safekeeping. He did not like not knowing the whereabouts of those plans. If they were to fall into the wrong hands, not only could that weapon be abused but also he would not be credited with creating it. The Geonosians had a certain amount of respect for weapons since it was their main industry and Poggle felt especially close to that project.
“This is good news indeed,” said Passel Argente, the first to speak after the transmission ended. “At last we are getting something back for our service and dedication.”
“Yes,” added San Hill. “I feel much more secure now that I know this Sith is definitely behind us. We’ve deposited our credits in the right bank for sure.”
Similar small talk continued around the table amid congratulations and words of support for each other and their organizations. So much so that no one realized that a dark-robed, hooded humanoid figure was slowly entering the conference room from the bottom of the stairs leading up to where the table sat. The hooded figure walked up the steps slowly and ominously until he reached the top of the staircase where he halted. It was Nute Gunray who first noticed the eerie figure.
“Ah, you’re, uh, here. Good, good,” he said out loud. The entire table looked over and took him in. All they really could see was a dark humanoid shape. The man’s dark robe was simple, his hood up and where a face should be was just darkness. Perhaps it was some trick of the light. It was quite dark on this world and the room was not well lit.
Anakin Skywalker, now the Sith Lord, Darth Vader, surveyed the room and its occupants. He remembered their faces. Some he recalled from when he and Padmé were on “trial” after being captured on Geonosis. Others he knew all too well. This would be a day he would remember for a long time to come.
Just then, Vader heard something behind him, far down the corridor. Actually, he more than heard something; he felt something as well. It was a presence of sorts but it was dull, like an echo. He turned around and looked back down the stairway and into the corridor and the light hit his face just enough to reveal his features, although the Separatists could only see the back of his hood. The blue eyes that his wife used to gaze in every night were now gone, replaced by yellow orbs surrounded by a ring of red and filled with a black pupil that seemed devoid of all life. After a moment, he remembered why he was there and decided to ignore the presence for now. He used the Force to close and lock the door to the room without moving, then he slowly turned his darkened gaze back to the table full of Separatist Leaders.
“Yes. I am here,” Lord Vader said as he started to walk towards the table. It was at that moment, two things happened that threw the room into disarray. The metallic casing surrounding the head of Wat Tambor was torn off and flew across the room, and Shu Mai’s coiled necklace began to tighten until she could not breathe. Both Wat Tambor and Shu Mai grabbed at their throats but in seconds they fell to the floor unconscious.
Before they hit the floor, however, a sound was heard amid the din of confusion: the unmistakable sound of igniting lightsabers. Within seconds, Vader was on the table swinging and twirling a red lightsaber in one hand and a blue one in the other. When all was said and done, Passel Argente, Po Nudo, Rune Haako, and San Hill were dead. All were sliced in two from shoulder to torso except for San Hill who was cut from ear to ear, leaving half his head on the floor near the rest of his body.
At the head of the table, Nute Gunray shivered in his seat while Poggle the Lesser, sitting to his right shook his head with his mouth wide open. He knew something had to be wrong somewhere. Everything was too perfect with this plan. He knew the ancient stories of how the Sith were not to be trusted but didn’t listen to his intuition. Perhaps this Lord Vader left Gunray and himself for some purpose, though. Maybe he would listen to reason. There was no more time to think. Lord Vader spoke.
“You. Lesser,” he said calmly as he appeared to float from the surface of the table back to the floor. “Do you know who I am?”
“You are Lord Vader, sent by Darth Sidious to protect us…I thought,” replied Poggle in an unusually shaky Geonosian dialect. His mouth was not made for speaking Basic but Vader understood some of the language and could follow the conversation. He knew that Poggle understood him, and that was the important part. A one-way conversation suited him just fine because it was to be a short one.
“You sentenced me to death by execution. Don’t you remember?” Vader added as he lowered his hood. Poggle looked at him and immediately understood what was happening. He would not be able to talk his way out of this and didn’t try. He could try to fly his way out, though. Poggle took flight and tried to make his way toward the door but Vader was one step ahead. Poggle fell to the floor twice before he made it over the table.
Nute Gunray was still frozen in his chair. He was bubbling with anger and fear all at once. He knew that face as well and remembered him from the execution ceremony and subsequent battle on Geonosis. He had thought this fellow was a Jedi, but then again, so was Count Dooku once. Anyone can fall from grace, it seemed; even a Jedi, not to mention a Neimoidian Viceroy.
“What do you want from me! I will give you anything!” screamed Gunray, clearly rattled and afraid for his life.
“You have been trying for years to kill my wife, Neimoidian slime.”
