-From the perspective of Nizzal.-

  The observation Yoda made took me pletely off guard. It seems that his force vision was much more advahan I initially anticipated. He was on a different level thaher jedi masters. Very clear and precise teique indeed, frighteningly so, especially if you take into at that he reached that level in one single lifespan. Well, ohat is quite long, all things sidered... Still, he had such a talent for fht as to be able to see behind my shields and protective teiques to this extent.

  He spoke sensing my disfort.

  -Did I say something unfortable, Master Gray? Hmm?

  I could almost see his smirk uhat expressionless, facade.

  Luckily, he could not uand the importance of what he just saw. That they were glimpses from the past, from the other holders of the archive. Without the necessary knowledge, it is very unlikely for anybody to figure out the actual truth. Si is quite unbelievable in itself, most people would unsciously go for a more logical expnation, without even thinking about it.

  My surprise was, however already seen by the grandmaster. He at least realized that what he saw was important. Not that it matters much.

  I smiled fidently and decided to praise his insight.

  -Oh, my… I must take back my earlier words. Grandmaster Yoda, you are a natural. I could hardly remember when was the st time someone slipped through my mental defenses, and in a way that I didn’t even notice. To answer your other question, there are many ways to hide from such spying. The dark side is admittedly more suitable for creating a proper defense in this regard.

  Windu couldn’t hold back his grunt and stated.

  -You speak of such things in front of the highest ranked jedi masters of the cil, yet your voice does not waver in the slightest. As if you had nothing to fear from the possible repercussions…

  I smirked.

  -How sweet of you, Master Windu. Allow me to tell you something. I might not look like much of an oppoo you. That said, you would be wise to not uimate my power.

  This time, I felt three pairs of eyes narrow on my form. Even Obi’Wan’s expression became somewhat colder in the wake of my words.

  It is what it is. I have tried to work it out nicely with them, but I am not going to make that mistake once more. I have uood why the Immortal cil forced me to train with the jedi while doing my Grandmaster Trials. They wanted me to experiehe internal ws of the Jedi cil, to know what I must aim to never bee, hypocrisy is a pgue. Ohat oftes behind good iions and half truths.

  I am strong enough to put up a fight a away if the need arises, even if it's three against one.

  If they try to trol me again, I will show them. I am much more than what they think of me. I am a Grandmaster myself.

  There was an already temosphere in the restaurant since our versation started, ohat caused literally all the ers to leave slowly, in a strangely systematiiow that tension had reached a new height.

  I was starting to get excited. Will they attack me? I would like to test the ent of my painst these three… that would be a phenomenal fight! I could feel my blood starting to boil as the adrenaline umping into my bloodstream.

  There was a dry cough, ohat disrupted our tration.

  We looked towards the sound and saw Kate bringing a few ptes of delicious food, pg it oable with shivering hands. She whispered into my right ear-protrusion.

  -H-H-H-Hava says that… that if you start another f-fight in the restau-r-rant, she will k-kick you out, and alk to you again…

  Her voice was shrill from the fright she endured from our intense aura. Because of that, her attempts at whispering were easily heard by everyoting at the table, especially sihey were highly trained force users. Kate probably didn't know of the Jedi's unnaturally keen senses.

  -…

  That didn't make my situatioer though, as I khat the others heard the private message that was only meant for me.

  Suddenly I felt speechless and awkward.

  With that, she put dow pte and ran away. I looked after her until her body disappeared beyond the er.

  I sighed. That suddenly killed the mood, somehow.

  Then I heard a chuckle ing from my side. It was Obi’Wan.

  -Haha! Your boss seems pretty tough to keep such a dreadful warrior as you, on such a short leash. Turns out that she might be the real threat here… The saying proves true, a master and an apprentideed! Hahaha!

  -Ugh…

  -Sigh…

  I groaned, annoyed by Obi’Wan's idiocy, and at the same time Windu also sighed tiredly. Realizing what we did, both of us looked up, gring at one ahen we looked to the side, again at the same time, with annoyance.

  Before we realized, most of the heavy tension which was surrounding us dissipated.

  I guess it is better to not fight for stupid reasons. I would normally avoid such a frontation, it's just... these idiots have mao anger me and seemingly dared to e here with the only iion of annoying me even further.

