Back in the Game (COMPLETE)

9.8.1

Maul stared down the galactic Holomap in frustration. No one, not even his most trusted advisors, was foolish enough to disturb him at the moment. Anyone with an ounce of common sense was staying well out of his way, and to their credit, they were succeeding thus far.

His search for an apprentice had been nearly fruitless. There was one, one singular man who had shown any potential at all, but he was being extremely stubborn. Apparently, he had brushed up with a Jedi before and was unwilling to betray their memory to the Dark Side of the Force. Maul hadn't tried to push him or forcibly sway him, in an attempt to gain his trust, but it seemed that nothing else would work.

If it weren't for the fact that he still had value to Maul, he would have killed him by now. The man also happened to be the nephew of Satine Kryze and would be wonderful bait to draw Kenobi back in to Mandalore, so Maul wasn't willing to give him up quite yet. For now, he was staying in the 'guest' room down the hall. So long as he remained passive, there wasn't any harm in keeping him in the palace. He was under watch anyways.

As far as a student was concerned, Maul was going to have to start looking beyond the surface of Mandalore. He didn't have time to wait for Tyrannus to find an apprentice, and it was going to be a race to get to eligible candidates first. He sincerely hoped that the Separatist general would be too busy dealing with the Clone War to notice him.

It wasn't as if he was bored. After the Separatists, Republic, and neutral systems realigned sides, many battles had broken out and much more spontaneously than before. Maul had considered joining Mandalore with the Separatists to get closer to Tyrannus but had decided against it when the civil war started escalating on his home turf. As was to be expected, rebels had organized themselves under his radar. They were starting to cause trouble but didn't have enough traction to totally rise up yet. That was why Maul was so frustrated: he needed to find an apprentice before he lost control of the Mandalorians.

The main clan that was revolting was Clan Kryze. This was predictable, as it was Satine Kryze who had been overthrown. The underdog player in the game was Clan Wren. They were far removed from the capital, and they could organize easily, but Maul couldn't see any benefit for them in turning against him. Mandalorians treasured honor in a way that nearly disgusted Maul, so that could play a part in it, but he was still confused. The last he had heard, Countess Ursa Wren was with child which made rebellion such a risk for her, not to mention she already had a daughter. Maul intended to shut down the rebels before that child had a chance to grow into any position of power. Children of rebellion were always trouble.

Maul couldn't be sure, not so early in the civil war, but he had suspicions that there was someone that was solely leading the rebels. He suspected it was someone who would be interested in upholding Duchess Satine's regime. He desperately hoped it wasn't Wren, or that child would surely inherit leadership of the rebellion.

To sum up his entire predicament, he had limited resources, growing resistance, and a shrinking window of time. If a gullible, self-conceited Force-user did not show up soon, his control would soon be lost.

~

He would have, though, been ecstatic to know that Tyrannus was not faring any better.

To be quite frank, the Separatist Alliance was flooded with chaos. For a solid three months or so, they had refused to let Dooku use their droid army, arguing that a temporary truce had been reached with the Republic. He would have liked to attack them while they were so vulnerable, but the Alliance would not relent. Something about wanting to take time to reset after the fall of Darth Sideous. 

The Council never said as much, but Tyrannus knew that the Alliance no longer trusted him. After hearing that their leader had also been leading and coordinating the Republic, they suspected that his apprentice was following in the same steps. 

That was reasonable, for Tyrannus would have done the same. What was unacceptable was who they selected as his replacement: absolutely no one in particular. Bounty hunters, mercenaries, gangs, and other assorted filth were assigned smaller missions and even allotted resources to attack the Republic. It was absolutely horrid, there was no honor or glory in anything they did. 

Thankfully, the Alliance had come to their senses. About halfway into the fourth month, they returned Tyrannus' rank to him and given him full access to whatever he needed. They mentioned keeping a closer eye on his antics than they had in the past, but Tyrannus wasn't concerned about that. 

First and foremost, he had to sort out the new galaxy alliances. The majority of all minor systems had switched sides in the war or dropped out altogether. Some of the Separatist's most valuable and efficient facilities had been either shut down or destroyed, and others were still tearing down bases influenced by the Republic. Other systems had been neutral until that point, and construction needed to take place before they could host or provide for the Separatist Alliance. 

Another problem was transportation. Hyperspace lanes that had previously led to Republic systems were now theirs to use freely, but others, those with systems that had either switched sides or dropped out of the war, were off-limits for Separatist warships. There had already been three near misses with supply ships taking enemy lanes on accident, and one of the cruisers had torn a wing on their way out from Mustafar from running into another ship.

This had been Tyrannus' focus for the past few weeks. It had been hard and tedious work, and he hadn't had time to focus on military operations during that time. Instead, he let the substitutes play around for a while longer, assured that their ruckus would cover up his work until it was ready to be put into play. 

Now came the task of filtering out the commendable fighters from the mediocre ones. The gangs had to go, all of them. They could operate on their own or in conjunction with his droid armies, but they were absolutely not going to lead them. Some of the bounty hunters were suitable to command a battalion or two, but the rest were also on the list to go. What Tyrannus was more interested in were some of Sideous' old hires, and seeing if they were willing to be put back to work. 

In the back of his mind, the idea of seeking an apprentice was burning. There were few people who were suitable for the position, obviously, but the Rule of Two had to be fulfilled. If there was anyone lurking in the shadows of the Dark Side, waiting to overthrow him, they would surely use his lack of a student against him. He didn't want to have to rely on his dueling ability to secure his power unless he had to. The only condition he had was that it absolutely could not be a female. He was not making that mistake a third time. Women could not be trusted.

Staring at the holomap on the screen he was working at, Tyrannus folded his hands behind his back and stood up. It was time that a true general take over the military operation of the Separatist Alliance. No more of these uncoordinated attacks, no more weaknesses or faults. If he had to build his power back up with his own bare hands, then so be it, but he was getting it back, one way or another.