It had been close to three years now since I had come to the star wars universe.

After the infusion of the life force of the gods, Star had grown leaps and bounds, now appearing 7 years old at less than two years old.

He has learned fast too, being able to speak galactic standard within weeks and manifesting telekinesis just three days in from Mortis.

Anakin had already started his force training, using the little one as his sounding board for the force knowledge he had received from the Mortissian Holocron.

And here too, Star soaked up the knowledge like a sponge.

Papa is proud!

In the meantime, General Hunt had set up his Jedi order equivalent.

The knights of the confederacy, I called them.

This minimized the chances of any rogue Jedi finding me for revenge.

I had also become the supreme chancellor without much difficulty under the pretense of pushing for a peace treaty on the war that was stumbling along like a half-broken horse.

And I was going to put it out of its misery.

Or at least when it came to the republic and the confederacy. The Mandalore-Hutt alliance had flat out refused to meet in the middle for negotiation. Though the Hutts in their infinite wisdom had sent agents in secret supplicating to my cause.

They could see the writing on the wall.

And they hadn't survived, keeping their criminal empire for thousands of years solely by being warmongering brutes.

But that can be dealt with in due time.

I tucked in the cravat and checked the dress again. In excruciating detail. I wanted to end this world in the perfect picture.

A hero of the galaxy, bringing peace and prosperity after an era of war and grief.

A symbol for the future!

I was broken out of my grooming by Offee's amused voice.

"Stop fretting over it. You look fine!" Offee said hugging me from behind, her head nestling on my shoulder, the mother-styled hair tail flipping across my chest.

She had started keeping this death flag of a hairstyle ever since she saw me playing with Ahsoka's lekku one summer afternoon, despite a thousand protests from me.

Thankfully, nothing had happened yet and its been over an year, so I guess I was being superstitious for no reason.

"I know. I'm just nervous. Everything is already packed up. Star is on the ship. Even my nano swarm has been put away for the journey.

I almost feel naked with just the forcefield generator and anti-force collar."

Why was I going to a peace summit with no weapons?

Well, there was the official decree, prohibiting the bringing of weapons into the venue. And as the leader of the free world, I had to be seen as following the rules.

But that wasn't all.

The real reason I wasn't bringing any weapons along?

Because I knew damn well that nothing would happen.

After all, I control both sides of the treaty.

I am the supreme chancellor of the republic and the leader of the confederacy, General Hunt is my puppet android.

What danger could I even be in?

Though I still wore a nanobot choker everywhere, even as the rest of the nano swarm was safely stored away in the Saraswati, ready for travel.

Can't have some random asshat force choke me to death one day from leaving this place, now can I?

Not to mention it could serve as a weapon in emergencies.

Offee giggled, caressing my face as she walked around.

"Don't worry. I'm here. No one is going to lay a hand on you." She assured, kissing me.

The past year we had talked about a lot of things, and fallen deeper in love.

The relationship I thought would burn up like a trash fire had ended and become something more.

In time, I had even come clean to her about everything. My true nature, the multiverse, my actions that led to the death of her master, and of course, I got on my knees and begged for forgiveness.

Offee was obviously upset, but after a few days of pouting, seeing my regretful glances, and a little manipulation a la Star's puppy eyes and innocent questions about why mama and papa were fighting, she caved in and agreed to forgive me. She understood that the multiverse was not a place for kindness, but she made me promise something in her life.

She made me promise that I wouldn't cause more harm than necessary when achieving my goals. That I would consider a non-violent approach, before resorting to what was necessary.

And in my love for her, I did.

Leaning on her forehead now, I smiled and took in the moment. It was nice. This was nice.

I felt.... fulfilled. At peace.

"You're right. Besides, it's just one more day now. Once we sign this treaty, I will have brought peace to the galaxy. Then, onto the multiverse!"

"Exactly. It's going to be fine. Just trust me." Offee said, "Now come. The transport is ready. And you'll want to leave early if you want to avoid the paparazzi."

I nodded, while Offee fed me an egg roll.

"This is just so delicious!" I said.

"You say that about everything." Offee smiled.

"Everything you make." I corrected, wiping my mouth.

The government-provided astromech droid beeped impatiently and flashed the time.

"Yes. Yes. R5-D4. I know. Let's go." I said, patting the trapezoidal head of the droid.

R5 led us out to the transport outside and we were shuttled across the streets of Scipio, a neutral world controlled by the Intergalactic Banking Clan, chosen for the signing of the armistice.

A triple helix structure rose above the drab office buildings and corporate headquarters, in the far distance at the city limits.

The Tri-Fold Peace Memorial, commissioned by the IGBC for today.

As we cleared the commercial sector into the residential one, the vibe changed entirely, to a fresh and happy one, from the dull, stoic grey of the commercial sector, and Muun children could be seen commuting to school, and women could be seen supervising droids workers or seeing off their husbands to work.

A homely atmosphere.

My eyes instinctively shifted to Offee at the thought.

The wedding band on her finger, the soft purple of her hair leaning against my shoulders, humming what was apparently her favourite song. She never told me where she heard it, but she had been singing the same song since her force vision as if jogging a memory back through repeating the circumstances of the event.

Odd. But nothing out of the ordinary. She had been singing this for nearly two years. I'm already used to it. It helps that it's a catchy tune if a bit sad.

I held Offee's hand and lightly squeezed it, as happiness swelled in my heart.

Everything was going perfectly. And by tomorrow, we would be going on a vacation to Arda for our honeymoon, skiing down the misty mountains, relaxing in the Shire with the hobbits, witnessing the light of Rivendell, and wandering the halls of Elenor. Maybe I would even get to test the One Ring and see if it was truly evil and finally find out exactly what that fucking MacGuffin does to make half the world crazy for it!

Then, everything went wrong.

It started with a mild feeling of unease.

An intersection crossed untimely. The eerie chill of the driver.

The awkwardly timed beeps R5 gave out.

Then the subtle clues began to come into the light.

A wrong alley turned. Not a single police post passed. The distinct lack of checkpoints for a senatorial delegation.

And finally, they deafened me.

Literally.

The car shook, flipping over as the rocket exploded into its side, the doors denting inwards.

The driver, as if shocked but not for the right reasons, died instantly as his head crashed against the headboard, the airbags failing to deploy.

My ears rang like a dropped mic, screeching me back to consciousness.

From the shattered glass I could barely make out the fire, licking at the engine, and a chill ran down my spine.

My eyes wandered, dizzy from the explosion to my wife.

Offee sat beside me, shaken but otherwise unaffected, already unbuckling her seat belt

I sighed in relief. Offee is fine.

Offee is fine.

I got to unbuckling my belt as I screamed at R5.

"R5 open the goddamn doors!"

It beeped back something in response that I didn't quite make out in the hail of gunfire that followed, pitter-pattering against the armored carrier. Instead, I just forced the doors open with my technokinesis.

"This way!" Offee said, and grabbed me by the hand, dragging me out through her end, crawling out of the car's wreckage.

Blaster bolts burnt past us, pinging on her forcefield, seemingly missing me entirely.

And I caught a glimpse of our attackers from their perches atop the residential complexes, hidden in the balconies.

The distinctive split of their helmets was one I would recognize anywhere in the galaxy.

Mandalorians!

 

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Edited by OtakuSumit