فصل 15

QUANTUM BEING

A gift to Damask from the Council of Elders on the occasion of Yinchorrs seating in the Senate, the towering reptilian condemned murderer shuffled to the center of the energy field that defined his cage on Aborah and, with confusion contorting the features of his beaked face, prostrated himself on the permacrete floor and mumbled in Basic Im honored to be here and to perform whatever tasks you require of me.

Standing at the fields shimmering perimeter, 11-4D pivoted his head toward Plagueis. Congratulations, Magister. At last he responds to your suggestion.

You have undermined his resolve.

That resolve, Plagueis had learned after more than two years of experimentation on the Yinchorri, was in fact a kind of Force bubble fashioned by the turtle-like aliens limited number of unusually willful midi-chlorians. This suggested that the Yinchorri was actually strong in the Force, despite his pitifully low count. The discovery had come as a breakthrough, and Plagueis was still grappling with the implications.

The Force bubble itself was similar to those generated by creatures that drew on the Force to avoid predation by natural enemies. The relationship between the arboreal ysalamir and its adversary, the vornskr, provided a curious example, in that the latter was attracted to the former by the very mechanism the ysalamir employed as a defense. Where an extremely low midi-chlorian count might have bolstered the odds of survival, nature had instead made the ysalimir species strong in the Force. So strong, in fact, that several of the creatures acting in concert could create a Force bubble encompassing kilometers rather than meters.

In a sense, the Jedi Order had done the same on a galactic scale, Plagueis believed, by bathing the galaxy in the energy of the light side of the Force or more accurately by fashioning a Force bubble that had prevented infiltration by the dark side, until Tenebrouss Master had succeeded in bursting the bubble, or at least shrinking it. How the Orders actions could be thought of as balancing the Force had baffled generations of Sith, who harbored no delusions regarding the Forces ability to self-regulate.

The Yinchorri former convict wasnt the only new addition to Plagueiss island facility. In the eleven years that had elapsed since the capture of Venamis and the recruitment of Sidious, Plagueis had collected more than a dozen beings of diverse species and had been subjecting them to a wide range of experiments involving volition, telepathy, healing, regeneration, and life extension, with some promising results. As for the Bith would-be Sith Lord, he was alive and well, though kept comatose more often than not, and always under the watchful photoreceptors of 11-4D or a host of custodial droids.

Plagueis hadnt lost interest in Venamis by any means, but the Yinchorris immunity to Force suggestion—an immunity the species shared with Hutts, Toydarians, and others—had provided him with a new line of investigation.

Unlike ysalamiri, which created a Force bubble in the presence of danger, the Yinchorri were in a perpetual state of involuntary immunity to Force suggestion.

The fact that immunity was in a sense hardwired into them meant that the ability was an adaptation, prompted by a past threat to the survival of the species. To Plagueis, it meant that the Yinchorris midi-chlorians had evolved to provide protection to a species that was naturally strong in the Force. If that were indeed the case, then the Yinchorri were living proof that the Sith of the Bane line had been on the right path from the very start.

For while toppling the Jedi Order and the Republic was essential to the task of restoring order to the galaxy, that goal belonged to the realm of the ordinary—to the world that was nothing more than a byproduct of the eternal struggle between the light and dark forces, both of which were beyond any concepts of good or evil. The greater goal of the Sith involved toppling the Force itself, and becoming the embodiment of the galaxys animating principle.

It had been theorized by Jedi and Sith alike that balance between the light and dark sides was actually under the guidance of a group of discorporate entities— the ones called the Celestials, perhaps—who had merged themselves with the Force thousands of generations earlier, and had continued to guide the fate of the galaxy ever since. In effect, a higher order of intermediaries, whose powers were beyond the understanding of mortal beings. But many Sith viewed the notion with disdain, for the theoretical existence of such a group had little bearing on the goal of making the Force subservient to the will of an enlightened elite. Only the Sith understood that sentient life was on the verge of a transformative leap that through the manipulation of midi-chlorians—or the overthrow of the Forceful group that supervised them—the divide between organic life and the Force could be bridged, and death could be erased from the continuum.

As evidenced by those few Lords who had managed to perpetuate their spirits after physical death—foremost among them Emperor Vitiate, who was said to have lived a thousand years—the ancient Sith had come halfway across that bridge. But those few had been so focused on worldly power that they had ended up trapping themselves between realms. That they had never provided the Order with guidance from beyond attested to the fact that their influence had been negligible, and had long since faded from the world.

