**Chapter 682: Eavesdropping on the Sith**
**Scene 1**
**Chancellor's Private Apartments, Location Classified**
**Coruscant**
**Dagon POV**
*Yeah, not effective they said. This is the best use of the armor yet.*
I moved like a ghost through the Chancellor's secure apartments, Wrath Shield Hunter Mode fully active. The armor rendered me completely invisible — not just to the eye, but to most sensors and even Force senses if I kept my presence tightly masked. I stood motionless in the corner of the dimly lit living room, watching Darth Sidious pace slowly in front of the wide transparisteel window.
The man who wore the face of Sheev Palpatine looked tired. Worn. But the dark power radiating from him was unmistakable.
'So you can't defeat me the normal way,' I thought, listening intently. 'So your alliances will help you. Interesting.'
Sidious stopped pacing and activated a secure comm. I listened as he spoke with the unknown Kuat engineer and later with Dooku. Every word was damning.
*Dark prophets… So that's how you stayed hidden from the Jedi and the other Sith Lords. A few crime syndicates under your name. A few planets. And hello — what is this?*
My eyes narrowed as I silently accessed a hidden terminal while Sidious was distracted. A list appeared on my wrist display.
A roster of Moffs. Republic admirals and generals under his personal command — men and women who believed they only answered to the Chancellor. And a second, much smaller list: the select few who knew his real identity.
I smiled beneath my helmet. *Looks like my birthday came early.*
I finished downloading every scrap of data Sidious had on the terminal — encrypted files, hidden accounts, names, locations, contingency plans. It was pure gold.
'No, this should be enough,' I thought as I slipped toward the open window.
"Hmm, window is open," Palpatine grumbled behind me, shuffling over to close it. "Damn button."
I dropped silently from the balcony, vanishing into the night of Coruscant.
**Scene 2**
**Scimitar, Private Hangar**
**Dagon POV**
Back aboard the *Scimitar*, I deactivated the stealth systems and removed my helmet, exhaling slowly. The data I had stolen was already being analyzed by the ship's secure systems.
"So he's going after Mon Cala," I muttered, leaning back in the command chair. "Honestly, it would be easier for me to fight them than convince them to ally. Always the rebels, those Mon Calamari."
I brought up a tactical display of the Mon Cala system.
'To be honest, they would never agree with me. Their shipyards were attacked by the Dark Reaper, and still they didn't fully join the Republic. The Quarren attempted a takeover, Jedi and clones helped them, and still they refused to send their fleets. And now Pantora is producing ships — a Quarren colony world in their own sector.'
I rubbed my chin. Crushing them would be costly, but possible. The real wildcard was the next target.
Hapes Consortium.
I pulled up the files I had on them.
The Hapes Consortium, also known simply as the Consortium, was a matriarchal monarchy of the near-Human Hapans located in the Hapes Cluster — a densely packed star cluster in the Inner Rim. Politically a consortium, it was based on Hapes and spanned 130 closely positioned star systems, each with at least one inhabited world. It had existed since before 3000 BBY, after the Lorell Raiders were wiped out by the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order.
The Hapes Consortium was one of the galaxy's few insular civilizations. It had undergone a long period of isolation, which caused several members to try to secede, but those rebellions were quickly crushed.
Hapans were ruled by the Queen Mother, who held court at the Fountain Palace on Hapes or aboard the royal transport ship *Star Home* when traveling. The title was hereditary, passed from mother to daughter. If the Queen Mother failed to have daughters, the wife of the firstborn son became Queen Mother. However, succession was dangerous — constant assassination attempts by jealous relatives were the norm.
In addition to the Queen Mother, representatives from each Consortium member planet sat at the Royal Court. Their purpose was to vote on important matters and report on political and social conditions. The Queen Mother had the final say on everything — her word was law.
Hapan culture, especially among the upper classes, was built on assassination and power struggles. Most upper-class Hapans would think nothing of arranging the death of a rival if it advanced their cause.
Due to the matriarchal society, men were often treated as second-class citizens — primarily used for breeding, though some held limited positions of power. Many Hapan men who felt trapped ran away and became pirates, hiding in the Transitory Mists.
Anti-Jedi sentiment was strong among the Hapans, largely due to the fall of the Lorell Raiders to the Jedi. During the reign of Ni'Korish, this hatred reached its peak.
Biologically, Hapans were similar to baseline Humans but had been selectively bred over generations for beauty. They also suffered from night blindness — due to the perpetual daylight in their star cluster, they had lost the ability to see well in darkness.
'They were rather impressive,' I thought, reviewing their naval capabilities. Their navy and armed forces had given even the Empire a run for their money in the old timeline — which was how they avoided the worst of the Galactic Civil War and remained independent until the Yuuzhan Vong invasion.
Combining Hapan technology with Mon Cala shipbuilding expertise and CIS droid forces would create a terrifying naval power.
'The alliance is what worries me. How will the CIS convince them? But it does make my plan easier. Control over Mon Cala and Hapes, and I basically have uninterrupted control over the entire galaxy.'
I leaned forward, a new idea forming.
"That reminds me… it's time to bring in Thrawn as my personal advisor."