  With that thought in mind, I reached for the knife and fork and started eating the steak with an angry momentum. My anger however slowly began to dissipate, the food was just perfeobody could stay angry while eating such a treat. It seems one more valuable information has been added to the archive.

  -A few mier.-

  We were eating for some time now in plete silehen Windu spoke up, while looking at me across the table.

  -Anakin told us a few iing things, and one particurly humorous one was that you had been chosen as the Grandmaster of your sect. Is that actually true, would you share your insight on this matter, Master Nizzal. Oh, or should I say Grandmaster Nizzal?

  I ignored him pletely, and focused oill half eaten steak in front of me.

  Being ht ignored, by a child he less, seemed to greatly wound Master Windu's already crumbling ego. He started to rant oer half a minute of silent treatment.

  -An annoying child, ohat works in a restaurant as a server calls herself a Grandmaster of an Order of Force Sensitives. Anakin expects me to believe suonsense! Just look at her! She is eating that steak as if she was starved for days!

  I coughed, and coughed again a few more times, while a strong blush began to appear on my face. These were the moments I genuinely envied red twi'leks, you could never see if one of them blushed from embarrassment. Quite the opposite of a light gray one...

  I looked up at him, saw him smirk after seeing my shame, and I became annoyed with seeing his satisfied grin. Fucker, I almost choked because of him just now! I will show you, so I shouted at him with dripping sarcasm.

  -Are you seriously job shaming me? What are you, a bum!?

  That destroyed his annoying grin right away.

  -What?!… So you are tellihat this is how your Order makes money? Is this the secret to yaxy wide expansion?

  -Pfff…. Eh!? Ah… M-Maybe! You know… not everyone is in a position to bee a lifelong lee the republic's finances while even being proud of it! Unfortunately others o actually work outside your temple walls.

  -We are the defenders of peace…

  -In whiiverse? Since I don’t see your peace, only war, a war which you have lost!

  Windu hit the table in a fit of anger while shouting.

  -We did not lose!

  I looked up at the bastard, and told him some raw facts.

  -Oh really? The es run off with most of your battleships, and the only reason you are not massacred already is because the Sith Master is too occupied raining in the separatists leaders, killing those who would dare to oppose him, and probably preparing to do the same with the others too. They don't like to share their power after all.

  -We did not lose the war just yet.

  Stated Obi’Wan with surprising fidence. Sensing that my attention was on him, he tinued.

  -Half of our military might is still present, only the es left.

  -Yes… but they did not just leave… they joihe opposing side! All that while leaviating damage irail of their desertion. Did you think I didn't see the news? Half of the republic's infrastructure is basically destroyed the other half is still burning. That means you have half the soldiers, against an enemy force that is grown with that exact half! Also, most of the experienced jedi fighters are dead. How are you expeg to make a eback?

  My voice seemed to fill up the empty room. There was no answer from the other side, so I tinued my rant after a little pause.

  -To answer your earlier question, I have told you multiple times, that I am one of the masters of my order. Yet you repeatedly seem to ighat statement. I have long since grown tired of your cluelessness, for that reason I chose to go with your delusions, irying to prove my position. However, if you ask the question with sincere curiosity, I will still a. Yes, I have been chosen as the new grandmaster of our order, but that is not the highest of the ranks. Still, you think of me as the one who represents the decisions of the true masters of the force. My main job is to serve them, as a bridge between those who have detached themselves from worldy desires and those who still live as part of this existeo resolve arguments and remind one or the other of the basic differehat they tend tet. So tell me, what do you want? If it is help, you will better be ready to pay for it, we are not a charity.

  With that said I leaned bato my seat while angrily crossing my arms over my chest breathing a bit faster then normally from the temper that I worked up at the end of my speech. A few minutes went by, then my expression paled slightly seeing as the others exged thoughtful looks among themselves.

  Yoda spoke up with a sense of ess.

  -We did not expect you to offer us your help, even if we did, we would naturally not ask for it without reasonable pensation. I believe that our overal situation is not as bad, as you might think. It is true, that we have suffered terrible losses, but so did the Separatists.