“Your wife? I don’t know your wife! Leave me here! I won’t breathe a word of this, I promise!” Nute said as he burst into tears.
“Oh, you definitely won’t be breathing a word of this. In fact, you won’t be breathing ever again,” Vader replied and in one quick motion snatched Gunray by the neck and brought him face to face. All Nute could see was the yellow and red of Vader’s eyes. They seemed to drown out all other surrounding colors.
“Look at me, worm! Look at my face!” Vader commanded. Gunray complied. Nute felt something sticking into his torso and looked down. It was a lightsaber hilt with the sword end jabbing him in the ribs. It wasn’t ignited…yet.
“This is for Padmé Amidala,” Vader whispered loudly saying her name slowly. Gunray’s eyes grew wide as he finally realized whom Vader was talking about. Then, the familiar snap-hiss of a lightsaber igniting sounded and Gunray felt something hot in his chest. The lightsaber ran him through at close range and his life dripped away second by second. Darth Vader held Gunray’s face close to his the whole time, making sure to hold his dying gaze.
When the life was drained from the Neimoidian, Vader threw the body into the wall at the opposite end of the room with the Force. Darth Vader was not finished with Nute Gunray yet. He lifted the body from the ground, suspending it in mid-air, arms and legs spread out wide and in a criss-crossing motion, he quartered the body of Nute Gunray.
As the pieces fell to the ground, Darth Vader once again sensed a presence outside the conference room but now it was much stronger and he knew it well. It was the presence of his former master.
The eclectic group had already been relocated from system to system a number of times and the process was starting to grate heavily on them. The last world they fled to, Utapau, was the recipient of an unexpected Jedi visitor so they had to move yet again to a less popular place. There was not a more reclusive planet in the galaxy than this hellish conglomerate of molten rock and lava. Surely no one would think to look there for the fugitive leaders.
As soon as Lord Sidious contacted them to let them know it was safe to return to their home planets, they would have to remain in hiding. Many people wanted to ask them many questions about many things but it would soon be irrelevant. Lord Sidious would soon be in control of the galaxy, they’d have protection, and more importantly, more power and a stake in his new empire. A few more days on Mustafar would surely be worth the inconvenience.
The group sat at a long grey table looking either at each other or outside the large windows. The lava outside created a reddish tint in the room that seemed to move and radiate like phantoms circling in the dark. The tiny President of the Commerce Guild, Shu Mai, whose head just barely was visible over the table due to the large chairs, broke the silence.
“Have you had any further contact with…him?” she said, looking in the direction of Nute Gunray, who had now taken up the role as leader of the group in Count Dooku’s absence. They didn’t like to talk openly about Darth Sidious. They didn’t know much about him, but they knew that Count Dooku called him his Master and now he was dead. They also knew that at the moment Sidious controlled their fate so they had no choice but to trust him and Gunray.
“No! A thousand times no!” he snapped at her. “Stop asking! Don’t you think I’m as worried as you?” In truth, he was even more worried. He had been dealing with the Sith long before his peers in the room even knew they had awakened from their long hibernation. Never in their wildest dreams did they ever think they’d see the Sith of ancient legend return, nonetheless have private dealings with them. “How did it ever get this far?” Nute thought to himself.
Shu Mai stared sternly at Gunray, then looked to Rune Haako who sat next to him. Haako kept her gaze but she could see he too was afraid. She moved her gaze back out the window at the sea of red. “I don’t like this,” she thought to herself, “Not one bit.”
It was at that point that a red light appeared on the hologram detector sitting at the center of the table accompanied by a dull audio alert. Everyone in the room shot up in their seats and Poggle the Lesser fumbled his ornate cane to the burnished floor. Full attention was now focused on the center of the table as the Separatist Leaders saw bluish flickering lights begin to emanate from the holoprojector. A humanoid shape tried to form but there was some trouble with the reception. Wat Tambor reached out and turned a few dials trying to improve the transmission. In a few seconds, the Separatists found themselves looking at a clear holographic transmission of Sith Master, Darth Sidious.
For Nute Gunray, this was nothing new but for many of the others in the room it was a heart-stopping experience. They had all kinds of preconceptions of what an actual Sith Master would look like, and this was nothing like what they had imagined. Some had mentally pictured images of tall, powerful looking men in flamboyant attire. Others imagined that a Sith Lord would be muscular in shape and perhaps young in years. Darth Sidious wore a simple dark, hooded robe and appeared to be wrinkled and pasty in complexion. His appearance itself did not impress them. However, when he spoke, apprehension filled the room and even Rune Haako, who had seen Sidious before, had to look down at the floor after a few seconds.
