Chapter 46: Lovestruck

Donning my armor, I returned to Naboo, all the while checking up on the Rylothian invasion.

The republic's response had been delayed by my mischief and was only just resuming.

The jedi were also splitting up their forces going around the Ryloth system to capture other targets first.

Entirely logical of them. They weren't dumb after all. No one wants to throw their army into a suicide match.

"Tch tch tch!" I intoned, "Can't let you do that!"

I need to concentrate as many jedi as possible onto Ryloth.

And so I jacked into the virtual headset and accessed the persona of General Hunt, switching on a hail to the republic fleet's general channel.

A subtle threat in and of itself that I had my ways into their information networks.

"People of the republic." Hunt began, "I see that the true nature of the jedi has been revealed to you of late.

Then you should also know that the jedi are a mercenary force. They only fight the easy battles, leaving the hard ones to the sacrifice of their clones and allies. They leave those places and their inhabitants to suffer and die put of their own cowardice.

As Commander Walker gave the jedi one last chance at redemption, so will I!

Let it not be said that some republic whelp of a commander was more honorable than me!

I challenge the jedi order to face me on Ryloth. Let us compete to see who ends up ruling the sector.

The jedi have one week to free Ryloth. If they don't, I will wipe out all Twileks on the planet, one by one, on a live feed to the republic. And the people of the republic will know. The jedi have failed them for the last time.

I know that the cowardly jedi won't have the courage to come and face me even after this. They would rather leave the Twileks to die at my hands than risk their lives.

But, I am a generous man. I will sweeten the pot.

If the jedi can free Ryloth within the week, I will withdraw all forces from not only Ryloth, but also all systems directly connected to it.

You have my word.

So come jedi! Let us face each other in one climactic battle for the fate of the republic!

If you dare."

With that I ended the call, and focused on the plague scrubbing nanobots.

The nano swarm was currently cannibalizing the planet of Malachor V in a grey goo scenario, converting all of the planet's mass into more nanobots.

Why Malachor V?

Because the entire planet was a wound in the force, invisible to the jedi.

That also meant that any nanobots made from it's material would also be invisible to the jedi. It was an effective method to overcome the jedi's force visions I had just realized and implemented after Offee's little mishap.

"Progress report." I ordered.

78 percent of the planetary core consumed.

The response came. All right then.

That should be enough to cover the Ryloth sector.

I opened a portal to Ryloth space as the nanobots poured in, spreading out across the sector switching to plague scrubbing mode.

With the assurance that the plague won't spread to other systems in place now, it was time to set the battlefield.

I opened up a world engine I had teleported deep into the oceans of Kamino, and created a portal linking it to an array of teleport gates I had put on Ryloth as General Hunt, draining a good few feet off of the Kaminoan oceans, flooding the dry and arid Rylothian plains surrounding the confederate outposts.

Now with the deserts of Ryloth turned into impromptu swamps, littered with my new plague by vulture droids, I was ready to face the jedi.

This was the battle for the fate of the republic and for my plans.

And I certainly wasn't going into battle with uncertain factors like Offee's force vision lurking about.

I landed outside Padme's house and knocked.

Offee opened the door and jumped into my arms, planting a kiss on my lips.

In the background, Padme dragged an enthusiastic Anakin away to give us some privacy. How understanding of her.

"You came back!" She whispered.

Odd! If she was a threat to me, if she had seen what I did, would she really be so chipper facing me?

I decided to ask her and activated the time space fuckery detector's special function.

"Hey Offee, in your force vision, did you see anything about me?" I asked, straightforward.

"...no." she said, as a beep sounded out from my glove.

So she did see something timeline altering.

What though?

"What did you see, Offee?" I asked, cupping her head, looking into her eyes.

"Don't...." She shivered, "Don't ask me that."

No beep.

So any conclusion I draw here is free game.

And given how she's acting, it's probably something that will change if she tells me about it.

