Chapter 21: Bait
Tobias knew that most of the events wouldn't change even though he would give information to Sloane and Randd. The main reason was because Randd feared Rax and respected him. Sloane on the other hand didn't know how to deal with Rax and at one point had even threatened him with a weapon.
Now that she knew who he was, it was already too late since he had a large amount of influence in the Empire. Her was seen as a hero, even though most of what he had done is unknown, he was still decorated.
Tobias Rune, Ahsoka Tano, Sabine Wren and Kraytia made their way to the hangar where the Raider-II Corvette known as the Corvus was waiting for them. The loading ramp was lowered and Inferno Squad was waiting at the foot of it.
Iden and Del were standing there, watching as the Grand Moff showed up walking towards the corvette with the other three in tow.
Sabine was now dressed in her beskar'gam armor, mandalorian specialty and a uniquely decorated armor. It was repainted again, this time having black as its base, with gold-orange stripes. The only thing that didn't change was the starbird.
"So we're going down to the Auction on Rori?" Kraytia asked curiously as she looked up towards her Master and Ahsoka. Her eyes then wandered on over to Sabine who was wearing her helmet.
Tobias Rune's apprentice was dressed in a black robe tunic, similar to that of a Jedi, but they looked as if they were made out of a high quality hemp material. she had white trousers and black boots to match. On her left hip was her lightsaber and on the right was her RK-series blaster pistol.
"Yes, the black market auction in the city of Narmle on the planet moon, the one you were talking about." Rune responded with a dim gaze before continuing in their stride on board the vessel.
Iden and Del followed the group onto the corvette as the ramp began to rise. They were to join them on the way there, but their main task was making sure no one else left with the Jedi Collections.
Kraytia and Ahsoka's jobs were simple, verify that the individuals encased in the carbonite or stasis chambers were indeed Jedi from the Clone Wars.
Though he was going to purchase any and all of them if at all possible, he would like to be able to tell who and what they were prior to doing so. However at the same time, if they could not, he could just use the system to do so.
"Corvus ready for launch. Hangar Control, are we clear?" Adiana Caton, the pilot of the Corvus, asked over the communications relay.
"Yes Corvus, you are clear to launch. Good luck and may the Force be with you." The hangar control operator responded, all colors were green, there was no issue.
The corvette would begin to hover and rotate to face the opening of the Hangar and slowly crawl out of its mouth. With skill and finesse the small wedge made its way from the Guardian and towards Naboo's moon of Rori.
It would have taken them about forty five minutes until they breached the city limits after going through the atmosphere. Still, there was no problems. The Naboo system was entirely under the Imperium control when it came to security. No ship entered or left without them knowing.
On top of that, the only ships and fighters in the sky were the new Nubian Starfighters supplied to the Naboo government for self defense. That was a bonus, the Imperium didn't have to expend their own TIEs for planetary security.
As the ship landed in the nearby starport, the group disembarked on their short term adventure. Leaving the starport, Iden and Del went off in another direction with a handful of officers following them, while Rune and his party went off towards the auction house.
The planet was similar to Naboo in many ways, however it was more twisted with trees and wilderness. The city they had landed in was of the same architecture of the human Naboo cities propped up across the main world.
The main difference however was that there was grass everywhere. The smell of swamps and flora was high in the air.
"So what is your plan with buying Jedi off the black market...?" Ahsoka asked as she looked at the man who had originally called her Snips.
"They will either join me, go their own way or they will join Luke Skywalker's Jedi." He responded in kind with a gaze of indifference. He didn't care what she thought of what he was doing really, he was more interested in Sabine than Ahsoka.
This was probably because Ahsoka's face had become longer, and she was prominently taller, almost as tall as him. Even her Lekku and montrals were elongated, he preferred them shorter. Her features had long since changed since the Clone Wars, but that was also because she was around forty years old now. That was probably why he didn't feel much attraction towards her, she was over twenty years older than himself.
He let out a quiet sigh as he looked away from her, tracing over the green grass which was promptly crushed under their feet as they casually strolled on.
Sabine looked over at him having seen how he was looking at Ahsoka, it was like he was comparing her to a past time, though she knew that the Moff had 'met' Ahsoka for the first time now. "You two never met before, right?"
Ahsoka looked over at her friend and laughed quietly, "Right. At least to my knowledge."
Tobias simply shrugged lightly, "I wish I was an Officer in the Republic during the Clone Wars, with the knowledge I have now, I could have wiped the floor with Palpatine." He was looking back on the Galaxy, one that could be completely changed.
Ahsoka didn't know whether or not to be sympathetic with his thoughts or to try and lecture him about thinking on the past like this. Yet she couldn't find herself a way to speak of it, she often thought back about what would have happened if she hadn't left her Master, Anakin Skywalker. Maybe he wouldn't have turned to the dark side of the force, maybe he wouldn't have become Darth Vader.
Coming up on a massive swirled double dome-like building which spiraled from the ground. If he was going to compare this piece of architecture to something from Earth, he'd have to compare it to the Guggenheim from the state of New York. It was primarily of two domes, one on top of the other. Pretty much it was as if the first dome had a flat top and another was placed on top.
The exterior was a golden-yellow, it matched with the other buildings surrounding it, as its second dome was green and was considered the roof of the complex.
