**Chapter 712: Masks and Memorials**
**Scene 1**
**Jedi Temple, Healing Center**
**Coruscant**
**Dagon POV**
The Healing Center was quiet, filled only with the soft hum of medical equipment and the gentle pulse of purified kyber crystals embedded in the walls and ceiling. Large, carefully cultivated kyber formations — harvested from Malachor Prime and purified through a painstaking ritual I had developed — created an atmosphere where the very air itself aided healing. The crystals resonated with the Force in a way that accelerated natural recovery, compensating for the loss of so many experienced healers who had left the Order.
I stood in the center of the chamber, my arms crossed, staring at the rows of stasis pods. Adi Gallia and Barriss Offee floated in two of them, their bodies suspended in bacta near the largest central crystal. Aubrie Wren was in another, still unconscious but stable. All three had been loaded with heavy sedatives to prevent any lingering dark side corruption from resurfacing.
Then there were the girls.
Ahsoka, Zule, Flare, Stella, Kayla, Visenya, Shin, Erictia, Aayla, Sakura, and Grace were in similar pods, arranged in a protective semi-circle around the central crystal. They were still unconscious, their minds recovering from the brutal mental violation of Itsuki's Justice Bow. The brainwashing had been deep — accelerated training, forced loyalty, and overwhelming pain. The Force lightning they had unleashed under control had been devastating. Half my face was now hidden behind a durasteel mask, forged to conceal the severe burns that ran from my left temple down to my jaw. The girls had been turned into weapons against me.
I touched the ring on my left hand — a simple band of silver and kyber — and felt the emptiness where the soul bond should have been. I had shut it down before the Geonosis mission. Now, with them unconscious, the silence in my mind was deafening.
*Back to being alone, then,* I thought bitterly.
**Scene 2**
**Jedi Temple, Healing Center Corridor**
**Anakin Skywalker POV**
Anakin Skywalker walked down the corridor toward the Healing Center, his steps heavy. Seeing Padmé had been… awkward, to say the least. The new rules allowing relationships helped, but the unspoken agreement still stood: avoid pregnancy until the war was over. At least he no longer had to worry about hiding it.
He stopped short when he saw Dagon emerging from the main chamber.
Dagon looked… different. The left side of his face was covered by a sleek durasteel mask, the metal etched with faint crimson lines. Combined with his white hair and the dark aura that always clung to him, he looked far more like a Sith Lord than a Jedi Grand Master.
"Hey," Anakin said cautiously. "You doing alright?"
Dagon paused, his visible eye meeting Anakin's. "There is to be a Council meeting soon. Then you and Obi-Wan will be at the Senate for a discussion on the Geonosis operation."
Without another word, Dagon walked past him, his cloak billowing behind him.
Anakin stood there for a moment, staring after him. *He's changing,* he thought. *And I'm not sure if that's a good thing.*
**Scene 3**
**Jedi Temple, Memorial Gardens**
**Dagon POV**
The funeral pyres burned brightly in the Jedi Temple's Memorial Gardens. The remains of the Jedi lost at Geonosis — those who had been recovered — were lowered into the flames with solemn ceremony. Masters, Knights, and Padawans who had been twisted into monsters by the Prophets and the dark side experiments.
I stood at the front, the durasteel mask concealing the left side of my face. The girls were still recovering in the Healing Center, but the rest of the Order had gathered. Hundreds of Jedi watched in silence as the flames consumed the bodies.
"One with the Force, they are," I said, my voice carrying across the gardens, "and our job it is to remember that we will, in time, also pass on. Luminous beings are we, but temporary vessels our bodies are. And we shall all find ourselves here, in time. A moment of silence, I ask — to remember, and to move on."
The crowd bowed their heads. The only sound was the crackle of the pyres and the distant hum of Coruscant traffic.
Yoda stood beside me, leaning on his gimer stick. "Heavy, your heart is, young Dagon. Much loss, there has been."
I didn't reply. There was nothing left to say.
**Scene 4**
**Jedi Temple, Council Chamber**
**Dagon POV**
The Council chamber was tense as I addressed the assembled Masters.
"The recording from the helmet cams has already shown the truth," I said, projecting the edited but factual footage of the Geonosis operation. "You will explain that I felt a disturbance and decided to investigate. These are the files on the Geonosian brain worms I recovered. Explain it was a plan for mass infection across the galaxy."
Obi-Wan frowned. "You want us to frame this as a biological warfare plot?"
"It was," I replied. "The brain worms were being weaponized. The Death Star was real. We stopped both. The Senate needs to see the CIS for what they are — desperate and monstrous."
Yoda tapped his stick. "A dangerous path, this is. Truth mixed with half-truths leads to shadow."
I met his gaze. "The shadow is already here, Master Yoda. I'm just making sure the galaxy sees it clearly."
**Scene 5**
**Galactic Senate, Grand Convocation Chamber**
**Obi-Wan Kenobi POV**
Obi-Wan stood at the central podium, the eyes of thousands of senators upon him. The chamber was packed, the tension thick enough to cut with a lightsaber.
"As you can see from this information," Obi-Wan said, projecting the recovered files and footage, "the Confederacy and the Sith have begun using biological warfare. Given their previous actions at Naboo and the nuclear attack on Coruscant, we now see the true face of the enemy — scum, all the same. General Dagon's actions as Supreme Commander prevented a catastrophe. There is no reason to doubt that the Jedi are winning this war."
A round of thunderous applause erupted from the Chancellor's bloc and many neutral senators. Loyalists looked uneasy, but even they couldn't deny the evidence of the brain worms and the near-complete Death Star.
Obi-Wan stepped back, his expression grim. The Senate might cheer today, but he knew the real cost. The Jedi were winning battles, but the soul of the Order was paying a terrible price.