**Chapter 766: Ashes and Alliances**
**Scene 1: Mygeeto – City of Arsam**
Dagon POV
A particle cannon turret was a type of turret-mounted particle beam cannon used by many governments and organizations. It was a heavy ground weapon with a great amount of firepower and a fair amount of splash damage.
*Thought those were only game weapons, from Battlefront. Apparently not,* I thought. Originally the 501st was here to destroy them to gain something for Palpatine's Death Star project, but the timeline had changed weirdly.
Anyway, I had already collected the special item.
An energy crystal was a power source used by the InterGalactic Banking Clan to power their energy collector core stationed on Mygeeto to power the nearby droid factories.
Taking control of the turrets with the Force and turning them on the enemy was interesting. Still, no blood — why? Because the blast cauterized the Muun wounds. And no smell, probably because of this armor, and the clones and regular soldiers had masks. Still, so many weird body parts scattered across the streets.
Good thing the disruptors cleared the path. During the bodies turning to dust, I never saw the problem. How does one analyze pain if the death is instant? I still remember Darth Vader telling Boba: "No disintegrations." So probably it's a bounty hunter rule.
I stood atop a shattered tower overlooking Arsam, the Wrath Shield humming with residual power. The city was falling faster than expected. Four cities were now under Republic control, and the capital Jigat was cracking under the pressure. The Muuns were learning the hard way what it meant to stand against the Dragon.
**Scene 2: Hapes Consortium – Capital Planet, Royal Palace**
Queen Mother Ni'Korish discussed the current war with her new ally, Lord Sidious.
The fact that the Hapes Consortium had begun sharing their tech with outsiders was a long shot, but the recent events unfolding in the galaxy had led Ni'Korish to this alliance. It wasn't just the creation of a clone to replace her in rule of the Hapes compared to her weak child. The interesting new factor that struck her was a simple fact: the *Annihilator*, the ship itself, was rumored to have been made of beskar and kyber — a lethal combination.
The Hapes remembered a time, a thousand years in the past, when a Mandalorian warship made of beskar had attacked their people and destroyed several of their ships. They had wanted to declare war, but later news revealed that Mandalore had been destroyed by the Republic and turned into a desert. Now they worried that the Republic, led by Jedi Dagon — an ally of Mandalore — would lead an attack on their homeworld. So they had agreed to an alliance.
Now she was to send her brother, as well as several ships of his loyalists, to aid the CIS in their attack on the Republic.
Sidious's holographic form smiled thinly. "A wise decision, Queen Mother. Together, we will crush the Republic's pretender and restore true order to the galaxy."
**Scene 3: Hapes – Ta'a Chume'da**
As her marriage to Lord Sidious approached, she discreetly gave him some information on a way to help him. While she would be his empress and her mother's clone would rule Hapes, she still had to worry about others who might interfere. Specifically her uncle Ksolder, a vice admiral in the navy as well as allied with several royal houses of the Hapes and two dozen planets in the cluster.
If he succeeded, she gained an ally over her mother. And if he failed… well, still a weak victory as one more enemy was eliminated.
Ta'a Chume'da smiled coldly as she watched the stars from her private balcony. The pieces were moving exactly as she wanted. Sidious would deal with her uncle, Dagon Marek would be distracted by the coming offensive, and she would rise as the true power behind the throne — empress to a Sith Lord and ruler of a strengthened Hapes Consortium.
The galaxy was changing, and she intended to be on the winning side.
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**Back on Mygeeto – Dagon POV (Bridge of the Devastation)**
I deactivated the Wrath Shield's Fusion Rocket Nova mode, the armor retracting with a mechanical hiss as I returned to the bridge. The reports were coming in fast — Arsam had fallen, and the other three cities were on the verge of collapse. The Muuns' resistance was crumbling faster than expected.
"Excellent work," I told Lee Noriega. "Prepare the next phase. We push for Jigat. The capital must break."
The trap was closing. The CIS would have no choice but to launch their offensive early — right into our waiting jaws.
The Dragon of the Republic watched the burning world below and allowed himself a small, cold smile.