In the same way that the pre-Bane Sith had been responsible for their own extinction, the great dark side Lords of the past had doomed themselves to the nether realm through their attempts to conquer death by feeding off the energies of others, rather than by tapping the deepest strata of the Force and learning to speak the language of the midi-chlorians. Plagueis was finally learning to do that, and was just beginning to learn how to persuade, prompt, cajole, and coax them into action. Already he could command them to promote healing, and now he had been successful in enticing them to lower their defenses. If he could compel a murderous Yinchorri to become peaceful, could he—with a mere suggestion—accomplish the opposite by turning a peaceful being into a murderer? Would he one day be able to influence the leaders of worlds and systems to act according to his designs, however iniquitous? Would he one day conquer not only death but life, as well, by manipulating midi-chlorians to produce Forceful beings, even in the absence of fertilization, as Darth Tenebrous might have attempted to do with gene-splicing techniques and computers?

Perhaps.

But not until the singular flame of the light side was extinguished from the galaxy. Not until the Jedi Order was stamped out.

From the start of his apprenticeship with Plagueis, his Master had demanded to know what Palpatine regarded as his greatest strength, so that he would know how best to undermine him to know his greatest fear, so that Plagueis would know which to force Palpatine to face to know what Palpatine cherished most, so that Plagueis could take that from him and to know the things that Palpatine craved, so that Plagueis could deny him.

Some combination of the strictures—or perhaps recognition on Plagueiss part for his apprentices unabated craving to visit Sith worlds—had landed Palpatine on scenic Dathomir. Sparsely populated and largely unexplored, Dathomir wasnt Korriban or Ziost, but it was powerful in the Force, in part because of its fecundity, but mainly due to the presence of groups of female adepts who practiced dark side magicks.

He was meandering without clear purpose through one of Blue Desert Citys dustier quarters, far from the city center, when he became aware of a faint pulse of Force energy, the origin of which was indistinct but close at hand.

Calling more deeply on the Force, he allowed himself to be drawn toward the mysterious source, as if he were a starship surrendering to the embrace of a tractor beam. A tortuous series of turns delivered him into a market area brimming with knockoff goods, ersatz jewelry, and bits and pieces of junk that had found its way to Dathomir from who knew where, and ultimately to a small square amid the hustle and bustle, on one corner of which stood a human female, whose symmetrically blemished face was the color of burnished durasteel, and whose flamboyant clothing identified her as a visitor to the city, likely from some remote village on the planets far side. The hood of her crimson robe was raised, and from one shoulder hung a soft bag the size of a small suitcase.

Palpatine moved to the squares diagonal corner to observe her. She was eyeing individuals in the passing crowd, not as if searching for someone in particular, but with a gaze more in keeping with target acquisition. She didnt strike Palpatine as a thief or pickpocket, though she did exude a dark energy informed by equal measures of urgency and deceit. Abruptly he made himself discernible in the Force, and immediately she turned her head in his direction and began to hurry across the square in his direction.

Good sir, she said in Basic as she drew near.

Feigning interest in the cheap wares of an itinerant trader, he pretended to be taken by surprise when she approached him from his blind side.

Are you addressing me? he asked, turning to her.

I am, sir, if youve a moment to indulge a being in need. Her oblique eyes were rimmed by dark blemishes that matched the tint of her thick lips poking from the wide sleeves of her robe, the tapered fingers of her hands bore long, talon-like nails.

Palpatine pretended impatience. Why single me out, among this crowd of more richly attired beings?

Because youve the look and bearing of a man of intelligence and influence. She gestured broadly. The rest are rabble, despite their fine cloaks and headwear.

He made a decorous show of suppressing a yawn. Save your adulation for the rubes, woman. But since youve correctly identified me as better than the rest, youre obviously aware that Ive no time to waste on confidence games or tricks.

So if its mere credits youre after, I suggest you widen your search for someone more charitable.

I dont ask for credits, she said, studying him openly.

What then? Come to the point.

Its a gift I offer.

Palpatine laughed without merriment. What could you possibly have to offer someone like me?

Just this. She opened the soft shoulder bag to reveal a humanoid infant of less than a standard year in age. The infants hairless head was stippled with an array of short but still pliant horns, and its entire body had been garishly and ceremonially tattooed in red and black pigments.

