Coruscant – Senate Residence Block
Padmé Amidala stood on the edge of her private balcony, hands folded gently over her stomach. The wind off the upper spires swept through her hair, but her mind was far from the skyline.
Inside her, a second heartbeat now pulsed—a light in the Force so small, yet so radiant.
She wasn't afraid.
She was terrified.
Behind her, the door hissed open.
Anakin stepped in, his cloak still lined with dust from Kashar, his jaw tight with fatigue. But the moment he saw her, his expression softened. He crossed to her side, placed a hand on hers.
"It's true?" he asked.
She nodded.
"I didn't know how to tell you. Not with everything... the war, the Council, him."
Anakin pulled her close.
"Nothing else matters now."
But in his eyes, she saw the lie.
Something did matter.
Something always did.
Zereth Prime – Black Orbit
The Forge was silent.
Its transformation was complete.
The Seeds were no longer nodes of power—they were memory, restructured, living within Serion. He no longer needed to speak to command. His will echoed through space like gravity.
And so, when Grievous launched his strike on Coruscant, it was not without shadow.
Serion allowed it.
For chaos opens doors that reason cannot.
He watched the capital burn from a world away.
And waited.
Coruscant – Outer Space, Days Later
Republic starships exploded over the planet's stratosphere. General Grievous's flagship, The Invisible Hand, drifted through fire and wreckage, dragging a battered freighter in its magnetic grip.
Inside its upper tower, Chancellor Palpatine sat, bound but unshaken.
"You'll never hold the Core," he told Dooku.
Count Dooku said nothing. He paced. Calculating.
The Chancellor's face held no fear. But in his shadow, a faint pulse glowed. Seed residual. Serion's design embedded in his robes. A whisper of suggestion placed long ago.
"Skywalker is coming," Palpatine said. "You'll never leave this ship."
Dooku turned.
And for the first time in years—
He doubted.
Outer Deck – Hanger 17
A Jedi starfighter landed hard on the durasteel platform.
Obi-Wan Kenobi stepped out first, followed by Anakin Skywalker, his face unreadable. They didn't wait. They moved like blades—cutting through droids, shielding each other, fighting as only brothers can.
Grievous vanished deeper into the ship.
They reached the observation deck within minutes.
Palpatine waited.
So did Dooku.
The Duel
The battle was brutal—clean, not elegant.
Dooku was faster than ever, his blade guided by Serion's war-tech, his reflexes reading their movements with unnerving precision.
But Anakin didn't fight like a Jedi anymore.
He fought like a man with nothing to lose.
Obi-Wan fell first, slammed against a pillar.
Anakin pressed harder.
Blow after blow.
Until Dooku's guard broke.
The saber was at his throat.
Palpatine stood behind him.
"Do it."
Anakin hesitated.
A voice whispered behind the Chancellor's words.
Faint. Familiar.
Not Sidious.
"Break the cycle."
Anakin's grip tightened.
Dooku's eyes widened—not at the saber—
But at recognition.
"You… he showed you…"
And then—
Silence.
His head fell to the floor.
Zereth Prime – Observation Spire
Serion's eyes opened.
The resonance in the Force cracked.
The domino had fallen.
The final arc had begun.
Coruscant – Temple Archives
Obi-Wan recovered slowly.
Anakin said nothing of the voice.
Nor the moment.
Palpatine dismissed the incident as justified—war's toll.
But Yoda felt it.
"A shadow fell," he whispered. "Not from the Sith... but from the space between."
Mid Rim – Battle of Malastare Narrows
The war raged on, but cracks appeared.
With Dooku gone, Separatist command fractured.
But their technology—Serion's hidden legacy—remained strong. Droids no longer needed a general. They had code.
Whole fleets ran autonomously. Strike patterns too precise for organic minds.
Even victory felt hollow.
Coruscant – Padmé's Apartment
Anakin held her close.
"We can leave after this. Once the war ends."
"Do you believe that?"
"I have to."
"Then I will too."
In the distance, thunder rolled.
But no storm brewed.
Only a future neither of them could see.
Zereth Prime – Core Vault
Taliya stood alone.
She watched the Seed echoes flicker—scenes of a galaxy lost to conflict.
She saw children running from fire. Jedi dying to protect those who no longer believed in them.
She saw Serion.
Sitting still.
As the stars turned red.
Deep Space – Unknown Trajectory
A world ship moved.
Not by will.
By summoning.
The Seeds had opened a wound.
And the wound had called something back.
It would not be stopped.
Only witnessed.