They stumbled through the front door and made their way into the Auction after being given masks to 'hide' their identities. Though Sabine and Kraytia didn't need them as Sabine wore her helmet and Kraytia simply vanished from sight.
On the other hand, Ahsoka Tano was wearing a cloth full head mask which hid most of her prominent features except for the bridge of her nose and daring experienced her eyes.
The party was then escorted to a high viewing box which allowed a grand view of the people below. The whole auction room consisted of 80% of the buildings overall structure. The center stage was surrounded by seats all the way up to the walls. There was a singular platform which held the goods which were up for auction.
"Welcome one and all!" A voice boomed from the center stage.
He walked over to the edge of the room and looked down at the hooded masked individual starting off the auction. Though masks worked in some form to conceal people's faces and identities at first, he could very well tell who was present.
"Today we present to you a grand display! With the Empire out of service, the late Emperor Palpatine no longer hunting with his Inquisitors, I bring you the Jedi Collection!"
Coming up from beneath the platform was several carbonite frozen Jedi padawans and other individuals who survived order sixty six. Even though he could buy them all at once, or use a secret deal to buy them before the auction even started, it was likely that it wouldn't be healthy.
"Our first three items are being sold by the Prefect of Kessel as a bundle! Apparently they were holding quite a handful of Jedi whom had been captured in carbonite!"
Without asking the System highlighted the three carbonite blocks. It showed him that the ones inside were very much alive and even listed who they were. The individual in the first block however, was not a padawan.
In the first one was a Jedi youngling, Sidirri. She had shoulder length hair and a face akin to a child crying. Her hands and feet were shackled, but she was still dressed in her tunic.
The second was Chase Piru, another female Jedi, but this one was a Padawan. She had a shaved head and wore a pair of trousers, she had a shirt which was torn from the collar, the center of her chest exposed. She wore an indifferent face which held a hint of contempt.
Then the third one was a Rutian Twi'lek, the youngling Seddwia, who was dressed in a plain sleeveless jedi hemp tunic and trousers. She had little straps on her Lekku and seemed like she was just about to bite someone, or at least was in the process of yelling at someone.
The betting for this collection went on for about thirty five minutes, starting at five hundred thousands credits. It ended up ending at around two million, bought by Rune himself truly.
"Do you know those three?" He asked glancing over towards the former Padawans, who shook their heads as he asked this. He smiled softly, "I do, in some fashion, know who they are."
Chase Piru had been the woman in charge of watching over the younglings which had escaped order 66 on a remote world during the clone wars. Her master had sacrificed herself to protect the younglings as well as herself.
It was likely he would have the children join him, and Piru would have a choice compared to them. It was essentially adoption since the children probably had no family to go back to and they no longer had a legal guardian.
"Going once! Going twice! Sold!" The announcer shouted and bellowed, jumping happily. That's when the next collection would be brought up. This time it was just a Jedi in a stasis casket and a handful of old lightsabers.
His system highlighted this casket which was settled on the ground, it was Scout a female Padawan in which was fifteen years old. She was a champion of one of the annual apprentice tournaments the Jedi Order used to hold. She was a treasure, but she didn't have high aptitude for the use of the force.
Lo and behold however, Rune did it again. Buying the Jedi padawan for about two million credits having started at two hundred thousand.
The betting crowd had obviously come to dislike the fact that one man was buying the merchandise off the bat. They knew that none of them could really out purchase him, but some of them began to scheme. They would keep on going higher, they believed they could eventually short him of credits.
Little did they know, he himself was force sensitive. He foresaw their plans and was told of their plans through the system's changing knowledge of the 'verse.
This time a stasis pod was brought onto the platform, revealing a purple Twe'lik named Rachi Sitra.
"They're mostly girls it seems...?" Rune tilted his head as he made this observation, where were all the men at? From what he remembered there were a few of them at least. But as he used the Wookiepedia system to figure it out, he quickly learned that many of the male Jedi were killed off as it seemed they were more prone to fighting the Empire instead of hiding.
In addition to that, the majority of them who did survive died recently, especially the ones who became inquisitors. They were dissolved sometime in 0 BBY, though some Dark Jedi remained who served Palpatine. He'd only assume they're dead as well, which the system validated.
However as he was finishing thinking about this, his eyes narrowed as a second item was brought onto the stage. It was a stasis pod with Qu Rahn sealed inside it. A Jedi Master. This made him narrow his eyes at the find. This man was due to die in a year from now if this was legends, but this timeline was Nucanon. A small smirk formed over his lips.
However it didn't seem as if the bidding had begun as yet one more item was brought onto the platform. Jax Pavan, a Jedi Knight of the Jedi Order. These two individuals would likely try to help Luke Skywalker rebuild the Jedi Order. In this case, change the very timeline.
He could foresee that the Temple was still burning, but there were Jedi alive who fled off world with Luke Skywalker. Kylo Ren also survived however, though the same couldn't be said for the rest of the Knights of Ren, the majority of them were defeated and dead.
Letting out a sigh as the betting began once more, he used his vast wealth to topple the competition. Purchasing the frozen and suspended Jedi as they were given up to auction. Any youngling, any padawan or knight, he simply purchased without a second thought.
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