A male Zabrak, Palpatine told himself. But not of the Iridonian sort rather, a Dathomirian. How do you come by this newborn? Have you stolen him? You misunderstand, good sir. My own child, this one is. Palpatine glowered. You say that he is a gift, and yet you dissemble. Have you had dealings that have led you into such deep debt that you would part with your own flesh and blood? Or perhaps youre addicted to spice or some other intoxicant?

She stiffened. Neither. I seek only to save his life.

Palpatines expression changed. Then speak honestly. Youre a long way from your coven, Nightsister. And a practitioner of magicks more than sufficient to keep your child from harm.

Her eyes opened wide and bored into him, in search of explanation. How— Never mind how I know, Witch, Palpatine said sharply. The child, whether yours or not, is a Nightbrother, conceived for the purpose of serving the sisterhood as a warrior and slave.

She refused to avert her gaze. Youre not a Jedi.

Clearly I am not, as I suspect you have already intuited. But you still havent answered my question. Why are trying to rid yourself of the infant? To spare the one for the sake of the other, she said after a moment. Half a clan pair, this one is. And I want one to live freely, since the other cant. Who poses the threat?

Talzin is her name.

Who is Talzin?

The Nightsister Mother.

Palpatine filed the information away. Where is the infants father? Dead—by tradition.

He snorted. Will the infant not be missed?

Talzin knows only of the one, not the other.

You delude yourself.

Gently, she pushed the shoulder bag toward him. Then take him. Please. What would I do with him?

This one is strong in the Force. In the right hands, he can become a powerful asset.

Servitude of a different sort.

She ignored the remark. Take him. Save him.

Palpatine regarded the newborn again. Have you named him? Maul, he is called.

Befitting the power you divine in him.

She nodded. Take him.

Palpatine gazed at her and, motioning with his right hand, said, You will forget this encounter.

She locked eyes with him. I will try.

For your own sake, I hope you do. Now, go. Before I change my mind. Placing the bag in his hands, she turned and hurried off, disappearing into the crowd.

Palpatine studied the bundle of life he held. That the Force was strong in the infant was reason enough not to allow him to wander about unprotected, and perhaps fall into the hands of the Jedi.

Now Palpatine simply had to figure out what to do with him.

From a high turret in the old fort on Sojourn, Plagueis and Sidious observed the revelry in the courtyard below. There, amid the blazing fires, the smell of fresh blood and roasting meat, the cacophony of guttural chants, strident music, and screams of abandon, a Gathering was in progress. Returned from the hunts, beings of many species told tall tales and shared in vulgar laughter, while exotic dancers writhed atop tables laden with food and intoxicating drinks. Away from the roasting pits, beings huddled in the sultry night air, forming alliances, revealing hidden agendas, hatching plots. Passion, envy, and conspiracy were on the loose. From the high turret, the two Sith could see Damasks Sun Guards and Muuns circulating, Larsh Hill introducing his eldest son, San, to representatives of the Commerce Guild and the Techno Union. The Gotal Grand Mage of the Order of the Canted Circle was speaking with starship designer and Santhe/Seinar CEO Narro Sienar. Boss Cabra was making the rounds, as well, pressing the flesh, the scales, the rough hide of partners and potential allies.

Members of the Trade Federation were in attendance, including a richly dressed Neimoidian. And for the first time in decades, representatives of various hive species were present—the Xi Charrian prelate, the Geonosian Archduke, even a couple of mistrustful and dangerous-looking insectoid Colicoids, from the Colicoid Creation Nest.

We will not be denied, Plagueis was saying with unusual annoyance. We will have our way in the Senate, regardless of what the Gran Protectorate, Black Sun, and the rest wish to see happen. Let the beings of the Hydian Way and Rimma Trade Route worlds go on thinking that the Trade Federation is seeking to tighten its grip on intersystem commerce. The real danger in seating the Federations client worlds will emerge when the Senate ignores the needs of those worlds, and disenfranchisement begins to spread through the Mid and Outer Rims. Then the Republic will reap the whirlwind, and we will harvest the benefits.

He exhaled in disgust. Pax Teem and the rest arent acting out of concern for the Republic but out of fear that their entitlements might disappear if trade shifts to the outer systems. Half of them sit in the Rotunda only because I want them there. Theyve forgotten how effortlessly they can be replaced. He swung away from the view of the courtyard to face Sidious. As for Veruna, you should encourage his plans to amass a Space Corps to defend Naboo against the Trade Federation. When we make him King, we will lead him by the nose into a morass that will appear to be of his own making.