What could-Oh. Oh boy.

How did it just click to me. I'm a fucking idiot.

"So....How do I die?" I asked, causing her to flinch.

A beep rang out.

Yup. Spot on.

Offee looked me in the eyes, iron willed.

"I won't tell you." She said, "If I tell you, you will die."

"If you don't tell me I will die too! Just trust me Offee. I have my means." I assured.

"Your syringes won't help you!" She replied, as a chill ran down my spine.

Another beep rang in my helmet.

So she had some idea about the syringes with healing blood in them.

Probably because I died trying to inject one in or worse, I died before I could inject one, maybe even instantly.

"Hmmmm....what if I give one to you and you inject it into me?" I asked.

"It won't work." She said, absolutely sure.

So she did try and it failed.

"What, did I die by falling into a goddamn star or something?" I asked.

"No." She said, shaking her head.

No beep.

I sighed. At least now I know I didn't die to her betraying me.

"Is it happening anytime soon?" I asked, "Will I die on Ryloth?"

"No." She said relieved, as if reminded of a happy memory, and squeezed my hand, "Thankfully. Otherwise I wouldn't have let you go."

My glove beeped again.

I looked at it, and saw the timeline split and remerge into one.

Good then. At least I'm safe for now. I'll deal with the rest later.

"And mind telling me why you thought it would be a good idea to keep it from me? What if I had overreacted? What if I had hurt you?" I asked, annoyed.

For a moment there I was seriously considering torturing the info put of her.

"I know you would never hurt me." Offer said, leaning onto my shoulder.

"And I could have stopped you even if you tried." She added with a mischievous smile.

"Oh could you?" I asked, a smile returning to my face involuntarily, putting an arm around her.

"Why don't we find out?" She said, seductively, her hand roving over my chest.

I know I should be investigating the vision more but...maybe a little bit of fun won't be too bad.

"Let's go. I bought an apartment nearby." Offee said.

"Wait, you bought an apartment? How?"

"You've been gone for almost three days, Jay. It's enough time to get my...our things in order." Offee replied, a bit angry, "Now shut up. I'm already tired of waiting for you. I'm feeling very lonely." She said, kissing me, "Ahn...and um....I don't want to wait any more."

With that Offee dragged me out, leading me to the next building over, and into bed.

And that night, Offee was even better. I could feel the love from her, stronger than before, as she didn't let up until the birds were chirping in the early morning hours.

Damn, that vision must have really shaken her, huh?

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Not that I didn't like it.

Who doesn't want a loving nymphomaniac of a girlfriend?

It was noon by the time I woke up to the smell of food.

Mmmmm!

"Something smells delicious." I said, walking out, and spotted something I hadn't expected to see here.

I stopped in my tracks.

Curry rice. That is curry rice. With some weird purple native beans and an odd red rice equivalent, sure.

But it's still curry rice.

"How?" I unwittingly asked out loud.

"Don't ask questions you know the answers to." Offee said, wearing a naked apron.

She looked.....just wow.

If my hips weren't aching from last night, I would have pulled her back to bed right here and now.

"The visions? But they couldn't have given you a recipe." I said, taking a seat.

"They didn't. I figured it out." She said, smiling, proud of herself, "The force is a very useful tool sometimes."

She took a seat opposite me, and looked at me expectantly.

"Go on!" She said, "Take a bite. Tell me how it tastes."

I raised an eyebrow at her, and plucked out a spoonful.

Carefully, I out it in my mouth, and took in the flavor.

Almost as if out of Ratatouille, memories flooded me, memories of my childhood, my grandmother's cooking, how she used to feed me, sitting in her lap.

I could see her now, on the swing on our porch. I could feel the cool summer wind rustling the leaves above us, as my pet cat purred loudly, perched on the wall.

Tears flowed down my cheeks as I swallowed the plate whole, shoving the food into my mouth.

"Slow down!" Offee giggled, "You'll choke."