“Greetings, faithful friends,” he began. “Your time and patience has served you all well and your period of waiting is almost at an end.” He was a man of few words, little time, and had no use for small talk. He quickly went straight to the crux of the matter and the answers to everyone’s questions.
“Everything that is occurring throughout the galaxy is proceeding as I have planned,” he continued. “The new government will soon be in place and you will all have a role to play as a reward for your contributions. Before long you will be returning home to your new positions which I shall assign you.”
The Separatists felt a bit more comfortable both with this Sith Lord and also with their current situation. Perhaps the Sith were not so bad after all. If Nute Gunray and that metallic Separatist General were to be believed, Darth Sidious would soon be in control of the entire galaxy, so it was in their best interests to ally themselves with him for better or for worse. It was an exceedingly astute political strategy. There was a slight pause and then Sidious continued.
“I am sending my apprentice, Darth Vader, to assure your safety as well as give you transit from Mustafar when I deem it safe,” Sidious proclaimed. The Separatists were previously instructed by Gunray not to ask direct questions and to only speak to the Sith Lord if and when he specifically indicated. They sat quiet and San Hill turned to Po Nudo who was sitting next to him and gave a comforting smile. Everyone in the room felt the same reassurance. Everything was going to be fine, and soon.
Nute looked a little closer at the Sith Lord. Something was different about him. He looked older somehow. His face seemed more wrinkled and his hands seemed worn. Perhaps it was just the transmission. Haako didn’t seem to notice anything different so Nute let it go. There was no need to add more anxiety to the already uneasy group.
Outside the conference room, a lone Neimoidian guard stood. He was clearly not expecting to meet anyone or anything on this desolate world and felt his presence was just a formality. Nute Gunray was a nervous being by nature and always liked to have guards stationed wherever he went. Gunray lost a little faith in Battle Droids after the battle of Naboo and the failed occupation of that planet long ago. The situation that erupted on Geonosis only widened his distrust. Having one of his own around made him feel more comfortable and the job paid well.
The guard took a look down the long, dark hallway and instead of the usual view he had seen many times, he thought he saw something move. It wasn’t anything he could immediately identify. It was more like a shadow. He squinted a bit and took another look but saw nothing moving so he paid it no mind, happy for the diversion from the monotony of standing outside the room for far longer than he would have liked.
He took yet another glance outside the large window closest to him to watch the hypnotic lava pour down. The moment he looked back to the hallway was the same moment he was knocked off his feet by a fast-moving blur of black, white and blue. The last things he remembered seeing were his own legs on the floor next to him. Then, after another flash of blue and white, everything went dark before he could make a sound.
“Lord Vader should be on the surface as we speak,” Darth Sidious continued. “I take it you will see to his needs. He is the only other you can trust, now. You will be safe under his protection.” With that, the hologram flickered out and almost immediately the table came to life in stark contrast to the atmosphere before the brief but encouraging communiqué.
Inside the conference room, everyone but Poggle the Lesser seemed to still be elated about the news from Darth Sidious. Poggle was always inquisitive by nature and he put his full trust in Dooku who was now dead. Who would this new apprentice be and what kind of relationship would they have? He had heard nothing of the super-weapon plans he gave to Count Dooku on Geonosis for safekeeping. He did not like not knowing the whereabouts of those plans. If they were to fall into the wrong hands, not only could that weapon be abused but also he would not be credited with creating it. The Geonosians had a certain amount of respect for weapons since it was their main industry and Poggle felt especially close to that project.
“This is good news indeed,” said Passel Argente, the first to speak after the transmission ended. “At last we are getting something back for our service and dedication.”
“Yes,” added San Hill. “I feel much more secure now that I know this Sith is definitely behind us. We’ve deposited our credits in the right bank for sure.”
Similar small talk continued around the table amid congratulations and words of support for each other and their organizations. So much so that no one realized that a dark-robed, hooded humanoid figure was slowly entering the conference room from the bottom of the stairs leading up to where the table sat. The hooded figure walked up the steps slowly and ominously until he reached the top of the staircase where he halted. It was Nute Gunray who first noticed the eerie figure.
“Ah, you’re, uh, here. Good, good,” he said out loud. The entire table looked over and took him in. All they really could see was a dark humanoid shape. The man’s dark robe was simple, his hood up and where a face should be was just darkness. Perhaps it was some trick of the light. It was quite dark on this world and the room was not well lit.
Anakin Skywalker, now the Sith Lord, Darth Vader, surveyed the room and its occupants. He remembered their faces. Some he recalled from when he and Padmé were on “trial” after being captured on Geonosis. Others he knew all too well. This would be a day he would remember for a long time to come.