Plagueis lowered his gaze to the courtyard. The climate begins to shift, Darth Sidious. The body politic begins to show signs of contagion. The reemergence of anger, hatred, and fear signal a loss of faith in the Force. The light is waning, pushed into retreat by dark matter, and the universe begins to seem inimical rather than comforting. In such times, beings are wont to look for solutions in the enactment of harsh laws, the ostracism of strangers, and warfare. Once the Republic has fallen, the Jedi are but a memory, and beings have nowhere to turn but to us, we will provide them with a sense of stability and order a list of enemies, weapons capable of decimating entire star systems, durasteel prisons in which they can feel secure. He gestured to the courtyard. Look how they hunger for the dark.

A fierce light came into Plagueiss eyes. We must demand the attention of the dark side to aid us in dictating the future. Together and separately we will see to that, and once weve put these Senate issues behind us, we will set the stage for the next act. With the promise of unlimited funding, guilds and unions will ally, and the hive species will turn pincer and claw to the manufacture of weapons, even in the absence of conflict, let alone all-out war.

Doubt tugged at the corners of Sidiouss mouth. The Jedi wont simply stand by and do nothing, Master. While I have no affection for them, I do respect their power. And weakening the Republic without weakening the Jedi could provide them with justification for attempting a coup. They have the numbers to succeed.

Plagueis took it under advisement. Their time is coming, Sidious. The signs are in the air. Their Order might have already been decimated had it not been for the setback Darth Gravid dealt the Sith. But his apprentice carried the imperative forward, and each successive Sith Lord improved on it, Tenebrous and his Master most of all, though they wasted years attempting to create a targeted virus that could be deployed against the Jedi, separating them from the Force. As if there were some organic difference between the practitioners of the light and darks sides as if we communicate with the dark side through a different species of cellular intermediaries! When, in fact, we are animated by the same power that drives the passion of these beings gathered below. Target midi-chlorians and we target life itself.

An attack of that sort would fail, regardless, Sidious said, as if thinking out loud. The Jedi are widely scattered, and its unlikely that we would be able to act quickly enough to kill all of them in the same instant. We would need to assign an individual assassin to each, and there would be no way to still the tongues of that many assassins. Our plan would be revealed. We would be betrayed and become the targeted ones.

Plagueis paced away from the turrets window, his hands interlocked behind his back. We dont want them to die too quickly in any case. Not, that is, until the Republic has been so ravaged, so weakened, that beings will willingly embrace the stability we impose.

Are the weapons that will be produced by the Colicoids and the others meant ultimately to be used against the Jedi?

We shall see what comes to pass. Until such time we must accept the fact that no mere army can overwhelm the Jedi. The ancient Sith were tens of thousands strong and failed the test. Once the galaxy teemed with warriors and warships.

Now we have only isolated bands of mercenaries and star system defense forces.

Thats why we must strive to return the galaxy to a state where barbarism is the norm.

The Jedi will have to be felled from within, Sidious said, his eyes tracking Plagueis as the Muun paced the floor. Lured into a trap of their own devising, as you said we will do with Veruna.

Plagueis stopped to regard him. Follow that thought.

Sidious took a moment. We will have to exploit their vanity and blind obedience to the Republic, he said with greater confidence, and as if the truth of it should be obvious. They must be made to appear the enemies of peace and justice rather than the guardians.

The enemies of peace and justice rather than the guardians, Plagueis repeated, in revelation. Even the survivors of a purge would be forced into hiding … Coming back to himself, he cut his gaze to Sidious. Great care has to be taken not to turn them into martyrs, Darth Sidious—if in the end we want the beings of the galaxy to turn their backs to the light side of the Force. Forceful beings will continue to be born.

In the absence of training and brainwashing, they will pose no harm to us.

You will see to that, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine.

Sidious looked at the floor and shook his head. You should be the one, Master.

No, Plagueis said firmly. It must be you. You have the political skills, and more to the point, you are a human. In this era only a human is capable of rising to the top of Coruscants biased political heap.

Human or not, my knowledge of the dark side will never equal yours. The title, the crown, should be yours.

And it will be, once you openly appoint me co-chancellor. Feared and respected by the galaxys most powerful beings, Hego Damask will be seen as a windfall for the Republic. But even then I will advise only in secret from behind your throne.