Her voice suddenly tinkled in my ears, like music.

I looked up from my plate and she looked like an entirely new person, positively glowing in my eyes.

My heart beat faster, as her eyes swallowed me in their depths.

It made me realize just how lonely I truly was. Alone in the multiverse.

For the first time, it made me want something more. More than just this. And the warmth I now felt as I looked at Offee was something I had never felt before.

I ..... am in love.

 

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Meanwhile on Ryloth, Mace Windu led the clones through the swamp towards the capital city.

The scouts hadn't mentioned swamplands in the terrain, not until this morning at least. How General Hunt had managed to do this he didn't know, but it had to be a trap. Master Yoda had even warned them as much.

Putting nearly half the jedi on one single planet was a foolish decision. He had said in his odd manner of speech.

"Much death this will bring." He had warned.

Alas, the council had outvoted him, 9 to 3, and Mace Windu was one of the nine.

He knew it wasn't wise. He knew it wasn't right.

The tanks and transports had gotten stuck in the mud two days ago and now the troops had to carry their own rations or have them delivered by hoverbikes, which wasted more time than it saved.

But if the jedi were to go into the future, they had to do this. They had to win here.

Walker had already made a mockery of the jedi across the galaxy.

If they didn't salvage their reputation here and now, Windu feared it would truly spell the end of the jedi.

He wasn't about to let Walker be right thrice in a row!

While pride may not be a jedi virtue, it was certainly not a sin in his book.

Windu took pride in his order and in his service.

And while Walker had been right in that they had made mistakes, he was blind to the effort they had made to keep the peace.

This would show him. Show the republic.

Jedi are necessary to kee-

Boom!

A clone trooper blew up some ways from him, sending a spray of mud onto his face, shocking him and the other troopers in place.

"Halt!" Windu ordered, pulling out his transceiver.

"All units, hail in. There are mines in the swamp."

"Copied sir." Came the response.

"Bring out the minesweepers." Windu commanded.

But the troopers just stood around.

"Didn't you hear me, Captain?" He asked a trooper close to him.

"Sir, with all due respect, I don't think the sweepers are made for work in these environments." The captain replied, awkwardly.

That was another thing that had happened.

The clones were more....he couldn't say distrustful, but they were less zealous than before. The morale had actually been dropping these last few days. Lowered rations and shorter rest times didn't help either.

He could feel it in the force.

Thankfully though, the swamps were freshly made and didn't have mosquitoes brewing within yet. One less problem to deal with.

Idly, as he thought, Windu scratched the his face.

Then some more.

Was he always this itchy?

He looked down at his fingers and saw scraped off skin.

A dizziness took over him, as he tried to use the force to empower himself and heal whatever was causing this to no avail.

He shook unsteady on his feet, and a chill crept up his body.

Was it always this cold on Ryloth?

No. Ryloth was one of the more inhospitable planets in the galaxy.

Then it struck him...

It was a trap, just not in the way they had expected.

Immediately he reached for his transceiver and went to warn the other jedi when the transceiver began to blow up with messages.

He clicked one, and a hologram of master Shaak Ti played.

She had pockmarks all over her dried out skin, and she shivered as she spoke.

"Master Windu. It's... it's a plague. We need to retreat. I ...this can't be....." She shook more violently, scratching at her skin.

"I-i can't feel the force....anymore."

Windu's vision was already shaking, and his stomach roiled like a boat in a thunderstorm.

"Uwergh!" He retched, emptying his bowels.

This isn't good. It's a trap..... worse than they had anticipated.

"Should have listened to master Yoda." He murmured, pressing on the transceiver.

"All units..." He gasped for breath, ".....All units....this is master Windu. The swamps are infested with an unknown plague. As the General in charge I'm ordering an immediate retreat. Anyone showing symptoms..." He retched again.

"Quarantine... immediately. This is not a fight we can win."

 

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Edited by Otakusumit.

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