Just then, Vader heard something behind him, far down the corridor. Actually, he more than heard something; he felt something as well. It was a presence of sorts but it was dull, like an echo. He turned around and looked back down the stairway and into the corridor and the light hit his face just enough to reveal his features, although the Separatists could only see the back of his hood. The blue eyes that his wife used to gaze in every night were now gone, replaced by yellow orbs surrounded by a ring of red and filled with a black pupil that seemed devoid of all life. After a moment, he remembered why he was there and decided to ignore the presence for now. He used the Force to close and lock the door to the room without moving, then he slowly turned his darkened gaze back to the table full of Separatist Leaders.
“Yes. I am here,” Lord Vader said as he started to walk towards the table. It was at that moment, two things happened that threw the room into disarray. The metallic casing surrounding the head of Wat Tambor was torn off and flew across the room, and Shu Mai’s coiled necklace began to tighten until she could not breathe. Both Wat Tambor and Shu Mai grabbed at their throats but in seconds they fell to the floor unconscious.
Before they hit the floor, however, a sound was heard amid the din of confusion: the unmistakable sound of igniting lightsabers. Within seconds, Vader was on the table swinging and twirling a red lightsaber in one hand and a blue one in the other. When all was said and done, Passel Argente, Po Nudo, Rune Haako, and San Hill were dead. All were sliced in two from shoulder to torso except for San Hill who was cut from ear to ear, leaving half his head on the floor near the rest of his body.
At the head of the table, Nute Gunray shivered in his seat while Poggle the Lesser, sitting to his right shook his head with his mouth wide open. He knew something had to be wrong somewhere. Everything was too perfect with this plan. He knew the ancient stories of how the Sith were not to be trusted but didn’t listen to his intuition. Perhaps this Lord Vader left Gunray and himself for some purpose, though. Maybe he would listen to reason. There was no more time to think. Lord Vader spoke.
“You. Lesser,” he said calmly as he appeared to float from the surface of the table back to the floor. “Do you know who I am?”
“You are Lord Vader, sent by Darth Sidious to protect us…I thought,” replied Poggle in an unusually shaky Geonosian dialect. His mouth was not made for speaking Basic but Vader understood some of the language and could follow the conversation. He knew that Poggle understood him, and that was the important part. A one-way conversation suited him just fine because it was to be a short one.
“You sentenced me to death by execution. Don’t you remember?” Vader added as he lowered his hood. Poggle looked at him and immediately understood what was happening. He would not be able to talk his way out of this and didn’t try. He could try to fly his way out, though. Poggle took flight and tried to make his way toward the door but Vader was one step ahead. Poggle fell to the floor twice before he made it over the table.
Nute Gunray was still frozen in his chair. He was bubbling with anger and fear all at once. He knew that face as well and remembered him from the execution ceremony and subsequent battle on Geonosis. He had thought this fellow was a Jedi, but then again, so was Count Dooku once. Anyone can fall from grace, it seemed; even a Jedi, not to mention a Neimoidian Viceroy.
“What do you want from me! I will give you anything!” screamed Gunray, clearly rattled and afraid for his life.
“You have been trying for years to kill my wife, Neimoidian slime.”
“Your wife? I don’t know your wife! Leave me here! I won’t breathe a word of this, I promise!” Nute said as he burst into tears.
“Oh, you definitely won’t be breathing a word of this. In fact, you won’t be breathing ever again,” Vader replied and in one quick motion snatched Gunray by the neck and brought him face to face. All Nute could see was the yellow and red of Vader’s eyes. They seemed to drown out all other surrounding colors.
“Look at me, worm! Look at my face!” Vader commanded. Gunray complied. Nute felt something sticking into his torso and looked down. It was a lightsaber hilt with the sword end jabbing him in the ribs. It wasn’t ignited…yet.
“This is for Padmé Amidala,” Vader whispered loudly saying her name slowly. Gunray’s eyes grew wide as he finally realized whom Vader was talking about. Then, the familiar snap-hiss of a lightsaber igniting sounded and Gunray felt something hot in his chest. The lightsaber ran him through at close range and his life dripped away second by second. Darth Vader held Gunray’s face close to his the whole time, making sure to hold his dying gaze.
When the life was drained from the Neimoidian, Vader threw the body into the wall at the opposite end of the room with the Force. Darth Vader was not finished with Nute Gunray yet. He lifted the body from the ground, suspending it in mid-air, arms and legs spread out wide and in a criss-crossing motion, he quartered the body of Nute Gunray.
As the pieces fell to the ground, Darth Vader once again sensed a presence outside the conference room but now it was much stronger and he knew it well. It was the presence of his former master.