Sidious bowed his head in deference. In the annals of Sith history, you will be known as Plagueis the Wise.

Plagueis quirked a cunning smile. You flatter me.

Whatever you ask of me, Master, I will do it.

Plagueis fell silent for a long moment, then said, You need now to hear about the first mission I performed for Darth Tenebrous. The events transpired some twenty-five years into my apprenticeship. At the time, Tenebrous had sought to expand his network of influential beings by reaching out to a human industrialist named Kerred Santhe—

The former owner of Santhe Corporation.

The same, Plagueis said. Santhe Corporation had been designing freight vessels for generations, but had only limited success with its line of personal starships. My Master believed that he might entice Kerred into an alliance by offering him exclusive rights to a Rugess Nome ship. Santhe leapt at the opportunity, but only to manipulate Tenebrous into a situation where agents of Santhe Security were able to steal the plans.

Plagueis paused in narrow-eyed reflection. It was one of the few times I saw my Master outmaneuvered. But he didnt set his sights on revenge—not immediately, at any rate. Once in production, the starship met with such success that Kerred Santhe was able to acquire a controlling interest in Sienar Technologies and Republic Sienar Systems. Only by agreeing to an arranged marriage between his youngest daughter was Sienars president, Narro, able to retain his position as chief designer. By then, though, Narro had entered into a secret partnership with Tenebrous, and the time had come to settle scores. Plagueis moved as he spoke.

Damask Holdings was in its infancy, but I had already earned a reputation among the galaxys elite, and so received an invitation to attend a design conference on Corulag, which was then headquarters not only for Sienar Technologies but for Aether Hypernautics, Danthe Artifice, and a dozen other corporations. The guest speaker was the Senator representing the Bormea sector, and many luminaries from Coruscant, Corellia, and Kuat attended. From distant Lianna came Kerred Santhe and his young and unhappy wife, supported by an entourage of retainers and Santhe Security guards. I was seated at a table directly across from him, and the menu specialty that night was bloateel. Have you ever tasted it, Sidious?

As a teenager. At a gala hosted by House Palpatine.

Then you know that the creature is one of the most poisonous to be found in the galaxy. The preparation is both dangerous and exacting, as the creature must be skinned while alive to guard against its toxins infiltrating the flesh. Needless to say, nothing enlivens a banquet like the prospect of near-instant death, and the hall could barely contain the anticipation as individual portions were served.

I waited to act until I saw Santhe chewing his first bite. Plagueis brought the thumb and forefinger of his left hand close together, and Sidious, taken by surprise, felt his throat close. He gasped for breath.

Yes. Just so you have an understanding of what Santhe must have felt. Plagueis opened his fingers and Sidious inhaled deeply, his face flushed and his hands stroking his throat.

Only then I kept the pressure on until his face began to turn red, his hands flew to his throat, his muted calls for help brought everyone around him out of their chairs. I think his bulging eyes might have found mine when I finally pinched his trachea closed completely. Of course, medtechs had been standing by in the event of just such an emergency—Ithorians, if I recall correctly, armed with doses of antitoxin and medicines to counter the effects of anaphylactic shock. But none did the trick that night, for the dark side of the Force had Santhe in its grip and no drug or resuscitation technique was equal to the task of keeping him alive.

Plagueis touched his chin. Many alleged that Rugess Nome and Narro Sienar had somehow engineered an assassination. Others, that Malkite Poisoners or a sect of the GenoHaradan had been contracted to carry out the kill. But in the end the chefs were held accountable, and given long prison sentences. Santhe Security squads made several attempts on my Masters life afterward, but we dealt with them. Much later we learned that Santhes body had been placed in carbonite freeze, and that all his internal organs had been replaced by vat-grown ones. The surgical teams may even have been successful at restarting his body, but the Kerred Santhe they had known was irretrievable.

Plagueis said nothing for a long moment, then continued The circumstances will be different for you. You wont have the satisfaction of seeing our opponent die in person, because we want to ensure your deniability. A public assassination on Coruscant would be best for sending a message.

Senator Pax Teem, Sidious said in a raspy voice, tinged with residual anger.

Plagueis shook his head. Teem may yet prove useful. Im referring to Senator Vidar Kim. His sentiments have made him a liability. More important, his death will allow us to position you where youve long yearned to be.