  Stated Yoda, but his tone was not as sure as it used to be.

  -What do you mean?

  I asked, suddenly intrigued by his words. Yoda soon tinued his expnation.

  -Our spies report, that the ge has brought mayhem not just to the republic, but to the separatists as well. The separatists forces seemed to separate even further. This meant that they broke up in two major coalitions. Ohat seemed to be led by this so called Darth Sidious, and ohat stood up against his treachery.

  My eyes widened in surprise, I felt the o interjebsp;

  -Do you mean, that they broke apart and started a war between each other? Haha! This is ughable, but so typical at the same time. So, what is your pn now? Are you going to join forces with the broken off separatist party?

  Yoda didn't answer my question, but I never really expected him to do so. He had no reason to trust me with suformation. Just as I fihat thought he carefully sidestepped from my question.

  -That remains to be seen. We did not e here tue about such things right now.

  Good to know, I only hope that the green little imp will eventually tell me the actual reason they visited me. They most likely wao get Ahsoka back, that is the main reason why I was still around, well that and Hava's food.

  Yoda seemed to carefully think through his choice of words. Then, at st, he looked up at me and said.

  -From what Anakin, told us, we surmise, that your order, has traveled far and wide in the universe, reag axies beyond our current reach, all thanks to that teleportation teology you have attained.

  I nodded, Anakin likely told them everything he knew, but it didn't matter. It's not like it ges anything we were pnning to open up towards the world anyway. They probably didn't believe half of what he said, I 't evehem. Anakin was not a very trusted information source at the moment from the jedi's perspective, now that his womanizing and lying nature came to light.

  Yoda tinued.

  -We would like to ask you, if you ever heard of a race, called zerg?

  My eyes grow inte saucers from the very mention of the hateful word. Those bsted bugs have foiled a bunch of expl attempts and everoyed a settler voy. One of the worst failures of the st three hundred years of deep space exploration. We had to pletely stop expanding towards a series of gaxies as the pests were present everywhere.

  What we know of them is more then enough for me to avoid their kind by a rge margin. The worst is, that most of the creatures are relentless killing maes without any sense of self. Only a feroperly intelligent to start a reasonable versation. Ohat will still turn into a blood bath in the end. We miraculously mao unicate with one such example while iionally emitting our thoughts into the force. They only unicate through telepathy.

  Anyway… how do these guys know about such creatures? Don't tell me, did they appear here as well, no that is unlikely, if they did, then the jedi wouldn't ask su questions about them.

  -Unfortunately yes, those creatures are a spacepest, a race that has ed multiple gaxies. They are relentless, waves upon waves of deadly spacebugs, doing anything t you down. Most simir to an invasion of locusts, except they e everything instead of just crops. Its already hard to kill them. The real problem is however their here is o it. You ot hope to eliminate all of them with any known on, they also grow quite resistent to the same type of attacks in mere weeks. So the best course of a is to turn around and escape immediately after they are spotted in a certain number.

  A strange hesitant silence filled the room slowly. The masters were gng at one another feeling quite disturbed by my words.

  Obi’Wan was the first to speak up, and he did it in a forceful jovial tone.

  -Surely you jest, you said that they are an intelligent race. If they are capable of unication, then diplomacy is not out of the questiht?

  -Did you mao achieve anything meaningful with the hutts through your diplomacy?

  I asked sarcastically.

  Obi'Wan looked to the side, and mumbled.

  -If you put it like that... I guess I see your point.

  I ughed, lightly seeing his stupid rea.

  Then I took a short pause, straightened my features and said in a more serious tone.

  -e now... Yes, they are intelligent, but its not the sort of intelligence you are looking for. More like the ohat will analyze you and use every bit of information to destroy and assimite you with the highest efficy. These creatures even i and take trol over the bodies of other races that have the same carbonic base structure as they have. I have seen videos about it, people ied bee half crazed and start to attack their own people, well for a short time anyway.

  Obi'Wan asked with morbid curiosity.

  -Only for a short time? What happenes after that?

  I looked him in the eye, and said.

  -They blow up in a cloud of blood and gore. The strange neurovirus some of them carry, luckily not every single one... anyway if it gets into the blood circution of a carbon based life form it will start rapid mutations ihe body of the ied, these ges will quickly result in the victim's death. As their body will rip itself apart growing in abnormal ways iter of minutes.

  The jedi masters sitting at the table suddenly seemed even paler. Oh, my bad, I shouldn't have spoken about this stuff at the table...

  Eh, but since I've already got this far, I might as well finish it.

  -Believe me Obi’Wan… I know what I am talking about we lost thousands of lives because our deep space caravans bumped into those bastards. They destroy everything that crosses their paths and couldn't escape in time. From our experiehese creatures have aremely territorial nature. Swarming at anything and everything instinctively if it crosses their yards. Some of them evehe force to their own will, at least to a certaient, so... do not uimate them.

  There was a few seds of silehen Yoda spoke up again.

  -Is it possible, that your view on this race, is somehow misguided?

  I did not uand what was the point of their questions... And I didn't enjoy being in the dark about that.

  I frowned and asked them.

  -Allow me to ask, masters, but why is the sudden i?

  Master Windu said slowly.

  -Ahe question first, then we might decide to share some of the details.

  I rolled my eyes... did he not realize that I could also say the same thing, just to annoy him... bah, I am getting tired of this... better finish it sooner.

  I released a heavy sigh, then tinued.

  -Okay, fi is naturally possible, but I would be very surprised seeing the captured videos from their attacks. Those that were brought back by the lucky survivers who mao escape. They are like an army created by Sith Alchemy, a force of nature. Truly. Now, its your turn to answer my question.

  The masters g one another once again. Then Yoda turned bae and asked.

  -Earlier you stated that you expected us to e here and ask for your help. I wonder, what kind of help could you... and your people offer that could help to resolve this unfortunate war.

  I nodded slowly sensing the sudden ge in the dire of our versation.

  -Yeah, right, but what about my answe-...

  I was interrupted again, as Obi'Wan asked with a meaningful smile.

  -As we said earlier, we would naturally pensate you for the effort.

  I raised one of my eyebrows.

  -Depends on what you need... but at least now we speak the same nguage. Still my question was no-...

  Windu interrupted my words, again.

  -You should tell us, what you offer, we have no insight upon the dealings of this mystical order of yours.

  I swallowed my words, I was feeling annoyed by the many interruptions.

  I could see where this was going... Bastards didn't io give me an answer in the first pce. But you have made a mistake masters.

  Oh, it was time to release some of the pent up frustration which had accumuted over time. I almost pity them, sihis will be quite a prideavor for them that is.

  It seemed that my pause was lohen I initially intended, and the masters decided to still give me some suggestions of what they needed. Ohat was mostly obvious, as Yoda worded it.

  - you offer us soldiers to repce the es?

  My smile froze. What the fuck... its not like I pull out a few billion troops on the level of es just like that... Our cities might spam aulitple gaxies, but most of the time, there is a siy and a few rural settlements around it in one gaxy. They are spread out like that, sihere is no reason to be near one another if they are eternally ected through gates. We first and foremost rely on being hidden from sight. We don't have an army of that o spare. There is no way I would leave our cities open to potential danger just to send all of our forces to back up the Republic. I shook my head and said.

  -Impossible, we ot spare such amounts of troops like that... but, we might be able to help, in a different way. The question is, if you are willing to pay the pribsp;

  Windu seemed to be on edge hearing my suggestive words. So he asked.

  -Which is?

  -The solution I offer, is to try and assassihe very reason that causes your troubles. Killing the Sith, would solve your problems, no? Normally I would not offer such a solution, but sihey already tried to assassinate me, I guess it is only fair.

  The Jedi masters seemed to nod silently.

  -Of course I would have to propose the idea to our cil before I could agree to anything. Then we could argue about the price, and naturally I 't garahat it will be a success. The good thing is, that we have a variety of assassin droids at hand, some of them aren't eveed yet. While others, I have tested personally...

  Obi'Wan was clearly surprised by my st statement. He decided to ask me, funnily.

  -You tested them personally? How did that happen?

  I looked at him, feeling a spike of disfort, and anger. It seems that my tongue slipped up once more. With a cold gre I looked at Obi'Wan and only said.

  -You don't want to know.

  -...

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